The mail just arrived, and with it, a pass to a preview screening of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. There’s just one slight problem: it’s for a screening in Calgary! I’ve been doing the film-critic thing for over 11 years, now, and this is the first time this has happened to me; hopefully I can get a replacement ticket for a screening a little closer to home. In the meantime, do any Calgarians want this? Read more

My review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose is now up at CT Movies. UPDATE: I’ve been browsing other reviews, which are mostly mixed, and perhaps the harshest criticism of the film so far comes from A.O. Scott in the New York Times. He concludes: The movie pretends to take the same tolerant, anything’s-possible position. While not especially good – judged strictly on its cinematic merits, it ranges from O.K. to god-awful – it is still a fascinating cultural document... Read more

Just noting that my ChristianCurrent article ‘Hollywood discovers new market: Christians‘ has been re-posted to Christianity.ca. Read more

The Vancouver Int’l Film Festival held its big press conference this morning. The festival runs September 29 to October 14 — a little later than usual, which means that, for once, my birthday will fall during the first weekend instead of during the middle weekend — and the actual schedule will be made public this weekend. In the meantime, there’s a long list of films that catch my eye, a few of which I’ve mentioned here before. Work beckons, so... Read more

Thanks to Mikael Carlsson for noting that one minute of music from the soundtrack to the upcoming film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has now been posted at the Walden Media website; it’s a piece for duduk and orchestra called ‘Mr Tumnus Narnian Lullaby’, and you can listen to it here. Walden has also posted sheet music for the tune, a lesson for young music and language arts students, and an interview with composer Harry Gregson-Williams.... Read more

Two more things have just grabbed my eye. 1. The Associated Press has a fun little article on stop-motion cartoons — an artform so rare, it is a little strange to realize there are two such films coming to theatres in the next five weeks: Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, and Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. An even stranger coincidence: both films co-star the voice of Helena Bonham Carter. I had not made that connection yet.... Read more

A couple of Hollywood Reporter reviews coming out of the Venice film festival caught my eye this morning. 1. First, there is this review of O Espelho Mágico: Portuguese director Manuel de Oliveira was born in 1908, so to have a film in competition at the Venice International Film Festival in 2005 is an achievement worth applauding. His movie, “Espelho Magico” (Magic Mirror), is an absorbing look at a rich woman wasting away for lack of the corroboration of faith.... 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 $23,141,679 — N.AM $187,718,000 — 12.3%The 40-Year-Old Virgin — CDN $7,822,708 — N.AM $68,461,000 — 11.4%The Brothers Grimm — CDN $2,804,711 — N.AM $26,522,000 — 10.6%The Constant Gardener — CDN $1,070,557 — N.AM $10,299,000 — 10.4%Red Eye — CDN $4,294,958 — N.AM $43,679,000 — 9.8%Transporter 2... Read more

I just finished watching Village of the Damned (1960) and Children of the Damned (1963) on DVD, and I had the odd feeling that I was watching an earlier, British, black-and-white version of the Omen trilogy (1976-81). You’ve got desperate adults puzzled by, and ultimately turning against, their own evil offspring; you’ve got scenes of people being hypnotized; and you’ve got massive continuity problems and drastic re-imaginings of the story’s central premise. For example, the original film, based on a... Read more

Oh my. I was beginning to wonder what had happened to Brother Theo, the Franciscan monk who appeared in a few of the earlier episodes in Season 3 of Babylon 5. But tonight the wife and I watched ‘And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place’, the third-to-last episode of this season, and wow, religion is all over this one. Plus it has an intriguing, provocative, subversive element that gets me thinking — cracks open my consciousness, I am tempted... Read more