Undertones: Volume 4
Jim Jarmusch’s transcendental western, Dead Man (1995), is the tale of a spiritual and physical journey taken by an ordinary man named William Blake (Johnny Depp) sometime in the later part of the 19th century. Travelling to a frontier town called Machine, Blake hopes to be given a job as an accountant in [...]
When January rolled around, I was all ready to throw in the towel and declare 2009 a wash for movies in general. I’ll tell you what, though. I continue to be surprised by some of this year’s offerings and some of last year’s that are finally making their way to me through the festivals. Though [...]
MJ Documentary?
The King of Pop continues to be incredibly lucrative, even in death. The latest posthumous venture concerns the “…rights to the approximately 80 hours of high-definition, full dress rehearsal footage captured by AEG Entertainment, the company behind Jackson’s concert series.” It’s the rehearsal footage for the “This Is It” series of 50 live shows [...]
Black Dynamite has been officially announced as the opening gala film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Directed by Scott Sanders the film stars Michael Jai White and is shot in the style of a blaxploitation film of the 1970’s. Inspired mostly by such films as Shaft, Dolemite and Superfly it was a Sundance [...]
Opening on August 14, 2009, The Goods tells the story of Don Ready and his crew of super sellers as they fight to save a dead dealership. When he is asked to help save an ailing local car dealership from bankruptcy, Ready and his crew, go out on the town selling and partying as hard [...]
Disney finally revealed the title to the Tron sequel at the Disney 3D panel at Comic-Con 2009 – TRON Legacy. Jeff Bridges explains that the title is in reference to the story’s theme: “It’s basically a story about a son’s search for his father. It was also revealed that Tron Legacy will be released in [...]
Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean
Those horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean.
Wes Anderson’s new film Fantastic Mr. Fox is already turning heads.
A stop motion animated film based on Roald Dahl’s book is a major change in Anderson’s career. Anderson collaborated with Henry Selick who previously worked witht eh director [...]
A Serious Man, the new black comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen follows Larry Gopnik, a Jewish academic living in a middle class Jewish neighborhood in a Minneapolis suburb in 1967. The story follows Gopnik’s spiritual and existential struggle with his wife, children, students and friends leading him to seek advice from three different rabbis [...]
The unlucky numbered 13th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival turned out to be a lucky year after all. With it’s diverse line-up of high selection standards, the festival attracted more than 90 000 fans this year and saw 40% of its 195 screenings completely sold out.
With such eminent titles that had previously premiered at [...]
Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino`s Pierrot Le Fou, his 8 1/2, a movie about cinema and quite possibly his most sophisticated entertaining and exhilarating film to date. Basterds won’t cater to a mainstream crowd and although it has every Tarantino trait that he could possibly include, none of those trademarks stand out [...]
Funny People
Directed by Judd Apatow
Creating a hero has been easy for Judd Apatow; whether you’re a 40-year old man who has never had sex or a 20-something freeloader accidentally knocking up a girl during a one night stand, you best be sure these people will rise to the occasion. The hero in Apatow’s new much [...]
Rosarigasinos (Gangs of Rosario)
Directed by Rodrigo Grande
“We’re still the same assholes.”
Old habits die hard in Rodrigo Grande’s Rosarigasinos, a crafty little tale of rebirth and revenge. Imagine being separated from the world for 30 years. Imagine everything you once knew as life switched, grew, disappeared, died, or just simply changed, while you were away. Would [...]
After so many films at Fantasia, I’d forgotten that it’s possible to laugh at anything but an amusingly coloured pancreas, or the physically brutal awkwardness of an Asian romantic comedy. Thankfully, the Just for Laughs film festival is there to remind me that comedy is not always for serial killers Now in its 13th year, [...]
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the addition of two Gala Presentations and eight Special Presentations to the programming lineup for this year’s Festival, running September 10 to 19. Almost all the films included are world premieres except for two. The list of critically acclaimed filmmakers includes Joel and Ethan Coen, Werner Herzog, Rebecca [...]
The director of several well-received horror films (Habit, The Last Winter) and producer of many others, Larry Fessenden has also made scores of appearances in mainstream films from the likes of Kelly Reichardt and Neil Jordan. Simon sat down with him at a bar here in Montreal to discuss his latest producing and acting gigs, [...]
