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That Shelf

May 8, 2010
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields Review
The Magnetic Fields are an eclectic but fairly obscure American indie rock band that has been recording for nearly twenty years. While not a household name, they have a fairly devoted following, and many musicians, such as Peter Gabriel, count leader Stephin Merritt as one of the great contemporary American songwriters. In Strange Powers: Stephin […]

May 8, 2010
Blank City Review
New York City has seen its share of artistic revolutions, though any kind of positive revolution might have seemed impossible in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The city was crippled by massive debt with no help from the federal government, and whole neighbourhoods were urban war zones as countless buildings were left abandoned or […]

May 7, 2010
The Peddler Review
Before the days of iPods, televisions, and even radio or mass print publications, humans entertained themselves and each other by telling stories. In small groups around campfires, communities would tell each other the stories of their past and present. Fastforward to the 21st century, and Argentinean filmmaker Daniel Burmeister seems to have resurrescted this spirit. […]

May 6, 2010
David Wants to Fly Review
Every filmmaker dreams of meeting their favourite director. So when aspiring filmmaker David Sieveking had the opportunity, he begins his film David Wants to Fly with a trip to the United States to hear David Lynch speak about his passion for Transcendental Meditation, a movement founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi—who also inspired, among others, […]

May 4, 2010
The Parking Lot Movie Review
It has been my long-held belief that everyone in North America should work at least one minimum wage job in their life, for a minimum of six months. Not just to understand how impossible it is to live on minimum wage, but also to understand how we treat people who provide us with necessary services, […]

May 2, 2010
Disco and Atomic War Review
As part of the former USSR, Estonia was geographically closer to (supposedly) democratic Finland than the communist powers in Moscow. When Finland began to broadcast television, they showed not only their own programs, but American ones as well. The north coastal Estonian city of Tallinn was only 80 km from Helsinki, and as much as […]

May 2, 2010
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage Review
Rush is probably the strangest anomaly in rock music. They have sold the third most number of albums worldwide of any band (after The Rolling Stones and The Beatles), but have never had a number one single. Their fans are arguably the most devoted in the world, and yet (until recently), Rush has been panned […]

April 30, 2010
A Nightmare on Elm Street Review
Alan Jones joins us for a guest spot review of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Alan is president of the University of Toronto Cinema Studies Students Union (CINSSU). This review and many others can be read on the official CINSSU blog. Walking into the new Platinum Dunes horror remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street […]

April 21, 2010
Confessions of a Toy Collector: Big-Sized Obsession
I love toys. I love ripping open the package (and sometimes slicing my hand open on the sharp plastic edges because I am too eager), undoing the twist-ties that hold the figure in place, and finally breaking it free like a new butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Anyone who has been to my apartment can […]

April 20, 2010
Doctor Who in Review
When the BBC announced five years or more ago that they would be remounting the classic Doctor Who series, I was both thrilled and scared. I was raised on British television, and Doctor Who was always my favourite. While it has its ups and downs, I longed to be the Doctor (never the companion – […]

March 28, 2010
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review
I have a new hero, and her name is Lizbeth Salander. She is smarter than most men give her credit for; tougher than her dark and heavily pierced exterior would ever lead you to believe; she is damaged, but she fights back. And she knows how to bring the most evil of men (and the […]

March 15, 2010
Nowhere Boy Review
John Lennon is undoubtedly the most iconic of The Beatles, and his mythic status was solidified by his murder in 1980. But the man and the music should be separated, and while his music post-Beatles was arguably better, Lennon and McCartney together proved that the sum is often better than the parts. Photographer Sam Taylor-Wood, in her feature directorial debut Nowhere Boy, takes the audience back further, to Lennon’s teenage years, his discovery of music, first meeting with McCartney, and his tumultuous familial relations.

January 6, 2010
Daybreakers Review
The end is nigh, or so many on the planet believe. Whether it be terrorism, climate change, plague, or war, many people believe the human race has not long to live. Unless we adapt and fast, we’re pretty much screwed. Is it even possible for us to adapt? And should we adapt to suit the […]

December 30, 2009
Sherlock Holmes Review
When I was a kid Young Sherlock Holmes was one of my favourite movies (it still is). The young detective cut his teeth not on finding the family jewels, but on cults and devil worshippers. I have a feeling the screenwriters of the new Sherlock Holmes may have been as well. Which is not a […]

December 22, 2009
James Cameron and the Test of Time
What makes a film (or any work of art for that matter) memorable for years after it first appears? What are the films that we go back to again and again? The ones with the amazing special effects? The big stars? Or the ones with the great stories that still resonate? James Cameron makes blockbuster […]