By Ryan Pike
The past few decades have seen the dusting-off of old tried and true movie genres. Chicago brought the musical back to prominence. Unforgiven showed the world that westerns can still kick ass. More recently, directors like Judd Apatow have dusted off an ’80s staple– the sex comedy– leading to a slew of imitators. Some, like… Continue reading Gay jokes and sex are kind of funny, I guess
Dust off the old eight millimetre prints because the faculty of communication and culture is inviting families from all across Calgary to raid their trunks and closets to find their own tiny pieces of film art. Home Movie Day is part of a larger global phenomenon created as a celebration of amateur films by local… Continue reading Precious family time
Talking dog gets lost. Talking dog finds talking dog friend. Talking dog finds home and lives happily ever after. Though by no means an original story, it is indubitably a pleaser to an audience of under 12-year-olds. When Chloe (voice of Drew Barrymore), a spoiled, shallow, Harry Winston-sporting Chihuahua gets dog-napped and thrown into a… Continue reading Beverly Hills Chihuahua chokes
When Jose Saramago made his acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize in Literature, he recounted how, when it got very cold, his grandpa, a pig farmer, would grab his little piggies from outside and keep them in his bed to keep them warm. He didn’t do this to be righteous, he did it out of… Continue reading Blindness provides insight into humanity
It seems like a match made in heaven. Social satirist and comedian Bill Maher teams with Larry Charles, director of 2006’s hugely successful Borat, for a relentless, globe-trotting tirade against established religion in their new documentary Religulous (ostensibly a mixture of the words “religion” and “ridiculous”). The result is, as one would expect, side-splittingly hilarious.… Continue reading Religion + ridiculous = preachy doc
To make a good romantic comedy, you need to get the hell out of Hollywood. There’s nothing there but Botox, Spencer Pratt and loneliness, which is why it’s nice for a movie to go back to the most mythologized city in film and the place where almost all of Woody Allen’s classic tales of love… Continue reading Nick and Norah mixes a love story with sketched indie title font
When best-selling novels are adapted for the big screen, criticisms are sometimes leveled against screenplay writers for diverging too far from the original story. Something always gets lost in the abridgement, rearrangement or direction the film takes contrary to what the author originally intended. Ultimately, the book is usually much better than the film. With… Continue reading Movie adaptation takes Palahniuk’s words too literally
Sometimes it seems young children are all budding artists, composers and writers. Somewhere along the line, most lose their affinity for creativity. Growing up and maturing is almost synonymous with stagnating imaginations. Probably around the same time, most stop relating to people freely and get a bit jaded about the human condition. Over the past… Continue reading 1,000 Journals pieces together a picture of the world
CIFF is still in full swing and the Gauntlet is here to give you the down-low on the what the festival has to offer with more reviews! The Seven Deadly Sins A vast array of characters introduces us to the perilous indiscretions such as envy, with the exploits of a director whose career fails before… Continue reading Weighing in on the Calgary International Film Festival
With the Calgary International Film Festival soon upon us, some of the Gauntlet’s intrepid girl reporters went searching for some of the festival’s best films. Here are some of their thoughts.Max Minsky and Me Nelly Sue Edelmeister’s name is practically bigger than she is. The skinny, awkward 13-year-old girl, blessed with brains, but somewhat lacking… Continue reading Captured motion