Results tagged “thebloor”

It's official: Fringe has taken over the city. And while we aren't sure about numbers yet, attendance this year has seemed especially high. In past years, getting tickets during the opening weekend of the fest has been a cinch; this year, we noticed a ton of shows that were opening-night sellouts, and many have continued to pack houses, even in tough time slots such as weekday afternoons and Sunday nights. Once again, Drama Club forsakes its usual format to bring you a special Fringe edition to tell you what's been going on in the Fringe venues (and at the beer tent).

MUSIC: Ah, Girl Talk. Who doesn't enjoy spending a slumber party with friends and spinning the wheel to end up doing kooky dares and talking about sexy crushes? Oh yeah, and there's this guy by the same name who does somewhat controversial mixes of Sinéad O'Connor with T.I. and Lil Wayne, getting audiences so sweaty they're literally sliding off each other an their attempts to do something that ends up only barely resembling dancing. Mash-up maniac Girl Talk is celebrating his newest release, Feed the Animals, by offering the album for download for whatever price you'd like to pay (this includes a $0 option, which is exactly how much money he pays the artists he's sampling). If this show is anything like his last gig at the Phoenix, you do not want to miss it (our clothing was quite literally dripping). Koolhaus (132 Queen's Quay East), 8 p.m., $20.

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."

Really not much on in terms of Christmas films this week. The Bloor is showing National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (which is about as far away from a Christmas classic as we can imagine without being a film about aliens from another galaxy that have never heard of Christmas) and White Christmas. We’re still happy to recommend Enchanted (we just saw it, and it was absolutely lovely), but for those of you who want to see something specifically related to Christmas, the Revue has come to your rescue with the help of Dion Conflict, who will be showing Christmas Kitsch-A-Roo at 9:30 p.m. If you’re familiar with Dion Conflict’s Hunk-A-Junk screenings, you’ll know what to expect—a variety of utterly bizarre found shorts—but they’re normally excellent fun and the Christmas theme means some really weird stuff is going to show up. Hopefully he’ll be showing the legendary Santa Claus' Punch and Judy, which really has to be seen to be believed.

Tut tut tut. We’re all very disappointed in you, John Krasinski, for your decision to star in License to Wed. Sure, you’ve been working so hard to build up your hipster cred—interviewing the Shins, playing on stage with Ben Gibbard, but I’m afraid we might have to revoke your hipster privileges.

Are you a fan of municipal development and urban planning? Do you read Spacing (or at least say you do)? Then you should endeavor to visit A Visual Legacy: The City of Toronto’s Use of Photography, 1856-1997, an exhibition of images from the City of Toronto Archives.

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!”

Well, you know, it can’t all be exciting glamorous press conferences for internationally famous film festivals where they reveal huge megastars are going to be attending, can it? Yeah, sometimes we have to cover the films that are coming out in cinemas now. And some weeks they’re all really boring.

So we’ve already covered Who Killed The Electric Car? then. That’s good. Unfortunately, in the world of general release movies, there’s basically nothing happening, so…

Now that we're in the final days of the Festival Cinemas remaining open, the Bloor Cinema took the opportunity to offer some interesting programming: the 1965 cult-classic "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" and Michael Winterbottom’s “9 Songs”. Their scheduling was a welcome change from the second-run films that have characterized the Festival chain for some time.

-The One of a Kind Show started yesterday, with artisans from all over the country hawking their wares. It's a bit of a trek out to Exhibition Place (the show, which seems to get bigger every year, is housed in the National Trade Centre), but it's worth it for the jam sampling alone, and it sure beats the Eaton Centre for charm and choice. Runs to December 4th.

The Bloor Cinema is heavy with festivals so shortly after the celebration of its 100th birthday, with The One-Minute Film and Video Festival starting tonight,as blogged below, and last night’s opening night gala of the Reel Asian Film Festival, The Motel.

The parade begins tomorrow at 10:15 in High Park, with John Turner as Parade Marshal. Other activities include a 9am Saturday Morning Pancake Breakfast and street dance parties aplenty. Perhaps you'll even see a former Prime Minister shake it like a polarioid picture. Or not.