Category Archives: Canadian

10 Great Movies for Canadian Film Day

April 28, 2015 flawintheiris

It's National Canadian Film Day. This is a great initiative to encourage more people to watch and value Canadian movies. It's important, especially now when our politicians are looking to disembowel the industries that create these stories. If we want them, we have to fight for them. We have to shout about how they're important…Read More

Cast No Shadow: Q-and-A with director Christian Sparkes

April 1, 2015 flawintheiris

Opening Friday, April 3, in Halifax is Cast No Shadow, an already award-winning feature from Newfoundland. It took a host of gongs at the Atlantic Film Festival: Best Atlantic Film, Best Director (Christian Sparkes), Best Screenplay (Joel Thomas Hynes), Best Actress (Mary-Colin Chisholm), Best Actor (Percy Hynes White), and Best Cinematography (Scott McLellan). It was…Read More

In Cinemas. March 20, 2015 — ’71, The Gunman, Relative Happiness, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Do You Believe?

March 20, 2015 flawintheiris

'71 A bit of a surprise to me how much I really liked this movie, a surprise because it arrives with so little buzz. It's set during the Troubles in Belfast, about a British soldier who gets lost in the Irish Catholic side of town after a street riot. Not to be missed, you'll find…Read More

After The Ball review — A fashionable modern fairytale

February 27, 2015 flawintheiris

Directed by Sean Garrity, written by Kate Melville and Jason Sherman | Crave, Hoopla Having experienced the heavy-handed full-Disney-press of the new live-action Cinderella trailer lately, it was a real pleasure to discover this Montreal-shot picture that, with a delightfully light touch, uses the overly familiar story as a springboard to tell the tale of…Read More

John Dunsworth in Santa Quest — Doing, believing, and the meaning of Santa Claus

December 18, 2014 flawintheiris

John Dunsworth has gone to the trouble of printing out photos of himself as Jim Lahey—the character he plays on Trailer Park Boys—passed out and sprawling, with a large stain on the crotch of his familiar tan pants. Next to him, shirtless as always, is Pat Roach as Randy. These photos are for autograph-seekers. But…Read More

Q and A with Kung Fu Elliot writer/directors Matthew Bauckman and Jaret Belliveau

November 25, 2014 flawintheiris

Screening at the Outlier Film Festival on Saturday is Kung Fu Elliot, an amazing new film—and Best Documentary Feature-winner at Slamdance—about a guy named Elliot "White Lightning" Scott. He's a Halifax-based filmmaker and actor who aspires to be Canada's answer to Chuck Norris, a genuine cinematic action hero. He says he's won martial arts competitions. He says he…Read More

Atlantic Film Festival 2014: Day Eight—Cronenberg, The Guest, and that’s a wrap!

September 19, 2014 flawintheiris

Is it possible it's all over so soon? Must be since I was sitting in a packed house for David Cronenberg's Maps To The Stars on Thursday night, and a week ago I was at the Cohn for the disappointing opener, Elephant Song. As a closer, the Cronenberg film was typically discomfiting from the Canadian provocateur—even…Read More

Atlantic Film Festival 2014: Day Five—Shorts, Turkey, Paris, and the 1984 Miners’ Strike

September 16, 2014 flawintheiris

I'm a little confused by the many programs of Atlantic Shorts. In previous editions of the AFF, the Atlantic Shorts were separated from the general Shorts and the International Shorts, all of which were separated from the Animation programs. Seems like they've all been gathered together as Atlantic Shorts, despite the fact that, say, Father,…Read More

Atlantic Film Festival 2014: Day Four—Doc Zoning (Part Deux)

September 15, 2014 flawintheiris

Every year I digest the AFF guide with an eye to what Atlantic films might be anointed with awards. I even ask around to see what other folks are saying. I never get it right. For example, the big winner this year was Cast No Shadow, a feature from Newfoundland written by Joel Thomas Hynes,…Read More

Atlantic Film Festival 2014: Day Three—Doc Zoning (Part One)

September 14, 2014 flawintheiris

"He's got the steeliest, green, nasty eyes," says former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams of our long-running Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to a packed house on Saturday evening in Park Lane Cinema 4. "And he's a cold fish... I never liked him and I never will." That remark raised an enormous ovation. Williams clearly…Read More