What would truly-defined Canadian cinema be if it wasn't quirky? What indeed?
Vaguely comedic and dark, The French Guy touches a nerve with a story about a woman who has surgery to remove a brain tumor. She is released too soon and has problems every time she sneezes.
Many sexually-explicit activities occur in this film, but I think that it's the strong introspective nature of the characters and their circumstances that gives Lie with Me its heart of gold.
Edmonton-born director Hiller was on hand to present this screening of his 1976 film Silver Streak. Featuring the first of many pairings between Wilder and Pryor, here they act in this story about love and murder on a train, and off the train, and on and off again, and again.
Meyer was the first master of sexploitation flicks, movies whose cast involved the busty, buxom, and big-breasted actresses of that era. Well Russ went to that great porn ranch in the sky last year, but he left us a laundry list of one-track-minded pics as his legacy, including this real gem.
The EIFF does not have to be all about art films and world cinema, apparently. Sometimes it can have movies with light themes, expressed in insouciance, and doused in butter.
Welcome to Alchemy, a modern version of that classic 80s flick Electric Dreams.
When I first saw the trailer for this film, I cringed. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I could feel the sugar flow off the screen and into my lap. For most guys, this is what a trailer for a "chick flick" does to us. I was no exception.
I will admit here in print that I do like some "chick flicks", but the really good and intelligent ones.
Review: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Posted by: Dean Kish • October 7, 2005 @ 11:59am
Over the course of the 1990s, Aardman, a little animation house based in England, burst onto the scene with their clever and often zany takes on the world of claymation.
Julian Fellowes may have been born in Egypt, but Separate Lies is a distinctly British movie: a thousand pages to the script and it's all subtext. Well, that is but for one glaring exception of hugely on-the-nose dialogue. This film of marital discord and accidental murder starts off with a startling bang but then moves into super slo-mo for the next hour and a half.
EIFF Review: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Posted by: Scott Hayes • October 5, 2005 @ 11:59am
Martin Scorsese culled 60 hours of footage to thread a narrative line along this documentary about music pioneer Bob Dylan. Although a full review isn't possible (technical difficulties meant about an hour was left out of the screening), what was seen was quality documentarianism â€" Dylan in rare candid interviews talking about his influences, inspirations, and his work.
Junebug was a critical favourite at the Sundance Festival this year and for good reasons. It has good actors with good performances, great directing, a fine script...
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