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Film

Watching The Music – Come Into My World

This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive. By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, March 2005 Video: “Come Into My World” Artist: Kylie Minogue Album: Fever Director: Michel Gondry Released: 2002 Available on The Work of Director Michel Gondry from Palm Pictures Any frequent viewer of MTV will have seen Kylie Minogue many times, usually in little clothing and moving to a quick dance beat. Kylie Minogue, best known in North America for her 1988 hit cover single “The Loco-Motion,” was part of the pre-grunge, shiny… Read More »Watching The Music – Come Into My World

Childstar

This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive. By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, March 2005 Starring Don McKellar, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Mark Rendall Directed by Don McKellar Don McKellar has been entertaining for years, from the first feature he wrote, Bruce McDonald’s Roadkill, to his directorial debut Last Night.  Don McKellar might not be a household name, but his humour and dramatic sensibilities always create great movies.  He’s probably best known outside of his native country of Canada for co-writing The Red Violin and… Read More »Childstar

Watching The Music – She Says What She Means

This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive. By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, November 2004 Video: “She Says What She Means” Artist: Sloan Album: Navy Blues Directors: Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland & Andrew Scott (Sloan) Released: 1998 Available on Second Hand Views from Murderecords. “What would you say if we said we wanted to stop all this?” asks Sloan’s drummer Andrew Scott, fidgeting and uncomfortable.  The music video for “She Says What She Means” is based on the 1967 film Privilege starring Manfred… Read More »Watching The Music – She Says What She Means

Globetrotting – Toronto

This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive. By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, November 2004 Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith, Blue Rodeo and many more have called Canada’s largest city home.  Toronto is located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario and was originally populated by the Seneca and Mississauga First Nations peoples.  It became a point of European settlement, starting with the French setting up a fort in the early seventeenth century.  By the late eighteenth century, the British had colonized and named… Read More »Globetrotting – Toronto

Roadkill

This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive. By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, October 2004 Rating: ★★★★ (4.0/5) Starring Valerie Buhagiar and Don McKeller Written by Don McKeller & Bruce McDonald Roadkill is part of a rock ‘n’ roll trilogy.  This film was the beginning.  Bruce McDonald’s story and Don McKellar’s screenplay became an immediate classic Canadian film. Ramona (Valerie Buhagiar) was born and bred in Toronto.  Having lived in a big city and never really travelled, she had never even learned how to drive. … Read More »Roadkill

Wonderwall

  Between 1968 and 1975, George Harrison released six albums on the Beatles’ record label, Apple. The first record Harrison released was called Wonderwall Music, it was the soundtrack to a film directed by Joe Massot called Wonderwall. Maybe I should watch this film then. Wonderwall tells the story of obsession. A scientist is obsessed with his work. His life revolves around it and he doesn’t notice anything around him. Not his coworkers, not his apartment. He lives amongst the stacks of papers that line the walls of his apartment. Suddenly, in a rage, Professor Collins knocks a frame off his wall, exposing a hole. Through this hole he spies in… Read More »Wonderwall

Her

Her. Wow. It’s hard to write a review about a film that is just so plainly good. Spike Jonze’s latest film is about a man unable to let go of his past. He’s living a lonely life, until one day a new operating system is released, and he finds companionship and love in his new artificial intelligence. Her is an insanely beautiful love story between man and machine. It’s told extremely effectively, and Jonze proves once again that he is a master storyteller. Jonze hits screenwriter gold, where every piece of the film falls perfectly in place to advance the story. He excels at crafting this complex, but simple concept.

Llewyn performs

Inside Llewyn Davis

I was excited. I was going to the cinema for the first time in a while to see the new Spike Jonze film, Her. It was sold out. Instead we opted to see the new Joel & Ethan Coen film called Inside Llewyn Davis. Bit of a break down. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a folk singer. Davis is down on his luck. Davis is broke. Davis is couch surfing. Davis’s performing parter is not around. His debut solo record Inside Llewyn Davis isn’t selling. The film is a rock and roll road trip film. Except replace the rock and roll with folk, and make the road trip a minor part of the… Read More »Inside Llewyn Davis

Don Jon

There are only a few things I really care about in life My body My pad My ride My family My church My boys My girls and my porn.” Joseph Gordon-Dreamboat has been building quite an acting career. With Don Jon, he makes his feature-length directorial debut. Not only that, Gordon-Levitt also wrote the screenplay. Warning alarms should be going off, but he’s proven himself to be an intelligent man. When he was promoting (500) Days of Summer, Gordon-Levitt was well aware of something it seemed most of the audience wasn’t, that his character was chasing a dream, and thus treating the woman, Summer, with unrealistic expectations. Something which is so… Read More »Don Jon

Born Standing Up and The Jerk

I decided to read Steve Martin’s autobiography Born Standing Up. The book focuses on Martin’s career as a stand up comedian. It’s a strange thing to think of when it comes to Steve Martin, as he stopped performing stand up comedy before I was born. The book starts at his young days learning the craft while working at Disney Land in the magic shop, and slowing follows his career. The book is more than just a plain telling of his story, one that I don’t think had been told before, but instead Martin is writing a how-to for stand up comedians. Martin began, not as a comedian, but an entertainer,… Read More »Born Standing Up and The Jerk