Category Archives: Saturday At The Movies
Saturday At The Movies: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace In 3D
There’s an old saying that perfectly sums up my take on the rerelease of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D:
You can’t polish a turd.
Saturday At The Movies: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
If there is any question I dislike being asked (other than “What kind of music do you listen to?”), it’s “What’s your favourite movie?”. Like any self respecting film fanatic, I find it impossible to pick just one. Years ago I was in the middle of a job interview for a job I really, really wanted, and my interviewer was none other than Canadian radio legend, Alan Cross. At one point during the interview Alan asked the dreaded question: “Just for kicks, what is one of your all-time favourite movies?”. Already nervous, I went into panic mode. A sweat broke out on my forehead and my palms became clammy as my mind reeled, racing through scenes from every movie I’d ever seen in my entire life. How was I supposed to answer this?! Did I try to impress and list off some foreign language art house doc? Maybe I was supposed to say some kind of music related movie – after all, this WAS a job at a radio station.
I did neither. Instead, I blurted out the truth: Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Read the rest of this entry
Saturday at the Movies – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
Great spy movies are a rare treat. They get you involved in the story on more than one level, as you keep an eye on the characters, an eye on the twisting story, and a number of possible outcomes in your mind. And I had as much fun at Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy as I did at some of the great cold war spy movies, but the movie had a smart, confident sense of style and pacing that will keep you involved on an aesthetic level.
Gentlemen Broncos in Saturday at the Movies
Gentlemen Broncos is one of those awesome sci-fi movies about science fiction that is simply overlooked. The trial of a young unknown author, the plagiarism of his greatest work, good vs. evil, battle stags and yeast wars; YUP. Struggling sci-fi writers, this is a movie dedicated to you.
Like other Hess films (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) Gentlemen Broncos is non-descript, with a weird worn out kitsch character treatment; and this one is really weird – like, weird in a way that will make you afraid to use hand cream.
But if like me, you have ever romanticized the life of a successful writer or struggled to write a story; if you’ve voraciously read yellow TOR paperbacks; if you remain obsessively loyal to the campy origins of sci fi, you’re probably going to love Gentlemen Broncos.
With The Ides Of March, George Clooney Is The Man (Again) – A Saturday At The Movies Confessional
Allow me to tell you a truth that some men will readily admit to, while others will scoff at the very notion:
We all want to be George Clooney.
I have no problems revealing that to you – I mean, really, it’s a given, wouldn’t you say? George Clooney is just about the coolest man on the planet. Johnny Depp – too esoteric. Leonardo DiCaprio – can’t grow a decent beard. Matt Damon – just too damn nice. No, all us guys want to be the man who got his first real start on The Facts of Life. Go figure.
