Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending January 30th

I imagine by now that most of you have heard about the ongoing battle the fabulous Rio Theatre has had with the liquor control board. Well it seems that the powers that be have come one step closer to putting the famed theatre out of business. Soon after being granted the much sought after liquor license for the live shows and special events that they put on at the Rio, they were informed that they could not show films in the theatre ever again! The Liquor Control fools cited some lame antiquated law that states, for some reason, that one could not serve booze in a movie theatre. The thing is, besides the point that one should be able to buy booze at the moves, the Rio wasn’t planning on selling alcohol during movies times! I just don’t get why this is happening. The good folks at the Rio have taken up the fight and you can help out as well. Here’s a link to online petitions and where to send emails requesting that this utterly stupid law be reviewed and ultimately overturned. Please take a moment to help out the best movie house in town…http://riotheatre.ca/

New Releases for Tuesday January 24th

50/50 – Cancer comedy and drama all rolled into one! Nothing says funny like cancer! Actually from what I hear this is quite an excellent little number. The always swell Joseph Gordon-Levitt finds out he has the cancer and with the help of his bumbling sidekick, Seth Rogan, sets out to beat the shit out of cancer. Filmed in town here – they did a scene outside of the Black Dog on Commercial but I don’t know if we have a cameo in it or not as I haven’t had a chance to check the film out yet. Also on the Blu Ray.

Buck – Acclaimed doc about a dude who’s a real “horse whisperer”. I tried being a “cat whisperer” once but all I got out of it was indignation, contempt and outright hostility from my cat (Pork Hand is one of her many names).

French Immersion – French Canadian comedy about some English speaking folk who find themselves somewhere in rural Quebec where nobody speaks the English. A clash of cultures, I presume, ensue.

Happy Happy – Comedy/drama form Norway (good stuff coming out of Norway lately) finds a bored lonely sexy housewife (do tell!) becoming infatuated with the new sexy neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Sexual hijinks and uncomfortable situations, I presume, ensue. This is going to be a hot renter just judging by the cover art. Come in to the stores and see what I mean.

Hell and Back Again – Heavy duty doc follows a dude back from Afghanistan (the war part that is) as he tries to adjust to relatively normal society. As the director describes it – “It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war.”

Paranormal Activity 3 – While I did enjoy the first two installments in this series, (I haven’t had a chance to see this one yet) but I’m afraid that these films might slip into the Saw franchise category – lots of films but who gives a rat’s ass? That said, I will watch this one because I found the first two quite frightening and quite effective although the premise is getting stretched a little thin – how many people set up that may cameras in their home for little or no reason?. Also on the Blu Ray.

Real Steel – Wolverine stars in this futuristic, inspiring tale about people who build giant robots to fight each other. Guess that there’s nothing better to do in the future. Now if the premise included the robots running amok and ripping people’s heads and arms off and stuff instead of teaching robots how to fight and dance and mix drinks I may be interested. I should get back to work making my butler robot, although I’m afraid that it may become self aware and rip off my head and arms.

Restless – This number finds a terminally ill teenage girl who falls for a boy who likes to attend funerals and their encounters with the ghost of a Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII. How romantic. I imagine that there will be tears jerked out of your eyes while watching this. Also on the Blu ray.

Shut Up Little Man – Ever want to record sound bites you hear around the town? Well this doc finds some dudes who record the fights, squabbles and tantrums thrown by their neighbors. Good times.

Swastika – Gripping doc about Nazi’s and propaganda and what not. Ahhh, can we ever get our fill of Nazis?

Triple Tap – Hong Kong actiony thriller about cops and robbers and bad guys and good guys and their paths intersecting and a whole bunch of stuff we’ve seen in tons of Hong Kong actiony thrillers.

The Whistleblower – Heavy duty drama starring the lovely Rachel Weisz as a a Nebraska cop with a whistle who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and blows said whistle on the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal. Based on a horrible true story. People (men) are awful. When does the world end again? Also on the Blu Ray.

Coming Next Week

Drive
Breakaway
Double
Into the Universe
Shades of Ray
Big Year
Dream House
Cell 211
The Thing
In Time

Recently Viewed and Recommended

The Last Circus
50/50
The Guard
Tuesday, After Christmas
Fish Story
Ides of March
Boardwalk Empire
Redline
An Idiot Abroad

Here’s an amusing little ditty on how Albert Brooks and Patton Oswalt are taking their respective snubs from the Academy Awards – http://www.avclub.com/articles/heres-how-albert-brooks-and-patton-oswalt-are-reac,68204/

That’s it for this week, kids. Have a great week, stay dry and warm and watching something good. Or bad. Your call.

Black Dog Video