At first glance, a movie like Spring Breakers might seem like pure exploitation cinema. And it is. The story of three trouble-making girls and one religious do-gooder friend and their spring break adventures features gratuitous nudity, graphic sex, bad morals, drug use and gun filled brutal violence. It also happens to be an enthralling drama, an exciting crime story, and has moments of clever laugh out loud comedy. The casting of some Disney teen idol actresses gets beyond the publicity gaining gimmick and shows off the all four of the quartet have some actual acting chops. And if the exploits of girls in the midst of summer fun criminality wasn't enough for you, James Franco also is on hand to steal the show as a charismatic wrapping drug kingpin by the name of alien. I dare say that it might even stand shoulder to shoulder with other similar genre motion pictures the like of Trainspotting and Reservoir Dogs.

Spring Breakers screens at the Mayfair tonight at 9:15pm with follow-up shows the next four evenings.

There's a spoiler-iffic reveal so great in Angel & Faith #22 that it reminded me of the good ole' days of commercial break cliff-hangers that held me in such entertained rapt attention back when Angel was a teevee series. I actually gasped in surprise. Much like when Angel gained a spin-off show from Buffy, I still am a fan of both, but Angel & Faith has been a better comic right from the first issues debut. Writer Christos Gage has done a fine job at the helm of the series under the creative supervision of mastermind and executive producer Joss Whedon, along with some great artwork from break-out talent Rebekah Isaacs. We're never going to get more live-action adventures featuring the vampire with a soul, thankfully we have comic books to fill the vampireless void.

The only thing I like more than a good western story is a good weird western story (like Bubba Ho-Tep...or something featuring dinosaurs or ghosts...or maybe dinosaur ghosts). All Star Western # 20 features the books usual bounty hunter star Jonah Hex in a team-up adventure with lost in time partially amnesiac super-hero Booster Gold. Long time Jonah Hex scribes deliver another entertaining western tale, this one with a sci fi twist, and continue to produce maybe the best comic from DC's New 52.

I have not sen The Rep as of yet (subtitled: A Documentary about Independent, Repertory, Cinemas), but I have to say that it is by far one of the catchiest movie posters I've sen in a very long time. I am looking forward to this new Canadian doc, even though I have a feeling that it will have a lot of footage of closed down movie theatres and that that will make me sad.

The Rep makes its Ottawa Premiere at the Mayfair on Wednesday May 29th at 9:15pm and Thursday May 30th at 9:30pm. It may end up as a bit of a sorrowful tale, but you can take pride that you will be both supporting an indie movie while in an indie theatre by watching it with us.

I am the perfect age to have been a die hard Nirvana fan, the band's breakthrough album was released while I was in high school. I was on hand for the rock n roll revolution that the Seattle band instigated, the copy-cat expensive fashion rip-off's, the Weird Al cover, the movie Singles, and everything else that spun out from the grungy, dimly lit,lyrically garbled high school gym set music video. I remember standing at the bus stop and being hit with the information that Kurt Cobain had committed suicide.

Luckily, the end of Nirvana was not the end of drummer Dave Grohl. He proved do have even more musical skills than that of a drummer when his Foo Fighters album was released, which although under the guise of a band was performed 100% by Grohl. Over the years, on top of putting together a number of Foo albums with an actual band backing him, he also filled up his schedule playing with bands the like of Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D, and participating in the music side of the pre-fame Beatles film Backbeat. He can also can be spotted cameo style in an episode of The X-Files or the most recent Muppet movie.

His latest project in a seemingly always packed schedule is taking up directorial reigns for the movie Sound City. The documentary focuses on a very special sound board from a gone extinct Californian recording studio that had everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to (of course) Nirvana record on it. The doc covers both rock n roll history that has surrounded the device, and explores the evolution of the technology and changes to music production (very akin to film production and presentation that has effected the Mayfair over the past couple years). And of course it is filled with a whole bunch of amazing music...the highlight being a reunion of the surviving members of Nirvana with none other than Paul McCartney filling in on vocals.

Sound City has a couple more screenings at the Mayfair, tonight (Monday May 27th) at 9:30pm and Tuesday May 28th at 9:15pm

No time to blog! The glorious day is finally here! If you call me I won't pick up the phone. If my doorbell rings I will not get up off the couch to answer it. We live in an age of miracle and wonder. Time to marathon through as many episodes of Arrested Development season four as possible before the rest of life gets in the way. Cue the theme song and some Ron Howard narration!

The more I listen to Doug Benson do his Bane impersonation on Doug Loves Movies, the more I realize that I think the whole Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is just a mess. Glass half full, at least the horrible vocal choice made by Tom Hardy (who I otherwise think is an amazing actor) has lead to Doug Benson movie geek hilarity and the excellent movie quote game - Bane or Lincoln. A game in which you try to deduce whether a line of dialog is from a super villain or a U.S. president is shockingly difficult. Well, if I have similar feelings about Man of Steel, at least it will likely lead to some good material for the DLM podcast.

Christine is my favourite kind of horror movie. It doesn't over-explain, it doesn't reveal the secret origins of the monster, it doesn't bother with scientific realism in its storytelling. What we have here is a simple story about an evil car. In other hands that might've turned out rather silly, but from the Stephen King book and under John Carpenter's direction it packages into a very entertaining modern horror classic. It's on of those strange examples of a villain-centric tales where you find yourself cheering for the bad guy. Weirder still in this case since that character happens to be a car.

I hadn't seen the movie for a very long time. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only time that I've seen it was on VHS in all of it's ingloriously low visual quality and chopped up pan-and-scan sub-par presentation style. So, to see it now in glorious re-mastered DCP style, with a crisp colourful image and sharp quality sound was just great. Christine with her bright red paint job and shiny chrome attachments (I'm not a car guy...I can't give you specifics) looked glorious, and the soundtrack of classic rock and roll was perfectly crisp and clear. I know that a number of traditionalists lament the extinction of film, but presentations like this one make me confident that the digital future is just fine.

Christine rolls onto the Mayfair screen tonight (Friday May 24th at 11:30pm) and Sunday May 26th at 8:30pm.

This upcoming Saturday night (May 25th) marks the 2013 home opener for the Rideau Valley Roller Girls. Canada's number one home team, the RVRG Slaughter Daughters take on the KDG Disloyalists from Kingston. Then the RVRG Riot Squad battle home town rivals CCDD Dolly Rogers.

Advance tickets are $12, or $15 at the door...for more information check out the Rideau Valley Roller Girls site. It is the only sport that matters.

This slipped by me, but DC Comics has recently come to their senses and returned Power Girl to her original costume. Well, sort of...it has all those New 52 lines all over the place, but it's close enough. Much nicer than the costume that she was put into since the universe re-booted. Now, if the writing in the World's Finest comic would improve as well, I just might go back to checking out the adventures of one of my favourite characters. Until then I'll just go back and read the Justice League comics and Amanda Conner solo-book issues. I promise that I like the character for more than just the revealing costume. Put her in pants and a shirt without a big hole cut out of it and I would still think she was cool. I swear.

Tomorrow night the Rideau Valley Roller Girls present what is sure to be a modern day Canadian cult classic, The Burlesque Assassins! This retro 1950's era piece of cinematic action and adventure features beautiful and deadly heroes vs the evils of cold war communism. It is playing for one night only, and I guarantee that it will be more fun than any playoff hockey game that might be going on at the exact same time. Plus, the theatre will be filled with actual burlesque and derby girls.

The Burlesque Assassins screens tomorrow (Wednesday May 22) at 8:45pm at the Mayfair.

Not a single minute of Star Trek Into Darkness passed where I was not overwhelmingly entertained. For this and the previous Star Trek film from JJ and company, there seems to be a bit of negativity coming from some that they are not real Star Trek movies. If by not real the pessimistic Trekkies mean that they don't like movies that are filled with a well crafted scripts, excellent performances, and a ton of comedic moments, dramatic tension and thrilling adventure...then I am ok with this Star Trek incarnation that some strangely consider fake.

Shockingly and frustratingly, there still seems to be a lot of people who do not understand that JJ Trek is an alternate universe to previous the Star Trek set of teevee shows and movies. They do not negate or replace or erase what has come before, a Next Generation era that Leonard Nimoy's Spock traveled from in the previous film is still clicking along in the alternate side of the sci-fi universe to these cinematic tales. Believe me, I love Shatner's Captain Kirk, quite a few of the previous films, Deep Space Nine, and a whole bunch of things about Star Trek that has come before. Bu, I do not fear storytelling change, and I definitely won't disregard the achievements of these new movies just because they might seem like re-make's at first glance.

I dare say that there might not be a more worthwhile and fun to watch Hollywood movie released this year. I am very much looking forward to Star Wars Episode VII.

Th good news is that the season finale of Doctor Who was spectacular. I was surprised by twists and turns, I laughed, I was scared for the characters, I got choked up, and the cliffhanger final moment blew my mind. I don't know how anyone could possibly want anything more in an hour of entertainment. The bad news is that now we have to wait until the far off time of November for the 50th Anniversary pay-off. If I could hop into a TARDIS to get there sooner I surely would.

I have now seen the complete trilogy of U.S. presidential historical films released in 2012: Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, Lincoln, and now Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I'm not sure which one is my favourite. One has zombies, one has vampires, one has Daniel Day Lewis. Tough call. Though I will say that despite the cg vampire monster faces, a horror movie trend which I've never been very fond of, Vampire Hunter was surprisingly not horrible. That's a backhanded compliment at best, but I was expecting terrible and was rewarded with pretty good. I wonder what Abraham Lincoln part IV will be about?

Sometimes I think the best way to see a movie that is actually pretty good, is to have first heard that the movie was really bad. Entering into a cinematic experience after having read a whole bunch of negative reviews makes a good movie somehow seem great. I had a hell of a time finding a critic to quote while writing about Paris-Manhattan for Mayfair purposes. It has rather poor numbers on both the Rotten Tomatoes and imdb. So, when I saw the film and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, I was quite confused as to why it didn't receive a more favourable response from the critical masses.

Paris-Manhattan is the feature directorial debut from Sophie Lellouche and stars Alice Taglioni. It's a lovely French romantic comedy about a young woman obsessed with the films and philosophy of Woody Allen.She has a giant Woody Allen poster up on her apartment wall, and she even hears his advice giving voice via audio snippets from some of his classic works. All she wishes for is to be swooped up in a comical intelligent romantic entanglement straight out films the like of Annie Hall or Manhattan.

Any time that I see a movie like this that I am impressed with that the critics aren't, I get genuinely confused as to what more they could have possibly have wanted from this nice lil' tale. It's like when I find out that someone doesn't like Goonies or Army of Darkness or The Big Lebowski. I usually stand firm in my belief that movies are subjective...but in certain cases I must admit that I am a hypocrite if you disagree with me, and I would just have to tell you that you are wrong. If your spirits aren't lifted by the time the credits are rolling, especially after a great climactic pay-off, you might want to re-examine your state in life and try to cheer up.

Paris-Manhattan, well worth your time (especially since it clocks in at a speedy 77 minutes), screens at the Mayfair tonight at 9:00pm, May 18 at 8:30pm, and May 21 - 23 at 7:00pm.

If I were anywhere near Moncton this weekend (specifically on Saturday May 18), I would be attending the first annual East Coast Comic Expo, which I learned about while chatting with Nick Bradshaw last weekend at the Ottawa Comiccon. This good ole' fashioned 1 day comic book convention features special guests such as Nick (Wolverine & the X-Men), Andy Belanger (Swamp Thing), Becky Cloonan (Batman) and more.

Doors at the soon to be closed down Beaver Curling Club open at 10am, and the first 200 people through the door get a very limited edition print from Nick. There will be activities for the kids, role-playing games, costume contests, and even Iron Man himself will be in attendance! I will hazard a guess that there is absolutely nothing more awesome going on in Moncton that would be more fun than going to the East Coast Comic Expo.

I was depressed and saddened and effected way too much then I logically should have been by the death of a fictional character when writer Grant Morrison recently killed off Batman's sidekick and Bruce Wayne's son Damian Wayne (aka - Robin IV). It's a compliment to the medium of comic books and its storytelling power, and the skill of the writer, that I was put in such a state of mourning.

The good news is that the young characters death has caused some excellent plot-lines to domino in effect in the aftermath. The Batman & Robin book is rotating through gust stars for the time being. Last issue was Tim Drake / Red Robin (aka - Robin III), this month is Jason Todd / Red Hood (aka - Robin III), next month is Batgirl. Jason Todd has a particularly knowledgeable history that identifies him with this current chain of events, as he is not only a former Robin...he's a formerly deceased Robin. This issue starts as a reunion team-up, and culminates into a rather tense father / son style clash.

This issue also features more from surprise new character, Carrie Kelly, the Robin from The Dark Knight Returns alternate time-line. Some comic nerds seemed angry at her inclusion in the New 52, but I like to actually read a story-line before forming an opinion. I always keep in mind that some readers were likely angry when Hal Jordan was Green Lantern instead of Alan Scott, or Barry Allen was Flash instead of Jay Garrick. Remember that a comic book, when at it's best, always takes risks and throws out shocking turns at its readers and attempts to surprise with soap opera in a cape caliber plot-twists.

I continue to hope that all this is leading back to a Damian resurrection. These are all good dramatic tales in the Batman line of books, but I don't care, I'd rather have that lil' punk 10 year old Robin in a hoodie back. Who will take care of Bat-Cow?

I interviewed Nick Bradshaw over the weekend for the geek doc that we are in the midst of filming. I mentioned the list of folks being interviewed to some of the other subjects, and every time that Nick's name was mentioned the response was that he's the nicest guy. I can confirm that these statements are true. An Atlantic Canada resident, Nick has a connection to Ottawa via attending college here, and he was very glad to have a comic con excuse to return. If you are not familiar with Nick's resume, please check out his work on Army of Darkness, Danger Girl, and his current run on Wolverine & the X-Men.

Nick was kind enough to draw me a quick pensive Wolverine sketch as we chatted and filmed, and I always like to show off the sketches I manage to acquire. I love the tiny pointy Wolvie ears.

I got this complete set of Marvel toys, and a DC set that I didn't even know existed, all conveniently gathered and sold at a very reasonable price. I have learned a valuable lesson about collecting gumball machine toys. Instead of trying your luck via putting a coin into a machine and getting doubles...just wait and buy a complete set at a comic convention. Some see these type of things as a waste of money and collectors of dust. I see them as awesome and I remain impressed in myself that I don't delve into the depths of hoarder status and spend way more money on such things. I will reward myself by trying to track down the Thor and Captain America figures that I am missing from series 1.

Today I was in the front row of a packed auditorium of geeks (thank you media badge), all there to see, listen to and ask questions of Nathan Fillion. If you ever want to feel what an out-pouring of love and admiration feels like, be in a crowd at a comic con when Bruce Campbell or Joss Whedon or Nathan Fillion step out on that stage. Nathan Fillion knows how to play the game, he is an excellent public speaker, he's genuine and funny and it is very clear that he is quite appreciative of the place he is in.

He had fellow Canadian and Firefly co-star Jewel Staite join him on stage, he crashed her panel yesterday because Summer Glau lost her passport and couldn't be in attendance. They were great on stage together, evident that they are actual friends and not just putting on a routine to appease the fans in front of them. By the time the time was wrapping up, he spoke of how proud he was as a Canadian and to be a part of the Firefly legacy and how thankful he was for these fans. Then he got choked up and had to hold back the tears. This made his on-stage friend cry as well, and I'm pretty sure all the geeks in the crowd were equally moved as they burst into a round of applause.

Moments like this make me set aside any feelings of negativity I might have towards some of the greedy aspects around celebrity and conventions ($70 bucks for an autograph!?) and make me happy that we are all a part of this wonderful geeky world that has evolved around us.

Will Wheaton gave a really great geek pride speech too. What a turn of event his life has taken when you take into account that in the late 1980's many Trekkie's had quite the hate on for him. Now he is a king of the interwebs and blogs and various forms of gaming. The mindset is pretty much that the geek title isn't all about billion dollar movies as our identity. It's about doing what you love and follow dreams and think big and don't care about how people judge. If you get punched in the stomach by a bully who then rips up the comic you were reading, and then return the next day and read more comics, you are proudly a geek. Geeks are brave and follow dreams and love things in a true and un-ironic manner. If you war an Archie shirt because you love Archie, you are a geek. If you wear an Archie shirt because it is retro and you think it is stupid, you are a hipster. Big difference.

Yes, I got also choked up when Nathan Fillion did. To be fair, so did the opening scene of JJ Star Trek and various scenes in Scott Pilgrim. I am an emotional geek.

There's a lot of great stuff at the Ottawa Comic Con, but I think the most impressive home-made thing that I've seen are the looming army of Daleks. Not only do they look completely 100% perfect and seem as if they could have come straight from a Doctor Who set, they also roll around and interact with the crowd with spot-on loud and terrifying Dalek voice boxes. Whoever made these are worthy and talented geeks indeed. Please make me one. Whichever colour you would like to make for me is fine...I'm not picky

Before diving into the madness that is a weekend attending (and working on shooting a doc at) a comic con, I dropped the rat dog off at my mum's and went for lunch with my visiting from Montreal friend Kelly. There was a pony and an Elmo and a Count also in attendance, and good conversation and times were had by one and all. Kelly draws many cool things, you should check out Kelly Tindall Illustration to peruse his sketchbook blog and the comic strips Strangebeard and The Adventurers.

Ottawa Comiccon hits the capital this weekend. Last years event was a resounding success for all involved, so I'm very much looking forward to their second year out at presenting a big ole' geek fest in my home town.

Also of note, we're presenting two special late late show horror premieres at the Mayfair in association with the Ottawa Comiccon. On Friday May 11th at 11:30pm we're screening Blood for Irina, with director (and Fangoria magazine editor) Chris Alexander in attendance. On Saturday May 12th at 11:30pm we're screening Pinup Dolls on Ice with directors Geoff Klein and Melissa Mira in attendance.

I've acquired so many friends who are artists or merchants or attend a con for various other reasons, that I seem to spend most of my time chatting and catching up with them, with the occasional q&a panel and bit of shopping thrown into the mix. That's why I manage to get in on the free to these things now-a-days, either through Mayfair connections, or because a film I worked on is being screened, or as a guests +1, or this year because we are shooting a geek themed doc. I've paid my geek dues, I can't feel bad about not having to stand in line any more. See you at the con. I'll be the one trying to figure out how to steal the Batmobile.

Some of my friends and I are in the midst of shooting content for a geek themed documentary, a follow-up to last years roller derby doc that we made, Four-Wheeled Furies. We shot some footage last weekend for Free Comic Book Day, and tonight are going to Babylon Nightclub for the Wonder Geeks Activate presentation of Nerdgasm Burlesque. I promise that I will have only a directorial mind of a documentarian this-evening and not be distracted even in the slightest by any of the talent being showcased.

The great special effects master Ray Harryhausen died today. By happenstance, the Mayfair hosted a mini-festival of his work only two months ago. It was beyond glorious to see his monsters up on the big screen in all of their stop-motion animated glory.

I had the honour of meeting Mr. Harryhausen a few years back on one of my visits to the San Diego Comic Con. I got to tell him a story which I'm sure that he's heard an endless amount of times. My specific tale involved being introduced to his movies via weekend afternoons on TVO and PBS. I have distinct memories of watching his creations on the small screen (a small black & white screen at that) and being in a complete state of awe, having no idea at how such incredible creatures could be captured on film. If that wasn't enough, I also got to be in his presence while he did a live and one of a kind audio commentary on 20 Million Miles to Earth.

He was without a doubt one of the most important talents in the history of motion pictures who created all too rare true movie magic.

I needed a new podcast to fill the void left from my ten month long trek in catching up with the three hundred and fourty something episodes of The Nerdist. I have found that podcast in the form of Doug Loves Movies, the mash up of stand-up comedy and a movie nerd game show. I know two things, I would love for Doug to visit the Mayfair, and I think I could school most of his guests in the games that they partake in. I could destroy all challengers at the Leonard Maltin Game and ABC Deez Nuts and Build-A-Title til dawn. And I would even watch Catwoman or a Twilight movie if Doug was there to interrupt it.

All of us movie geeks were terribly saddened at the loss of Roger Ebert. He was a great voice for the art of motion pictures, wrote impressive books on the subject, and was of course the greatest film critic of all time. Best of all, unlike some people in his field, he really loved movies. He cared about movies and the people who make them...was a fan. When the news hit, I was a couple of chapters away from finishing his memoir, Life Itself, which I can't recommend highly enough.

Moments after the bad news hit, I e-mailed our head programmer at the Mayfair and suggested that w should really hold some form of tribute for Roger. The first thought was to screen Citizen Kane, the movie that Roger said would be playing in heaven if such a thing existed. Another idea was to screen Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the drive-in cult-classic that Roger wrote the screenplay for. Alas, neither of those films are available to us via film or digital means for us to present to our wonderful patrons.

We have a very worthwhile film-buff fallback option to honour Roger though, in the form of a quartet of movies which have been deemed great. We start things off this-afternoon at 3:45pm with Double Indemnity, followed by an encore screening tomorrow at 7:00pm. That is followed the next three Sunday/Monday's at the Mayfair with a trio of amazing classics: Sunset Boulevard, Cool Hand Luke, and Shane.

I only wish we could have held such a presentation of cinematic history with Roger in attendance to enjoy the movies along with us. The balcony will be open.

Happy Free Comic Book Day! Get out there and snatch up some free comics! God bless us everyone. (Cue the Charlie Brown Christmas music)

I'm not kidding...the day before Free Comic Book Day, I think I get almost excited as a lil kid on Christmas Eve awaiting for the arrival of Santa (or more specifically, gifts from Santa) the next morning. For those not in the know, Free Comic Book Day is the annual celebration of comic books where you can walk into a comic book store and walk out with specially published, and absolutely free comic books. The holiday (yes...I include it right up there with Christmas and Halloween and Thanksgiving) is in it's eleventh year, and it has become a much anticipated day for everyone who works in or loves the world of comic books. Tomorrow, Saturday May 4th, be sure to drop by a local comic bookstore and get yourself some comics to read. While you are there, take a browse around and see if there's anything else you might enjoy to purchase. Then go and read free comics! What is better then free comics? Nothing. That's what.

Watched the latest episode of the twenty-fourth season of The Simpsons. Simpsons is one of those pop culture franchises that has survived the teevee ratings battle-ground and been around for so long that it has gone from fighting the power to a planet-wide seemingly unstoppable phenomenon. At this point I have a feeling that Simpsons might just end up like Batman or Bugs Bunny and never go away.

Any time that something goes from indie cred to mainstream profitability, a portion of the audience backlashes, angry that was was theirs now belongs to the pop-culture consuming masses. Then there's the audience members who cry sell-out and jump to other now edgier shows that pop-up through the years like South Park or Family Guy or American Dad. I eventually got bored with the high-horse better-than-though attitude that South Park undertook, and Seth MacFarlane's good taste pushing style went a lil too over the top for my liking and pushed me away. Simpsons has gone through peaks and valleys over nearly two and a half decades of programming, but I keep tuning in and I keep wanting to come back for more.

A wise friend of mine pointed out that Simpsons is like pizza. Even when it's not so good, it's still something that you love that is familiar and good that brings you joy over and over again.

I appreciate the career that Nicole Kidman is undertaking, she could very easily stick to the mainstream for all of her acting choices, but it's clear that she has an interest in helping to tell more diverse stories. Sure, every once and a while she shows up in a Bewitched or Stepford Wives, but more often then not in her career it's clear that she's willing stay a bit out of the limelight of Hollywood safety. For evidence to her willingness to take some risks in her script choices, please see som of the more bizarre films in her filmography the likes of Dogville, Birth, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, or Rabbit Hole.

Next comes Stoker, for Nicole's latest out of the norm character choice, a strange family themed Hitchcock influenced gothic tale about life and death and the end of innocence. The film marks the English language debut of South Korean director Park Chan-wook, whose previous credits include acclaimed disturbing cult classics Oldboy and Thirst. It also of not that it is sadly one of the final producing efforts from the late great Tony Scott and his brother Ridley.

Nicole Kidman delivers another stellar performance, and in a few key scenes is so fierce that I actually found myself thinking, "Now that's some acting!"

Enjoy some top notch performances and a bunch of really creepy moments in Stoker, which screens at the Mayfair tonight at May 2nd at 9:15pm.