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Film Friday: Super Furry Animals
Last week, we were told off a bit in the comments for being “down” on everything. We thought we’d do our best to be really positive this week, and then we realised how lame it is to force it, you know? The great news is we don’t actually have to force it, as this week sees the release of King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters—one of the most entertaining films we’ve seen in quite a while. A sort of, er, “quasi-documentary” (it plays rather fast and loose with the truth), King of Kong spins a massively interesting narrative: the tale of Steve Wiebe trying to be recognized as the world champion at classic 80s arcade title Donkey Kong.
We know, it sounds incredibly lame. But the twists and turns of the story make it all worthwhile. There’s good reason it’s been picked up to be remade as a scripted movie, and we really can’t recommend it more highly. Check it out at the Bloor starting tonight at 7:00 p.m.
What else can we be excited about this week? Well, not quite as much, to be completely honest, but there’s some interesting stuff out there. Atonement, which we recently ran a contest for, opens. In a dour review, NOW’s John Harkness hypothesizes, “director Wright’s interest in the project was to pull off a monumental several-minutes-long shot that covers the evacuation of Dunkirk in full panic.” So if you’re having trouble convincing your other half to go and see it, the promise of the most exciting shot since, what, the fight scene in Old Boy? Might be enough to sway them.
The Golden Compass also opens, if you want to turn your kids (and possibly yourself) into evil atheist monsters. But hell, if being an atheist gets you an armoured polar bear to command, it can’t be all bad. Wait a minute…these atheists and their armoured polar bears will kill us all!
But really, the only thing we really have to say is that we wish the film kept the original book title Northern Lights, because then it would make us think of the Super Furry Animals song “Northern Lites,” which is totally excellent. Wait a minute…an armoured polar bear is a sort of super furry animal! Conspiracy!
Anyway. Couple of Canadian films on release this week: Clement Virgo’s Poor Boy’s Game and Walk All Over Me, reviewed by Kevin McBride during TIFF, who noted, “the film is full of originality and suspense,” and especially praised the “excellent comic moments.”
Also on release this week: My Dinner with Jimi, and don’t forget that Electroma is showing midnight tonight at the Royal. In festivals? The Fantasy Worldwide Film Festival and the Brazil Film Festival continue.
Finally, Cinematheque Ontario closes its fall season this week, and if you’d like to win one of two pairs of tickets to the screening of Syndromes and a Century at 5:15 p.m. on Monday night, simply e-mail us your name before 2 p.m. today! Winners will be notified by the end of the working day (hopefully). [Note: The contest has now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!]