Nothing directly film-related here — I just have to link to this article from today’s Vancouver Sun on the work of Fred Herzog, a photographer who has been documenting this city for the past half-century. Check out page 2 of his website portfolio in particular; in addition to the 1957 picture shown here — a heart-rending reminder of the neon-lit “theatre row” that once existed on Granville Street (the neon’s back these days, but thanks to the closure of the... Read more

Picked up the new Harry Potter book at the library today. Read the first two chapters on the bus ride home. Felt like blogging it. Didn’t want to “spoil” anything for those who check the blog’s main page on a regular basis. Decided I would try something new. Any comments I make about the book will be posted not as “updates” to this post, but as “comments”, which are hidden from the main page. So if you click on “comments”,... Read more

It may be a testament to how impressed I was with Batman Begins that I have begun digging up earlier films by the guys who made that movie. A few days ago I finally got around to watching director Christopher Nolan’s first film, Following (1998), and then yesterday, I borrowed Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987) from the library because I had not seen the film since it was brand new and I wanted to go back and remember... Read more

One of the things that unites left-wing film critics like the Chicago Reader‘s Jonathan Rosenbaum and right-wing film critics like Movieguide‘s “Dr.” Ted Baehr is their conviction that the problem with movies these days is the studios, the studios, the studios. If only the studios didn’t put their awesome powers of promotion behind such schlocky movies, or if only the studios advocated traditional morality, etc., etc., then all would be well. I have never really bought this approach, and I... Read more

Three days ago, I passed on the rumour that Liam Neeson might provide the voice of Aslan, and that my sister’s response had been: “I don’t know if I want a sexy Aslan! That could be scary!” I wonder what she would say now, now that the Daily Telegraph in Australia has mentioned in passing that Russell Crowe “is reportedly in talks to provide the voice of Aslan”. Read more

Yesterday I dusted off my copy of Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) and went on a quick spree through nearly half-a-century of cinema. I came away impressed, once again, by a number of things — such as the sincere panic underlying Peter Sellers’ seemingly glib performance as the President in Dr. Strangelove (1964), which underscores what I’ve always said about comedy being funniest when it’s serious — but what jumped out at me in particular this time were... Read more

I took my friend’s 11-year-old daughter to see Tim Burton’s adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last Saturday. The first half-hour is so good, I cried. Literally. At least one tear streamed down each of my cheeks. Noah Taylor and Helena Bonham Carter are so endearing as Charlie’s parents, and David Kelly (1998’s Waking Ned Devine) is so good as Grandpa Joe, and all the characters are so giving and loving that I just wanted to spend the day... Read more

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) is not my favorite Danny Kaye movie — that would easily have to be The Court Jester (1956), which has long ranked as one of my top ten films of all time — but it’s one of several Kaye films that got played a lot at the Chattaway household when my siblings and I were growing up, and it’s one of several Kaye films that we quote in casual conversation all the time.... Read more

Oh my. Five days ago, I asked why a certain article made claims about the Catholic Church’s opposition to Harry Potter when I, a reporter who has covered this beat for several years, had never heard of any such opposition. Apparently I spoke too soon. The front page of today’s Vancouver Sun features a story on a couple of letters that were written by Pope Benedict XVI two years ago, when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger, in which he... Read more

The Indian Express reports: Treading uncharted territory, the social service wing of the Delhi Catholic Church is producing a full-fledged Hindi feature film, with all the ingredients of a typical Bollywood blockbuster, including a very hot item number. Aisa Kyun Hota Hain, slated to hit theatres in October 2005, is possibly the first feature film produced by the church worldwide. “As far as I know, this is the first film produced by the church anywhere in the world,” Fr Dominic... Read more