The Most Dangerous Games
Hungry for more human hunting games? Try these three movies on for size!
Back to the Bloor
Late last month at a press day for the re-opening of The Bloor Cinema – now officially known as The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema , after the noted documentary festival that saved the building from being turned into another condo building – there was still some work left to be done. The concession stand had […]
Defending The Indefensible: Judgment Night
In the first entry of the published offshoot of the popular screening series, Defending the Indefensible curator looks back at the "overlooked and under-appreciated" 1993 thriller Judgment Night , starring Emilio Estevez and Denis Leary.
The Nic Cage Project: Con Air
To celebrate TIFF’s ongoing Bangkok Dangerous: The Cinema Of Nicolas Cage series, Alan Jones has resurrected his retrospective of the actor’s work entitled The Nic Cage Project. In this edition, Jones boards Simon West's Con Air – playing tonight at the Lightbox.
The Poetry of Precision: Bresson at the Lightbox
Robert Bresson, one of the most important names in classic French cinema, is often overshadowed by the New Wave filmmakers who followed in his footsteps. His filmography is often unjustly relegated to the confines of film studies classes and the shelves of Criterion DVD collectors. The TIFF Bell Lightbox hopes to bring new eyes to Bresson’s work by featuring all thirteen of his films in a retrospective called The Poetry of Precision: The Films of Robert Bresson.
Lone Twin Debuts on TVO
Aside from the rarity of being a twin (roughly only 33 out of every thousand births are multiples of any kind), being born at the same time as another human being imparts a special bond that people born through single births simply can’t understand. Growing side by side as their bodies develop turns into growing older at the same rate and often going through the same familial issues. It’s the shared experience of brothers and sisters – complete with different personalities and personal quirks – amplified even further through closer proximity. But what happens when someone’s biological other half passes away?
The Great Muppet Mixtape
Is there anything dorkier than having a deep, profound love for The Muppets? When the guys here at That Shelf asked me if I could throw together a special week of Muppet related content in honour of this week’s release of the latest Muppet film, I nearly hyperventilated and passed out from excitement. The Muppets have been involved with several of my favourite films of all time and they had a huge impact on my understanding of writing and comedy.
The Scream Chronicles: Part Two
Most filmmaking is a seat of the pants endeavour fraught with pitfalls and last second changes. Nothing goes according to plan, but more often that not on major Hollywood productions things tend to go more swimmingly. That is, of course, provided that they aren’t making a sequel to one of the previous year’s biggest success stories. Scream 2 stands as a testament to director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson. It's a film that managed to be almost equally as good as the original and actually far more interesting on an academic level.
The Scream Chronicles: Part One
After watching all four Scream films again on Blu-ray, I find it a bit strange that I haven’t devoted more time to talking about a series of films that single-handedly revived the slasher genre with a blend of genuine terror and self-reflexive humour. So here now begins a four week long look back at the history of the now seminal series that has been slaying audiences since 1996.
Toronto International Film Festival Kicks Off
Despite the glamour and glitz associated with the TIFF, there are few things more lovingly dorky than a major film festival. This doesn’t necessarily extend to people who work within the industry (the talent, the buyers, the movers, the shakers) or the people who have to deal with the industry types, but for film lovers a festival is no different than playing video games for hours on end or obsessively collecting action figures.
Toronto Cartoonists Workshop’s Industry Night
It's been a busy year for the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. A school launched By professionals in the comic book industry with the intention of training tomorrow's artists and authors, TCW has expanded its course offerings and continues to cultivate new talent. We spoke with instructor and co-founder Ty Templeton about what's next for TCW.
Mother’s Day:
Memorable Cinematic Matriarchs
I love mothers; you love mothers. Perhaps not as much as Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake, but certainly enough to celebrate all the moms out there by assembling a list of some of the most memorable matriarchs in film history
The Nic Cage Project: Matchstick Men
Nicolas Cage has a new movie in theatres tomorrow: Season of the Witch . The film was not screened for critics or audiences in advance, which is never a good sign for a film. However, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised by Cage's turn as a medieval crusader returning home to fight the black plague. It sounds awesome. Instead of reviewing the new Cage film, Alan wanted to take this opportunity to revisit the 2003 Ridley Scott film and Cage-vehicle Matchstick Men . From obsessive-compulsive con artist to medieval crusader - what a range!
Best of 2010: Film
2010 was quite a year for film and we like our movies around these parts, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that the Shelf's "Best of 2010" film list comes in at a ridiculous 2200 words. True, we didn't make contact with extraterrestrials in 2010 (Peter Hyams and Arthur C. Clarke lied!), but we did get a year full of extraordinary films. Here are our few of our favourites.
Best of 2010: Music
2010 was, by all accounts, a pretty rad year in music. The Canadian indie scene continued to thrive, all while established Canuck bands like Caribou and Arcade Fire wowed us with new albums. Didn't the music establishment declare electronica and rock n' roll dead nigh a decade ago? And yet here we are, still rocking out. Hip-hop, too, (or rap music as the kids call it) continued its rebirth of sorts; a vibrant new sound that is still hard to pin down, but one that is devoid of unironic autotuning and top 40 aspirations. Since summing up a year in music is proving quite difficult in less than 100 words, I'll leave that task to the musical experts of the Shelf: Jess and Zack.
