A few days ago we watched Southpaw (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was absolutely abysmal. The less said about that piece of crap the better.
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Cover photo by Derek Bruff, used under Creative Commons license
Category: Movies
“If we are going to have a secret project called ‘Elrond’, then I want my code name to be ‘Glorfindel’.”
Last night we had a laid-back Friday night and went to a movie for the first time in a long while: The Martian (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I didn’t read the book, but the trailer made the premise pretty clear: Matt Damon gets abandoned on Mars, and then sciences the shit out of the problem.
What a great 2.5 hours. It never felt like 2.5 hours, of course, because it was terrifically entertaining. Smart, funny, gripping, and endearing. There were no surprises. No big twists or higher concepts. Just science + drama. And it was great. Go see it.
Side note: there’s a nice little inside-Hollywood Lord Of The Rings joke that absolutely killed in our particular theatre.
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Cover photo from iMBb
#TIFF15: FILM 6
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.
#TIFF15: Film 5
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.
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Cover photo from the TIFF site
#TIFF15: Films 1-4
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
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Cover photo from the TIFF site
“C’mon buddy. After a long day of Turing tests you gotta unwind.”
Written by Alex Garland — he of 28 Days Later, Dredd, and Sunshine, among others — Ex Machina (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was another claustrophobic set piece about the will to live, even when things aren’t as they seem. It built tension slowly, like most of his films, but didn’t have quite the payoff I was looking for. Still, very entertaining.
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Cover photo by Steve Troughton, used under Creative Commons license
“It’s not done with me either.”
If you like scary/horror movies, do yourself a favor and see It Follows (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Tense, innovative, and a great example of what you can do with a tiny (by Hollywood standards) budget.
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Cover photo by screenpunk, used under Creative Commons license
“Was that a war crime, sir?”
Good Kill (imdb | rotten tomatoes): good concept, but clumsy execution. Thought-provoking, but often heavy-handed. Good acting, but January Jones.
Not a bad movie. Just felt like more could have been done with this.
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Cover photo by US Air Force, used under Creative Commons license
“Squirrel! Where’d you hide your nuts?”
In the week or so that we’ve been back from Berlin we’ve eaten out a lot, due in large part to our near-complete lack of groceries. New-found patio weather’s had something to do with it too. Needless to say, coming hot on the heels of the meat-and-beer frenzy that was Berlin, this has been a problem.
On Wednesday I met friends at Caren’s. I don’t remember eating much; it was all about the wine. Too much of it, probably. And it was too cold to sit on the back patio. More’s the pity.
On Friday Nellie and I met near my work to try out the new new-and-improved Jester On Yonge. Rumour had it they’d replaced many of their beer taps with local craft, and they did…but with more or less the most pedestrian offerings from each. I mean, I’d drink the Collective Arts Rhyme & Reason, Black Oak Nut Brown Ale, Side Launch Wheat, or Oast House Barnraiser all day long, but after that it’s a collection of middling beers like the Double Trouble Brewing Prison Break Pilsner, Flying Monkey Hoptical Illusion, Cameron’s Cream Ale, Steam Whistle, 5 different Amsterdams, 4 different Mill Streets, and so on. Not bad beers by any stretch…but if you’re going to carry 24 craft taps, pick a few adventurous ones. Plus, our server literally forgot my beer for 10 minutes until the chef (!) reminded her. Not so improved after all.
After the Jester we needed a comeback, so we turned to an old standby: Wine Bar. Great food (especially the duck slider) and outstanding wine. It never disappoints.
On Saturday I tried one of the new coffee additions to our neighbourhood: Sam James. I’ve visited the location in the PATH many times and very much enjoy their coffee. I can’t see myself switching from Fahrenheit — they taught me to appreciate coffee, after all — but it’s nice to have another great option so close.
Later that day, when I realized just how nice it was outside, we took a break from work and cooking to share a flight of wheat beers on the Bier Markt patio, then walk to G for Gelato for some…uh, gelato. Nellie had blueberry lavender; I had salted caramel peanut butter. We sat in St. James Park and ate it on a perfect spring day.
On our way between beer and gelato we walked past all the new restaurants on Market Street, and decided to try one of them for lunch on Sunday. We ended up trying Pastizza, which apart from a nice patio was pretty disappointing. Making up for it, though, were the pastries we picked up at Roselle for dessert. Nellie got a lemon tart and I got something called a Turtle tart, which was spectacular.
Oh, and we watched American Sniper (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Pretty good. Not great though.
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Cover photo from the Roselle website
“You didn’t see that coming?”
In between errands and work we found time to take a Sunday afternoon off. We watched Avengers: Age Of Ultron (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at the Yonge & Dundas VIP, and it was what I expected: very good, but nothing surprising, nothing outstanding. Granted, the first one set the bar high, but I felt like the sequel chased the success of the first too often. Not that anyone could argue with that, given how much money it made, but I was hoping for a slight shift to keep things interesting. It wasn’t a bad movie. It was a very good movie, in fact. I was just hoping — fairly or not — for more.
We left the theatre and walked down to the Bier Markt for some lunch. Well…a charcuterie board and three beers each, anyway. It was just so nice to sit on a patio, enjoy the sunshine, eat some snacks, drink some cold (Euro-centric) beer, and relax. And WHAT a joy to not have cigarette smoke anywhere on a patio now. I could hardly ask for more.
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Cover photo by Mike Mozart, used under Creative Commons license
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 