Canadian Sepctrum is unique among the 11 programmes on this year’s Hot Docs schedule, because it features only films by Canadian documentarians, be they veterans or first-timers. Hot Docs’ mandate is to promote our national film culture, so the docs that fall under this heading are particularly important components of the festival.

Click any of the images below for more information about a particular Canadian Spectrum film. Or, check out our nifty Hot Docs 2013 hub for a list of all our reviews to date.

TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE DIRECTED BY RIC ESTHER BIENSTOCK

NCR: NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE DIRECTED BY JOHN KASTNER

THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE DIRECTED BY LIZ MARSHALL

CHI DIRECTED BY ANNE WHEELER

BUYING SEX DIRECTED BY TERESA MACINNES AND KENT NASON

ALIAS DIRECTED BY MICHELLE LATIMER

15 REASONS TO LIVE DIRECTED BY ALAN ZWEIG

Game On 2.0
Ontario Science Centre (770 Don Mills Road)
March 9 to September 2
$13-$22

By following the lure of the siren’s 8-bit chiptune song into the deepest bowels of the Ontario Science Centre, you’ll find your way to a place that may house a substantial part of your childhood.

If you can recall long, caffeine-fueled nights spent racing around Mario Kart tracks with friends, or epic battles with end bosses that finally culminated—after many frustrating hours—in gratifying triumph, then Game On 2.0, the OSC’s latest exhibition, is most definitely for you. The memorabilia and more than 150 playable games on hand would be enough to cause almost anyone to lose track of time. It’s all intended to convey a sense of the history of video games, as well as a peek at what future games may be like.

“We are about to explore a world that has changed the hard-wiring of our brains,” Ontario Science Centre CEO Lesley Lewis said to reporters at a media preview on Thursday. This idea is reinforced when walking through the exhibit’s first room, where a collection of primitive pinball machines and the grounbreaking Atari game Pong have been installed at the start of a long corridor with rows of increasingly modern games. This entire chronological progression is at your disposal to play as you will—from Computer Space, the first commercial arcade game produced, to the most cutting-edge in motion-capture technology.

Aside from all the nostalgic stuff, there’s helpful information about benchmark innovations that will serve as history lessons for those too young to know where Playstations came from. The efforts of pioneers like Ralph Baer, Nolan Bushnell, and Gunpei Yokoi are documented in detail, complete with a fascinating look at how the aesthetics of video game systems have changed over time.

The collection is staggering in its breadth, featuring some of the most popular games ever created and cult classics alike. Sections of rooms are dedicated to different genres. One of the most welcome features is that many of the stations have multiplayer capabilities, making the presence of party titles like GoldenEye, Super Smash Bros., and four different Street Fighter games (on four different consoles, no less) all the more exciting. Anyone who has sought out older games by downloading emulators will enjoy the opportunity to use the original controllers for consoles like the Neo-Geo or Sega Dreamcast.

Aside from the games themselves, there are also displays that deal with gaming culture. Hung on the walls are magazine covers, posters of movies adapted from games, and artwork showcasing popular characters like Sonic The Hedgehog, Pac-Man, and Super Mario (including original drawings by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto). Elsewhere, there are plastic figurines of characters, including a life-size mannequin of everyone’s favourite tomb raider, Lara Croft.

The exhibition’s look at the future of gaming is best exemplified by the Virtusphere, a metal ball resembling something that would be pushed around by an American Gladiator. Inside is the latest in virtual reality technology. Visitors can climb inside, strap on a visor and walk around (the sphere spins in place). It’s not for the weak of stomach, but there’s an undeniable thrill in shooting hostile pumpkins. Or, if you don’t mind being the one waving your arms around wildly for all to see, you can always dispose of them using a meat cleaver or even, yes, a tea kettle.

Perhaps the true future of the industry, though, lies more in the exhibition’s partnership with triOS College as the presenting sponsor. The school’s president, Stuart Bentley, used the moment to remind reporters that the game industry is bigger than the movie business now. With the advent of indie games—which the exhibition covers—the next great game could come from any student.

Video games have come a long way, and a new generation of the initiated is ready to take it from here.

The casino heist game High Stakes, an award winner for Crowd Favourite.

On Sunday, it was possible to fall in love, build a robot equipped with monster truck wheels, and travel through space to a distant asteroid, all in the same evening.

This was thanks to Toronto’s third annual Board Game Jam, a friendly competition during which teams of would-be Milton Bradleys created original tabletop games in just two days, using cardboard, dice, pegs and—most importantly—more than a little ingenuity. Roaming the room of excited game-makers, it was obvious why founders Adam Clare and Dave Fono would have thought there was an appetite for such an activity.

“We were talking about how there are other Jams happening in the city, like TOJam, and we said, ‘No one’s doing this for board games,’” Clare recalled, shortly after conducting an introductory session with the roughly sixty people assembled at George Brown’s School of Design to begin the proceedings on Saturday. He teaches game design at the school, a job he landed in a roundabout fashion after obtaining a masters in philosophy. His belief is that games have a way of bringing people together.

“Humans interacting with humans is going to make our lives more enjoyable, for the most part, so a board game encourages that sort of behaviour,” he said. “It tells us, by virtue of the game mechanics itself, that we need to be conscious of every other person around the table.”

On Sunday evening, the teams showed off their finished creations at the Annex Live, a pub near Bloor Street and Brunswick Avenue. The games on display touched on subjects trivial (Celebrity Culture), delicious (Food Truck), and otherworldly (Space Miners in Space). The designers welcomed new players with boundless enthusiasm, anxious to show off what their imaginations had managed to conjure in a mere forty-eight hours. They self-deprecatingly lamented typos and gameplay wrinkles, even as they promised that things would improve with revisions. Everyone had managed to imbue personality into their handmade, hastily assembled works.

Romance Roulette was a fun twist on the old classic Dream Date, using a system not unlike Clue‘s to allow players to learn the truth of three potential love connections. It proved, like real-life romance, to be a trickier, more confusing proposition than expected. For instance, the mysterious artist we thought would be a real catch, after learning that she worked part-time as a model, ended up being Mrs. Wrong (somehow, she had unattractive photos of herself posted on Facebook). Our opponent, meanwhile, ended up walking away the victor when she managed to snag a hunky fireman who did charity work and had a book deal. The game’s makers were Alison Pattern and David Murphy.

One of the winners of the evening was High Stakes, which took the prize for Crowd Favourite. The game involved four people breaking into a casino, where they would attempt to complete a heist by cracking the vault and making off with the loot, all while not being killed by any guards or caught by any security cameras. The prize for Best Overall went to Sky Hook, in which multinational corporations vie to extract resources from an asteroid using a space elevator. To complicate matters, players must make difficult decisions about whether to focus on research, or insurance, or whether to blindly throw money at the issue. The creators of both games won $25 gift certificates to The Game Crafter, a website that sells things that assist in making games appear more professional.

The story of Sky Hook‘s genesis is in keeping with the official theme of this year’s Board Game Jam: cooperation. Philip May and Brian Valiquette were friends beforehand. On Saturday, they decided to join forces with Bernie Dodge and Brian Thompson. Dodge, a professor of simulations and games at San Diego State University, was teaching a semester in Massachusetts when he heard about the Board Game Jam through Reddit on Thursday. The fact that he made the trip to Toronto a priority is indicative of the passion game devotees have for the craft.

Pattern, meanwhile, was not only participating for the second time, but had taken part in a similar competition the weekend prior, where teams had just four hours to complete a game. In succinctly explaining why she felt the desire to get involved in these two events back-to-back, she might as well have been speaking for everyone in attendance.

“I like games a lot,” she said.

Photo by Kevin Scott/Torontoist.

Andy Serkis as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Image courtesy of Photofest.

Science on Film
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)
February 27 to June 26
$180 for subscription, single tickets available on Wednesday, February 27

Having recently devoted screens to separate ongoing programs focused on books and food, the TIFF Bell Lightbox continues its busy subscription-series lineup with the Wednesday launch of the second season of Science on Film. Over the course of the next four months, six films will screen and then be discussed by noted guests and experts in various scientific fields related to each movie’s subject matter. With lectures, demonstrations, and Q&As, the series promises to be a unique viewing opportunity. Here’s a guide to the highlights.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Wednesday, February 27, 7 p.m.

The movie: An unexpectedly impressive reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise, this 2011 origin story sets the stage for what seems destined to be many more sequels and prequels. James Franco stars as a scientist who is working to cure Alzheimer’s—which his father (John Lithgow) is suffering from—by testing a new drug on chimpanzees. After he takes in a baby chimp, naming it Caesar, he begins to notice that his drug is causing the primate to develop extreme intelligence. With a brilliant motion-capture performance by Gollum himself (Andy Serkis), and a grand climax on the Golden Gate Bridge, Planet of the Apes is an engrossing and surprisingly resonant action film.

The scientist: Dr. Stephen Scherer, a geneticist who studied at the University of Toronto before co-founding The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAD), Canada’s first human genome centre. His work in genetic variation was integral to sequencing the human genome, and he currently holds the GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Institutes of Health Research Chair in Genome Sciences at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto.

What to expect: Aside from the Science Centre being on hand for an interactive audience demonstration involving real primate skulls, there’s sure to be a scintillating discussion of genetic engineering and bio-technologies.

Up in the Air
Wednesday, March 27, 7 p.m.

The movie: Jason Reitman’s follow-up to the much-lauded Juno bears more of a resemblance to the dark humor and caustic wit of his debut feature, Thank You for Smoking. The adaptation of Walter Kim’s novel follows professional corporate downsizer Ryan (George Clooney), who lives a solitary and transient existence as he flies from city to city to do his job: laying off employees at companies that have contracted for his services. Meeting fellow traveler Alex (Vera Farmiga) and growing close to Natalie (Anna Kendrick), his ambitious protege, forces him to re-examine his priorities.

The scientist: Dr. Barbara Killinger, a Toronto psychotherapist and a pioneer in the field of workaholism. Her book, Workaholics: The Respectable Addicts, has been published in nineteen countries and nine languages. She maintains a blog on the subject of workaholism for Psychology Today.

What to expect: Because Killinger’s Ph.D dissertation was the first empirical study of humour in psychotherapy, it’s a good bet that her lecture will be delivered with a touch as light as Reitman’s. Audiences can look forward to a visual representation of what an unhealthy amount of time spent at the office can do to the human brain.

Apollo 13
Wednesday, May 8, 7 p.m.

The movie: NASA’s Apollo 13 mission—the origin of the ubiquitous phrase, “Houston, we have a problem”—is brought to life with rousing performances and great attention to detail in Ron Howard’s 1995 crowd-pleaser. After being forced to abandon their mission to the moon because of malfunctioning equipment, Commander Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) and his crew navigate the difficult trip home with the help of Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and his team back in Mission Control Center.

The scientist: Astronaut Julie Payette, who has spent twenty-five days in space aboard space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. With Endeavour, she became the first Canadian to participate in an International Space Station assembly mission.

What to expect: Payette will definitely dispel any myths about space travel perpetuated by Apollo 13 and other films, and she’ll also likely explain the logistics of (and inherent difficulties in) guiding Apollo 13 back to Earth. Given the timing, it could be an opportunity, as well, to provide some insight into Chris Hadfield’s mission aboard the International Space Station, and what he may be experiencing as Commander of Expedition 35.

John Francis Daley in the work-in-progress 5-25-77. Photo courtesy of TIFF.

TIFF Next Wave
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)
February 15–17
$8.50–$12, or FREE for high school students for select screenings

For three days this month starting on February 15, things at the TIFF Bell Lightbox will work a little differently. The reins will be handed over to a group of teenagers, who will decide—and in some cases, create—what is shown on the screens. The schedule at the second Next Wave festival, aimed at those aged 14 to 18, features a wide array of films and events, including a John Hughes retrospective, a Talent Lab where young filmmakers can hone their skills, and a 24-hour Film Challenge that culminates with young artists providing live musical accompaniment in a Battle of the Scores.

Among the highlights in the slate of films are zombie flick Dead Before Dawn 3D and Patrick Read Johnson’s long-awaited ode to all things sci-fi, 5-25-77 (otherwise known as the release date of Star Wars). The latter is screening in an unfinished state and the director is seeking feedback to assist in its completion. The film is a kaleidoscopic coming-of-age story that follows a young man (Freaks and Geeks‘ John Francis Daley) on his roundabout path to meeting his filmmaking heroes and soon-to-be heroes in Hollywood. It’s a little long and rough around the edges still, but has an earnestness that’s hard to resist.

Some of their other picks: a great performance by young actress Olesya Rulin grounds the quirky comedy Family Weekend and the documentary Fame High is an absorbing account of one year at a Los Angeles art school. The lineup also includes international offerings like the Irish space-themed comedy Earthbound, and Bushido Sixteen, a Japanese story of a fencing rivalry between two teenage girls.

In an effort to pick the brains of the panel responsible for helping to shape the program, we sent a questionnaire to three of its members: Nasma Ahmed, 17, from Woburn Collegiate Institute; Julia Galle, 16, from the Etobicoke School of the Arts; and Corina Bizim, 17, from Pickering High School.

Torontoist: When did you first start watching films? Do you remember the first one you saw?

Julia Galle: I’ve always watched films. I can’t remember not watching them. The first one I can remember seeing was Elmopalooza!. Yeah, I was a Sesame Street fan.

What film has influenced you the most in your life and why?

Corina Bizim: Matilda has influenced me the most in my life because she was my first example of a female hero. I wanted to be just like her—the little girl with special super powers who could do anything that she set her mind to.

How did the process of selecting the films for the festival work?

Nasma Ahmed: We spent time watching the movies that were submitted and discussing them. Then at the end of a long—but pleasant—viewing spree, we selected the movies we feel will cater to different types of audiences and represented several countries. This is why we have films from Ireland, Japan, and South Africa.

What film in the festival are you most excited for people to see?

Ahmed: Molly Maxwell because of the interesting take on an odd romance that takes part in our city, Toronto. And Ghost Graduation because of how hilarious it is. It is High School Musical without the music, plus some ghosts.

Galle: I think all the movies are wonderful in their own way. I think people are really going to like Otelo Burning and Family Weekend.

Bizim: I am most excited for people to see Molly Maxwell because of the focus on Toronto talent. I also think it’s a great coming of age story and everyone will be able to relate well to the extremely awkward experience of being a teenager.

What is your favourite John Hughes film?

Ahmed: Sixteen Candles because I remember when I was 16 and how, for some reason, it was the most exciting birthday for me. My family around me didn’t think the same because a birthday was a birthday, but I remember feeling like Molly Ringwald in a sense. Why wasn’t anyone as excited as me? I love how John Hughes portrayed the high school life because I see similarities every day, except we don’t give people our underwear.

Galle: Breakfast Club is my favourite. It’s one of those films that everyone can take from. That movie has an impeccable power to deeply move people who watch it.

Bizim: My favorite John Hughes film is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. It wasn’t directed by John Hughes, but it was written and produced by him. I love this movie because I have watched it every Christmas since I was little, and it really reminds me of the importance of family.

What other groups and activities do you participate in?

Ahmed: Outside of school, I love to participate in my community through volunteering and even sometimes politically. I work closely with Free The Children and United Way and have been for years. At school, I am the editor of the yearbook and adviser to the student council.

Galle: I really like to make movies and write scripts. I’ve also been attempting to learn the ukulele.

Bizim: I am really involved with acting and the drama program at my school. Throughout the past few years of high school, I have co-directed and starred in the school plays, which have participated in the Sears Drama Festival. I am currently an actress on Degrassi, and am always attending acting classes and auditions.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Ahmed: Well, 10 years is a really long time! I see myself working in the municipal government. I am very interested in policy work, especially when it comes to social programming within our city.

Galle: I’d love to continue making and writing movies. Doing that forever would be ideal.

Bizim: I see myself participating in film festivals all over the world, but on the red carpet side. I hope to be acting in films and television shows for the rest of my life, and to produce movies as well.

CORRECTION: February 14, 2013, 10:05 AM This post originally stated that Julia Galle attends the Etobicoke Centre for the Arts. That is incorrect, and has now been fixed.

Jay Bentley and Greg Graffin.

In preparation for an upcoming tour and to mark the release of the band’s 16th studio album, True North, punk-rock innovator Bad Religion played an atypically intimate show at the Horseshoe on Sunday night. While the album’s title track is about finding one’s inner compass rather than, say, how great Canada is, the crowd of 102.1 The Edge contest winners (the show was exclusively for them) hardly seemed to care as they fist-pumped along to a blistering performance.

Playfully teasing the crowd about the abundance of new songs in the set list while bantering with bassist Jay Bentley, animated lead singer Greg Graffin also fulfilled his promise to play some of the group’s classics. At one point, he introduced the song “We’re Only Gonna Die” by declaring it “older than most of you.” The evening culminated in a powerful rendition of the band’s ’90s breakout hit, “21st Century Digital Boy.” It was a final reminder of the the band’s vitality, even after over 30 years together.

When Bad Religion formed in Los Angeles in 1979, the group’s current drummer, Brooks Wackerman, was living nearby—except he was only two years old at the time. As the youngest son of renowned Orange County music educator Chuck Wackerman, it was almost preordained that he would follow in the footsteps of his older brothers, one of whom was the drummer for Frank Zappa’s band. In fact, Wackerman says that even as a child he was already making strides.

“As soon as I started walking, that’s when I started banging on things,” he remembers. At the age of six, the studies became a little more formal. “My dad was my jazz band instructor throughout adolescence. He was the one that took me to my private lessons. He would drive me an hour every week to go to specific teachers.”

Speaking with Wackerman at the Metropolitan Hotel the morning after the show at the Horseshoe, he’s anything but the archetypal unhinged rock drummer. Where Keith Moon was brash and uncouth, Wackerman is soft-spoken and affable. In a genre of music built on rebellion and questionable talent, his gratitude to his parents and his extensive training fly in the face of many notions of the punk-rock aesthetic. But he has spent his share of time paying his dues on the road. In fact, he did that while he was still in high school. It was then that he first heard a Bad Religion album: Stranger Than Fiction.

“I was in a van with The Vandals. Joe Escalante, the bassist, threw that CD in my lap and he said, ‘Listen to this.’ I was blown away when I first heard it. I had never heard harmonies in punk-rock music like that. And really well-crafted songs. Those were the two things that grabbed me.”

Brooks Wackerman in his element.

In 2000, after Wackerman had stopped drumming for the band Suicidal Tendencies, mutual friends put him in touch with Brett Gurewitz, guitarist and—along with Graffin—chief songwriter for Bad Religion. (Gurewitz was absent in Toronto, as he rarely plays shows outside Los Angeles.) Wackerman recognized that he was being called in to audition at a crucial time for the band. “They had just finished their contract with Atlantic. [They eventually signed with Epitaph.] And Brett had been out of the band for 10 years. He was coming back into the picture. [Drummer] Bobby Schayer had just left the band. I think they were going through a lot of transitions.”

Over the 13 years Wackerman has now been in the band, he says there have been changes in the group’s sound. “Especially [2010's] The Dissent Of Man versus the new record. To me, in the Bad Religion world, it’s like day and night. Dissent had almost singer-songwriter songs on it—a little slower and longer songs, too. On True North, I think we get to the point faster. There’s no song really over two-and-a-half minutes.” At this point, he feels he and his band mates have developed strong chemistry.

“There’s definitely been a progression. I think as a band, we’re playing better than we have since I joined. I think we know each other’s tricks a little bit better now. Just like anything, when you play with guys for 13 years, you hope there will be a better cohesion.”

Because Graffin, a PhD scholar, regularly teaches paleontology and life sciences courses at Cornell and UCLA, Bad Religion has downtime. Wackerman keeps himself busy by playing with a number of bands, including acoustic-metal act Tenacious D. “You couldn’t really pick any two more different bands than Tenacious D and Bad Religion,” he says. “I can get off on that fact that they’re stylistically so different and really on the opposite end of the spectrum.” Still, the transition back to the breakneck pace of Bad Religion songs can sometimes be a little jarring for him.

“It is tough if you haven’t played punk drumming in a year. I’m usually on a pretty good practice regimen when I’m home. I guess you could compare it to an athlete when you’re getting ready for a meet, or the Olympics.” In discussing the many ways he combats the accompanying toll on his body, he addresses a pressing concern in an appropriately punk-rock manner.

“It’s a pretty physical job playing punk music as a drummer. And I’m not getting any fucking younger.”

Keanu Reeves in A Scanner Darkly. Image courtesy of the Film Reference Library.

Whoa. The Films Of Keanu Reeves
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)
January 11–April 5
$8.50–$12

Initially, TIFF’s decision to host a retrospective dedicated to the work of Keanu Reeves may seem like a curious one. After all, the actor has been the subject of some derision over the years, for everything from his notoriously uneven acting, to his limited on-screen vocabulary, to his habit of sometimes looking a little too morose.

But upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Reeves, who spent many of his formative years in Toronto, is worthy of celebration. He has managed to carve out a filmography that includes a healthy mixture of crowd-pleasing blockbusters and interesting independent films. In advance of the retrospective, here are brief refreshers on three movies that helped define Keanu, and that made all of us say, “Whoa.”

River’s Edge (1986)

When it’s playing at the Lightbox: Friday, January 25, 9:45 p.m.

Role: Matt, a troubled teenager who runs with the wrong crowd, but who also has a conscience—and, perhaps, a heart of gold.

The story: A group of rural high-school outcasts deals with the aftermath of one its members murdering a classmate.

Mini-review: As a commentary on the callousness and apathy of disillusioned youth, it remains as prescient as ever. With great performances from an especially creepy Dennis Hopper and the mesmerizingly unhinged Crispin Glover, this bleak snapshot of eroding morality will linger in your thoughts long after the credits roll.

Place within Keanu’s career arc: It established Reeves’s enthusiasm for appearing in smaller films from less established filmmakers. This trend would continue with Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho (1991), and all the way through to Mike Mills’s Thumbsucker (2005).

Does Keanu say “Whoa”? No. This was made in 3 BW (Before Whoa), when those glorious four letters were still only a glimmer in Keanu’s eye.

Choice Keanu moment: When his trashy mom insists that he not smoke pot in the house, he fires back with the zinger, “Don’t worry, it’s not yours.”

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

When it’s playing at the Lightbox: Friday, February 1, 9:00 p.m.

Role: Ted “Theodore” Logan, an underachieving metalhead who makes up in ambition what he lacks in intelligence. Ted is also, incidentally, one of the Two Great Ones. That’s because he helped form the band Wyld Stallyns, whose music is ultimately responsible for the formation of a utopian society in the distant future.

The story: Bill and Ted are tasked with travelling back in time in a specially outfitted phone booth. Their mission is to collect great figures from the past, like Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln, thus ensuring that they pass a history class and are able to shape the world with their music.

Mini-review: It’s practically the Citzen Kane of dumb comedies, with many classic lines and great moments—not to mention a memorable appearance by the legendary George Carlin as Bill and Ted’s guide, Rufus.

Place within Keanu’s career arc: While his participation in it could have jeopardized his credibility, the movie’s success only burnished his silly side. To Keanu’s credit, he not only gamely reprised the role in the sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, but also still plans on doing so again to complete the trilogy.

Does Keanu say “Whoa”? Does he ever! In total, Keanu utters the trademark word a whopping 11 times, though it should be noted that some of these are whoa duets with Alex Winter’s Bill. Nonetheless, this is only enough to place the movie second among Keanu’s whoa-iest films. (It trails Sweet November‘s staggering 15, which is a little misleading considering all 15 are said in succession while urging someone to stop what they’re doing.)

Choice Keanu moment: As he offers the imposing emperor a snack, “You want a Twinkie, Genghis Khan?”

The Matrix (1999)

When it’s playing at the Lightbox: Friday, March 22, 9:00 p.m.

Role: Computer hacker Thomas Anderson, better known as Neo. Or, continuing the messianic theme of Bill and Ted, he may also be addressed as The One.

The story: Mr. Anderson learns that the world as we know it is really just a computer program. He becomes part of a battle against machines that have enslaved the human race. Or, something like that.

Mini-review: Though its legacy may be somewhat tainted by two sequels that were tepidly received by eager fans, the original was a kinetic hybrid of science fiction and action the likes of which no one had seen before. The bullet-time shootouts enthralled audiences, even as the labyrinthine intricacies of the plot threatened to confound them (before, in the sequels, they actually did).

Place within Keanu’s career arc: Having already cemented his status as an action star first with Point Break (1991) and later with Speed (1994), this became Keanu’s crowning achievement in the genre.

Does Keanu say “Whoa”? Only twice, but one of them is likely the defining whoa of his entire career. After watching Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus leap across to a distant building in a way that defies physics, Reeves drinks in the strangeness for a beat and then unleashes a delivery of his sacred syllable that shatters everything we ever thought we knew of the word.

Choice Keanu moment: When he downloads martial arts into his brain and then states, blankly, “I know kung fu.”

Keep an eye on the Blue Jays in 2013. This might just be their year. Photo by {a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjmixer/5644041557/}PJMixer{/a} from the {a href=http://www.flickr.com/groups/torontoist/}Torontoist Flickr Pool{/a}.

From athletes to actors, there are lots of people (and groups of people) who will make waves in Toronto this year. Read on for a roundup of a few local up-and-comers we think are worth keeping an eye on in 2013.

The Toronto Blue Jays
Local ball team with new blood.

For Toronto sports fans, the start of a new season is less about renewed hope and more about masochism. Every year is a grim trudge towards finishing just outside of playoff contention and being rewarded with another good-but-not-great draft pick. Our love for our teams is not only unrequited, but also unhealthy. We know we should cheer for someone else, or just stop watching sports, but no matter how many times we try, we get sucked back in.

The 2013 baseball season, however, already feels different. With snow still on the ground and several weeks to go before the start of spring training, all anyone with even a passing interest in sports can talk about is the Blue Jays. That’s mostly because Jays GM Alex Anthopolous has managed to engineer an almost mind-bogglingly good off-season, starting with his raiding of the Florida Marlins’ salary-dumping fire sale, and continuing with his addition of talented-but-troubled outfielder Melky Cabrera. Also, in what may be Ahtopolous’ greatest triumph of all, he managed to nab last year’s National League Cy Young winner, RA Dickey.

All this adds up to buzz the likes of which Toronto sports hasn’t seen in years. And lest you think this championship talk is just homerism or some sort of collective delusion on the part of Toronto’s championship-starved fanbase, consider this: Las Vegas bookmakers have already tapped the Jays as the team most likely to win this year’s World Series, giving them 15/2 odds of taking it all.

The Jays are definitely the team to watch this year. All those casual fans should practice their bandwagon jumping.

(Chris Dart)

Primo
Super sketch-comedy troupe.

With Picnicface‘s members scattered across the country and the troupe on hiatus, Canada is in need of a new top sketch company. One Toronto-based collective looks to be a contender. Primo boasts powerhouse Second City and Sketchersons alumni, and over their first year of live shows they’ve developed a unique sketch style, and attracted guests like Scott Thompson, Colin Mochrie, and Debra DiGiovanni.

Several individual Primo members had banner years in 2012. Kayla Lorette (YTV’s That’s So Weird!) co-starred in Picnicface’s feature-length film Rollertown; Alex Tindal began a series of satirical op-ed videos for the Toronto Star; and Inessa Frantowski starred in a Avicii and Nicky Romero video that’s passed five million views in two weeks. Primo has also earned some accolades as a group. When they premiered a playful homage to the classic Roseanne sitcom opening credits, Roseanne Barr herself retweeted and LOL’d at it.

(Steve Fisher)

Tatiana Maslany
One-of-a-kind screen actor.

Tatiana Maslany has been on “one to watch” lists for years now, owing to her exceptional work in Canadian film. 2012 was a high water mark for the Regina-born and Toronto-based actress. She made TIFF’s “Rising Star” list for her starring role in the film Picture Day, and she also impressed us with a rare stage appearance in the Toronto premiere of Christopher Shinn’s Other People.

But 2013 is the year that Maslany is moving to a new medium in a big way, starring in a new sci-fi series for BBC America called Orphan Black, in which her character becomes embroiled in a mystery after she discovers she’s just one of many clones spread across the world (all played by Maslany, naturally). It’s too early to tell whether the show will be a breakout success or an over-the-top genre dud, but the exposure could nevertheless push Maslany to a next level of stardom. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time a Canadian in a starring role on a schlocky show went on to big things.

(Steve Fisher)

Reema Major
Young rap artist earning a rep.

Ever since Drake exploded in the late ‘00s, making him the best-known Torontonian musician in a generation, local hip-hop heads have been waiting for a new star. Who will be the next Toronto artist to break internationally, proving that Drake wasn’t just some sort of outlier and that our city has a pool of rap talent that’s every bit as deep as those in New York and Atlanta?

Over the past two years, 17-year-old Reema Major has emerged as the clear frontrunner. Not only does she hold the distinction of being the youngest performer to take part in a cypher at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, she’s also received a co-sign from one of rap music’s heavy hitters. Last summer, Waka Flocka Flame took to Twitter to announce that Major had been signed to his Brick Squad Monopoly label. He then took Major across the US to open for him on his Triple F Life tour. (In addition to getting the deal with Flocka, Major has also received high-profile co-signs from Rick Ross and, somewhat inexplicably, Gene Simmons.)

With an increased profile, a pocket full of endorsements, and a new mixtape set to drop in the near future, there’s a very strong chance that 2013 will be Major’s breakout year.

(Chris Dart)

James Reimer and Ben Scrivens
Maple Leafs netminders.

The 2012/2013 NHL season isn’t so much saved in its entirety as it is partially salvaged. Now that the lockout is over, we can expect a condensed season, meaning some teams will occasionally see 5 games a week.

Leafs General Manager Brian Burke’s confidence in James “Optimus Reim” Reimer—$5.8 million dollars worth of confidence, as Reimer’s three-year contract extension suggests—marks the goaltender as a clear starter. Even though Reimer showed flashes of brilliance in the net last year, he has yet to manage a full, consistent, and healthy NHL season. Now, given a shortened season, expect both him and backup goalie Ben Scrivens to get plenty of starting opportunities.

Speaking of Scrivens, his performance last season simply cannot be ignored. He backstopped the Marlies to the AHL finals while setting new franchise records for both goals against average and save percentage. And while Reimer has not been playing during the lockout, Scrivens has helped bring the Marlies to first place in the AHL western conference.

Both Reimer and Scrivens have yet to prove themselves capable of providing the Leafs with a long-term goaltending solution. Even so, over the next few months, expect both of these young goaltenders to be given plenty of opportunity to prove their worth. That said, if you want to cheer for a winning professional hockey franchise in Toronto, you’d better stick with the Marlies.

(Corbin Smith)

Nazem Kadri
Maple Leafs draft pick coming back from the minors.

Those few Leafs fans still holding their breath for some on-ice performance from 2009 first-round draft pick Nazem Kadri—the very first selection under the regime of Brian Burke—are blue in the face by now. Despite intermittent glimpses of the dynamic talent that made him such a highly coveted prospect, he has helped temper any potential excitement with erratic play and, most recently, questionable conditioning. It’s these shortcomings that have led to an inevitable demotion back to the minor-league Marlies and increasing criticism by impatient supporters ready to write Kadri off as yet another misstep by Leafs brass.

So why would this year be any different? For one, Kadri may have an advantage over many other players who have waited out the lockout. While they fretted over the details of the new collective bargaining agreement, practicing only when the opportunity arose, Kadri was rounding into mid-season form as one of the leaders in points for the Marlies. It remains to be seen whether his momentum can carry over when the NHL resumes play—an uncertainty aided by a recent head injury—but there are, at least, new signs that the 22-year-old London, ON native will play a crucial role in what will be an especially frantic playoff push for the Leafs.

(Kevin Scott)

Ingrid Veninger
Innovative and economical filmmaker.

Photo by Benjamin Lichty.

Veninger came into her own with the 2011 release of the critically acclaimed i am a good person/i am a bad person, a film produced with a budget of just $20,000. (Veninger wrote, directed, and starred in it.) Also, through her company, pUNK FILMS, she produced Peter Mettler’s newest documentary, The End of Time.

In 2012, Veninger teamed up with The Royal Cinema’s director of programming, Stacey Donen, to present the 1K Feature Film Challenge, in which five local filmmakers were each tasked with producing a feature film on an impossibly stringent $1000 budget.

The plan now is to use the earnings from screenings of those films to fund another, similar challenge. Also, all those works will be considered as possible acquisitions for Donen’s College Street Pictures, a distribution company that had two films at TIFF in 2012.

With her dedication and eye for talent, Veninger is one to watch in the coming year.

(Kevin Scott)

Bahia Watson
Stage actor in the spotlight.

Photo by SIDDIQUI.

Watson has already proven she can stand out among a cast of 13 legendary women (like Megan Follows, in Nightwood Theatre’s Dora Award-winning The Penelopiad), so this added experience with Thomson is sure to confirm the actress as a young, well-rounded, sharp female presence in Toronto theatre this year.

(Carly Maga)

Nina Lee Aquino and Nigel Shawn Williams
Breathing new life into the Factory Theatre.

Photo by Jonathan Heppner.

Nina Lee Aquino and Nigel Shawn Williams aren’t new to Toronto theatre. In fact, both have been fairly big names for quite some time. Aquino is known as an accomplished playwright, director, and Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre Company. Williams is an esteemed film and theatre actor, and a Dora winner for his performance in last year’s Topdog/Underdog. But this past fall saw the pair take on entirely new roles. They’re now the Interim Artistic Team at Factory Theatre, positions they inherited after the firing of former Factory Artistic Director Ken Gass and all the associated controversy. This month, they’ll mount the first production in their new Factory Theatre season, Every Letter Counts, written by Aquino and directed by Williams.

The pair will have to rebuild the theatre from the ground up. Not everyone has stopped fuming over Gass’ termination, but now that he has revived Canadian Rep Theatre (another project to watch in 2013), there is no longer any chance of him returning to the company he founded. And so, in 2013, Factory Theatre will begin its new future in the hands of Aquino and Williams, a challenge they voluntarily accepted and should tackle boldly.

(Carly Maga)

Noble Beaver Trading Co.
Makers of hand-crafted wares.

Photo by Corbin Smith/Torontoist.

Barely a half-year into its existence, Noble Beaver—a company bent on bringing handmade Canadian wares back into gift shops—has already received lifestyle section shout-outs and a coveted spot in December’s City of Craft fair (which is basically the Super Bowl for local makers). Specializing in ceramic arts, nifty wood-based treasures and knives forged in a West-End backyard contraption called the “BBForge,” Noble Beaver’s got its fingers (claws?) in all the key houseware pies. 2013 is looking good.

(Kelli Korducki)

Compiled by Chris Riddell.

CORRECTION: Tuesday, January 8 1:30PM, 2:10PM, & 2:30PM Nazem Kadri, Reema Major, and Dawn Petticrew’s names were previously misspelled in the post above. The corrections have been made.

Periodically, things happen in Toronto that demand more than one perspective. Enter the Torontoist Roundtable.

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CHRISTOPHER BIRD: As I write this, the Raptors have just lost to the Brooklyn Nets—a team that was itself on a five-game losing streak—by fourteen points. The Raptors are now a pitiful four-and-nineteen on the season. They’ve lost twelve of their last thirteen games. Were it not for the Washington Wizards generously losing on the same night, the Raptors would now be the worst team in the entire NBA. And remember, this was supposed to be a competitive season: Bryan Colangelo went looking for talent in the off-season and was very firm that this was going to be the Raptors’ year, and that we would contend for a playoff spot. (Sneaking in as the eighth seed might seem like a low bar for a “competitive season,” but this is a Toronto sports team we’re talking about here: the standards have never been lower.) At this point the playoffs seem nearly impossible: in order to even have a shot, the Raptors effectively have to win two out of every three games for the rest of the season. So: whose fault is this? And what do the Raptors do now?

CHRIS DART: There really is so much blame to go around here, but I think the bulk of it has to be laid at the feet of Bryan Colangelo. He came in with a reputation as a smart, shrewd executive, and while he’s made some brilliant moves, he also traded the pick that would become Roy Hibbert for Jermaine “No Knees” O’Neal, and more importantly refused to let go of the hope that Andrea Bargnani would turn into the next Dirk Nowitzki. More than any of his other draft picks, Bargnani was HIS guy, and he just refuses to acknowledge that you can’t build a team around a seven footer who refuses to rebound. He’s also sabotaged (whether intentionally or not) his own hand-picked head coach, by selecting a coach known for his defensive acumen, and then sticking him with Bargnani, who just doesn’t care about defense, and Jose Calderon, who, in spite of his best efforts, manages to make every opposing point guard look like John Stockton.

KEVIN SCOTT: Yup, Colangelo has to fall on his sword for most of this mess. It’s not as if the 2006 draft with Bargnani had the most talent or anything, but would the Raptors be better off if they had taken LaMarcus Aldridge instead? In hindsight, probably. First overall draft picks have a way of defining general managers, and this one has certainly helped to tarnish the reputation he had built with the Suns. It seems so long ago now that he was named Executive Of The Year. That was in 2007, when the team won the division. There was so much hope then. What everyone needed this past off-season was a reason to get excited again. Signing Kyle Lowry has produced some flashes of greatness, sure, but if Colangelo had managed to actually put together a deal that brought Steve Nash to Canada, there’s no doubt it would have created the kind of buzz in the city that we hadn’t felt in years.

CHRISTOPHER BIRD: Actually, I have to disagree with you there, Kevin. The problem with Colangelo’s entire reign as GM is that he has always gone for “win now” rather than “rebuild,” and that he doesn’t know how to “win now” anyway. He didn’t trade Chris Bosh when everybody knew Bosh was going to jump to Miami because Colangelo made himself believe that he could re-sign Bosh. He overspends on average players (Bargnani, Landry Fields, Hedo Turkoglu—the list goes on and on), because he convinces himself that if he does, somehow he’ll get stars: either the money he spends will turn them into better players or star players will see that Colangelo is willing to throw money around. But he’s been doing this for seven years and it hasn’t worked yet. God, what if he had succeeded in getting Steve Nash? We’d have used up all of our salary cap space on an ancient point guard who has been injured for essentially the entire season. No: I think if the Raptors are going to be successful, he has to do it through trades or drafting. So brainstorm for me: how do we trade/draft our way to a competitive team (even over a couple of seasons)?

CHRIS DART: Yeah, Steve Nash would have been a deathblow. The first thing they do is fire the GM. After that, Bargnani has to go. And I think we should be really, really realistic about what that’s going to look like. They’re not going to get anything good for him, so they have to manage expectations a little. If they can just get a player with a shorter contract, I’m sold there. Jose Calderon, on the other hand, does have value, as his deal is expiring. I feel like they should be able to leverage that into a mid-first round pick. From there, they can suck enough to get a top-three pick. (I’m currently working on a name for this year’s “Tank Nation” bandwagon. I’m down to “To the Cellar for Zellar,” or “Less Wins for Nerlens.”)

Then in the off-season they move Kyle Lowry—because there’s no goddamn way he’s re-signing here, and if he is, we don’t want him—ideally for a 2014 pick and a small forward, and amnesty either Linas Kleiza or Amir. (I’m thinking the small forward in this case would be Danny Granger, who expires in 2014 anyway.) With the two 2013 picks, they go best player available, probably Shabazz Muhammad, then try to nab a point guard with the second, ideally CJ McCollum, because there’s no way a guy who plays in the Patriot League is a lottery pick. I’m just not buying it. The new GM will probably fire Dwayne Casey, which sucks because I like him, but that’s life. They should replace him with Mike Brown. Now, we’re looking at one season of intense pain—this one—and then a core of DeMar, Jonas, Ed Davis, Terrance Ross, Shabazz Muhammad and CJ McCollum, plus the veteran leadership of Danny Granger, Mike Brown as coach and a pick to replace the one they gave up to get Lowry in the first place.

KEVIN SCOTT: It’s not that a move to land Nash would have made any real sense in the bigger picture, though I am sure Lakers fans will tell you it certainly helps if said ancient free-agent acquisition can actually stay healthy (thumbs up in your direction, Peyton Manning). It’s more that casual fans like myself who aren’t able to provide any real insight into which of those draft picks has the most potential upside are getting increasingly frustrated and—let’s face it—a little bored by the kinds of teams being assembled each year. At least when we had marquee names like Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, or even Damon Stoudemire, there was a sense of having one player the fanbase could rally around. They could say, “At least we have that guy.” It always felt then as if the front office was no more than a few moves away from putting the winning pieces together. That’s why staring down the barrel of an overhaul is so disheartening. It doesn’t help that free agents now seem increasingly wary of considering Toronto as an option given our track record. Should we just acquiesce to Vince Carter’s suggestion that he might return or does that feel too much like some sort of devious ruse where he comes back only to figuratively (or perhaps literally) douse us in pig’s blood a la Carrie?

CHRISTOPHER BIRD: Not Carter. Vince Carter may have reached the point where Toronto fans might only want to secretly murder him in the dead of night rather than stage an open sacrifice in the Air Canada Centre, but he’s still Vince Carter. More importantly, he’s Vince Carter of 2012 (a capable sixth man) rather than in-his-prime-superstar Vince Carter, which is what Toronto fans crave. Besides, we’re not going to get a superstar by spending money on a free agent anyway, because NBA players are wary of Toronto—both because of its losing stigma and because the city itself has gained a reputation for being a bad place to live during the season (cold and wet, not exciting like New York). That latter is honestly kind of unfair, because Toronto doesn’t have any climate issues or lack of excitement that, say Chicago doesn’t have (e.g. yes, it’s cold and wet in the winter, but it’s a fun place), but then again the Bulls have six championships and we don’t. So we draft or we trade.

I tend to be sympathetic to the idea of tanking, but I am mindful both of casual fans’ reaction and also the potential interference by the NBA itself in any trade we might make that is too obviously a tank trade. (Example: we trade Lowry to Orlando for injured Al Harrington and multiple draft picks. Works for both teams, but for us it’s too obviously a tank move and would have a good chance of being vetoed by David Stern.) I agree with Dart that a rebuild will need multiple picks. The problem, though, is that 2013 is a fairly thin draft year. Dart mentioned basically everybody who justifies tanking, and that’s a short list. Toronto needs to pick sure things, not make-work projects like Terrence Ross.

2014, though—2014 is an insane draft year, and I think the Raptors need to focus on it. Mostly this is because of Andrew Wiggins, who is—say it with me now—Canadian, and also heralded as either the next Lebron or the next Kevin Durant depending on who’s doing the heralding that week. A superstar-level player who’s also from Thornhill should be a no-brainer. The Raptors want a superstar brand? There you go: “Maple Jordan.” (It’s an awful nickname but unfortunately Vince took “Air Canada.”) The problem with this plan, though, is that everybody else wants Wiggins too, even though the 2014 class has multiple other players on or near his level. The second problem is that draft picks are NBA trading gold, and we’re not going to be able to offload Calderon straight-up for a pick because half a season of Calderon is not worth a first-round pick. And the third problem is what Kevin identified: we can’t be sure that casual fans be willing to wait to see if the Wiggins game plan pans out.

KEVIN SCOTT: Sorry if I’m messing up the rotation, but it seemed like my cue to jump in here. Realistically, we’ve reached a point where it becomes awfully hard for the casual fan to care any less, really. As far a rebuilding process goes, look: the Raptors have invested in high-profile players before—the Carters and the Boshes. They come through town, establish names for themselves, then leave with barely a note on the pillow. So fans are forced to settle for proverbial Milhouses in Bargnani and Calderon, players that are devoted enough to the cause, but inherently limited in ability. It’s going to take some time before casual fans are ready to fully commit to another bright young prospect.

That said, the Wiggins plan would appear to be a slam dunk (sorry), at least on paper. Is this a situation, then, where the team’s best option is really to experiment with a long-term tank plan (The LTT, or Super Tank, are possible catchy nicknames to consider) to be sure we can nab him? If that’s the case, it might be a good idea to try and latch on to some crucial piece of temporary deadweight to ensure failure. Maybe Lamar Odom. Or can they convince Hakeem Olajuwon to come out of retirement? A lot can happen in the time before the 2014 draft, so it would seem foolish to put all of the team’s eggs in that one basket. But if Wiggins should become a Toronto Raptor, it will instantly make an entire nation full of people who previously had no interest in the sport take notice.

What really seems to be lacking at the moment from this team—and maybe from every Raptors team in the history of the franchise—is a killer instinct. It’s evident in the way they lose so many overtime games and consistently blow halftime leads. After a while, a sports team starts to carry this stench of failure, the way the Cleveland Browns do in football, the Chicago Cubs in baseball, and our Leafs in hockey. It’s the kind of culture that perpetuates losing, accepts it as if the alternative was never to be expected anyway. It’s important that the Raptors shake this reputation, if only so they won’t be limited in luring players to town. Also, the fans aren’t as resilient as Leafs die-hards. They won’t keep showing up just because there’s a game to be played.

CHRIS DART: First of all, don’t get me started on David Stern. I have a huge hate-on for that man. Secondly, I think a trade would have to be a lot more flagrant than Harrington and picks for Lowry to get vetoed. It would have to be something ridiculous, like Aaron Williams, Eric Williams, the remains of Alonzo Mourning and two crappy picks for an in-his-prime Vince Carter. (Wait a second…) Also, just so we’re clear, the trades I just proposed are just me spitballing. I haven’t really thought them out in depth. They were just things I tossed out there to give folks an idea of the level of tear-down and rebuild this team needs. Also, I feel like Calderon’s expiring deal is worth something, even if he’s not.

The thing about “casual fans” is that by definition they come and go. The team has an unusually high number of them right now because the Leafs are locked out, but generally speaking, there aren’t a ton of casual Raptors fans. You’re either into them, or you’re only vaguely aware of their existence. They’ve been too crappy for too long to have casual fans. Every time Bryan Colangelo came out and told the fans this team was a Hedo Turkoglu or a Shawn Marion or a Jermaine O’Neal away from contention, he lied. That said, they also haven’t been quite bad enough to get a really transformative pick. They’ve just sort of limped along, consistently just missing the playoffs and consistently getting late lotto picks. As a result, they have two genuine NBA quality starters in DeRozan and Lowry, two more players that could turn into legit starters in Davis and Valanciunas, and a handful of decent rotational players. Let’s get off the treadmill. Let’s have a fire sale and start from zero.

CHRISTOPHER BIRD: I think you’re overrating DeRozan a bit (as opposed to Bryan Colangelo, who overrated him a lot). He’s still inconsistent. Maybe not Bargnani-level inconsistent, but he’s not NBA starter level yet, except by the lowered Toronto standard. I like DeRozan, because he hustles all the time and because as a Toronto fan I am obligated to love a player who hustles, but hustling cannot make up for a lack of talent. DeRozan, while not untalented, is also probably not going to develop into a Rajon-Rondo-like “five years later he’s a star and nobody expected that at the beginning.” He could surprise me and have a higher ceiling than I expect, and I truly hope he does. But if he doesn’t, it’ll just be the latest in a long line of athletes who fit into the Toronto-fan mold of “we like him because he’s a hard worker so who cares how good he is.” That’s the attitude that lets the Maple Leafs put shitty teams on the ice every year so long as they put a few Domi-style grinders out there, and it’s one area where the fans truly are to blame, and it’s at least partly the reason Colangelo can get away with giving DeRozan $10 million a season for four years when DeRozan hasn’t earned it yet (to put it mildly).

And that brings us back to Colangelo. Here’s the thing: on an individual level most of his decisions aren’t truly bad or stupid except in 20/20 hindsight. Trading for Jermaine O’Neal could have worked out great if O’Neal hadn’t broken down almost immediately. A lot of people thought signing Turkoglu was a good idea. Trying to keep Bosh, picking Bargnani over LaMarcus Aldridge, signing Landry Fields in order to get either Steve Nash or Jeremy Lin to sign here—individually, none of these is a firing offense, and many of them are at least defensible. But the thing about sports is that nobody is unlucky all the time, and when someone has had as many unlucky moments as Colangelo, there’s something more than luck playing a part.

CHRIS DART: Wow, DeMar isn’t even an NBA starter in your mind? Damn. That’s harsh. I think on a good team he’s a solid third option. Anyway, yes. My core point is that as bad as this team is, they’ve never been bad enough to get better. They keep limping on with the lie that they’re a player or two away from “competing.” (So we’re clear, “competing” in this context doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to compete for the championship, just that they’ll be able to make games competitive, instead of an instant “W” for the opposition.)

That lie needs to be put to bed, and its primary perpetrator, Bryan Colangelo, needs to be removed from the GM’s chair immediately. The apathetic, defensively-challenged, rebounding-averse symbol of his regime, Andrea Bargnani, needs to be traded for whatever we can get, or barring that, deported back to Italy. Then, they need somebody to come in and tear this thing down to the ground. It’s not like a terrible season will kill the franchise. They’re already having a terrible season, and they’ve been having terrible seasons since the franchise was founded. Even when they were “good,” during the Vince Carter era, they were actually just slightly better than average. All I’m asking for is a controlled burn. No more building a team with the goal of sneaking into the eighth playoff spot, no more bringing in aging veterans as window dressing. Let’s blow this sucker up and start over.

KEVIN SCOTT: As much as the notion feels painfully familiar, it does seem like blowing this team up again would probably the best bet at this point. The idea of Colangelo being the guy behind another rebuilding, though, is a ludicrous one. Even as being he’s dragged away, I’m sure Colangelo will be yelling, “Just give me one more chance! I swear I’ve figured it out this time!” I’m sorry, Bryan, but you only get so many chances to build this house. As Bird said, after this many attempts, it can no longer be chalked up to luck or, even if it could, it doesn’t matter. These are sports we’re talking about here, and the only way to gauge success or failure is by the win-loss column. There can never be excuses.

Which brings us to the universal truth of the matter: winning has a way of solving nearly everything here. If they start putting together a couple of worthwhile seasons (and I recognize this might be a few years from now), those same players who wanted nothing to do with this mess will suddenly be interested in being part of a franchise on the upswing. Dart’s point about the Raptors not having any more casual fans is valid, too. There are two camps here: the loyal die-hards who will root for the team no matter what and an increasingly apathetic group whose interest wanes with each losing year. The latter group is not entirely lost, though. Many of them were once faithful supporters. Now they’re just waiting for a reason to return to the ACC, for a team worth cheering for. People will come, Ray—I mean Chris and Christopher—people will most definitely come…

CORRECTION: December 14, 2012, 5:20 P.M. This post originally contained the following parenthetical sentence: “I’m currently working on a name for this year’s ‘Tank Nation’ bandwagon. I’m down to ‘Bomb It for Muhammad,’ ‘To the Cellar for Zellar,’ or ‘Less Wins for Nerlens.’” It has since been pointed out to us that “Bomb it for Muhammad” (which was also repeated a second time, later in the article) can be construed in an offensive—and completely unintended—way. That phrase has been removed from the post. We apologize.

Whit Stillman, on the set of The Last Days of Disco with Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale and his two daughters. Photo courtesy of Castle Rock Entertainment.

Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco
The Royal (608 College St.)
December 12 & 13, 7:30 p.m.
$17 each, $23 for both

Throughout the ’90s, writer and director Whit Stillman was as vital a voice in the booming independent film community as any. His trio of films released during the decade—Metropolitan (1990), Barcelona, (1994) and The Last Days of Disco (1998)—featured young characters speaking in bursts of enlivened dialogue, digressively articulating the hopes and fears of privileged youth with hilarious aplomb. Afterward, he didn’t make a film for fourteen years. He emerged again only this year with the well-received Damsels in Distress.

Video magazine The Seventh Art has organized screenings of Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco over two nights at The Royal, on College Street, and Stillman will be in attendance for a Q and A after both films. This will be the first in an expected series of similar events with different directors, to be put on by the magazine.

Stillman answered questions about the event and his career via email. Our interview is below.

How do you think independent filmmaking has changed since you made Metropolitan in 1990?

I actually don’t think there are big differences. We seem to have gone in a circle and we’re now back where we started. The indie boom and bubble are certainly over, but there were a lot of good indie comedies this year, which is what I care about. It’s now harder for an indie film to score a home run in theatrical distribution—a lot of that audience has disappeared—but there are still many ways to get a film seen.

What was it about the period (that is, the early ’80s) in which The Last Days of Disco takes place that made it such an ideal backdrop for a story?

The original idea for the film was “pretty girls in a disco”—that that could be “cinematic,” the dread. It also grew out of our experience shooting [actresses] Tushka Bergen and Mira Sorvino in discos while making Barcelona. But we wanted to get away from the pretty horrible disco-era look and fashions preserved in period clichés. Styles greatly improved as the ’80s began, and the late time period allowed us to include both early and late disco favorites. But the period we really should go back to is when people danced in bars.

When you stepped away from making movies for so long after The Last Days of Disco, did you miss it at all? How would you characterize that time?

It was very odd because—except for the period I took off to write the novel The Last Days of Disco with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards [released in 2000]—I was pretty well occupied writing scripts that seemed to be going better than usual. I have a terrible, terrible time getting started on scripts. For the longest time, everything’s bad, and then after that, production always seems around the corner. The Grand Illusion. I had attacks of frenzy to shoot something, but everything I worked on before Damsels was too expensive and complicated.

Having just released Damsels in Distress this year, how did you find the experience of returning to filmmaking after a long hiatus?

All the shoots I’ve had in New York have been good experiences. This one especially so: quick, tranquil, shot in semi-secret. The cast and crew couldn’t have been better, except for one pain in the neck who still did a good job. But the drawn-out strain of trying to get everything to fall into place is pretty overwhelming. We hadn’t entirely finished the film when we screened at Venice and Toronto: the hurried sound job was chalk on blackboard to me. So we did a lot more work on both the sound and music just before the release—a luxury for a very low budget film. But now I can sleep at night. The gap between films wasn’t really that important since I didn’t know what I was doing before, either.

Are you still working on the film set in Jamaica that you’ve discussed in other interviews? What are your upcoming plans?

I still hope to make the Jamaican film, but hope first to shoot another script I’ve been working on for a while. A lesson from the years of no-films is not to talk about future projects more than required: loose lips sank at least one ship. But I can’t put the Jamaican idea back in the bottle so I still talk about it. With Damsels I think I learned how to do it as cheaply as it needs to be done, which is very cheaply.

“Living Dread: The Cinema of George A. Romero”
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. West)
Oct. 31–Nov. 4
Tickets $8.50–$12

There is arguably no one who has shaped horror film more than director George A. Romero. And so “Living Dread,” a retrospective of some of Romero’s best work, is a timely piece of programming. It starts at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Halloween.

For series programmer Colin Geddes, there was no question that Romero was the perfect choice for the season. “His influence is so far-reaching, particularly if you look at the mass media acceptance—and almost saturation, at this point—of zombies,” Geddes said.

Romero is scheduled to discuss his works on stage on Halloween night (Geddes will act as his interviewer), and he’ll also introduce some of his films over the course of the event. But the director’s generosity with his time wasn’t the only reason Geddes decided to follow through with “Living Dread.” Another consideration was the fact that Romero is a local. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that George lives in Toronto,” Geddes said. “He’s actually a permanent resident of Canada and he’s chosen to live in our city. So what better way to spend Halloween than with one of our own.”

Here’s a look at some of the program’s highlights, with commentary from Geddes.

Creepshow
Wednesday, October 31, 9:30 p.m.

Before Tales From The Crypt emerged on television, and before The Simpsons unleashed its first “Treehouse of Horror” episode, there was Creepshow, an anthology of spooky stories that united Romero with Stephen King. The shorts range in quality, but the sense of fun on display is refreshing, especially in an era when torture films like Human Centipede now masquerade as entertainment. Of the five vignettes, there are two about people coming back from the dead for revenge, with the best one starring Leslie Nielsen as a man seeking a cruel justice against his wife and her lover (Ted Danson). Some of the effects don’t hold up that well, as in a segment entitled “The Crate,” where the monster looks a little like the Abominable Snowman from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. Anyone with a fear of cockroaches may want to leave before the final tale, in which a rich hermit’s bug problem escalates to truly unsettling proportions.

Colin’s take: “It’s just a really fun film, throwing back to the old EC horror comic books from the 1950s. It screams ‘Trick or Treat’—that’s what I’ll say.”

Martin
Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m.

With vampires being so in vogue right now, it’s interesting that the 1976 film Martin was so ahead of its time in the way it deconstructs and reassembles the genre. Despite looking like an average teenager, Martin (John Amplas) claims to be in his 80s when he’s sent to live with some members of his extended family in Pittsburgh. He insists to his devoutly Catholic uncle (Lincoln Maazel) and his compassionate cousin (Romero’s now ex-wife Christine Forrest) that there’s no magic to what he is. He regularly calls into a radio show to debunk common vampire misconceptions while the DJ humours him. Targeting the stay-at-home moms in the area, he sets about taking victims in suspenseful and startlingly realistic scenes. To this day, the film remains fresh, creepy, and subversively funny.

Colin’s take: “Out of all of (Romero’s) films, he’s referenced it being his favourite child, as it were. It’s looking at Catholic guilt, psychosis, and the crumbling American landscape.”

Dawn Of The Dead
Saturday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.

Having already established the conventions of the zombie film with Night Of The Living Dead in 1968, Romero adopted an entirely different perspective a decade later for its sequel, Dawn Of The Dead. At first, there doesn’t seem to be anything revolutionary in this tale of a small group of people seeking shelter from a mysterious plague that is transforming humans into flesh-eating savages. When the survivors take refuge in a shopping mall, however, the zombies almost become secondary to a developing social commentary—one that takes aim at a culture based on the constant need for distraction. Certainly, there is still a great deal of gore on display. In fact, Dawn of the Dead‘s exploding heads and festering wounds laid the foundation for all future zombie effects. It’s as if Romero realized that once he had people’s attention with what they had paid to see, he could then use the framework of the genre to speak to bigger issues that were affecting society.

Colin’s take: “It’s a scathing satire of pop consumerism, obviously with the mall culture, and with how after a while, they’re just bored. It’s interesting that with the [2004] Zack Snyder remake—considering that we live in a culture ruled by Starbucks and convenience—I thought they would dive into that, but they didn’t even touch it.”

On Saturday at Yonge-Dundas Square, the latest chapter was written in the eternal battle between mankind and poutine.

Despite an overcast day that periodically spat cold rain, the delicious Québécois combination of fries, gravy, and cheese curds was devoured in startling quantities at the third annual World Poutine Eating Championship. With a variety of activities (and free poutine from Smoke’s Poutinerie for those willing to brave a line-up that stretched to the edges of Yonge-Dundas Square), the event was an expansion of previous championships, held last year outside the Rogers Centre before an Argos game, and the year before that at Exhibition Place.

A day-long outdoor event at this time of the year is always a bit of a gamble, and the uncooperative weather may have deterred some. Those who did turn up had the opportunity to play some Guitar Hero, or otherwise enjoy the tunes emanating from a Virgin mobile truck. The potato-sack toss was a big draw. Children (and way too many enthusiastic adults) threw a lightly weighted sack backward onto a target for prizes that included free T-shirts and coupons for free poutine.

But the main attractions were the two actual eating competitions, one an amateur event and the other a professional contest with some of the biggest names in Major League Eating. In an effort to find out just how difficult it is to earn a pay cheque by scarfing down as much food as possible in a short amount of time, we decided to participate in the undercard. We gathered backstage with the the other participants while hilariously dramatic host Sam Barclay warmed up the crowd. Everyone shared their preparation regimens. While others discussed drinking copious amounts of water and staging trial runs to stretch the stomach, we offered our—in retrospect deeply flawed—strategy: not eating for almost 24 hours.

Just before showtime, Barclay called a huddle. He announced that an EMT was present and then offered two pieces of advice: “If you need to stop, fucking stop,” and, “If you need to throw up, please leave the stage.” Once in front of the crowd, we prepared by filling cups with water and donning plastic gloves to avoid getting covered in gravy. At the word “Go!” we dug in, attempting to get down as much of the greasy mess as we could in the allotted six minutes. Our feeder—a plucky young lad who had been selected to provide fresh boxes of poutine and encouragement—dispensed some sage advice of his own: “Eat faster!”

At the buzzer, this writer had managed to consume a modest two boxes of poutine, roughly a pound. James Maxwell, situated right next to us, was one of many that fared better, eating more than two and a half pounds. That impressive amount was still only enough to earn him second place, however, as Jesse Kankula—one of only a few competitors that had participated in an event like this before—ingested a new amateur record of just over three and a half pounds. Although the contest was supposed to provide the winner with free poutine for only a year, Chief Poutine Officer Ryan Smolkin decided to award the young man free poutine for life.

The professionals took things to another level, not only in terms of how much they were able to eat, but also in terms of sheer stage flair. Everyone appeared to have some sort of eccentricity, with some wearing headphones, bling, or coloured contact lenses designed to intimidate. The eating techniques on display were extremely advanced. Some were able to grab what appeared to be an entire box of poutine in a closed fist and squeeze the mush into their mouths like toothpaste. It was as impressive as it was disgusting.

The results at the end of the allotted 10 minutes were surprising and dramatic. First of all, Canada’s leading professional eater, Meredith Boxberger—a surprisingly slender woman who refers to herself as the “Deep Fried Diva“—was able to snag sixth place. Defending two-time champion Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti finished a disappointing fourth with six and a half pounds, well below his record of 13 pounds. The winner was eating legend Joey Chestnut, who won $2,000 for inhaling nine and a half pounds of poutine. We were informed by Barclay that Chestnut had picked up Bertoletti at his his home in Chicago and driven him to Toronto, because Bertoletti had recently suffered a broken leg. It was a heartwarming story to cap off an otherwise heart-clogging day.