• fax: 1-866-743-3439
  • toll-free: 1-877-366-7327

Blog by Don Kennedy

< Previous Next >

Easy Virtue

June 8th, 2009
Easy Virtue is an adaptation of a Noel Coward play that has not been put to celluloid since 1928 under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock. While at that time it would have been a contemporary film, now it’s a period piece. Of note is Colin Firth who no longer seems to be tapped for roles as a lady killer but is cast here in a more mature role although with patience we see that he still has som ...

UP

June 8th, 2009
UP is the latest animated treat from Pixar and their first in 3D (where available). The hysterical trailers have been running for months but no hints of motivation are given for Carl Fredricksen (a fine welcome back for Ed Asner) a grumpy old man using a monstrous battery of helium filled balloons to float his character home in the city on a jungle safari accompanied by an ersatz boy scout na ...

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

June 8th, 2009
THE BROTHERS BLOOM is a romantic comedy about Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) two brothers who mature from boyhood to manhood with only each other to trust as they grow up being shunted from one foster home to another. When their chronic delinquent behaviour leaves them without even that option they discover the confidence game as a handy means of survival. Life as con men ser ...

MY LIFE IN RUINS

June 8th, 2009
MY LIFE IN RUINS is a cute double entendre for the disappointing career of a North American educator who unable to get a job in he chosen profession becomes a Greek tour guide. Once again exploring her Hellenic roots is Winnipeg’s lovely Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame here playing Georgia the overqualified tourist wrangler who can barely even hang onto that job. In a gorgeous j ...

EVERY LITTLE STEP

June 8th, 2009
EVERY LITTLE STEP is a more fascinating documentary than you would expect about the audition process for the 2006 restaging on Broadway of A Chorus Line. The show originally opened on a shoe string off Broadway in 1974 and by the time it closed down it was the longest running production ever on the Great White Way and remains in 4th place on that list to this day. That musical which won multi ...

ANGELS & DEMONS

May 16th, 2009
ANGELS & DEMONS is the precursor to Dan Browns Da Vinci Code and has Tom Hanks again under the direction of Ron Howard but mercifully mullet free reprising his role as super symbologist Robert Langdon. Where the Da Vinci Code got bogged down in over explanations, this time Howard gets it right. Here anti matter is a long way off from propelling the Enterprise to warp speed but in a subterrane ...

IS ANYBODY THERE?

May 16th, 2009
IS ANYBODY THERE? is a coming of age film with a twist as the coming of age is not only an entry but also an exit. Edward (Bill Milner) is a mid 80’s 10 year old resentful of his parents newest vocation as it has put him out of his former bedroom. He acts out a lot because they’ve taken to offering long term care for the aging in their rural home. This is actually a mixed blessing for Edward ...

FIERCE LIGHT: WHEN SPIRIT MEETS ACTION

May 16th, 2009
FIERCE LIGHT: WHEN SPIRIT MEETS ACTION explores inner motivations that attempt to induce change peacefully. It argues that it is a growing global phenomenon and rather grandiosely asserts that it was responsible for Barack Obama getting elected. Acclaimed Canadian documentarian Velcrow Ripper was originally inspired by the death of a fellow film maker covering the repression of Mexican peace ...

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

May 2nd, 2009
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past might suggest some slight plagiarism of Charles Dickens. Well, there’s nothing slight about this delightful bit of thievery which amounts to A Christmas Carol with sexual tension added. Matthew McConaughey is Connor Mead, an unapologetic hedonist who has scrooged over a litany of female conquests. When he makes a wintry return to his childhood home to act as best ma ...

Lemon Tree

May 2nd, 2009
Lemon Tree very pretty to quote Trini Lopez, and further the lemon flower is sweet but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat – especially if the Israeli National Security team says so. A West Bank lemon orchard that has for generations been the source of income for one Palestinian family is currently run by a widow Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass such a sympathetic, stoic beauty in The V ...
< Previous Next >

Archives