Danny Trejo speaks softly and carries a big f**king knife in "Machete."

(Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, 2010)

September 3, 2010

by Joel Crary

“Machete” debuted as one of the joke trailers preceding the 2007 Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino “Grindhouse” double feature, one of the last decade’s bravest pop cinema experiments. Purposefully pocked with the grain found on old exploitation fare and slapped with an X rating, the trailer meant to communicate two things: first, that Rodriguez and many other film fans hold a great affection for those old pieces of crap, and second, that gruff character actor Danny Trejo finally deserves some centre-stage recognition for the hours he’s put in as the resident crazy henchman in countless action features. (Read the rest of this review…)

A crowd watches a presentation of "The NeverEnding Story" in East Vancouver's McSpadden Park.

August 31, 2010

by Joel Crary

“The NeverEnding Story” may have been the first film I saw in a cinema. Who remembers? The memory stamp includes moving through an aisle of seats at the old Centre twin theatre on George Street in Peterborough. Was it the first time I’d seen it, or had the Centre been re-running it for parents desperate to keep their kids occupied? The Centre closed its doors the year after the film’s release, so it’s entirely probable that I sat in a chair on a night during the film’s first run, taking in the images and stereo sound, ingesting tiny mittfuls of popcorn, elated at seeing a luck dragon soar across the giant screen, and shrinking in my seat at the terrifying sight of a bloodthirsty monster. (Read the rest of this article…)

A former lover of renowned soprano Edmea Tetua projects her image onto a movie screen in "And the Ship Sails On."

(Federico Fellini, 1983)

August 28, 2010

by Joel Crary

“And the Ship Sails On” opens with a striking monochromatic sequence with little more than a running camera for a soundtrack. When renowned soprano Edmea Tetua’s ashes are escorted on board by the classic Fellini procession, colour is gradually withdrawn from behind the veil, encouraging the craft to embark. Life begins in the presence of death just as the present is yanked from the film techniques of the past, and the indicative whir of the camera insists upon its own corporeality as the boat pitches along on its artificial ocean. Overseeing the obliteration of the fourth wall is genial and self-effacing journalist Orlando (Freddie Jones), who in a humourous moment of meta-staging is distracted from his introductions by a waiter’s request that he move to another part of the room. (Read the rest of this review…)

Six friends spend the twilight of their adolescence over fries and coffee in "Diner."

(Barry Levinson, 1982)

August 25, 2010

by Joel Crary

There’s a scene in “Diner” that strikes me every time with its odd vibrancy: Boogie (Mickey Rourke) and Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) meet a young woman on horseback alongside a country road. The men exhibit the kind of energy that only two young guys with nothing on their plates could possibly muster after spending the entire night out, talking nonsense with each other in a greasy spoon. The woman tells them her name is Jane Chisholm, “as in the Chisholm trail,” and then gallops away. Boogie and Fenwick are left alone in the middle of nowhere without the movement of the car to distract them, and Bacon utters the film’s most important bit of dialogue: “You ever get the feeling there’s something going on that we don’t know about?” (Read the rest of this review…)

Spring break is broken up by a school of swimsuit-stripping fish in "Piranha 3D."

(Alexandre Aja, 2010)

August 23, 2010

by Joel Crary

“Piranha 3D” kicks off with a shots of an old man in a rowboat, fetching beers out of a lake and fishing until his face is revealed and, surprise, it’s Richard Dreyfuss. The Internet Movie Database credits Dreyfuss in the role of Matt Hooper, either the same Matt Hooper Dreyfuss played 35 years ago in “Jaws” or a close facsimile. He’s at ground zero when an underwater fissure opens underneath the lake and thousands of prehistoric piranha are unleashed on a resort town. Just when he thought it was safe. (Read the rest of this review…)