2005-03-19T22:11:00-08:00

The wife and I just finished watching the original 1979 version of The Amityville Horror, partly because I’m reviewing the remake in a couple of weeks. I had heard that both films claim to be based on true events, but I had no idea the original film was so full of Catholic elements — crucifixes, priests, a nun, the blessing of one’s house, etc.; I’m suddenly more interested in the remake than I expected to be, even if only to... Read more

2005-03-19T15:04:00-08:00

You know how some films just grow on you? I saw The Barbarian Invasions (2003) at the Vancouver film festival two years ago, and didn’t get around to seeing it a second time until a few weeks ago — and I find it has occupied my thoughts quite a bit since then. This is partly because I was working on an article on the subject; and partly because I watched the film on a DVD double-bill with its predecessor The... Read more

2005-03-19T08:42:00-08:00

Chattaway is not exactly a very common name, so it’s always fun to see it flit across a movie or TV screen every now and then. At school, I occasionally heard from sports buffs about a Chris Chataway who broke the 5,000 metre record back in 1954 — but my family was always notoriously bad at gym class, and anyway, he spells his name with only one “t”, so I always figured he didn’t count. I happen to be a... Read more

2005-03-18T17:07:00-08:00

Jeff Overstreet has just posted an item on a couple of quotes he’s come across that remind him of the films he appreciates that prioritize images and sounds over “narrative”. His post, in turn, reminds me of one of my own pet peeves. I can be a very linear, very narrative-driven thinker — and I think it has a tendency to show up in my reviews, where I sometimes slip into synopsis mode — but I have long argued that... Read more

2005-03-18T16:49:00-08:00

Two of my more recent film columns are now online. My review of Danny Boyle’s Millions for BC Christian News is here — alas, I didn’t have time or space to compare and contrast this film with Saint Ralph, but then, why take time out from discussing a vastly superior film in order to dwell on an inferior one? And my column on Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher for ChristianWeek is here, and also here. I... Read more

2005-03-18T11:13:00-08:00

The news from George Lucas at ShoWest gets weirder. Quoth The Hollywood Reporter: George Lucas is such a fan of the latest 3-D technology that he is planning to remaster all of the “Star Wars” films for rerelease in 3-D. Appearing as part of a sextet of high-profile directors promoting 3-D and digital cinema at film industry convention ShoWest on Thursday, Lucas said he hadn’t yet committed to a precise schedule but hoped to have the first film ready for... Read more

2005-03-18T09:47:00-08:00

Just received word that See Grace Fly, an independent, Vancouver-made film that has some interesting spiritual elements, will be showing on Movie Central this coming Tuesday and beyond. The movie was inspired partly by the experiences of star Gina Chiarelli’s father and schizophrenic aunt; I interviewed Chiarelli about it here. There are links to a handful of reviews here, my favorite of which is probably the one by Ron Reed — who, not incidentally, runs the theatre which put on... Read more

2005-03-17T22:18:00-08:00

Reuters reports that George Lucas is calling the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith “a real tearjerker” and “more emotional” than “the first one” (I assume he means Episode I, not Episode IV — although it wouldn’t make much difference). He also compares Episode III to the chart-topping blockbuster of all time, Titanic, which I guess is his way of taking back everything he once said about how Episode III would make the least money because... Read more

2005-03-17T19:11:00-08:00

Just finished watching the extras on the Incredibles DVD with the missus. Wow. I always thought of storyboards as these hasty little sketches that weren’t really all that interesting in their own right. But for this cartoon, they created some darn fine animatics that are just about as exciting as anything in the finished film. In fact, because these animatics combine 2D drawings with 3D backgrounds and objects so expertly, they are a lot more interesting than the animatics for,... Read more

2005-03-17T14:28:00-08:00

I just skimmed through my friend and colleague Steve Greydanus’s review of Millions, the delightful new fable by Danny Boyle. (How can you tell it’s by Danny Boyle? Because, like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting and A Life Less Ordinary and perhaps some of his other films as well, a fair chunk of the story involves a bag stuffed full of money.) In his final paragraph, he states: Millions is a rare and special family film: a moral parable rather than... Read more

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