Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Have you entered our Hot Rod competition yet, readers? It's still running. You probably should enter, as it’s the most exciting film you could see this week, in our humble opinion. We really like Andy Samberg, you see. It’s so rarely worth struggling through an episode of Saturday Night Live just to see him (he’s so often wasted) but Hot Rod could be good! It really could!
Well, alright, maybe you have a stranger taste in comedy, in which case Lars Von Trier’s newest film, The Boss of it All, might suit. Probably the first Von Trier film we can think of in which you might feel like you’re laughing along with the director (though you’re probably still being laughed at). We caught it when it was shown at Cinematheque Ontario, and while it suffers from several unfortunate affectations (Von Trier’s appearance as the director in reflections, his "Automavision" computer-controlled camera, his obvious lack of knowledge about his satirical target) it’s actually quite amusing, thanks to strong performances. We recommend it!
Er, but the only other film we have any interest in mentioning this week is Captivity. Largely because although we stopped watching 24 by season 3, it wasn’t because we were tired of Elisha Cuthbert’s Perils of Penelope Pitstop routine. Captivity looks to take that to its illogical extreme, by being an hour and a half of Cuthbert being tortured to death for our "enjoyment."
Icky. Still, at least it annoys that twat Joss Whedon.
Also out this week: Joshua, Vitus, and Introducing the Dwights. There’s also the Caribbean Tales Film Festival this weekend and Cinematheque Ontario is showing a Victor Erice retrospective (covered well by Adam Nayman at Eye Weekly).
Tonight, there’s an Exposé on Romanian Cinema's New Wave at Innis Town Hall at 7 p.m. though the Fight 'N Fright Film Festival is showing the amazingly fantastic Ong Bak tonight at the same time at the Bloor. Ong Bak is completely unmissable if you’ve never seen it before, folks.
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I am outraged, outraged at the reference to Joss Whedon as a twat. Love that dude.
In all seriousness, his blog entry (linked to above) is worth reading. And now that I've read it and come back, there's something particularly (ironic? distasteful?) about using a gendered insult to criticize someone writing about women's equality.
Couldn't like Joss Whedon, or his body of work, less.
I do take the comment about the gendered insult on board, though. I didn't use it that way and in general in the UK it's used as a word that means a fool, only marginally stronger than "twit." I forget that people are less comfortable with swearing here.