I loved Fair Play. It is the true story of the ex-CIA agent the Bush administration outed because her husband outed Bush’s lies about weapons of mass destruction to justify his war on Iraq. To ensure realism, the director used quite a few pieces of real footage from Bush’s and others’ speeches during that time. He also played it very low key with credible dialogue. Sean Penn and Naomi Watts are thoroughly believable in the starring roles, as is Sam Shepard as her father. If anyone has fo

Well done Tony Goldwyn, for this excellent direction. The cast is marvelous. Both Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis should be given a best supporting actress nod for their roles. Hilary Swank is well cast in the only role at which she excels, poor white trash makes good and Sam Rockwell , playing her ne’er do well brother, matches her performance beautifully. The dialogue is believable throughout. The girl talk is just the way I chat with my galfriends, funny, sassy and irreverent. (Can you b

Hereafter – Why did Eastwood make this film? I saw Hereafter yesterday at a 6:10 show. There weren’t too many people in the film, but those that were seemed fairly young, either Matt Damon or Clint Eastwood fans I guess. I am both. Yet I was at a loss to figure out where this film was going; what genre it was meant to be. I expected a film that was frightening, about ghosts coming back to haunt people or a “meaning of life “ theme. Instead the film just meandered around a bit of everyt

When did Woody Allen stop being funny and become just plain maudlin ? This new film is so bad that I saw it this afternoon and have forgotten it already. Which is what you should do, forget it. ,,,,,,Dame Velveeta Peron

My stock answer is “Good” “Canadian” and “movies” in the same sentence is an oxymoron. Yes, including Egoyan and Cronenberg. Trigger was good. It was a quiet, thoughtful story of two people, in this case women friends, who had been through hell together, parted, and reunited ten years later. Molly Parker, of unknown sexual orientation in the film, and the late Tracey Wright of the lesbian persuasion,(she could have persuaded me ), are pitch perfect. There is no female hysteria, “

Well, like Ben Affleck, for instance. He is a real cutie patutie and he can act. He is so comfortable on home turf, down and out Boston, and he does effortlessly. The story is realistic even if the love story is a bit of a stretch. We really want to go with it so let’s not quibble about small details. The acting is believable; the story never lags. You won’t learn the meaning of life while watching this (the answer is great sex, good food, laughing with friends, shoes and cats) but you wi

I loved Easy A. It is so post-Obama. It talked about gay stigma and how it is not okay; condoms and how they are okay ( teachers even give them out ); about the silliness of the right wing religious agenda. It teaches that being unique, “different”, individualistic is great. I liked not only the youth in the film but also the adults who are portrayed as less than perfect role models but not as cartoons either. Adults are people too- imagine. It was funny, sharp, fast moving, full of bright

I went to my first play of my season’s tickets at Tarragon Theatre last night. What a great start. The clockmaker was so well acted and written that the 90 minutes, no intermission, went by in a minute( excuse the pun). I was riveted to see what was going to happen next. This is not a simple linear story but is a surreal series of vignettes that build not so much a story but a sense about the complexity of human relations and our relationship to the time and space around us. I understood th

..and more eyes covered in fear. I saw more tears during the last hay fever season. Why can’t they make great scary movies like The Exorcist anymore? I loved Paranormal Activities until I found out it was a hoax. Hate when that happens but it was still better than this clunker. Stay away for fear of dying of boredom. Back in civilization, Dame Velveeta Peron

Dear Readers,Still out in the wilds of Kenora.  No further wild life spotted.  Painted toenails blue to pass the time in desperation, I watched "Flags of Our Fathers" by Clint Eastwood.  Compared to "Saving Private Ryan" this is a gem at least there is some semblance of reality to it.  I also like the fact that Eastwood did not sugarcoat the racism against the "Indian" in the film he also was honest about the willingness of the Americans to use any emotional  (triggers