Torontoist » Cloverfield

CBC Music’s First-Ever Festival Will Be a CanCon Love-In

Chris Dart — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:30:30 +0000

The CBCMusic.ca Festival will feature Sloan, Kathleen Edwards, Of Monsters and Men, and roving appearances by Jian Gomeshi and Matt Galloway.

According to CBC’s Chris Boyce, the goal of this weekend’s CBCMusic.ca Festival is twofold. First and foremost, the CBC wants to celebrate Canadian music. Second, it wants to celebrate CBC Music, the broadcaster’s online music service, which launched a little over a year ago.

The Barber of Seville is Not the Sharpest Shave

Carly Maga — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:32 +0000

A reworked version of Beaumarchais' play makes for an uneven production, on now at Soulpepper Theatre.

In 1996, Theatre Columbus premiered playwright Michael O’Brien’s “freely adapted” take on the famous Beaumarchais play The Barber of Seville, which was written in 1775. O’Brien’s version mixed in music from the 1816 opera of the same name by Gioachino Rossini, as well as original tunes by composer John Millard. The adaptation also propelled the story forward a couple centuries, with pop culture references galore. With Theatre Columbus co-founder Leah Cherniak at the helm, the musical ended the season with six Dora Award nominations (it won three) and plenty of critical acclaim.

Seventeen years later, Soulpepper Theatre is remounting this zany reimagination of The Barber of Seville, updated once again by O’Brien, Millard, and Cherniak. But, for some reason—the change in decade, or company, or sense of humour—whatever had made the original so magical, has faded, save for a few key performances.

Film Friday: Daddy’s Little Girl Ain’t A Girl No More

Mathew Kumar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:00:00 +0000

We managed to see Cloverfield a few weeks ago, and with the release of Diary of the Dead (above) this week, we have to say it’s rather timely to discuss our opinion of it. As tired as this quote is, there’s really no better way to describe Cloverfield than to take from Macbeth’s famous soliloquy: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
It’s particularly relevant because Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead are similar only in their decision to be shot with hand-held cameras. Cloverfield attempts to dazzle (if not bamboozle) the viewer with special effects (and shaking the camera as hard as possible for minutes at a time) but says absolutely nothing, while Diary of the Dead looks really cheap, but tries to say as much as possible (probably too much).
Sure, there’s a simple pleasure in meaningless, special effect-laden nonsense, but Diary of the Dead is the far stronger film, and where Romero has spent the money (usually on ludicrously amusing zombie deaths) it’s far more entertaining than obscured shots of a tentacled monster thing. We can’t recommend the film highly enough, and if you pay attention you might spot the odd glimpse of Toronto here and there (particularly at the beginning, though Land of the Dead is probably still a better Reel Toronto candidate).
Speaking of meaningless, special effect-laden nonsense, there’s Jumper. Starring Hayden Christensen as a man with a magical sweater that allows him to teleport, it’s obviously a load of old cobblers, but stars Samuel L. Jackson as a baddie, which is basically all we need to know. Jackson isn’t (really) very good, but he’s great when he’s angry. All the reviews are terrible, admittedly.
Similarly poorly reviewed is Definitely, Maybe (or Definately, Maybe according to Eye‘s headline, excellently. We always misspell that too). Eye‘s Jason Anderson asks, “if characters really must quote Nirvana lyrics to each other, please let them be from ‘Negative Creep’ and not ‘Come As You Are.’”
Really?
Also on release this week: The Band’s Visit (a “hugely affecting feature debut,” says the Star‘s Peter Howell), and Step Up 2 The Streets. The Bloor is doing great work again, not only showing doc Garbage Warrior but also showing Blade Runner: The Final Cut! Oh, man! We should go and see it again! They are showing I Am Legend, however, which is probably the worst film ever made from a good book. It really is terrible.
Cinematheque Ontario continues its winter season, and CNISSU‘s Free Friday Film is Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. This may be of particular interest as Eye film critic Adam Nayman (who you’ll have seen quoted in this column many a time) will be speaking on the film. (8:30 p.m. tonight, Innis Town Hall).

Film Friday: Films!

Mathew Kumar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Films! Films films films films. Sometimes it’s hard to get this column started, so we just sit in front of a blank word document and type the word “films” until it doesn’t make any sense to us any more. But by then, we’ve got started typing, at least, and so we continue.
Cloverfield! Also, we just type the names of the films that are out that week with exclamation marks! In an attempt to get us excited! Are you excited for Cloverfield, dear readers? Off the basis of the original trailer, it seemed like there might be some good reason to be, but then we saw the recent trailers on TV. Apparently at some point they decided “natural-looking light” wasn’t good enough for them, so they’ve let someone go insane colour grading the film to the point that it no longer looks “real” at all. Missing what we thought was the point.
Eye’s Adam Nayman asks, “The images—explosions against the Manhattan skyline, panicked onlookers dusted with ash and debris, skyscrapers scraping together—are flatly allusive, but why?” And it’s a good point—if Cloverfield is absolutely all style and no substance, then it pales in comparison to Diary of the Dead, which is similarly shot from the view of a handheld camera “in the thick of it,” but actually manages to say something with it. We loved it at TIFF and it’s out in a month, so might be worth hanging onto your $15 dollars till then?
Very little else this week is likely to tempt that $15 out of your pocket. Pick of the bunch is probably Starting Out in the Evening, starring Frank Langella.
There’s Mad Money, so named because the female stars are clearly all absolutely bonkers and you’d be mad to spend your money to go and see it. 27 Dresses stars Katherine Heigl and the very likable James Marsden, but has been universally panned. And there’s something called The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. If you’re old enough to read Torontoist, we think you’re old enough to skip that one.
There are a few docs that might be worth your time: Kurt Cobain About A Son is playing at the Bloor, which might excite those of you who aren’t tired of Kurt’s story utterly and completely. There’s Steep, an extreme skier doc which The Metro’s Norm Wilner considers an “intelligent, thoughtful look at a culture that seems almost suicidal from the outside.” And Metric: Live at Metropolis, a concert doc that, well, you’ll want to see if you like Metric, is showing at the Royal.
It’s not really that shocking to say that the most exciting thing to happen this week, the only thing to truly warrant an exclamation mark, is the return of Cinematheque Ontario! It kicks off with a screening of Sergei Bondarchuk’s legendary seven-hour War and Peace, which is now unfortunately sold out. If you’re up for it, however, you can still catch the omnibus this Sunday starting at 1 p.m. It’s the most expensive film ever made! One battle scene used over 100,000 extras! Very exciting.
If you can’t handle that, we’ve got two tickets to give away to Cinematheque Ontario’s lecture this Monday night at 7:30 p.m. Thomas Waugh on OUTRAGEOUS! (including a screening of the “paradoxical paving stone of Canadian queer cinema in the Seventies”). Just shoot us an e-mail at before midnight tonight and if you’re randomly selected, we’ll contact you on Monday before noon to let you know. [edit: The contest is now closed. Thanks to all entrants!]
And yes, OUTRAGEOUS! came with its own exclamation mark.

Elsewhere in the Ist-A-Verse

David Topping — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:41:51 +0000

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Each Sunday, the editors of every site—from LAist to Londonist—choose their most interesting article, a list which is compiled into the network-wide feature Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse.

Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city’s only English-language paper.
Gothamist believed that a writer who wanted pre-gentrified gritty New York and ended up getting beaten up during a mugging learned his lesson.
DCist followed Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council to New Hampshire, where they helped introduce a bill that would signal that state’s support of voting rights for the District.
SFist witnessed (and predicted) San Clemente’s Greg Long winning this year’s Mavericks Surf Contest.
LAist reported on everything you wanted to know about this year’s most anticipated movie, Cloverfield, as told by director Matt Reeves.
Bostonist watched as Bronson Arroyo, formerly of the Red Sox and now of the Cleveland Indians, pleaded to return to Boston––in song.
Chicagoist saw lightning strike twice.
Austinist presented Texas rap.
Houstinist interviews Big Daddy’s Ass Burn Hot Sauce founder Trevi Biles.
Phillyist supported an end of the city’s “quack-tacular” duck tours.
Seattlest discussed this year’s presidential election with some top-notch political writers.