Movie

Clubland Gets Inside Toronto's Club District

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By Siobhan Ozege (CHARTattack) October 1, 2009 3:09 pm
If you've ever lived or spent time in the Greater Toronto Area, chances are you know of the infamous 1.4 square kilometre space around Richmond Street known as "clubland." Located in the heart of downtown in the city's former textile district, it's now the "largest and most congested playground in North America — 60 clubs and 25...
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Clubland
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Neil Young Trunk Show Gets Gritty With Filming

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By Michelle Singerman (CHARTattack) September 15, 2009 4:39 pm
Jonathan Demme graced the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square without Neil Young on Monday night. The Oscar-winning filmmaker was in Toronto for the Canadian debut of the Neil Young Trunk Show, Demme's second feature-length film on the Canadian rocker. Shakey fans and Toronto International Film Festival sheep had been awaiting the much-anticipated...
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The Neil Young Trunk Show

Bandslam's Awkward Wish Fulfillment

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) August 12, 2009 1:28 pm
The Internet Movie Database and a cursory google search don't offer much of a biography on Josh A. Cagan, the man who came up with the idea for Bandslam and co-wrote the screenplay. If the content of Bandslam is any indication, though, there's about an 85 per cent chance he's in his late twenties or early thirties, spent his adolescent years...
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Bandslam

Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae

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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) July 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Rocksteady ruled Jamaica in the mid- to late '60s, bridging the gap between the more up-tempo ska and slower, more bass-heavy roots reggae. Rocksteady hasn't received as much attention as the other two genres, but this new Canadian/Swiss co-production should give it more of the exposure it deserves. Many rocksteady artists continue to perform...
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Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae

Maiden's Flight 666 Is About Fans

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By Andre Mihsin (CHARTattack) April 17, 2009 1:53 pm
Filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen have already created two favourites among the banger populace with Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Global Metal. With Iron Maiden: Flight 666, they've managed to produce yet another great documentary that not only gives fans a more intimate look at the normally reclusive band, but also provides spectacular...
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Iron Maiden

Anvil Documentary Is Band's Lucky Break

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By Keith Carman (CHARTattack) March 6, 2009 4:47 pm
Sometimes it's hard to believe in the fairytale ending where protagonists receive their due and all is apparently righted in a world plagued with wrongs. In the case of Anvil! The Story Of Anvil, it just might be that sometimes dreams do come true. Surprisingly, most of that confirmation comes after the film, not moments before the closing...
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Anvil! The Story Of Anvil

Rip Girl Talk Movie Baits Lawyers

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By Evan Dickson (CHARTattack) March 6, 2009 11:22 am
You'd better go see Rip: A Remix Manifesto before it gets sued off the face of the Earth. In the process of attacking runaway copyright law, the "Remix Manifesto" naturally puts itself into very dangerous legal territory. There's more than one scene in which somebody advises director Brett Gaylor that his documentary is basically...
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Girl Talk (photo by Bridget Maniaci)

Wilby Wonderful Just Sappy Enough

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 11:29 am
Quirky dark comedies with ensemble casts are quickly becoming a Canadian cinema cliche, but Wilby Wonderful manages to feel like much more than the same old thing. Observing the trials and tribulations of a number of loosely connected islanders over the course of a day, it's sort of like a small town Magnolia with a local scandal looming, instead...
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Tarnation Is Awkward Therapy

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 11:27 am
There's one nice thing you can say about Jonathan Caouette: reportedly making Tarnation for just over $200, he's clearly resourceful. The rest, however, is up for debate. Tarnation is being heralded as an experimental film, but there's really nothing new about the collage of home movies, film clips, photos and narration or the way that they're...
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Siblings Is Acceptable Black Comedy

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 11:20 am
Although cool and somewhat funny, Siblings isn't quite as wickedly hilarious as its premise would suggest. A black comedy about a group of step-siblings that sort-of-accidentally kill their evil stepparents and have to cover it up to receive their inheritance (played with malevolent fun by Sonja Smits and Nicholas Campbell), the film pulls no...
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Saw's Gore Ain't A Masterpiece

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 11:08 am
Take Seven and add a dash of Cube. Now add lots of blood and gore. No, even more than that. Still more. The pitch for this film probably sounded a lot like that. Two men wake up in a dank and dirty cell to find themselves chained to opposite ends. There's a dead body in the middle holding a tape player and each man has a tape in his pocket. While...
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Primer Is Strictly For Nerds

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 11:01 am
When you have $7,000 to make a sci-fi thriller, you have to compensate for your lack of special effects with an intelligent and engaging story. Engineer-cum-Director/Writer/Star Shane Carruth gets it half right with Primer. With a plot that digs deeply into the ramifications of inventing a time-travel device, Primer is definitely an intelligent...
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Phil The Alien Is Silly Fun

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 10:58 am
Phil The Alien is definitely an absurd film, but it manages to play its subject matter just straight enough to keep from devolving into pure silliness. After his spaceship crashes on Earth, Phil shape shifts into human form. He soon develops a drinking problem and befriends a talking beaver. Eventually, he finds Jesus and joins a band to spread...
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Mondovino Has Spirit(s)

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By Joel McConvey (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 10:55 am
Despite its lengthy running time, Mondovino is one of the most agreeable films to come out of this year's fest. Filmmaker and sommelier Jonathan Nossiter takes his hand-held camera from Burgundy to the Napa Valley in California, profiling a variety of colourful characters from the wine world. The lovely scenery, light mood and plenitude of random...
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The Limb Salesman Too Bad To Be Good

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 10:50 am
Years from now, people might look back on The Limb Salesman as a classic so-bad-it's-good B movie in the grand tradition of Plan 9 and The Bad Seed. The concept of water as a rare delicacy will be seen as charmingly ridiculous instead of annoyingly stupid. Viewers might just chuckle at it, instead of wondering why no one's dead or the least bit...
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Kontroll Could Be Better

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) November 16, 2008 10:44 am
Big budget Hollywood films aren't the only ones that suffer from the problem of style over substance. While Kontroll has absolutely stunning cinematography (the architecture of Budapest's subway system is used to full effect here), likeable characters and a cool, throbbing techno soundtrack, the weak plot keeps it from becoming more than the sum...
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The Rocker Doesn't Rock

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By John Papamarko (CHARTattack) August 20, 2008 3:45 pm
The Rocker is the story of Robert "Fish" Fishman (The Office's Rainn Wilson), the drummer for the fictional '80s hair band Vesuvius. Fish is unceremoniously booted by band manager Billy (Jon Glaser) just before they ink a record deal and open for Whitesnake. It's not a rare occurrence in rock 'n' roll, and it's encouraging to see a...
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Rocker

Poor Boy's Game

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) August 12, 2008 1:21 pm
Directed by: Clement Virgo Starring: Rossif Sutherland, Flex Alexander, Danny Glover As a teenager, boxing prospect Donnie Rose is jailed for a horrible beating that leaves a young black man severely handicapped. Nine years later, a repentant Rose is released and returns to his home in Halifax where he's welcomed by his white family and friends,...
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Poor Boy's Game

Normal

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By Hannah Guy (CHARTattack) August 12, 2008 1:17 pm
Directed by: Carl Bessai Starring: Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, Tygh Runyan Movies always have wonderful things to teach us, and Normal is no exception. This Canadian drama tells the tale of several strangers whose lives become interwoven through the death of a high school student. Emotional but carefully cautious in...
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Normal

Lou Reed's Berlin

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By Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack) August 12, 2008 1:10 pm
When Lou Reed released the ambitious concept album Berlin in 1973, it was both a critical and commercial failure. In the wake of such disaster, Reed never performed the album live. Thirty-three years later, he was finally convinced to stage Berlin around the world, including five nights at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. Acclaimed...
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Lou Reed's Berlin
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