Category Archives: Articles

Jane Alexander in Halifax

For fans of a particular era of  American movies and TV, Jane Alexander is a giant. She's won two Primetime Emmys, a Tony, and has been nominated for eight Emmys (most recently for her work in the series Severance) and an Oscar four times. Her films include her breakout, The Great White Hope (1970) starring…Read More

Drew Goddard on The Cabin In The Woods

Here's a look back at another interview I was fortunate to do with a Hollywood heavyweight, screenwriter and director Drew Goddard, for The Coast. Since I spoke to him in 2012 he's adapted The Martian and the wildly successful (and still in cinemas) Project Hail Mary. He created Daredevil for Netflix (now over on Marvel TV…Read More

Elliot Page on Inception

I've spoken with Elliot Page a couple times over the years — once socially through a mutual friend when we ran into each other at the much missed Paperchase Cafe on Blowers Street, once professionally when I called him in Los Angeles to talk about his role in Christopher Nolan's Inception. The phone convo was…Read More

Rutger Hauer on Gottingen Street

In May 2010, The Coast published my feature story about Hobo With A Shotgun, one of the biggest homegrown movies to blast out of Dartmouth and leave a big hole in Halifax. Hobo was directed by Jason Eisener, Written by John Davies, and produced by Rob Cotterill. It stars Rutger Hauer in the title role,…Read More

The time I spoke with Eugene Levy

Let me take you back to May 2012. One of Canada's greatest comic actors, Eugene Levy, was in town to receive an honorary doctorate at Dalhousie University. Somehow I got the opportunity to speak with him for The Coast, who knows the ways of it. That part is lost in time. (I know Stephen Cooke…Read More

The time I spoke with John Sayles

I've been having a bit of a nostalgic week. A good friend visited who I met when I worked in film and TV production in Toronto almost 25 years ago — he's still in production, and is soon expecting to start work with one of Canada's greatest filmmakers. I'm thrilled for him. It made me…Read More

Remembering Nathan Cohen

If I reference another critic in this blog, it's usually Roger Ebert. That's because he was the most well-known and influential film critic in my lifetime. I loved that he had an encyclopedic knowledge of film but you never felt in his writing that he was being academic about it or, worse, showing off. He…Read More

The Story of Summerhood

Back in 2008, Nova Scotia writer-director Jacob Medjuck launched a promising career with a delightful summer camp comedy called Summerhood, starring Joe Flaherty, Christopher McDonald, and featuring the voice of John Cusack and a passel of talented child actors. It made quite a splash here at the Atlantic Film Festival and went on to be…Read More

The 3% Canadian box office problem

When I'm not seeing and writing about movies here on FITI, or helping program at Carbon Arc Cinema in Halifax, I'm producing radio for the CBC here in Nova Scotia. I've got the every-fortnight review column, The Knox Office, and occasionally will do an item about the local or broader film business. My colleagues in…Read More