Archive for month: September, 2011

Nice crisp fall day today (maybe even a tad warm). Yep summer’s officially over in a couple of days and the change in the seasons also brings us the Vancouver Film Festival. I didn’t make it out to any flicks last year (first time in 16 years!) but this year will be hopefully different. The guides are available for purchase at both Black Dog locations – $10.

Also Black Dog is proud to announce a new little charitable event that we’re calling Free Film Thursdays. On the last Thursday of every month we will be collecting donations of a sort for a local charity. How does this work you ask? Well, pipe down and let me tell you. You bring your fine self down to either Black Dog location, drop of the determined charitable item and you get a free film for your troubles. Easy peasy. The first day for this will be Thursday September 29th. I will post what charity and what the donation will be in next week’s newsletter as well as on the Facebook site and I’ll even tweet it on the Twitter thingy.

And this week’s film from Unthank Cinema at Black Dog Cambie will be Paris Blues – 1961: Stars Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as American jazz musician ex-pats living in Paris, includes a jazz battle with Louis Armstrong. How does that sound? Terrific! Free Admission – 10:30 in the PM. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055278/

New Releases for Tuesday September 20th

Bill Cunningham: New York – Great doc about famed NY photographer who liked to take photos of people who wore clothes. Currently at the Commercial location with copies coming to Cambie hopefully by the end of the week.

BKO: Bangkok Knockout – Thai martial arts kick to the face/groin/back/knees/throat/spine/kidneys/cranium and whatever else there is to kick and punch. Enjoy.

Bridesmaids – OK time-waster with a really good cast. Kirsten Wig plays a bit of a loser who’s best friend is getting married. Hijinks ensue. Should have been funnier than it was and also about a half an hour shorter. There really is no excuse for a comedy to be over two hours. Also on the Blu Ray.

Conan O’Brian Can’t Stop – Doc about Coco’s comedy tour after he was booted from the Tonight Show gig. Supposed to be quite excellent.

Familiar Grounds – Well received French Canadian number about a brother and sister who live together whose lives are thrown for a loop with the arrival of a man who claims to be from the future. Hijinks, I presume, ensue.

Good Neighbors – 1995 Montreal. There’s a serial killer on the loose. This makes the tenants of an apartment building in the neighborhood where the murders have taken place uneasy. No kidding. (I know the feeling – there was a guy murdered outside my house on Saturday!) This includes the new tenant and his cat. This one looks like it could be something worth watching.

Hung Season 2 – Season 2 of the show about the high school teacher with the big schlong who puts his, ahem, biggest asset to work for him to make some extra scratch. No point in wasting your talents I always say.

The Kennedys: Miniseries – Don’t really need to go into detail about this do I? Good cast, won some awards last night on that dreadful Emmy show.

Meek’s Cutoff – This is the film that I’m most interested in checking out this week. It’s the story of some settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 who find themselves stranded in harsh conditions. Bummer. I wonder if they started eating each other? That’s what I’d do for sure. From the director of Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy. Also on the Blu Ray.

Modern Family Season 2 – Season two of the Emmy award winner for best comedy series. Good stuff. But only if you like to laugh.

The People vs. George Lucas – Doc about the famous chinless wonder who destroyed so many hopes and dreams when he made those awful Star Wars prequel films. This film takes a look at what happened to poor old George and how he managed to succumb to the dark side. Supposed to be quite funny and entertaining.

The River Murders – Ray Liotta, Ving Rhames and Christian Slater star in this thriller about a cop who falls under suspicion for the murders he’s investigating. Never heard of it. I imagine it was one of those straight to DVD flicks. There ya go.

The Set-Up – Speaking of never heard of it, straight to DVD comes this crime thriller starring Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillipe. Oh, and Fitty Cent. Something about a heist gone wrong or whatever. Also on the Blu Ray for some reason.

Wrecked – Mope face Adrian Brody stars as a dude who wrecks his car (hence the clever title) and gets trapped at the bottom of a ravine and then must survive against the odds! I wonder if he eats anyone? Because that;s the first thing that I would do. Oh and he gets amnesia. In all of my travels I’ve never met anyone who has suffered from amnesia. But in the movies and TV it seems like a common occurrence. Like, what’s up with that.

Coming Next Week

True Legend

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The Ledge

Frisson Des Collines

Loose Cannons

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Deliver Us From Evil (Danish)

Bullitt (yes that Bullitt!)

Bridesmaids – slightly passing recommendation

Modern Family S 2

Fringe S 3

Incendies

The Trip

Viva Riva!

X-Men: First Class

Winter in Wartime

Hanna

Troll Hunter

Internets! Yeah for Internets!

Here’s a funny article about some famous films with some glaring plot holes that clever editing helped to hide. I was watching Bullitt the other night and there’s a scene where McQueen gets a call from a panicked cop who is protecting a witness. McQueen tells him that he’ll be there in 5 minutes. Cut to McQueen arriving but at the scene are ambulances, more cops and about 100 onlookers. I said to myself, that has to be the longest 5 minutes ever! – http://www.cracked.com/article_19435_6-movie-plot-holes-you-never-noticed-thanks-to-editing.html

Speaking of Bullitt, it still has, in my opinion, the best car chase ever filmed. So exciting. No CGI obviously. Here’s Rotten Tomatoes list for the best chases ever committed to celluloid. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drive_2011/news/1923487/1/total_recall_greatest_movie_car_chases/

If you know me, then you know about my love for signs. Here’s a funny little website where some folks have sarcastically altered signs around the town. (Not this town but any or every town) http://www.happyplace.com/4286/brilliantly-sarcastic-responses-to-completely-well-meaning-signs

And last but least, here’s a little ditty from the wonderful Oatmeal about things we should have learned in high school – http://theoatmeal.com/comics/senior_year

Alright folks, that’s a wrap. Enjoy fall and keep watching!

Black Dog Video

And that’s that. Another summer in the bag. I’ve heard so many people grumble and gripe that it was a shitty summer it was. Anyone remember the last day it rained? It’s really hard to argue with what we have at the moment and how great the month of August was (July, you are dead to me). To be honest I appreciate the crappy weather in the summer time for the exclusive reason that people rent more films. I know that’s selfish of me, but that’s the nature of being in business for yourself. You take what you can get. That said, I spent a great deal of time at the beaches in and around the town, had quite a few fine BBQ’s and had the misfortune to go camping. A pretty good summer all and all. The fall looks pretty strong for films hitting the DVD’s so that’s something to look forward to, right?

This is pretty cool – starting this Wednesday, Black Dog on Cambie will be holding free viewings of some pretty interesting/trashy/fun/ films. Showings are at 10:30 pm. There’s a limited number of seats so first come, first serve. I do believe that there will be refreshments on hand as well. For a rundown of what’s playing check out the Facebook site Unthank Cinema. If it works out and nobody gets hurt, we’ll make this a regular occurrence.

New Releases for Tuesday September 6th

Certified Copy – Renowned Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami takes us on a journey through the Tuscany region of Italy with Juliette Binoche and some other French guy. Supposed to be nice nice, very nice.

Community Season 2 – Season 2 of the TV shoe Community.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec – Actiony type fantasy thriller type dealy from Luc Besson about the adventures of a young woman in the early 20th Century and her dealings with would-be suitors, cops, monsters, and other distractions. Looks pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Fringe Season 3 – Locally shot, pretty good sci-fi show complete with parallel universes, weird goings on, Pacey from Dawson’s Creek and that mad king guy from Lord of the Rings. This is the third season.

The Gruffalo – Award winning animated short film about a mouse who takes a walk in the woods and outwits a bunch of predators (the animal kind who like to eat him, not the outer space reptilian hunter kind).

Hanna – Mostly excellent actiony type thriller about a girl raised near the arctic circle by her dad who is trained to kill with the ultimate goal being revenge on Cate Blanchett for a past wrong-doing. Great score, excellent action, undone somewhat by an plot-hole filled ending but still very much worth your while. Someone please tell me what’s with Blanchett’s accent and her obsession with her teeth. Also on the Blu Ray.

A Horrible Way to Die – Nasty piece of business (if you can’t tell by the title) about an escaped killer who attempts to track down his ex-squeeze who is trying to start a new life in a small town. Word has it that’s it’s supposed to be quite good.

The Office Season 7 – This documentary isn’t done yet? They have 7 years worth of material! When is it going to be finished?! This is season 7 of The Office (still a pretty good shoe)

Parks and Recreation Season 3 – We don’t have the first 2 seasons (yet) but trust me, this is a pretty funny show and worth your time and hard earned clams. This is the 3rd season.

Road to Nowhere – Famed director Monty Hellman (Two Lane Blacktop) is back with his first film in like 20 years or something. A filmmaker gets embroiled in a crime while making a film. That is what I can make out of the plot. I’ve heard it’s pretty cool as the lines between reality and what is fiction tend to blur. Kinda how I felt when I woke up yesterday.

Tracker – Ray Winstone (love me some Ray Winstone!) is a soldier from the Boer War who ends up in New Zealand tracking a fugitive accused of killing another soldier. Action and some complications ensue.

Vidal Sassoon: The Movie – Documentary about the famous barber. Supposed to be quite entertaining.

X-Men: First Class – I saw but 2 films in the theatre this summer (shocking, I know) this and Thor. I thought Thor sucked royal donkey balls but I loved this film – easily the best of the X-Men films. Origin films usually aren’t that good but this one rocks fairly hard. Great cast (maybe with the exception of January Jones – that lady cannot act to save her life), fine action and just a good time at the movies. Also on the Blu Ray. (Releases on September 9th – Friday)

Old stuff just in…

Creepshow 2 (yeah!)
The first 3 Scream films (at Commercial, soon arriving at Cambie)

Coming Next Week

The People vs George Lucas
Rescue Me Season 6 and 7
Forks Over Knives
Meek’s Cut-Off
Thor
The Trip
Bill Cunningham: New York
BKO: Bangkok Knockout
Glee S2 V2
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 6
Incendies
Viva Riva!
Take Me Home Tonight

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Hanna
X-Men: First Class
In a Better World
Venus Noire
Trollhunter
Louie Season 1
Winter in Wartime
The Lincoln Lawyer
Limitless
Super
Jane Eyre

Behold! Internets!

I’m sure you’re getting a little tired of how much I’ve been touting Louie. Well don’t listen to me, check out this cool little article (mostly talking about the second season) touting how great this shoe is…http://thinkprogress.org/tag/louie/

And for a good laugh, there’s always Tim and Eric! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gzDxxocVPA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Here’s an article from last week’s Westender about the plight of the Rio theatre and their attempts to obtain a liquor license. I cannot understand why it is against the law to serve alcohol in a movie theatre in Vancouver?! Like, what is the reasoning behind this? I love having a few pops while watching a film. Like, come on, time to grow up. http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/news-licensed-to-chill/

Here’s a fun little editing mash-up of Coen Brothers films and the films of QT (Tarantino). Warning: this may make you want to run out and watch these films again…http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/videos/tarantino-vs-the-coen-brothers.html

That’s it for this week, kids. Enjoy the sun while we can. Eat some BBQ. Enjoy a nice bottle of wine with loved ones or friends. Watch some fine home entertainment.

Black Dog Video