Results tagged “imagesfestival”

We become unreasonably annoyed when bands release self-titled (non-debut) albums. With the obvious exception of Beatles-biting Weezer-style colour-coding, this approach strikes us as lazy and uncreative—at best, a misguided attempted at minimalism. We feel the same way about the title of the new Star Trek movie (i.e. "Star Trek"). "Fast & Furious," however, seems to breach through to a new level of demented beauty; following on The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the streamlined title of the new one has become a discussion point in and of itself, with most reviews making sure to allude to it. Certainly that's the only thing about the movie that interests us. Well, that and that it's the fifth feature from director Justin Lin, whose 2002 debut Better Luck Tomorrow (sort of like Goodfellas set in a high school) once marked him as one of the most promising American filmmakers of the early part of the decade. Too bad what happened.

ART: Some of the artists who recently turned their attention to a touch of tush are now having a go at "Bugs." Nancy Draws, Runt, Sam Ferrara, Vesna Mostovac, Fiona Smyth, Serge Fortin, and Joey DAMMIT! place our numerous nefarious nemeses under a microscope and examine our love-hate relationship with them. The exhibit, curated by Nancy Draws, continues to April 5. To attend tonight’s opening please RSVP to rsvp@steamwhistle.ca. Steam Whistle Gallery (255 Bremner Boulevard), 6–10 p.m., FREE.

Blade Runner is no longer showing at the Regent, which in many ways is lucky, as otherwise it was going to turn into a weekly, Rocky Horror Picture Show-style event for us—well, without all of that tedious audience interaction, which now we think about it, would make it not very like the Rocky Horror Picture Show at all. If you’re still hungry for more vintage Harrison Ford, though, they are showing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Bloor this weekend. [edit: According to our comments, Blade Runner is apparently still showing at the Regent (we were under the impression it was a two week engagement) which means we may still turn it into a Rocky Horror Picture Show thing. Without all that Rocky Horror Picture Show.]

With the Images Festival and Hot Docs just around the corner, AGYU has another event to add to your undoubtedly awesome viewing calendar. Hot…New…Video…Art is a one-evening screening that will focus on Canadian and International experiments in short film and, appropriately, video art. Featured artists include Gwenael Belanger, Nadine Bariteau, Lesley Loksi Chan, Joe Hambleton, David Han, Miriam Heller-Sahlgren, Jesika Joy, Scott Kildall, Alison S.M. Kobayashi, Su-Ying Lee, Julie Lequin, Otto Mogren, Rasmus Albertsen Ottosen, Candice Purwin, Mariel Rosendahl, Clare Samuel, James Sayers, Christopher Walsh, Natalie Wei and Megarrah Woodland.

Carolee Schneemann is an artist whose work refuses a tepid response: in a career that has addressed contentious topics such as American imperialism and the implications of living in a sex-phobic society, Schneemann has solidified her position as a pioneer in what is now known as multi-media/disciplinary art.

Our title this week of course refers to Catch and Release, a film which has been so endlessly trailered on TV (and we don’t even watch that much) that Torontoist feels like we could recite the whole bloody film right now. “The man I was going to marry is dead! I’m sitting wearing my wedding dress and moping – it’s a girl thing! Kevin Smith is fat and talentless, but friends with Ben Affleck so he can be in this! I’ve fallen in love with you now, sexy and stereotypical unshaven male lead! The End!”

The Toronto Star has reported that filmmaker and executive director of the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Roberto Ariganello, drowned while swimming in Halifax this past Sunday, where he had brought donated editing equipment, and was to show two of his most recent films, Contrafacta and Non-Zymase Pentathlon. He was 45.

So, for cinema goers who aren’t moved by the idea of Sprockets as described below (perhaps you don’t have children, perhaps you hate children, perhaps you hate children when they’re in cinemas, which Torontoist can understand), what is on offer for you loves?

Should you have had your fill of matzo (or Cadbury Creme Eggs for that matter) and need a brief respite away from the familial table this long weekend, Torontoist would like to point you in the direction of The Images Festival taking place in and around Toronto starting today and running until the 22nd of April. The Images Festival is "a celebration of light and motion, a showcase for all things new and extraordinary in moving images by artists from Canada and around the globe". The festival sets up shop in and around varying locales in the city, making great use of a handful of cinemas and galleries throughout downtown. The Images Festival exposes a huge assortment of media artworks including film and video installations and performances. So, if you need to say, take a minute or two away from the family this weekend, be sure to make good use of your time at the 2006 Images Festival.

, but they’ve changed everything, changing it into yet another film in which an idealistic teacher fixes the lives of disenfranchised teenage ruffians who not only are impossible to understand, but are resistant to even the possibility of being understood!

Maybe Torontoist is getting old, but turning up at a gig at doors and waiting an hour and fifteen minutes for anything to happen at all seems an unfair punishment for an eagerness to see the first band to play. The first band at the Images Festival Fundraiser, of course, being Final Fantasy, one of the most hyped bands of the year, and it’s barely started. Despite being utterly captivated by The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead, infatuated to the point of periods of hours on which Torontoist will play nothing else except that one song on loop, no other song currently available online has particularly peaked Torontoist’s interest (nor our ire), so it was in greatly conflicting crashing waves of trepidation and anticipation that we sat for over an hour. When Owen Pallett finally emerged (we could see him fiddling with his violin in the back room for ages) His live act was revealed to be truly something to be seen. Solo on stage, his ability to keep aware of a continually increasing group of samples and loops, while creating yet more using his violin in a variety of strange ways, including yelling into the strings and playing it like a ukulele, all the while singing, is as remarkable to watch as seeing Duracell perform the theme of the first world of Space Harrier using only a drum kit.

Actually there's really good music too and the Images that we're talking about is actually the dozens of films shown every year at the Images Festival. Last year's fest had groundbreaking film from the Arab world and from a little closer to home Clive Holden's Trains of Winnipeg.

- Is Altoids behind what is rumoured to be the summer comedy of the summer? If not, the mint manufacturer's geekchic campaign of a few summer's back and Carrell's gradeschool portrait poster are a little too close for comfort. Which makes us wonder whether The 40 Year-Old Virgin will be better or worse than a curiously strong peppermint. Better we hope, and the reviews seem to give faith to that fragile hope.

Instead, we're cautiously optimistic about another ensemble movie (how do the characters' lives always intersect so neatly? Why is the policeman connected to the kneebone connected to the anklebone?), Chris Terrio's Heights, which revolves around the complicated lives of a bunch of intersecting New Yorkers. And Glenn Close stars as a grand dame of the theatre. The Globe find it a bit snoring, but we'll leave that for you to decide.

Two pics for this week's FF. You could go Fancy, Furry, Sticky and moderately pretentious with the Images Festival's Friday Night Short program, or you could go for a modern classic by way of Bob Roberts. The former shows artists attacking our understanding of all things slimey. The latter shows Tim Robbins acting well, instead of winning Oscar's for acting poorly.

As long as people have been dying, there have been others claiming that they can communicate with them from the great beyond. One of the most interesting manifestations of this belief was the spiritualist movement of the late 19th century. Hundreds of men and women emerged in North America and Europe claiming that they were 'mediums' attuned to the souls of the dead.