/* is this happening ? */ - Good night Adventureland !

What is it about Pittsburgh that produces depressing movies about lost characters - in evidence we submit The Deer Hunter, The Wonder Boys, Pittsburgh, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Adventureland.

Sometimes it can be jarring to see a favourite indie actor pop out of place in a major film: a la Jamie Bell from Billy Elliot or Undertow or Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg's Dear Wendy into Peter Jackson's King Kong or Camilla Bell emerge from The Quiet or The Ballad of Jack and Rose into 10,000 BC or Push. Meanwhile there is Jesse Eisenberg who apart from a M. Night sortee into The Village has stuck to Roger Dodger and the forlorn Walt Berkman in The Squid and The Whale.

And once again Jesse Eisenberg is the stoic yet sad Brennan, James Brennan in Adventureland. Brennan has just broken up with a girl he has known for all of eleven days. His high expectations of a six week summer fun vacation in Europe, then grad school at Columbia for journalism and staying in an apartment in New York City with his friend are his way out of hometown. Alas! are shot down in flames as his father is transferred at work to a lesser paying position. So he badly neds money to pay for his education.

A scholarship student majoring in literary, his proceedings in life have proven him inexperienced to even qualify for manual labour jobs in Pittsburgh.

His dysfunctional parents denoted by the copious alcohol consuming father and an ever blame-assigning mother drive Brennan to the desperation of accepting a summer job with his prankful and mean-spirited friend Tommy Frigo at theme park Adventureland.

On his first day out, he meets a girl whose demeanour seem wise beyond her years, yet there she is. Being the new guy Brennan spots her. "Hi, I'm the new guy." On the second day, the new girl saves Brennan from being stabbed over a big-ass panda. Which is where all the fun and drama begins. Adventureland is very skewed - this could have been a flat out comedy but veers towards the quirks and quirky highs in life.

Adventureland brings alive again a time where music defined the generation - The Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum ruled amongst angst-filled kids - and Lou Reed is god. Adventureland maintenance man Mike Connell's claim to fame is playing guitar with Lou Reed one night. The cast of Adventureland is stellar and brings 1987 to life, yet Adventureland dwells in a nostaligic melancholy. Kristen Stewart wearing the perfect Lou Reed Velvet Underground t-shirt brings a very un-Twilight like performance - as Em, still an outsider concealing an inner self full of painful reminders. Her room is adorned with posters of the Buzzcocks Love Bites and Diamond Dogs Bowie, and she collects the coolest records - Big Star's Radio City is on display during the party. Ryan Reynolds as Connell doesn't rise above the rest of the cast - he does his daily chores with a matter-of-fact friendliness and gets along with James, dispensing bits of advice. Brennan's musical hero is Lou Reed and he has a copy of Transformer carefully perched on his system.

The Stardust is a place to hang out and drown the rest of the day while listening to Foreigner or Stones cover bands - Connell goes there with his attractive wife while trying to keep a dalliance with Em on the side, meeting up with her at his mother's basement.

The highlight of the summer is the arrival back of the bodacious Lisa P. played by Margarita Lavieva - along with her sidekick Kelly. Lisa P is hot and she knows it, always in tandem with the similar strutting Kelly - but even Lisa P. does not rise above it all - she does not have overbearing attitude and even deigns to go on a date with James. James is no fool, and recognizes it is probably a payback at one of her suitors, but hey! it's Lisa P!

But in the long run, what dominates Adventureland is this ever-budding bond and romance between the ever-virginal James and Em - they often kiss and fade to black [ she saves him from being knifed over a "giant ass panda" ! ]

Adventureland is this year's Dazed and Confused (and harkens the yearning undertones of The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, which is a good thing) except the events of the best time of their life transpires over a summer instead of one night with stellar performances from a starry cast keeping it real.

/* Sorry Lucy */- Michelle Williams is a treat to behold in the quiet of Wendy and Lucy

Wendy and Lucy is still hanging around Toronto - and if you have not seen this movie yet please make the time to go out and see this little gem. This was our impression from Day 2 back at TIFF08.

/* Sorry Lucy */ = Michelle Williams is a treat to behold in the quiet of Wendy and Lucy
FRIDAY SEPT 5
DAY 2

WENDY AND LUCY
7:45 pm
AMC 7

A girl and her dog on a road trip - stuck in Oregon on the way to Alaska.

Which basically sums up Kelly Reichardt's little movie Wendy and Lucy starring a wistful Michelle Williams - a girl on the road travelling with her dog - with no safety net of her own and no direction home, she is heading away from native Illinois for a better life and financial future in the promiseland of Alaska. But while passing through somewhere in Oregon, the car breaks down leading to a string of misfortune which we will leave you to find out for yourself for now

Reichardt indicated the movie is a reflection of post-Katrina America where the poor and misfortunate are still looked down upon and almost seen to be responsible for their own fates - a post Katrina America where the politicians assume those American people are supposed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps - but what bootstraps? And where is the financial aid?

Wendy meets a kindly older security guard who watches over the parking lot at Walgreen and they in a way befriend each other. But in the town she meets people without a heart. Michelle Williams as Wendy takes it all in with a quiet stoicism, mingled with a certain despair yet still buoyed by a hope for the best imparted by her new friend - it is only her determination which keeps her moving forward. When she stops her life gasps for air. By the end she is on the road again - on the road to nowhere? but moving on.

It's April in Midnight Matinee

February flew by too fast so here we are on the April edition of Midnight Matinee.



It's April so what happened to April March?

---

GLASVEGAS
A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)
Columbia

So this month it's heaven or Glasvegas and the catchiest single of the decade with Geraldine.

Hopefully this single with its attendant video will not be the death to the band where Delilah might have spelled the death knell of a certain t shirt band. However, the entire debut album is composed of shimmery tunes from the days of loud earplitting yet bright shiny rock devoted to by fans of bands of the Lush and Curve variety. Glasvegas is certainly poppy yet vocalist James Allan imbues the Scottish quartet's songs with a heartache and sadness that would make a young girl's heart break.

---

BUBBLEGUM LEMONADE
Doubleplusgood
Matinee Recordings

For a solo debut Bubblegum Lemonade has been gathering a whole lot of attention for another Scottish musician. From the label that gave you would-be-goods comes "Laz" McLuskey instrumentalist with his "band" Bubblegum Lemonade. Harkening the psychedelia of Three O'Clock or the original Thirteenth Floor Elevator. Too many prevalent influences may mar the experience of just enjoying this record - after all there can only be one Jesus and Mary Chain no matter how hard a group may try not to emulate it.

---

THE GUILD LEAGUE
Speak Up
Matinee Recordings



Being late to the game but better than never, catching onto the third record from the Guild League is a discovered delight. The Guild League which started as a side project Tali White, drummer of The Lucksmiths has evolved into this still mammoth Australian six piece. With White upfront instead of behind the kit Speak Up and with a group consisting of cello/bass/sax/guitar and drums the sound is far from conventional but more poppy and sprite than expected and heralds the sound of favourites Pale Fountains [which is always a good thing].

/* You owe me a ten second car */ - it seems like old times in Fast and Furious

Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner are at it again in Fast and Furious - and the originals Brian Walker and Vin Diesel slip back into their counterpart roles with ease. As seen in the opening Dom Toretto is still at the same game south of the border - just with a different crew - save the presence of longstanding girlfriend Michelle Rodriguez as Letty who is back into the fold. What is jarring is seeing Brian O'Conner in a full suit running down his quarry in a foot chase reminiscent of the first Bond movie jumping from rooftop to rooftop and scaling over fences. He may be a FBI agent now but he is still the outsider being made to conform.

At the time of The Fast and the Furious streetracing may have been an underground culture but under the direction of Rob Cohen and fuelled by the adrenaline of fast cars and fast women and a killer BT soundtrack The Fast and the Furious paved the way for the next two movies. And now the fourth instalment arrives in Fast and Furious - directed by Justin Lin [ from the third Tokyo movie ].

The car chases in tight tunnels quarters and the and races in the streets of LA and the mindboggling stunts during the heists are as exciting and riveting as ever. Mind you the reunion of the four casts members with the winsome Jordana Brewster back as Dom's sister and Brian's heartbreak girl from the first movie back in 2001 stlll has chemistry but this is not on the scale of the first Star Trek movie where everybody cheered the first presences of their favourite characters. However for the purposes of Fast and Furious only five years has transpired abd the main action has been shunted to the two males, principally Vin Diesel with the two ladies providing the impetus and the glue for the movie.

Speaking of ladies - there are plenty of those eyecandy types with the high heels and the skimpy and tight clothing and the tough attitude that makes the movie easy on the eyes. The pace of the movie is fast for the action sequences with an easy and humorous banter between the two adversaries, but far from furious when they dwell upon the past and moral conundrums.

Fast and Furious is definitely worth the chase.

More music

Midnight Matinee zen music


Welcome back to Midnight Matinee in the year 2009!

On tonight's show :

BAUHAUS
GO AWAY WHITE



Could you have ever imagined talking about Bauhaus in the 2000s? let alone at the end of the triple zeroes? And here they are back in white in a very edgy album filled with a newer sounding Bauhaus - but still reminiscent of the group that led the goth nation into the world of spy in the cab and someone named Bela Lugosi. An 18 day studio session with Bob Ezrin brings back the band after twenty five years for their fifth and final studio album. Very rock guitar, spartan and lean in places, eastern influences and a goth laced tribute all topped off with that trademark glam Peter Murphy vocal and the fab contribution of Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins.

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SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
ALPINISMS


Maybe it should be School of Seven Belles instead of School of Seven Bells but this is another one of those records that falls into medieval updated choral music - however, this is much less pretentious than the M83 - and with American accents. Catchy rhythms and easy to repeat lyrics make this a good listen when you're on the tube or subway in the morning commute mode.

---

LOVE IS ALL
A HUNDRED THINGS KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT



For a band grabbing all the attention with their first full length album they stand up to the scrutiny. The sound harkens several of my favourite bands from the 10 Things I Hate About You days - especially Letters to Cleo and the lovely singer - albeit in a different registry and style of shouting out the lyrics.

Too many obvious comparisons to yeah yeah yeah's or Raveonettes abound - but with a less reverential attitude - more tongue in cheek or cheeky - compare the Raveonettes 60s covers of My Boyfriend's Back against the spectoresque Love Is All tunes. At the end of it all love is all.

---

WOULD-BE-GOODS
BRIEF LIVES



This is a rare catch indeed. After a listen to Stereolab Chemical Chords, then would-be-goods would be the next step in line. The perfect diction of would-be-goods singer Jessica Griffin [ who also contributes the guitars ] fits right into the notch of Stereolab Laetitia Sadier - dare to compare the accented Vivre Sa Vie with a typical Stereolab tune. The band behind Griffin has more than a brief history with name players among them Peter Momtchiloff on guitar, Lupe Nunez-Fernandez on bass, with Deborah Green keeping things straighforward on drums and adding her high harmonies. Brief Lives is a compendium of little pop style vignettes for those looking for their next literate fix of even Camera Obscura or Belle and Sebastian. This 2002 recording of Brief Lives can be found on Matinee Recordings.

have you spent the night in hell
it's a cheap hotel
and the bedbugs in the sheets
won't let you get to sleep
it's hell

---

DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO
EVERYTHNG THAT HAPPENS WLL HAPPEN TODAY



Dare to say anything about this album except it is another modern masterpiece - the vocals and tunes of David Byrne against the instrumentals of Brian Eno is their first album together in about 30 years and another leap stylistically from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is a venture worth following. These are not songs about food and buildings or suburbia, but more country or worldly-like, references to ships in the darkness and a lighthouse, but in the end leaving with an impression that is haunting.

---

SEABEAR
THE GHOST THAT CARRIED US AWAY



Rather naive and simple back to basic folk pop music from Iceland without all the intrinsic weirdness that seems to come out of Iceland. Guitar, piano, plucked violin and a smattering of drums and background instrumentation - with multi-part male and a dose of children background vocals - very light listening designed for listeners of Iron and Wine.

---

Quick views:

FRANZ FERDINAND
TONIGHT: FRANZ FERDINAND

Sometimes you just have to take Franz Ferdinand for what it is - a scattergun catchy popgun approach that does not aspire to the heights of XTC or the tribal rhythms of Adam and the Ants but still with plenty of dance attitude.

SIGUR ROS
()
This is by far the least favourite Sigur Ros album of the whole lot - failing to reach any etherealness with its dry production at moments and just dragging along at dirge pace - which for most people is the whole point of Sigur Ros.


.../ stay tune for the February edition of Midnight Matinee for the year 2009. Happy Groundhog Day.


JANUARY 19, 2009 10:09 PM

/* I do not want what I do not have */ - take 4

Here it is - one more shot at our first little movie - taking us back to the days of shooting Change of Heart, Third Man In and Redlife videos. Keep your eyes glued to the screen until the end - and let us know what you think.

Hit the play button below in the media player.

We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

/* can't stay can't leave - let's do it */ - Revolutionary Road redux

This is not the story of Jack and Rose no more - the Wheelers Frank and April as portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet with their perfect marriage living the American ideal with a house in suburbia in Stamford Connecticut with their two children. So why does Revolutionary Road have this aura of American Beauty redux? Oh maybe it's because of a certain Sam Mendes and the Thomas Newman score and the Tariq Anwar editing.

Fans of the original Revolutionary Road must be cringing at this adaptation of Richard Yates's novel from 1962- the dialogue between the Wheelers is reduced to platitudes and cliches. However, Revolutionary Road is a triumph due to immaculate acting amongst all the parties involved.

/* Rachel - I heard you got married - congratulation */ - Rachel Getting Married - sisters are doing it for themselves

Rachel Getting Married debuted at the TIFF 08 in the gala portion which seems quite contrarian to the movie's presentation. The glamorous Anne Hathaway on the red carpet totally undercuts her depiction of Kim - the sister of Rachel who is getting married.

Jonathan Demme, director of Silence of the Lambs, gets down to the nitty gritty of sisterhood and being family compounded by the attendant pressures of the impending marriage and accompanying farfula and intertwining of both sides of the wedding.

The entire film rings with honest truth as the family deals with Anne Hathaway's harrowing past through self destruction, addiction and rehabilitation as it slowly comes to light.

Taking place during a wedding brings together a huge assortment of characters - family members, best man, maid of honour, friends of family, musicians - [ even one Robyn Hitchcock who plays in performance at the wedding ] - far too many characters to keep track of which really drags out too many scenes too long - and the transition of scenes is far from smooth as scenes play out then tail off.

The movie continually focuses back on Anne Hathaway - even as she tries to stay in the background and listen to the testimonials from friends and family to the upcoming newlyweds the camera records her emotional dissatisfaction. She finally has to grab the spotlight and the microphone and tries to make amends to her sister as part of the twelve step programme as the rest of the room fidgets uncomfortably.

Hathaway should be a deserving subject of award season nomination for best actress - for a persona so far removed from Princess Diaries or Devil Wears Prada.

/... more

Inspirational genius in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen is back to the sharp clever banter that was the trademark of those classic films a la Annie Hall or Manhattan.

This movie is a delightful romp in the sunny clime of Barcelona where two American girls go for a vacation - each with different traits and personalities- the seemingly straight laced dark haired girl and the stunningly attractive blonde live for the moment and easily romanced.

DAY 10 - /* the only thing that can hurt me is out there */ - The Wrestler - Mickey you da man !

DAY 9 - /* Just you and me and the deadgirl */ - Deadgirl is a tromatic affair

At TIFF we actively seek those little teen ensemble movies that mark the coming of age - in the past it's been movies such as Little Athens, Mysterious Skin, 2:37, 11:14.

This year it's Deadgirl and one of our definite favourites of this year's fest.

DAY 9 - /* There's no reason to screw the computers */ - Control Alt Delete

Those three familiar words of the PC lexicon either define you as computer geek or normal everyday guy.

Control Alt Delete is definitely not normal - does it get any weirder than having sex with your computer ? If it does we do not want to know you.

The movie sets itself a month away from the eve of the Y2K crisis - a period defined where the missing two digits in front of a year as stored in computer data records which held only the last two digits [ i.e. anyone born in 1953 would have 53 in the YY but with the Y2k the years 00 could mean either century ] marked a potential conflict between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and the end of civilization as we know it unless the problem could be fixed - usually by endless bouts of programming. Which brings us to the setting of the story - the offices where the computer programmers and techs work.

However, the good thing about the movie is the hot Laura Bertram [from Ready or Not or Trance Gemini on Andromeda] being seen naked on the screen for the first time in bed with boyfriend played by Tyler Labine.


What's number 3?

/* Did you just throw water at me */

So the big fat loud guy with the glasses in the last row of the theatre asked me "Did you just throw water at me?" and I said "Yeah, I am trying not to hear you!"

Of course it was entirely justified - he was in loud discussion with someone about the TIFF movies that had seen or about to see - and movies that we were still hoping to see or had seen and spouting off loud obnoxious opinions that we disagreed with but we were well contemplating doing another Viggo Mortensen episode a la A History of Violence- he's always the guy who laughs too loud too and eats popcorn with his mouth open - they're allowed to shoot horses, don't they? so why not obnoxious moviegoers?

Day 8 - /* Where do we go from here? We just keep on going */ - Uncertainty does a double riposte with Revanche

The theme of the night of Day 8 at the Festival was uncertain futures and even more uncertain ends.

In fact both movie's three endings were more of no ends - Uncertainty was more acceptable but Revanche clearly in line with La Haine a la Charbol - after almost two hours of gruelling tolerance Revanche - a German spoken Austrian movie with a French title - utterly failed to justify its hype. A couple secretly in love, a girl from the Ukraine trying to make a go of it in Vienna - and working at a brothel run by a powerful fat slob [ not totally unlike the guy who got water thrown at ] - she being Tamara in her hooker heels and he is Alex, the boss of the brothel's grunt labour. Nothing can go wrong with a plan, he says, as he figures a way out of their situation at the brothel - a plan that comprises a bank robbery. A chain of events is set in motion that leads to more than two hours of endurance by the audience.

More palatable was the couple of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins in Uncertainty who after a toss of a coin at the bridge run in two separate directions and thrust into two distinctive and dense plotlines - the crux of each being a decision and "will it be the right decision?"

Two more days of TIFF08 to go. O joy.

/* Never do an armour truck */ - Life is a slammer in What Doesn't Kill You

One day at a time. Living life.

Another story set in the gritty world of Southie - South Boston. The true story of Brian [ as played by Mark Ruffalo ]

< ... more to come >

One week of TIFF08 behind us. Can it get any better?

DAY 7 - /* I'm a Jew you're a Nazi - game over */ - Viggo Mortensen is GOOD

Good based on the stageplay by the RDA in England at its best is provocative, at its lullpoints merely good.

Viggo Mortensen is a university professor John Halder of literature in Berlin during the 1930s whose book has come to the attention of the new to power Nazi party. The subject of the book is on the right to life, or merciful ending. He is told that the Fuhrer himself has read the book and it seems the party is about to embrace its ideal - to which Halder clearly shocked says, "It is a work of fiction."

But in stages, the university professor is co-opted into joining the Nazi party and rises in scholarly rank and wage, much to the dismay of his friend Maurice [ Jason Isaacs who is also a co-producer and maybe more familiar in his Harry Potter film role ] who is Jewish. Maurice pleads with Halder to save his life and get him a visa out of the country. However, Halder despite rank is forced to take the cowardly way out in front of youth comrades of the party and switches the destination of his ticket from Paris to Brandenburg where his ailing mother lives.

By always trying to do the good thing [for the country or for himself], and always seeming to make the wrong choice but pressured otherwise, Halder is a victim of his decisions, each marked by a bout of music [Mahler] - he writes a paper for the Party, he forsakes his marriage for a younger university girl attracted to him - by the end, Halder is in full Nazi officer uniform. "Call me Professor."

From Finland after Three Wise Men - merry christmas!

Mika Kaurismäki's Three Wise Men debuted at TIFF back on the second day of TIFF08 on Friday, Sept 5. We had to investigate that club and found out online that the club for the karaoke scene is very much real so an email was sent. This is their reply.


>Hello.
thankyou for mail.
i am happy you can see finnish film about finnish 3 friends on chritmas
party which was some part of film filmed in swengi night club.
hello to everybody.
you welcome again to helsinki.
Best wishes!
Mr.Bakar Manager.

/* An unwritten life */ - The Brothers Bloom takes you along for the ride

From the director of Brick comes this next setpiece The Brothers Bloom making its world premiere to an ardent crowd at Ryerson. With an amusing intro and antics by director and the three leads in the cast and the director's cousin? on guitar the audience was primed. In the hands of two professionals Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, the story of the Brothers Bloom as two conmen is worth the emotional investment. When their final *mark* is the fetching Rachel Weisz, Is that worth a wow?

/* Un nuit de chien */ - DAY 6 - Nuit de chien is a night of chaos

Werner Schroeter Un nuit de chien [ called Tonight internationally ] is a monumental travesty of a film - this was the type of film we were trying to avoid after being somehow drawn to see Peter Greenaway's Nightwatch at last year's TIFF. A puzzling movie, Un nuit de chien is ,ore of an art piece than a piece of entertainment that one could keep praying would end any moment. Devoid of any realism, and having pieces of popular classical music such as Air on a G String pitched at high volumes it really begins to tax the patience and the nerves. Very Kafkaesque in its puzzlement at what is going on, a German director with a French cast fighting a Spanish war, a Fellini clown selling balloons at night - the movie only really begins to pick up after the lead Ossorio encounters a young Victoria - the daughter of his comrade Barcala which turns the film into The Professional.

It is odd this movie had the highest ratings on the sites devoted to TIFF reviews because no one came out of this movie seemingly to like it.

/* War is a drug */ - Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker a searing indictment of war

War is hell - it's a phrase worth repeating over and over again. Kathryn Bigelow's movie with its North American premiere at Ryerson on Monday evening is based upon the stories of an embedded reporter in Iraq. If these stories are any indication, then the war can only be viewed as pointless or unwinnable. Iraq is really a warzone fought in the streets with its mazes of streets and hidden bombs which B Company have to defuse.