Thomas Pashko
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Of Truth and Magic
While doing some research on Of Truth and Magic, the new short film by Winnipeg director/puppeteer/musician Curtis L. Wiebe, I came across the following quote from Julian Barnes: “…love is the meeting point of truth and magic.
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Cats of the Avant-Garde and other works
A word like “underground” can mean a lot of different things to different people.
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In this corner
As an annual fundraiser for Winnipeg’s Cinematheque theatre, Bands vs Filmmakers is quickly becoming an important tradition in our city’s arts scene.
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Jodorowsky’s Dune
In the 1970s, the surrealist director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) set out to adapt Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune into an epic motion picture. Years before Star Wars, Jodorowsky set out to make a science fiction fantasy that would forever alter the collective consciousness.
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Rhymes for Young Ghouls
Director Jeff Barnaby’s debut feature, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, is about the darkest parts of Canada’s history.
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Superheroes are often described as the modern American mythology. I don’t think I fully grasped that premise until Christopher Nolan’s Batman series began while I was in my teens.
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H & G
Babies havin’ babies, man.
I’m still in my early 20s, so the phrase “babies having babies” does admittedly have some significance to my age bracket. I just wish H & G had given me something more thematically resonant to latch on to than outrage over neglectful parenting.
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Divergent
In the wake of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight, Hollywood seems to have decided that every young adult novel of even minor note is worthy of a big-budget movie adaptation. Divergent is a product of this trend.
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Lost Heroes
Lost Heroes is a documentary about Canadians missing the point, about the dilemma that is central to the failure of so much Canadian content: trying to define what it means to be Canadian.
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Enemy
If you want to nitpick Enemy, the film offers plenty of ammunition, as it takes itself very seriously.
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300: Rise of an Empire
Director Zack Snyder’s 2006 feature 300 has always been a problematic film for me. I appreciate the movie’s bold stylistic choices, with a unique visual approach employing fantastical shot compositions and artful tableaus.
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Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
Pussy Riot hasn’t calmed down since its most prominent members were released from prison in December. Less than a month ago they protested the Olympic Games in Sochi, where they were viciously beaten by Cossacks and arrested for voicing their opinions. Just days ago, several members were assaulted with chemical weapons in Nizhny Novgorod. Now more than ever, I’d love to see a really great Pussy Riot documentary. Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer is certainly interesting and informative - but the great Pussy Riot doc, it is not.
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Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
The opening sounds and images of Anita: Speaking Truth to Power are of a phone in Anita Hill’s office playing back a voicemail. The voice on the recording belongs to Virginia Thomas, wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Decades ago, Anita publicly revealed that she was sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas while in his employ. Today, Virginia is asking Anita to apologize for “what she did” to the Thomas’s for coming out as a victim of sexual harassment.
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The Wind Rises
After much critical adoration and an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, The Wind Rises has finally hit Winnipeg theatres. The picture has been making the festival rounds since September, but it is only now seeing Canadian wide release. It was well worth the wait. The Wind Rises is a deeply affecting and inspiring animated feature.
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Crime Wave
John Paizs is an elusive figure in Canadian cinema.
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Asphalt Watches
Asphalt Watches is the story of two friends, Bucktooth and Skeleton Hat, who are on a hitchhiking odyssey across Canada. At least, I think it is. Skeleton Hat is a pale kid with a ratstache, and I think Bucktooth might be a ghost. I’m not sure where they’re hitchhiking to, or why they’re going there. The entire picture feels like two skateboarders ate hallucinogenic mushrooms, went hitchhiking, and then animated the entire trip using the Windows 95 edition of MS Paint. And, just so we’re clear, I mean all of these things as a compliment.
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RoboCop
Full disclosure: I love the original RoboCop. Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 ultraviolent action film about a murdered cop brought back through technology doubles as an incredibly smart and funny satire. He took the entire Reagan era to task, ridiculing the corporate greed, privatization, and military overspending that defined America in the 1980s. The character of RoboCop personified the way the callousness of those ultra-right wing policies dehumanized the people they were supposed to protect.
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The Monuments Men
As a director, George Clooney’s approach has always been to take stylistic cues from his inspirations. In Good Night and Good Luck, he channeled early television with his minimalist black and white photography, utilizing long takes and subtle performances to make it feel less edited and more journalistic. In The Monuments Men, Clooney is channeling a type of ensemble World War II film that hasn’t been produced for decades.
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I am Divine
I Am Divine accomplishes a nearly impossible feat by not being completely outshone by its subject. When making a documentary about a figure as lurid and grandiose as frequent John Waters collaborator Divine, one could easily coast on the sheer spectacle of the performer and end up with a half-entertaining picture. Director Jeffrey Schwarz (Vito) does much more, and the portrait he creates is moving, entertaining, and damn funny.
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The Disappeared
I’ve never heard “lost at sea movies” or “lifeboat movies” discussed as a genre, but I think there’s a convincing case to be made for it. As far back as Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and as recently as Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, stories of survival in the isolated setting of a boat are a rarely discussed tradition. Canadian feature The Disappeared is a solidly dutiful entry in this tradition that never feels like old hat.