Tag: movies
in regards to this weekend, to your head in my lap, there is nothing better
So, films to date:
The Great Contemporary Art Bubble: Outstanding. Fascinating to see who was willing to say what in regards to arts trading, arts speculation, and rigged auctions. Some of the art was atrocious, but that’s part of the point. Also, there’s great satisfaction in seeing someone stick it so adroitly to Damien Hirst.
Soundtrack for a Revolution: Five stars. I’ve never seen a better film on the fight for African-American civil rights. I hope for all of our sakes this film gets picked up scholastically. Interesting, too, to watch it in Canada, rather than the US. Also, hot damn, that was a lot of really good music. Extra points to The Roots playing with TV On The Radio.
Castaway on the Moon: Oh my stars and garters, this was cracking fun. Korea, you win. Forever.
Forbidden Door: Do not go. Four, possibly five twist endings painfully wrestle across the last ten minutes of the film, awkwardly obliterating any of the good what came before. If you must see it, leave as he sits laughing at dinner and before he bothers with the bloody stupid door.
Air Doll: Exactly as expected, minus some confusion as to what, precisely, is a sex scene. Korean films are excellent, (apparently Air Doll is Japanese, it’s only the lead who is Korean. My mistake.) the premise gives a certain shine to otherwise shopworn ideas about what is beautiful about living, and that’s about it. Cute, sweet, slightly odd. Rent it with a date. Or don’t.
The Girl: Related somehow to Let The Right One In, it reminded me of short stories I read when thirteen. Calm, uncanny, yet utterly prosaic. My favourite film so far after Castaway On The Moon.
Face: We walked out. It started off promising, with a truly excellent bit with singing fashion models in bunny suits and a reindeer trapped in a forest full of mirrors, but there wasn’t anything else worth mentioning, except that our lives were made better by leaving.
Today
6:45 – Kamui Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)
9:30 – Breathless Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)
Tuesday
7:00 – The September Issue Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7 (tentative)
9:30 – Mother Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7
Wednesday
6:30 – Home Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7
Thursday
6:30pm – Cow Empire Granville 7 Th 2 (tentative)
6:40pm – Canary Empire Granville 7 Th 1 (tentative)
9:30pm – Bong Joon-Ho & Co: A 25th-birthday Tribute to KAFA Vancity Theatre
Please join us for any of these fine events!
I’m not going to Seattle this weekend, surprise, because, gloriously, it is time to VIFF!
The Vancouver International Film Festival kicked off yesterday, (Oct 1 – Oct 16), and I though I considered leaving town, it’s the most fun you can have in Vancouver whilst only sitting on your ass. I’d be a fool to miss out. This is the schedule Tony and I cobbled together for our weekend glued to chairs and the silver screen, mowing down endless tubs of candy and greasy popcorn, only occasionally blinking in the hateful light of this-thing-you-call-the-outside as we quest for more substantial food than the traditional yet truly terrible movie theater hot-dogs.
More to come later in the week, as this thing runs until the 16th and I’ll be damned if I only go for three days.
Friday, October 2
9:15pm – The Great Contemporary Art Bubble
Empire Granville 7 Th 1
Saturday, October 3
11:30 pm – Delicious breakfast
Havana’s on Commercial Dr.
1:30 pm – Soundtrack for a Revolution
Empire Granville 7 Th 2
4:15pm – Castaway on the Moon
Visa Screening Room, @ Empire Granville Th7
6:00-ish – Birthday dinner with Mishka
place as yet to be determined
?? – Delicious meat & wine & cheese
Blood Alley’s SALT.
9:00 pm – Forbidden Door
Empire Granville 7 Th 3
Sunday, October 4
10:30am – Will Not Stop There
1:00pm – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Empire Granville Th7 (tickets are RUSH aka At The Door Only. We’ll have to line up eaarly)
4:00pm – Air Doll
Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7
6:20pm – The Girl
Empire Granville 7 Th 4
9:15pm – Face
Visa Screening Room @ Empire Granville Th7
I’d go tonight, but I promised Tony I’d go with him
And you know what that means! Today 9 comes out, the full length stitchpunk feature produced by Tim Burton and Timur “freaking” Bekmambetov, the guy responsible for Nightwatch and Daywatch, (and distributed by my favourite company, Focus Features), based off Shane Acker‘s amazing Oscar nominated 2005 short film of the same name:
Also, whimsical trend blog Urlesque have christened 09/09/09 as The Day Without Cats on the Internet. Please abide.
SPARK FX ’09
Jan 21-26
"Ten eye catching classic effects laden films, 20 fascinating speaking events and 6 fabulous days. SPARK FX 09 is bringing films like Alien, Forbidden Planet, T2: Judgment Day and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers back to the big screen. Many will be introduced by historians and filmmakers to give you some insights into the making of these popcorn gems. On top of that Dennis Muren of ILM, Kyle Cooper of Prologue, Dr. Paul Debevec of USC and Jeff Barnes of CafeFX will be speaking at the show, as will dozens of other film, FX and games industry leaders. We’ll have panels on pipeline architectures, rendering human beings, VFX in Vancouver and why practical effects still rock. Come join us for the week at SPARK FX 09 – you’ll be sorry if you miss it!
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad JAN 21 // 7:00 pm BUY TICKETS
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl JAN 21 // 9:30 pm BUY TICKETS
Forbidden Planet JAN 22 // 7:00 pm BUY TICKETS
Alien JAN 22 // 9:30 pm BUY TICKETS
Pan’s Lanyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) JAN 23 // 7:00 pm BUY TICKETS
Terminator 2: Judgement Day JAN 23 // 9:45 pm BUY TICKETS
TBD JAN 24 – Check back soon!
Pleasantville JAN 25 // 7:00 pm BUY TICKETS
The Abyss JAN 25 // 10:00 pm BUY TICKETS
The City of Lost Children (La cité des enfants perdus) JAN 26 // 7:00 pm BUY TICKETS
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers JAN 21 // 9:30 pm BUY TICKETS
a satisfying week
(It could happen to you.)
Across the buildings, a slight gap in the clouds. Keith looks out and says, “oh look, a nice day.” A shift in the sky and the blue goes away. Weather whispering gray. Today it snowed briefly in a winter half effort. White flakes, fat with promise, that melted as soon as they touched ground. Now, as before, it is raining.
I’m glad my week has been wonderful enough to make up for the weather. I cried upon waking my first day back from California, mutely, pained, unhappy. “What’s wrong, what is it?” A thousand things, a hundred disappointments, ten I could say aloud, but only one to share, “There’s no sky.”
Tuesday: Finally seeing Cory McAbee‘s The American Astronaut on the big screen was absolutely fabulous. Officially Duncan was hosting it, but my involvement (with That Mike) brought me to the front of the room, answering questions as I sat beside him, swinging my legs under the table that only came up to his knees.
Wednesday: Amanda Palmer‘s show with Zoë Keating and the Australian theater company The Danger Ensemble was outrageously Off The Hook. It’s an expression I sometimes hate, but I can’t think of anything more apt. Zoë Keating was exactly as mind-bendingly glorious as expected, but Amanda Palmer raucously surprised me. Her humour and spark and pure scintillating shine blew juicy, delicious bubbles of overwhelming near-religious delight into every nook and cranny of my brain. Just like everyone else at that show, I think I now love her. It was also a great time to play catch up, as people I love were in attendance I haven’t seen in absolutely forever, like Dragos and Tall-Travis. (Also, Kyle, I said Hello for you. She was thrilled.)
Thursday: As a fluke, while waiting to get in to see Zoë & Amanda Palmer, Andrew Brechin gave David and I a free voucher to Waltz With Bashir, a strong, very personal animated documentary into the horrors of the 1982 Lebanon war. Telling the story of the 1982 Sabra-Shatila massacre of Palestinian refugees through the director’s own reclaimed memories, it was educational without preaching, and painful without guilt. At first I was skeptical of the animation style, which reminded me too strongly of old cut scenes and on-line java cartoons, but the story pulled us in, and the animation smoothed as the film continued, leaving us rapt as it drew to a close.
Tonight: There’s a Tom Waits Tribute Night at Cafe Deux Soleils from 8:30 – midnight. “a line up of the who’s who in east vancouver gather together to sing the songs of one of the most influential artists around. his world of strange wit and hard luck characters has made a home in each of our hearts. come out dressed in black, red and your fancy feel ready to sing along and stomp the floor silly.” Featuring: Blackberry Wood, Tarran the Tailor, my sweet and charming friend Jess Hill, our very own RC Weslowski, CJ Leon, Christie Rose, Chelsea Johnson of the Foxy House which hosted my birthday, Corbin Murdoch, Jeff Andrew, Buffaloswans, Maria in the Shower, Fraser Mclean, Christa Couture, Nick Lakowski, Sarah Macdougal, Pawnshop Diamond, Katie Go Go, and Mike the Swan.
Tomorrow: Our all day, all night non-denominational, costumes optional, holiday social and house party to celebrate David moving in, with crepes in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and candle-lit silent black and white horror films until dawn. (In regards to BYO: Bring your own syrup, eggs, fruit, or toppings, bring tea, cookies, or pie, bring flowers, feathers, or figs, whatever you feel appropriate, but most importantly, bring yourself.) Extra guests welcome within moderation
Bonus: Amanda playing Radiohead’s Creep on the ukulele for Kyle and Neil at the Cloud Club.
starring that 1 guy as a scruffy, scruffy bass player. how shocking
THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT
a movie so good that it was introduced to me as a way to get into my pants.
(Just typing that in caps sets the music off in my head)
“Space travel has become a dirty way of life dominated by derelicts, grease monkeys, and hard-boiled interplanetary traders such as Samuel Curtis. Written, directed and starring Cory McAbee of the legendary cult band The Billy Nayer Show, this sci-fi, musical-western uses flinty black and white photography, rugged Lo-Fi sets and the spirit of the final frontier. We follow Curtis on his Homeric journey to provide the all-female planet of Venus with a suitable male, while pursued by and enigmatic killer, Professor Hess. The film features music by The Billy Nayer Show and some of the most original rock ‘n’ roll scenes ever committed to film.”
Tuesday, December 9, doors at 7:30, Vancouver Film School, 400 W. Hastings Street
facebook event page
artpost: preparing for lift-off
“A dangerous mission reunites STINGRAY SAM with his long lost accomplice, The Quasar Kid. Follow these two space-convicts as they earn their freedom in exchange for the rescue of a young girl who is being held captive by the genetically designed figurehead of a very wealthy planet. This musical space-western miniseries is designed for small screens and perfect for screens of all sizes. “
It’s not Werewolf Hunters of the Midwest, the next film he was ostensibly working on, but it looks to be just as weirdly captivating. For extra points, his sweetheart co-star in this kooky Cowboy Space Musical is his wee little daughter, it’s narrated by David Hyde Pierce, and rumour says it was filmed in only two weeks. I believe the proper response is Hell Yeah!!
found via Marc-Antony, popular purveyor of joy
file under: only in october
One of the benefits of having David move in is better access to his obsessive movie collection. One of the downsides of this is some of what’s in his obsessive movie collection. (Which he put on the shelf in alphabetical order.) (Before you think I am ragging too much, I would like to point out that I have enough of my own OCD that I had to rearrange his DVD collection because he put it on the bookshelf wrong. I don’t care if it’s alphabetical, though I’ll smirk a bit and wave my hands around and mock him as any good girl should, but, no matter what order, They Should Be Stacked, it saves space. Argh, bargle, why oh why do I even care? Etcetera. Yes, it’s silly, but you’re not the one living with me, so whatever. Keep reading.)
Anyway. To begin our dirty exploration into his amazing collection of occasionally questionable cinema, we sat down last night and watched Neil Marshall’s Werewolf movie, Dog Soldiers with Remi, Karen’s very nice secondary, who’s been staying with us the last little while, and let me tell you now, it was Not Good. Initial Sex Scene Where Everyone Is Eaten! Gratuitous Dog Killing To Prove Bad-Assery! (Equilibrium, anyone?) Completely Obvious Betrayals Hinged Upon Even More Obvious Plot Twists!
It was, however, completely and utterly everything you might want out of a Werewolves VS. Soldier-boys movie. Neil Marshall brings a fan-boy’s love of the genre in a similar, though not quite as amazing, way his Doomsday did for Mad Max.* (I’m still not going to watch Descent anytime soon, though). The monsters were not CG, the improbable foreshadowing remained improbable, (there was no explanatory SCIENCE!!), everyone bonds through bantering which Does Not Suck, and there was satisfactory slavering, a fun death by tree-branch, lots of splattering blood, and an incredible moment of Cow From Above. There were moments where it dragged, mostly near the end where they ran out of people to slaughter, (but remember it’s spelled with laughter), and the remaining characters had to get all sensitive yet manly, but even so, it seemed pretty perfect for Hallowe’en. A solid four cheesy pumpkins out of five.
*if you haven’t seen Doomsday, you sincerely need to get right on that.
like a walked-into-a-bar joke
Tonight’s music: AIRtest.
found via Warren, who has this description: “It’s techno, played by a jew’s-harpist and a vocalist/beatboxer from Hungary and a didgeridoo player from Germany. Acoustic Goa.”
My usual Sunday office job bailed on me today, (no one had booked the building for the Sunday after New Year’s, so there was no reason to have anyone there. Scary, financially, but not unexpected), so Ray and I decided to step out and see The Golden Compass instead. Not really sure what there is to say about it, except that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I like the idea of a children’s movie that’s anti-indoctrination, but was not particularly thrilled with the formulaic, predictable plot or the overly drawn out fight scenes. Oh! And the bear! Ian McKellen playing a warrior polar bear prince, that’s great! Now could you please not let his character lose gravity every time he runs? Basic animation principles, people, basic!
Ah well, I also pointed out the poor copy and flawed marketing in the Earl’s drink menu booklet, too, when we went to dinner before the movie, so perhaps I’m really not in any position to be attempting to discuss design like a normal human being.
