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Film Friday: Kung Fu Friday: The Last Stand?
So, another film Friday reached and it is, ahem, a bit of a dull week with everyone obsessed with Cannes. And we’ve shot ourselves in the foot a bit perhaps by having already got a bit too excited about the new Cinematheque Ontario season here. So what is there to talk about, eh?
Well, it’s not like the European Union Film Festival, or the Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival are finished. Still plenty to see there! Check out their listings!
There’s also the stuff that’s hitting the big screens at your nearest local cinema killing multiplex. The week’s big film is, of course, X-Men: The Last Stand, directed by Brett Ratner because Bryan Singer jumped from Marvel to DC (the turncoat!) to direct the new Superman film. By most accounts, it sounds like he shouldn’t have made the switch. NOW’s Glenn Sumi calls Ratner out for some specific cussing, arguing “Director Brett Ratner … doesn’t care about characters or actors. The film’s got a lazy back half, mostly because we’ve lost interest in the characters and their cool powers.” While Eye’s Adam Nayman is a lot more positive in one of those confusing articles they do where you can’t tell if it’s an interview or a review. “X3 is the most robust X-film yet, delivering the kind of jolting plot twists and spectacular mutant-on-mutant violence craved by comic fan boys and action junkies.”
Also out this week is Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada. Torontoist got a chance to check this out at TIFF2005 and we’ve got to be honest in saying we felt very little for it. Sure, it’s nice to see a bunch of nostalgic nonsense on the big screen, but we find Coupland… Strange. We can’t put our finger on it, but he weirds us out.
Of course! You may not suffer from the same disposition, and agree with NOW’s Glenn Sumi that “Most Canadians won’t be able to watch this without a guilty chuckle or two and an odd sense of pride.”
And finally, don’t make us tell you again – Kung Fu Friday. Tonight. Yuen Wo-Ping directing Donnie Yen in Hero Among Heroes. Possibly the last KFF ever? You’ll regret it if you don’t go!