Cinephile At Large

Thats right, woodchuck-chuckers – it’s GROUNDHOG DAY!

I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.

Coming soon… my review of Land of the Lost and you will definitely want to stick around to read that one. Currently working on one for Inglorious Basterds. No, not the 1970s picture, Inglorious Bastards, try not to get them confused. Tarantino solved that problem by spelling bastards the wrong way, see. Clever girl.

What better way to start off a new year then with a month full of vampire films? One of my favourite films from TIFF ‘09 Daybreakers is finally having it’s wide release on January 8th, and to celebrate how awesome that film is, I’ve dedicated the entire month to vampire films. And as always, I have included old films from the 20s and 30s so you can see the progression of the vampire lore on film. Don’t expect to see Twilight any where near my recommendations because that would be just so wrong. If you want to see real vampires just keep checking the screenings this week page, or watch True Blood (aka one of the best shows ever).

Happy viewing, and don’t forget to sleep with the light on, and a little garlic by your bedside.

All of the Christmas movies I could recommend are up. Stay tuned to see what next month’s theme is. And I no longer want to see Nine. I just saw Chicago and was severely unimpressed. It’s not a musical in the true sense of a musical where the diegetic world the characters live in is filled with song and dance to express their emotions and actions. Instead Chicago’s music (and what it looks like is the same for Nine) relied solely on the delusions of grandeur from Roxie Hart – the music exists solely in her own thoughts/world. There were only two real musical numbers in the diegetic world of the film but the rest of them were all conjured up in the mind of Roxie. Which is lame. It was more like a film with musical number, after number rather than a musical story. I have no idea why that film won so many awards, but I can guess it’s because as always Rob Marshall used the old “razzle dazzle ‘em” technique to blind us with sparkles and lights from the true weakness that his film is. And it must have worked. And it seems to be working for Nine. But it will not work on me. I think I will take Roger Ebert’s advice (he’s the only critic I like) and just go watch 8 1/2 instead. You should too. Unless you actually liked Chicago, then go ahead and see Nine but don’t ever come back here. Perhaps Rob Marshall is not as great a director as everyone thinks he is.

I kind of wanted to see Up in the Air but I keep seeing trailers for it and it seems like the studio is really pushing the film so now I am a bit annoyed and have lost some interest in it. I hate mass marketing of films. I see more trailers for that than I do for Nine. Plus, Jason Reitman really bothers me. I can’t explain why. He’s just one of those people.