Category Archives: Film
Film
Creations of Chaos: The Chipmunk Adventure
On this edition of Creations of Chaos, it’s the surprisingly controversial animated film that set my heart aflame with wanderlust. Jump in your hot air balloon, and get your rock-n-roll on with, The Chipmunk Adventure.
Creations of Chaos: The Care Bears Movie
On this edition of Creations of Chaos, I explain how The Care Bears Movie sparked my lifelong interest in murderers and serial killers.
My Mission to The Dark Tower
For me the release of The Dark Tower as a major motion picture is a countdown. I’m on the clock, literally, as I want to finish the book series before the film comes out on Friday. I don’t know if I’ll make it. While you wish me hopeless luck, meet me after the jump to find out why I’m doing it, and my re-read thoughts.
Happy TIFFmas! Toronto’s film fest reveals first 2017 picks
It’s the silly season for Toronto filmgoers, the cine-season, TIFFmas to many devoted local movie buffs. Today the Toronto International Film Festival 2017 edition announced its first swath of upcoming films. These are Gala and Special Presentation flicks, and there’s bound to be a passel of Oscar-hunting contenders worth checking out. Catch the full list after the jump!
Creations of Chaos: The Secret of NIMH
In this episode of Creations of Chaos, it’s the other Don Bluth mouse movie. The Secret of NIMH is filled with sword toting rodents, a glowy- eyed mystic, and more questions than answers.
Near Dark: The Original Hillbilly Vamps
Long before the teen angst pangs of Twilight or the fever heat of True Blood, director Kathryn Bigelow had an inkling of what a southern-fried vampire romance could be. Near Dark delivered on her vision of hillbilly vamps, an eighties cult classic that’s hard to believe is coming up on its thirtieth anniversary. The cinephiles at TIFF have dug out an archival print, so this Friday, July 21st, Bigelow’s blood-sucking hicks will rise again.
Panique: French Crime Classics
Judex is an early progenitor for the likes of David Lynch and Eyes Wide Shut
If you like thrillers, genre-bending capers, femmes fatales and shady figures wrapped up in criminal exploits where no one comes out on top, chances are you’re a film noir fan through and through. Maybe you’ve seen Chinatown ten times, and you think you’ve got the plot of The Maltese Falcon figured out. Maybe you have. But a jaded noir aficionado could do a lot worse than to check out some of the gritty gems in TIFF’s upcoming program Panique: French Crime Classics. It’s one dark amuse-bouche after another, a feast of chilling misanthropy and malice for the summer. “Cinematic A/C, Gallic style,” quips James Quandt, Senior Programmer, and he’s not wrong. These flicks get in your bones.
The Ten Percent – The Best One-Night Stands!
“Ninety percent of everything is crud.” – Theodore Sturgeon
Greetings and welcome to another installment of The Ten Percent, a space where Ensley F. Guffey and I take a look at the inverse of Sturgeon’s Law; in other words, the small portion of everything which is not crud. Viewed as a whole, Sturgeon was, sadly, right – the vast majority of movies, television, writing, art, and so on really is crud – but there has always been that slim slice of sublime. The Ten Percent isn’t limited by genre – I think our previous columns have proven that point – and that’s because these rare gems are high quality productions which demand more of their viewer than simple passive reception.
Hardest Boiled: The Many Noirs of Jean-Pierre Melville
Alain Delon stars in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai (1967)
This summer, TIFF’s having a crime wave. French crime to be exact. They’re mounting two programmes, both bursting with criminal intent. I’ll take a look at the second bunch next week, a brilliant collection of flicks called Panique: French Crime Classics. Opening today is a different but related programme, Army of Shadows: The Films of Jean Pierre Melville. It’s a great ride, too, full of cool noirs and hard-boiled thrillers, from the best director named Melville that most definitely did not write Moby Dick.
Creations of Chaos: Long Way North
Travel, adventure, and a healthy dose of girl power, brought to life using interesting, visual, artistry. On this edition of Creations of Chaos, it’s production studio Shout! Factory’s, Long Way North.
