Just a note to say I found my copy of Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator soundtrack a few weeks ago — I haven’t finished unpacking since moving into my wife’s apartment! — and I have been playing it quite a bit, especially when I’m working on an article and I need to tune out the outside world. I am not all that big a fan of the movie, but wow, what a swell set of tunes Zimmer (and Lisa Gerrard, etc.) wrote... Read more

Just a couple quick questions here. I caught Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Oliver Twist this afternoon, and as often happens before I can settle down to write my review, I feel a need to make a couple of lists. First, I checked this IMDB page and a few others to see how many other adaptations of this Charles Dickens story have already been made, and there seem to have been well over 20 — but once we bracket off the... Read more

Just ’cause I’m sick and I’m missing the first day of the film festival, that doesn’t mean I can’t provide some more news links. 1. FilmStew.com has a really interesting interview with A History of Violence director David Cronenberg. In some ways I think reading his thoughts about the movie can be more interesting or rewarding than watching the movie itself; or perhaps his thoughts will help me to appreciate the film even more, the next time I see it.... Read more

Oh blah. Here it is, the first day of the film festival, and I’ve come down with something, and so I am very reluctant to leave the apartment. It’s kind of funny, because in the past, it was not unknown for me to get a wee bit sick during the middle of the festival, which usually coincided with my birthday; but here we are at the beginning of the festival — which, this year, coincides with my birthday — and... Read more

Oh my. The Vancouver Int’l Film Festival begins tomorrow, and I haven’t even finished sorting out which films I will see, and when. Let it be known, then, that this list may be revised often over the next two weeks, as I try to squeeze in as many films as I can around church, Bible study, Thanksgiving dinners, and paying work. Potential scheduling clashes will be marked in italics; and any films I do not see, in the end, will... Read more

The Fifth Avenue movie theatre was built in June 1996 by Festival Cinemas, a local theatre chain owned by Leonard Schein. It was the first art-house multiplex in this area — IIRC, the first films it showed were indie favorites like Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse and John Sayles’s Lone Star — and I was one of a number of journalists who toured the theatre before it opened. (FWIW, the first films I reviewed there were Trainspotting and the... Read more

Mark Steyn, one of my favorite writers even when I disagree with him, has posted a few new film-related items to his website. One is a review of Clint Eastwood‘s Bridges of Madison County that he wrote for the Spectator ten years ago: Meryl asks Clint to stay for dinner, and he lopes around the kitchen, man enough to help with the place settings and the washing up without being asked; never once does Meryl have to say, ‘Go ahead,... Read more

My interview with Shia LaBeouf, star of The Greatest Game Ever Played, is now up at CT Movies. This was an odd assignment, as I did not have a chance to see the film before doing the interview — and indeed, I have still not seen the film — and then our phone connection kept acting up, until we were finally cut off for good. But some interesting stuff still came out of it, I think. Read more

One of the many things I’ve had to process in my journey towards Orthodoxy is the relationship between history and legend, and the first conversation I remember having with my priest on this subject took place after a wedding he presided over two years ago. The wedding took place in a church other than our own, and there, I happened to spot an icon of St. George slaying a dragon. FWIW, my priest and I are both quite happy to... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Wedding Crashers — CDN $24,404,213 — N.AM $205,674,000 — 11.9%The Constant Gardener — CDN $3,262,448 — N.AM $27,588,000 — 11.8%The 40-Year-Old Virgin — CDN $11,339,618 — N.AM $96,906,000 — 11.7%Lord of War — CDN $1,959,142 — N.AM $17,247,000 — 11.4%Transporter 2 — CDN $4,350,761 — N.AM $39,825,000 — 10.9%The Exorcism... Read more