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Prisoners

TIFF 2013; or how I learned to queue

Prisoners You may have heard of Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal who star in Prisoners, but you probably haven’t heard of Denis Villeneuve, unless you’re weird like me and enjoy uncomfortable but intelligent Quebec film.Villeneuve is probably most famous for his Oscar nominated Incendies or his docudrama about the École Polytechnique massacre appropriately called Polytechnique. Prisoners is Villeneuve’s first English-language film, and the first example of… If you want to make money, go English. In this film, two families are celebrating Thanksgiving. Their two young daughters go missing… UH OH! You think that’s the events getting bad, you’re mistaken; things go from bad to worse. Gyllenhaal plays the cop searching for the girls; he provides… Read More »TIFF 2013; or how I learned to queue

Carol Marcus

The Valkyrie Directive

For those who have seen the new Star Trek films, you’re aware of how poorly women are portrayed. As far as I can recall, we have Uhura, and… and… and… oh, there’s the green girl who Kirk bones, and Carol Marcus who seems to only be in the film to show her in her underwear. I was going to put that shot in my blog post. I decided it against it, and instead will feature a shot of the original Carol Marcus, a scientist, and mother, an ex-love, a human… Why I mention this is because The Valkyrie Directive is actually looking at women in Star Trek critically, and it’s… Read More »The Valkyrie Directive

In Review July 2013

My goal is to read 5 books, see 20 films, buy 20 albums, go to 15 concerts and attend 3 plays in the second half of 2013. I’m not doing great at my goal. Books I’ve read (0/5): Films I’ve seen (4/20): Cars 2 Children of Men Cherry 2000 Much Ado About Nothing Albums I’ve bought (0/20): Concerts I’ve attended (1/15): Poor Pilgrim Island Show Plays I’ve attended (0/3):

Roll in the soap

Cherry 2000

Sam Treadwell is having a lovely evening at home, chatting with his android when they decide to have a roll in the soap. If he had consulted his android’s owner’s manual, he would have known that moisture and electronics do not mix. Sadly his android short circuits and dies. I never actually thought there would be a film about a man’s love for his Fleshlight, but here we are. This man is so distraught by the death of his sex toy that he goes on a mission to find a replacement to upload her personality into. He’s shown all sorts of choices, but none are Cherry 2000, a long discontinued model.… Read More »Cherry 2000

Children of Men

At the suggestion of a friend I watched Children of Men. In the near future, no one can procreate, the youngest human has died. He was 18 years old. After hearing the news, bombs go off. Government is closing its borders to foreign nationals, as terrorism becomes an every day reality. Theo Faron is asked to escort a foreigner to safety. It turns out the woman he is trying to save is pregnant and about to give birth. The film was really good. While it was a negative dystopia, that were slivers of hope. Interesting scenarios, and a good examination of a government controlling its people.

Cars 2

I think when Pixar announced they would be making a sequel to Cars, everyone over the age of 10 was unhappy. While Pixar consistently makes some of the best films, Cars was one of the few failures. Financially, Cars was a huge success, but cinematically it wasn’t a very good film. Since Cars 2 came out, I’d been wanting to see it, just because it’s Pixar, but never really having the desire. I finally watched it, and I have to confess, it’s a good film. It’s not as good as most Pixar films, but it’s certainly better than its predecessor. Cars 2 is a spy film. Like the Bond films, the audience is immediately… Read More »Cars 2

In Review

Going through my old blog posts to see how it looks with the new theme. It all seems to be working well, but I came across a lot of posts that are a month in review. I had set up a goal for how much media I’d consume in that year and tracked it. I liked that. I’m going to start doing that for the rest of the year. So here are my goals from July 9-December 31… Books I’ll read (5): Films I’ll see (20): Albums I’ll buy (20): Concerts I’ll attend (15): Plays I’ll attend (3):

Superman

Man of Steel

Let’s take a brief break from discussing NXNE and talk about the new Superman film, Man of Steel. In 2006 Bryan Singer decided that the best way to return Superman to the big screen was to acknowledge the brilliance of the 1978 Superman film and its 1980 sequel Superman II by ignoring the remaining sequels and telling the story from that point onwards. After seeing the genesis of Superman time and time again, did the audience really need his origin story, again? Singer apparently thought not. What it did need, however, was a good film, and Superman Returns was not that. Hell, Superman III with Richard Pryor was a better… Read More »Man of Steel

Bond 01: Casino Royale vs. Bond 21: Casino Royale

I’ve decided to slowly read all the James Bond novels, then rewatch the film, review the two. The first James Bond novel is “Casino Royale,” while there are numerous films based on this novel, I’m going to focus on the Daniel Craig one. The novel isn’t very good. It’s a quick read, that’s certainly positive, however the negatives are great in this book, such as numerous chapters devoted to informing the reader how to play baccarat, something that’s never interested me. To the point that when I think of baccarat, I think of the scene in A Hard Day’s Night where Paul’s grandfather steal’s Ringo’s casino invite. The book’s portrayal of… Read More »Bond 01: Casino Royale vs. Bond 21: Casino Royale

Take This Waltz

Once again, Sarah Polley exhibits her uncanny ability to rip your heart right out of your ribcage and give it a thorough thrashing. Polley’s second film as director is a tale of a Margot (Michelle Williams) a woman who in Cape Breton mets Daniel (Luke Kirby). They get to know one another en route back to Toronto and opt to share a cab back to their homes. Turns out they’re neighbours in West Queen West, and while they quickly fall for one another, as Margot leaves the cab, she feels the need to inform Daniel that she’s married. Her husband Lou (Seth Rogen) is a chef working on a cookbook,… Read More »Take This Waltz