Friday May 09, 2008
Great fun, if you like watching video games
Speed RacerDirected and writtenby Larry and Andy WachowskiStarring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John GoodmanClassification: PG**Ever since The Matrix, that eye-popping triumph of style over substance, film fans - okay, some film fans - have been waiting impatiently for the next big gambit from the brothers Wachowski. Those sequel Matrices didn't really count, amounting to little more than a shuffling of pawns; nor did their role as producers in V for Vendetta. So Speed Racer, which they wrote and directed, looks to be it. And darned if the bros haven't engineered another breakthrough, putting a new reverse spin on that most ecumenical of genres, the family movie. Yes, from adults through teens to tykes, there's something here for everyone to dislike - the whole clan can have fun making fun of this thing. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Canada This week Last Week(Cdn. $; total in brackets)1Iron Man-$7,638,913 ($7,638,913)2Made of Honor-$1,302,821 ($1,302,821)3Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay1$1,233,409 ($4,668,148)4Forgetting Sarah Marshall3$613,596 ($4,179,019)5Baby Mama4$553,133 ($1,825,524)6The Forbidden Kingdom3$504,267 ($4,564,522)7Nim's Island7$242,550 ($3,169,797)8215$235,966 ($8,786,803)988 Minutes6$191,542 ($1,631,408)10Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous 29$187,641 ($916,636) From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Despite steamy sex, film is tamer than the book
The Stone Angel Written and directed by Kari SkoglandStarring Ellen Burstyn and Christine Horne Classification: 14A**1/2Margaret Laurence's 1964 novel The Stone Angel may be a cornerstone of contemporary Canadian literature, but it presents daunting challenges for anyone attempting a contemporary movie adaptation. For years, screenwriters have tried to come up with a way to bring it to the screen. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
It's better if you turn the sound down
What Happens in VegasDirected by Tom VaughanWritten by Dana FoxStarring Cameron Diaz and Ashton KutcherClassification: PG*1/2What Happens in Vegas should damn well have stayed in Vegas. Instead, the thing has leaked out as a movie that, one grey morning this week, swiped 100 minutes from my life. Granted, that's a misdemeanour at worst, and, of course, a part of my mission here (which I'm handsomely paid to accept) is to waste my time in order to prevent you from wasting yours. With that in mind, let's be mercifully brief, and do the reviewing job in a single, run-on sentence that can be read with an alacrity nowhere evident on the screen. Deep breath now - here goes. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
If it's lame, derivative and doesn't make you laugh, is it really a comedy?
Prom WarsDirected by Phil PriceWritten by Myles HainsworthStarring Ricky Ullman,Alia Shawkat, Rachelle Lefevre and Nicolas WrightClassification: 14A*Like so much comedic pollen, the cast of the late, lamented American sitcom Arrested Development has been scattered far and wide. Will Arnett has made feature films and enjoys a successful recurring role on 30 Rock. Jason Bateman played Ellen Page's would-be suitor in the Oscar-nominated Juno. Michael Cera starred in Juno as well as in the smash comedy Superbad and in his own charming internet TV series. But whither Alia Shawkat, who played Cera's sardonic 15-year-old cousin Maeby Funke? Well, she's making Canadian independent movies. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Growing up with Rambo and Depeche Mode
Son of RambowWritten and directedby Garth JenningsStarring Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon and Jules SitrukClassification: PG***Few movies have captured the intoxicating effect of pop culture on kids better than Son of Rambow, a British coming-of-age comedy set in Thatcher's England. The besotted youngsters in question, Lee and Will, are emotionally undernourished 12-year-olds attending a small-town middle school. Will belongs to a Christian sect that forbids all forms of merriment, movies being a particular no-no. Lee, meanwhile, lives in a gloomy manor that makes us think his name might be a tribute to Mr. Tall, Dark and Gruesome, Christopher Lee of Hammer horror-movie fame. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
A little boy's Stallone-sized dreams
Most people probably remember the sneaky thrill of the first ''grownup'' movie they watched. In the case of director Garth Jennings, it happened when he was 12, and he saw a friend's older brother's bootleg VHS of Sly Stallone's First Blood - the story of an angry Vietnam vet wreaking vengeance on his tormentors. The movie had an instant effect on him and his friends. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
The hand that rocks the husband
The BabysittersWritten and directedby David RossStarring John Leguizamo, Katherine Waterston and Cynthia NixonClassification: 18A***Shirley, the teenager turned hooker in The Babysitters, is the first to comment on her tediously normal upbringing in suburbia. Mother wasn't a drinker, father never hit her and uncle didn't show her his private parts in some dark basement. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
NOW PLAYING
Selected mini-reviews, rated on a system of 0 to 4 stars, by Rick Groen, Liam Lacey, Stephen Cole and Jason McBride. Full reviews appeared on the dates indicated.Caramel From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Wong's American road trip goes nowhere
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTSDirected by Wong Kar-waiWritten by Wong Kar-wai and Lawrence BlockStarring Norah Jones and Jude LawClassification: PG**Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's first foray into English-language cinema is, to be blunt, not very good. The celebrated stylist behind In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels and Ashes of Time is way out of his element in his story of various lonely Americans living in New York, Memphis and Las Vegas. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Mamet's martial-arts bout ends with no decision
REDBELTDirected and writtenby David MametStarring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emily Mortimer, Tim AllenClassification: 14A**1/2Somehow, the stars don't exactly seem aligned when David Mamet collides with a martial-arts flick. So it's no surprise that Redbelt, the collision's unbalanced result, teeters precariously between Mamet's typically noirish realm and the kick-ass commercial galaxy, looking not quite at home in either. That sense of displacement isn't necessarily unwelcome, and the film certainly feels different from studio fare, yet any final verdict is bound to be mixed. Let's settle for ''disappointingly unique.'' From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Farce goes on holiday
A Previous EngagementDirected and written by Joan Carr-WigginStarring Juliet Stevenson, Tcheky Karyo, Daniel SternClassification: 14A*1/2If you're planning to go to a Mediterranean island for a romantic rendezvous with your first love, don't bring your husband - he might ruin the mood. Unfortunately, this advice was never given to the heroine of A Previous Engagement. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
An ugly view through the nanny cam
THE UNKNOWN WOMAN (La Sconosciuta)Written and directed by Giuseppe TornatoreStarring Xenia Rappoport and Michele PlacidoClassification: 18A**The Unknown Woman is a film of extremities. Its passions are all-consuming, its exploitations sickening. And just when a flicker of redemption or emotional release materializes, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malena) snuffs it out with gale-force brutality. It's brave filmmaking. It's visceral art. It's so Italian. But does the intensity of the direction help or hinder the storytelling? From Print Edition, 09/05/08
Wannabe directors find hope - and maybe fame - online
For years, we've been watching the same spectacle on YouTube and its clones. For all the different uses cheap online video has been put to, one of the most frequent is as a giant audition hall for would-be filmmakers. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
The musicians and the stories behind their music
Welcome to the time machine. In preparing for the 17-episode 1977 series All You Need Is Love, slated for a five-disc DVD release on May 13, British rock critic Tony Palmer and his producers interviewed everyone they could think of who shaped 20th-century popular music, from early ragtime to 1970s rock. Where the subjects had died, the producers found just the right footage, frequently rare - jazz great Charlie Parker playing his sax, or Woody Guthrie singing. From Print Edition, 09/05/08
HIGHLIGHT: ROUNDERS
From Print Edition, 09/05/08
members can read movies review going back to 1977.