Sunset Song a sombre beauty
Movie review: Sunset Song
English filmmaker Terence Davies creates a sad and lovely portrait, in light and shadow, of a young girl on the cusp of womanhood on the eve of the First World War
Typewriters, newspapers now retro cool
Column: Mickleburgh
An old scribe ventures back to the future on a recent trip to Seattle where old-fashioned print media and analog typing contraptions still have a place and a meaningful, if sentimental, sense of purpose
By Rod Mickleburgh
Hey, kids! Montreal Expos caps and vinyl aren’t the only hip retro around. Be the first in your group to read a print newspaper. Take time out from your busy online life, relax and turn the pages. Impress your friends. You never know what unexpected treasures of information and features might lurk deep within.
As the late, great David Carr (sigh) did during all his visits outside New York, I still peruse the local newspapers whenever I venture beyond Van, man. Here are some print gleanings from a recent weekend baseball venture to Seattle. You, too, can be a newspaper explorer.
1. Let’s start with a joke. You’re probably one of those who think Boise, Idaho is no laughing matter. Well, you’d be wrong. The lede of an enticing ...
Slicing Life: A Tale of Two Cities
Blu-ray blast from the past: A Tale of Two Cities
Reflections on the Revolution in France - from the man who brought you Shanghai Surprise: Jim Goddard's adaptation of the Dickens classic still holds its edge, even in a 1980 Hallmark production starring Chris Sarandon and Peter Cushing
Alice Through the Looking Glass distorted by Depp
Movie Review: Alice Through the Looking Glass
Johnny Depp reprises his role as the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice sequel, but the one-time teen idol feels like a cross between a zombie Madonna and Ronald McDonald
X-Men: Apocalypse, Now and Then
Movie review: X-Men: Apocalypse
Director Bryan Singer brings the comic book franchise to the brink as he sends us back to the 1980s, when the powerful mutants were forced to pick sides
Whit Stillman loves powerful women
Interview: Whit Stillman on Love & Friendship
The American filmmaker creates a fine comic weave using Jane Austen's material, Kate Beckinsale's sharp talents and his unique sense and sensibility for social satire
By Katherine Monk
“I really enjoy dominant, manipulative women. I find them very entertaining,” says Whit Stillman, his tone so matter-of-fact, it almost makes you laugh.
Then again, that’s his charm. The director of Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco built a reputation as a cunning social satirist in the ‘90s for plucking the veil off human vanity to show us the pimples of truth. He also showed a preference for using powerful, insightful and somewhat self-absorbed females as the dainty hand behind his narrative tatting.
It’s the reason why his latest endeavor, Love & Friendship, feels like such a natural stitch in Stillman’s oeuvre: It’s based on the work of Jane Austen, the godmother of social satire, a pioneer of female ...
Xavier the Great crushes Cannes skeptics
News: Xavier Dolan wins Grand Prix, Ecumenical Prize at Cannes 2016
Quebec's golden boy picks up second-highest honour at Cannes, but his quest for the coveted golden palm continues, as does his battle with critics
By Katherine Monk
He didn’t win the Palme D’Or, but Xavier Dolan’s double win at this year’s Cannes Film Festival marks the best performance by a Canadian on the Croisette since Atom Egoyan scored a triple with The Sweet Hereafter back in 1997.
Dolan won the Grand Prix and the Ecumenical Prize for his latest film Juste la fin du mode (It’s Only the End of the World), a drama that follows a writer with a terminal illness on his final journey home. Based on the stage play by the late Jean-Luc Lagarce, It’s Only the End of the World is Dolan’s sixth feature, and fifth title to be invited to France’s red carpet extravaganza.
“Dolan’s two latest awards at Cannes are renewed recognition of his immense talent, of course, but also of the determined ...
High-Rise makes you feel the fall
Movie review: High-Rise
Ben Wheatley's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel about high-rise living takes social metaphor to vertiginous heights
Angry Birds flaps hard and flies
Movie review: Angry Birds
The film adaptation of the "stupid game" features an all-star voice cast hurled through a surreal landscape, capturing the essence of modern times as flightless birds struggle to save their eggs from greedy pigs
