Results tagged “royalcinema”

Besides the odd beer-fuelled 2 a.m. dispute about the existence of God and perhaps an undergrad course on existentialism, most of us have fairly little by way of daily exposure to philosophy. Examined Life, a film by Astra Taylor and co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada, attempts to bring philosophy out of the ivory tower and restore it to its original place at the centre of ordinary life. The documentary had its world premiere at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and is now back in Toronto for a run at the Royal Cinema. It consists of a series of conversations with relatively well-known philosophers (Cornel West, Judith Butler, Peter Singer, Slavoj Žižek, and a few others), each giving a glimpse into the kinds of questions they wrestle with. The conversations are all thoughtful without being heavy-handed: they serve as handy primers for novices to the field and offer interesting snapshots of notable personalities for more experienced students of philosophy.

FILM: Ah, Bruce LaBruce, with his blood, penises, more blood, and even more penises (we thought the Santa Claus Parade was missing something this year). Bruce LaBruce: A Retrospective hits the Royal Cinema tonight, featuring classics and the release of his new film, Otto; Or, Up With Dead People. As if that wasn't enough, a little duo named Crystal Castles are opening up for the first-night premier of Otto at 9 p.m. Gay porn and electro-punk? Now that's a Christmas party. Royal Cinema (608 College Street), December 4–6, various times, $5–$11.

MUSIC: Torontonian electro-soul group Pants and Tie are celebrating the release of their new single, "Washing Machine," with a party tonight at Sneaky Dee's. The single, mixed by Dale Morningstar, will be available on both CD and vinyl at the show. Pants and Tie will be performing (obviously), accompanied by musical sets from the Pink Noise and Slow Hand Motem, and a DJ set from DVAS. Sneaky Dee's (431 College Street), 9 p.m., $5.

FILM: There are a couple of film screenings today. Patti Smith: Dream of Life, Steven Sebring’s new documentary about the singer/songwriter/artist, opens today and will screen until October 2 at the Royal Cinema (608 College Street, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., <$10). As well, Mixed Greens, the monthly environmental film series at the Gardiner Museum, will be screening Marie-Monique Robin’s documentary, The World According to Monsanto. The film is presented in association with the upcoming Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival, which will take place during the week of October 22 (111 Queen’s Park, 6:45 p.m., PWYC [$7 suggested]).

If you can complete that lyric, then you need to be at the Royal Cinema next Tuesday to unabashedly sing along to a special screening of The Sound of Music. The CBC is hosting the event to celebrate next weekend's debut of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, the new series that seeks to cast the lead role of Maria von Trapp in the upcoming staging of The Sound of Music, produced by David Mirvish, David Ian, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Gavin Crawford, comedian and host of the series, will emcee the evening, and will be joined by the von Trapp great-grandchildren—Justin, Amanda, Melanie and Sofia—who will distribute theatrical props to the audience at key moments. If it's even possible to forget the lyrics to such a ubiquitous classic, subtitles will keep you on cue.

We’ve mentioned the Bicycle Film Festival a few times before, but we’re going to give special mention to it again today because tonight at 7 p.m. is the screening of the festival’s first shorts programme, featuring Warriors: The Bike Race.

Last night, Teletoon's The Detour held a small event in the Royal Cinema to celebrate their upcoming fall lineup, showing a selection of the adult-orientated animation that will soon be on the channel. The lineup includes the long-overdue Sealab 2021, Frisky Dingo (from the creators of Sealab 2021), Moral Orel (created by Mr. Show alumni, including Jay Johnston), and Metalocalypse, which was created by Brendon Small (who is best known for Home Movies) and Tommy Blacha (known from a variety of things including Da Ali G Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien).

Remember Makeout!? You can see what happened with the roomful of 200 people smooching at the Ryerson University Film Festival. This weekend RUFF will showcase films by about 40 graduating Image Arts students from May 10-12 at Royal Cinema.

It's been over a year since local über-activist Dave Meslin took his grass roots political activism to the next level by co-ordinating the City Idol competition.

Going to see all three films in Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher Trilogy, one after another in one night, is one of this Torontoist’s most treasured cinema memories, and although we did it at 2005’s Toronto International Film Festival, anyone who missed that chance can now do it at the Brunswick Theatre (296 Brunswick Avenue) tonight and tomorrow night starting 7 p.m. It’s $10 for one film or $15 for the lot, so obviously you should see all three.

March 8th marks International Women's Day each year, though it's sadly not yet a national holiday in Canada, as it is in a few countries. But official holiday or not, there are still a tonne of events happening in Toronto to mark the occasion. Here are some of Torontoist's best bets for celebrating feminism this week:

Fresh from their holiday break, the fine folks at This Is Not A Reading Series kick off the Winter/Spring 2007 season with…a film? Well, partly. This evening, join TINARS at the Royal Cinema as they celebrate the launch of Annabelle Gurwitch’s new book, Fired! Tales of The Canned, Canceled, Downsized & Dismissed. As the title would suggest, the book is comprised of tales of getting the axe from a host of contributors, from Bill Maher to Bob Saget.

Just as the best place and time one can panhandle in Toronto is outside the Princess of Wales Theatre when the show letting out is Les Misérables, there are likely few more effective or appropriate locations to stage a union protest than outside a movie theatre screening a certain film about agitated simians/urban revolutionaries targeted squarely at a hip, leftist audience consisting primarily of agitated simians/urban revolutionaries.

Yes, a few weeks after our initial confusion over the Toronto International Latin Film Festival at the Royal Cinema, it's confirmed: The Royal Cinema (at 608 College St.) is re-opening its doors officially on December 15th, with the exclusive Toronto engagement of Monkey Warfare. Now, although we didn't like Monkey Warfare much (if at all), this is only good news. The aim of the new Royal cinema is in line with the other Theatre D Digital cinemas; as a post-production facility, but also for use for exhibitions, film festivals and special events.

Let’s start with the film festivals for a change, huh? Most intriguing has to be the Toronto International Latin Film Festival, because it’s… on at the Royal Cinema? Que El?

, 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!

This week the Hot Docs box office has opened, and with luck we’ll soon have some early coverage of our picks of the festival to help you with your ticket buying decisions, advising you to find 37 uses for a dead sheep, perhaps?

It's been nearly a week since the Oscars, so the question is, have ? Yes, you'd be a right idiot to watch films on anything but the big screen. Which might beg the question why they now rush DVDs out about two weeks after a film's release with a whole bunch of extras, eh?

Torontoist hates Valentine's Day as much as the next corporate holiday defying curmugeon, but who doesn't love having something to hate? Join in on the anti-love brigade by hitting the Royal Cinema (606 College) at 9pm tonight for Be My Vile Valentine, a showcase of 'the flipside of love', with four short films including Christian propoganda Footprints (pre-marital sex is a sin, kids), and a special mystery film (ooh). So, if you're either in a couple and looking for an ironic Valentine's date, or single, bitter, loveless monster (those are the only options on Valentine's day!) you might like the sound of this alternative take on a day, that according to the Fortean Times, "In ancient Rome was the day of a festival of sexual fever when young men drew womens names from a box to choose their sexual partners."

You've probably seen them and may even be curious. They are the coloured dots that consistently appear along each subway platform wall. Be curious no longer! I've done a haphazard investigation into these mystical circles of colour, and this is what I've come up with:

Kung Fu Fridays starts again tonight after a hiatus for the Toronto Film Festival, with a blistering October Schedule and a new location. Due to the (recently) traditional Royal Cinema being hired out regularly for festivals and so on this month, tonight the biweekly dose of Kung Fu action is being shown at the Revue Cinema at 400 Roncesvalles Ave (that’s 3 blocks south of Dundas West Station, for anyone unfamiliar with it). And tonight’s dose of Kung Fu action is a big draw for any of the crowd who caught the legendary Sammo Hung in SPL during the Toronto Film Festival – Kung Fu Master, directed by Wong Jing and with martial arts direction from Hung himself (also in a starring role, along with Jet freakin’ Li). The story is naturally going to be a pile of nonsense, but who cares when you can watch some of the legends of Hong Kong cinema kick seven bells out of each other with the raucous Kung Fu Friday audience? If you’ve never been to a show before tonight is the time to start.

New contributor Mathew will be posting regular on all things TIFF. Here goes:

"So I said to myself, 'If they can do it with a photograph, why can't I do it with a bar of chocolate?'" - Willy Wonka

. Can it get any better? Costs $10 and begins at 7 pm at the Royal Cinema (608 College St.).