THROUGH THE NEVER: Win Metallica schwag!
If the Apocalypse had a house band, Metallica would do nicely. Fans will get a chance to see just such a scenario in the metal superstars’ latest foray to the silver screen – “Metallica: Through the Never,” opening in IMAX 3D Sept. 27. Unlike Some Kind of Monster, this one is not a documentary. It […]
EIFF REVIEW: Muscle Shoals does its namesake proud
The great electric blues guitarist Otis Rush had some cracking albums in his day – and like his live gigs, they always started out with something smoking that really set the tone. In 1969 it was an album called “Mourning in the Morning.” Like most things musical, attempting to describe its incendiary, note-stabbing kickoff, all […]
EIFF REVIEW: Punk rock doc a homage for fans only
Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead was once asked what it meant to play music outside of mainstream tastes. His brief and poignant response perfectly captures the ethos of Filmage: the Story of the Descendents/All: “It means you’re f—ing broke.” Screening Oct. 1 as part of the Edmonton International Film Festival, Matt Riggle’s documentary pays a fawning, […]
Nerds to rule at Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo
It’s that time of year again. You can feel it in the air – a radiant mass nerdliness as we head into the annual autumnal weekend of the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo! Don’t judge us. Geek is the new chic, don’t you know. Seriously, why wait for Halloween to dress as your favourite fantasy-sci-fi-comic-book […]
Kaleido balloons into major Edmonton festival
If you were driving down 118th Avenue on Monday afternoon, you might have spotted clowns, mimes and tin foil robots, a Renaissance flautist in full regalia, along with Ukrainian dancers and Cuban dancers and belly dancers and ballet dancers and God knows what else. It could be only one thing, of course: The annual media […]
FILM: Hollywood in our backyard
Billy Bob Thornton was spotted outside of London Drugs in West Edmonton Mall a few weeks ago. He was in the area filming the crime thriller “Cut Bank,” about a small town Montana boy in the wrong place at the wrong time. John Malkovich co-stars. As Billy Bob left the store, he looked like he […]
New Edmonton Short Film Festival open to anyone
It’s wonderful that anyone with an iPhone can become a filmmaker these days. But who has time to sit through 100,000,000,000 YouTube videos to find one or two gems? That’s what film festivals are for – and there’s a new one looming on the local horizon that’s open to anyone who coughs up the $20 […]
Jewish film asks awkward question: What DID grandpa do in the war?
You’d be upset, too, if you discovered that your Jewish grandparents partied with Nazis – an astounding example of “temporary mutual interest.” Playing at the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival that runs May 26-29, The Flat starts with a very ordinary scene familiar to everyone of a certain age, and not at first something you’d think […]
THEATRE: Century old labour dispute more relevant than ever in Strike!
Just to save Ezra Levant the trouble of looking into this, the show Strike! – a musical about the bloody 1919 general strike in Winnipeg – is all union. Equity actor’s union, stage tech union, you name it, no scabs here. The only dodgy bit is the show’s co-creator, producer, promoter, chief cook and bottle […]
DISASTER DOCS: Who needs Towering Inferno?
There was no shortage of disaster movies at this year’s Global Visions Film Festival, which wrapped on March 3 after screenings of more than 45 documentaries from around the world. Thing is, these were real disasters. Who needs Irwin Allen? Who needs Towering Inferno when you have Twin Towering Inferno? The festival people haven’t crunched […]
GLOBAL VISIONS REVIEW: Wampler’s Ascent a manifesto for the disabled
Like the blind man who summited Mount Everest, Steve Wampler undertook an impossible ordeal few people would think was sensible – scaling the highest cliff in the West despite being afflicted with cerebral palsy. Wampler’s Ascent, the gala closer of the Global Visions Film Festival on Sunday, March 3, details the California native’s attempt in […]
Truth trumps special effects at Global Visions Film Festival
If there seems like there’s more interest in documentaries these days, it’s because there is. Hey, it’s either that or another damned Batman movie – in 3D, of course. “In an era when the major studios are really just concentrating on action or effects-driven superhero franchises, audiences are turning to documentary for real storytelling,” says […]
