Author: Dan Dickinson

Cover photo from the TIFF site

#TIFF15: FILM 6

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Our planned TIFF schedule wrapped up last weekend (except Nellie’s Norman Reedus expedition), but for the second year in a row we found ourselves invited to a Gala, just to supplement things. Last night T-Bone filled in for Nellie, who was destroyed with a summer cold.

The film in question was Stonewall (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff) and…oh boy. I went into this with some dread about what Roland Emmerich would do to such an important story, but tried to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, Roland Emmerich went ahead and made this into a Roland Emmerich film. I mean, there were no aliens or monsters or impending doomsdays, but he chose to present an inherently dramatic situation, and an absolutely pivotal moment in the history of the LGBT rights movement, as a 20-minute episode wrapped in a two-hour clichéfest. There were at least two scenes which should have been emotional or powerful, but were so hackneyed and stilted that the audience — a very friendly one, by the way — laughed out loud at the clumsiness.

The film was almost saved by full-on performances from Jonny Beauchamp and (in a smaller role) Vladimir Alexis, and the evening itself was saved by pre-film drinks with good company, but…man. Roland Emmerich.

Cover photo from the TIFF site

#TIFF15: Film 5

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Late (and late) on Sunday night we saw High-Rise (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff | av club) at the Visa Screening Room. Despite being quite close to the front of line, we had our worst seats ever. In our long history of going to that theatre we’ve never once had to sit in the balcony, let alone the upper balcony. I think the joint was full of media and industry people before we even walked in. Anyway.

I hadn’t paid attention to who the director was when picking this one — it sounded interesting, and Nellie was on board because The Hiddleston — so when Cameron Bailey introduced Ben Wheatley, we were excited. We saw Sightseers at the festival three year ago and loved it. Wheatley introduced most of his principal cast — Tom Hiddleston, Elisabeth Moss, Jeremy Irons, Luke Evans — before getting down to business.

Unlike many in the audience that night, neither of us had read the J.G. Ballard book on which the film was based, so we had no idea what we were in for. It was showy, to be sure…completely over the top while still clinging to a bit of staid, boring civility. So, the 70s, basically. The actors all did excellent work, but it seemed to veer from deep layers of style and eyebrow-cocking dialogue to utter anarchy in the span of a single scene.

I didn’t love it at first, but as I’ve let it sit I’ve appreciated it a bit more. But it’s not a movie I’d ever feel compelled to watch a second time. 6.5/10

And, with that, my TIFF was all but finished. Nellie had an extra screening tonight (because The Reedus) and we have a gala Friday, but to me the galas aren’t really a part of the festival, so…thanks, TIFF15. You were fun.

.:.

Cover photo from the TIFF site

Cover photo from the TIFF site

#TIFF15: Films 1-4

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We’re seeing seven festival films this year, which makes it our most ambitious in several years. In 2008 (right after I finished the MBA) I did thirty films and Nellie did twenty. Since then we haven’t done more than five in a single year. This year we bought our customary 10-ticket package, plus single tickets for a screening later this week, and we’ve been invited to a Gala near the end of the festival.

We kicked things off in prototypical TIFF fashion: Michael Moore’s newest documentary Where To Invade Next (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff). We were the first audience to see it. No one even knew what it was about, and the teaser image they put in the programme book was deceiving. Rather than an anti-military polemic, this was a domestic-issues plea. Moore stuck around after the film (before the bidding war started) to answer questions, and talked about how the crew called this “Mike’s happy movie” since it presented near-Utopian solutions rather than just rail about problems. Maybe he’s softening in his old age, but he’s still awfully entertaining. 8/10

Our token Midnight Madness entry was a big miss. Baskin (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff) started off SO well…so creepy, so tense, so gripping…and then wasted it all on a ridiculous set piece in the final act. After the screening the director said he was heavily influenced by French new wave horror and old Italian horror cinema. This felt derivative of both. 4/10

With only a few hours’ sleep following our Midnight Madness miss, we got up Saturday morning to see Sicario (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff), Denis Villeneuve’s latest. This had the most star power of any film we’ll see this year, and is already scheduled for a broad release in a month or so. Still, it was worth it: this was a better version of a straight procedural (written by Taylor Sheridan, who I mostly remember from playing small parts on Sons Of Anarchy and Veronica Mars) and shot with such skill by Roger Deakins. It was engrossing from the very beginning — despite the man hacking up a lung one section over and the dude next to me whose phone kept flashing like an emergency beacon — and watching Benicio Del Toro evolve (devolve?) over the course of the film was masterful. 8/10

The Lobster (imdb | rotten tomatoes | tiff) was…weird. Basically, you start by accepting the premise that all single people must go to a hotel where you have 45 days to meet someone to pair off with, else you’re turned into an animal of your choice. Colin Farrell, playing a frumpy architect, chose the titular lobster. This is a darker, less symmetrical Wes Anderson film (the same dryness and absurd humour live here) which maybe went on a little too long. Part of the problem was that the movie stopped dead halfway through, and re-started 20 minutes prior to where it cut off, so we watched both the funniest part and the most awful part twice. Eventually they got it back on track, but I found it a little tough to put myself back in that world after the projector took me out of it. Oh, and the chick in front of us having a total fucking meltdown because, I don’t know, her friend was mean to her or she couldn’t find a parking spot or something. Still, Lobster: points for creativity. 7/10

.:.

Cover photo from the TIFF site

Cover photo by Jason Sweeney, used under Creative Commons license

“Please, tell me you are seeing this, too.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

In between all the nice weather this past weekend we decided to binge-watch a new show: Narcos (imdb | rotten tomatoes), another Netflix joint. It’s not an acting masterclass, but they told the story really well. I remember hearing Pablo Escobar’s name when I was young, but didn’t really absorb much detail about him beyond being a drug lord, so I was really hearing and seeing this fairly unbelievable story for the first time. That’s what made it so compelling. We killed it in three days.

On Monday we decided to watch the first episode of another new show which has just started airing here: Mr. Robot (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I was hooked in the first five minutes.

.:.

Cover photo by Jason Sweeney, used under Creative Commons license

A last northern wish

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Eight years ago I missed the Rheostatics last run because I had shingles (don’t ask). I’d seen them live half a dozen times before, but I always regretted not being able to see them that one last time before they broke up.

Last night I got a second chance, in maybe the most Canadian way possible. The Rheos had re-formed, along with Kevin Hearne (and Hugh Marsh on violin) for a run of three shows at the Art Gallery of Ontario, on the 20th anniversary of Music Inspired By The Group Of Seven. That album had been commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada to accompany their retrospective on the Group Of Seven. So yes, I was watching a hyper-Canadian band play an album commissioned by the national Canadian art gallery about a century-old Canadian art collective. Peak. Canadian. We bumped into M2 and H2 and their friend, and drank (of course) a Collective Arts beer.

After we all filed inside the band walked out and played the first six songs, silently. Well, almost — just as the band was about to begin playing “Blue Hysteria” Martin quietly said, “OK fellas…”, and I can’t be sure if he was preparing them or himself. I know that by the end of the song I was pretty emotional.

Dave finally broke the silence as he introduced “Northern Wish”, which played — like the entire album — over Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier’s silent video and archival footage, projected onto the walls of the art gallery’s central court where we stood. They played the rest of the album, adding so much more texture and intensity to songs like “Biplanes and Bombs” and “Lightning” than comes through on the studio album, and keeping the banter to an austere minimum, matching the quiet beauty of the northern Canadian videos playing all around us. Finally, with “Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun” they closed out the set, beautifully, wonderfully. They tried to say goodbye, like Winchell Price’s parting comments on the album itself, but we were having none of it.

They walked back onstage and played four songs: “Claire” (their biggest hit, which I’ve never particularly cared for, but was certainly happy to hear live one more time), one from their kids album The Story Of Harmelodia (“It’s Easy To Be With You”, I think?), the best version of “Christopher” I’ve ever heard, and then an absolutely riotous take on “Horses” that ended with Martin and Dave collapsed in a mutual heap, and Dave’s signature pork pie hat flung to Don Kerr on the drum kit. I hoped it was the end. Don’t get me wrong: I’d have dearly loved to watch them play all night, but I can’t imagine a better way to go out than yelling “Holy Mackinaw Joe!” back at them over and over, before that song’s Ragnarok ending.

OK fellas. I’m good now. Thanks.

Bye bye.

https://twitter.com/hackmur/status/639992872637329408

Cover photo by katherine of chicago, used under Creative Commons license

Rasa

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night T-Bone and I finally managed to meet up for dinner, after about five months of planning and juggling schedules. We’d scoped out a few places, but eventually landed on rasa. I hadn’t heard of it, but of course trusted her judgment.

I arrived fifteen minutes early, and discovered that the place lacks both air conditioning and proper fan coverage. Oh, and it was 36 degrees. So I sat there in my own sweat for a while, only cooling after I downed a glass of cold Falanghina.

Once T-Bone arrived and we managed to stop talking for a few seconds, we ordered our shared plates for the night:

  • MINI MUFFINS, corn, cheddar, poblano, semolina, lime butter
  • SIDE STRIPE SHRIMP, chilled coconut, pineapple, thai basil, taro root
  • BACON & TOMATO, pork belly, tomatoes, buttermilk, baby gem, pimento cheese
  • FISH BOARD:
    • CAPRESE, albacore tuna, bruschetta, basil, dehydrated olive, padano crisp
    • TARTARE, yellowfin tuna, yuzu chili aioli, apple slaw, ponzu glaze, taro chips
    • JERK TROUT, steelhead trout, cilantro crema, pineapple, jerk sauce, plantain
  • OCTOPUS, chorizo, ‘nduja puree, poblano salsa verde, peperonata, crispy lentils
  • WAGYU BEEF RIBS, corn puree, grilled corn, pomme frites, scotch bonnet sauce

Everything else was goddamn delicious. Honestly, there wasn’t a single mediocre dish. I mean, I always find beef ribs a tiny bit disappointing because they look SO BIG when they arrive but yield very little meat, but that’s my problem, not the ribs’. They were tender and delicious. The wine selection was better on the white side than the red, but we still made out just fine.

I’d definitely go back. Wearing shorts.

.:.

Cover photo by katherine of chicago, used under Creative Commons license

Herby, goaty business

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Beautiful weekends are made even better when your friends in Niagara-on-the-Lake invite you down for the night.

CBJ+M picked us up Saturday morning, and we drove to the Sunnyside Café for breakfast before heading down to Niagara. And by “heading” I mean crawling slowly through traffic jams. Eventually we made it to Beamsville for quick stops at Thirty Bench and Hidden Bench. We also stopped at Kew, and for the first time in four visits got to sit outside on their lovely patio.

We headed on into NIagara, picking up some beer at Silversmith and pie at The Pie Plate, and tasting more wine at the ridiculously grandiose Two Sisters. Finally, we arrived at Brian & Mandy’s for a nice afternoon swim, with poolside sparkling wine and crudités.

Our hosts prepared dinner: a vast pile of meat (steak, pork chops, and sausages) with beet salad and goat-cheese stuffed red peppers, along with bottles of 1999 valpolicella. A strawberry rhubarb pie procured earlier that day topped it all off.

We played bocce by car headlight, and some of us went for another dip. Brian and I were the two last standing, and ended the evening with a little Lagavulin.

The next day started with coffee, then another swim, then a fantastic brunch of bacon and herbed goat cheese fritatta, followed by yet more pie: a peach raspberry pie, to be exact. We played one bocce rematch, and then got on our way.

Stellar weekend, guys.

Every Time I…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night our pal Adam Bell and his two new business partners (aka Every Time I…) threw a pop-up dinner on Dundas West. We made our way over via streetcar and bus (PSA: the Duff bus is not a place for claustrophobic people) and got there much too early.

Not by accident, mind you. Conveniently the venue for this shindig was a few doors down from Midfield Wine Bar, a perennial favourite which we’re able to visit far too rarely. We warmed up for the main event with:

  • him: Pearce-Predhomme 2013 Pinot Gris / her: Chateau Ste Anne 2014 rosé
  • him: Monnot & Fils 2011 Côtes de Beaune Chardonnay / her: Jean Bourdy 2009 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay
  • him: Castello di Verduno 2013 ‘Basadone’ Pelavarga / her: back to the Chateau Ste Anne
  • them: charcuterie board

We wrapped up just in time to head to dinner. Or so we thought — the first seating was taking their time clearing out. We didn’t mind though, since that gave us some time to catch up with our friend Jeff, who’d come to the first seating.

Eventually we sat down and ate the crap out of this here:

It was all really good, but my god…the smoked perch croquette. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten all year.

Anyway, we left there and went back to Midfield with Jeff and his friend Saunders where they slurped oysters and we drank wine and Anchor Steam, then jumped in a cab and threw Saunders out to drag off from a terrible bar downtown, and then came home and drank a little Ardbeg to end the night to toast our buddy’s successful evening. Well done, sir.

Cover photo by jjbaird

Indie Boat Hop

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I don’t know what gave two of the best beer bars in the city the idea to collect a bunch of collab brews and serve them to people whilst sailing around Toronto harbour, but…kudos. Adam and I hit the second session on Sunday, and here’s what we drank.

  1. Amsterdam x Great Lakes x Bar Hop Reprieve IPL
  2. Sawdust City x Bar Hop Coriolis Effect Berliner weiss (with woodruff syrup)
  3. Bellwoods x Great Lakes Bretallica pale ale
  4. Stone City x Bar Hop Gertrude grisette
  5. Nickel Brook Raspberry Über berliner weiss
  6. Great Lakes x Bar Hop Gilligan Is Still Dead saison with guavas
  7. Great Lakes Limp Puppet session IPA
  8. Amsterdam Howl farmhouse ale
  9. Indie Alehouse Fallen Idol (x3; we had tickets to get rid of and this was literally the only tap left)

We had no interest in the Clifford Little Mutineer pilsner or either West Ave cider, but two more we did want to try — the Indie Alehouse x Bar Hop Rabbit of Caerbannog white IPA and Indie Alehouse Rubicon Belgian golden ale — both sold out before we could try them.

For me, the Howl and the Gertude carried the day, and being able to sail around the harbour on an absolutely perfect evening wasn’t bad either.

https://instagram.com/p/6xyqr6GmLm/?tagged=indieboathop

.:.

Cover photo by jjbaird

Busy week

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I mean, they’re pretty much ALL busy at this point because of work, but this one was busy because of extra-curriculars.

On Sunday Nellie and I joined a bunch of people in a private suite at the Rogers Cup women’s tennis finals. I had really hoped to watch Serena Williams dismantle someone, but she had lost a day earlier in an upset to Belinda Bencic. Still, we weren’t going to turn down the chance to sit in a suite and watch world-class tennis, so we took an extravagantly-priced uberSelect up to York University and drank cold Pilsner Urquell in the shade. In the end, Bencic won the tournament while I was in the bathroom; her opponent, Simona Halep, conceded due to injury while I was peeing some Urquell. Boo-urns.

On Monday I met some vendors for a late dinner at The Chase, since they seemed particularly interested in seafood. I have no great love for fish myself, but it was about the visitors to Toronto, not to me. I’d underestimated the place though — the food was outstanding, and our server was terrific. I had a few glasses of Vouvray, an octopus + chorizo starter, one half of the parmesan-crusted halibut for two, part of our bottle of Norm Hardie chardonnay, and a forkful of each of the three desserts our server brought: chocolate, lime, and strawberry/rhubarb.

The next night I had a meeting at Beerbistro (hey, I didn’t pick it…it’s next to this guy’s office) where I bumped into the same gentlemen from the previous evening. I’d mentioned it to them, and they decided to conduct all their meetings that day from the bar. I stayed for two, then walked around the corner for an impromptu drink meeting back at The Chase. Well…the Fish & Oyster bar downstairs.

On Thursday, after a quick dinner at Monk’s Table we walked to Boxcar Social for — and I swear I didn’t just dream this — a bourbon and chocolate tasting. Arranged by Tipsy Teachers, with bourbon selected by @BourbonThing and chocolate made by Chocosol, we tried (after a little chilled drinking chocolate) four squares of chocolate paired with four bourbons:

  • 75% cacao “Darkness” chocolate + Basil Hayden’s
  • 82% chocolate with raw vanilla + Elijah Craig 12
  • 5-chili bullet chocolate + Maker’s Mark 46
  • Raw-coffee bean chocolate + Four Roses single barrel

I learned last night why I like bourbons such as Four Roses (even this one, a 100-proof) and Basil Hayden’s: they have a much higher percentage of rye. So there you go: delicious, AND I learned something.

Nellie went camping on Friday, and so I, mercifully, did absolutely nothing.