Friday May 16, 2008
ART 
Artists and others rallying to keep gallery in Ottawa
Artists and politicians will rally in Ottawa today in a campaign to keep a proposed portrait gallery in the nation's capital just as the competition from alternative sites begins in earnest.
FILM
So rich you can smell the baguettes and taxis of Paris
Flight of the Red Balloon Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsienWritten by Hou Hsiao-hsienand Francois MargolinStarring Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu, Song Fang and Hippolyte GirardotClassification: PG
Doc series profiles gay icons, from Arthur Russell to Derek Jarman
The Hot Docs festival may be a fading memory, but docs remain hot at Inside Out. The third largest gay and lesbian film and video festival in the world, after those in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Inside Out opened last night and continues its 18th edition over the next 10 days with several new initiatives - including the well-curated Icon Documentary Series.
First, he had Paris
Director Hou Hsiao-hsien didn't originally intent to make an homage to The Red Balloon. In fact, he had never seen the classic French short film.It was only after he had cast the actors, including Juliette Binoche, and had chosen Paris as the backdrop of his new film that he happened to come across a mention of The Red Balloon in American writer Adam Gopnik's book about Parisian life, Paris to the Moon.
What on Earth was he thinking?
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?Directed by Morgan SpurlockWritten by Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan SpurlockStarring Morgan Spurlock, Alexandra JamiesonClassification: PG**Watching Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Morgan Spurlock's follow-up to his fast-food freak-out Super Size Me, it's very tempting to ask a question of your own: Where in the world is Morgan Spurlock's head? Occasionally, during this exasperating and goofy documentary, it seems squarely on his shoulders. Most of the time, however, it's firmly lodged up another part of his anatomy.
An American innocent abroad, supersized
Stuffing yourself with grotesque amounts of McDonald's food and watching your body turn to melted cheese (or ''cheese food product'') is a tough act to surpass. What's left, biting the heads off chickens?
HIGHLIGHT: DECONSTRUCTING HARRY
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Canada This week Last Week(Cdn. $; total in brackets)1Iron Man1$3,954,593 ($14,349,832)2What Happens In Vegas-$1,622,304 ($1,622,304)3Speed Racer-$752,320 ($752,320)4Made of Honor2$665,386 ($2,508,239)5Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay3$586,338 ($5,747,356)6Forgetting Sarah Marshall4$339,314 ($4,815,933)7Baby Mama5$271,588 ($2,313,876)8The Forbidden Kingdom6$232,281 ($4,965,005)9218$114,966 ($8,993,926)10Nim's Island7$108,455 ($3,311,005)
Short but not exactly sweet
SandM: Short and MaleDirected and writtenby Howard GoldbergClassification: PG**For mirthless men of a certain height (this reviewer included), Randy Newman's 1977 hit Short People struck a particularly sensitive nerve. ''Short people got no reason to live,'' Newman sang, making all-too-plain the discrimination that many shorter-statured fellows felt. The singer's tongue might have been planted firmly in his cheek, but we'd have preferred he just bit it.
Narnia sequel takes a good thing and makes it lesser
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince CaspianDirected by Andrew AdamsonWritten by Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeelyStarring Georgie Henley,Ben Barnes, William MoseleyClassification: PG**''Things never happen the same way twice.'' - Aslan, the allegorical lion
NOW PLAYING
Selected mini-reviews, rated on a system of 0 to 4 stars, by Rick Groen, Liam Lacey and Stephen Cole. Full reviews appeared on the dates indicated.SON OF RAMBOW
SOCIAL STUDIES
Tabletop time travel?
New on video/DVD
THIS WEEK I'm Not There *** Youth Without Youth **1/2 The Great Debaters ** Mad Money ** Untraceable ** Walk Over Me *Ratings were provided by Globe and Mail critics at the time of the films' theatrical release.
All Frank, all the time
Kiwi director is homeward bound
Andrew Adamson isn't a comedian, but he may be about to deploy the stand-up's golden rule: Go out while you're still on top.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Written and directed by Ari Folman (Israel)Persepolis meets Full Metal Jacket in Ari Folman's powerful and original animated war film, an ''animated-documentary'' investigation into the filmmaker's experiences as an 18-year-old soldier in the Lebanon war of 1982. Folman was present at the most notorious episode of that war, the massacres of hundreds of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon, conducted by Christian Phalangists, in an area of Israeli control.
Why the director of Blindness likes test screenings
When Fernando Meirelles screened a version of his new film Blindness to a test audience in Toronto before it was completed, he realized that he had a problem on his hands: Ten per cent of his audience, almost 50 people, walked out before the end.
THEATRE
Teasing glimpse inside the bedroom doesn't satisfy
SEXUAL PRACTICES OF THE JAPANESE Written by Maiko Bae Yamamoto, James Long, Manami Hara and Hiro Kanagawa Directed by Maiko Bae Yamamoto and James Long A Theatre Replacement production presented
