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Man-boy fury: A review of Tim and Eric’s The Comedy
Reviewed in this essay: The Comedy, written by Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, and Colm O’leary. Directed by Rick Alverson. Starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and James Murphy. Running Time: 94 minutes. Available for Download on Itunes immediately. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are the two most interesting comedians working in America today. Best known for their sketch…
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Jimmy Carter wonders what happened to the Canadians in Argo
Nobody should expect the movies, or novels, or monographs by political scientists, to be the last or only word on the past. The Longest Day (1962), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Pearl Harbor (2001) offer at best a partial view of the Second World War while telling us more about the times and places in which…
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Bookishness: October 22, 2012
The Toronto Reference Library has binders full of women too Catalogued and everything. Another thing they’ve got? Study carrels for exhibitionists. Scribbles In recent Internet meanderings I came across this little app and subsequently lost hours making little drawings that looked suspiciously like art. 10 best films of the 90s Alas, no Clueless. It’s the best films…
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Visions of Conservative Triumph: Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises
Reviewed in this essay: The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan. Running Time: 164 minutes. With a quarter of a billion dollar budget, nearly three hours of screen time, and creative carte blanche, one could not but hope for a masterpiece from Christopher Nolan’s long awaited The Dark Knight Rises. One is sad to…
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Our Neoliberal Inheritance: Visions of Crisis in Detropia
Reviewed in this essay: Detropia, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Running Time: 94 minutes. Screened at Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival. Toronto general release in September. 91 minutes. All non-fiction seeks to use a close engagement with a specific subject as a lens to tell a story about larger, abstract issues. Filmmakers have no choice:…
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The Sublime Object of Ideology: Understanding Undefeated
Reviewed in this essay: Undefeated, directed by Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin. Starring Bill Courtney, O.C. Brown, Montrail “Money” Brown. Running Time: 113 minutes. Early on in Undefeated we witness Bill Courtney – the head coach of the Manassas High School football team – address his players. Courtney, a white local businessman who coaches a predominantly…
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Into Thin Air: J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call
Reviewed in this essay: Margin Call, written and directed by J.C. Chandor. Starring Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci. Running Time: 107 minutes. Available now on Blu-Ray and DVD. In Michael Lewis’ 1989 memoir Liar’s Poker, he described the idea of “jamming bonds”: when you knew your bank…
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That Sweet Ugliness: A Review of Young Adult
Reviewed in this essay: Young Adult, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman. Starring Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt. Running Time: 94 minutes. Playing in secondary run at select theatres. Amidst a winter season packed to the brim with flashy 3D eye candy (Tintin) and mushy-headed pulp (War Horse), it’s understandable…
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Bookishness: Week of January 23, 2012
Fewer cardigans than one might expect, but a fair number of spectacles The latest in the Toronto Standard’s Uniform Project: Librarians. CanLit is Sexy Not convinced? Let the CanLit is Sexy tumblr sweet talk its way into your heart (or elsewhere). Definitely safe for work, sadly. Books on film TIFF’s Books on Film returns in February for a second season, featuring Eleanor Wachtel…