Watched the HBO film The Girl. It was ok, but I can't help but think it's just the Snakes on a Train version of a behind-the-scene's filmmaking biography, which will likely be told better in upcoming Hitchcock starring Anthony Hopkins (even though this one was about The Birds and the next one is about Psycho). Toby Jones plays Hitchcock in the tv movie, in the shadow of Anthony Hopkins portraying the icon just in time for Oscar season. Interesting since he played Truman Capote as well, in the shadow of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar winning performance of the same bio-pic role.

The real stand out though is Sienna Miller in her portrayal of Tippi Hedren, up and coming model turned actress and Hitchcock's mental punching bag. I was only familiar with her work in the Alfie remake, and gaining love and admiration from geeks for if not the GI Joe movie, at least for her Baroness poster from the movie. She does a great job as the only person gutsy enough to stand up to the director's insanity, and her film within a film moments are even more impressive if you are familiar with The Birds and Marnie.

The Girl is alright, but if looking for a truly memorable movie about Hitchcock, you're likely fine to wait for the next version.

If you are looking for a movie to watch in honour of the Halloween season, you can't get much better than a comic book inspired anthology from Tom Savini, Stephen King and George A Romero. If you were too tired to stay up for the late late show of the 1980's horror classic a couple of nights ago, you can catch the encore presentation of Creepshow tonight at 8:30pm at the Mayfair. It just may indeed be the most fun you'll ever have being scared.

Today and tomorrow at the Mayfair we're having a poster sale, where-at you can get your hands on hundreds (mayhaps even thousands) of movie posters. And then you can purchase them for a mere $7 dollars and then bring them home and put them up on your very own walls! Complete madness! There's a wide range of posters available, including amongst other offerings, the fabulous Best Worst Movie poster as displayed here. Doors open at 12:30pm, be sure to get their in a punctual manner if you want to snatch up the really good stuff.

The Mayfair's 80th birthday / the DCP projector fundraiser event continues this weekend with the selection for the best of the 1940's - Casablanca.

Casablana is one of those movies that I can just watch over and over again and never get tired of, made even better when viewed on a big screen in an 80 year old single screen theatre. At seventy years old the movie is still dramatic, exciting, filled with incredible acting, and what many forget about the film, immensely funny.

Catch one of the greatest films ever made, and multitask a kind charitable deed towards the Mayfair whilst doing so, tomorrow night at 6:30pm and Sunday October 21st at 3:00pm.

An amazing thing about a well made feature documentary (or any story) is that even if the subject is completely out of your wheel-house, you can still be completely enthralled by the film. Not that I'm opposed at all, but ballet is pretty far out of my normal entertainment place of interest. None-the-less, I thoroughly enjoyed First Position. Whether the story is about a spelling bee or a cake baking competition or ballet, I find doc's have the ability to mesmerize and keep you on the edge of your seat (and other such complementary cliches) more than any form of sporting event. So, if you are a fan of the NHL and have an empty places in your soul missing due to a lack of hockey watching, maybe you could go for a dose of ballet.

First Position screens for three nights at the Mayfair - Friday October 19th at 7pm, Sunday 21st at 6:30pm and Monday 22nd at 7pm.

Re-watched Batman: Year One, this time with audio commentary accompanying the viewing. The latest DTV film (which means direct to video...which doesn't quite fit as a title for these things anymore) is yet another great cartoon and story from the Warner Bros animation division. Even in this golden age of comic books being adapted into film and television entertainment, I think that DC's animation output has put most everything else to shame. My only wish with the series is that they were released theatrically first, seeing a movie like Year One on the big screen would be a great sight to see for comic geeks and cinema goers alike. Best of all, amongst other reasons that they are worth watching, in the DC animation world Batman doesn't sound like cookie monster and Green Lantern is played by Nathan Fillion. Doesn't that world sound like a better place?

Late to the game on viewing these of course, but finally watched the last two movies based on the final novel in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows. I am not what you might call a super-fan of the series, I've only read the first book and it didn't entice me enough to continue along with the series. With a few exceptions I'm just not into the swords and sorcery genre most of the time, I could hardly get through the Lord of the Rings even. I have seen all of the Harry Potter movies, but that is just thanks to free passes, friends who had the DVD's, and Mayfair screenings. There are holes and bits of non-worshipfulness in every geeks basket of obsessions, and Harry Potter is just outside of my wheel-house of interest.

None-the-less, I think that all of the films are well crafted and filled with an impressive cache of actors and a talented behind the scenes crew who have cobbled together an impressive eight decent movies in a row that the fan base seemed to adore. My issue with the films is that they seem to be for the fans without an interest in shaping them to be enjoyed as equally by someone who has never read the book.

Every single movie in the series just feels like it's missing giant pieces of important story, and even characters. I know this as a fact actually, having seen Craig Ferguson rant about it on his show. I understand that some of the books were pretty enormous, but that's not excuse to have a script cobbled together that leaves a portion of the audience feeling like they've just watched a movie with whole scenes missing from it. The Harry Potter movies always seem like their sprinting to catch up with their 2.5 hour running time, and in doing so they have to leave giant portions of their story left out.

Maybe in retrospect they realize it might have been a better idea to split up more of their movies into two parts the way they did with their finale. I can't help but look at Scott Pilgrim vs the World as a film that handled this predicament of a source material with too many pages to fit into two hours much more successfully. The six Scott Pilgrim comic books when combined tally in somewhere around a whopping 1100 pages. Yet, Edgar Wright and company managed to whittle that page count to an excellent and completely followable 2 hour movie. To be fair, it tanked at the box office and Harry Potter did not...so in this case I might fall under the umbrella of annoyed guy uselessly screaming into a thunderstorm.

Plus, it's not like any of my critiques matter in the aftermath of a film franchise that its fans gushed over, was nominated for and won a stack of awards, and made over seven billion dollars worldwide in box office ticket sales alone. Those witchcraft loving nerds were quite content with what was dished out to them I guess.

After a couple of months of sitting ignored on my book rack, I finally got around to reading Tara McPherson's third collection of her art into book form, Bunny in the Moon. I guess it would be more fair to say looked at than read, since the book is more picture than word themed.

She might be my favourite modern pop-artist, I never get tired of looking at her mesmerizing rock and roll poster style images of mysterious mythical and sci-fi women and creepy cute animals.

I really want to get a Tara McPherson tattoo, just don't know where I might squeeze one in. I might have to settle for an expensive print to put up on the wall.

I love Pixar. Have ever since I was a lil kid and saw a cartoon that they produced starring a couple lamps. Now remember that this was long before computer animation was commonplace and familiar to one and all, so at first I was genuinely confused for a moment and thought that it was stop-motion or some kind of lamp puppetry.

The animation company had an incredible run of films that were the impossible to achieve impressive combo of financially successful, critically acclaimed, award winning and well liked. Most movies are lucky to achieve one or two of those factors, but to achieve all four is a staggering cinematic accomplishment.

Then came Cars. Which I did not like. I didn't hate it, but something felt off. It got mixed reviews, still made a ton of money and won some awards. It was followed up by three much more impressive works in Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up...so I forgave Pixar and moved on. Cars 2 was another matter. It was the first Pixar film that truly felt like it was just done for the merchandising revenue. It made me sad.

Evidently it also made a lot of people at Pixar sad too, and the hundreds of millions of dollars that the film made didn't ease the crushed morale that they had taken a major misstep off of their usual high quality path. The result of the failure of Cars 2 may be the rousing success of Brave. It's a beautifully crafted fairy tale, with all elements of technology and storytelling amazingly meshing together the way a Pixar movie should. It also happens to feature a central princess character unlike any seen before in animation, one that not only leads the adventure, but one that does not pine after or need a prince on her arm to win the day. I have always put Pixar up on a pedestal above their computer animation competition, and Brave puts them back up in that rightful place.

I got to watch Brave this-afternoon in a packed with kids Mayfair Theatre on a gloomy, rainy afternoon and it was a perfect movie watching time. We even had a bow and arrow set to give away thanks to Mrs Tiggy Winkles, which I hope doesn't get the prize winning kid into too much trouble. It appropriately enough went to a lovely little girl who correctly answered the Pixar themed trivia question.

We have the film for two more nights at the Mayfair before it's hauled off and locked away in the mythical and movie fan dreaded Disney vaults forever. Or at least locked away until it's re-released in 4D bow-o-vision in ten years.

Brave - Wednesday October 17th and Thurs October 18th at 7:00pm.

It is Auntie Loo's Treats third birthday party today. One of the things that puts Ottawa on the map and makes it a great place to live are amazing indie businesses like this one. If you haven't experienced the cupcakes or nanaimo bars or whoopie pies or anything else made there, do yourself a favour and go. Today there will be the extra fun bonus of numerous special events: my friends from Rideau Valley Roller Girls will be on hand, raffles, bbq, free stuff, and of course various amazing addictive baked delicacies.

The last episode of Doctor Who before the break leading up to the annual Christmas episode was of course another piece of Brit science fiction television genius. As often happens when I watch Doctor Who, it was an emotional roller coaster of a viewing experience that left me in tears. Getting choked up is not a horribly rare happening whilst I watch the show, which is a compliment of course at how emotionally attached to the series I've become.

The following contains spoilers about The Angels Take Manhattan, but I can't imagine that anyone reading this blog is not up to date on Doctor Who. I'm sure that you, like me, put life on hold and drop everything as soon as a new episode of the series becomes available to watch. If your priories are messed up and you have not watched it yet, and for some reason are still reading this, do feel free to go away now.

Doctor Who is never afraid to switch things up, hence there being 11 different actors playing the same character in the past 50 years, and this latest episode marked the finale for a couple of beloved characters. I took the ending of the episode as bitter-sweet, a good-bye to Amy and Rory, but at least they get to live together happily ever after in NYC. Unbeknownst to me, not everyone took the ending as I did. Evidently most thought that it was a tragic ending the left Amy and Rory stuck living in a hotel room captured by the evil alien statue monsters for the rest of their days.

I think it was an interesting pop-culture experiment in what kind of person you are: glass half empty or glass half full...positive or negative. Well, today the BBC posted an addendum to the episode which sheds a bit more light on what happened to Amy and Rory. It's from the actual BBC, has Rory narration, hence I'm counting it as canon. And most importantly, it proves that I was right in my hopefulness and everyone else was wrong in their negativity. Please enjoy the attached video, and yes, it made me cry.

Bubba Ho-Tep celebrates it's 10th anniversary this year, which makes me feel old. If Bubba Ho-Tep is a decade old that means that Army of Darkness is even older than that, and I remember going to see the one in the theatre when it came out as well.

A movie from Don Coscarelli (director of other legendary genre films such as the quartet of Phantasm films) and Joe R Lansdale (an amazing award winning writer of a diverse batch of books, comics and scripts) is promising with those two factors alone before knowing anything about the plot or who's in it. If told that it's about two old guys in a retirement home who may or may not be Elvis and JFK and their battle with a Mummy who's stealing elderly souls, that makes the prospect of the film being great even more likely. If then told that B-movie King Bruce Campbell is playing Elvis and that legendary acclaimed actor Ossie Davis is playing JFK, well...pretty sure that there's no way that this movie can't be anything but awesome.

And the movie was awesome indeed. I fully admit that I'm a bit biased, like many a geek I grew up worshipping everything and anything that Bruce Campbell did. Bubba Ho-Tep is something more that your average low-budget monster movie though. It's not the kind of trash that should be relegated to cheap DVD bins of middle of the night cable tv. The movie has a great smart script, a couple of brilliant performances, and besides for all the humour and scare, it also has a lot of heart & soul.

Kick off the Halloween movie watching season and help us celebrate the 10th anniversary of this now cult-classic film with us at the Mayfair:

Bubba Ho-Tep - Friday October 12th - 11:30pm - One night only!

The plot of Iron Sky involves a group of bumbling space Nazi's not familiar with the state of the Earth in the near future of 2018, and the massive invasion they undertake after having lived on the moon since World War II. If you look at the posters, or have read up on the film and know that it had a budget of under $10 million, you might easily imagine up a pre-conceived notion of what kind of movie that this is. You would be right if you were thinking that this was low budget indie comedic science fiction. And that usually movies with those factors mixed in together aren't much better than horrible Snakes on a Train calibre knock off's that you find in the discount bins.

I thought that the movie would fall under the classification of so bad that it is good. Here was the surprising turn of events though, the movie isn't so bad that it's good... it's just plain old fashioned good. The film is still a curious beast though. It's not quite the serious / comedic take on a genre the style of something like Shaun of the Dead, but it also isn't a straight up sci-fi spoof the way Spaceballs was. It falls somewhere in the middle, there's gratuitous moments of our central hot Nazi woman losing her clothes, but there is also some very smart political jabs.

It also doesn't look like a movie that was made for under $10 million bucks. Yes, I hate thinking of $10 million dollars as "only"...but considering romantic comedies are made for five times that, it's quite impressive. The production design and imaginative special effects make the film look like a much more expensive undertaking.

If you enjoy B movies or sci-fi or a good laugh at the expense of those pesky Nazi's, do come out and see this impressive lil ambitious and weird movie at the Mayfair:

Iron Sky - Wednesday October 10th and Thursday the 11th at 9:15pm

A year in and the special event to celebrate the anniversary of re-booting the universe from DC Comics is a batch of Zero issues to cover their whole line of books.

For those not in the geeky know, a zero issue serves as a (theoretically) stand-alone story that tells the origin of a comic book character.

The biggest revelation from the event, the question on everyone's mind that has now been answered...yes, Robin has been ret-conned into a costume that has always been accompanied by pants! Considering the decades of teasing, bad press and criticism that the character has taken for his wardrobe choice, this is a long over-due update. Especially when one takes into account that Gotham City is much too cold of a city to not be wearing pants in in the fall and winter months, this is a welcome continuity change indeed. I applaud the decision for Robin to have a slightly more logical choice in attire for a vigilante crime-fighter...but I still think that Superman looks stupid without the red underwear/outerwear.

I am ever so thankful that my thanksgiving was just as awesome as this DC Comics cover to JSA #54. Well, it wasn't just like that cover...there were less super-hero's at my mum's house and I ate no turkey. Otherwise, it was just as lovely though. And as per holiday tradition dictates, I am so full of food that I think I may never have to consume food ever again. I hope your day was as equally filled with friends, family and overwhelming amounts of gluttony.

Spent the day with frequent collaborator and talented editor Jeremy Kennedy getting all the video finalized and in order that will play behind The Reverb Syndicate for the show at the Mayfair. Lots of weird, awesome, bizarre, cool stuff will be playing behind the boys on the big screen as they rock and roll.

The band is donating their time and talent for this extra special Digital Projector fundraiser event, tickets are regular Mayfair admission price of $6 for members / $10 for non-members. And yes, the event is indeed licensed for alcohol. Hope to see you all there for what will be an excellent and memorable night.

The Reverb Syndicate presents Mondo Mayfair - Saturday October 13th - Doors at 10:30pm

Shockingly enough, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a terrible movie. I wouldn't go so far as to say something like that it's so bad it makes the original Ghost Rider film look good. Both the original and sequel demonic comic book based motion pictures are just terrible.

You wouldn't know this based on any cinematic evidence in the last six or seven years, but once upon a time Nic Cage was a respected and acclaimed actor. Every actor has bad choices or films that didn't quite come together on their filmography, but Nic Cage has been on an impressively terrible marathon of late. If you start with National Treasure in 2004, which to be fair was a giant financial success, and look at his tack record from there it's amazing what he's accomplished in the quality of his movies.

Nic Cage has managed to star in a body of work that includes Wicker Man, Next, National Treasure 2, Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing, G-Force, Season of the Witch, Drive Angry, and Trespass...and that's just since 2006. Not only are they all bad movies, most of them didn't make any money either. And yet Nice Cage bravely soldiers on to the next awful script and the next pay-cheque.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was directed by the hack duo that go by the combined surname moniker of Neveldine & Taylor. They are a lot like Nic Cage in their directorial track-record, except that they have directed four movies, all of them pretty horrendous: a pair of Crank films, Gamer and this one. There is some hope that after a fourth film of equal merit, that maybe that they would just give up and move on to a different career that they might be a bit better at. I have a feeling that they will be back soon with another train-wreck. The funny thing is that Ghost Rider isn't exactly high-brow, sophisticated, complicated source material. It's a 1970's comic book about a stunt man on a motorbike who becomes a demon with a flaming skull who fights bad guys. Yet they still screw up something that awesome! Shameful.

Good news for me is that one of my best friend recently moved back to town. Bad news for me is that he is a friend with the same habit of watching movies that are knowingly awful. Then we enable each other, even though we know the pain that will follow, and go out of our way to watch bad movies. It is a horrible addiction. That means even though I know better, I will likely be back sooner or later with my thoughts on such high quality motion pictures as Battleship, Cool As Ice or Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies.

Admittedly, although I do genuinely enjoy all forms of cinema, my tastes do lean towards genres featuring super-hero's and zombies and spaceships. Even though complex special effects, dangerous exciting stunts, beautiful cinematography of epic surroundings, and an unforgettable orchestral score can all puzzle-piece together to help make a great motion picture, sometimes you don't need any of that. Sometimes the simplicity of sticking three impressively skilled actors in a room together is all of the movie magic that you need.

Hope Springs, from the Oscar winning director of The Devil Wears Prada, is nothing ground-breaking in terms of a cinematic history. There are no breakthroughs in technology used in the films production, I'm pretty sure that none of the actors had to research their roles in any form of method style, and it's unlikely that any-one had any Christian Bale calibre nervous breakdowns on set. Hope Springs is a nice, calm, memorable little character piece about a pair of characters who have been together for over three decades who visit a marriage councillor.

The films simplicity does not equate to it being unimpressive or unenjoyable by any means, just the opposite in fact. There are numerous moments between Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones that easily prove that they are deserved in praise of being two of the best actors on the planet. Steve Carrel's supporting role as the marriage councillor proves that unlike other comedian turned diverse actor's out there, he can actually adapt into different roles. He never breaks character, attempts to get a laugh, and never lets Steve Carrel peek through the character. Carell's skillful turn here again proves that he has some real diverse acting chops, the same can't be said for the likes others who attempt the same back-n-fourth career like a Jim Carrey.

Hope Spring's screens tonight at 7pm at the Mayfair, with follow-up screenings on the weekend and Tuesday, ending on Thursday the 11th. Even though there are no millionaires in flying robot armour or climactic battles against monsters or amazing spellbinding computer animation, it is shockingly enough none the less a very impressive motion picture.

There seems to be a trend of kids books that aren't actually kids books. Or books that might not seem appropriate for kids, but that many a kid would read and think are awesome. Go the Fuck to Sleep is a particularly hilarious example of this style of book, especially the audiobook version as read by none other than Samuel L Jackson. And under the same humorously strange literary sub-genre there is also, I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) from Stephen Colbert.

The latest not for kids book in the guise of a kids book to cross my path is Zombie Cat: The Tale of a Decomposing Kitty. A simple little tale of the zombie apocalypse, a cat who gets infected, and the owner who takes his beloved pet back into his home.

Zombie Cat is an enjoyable quick little enjoyable horrific geeky read, perfect for a Halloween night bedtime story as long as the kid being read to isn't too sissy or squeamish. I look forward to the audio-book, I think as read by Simon Pegg or Nick Frost would seem appropriate.

This news is a couple of weeks late, my only excuse is that time flies by when you are busy, and I am always busy. Always busy, always tired, always wishing that there were more hours in the day to watch movies and read comic books. Looking up at the shelf above the TV as I write stuff on the laptop and watch Conan, I can see an item on display that reminds me I neglected to write-up a post that I was meaning to.

The annual Kid Robot / Munny art gallery event put on by Lost Marbles awarded my girlfriend the bestest Munny ever made award for 2012. This may not have been the actual title of the award she received, it might have actually been Best Accessory, but this is my blog so that means that can be even less journalistically professional than the interweb normally is. You can offer to buy the vinyl toy art from her, but I don't think she is going to let it go. She might be able to take a commission to customize you a knit attired Munny for your very own though. Last year another of my bestest female friends was also awarded a grand prize from the powers-that-be from the Lost Marbles judging committee. I am surrounded by talented geeky ladies.

Tonight at 7:00pm at the Mayfair is your last chance to catch Beasts of the Southern Wild. It's one of the most impressive début films that I've ever seen, even more extraordinary when taking into consideration it's very independent nature, stage-play source material roots, low-budget and inexperienced non-Hollywood cast. It's filled with a distinctively different and new vision, an amazing memorable score, and has a fierce ground-breaking performance from the young girl who is central lead and voice of the film. Plus on top of all that gushing praise that I can give the film, there are also these really cool pig-monsters in the movie!

Yesterday I watched the latest Doctor Who episode, The Angels Take Manhattan. I don't want to say too much about it. I don't want to discuss the awesome bit on the building rooftop in New York in the opening scene, or the beloved character who shows up, or the heartbreaking yet romantic twist near the end of the show in fear of playing spoiler. I will say that the show made me cry. To be fair, if you lined up all the modern Doctor Who episodes and separated them into a pile of made me cry vs not cry, Doctor Who making me cry would have the bigger stack of episodes hands down. None-the-less it is my favourite television show and if you are not watching it you are a fool. There is nothing possibly better on tv that you should be spending your valuable time watching...and crying to.

Last night I saw this image in an article written about the highly anticipated and highly kept under wraps DC Comics series written by Grant Morrison titled Multiversity. There's not much we know except that it will likely feature Grant's frequent stable of all-star artist collaborator's, and that it's an alternate universe spanning eight issue mini-series.

New work from Grant Morrison always gets me excited, but seeing a page of Frank Quitely art featuring Blue Beetle almost made me cheer. And I'm not exaggerating or being facetious, if my girlfriend hadn't of been sleeping beside me, I would have cheered. For those not in the know, Blue Beetle was one of my favourite characters of all time, and he was unceremoniously killed in a not quite making sense chain-of-events in 2005.

Blue Beetle was a member of the Justice League of my youth, a team with a little more realism, a little more humour, but still filled with super-heroic action and adventure. The book in which he was killed was a lead-in to a big universe spanning cross-over event, the kind of things that DC Comics do once a year or so. The cover of the book showed a bunch of shocked characters in the background, with Batman holding a shadowed corpse in the foreground.

When I picked up my weekly stash of comics from the comic store, my friend / comic store clerk gave me a lil' paper bag, told me to open it after reading, and that everything would be ok. I went home and read the book in question immediately, and was happy to see that Blue Beetle happened to be the central character. I was in complete suspension of probable plot-line happenings. I knew someone was going to die, my favourite character was starring in a book where someone dies, and with every page I turned I got closer to someone dying. I was oblivious! Until Blue Beetle confronted the villain, and I realized that there weren't that many pages left, and then with a page-flip Blue Beetle had his head blown off.

I was actually upset, which is a testament to the power of comics books. A story told with pen and ink and colour and world balloons can actually put a geek into a tiny bit of mourning. Hence, my favourite character being alternate universally reborn as a character in a book written by my favourite writer has left me a bit excited. I would be more excited if it weren't a year away. Until then I will at least have this art to look at and think of better geeky days ahead. Days where my favourite character not only lives again, but is also being written by a writer that I worship.

The annual Ottawa Browncoats tradition of a Joss Whedon themed charity screening hits the Mayfair tomorrow afternoon starting at 12:30pm. Funds will be raised for the organizations iSisters and Equality Now, there will be auction items up for grabs, costumes, short films and all other sorts of fun and excitement for one and all. And of course, the centrepiece of the afternoon, a presentation of Joss Whedon's sci-fi western masterpiece Serenity. I love Joss Whedon, and Serenity, but there are a few moments in the film that make me so sad that I find it difficult to watch. I don't want to play spoiler on the off chance that someone is going to attend the event who hasn't seen it already, but let's just say that Joss is well known for not being afraid to knock off characters. That potential heartbreak aside, do be sure to come out to support some great charities, pick up some cool swag, and see a great movie. A great movie that makes me sad...but still great.

There's a lot I love about being involved with the Mayfair Theatre, but one of the best things is getting to screen indie movies that otherwise might not get onto the big screen and seen by an audience in the city. Via Facebook, I was reading about some film fest success and positive reviews that Tony Asimakopoulos was receiving thanks to his doc Fortunate Son. I know Tony from back in the day at Saw Video and various other film-making circles in Ottawa. I sent him a quick message saying that we should get a screening set up at the Mayfair, time flies by and now that screening is happening this weekend.

Fortunate Son is an unflinching doc about a sons troubled past, feuding parents, and the complicated trek that one takes in trying to get a life back on track. It's at times hilarious and at times heart-breaking, and the kind of immensely brave autobiographical film-making that I'd never have the guts to undertake myself.

Fortunate Son screens at the Mayfair on Saturday September 29th at 4:30pm, with an encore presentation on the 30th at 7:00pm.

If any documentary could ever fall under the truth is stranger than fiction category it must be Slaughter Nick for President. A down on his luck middle-aged actor discovers that a B-grade action adventure show that he starred on in the 1990's has become a cultural phenomena in Serbia. At home in Canada, he can't get enough work to allow himself to move out of his parents basement. Over there, he is a hero of golden god proportions. He and a small crew set out to meet up with a Serbian band who wrote a popular song about his character, and to investigate if online reports of his super-fame are indeed true.

Slaughter Nick for President is a surprising, funny and endearing Canadian doc that is sure to become a cult classic. Catch the Ottawa premiere tomorrow night at 9:00pm at the Mayfair, with follow-up screenings on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

A final delayed post about last week's Ottawa animation festival. On Sunday I attended a behind the scenes panel on the stop-motion animated movie Paranorman, featuring an interview and q&a with the film's writer and co-director Chris Butler.

I really loved the film, and am always interested in sitting in on rare events such as this. After the panel, I noticed that Chris was sitting and chatting with a bunch of animation students, signing autographs and also being kind enough to draw quick Norman sketches for the fans of the film.

This time I was smart enough to bring my sketchbook, and now I'm a proud owner of a Norman sketch as well. During his interview, Chris had discussed how much American films of the 80's like Goonies and E.T. influenced the film. I got to tell him all about the Mayfair, which he was very impressed with and thought sounded awesome. And I got to tell him that by wild coincidence we were showing a trailer for his film in front of Monster Squad that very night. Tat bit of information blew his mind a little bit, and he told me that Monster Squad was a favourite of his and a big Paranorman influence as well. I figured that that would be so, seeing as how Paranorman is about a loser American kid growing up amidst his love of monster stuff who ends up having run-ins with monsters, very similarly themed to Monster Squad.

I invited him to come and check out the film. Alas his travel plans back to the UK got in the way of enjoying some Monster Squad fun. I had been a bit upset about having to at the last minute cancel road-trip roller-derby plans in order to stay home and take care of some Mayfair fundraiser screening obligations. Things turned out well though, and ended up squeezing in lots of animation fest enjoyment around Mayfair screenings and preparations. My derby girls ended up winning their road-game, I got to help out my Mayfair partners, and I got to meet an animation legend in Ralph Bakshi and afilmmaker with a bright future ahead of him in Chris Butler. And I got to watch Monster Squad. A glass half full of a weekend indeed.

A delayed post for my animiation fest weekend. On Saturday continued what ended up being a heavily themed Ralph Bakshi few days by attending an interview / q&a event with the film-maker presented at the NAC theatre.

He makes for an interesting subject, and had many tales of fighting the animation powers-that-be in order to get his work done. He talked about his controversial career, his distinctive style, and managed to even take questions on his Spider-man and Mighty Mouse work.

I was kicking myself for not bringing my sketch-book in an attempt to get an autograph or maybe even a sketch from him. Other animation students, professionals and fans were smart enough to do so and snuck up and met him before and after the panel.

Luckily he had a table set up outside of the theatre where he had original pieces of animation art from his body of work for sale. One booth had books for sale, and I was going to buy a Bakshi coffee-table book to get autographed, but the original art was just too tempting. The colour animation cels were $195 bucks, which is expensive but I think relatively reasonable for a one of a kind piece of animation history. They also had pencil art for a fraction of that price for $95. My brain was quickly and easily convinced that that was a deal I could not pass up.

I knew if I didn't pick up something that a few days would pass and then I'd greatly regret it. I have never had the opportunity to meet Ralph Bakshi before, and very likely might not get the chance again. I got to have a bit of a conversation with Ralph, really nice guy, and he drew a quick little doodle on the page for me. A friend of mine thought that he ruined the picture, but I love it. Makes it even more one of a kind. Glad to get a true piece of cinematic animation history, even better that it's rather controversial in nature, to put up on my geekily decorated walls.

If you know the Mayfair Theatre, then you also know that we love zombie movies. We've screened everything from the grandfather of all modern zombie films with Night of the Living Dead, all the way up to this years indie Canadian offering with A Little Bit Zombie. We've also screened pretty much all undead themed movies in-between ranging from the speedy brains craving zombies of Return of the Living Dead, zombies vs sharks in the simply titled Zombies, and the fan-favourite Brit rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead.

Add to our similarly themed movie presentation check-list a Cuban produced entry to the zombie cinematic pantheon in Juan of the Dead. If you missed seeing the multiple award winning and Fangoria praised film Friday night, catch it tonight at the Mayfair at 9:20pm.

Tonight at 9:30pm Monster Squad is on at the Mayfair! I am so excited to get to partake in viewing one of my favourite movies of all time on our screen. When this movie was released I was pretty much the exact right age and the perfectly skewed geek target audience to think it was cinematic perfection. We hope others feel similar love for the film, because ticket sales equal more of an opportunity to so other wonderful cult classics. It is truly a geeky Mayfair dream come true to see a movie that I love almost as much as Goonies in my favourite theatre.

Tonight at 7:00pm the Mayfair presents the selection for best of the 1950's, The Bridge On The River Kwai. Not only can you come see one of the most acclaimed films of all time, you can also peruse our silent auction items, buy raffle tix to win a private screening at the theatre, or even buy yourself a Mayfair Theatre left-over seat for a mere $40 bucks. Of course, a big chunk of money that comes in tonight will go directly towards our our ongoing fundraiser to purchase a fancy new DCP digital projector. A classic film, a good fundraising deed, a chance to win stuff, AND Obi Wan Kenobi.

Today at the animation fest saw another Ralph Bakshi classic, Heavy Traffic. Like Coonskin, and most everything else that Bakshi worked on, it's filled with offensive events and unlikeable characters and arguably racist turns. As I said just yesterday, I am none-the-less a bit fascinated with his filmography. Not for everyone, but the same could be said for a lot of stuff in many art galleries and photography filled coffee table books. I\m quite thankful to have events like the animation fest that showcase rarely seen theatrical presentations such as Heavy Traffic. We need Ralph Bakshi's in the animation world, if not we might blink and all of a sudden have nothing but such high concept cinematic work as Care Bear movies.

One of my favourite traditions in my home-town is the Ottawa International Animation Festival that hits the city around this time every year. I've loved animation in all forms my whole life, and had even hoped to be an animator for a living at one point in time. That path never played out for me, but it hasn't hindered my love of the medium in the least. Managed to catch a pair of very different animated features today, one from the mid-seventies and one that hasn't been given it's wide-release just yet.

First up was a screening at the National Art Gallery, of one of Ralph Bakshi's controversial classics, Coonskin. An unannounced and unexpected bonus was that the director was there himself to introduce his film. Bakshi's work isn't for everyone to say the least, but there's something about his rough and crass cartoon / live-action mash-up's that I've always been very impressed by. I think it's greatly due to the fact that Bakshi managed to produce a body of distinctive and different than the norm. Especially that at the time cartoons involved such horrible offerings the like of Yogi's Space Race and The Great Grape Ape Show, that Bakshi managed to keep busy and produce popular work was quite impressive. Even if his work leaves you offended or isn't quite your thing, his importance in the world of animation can't be argued.

Then we went behind enemy lines to the Bytowne (I kid!) to see a cartoon from the complete opposite end of the spectrum in every way. Hotel Transylvania is a big budget CG animated film in the Addams Family style from a major studio starring Adam Sandler and a bunch of his friends. What made me interested in seeing the film was that it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, who's resume includes Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Grim & Evil, Samurai Jack, and the awesome original batch of Clone Wars cartoons. I pretty much love everything that he's ever worked on. He was also on hand to partake in a q&a after the screening. The most exciting thing he hinted at was that if this film goes well he very likely may get to do the much anticipated Samurai Jack feature film.

No matter what type of cartoon you may prefer, there's always something worthwhile to see at the fest. It's one of the many great things about Ottawa that I point to when jerks complain that there's nothing to do in this town. One of the biggest animation and most respected animation festivals in the world people! Go watch cartoons!

One Team. One Season. One Goal. Frisbee fanatics will invade the Mayfair tonight for the Ottawa premiere of Chasing Sarasota, a new doc about the quest for Ultimate sports success of the Portland Rhino. What's extra great and endeering about this indie doc is that director Matt Mastrantuono is road-tripping with the film from theatre to theatre across North America just like the film distribution of old. My favourite thing about a good sports film (like this one is) is that even if you have no connection or knowledge of the sport or team it is still enthralling. I have no idea about the world of Ultimate Frisbee, and yet by the films climax I was holding my breath, on the edge of my seat, and other good movie watching cliches.

Join what will likely be a full house of loyal athletic enthusiasts tonight at the Mayfair for a look inside the world of the sport and skill of Frisbee with Chasing Sarasota at 7:00pm.

Finished reading Writing Movies For Fun And Profit, written by Robert Ben Garant and Tom Lennon. This comedic screen-writing text book has Fun and And crossed out, and is subtitled: How we made a billion dollars at the box office and you can too.

I was a big fan of Garant and Lennon's work on Reno 911, and am familiar with Lennon thanks to frequent appearances on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I'm also familiar with their filmography, that they've written some very mainstream flops like Taxi and Herbie Fully Loaded, and some hits like the Night at the Museum films.

Their book is interesting because it works on various levels depending on what you are reading it for. If you have no interest in writing, it is a very funny look behind the scenes at the inanity that is Hollywood. If you are a movie buff, the book serves as a very interesting and honest look behind the scenes of film production. And finally, if you are an aspiring or employed writer, the book is actually a very valuable educational text book resource despite it's goofy comical appearance.

Writing Movies For Fun And Profit is a successful book on many levels. It's a very a humorous read, great if you are a the kind of geek who likes listening to audio commentaries, or a great tool if you are legitimately curious to learn some very valuable writing and business tips. Plus you get a lot of unbelievable stories which prove that exec's in Hollywood are all idiots and or a horrible peeople...and they make fun of Lindsay Lohan a lot.

As I said in my previous Superman movie themed post, the whole series is a tricky one for me to praise or antagonize. Superman III lacks Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, instead stars Richard Pryor as a computer hacker being pressured to assist a wannabe Lex Lutor in his aim for world domination. There's a distinct and noticeable lack of Lois Lane in the movie as well. Not sure what the exact story is, but supposedly either she didn't want to be around to the production didn't want her around. The result is she shows up for a couple minutes in the beginning, announces she's going on a trip, and shows up at the end. The movie also showcases a bizarre metaphysical junk-yard battle between evil Superman and Clark Kent. Upon seeing the scene again for the first time in a couple decades, I still can't quite figure out what it going on in that scene.

Superman IV means well in it's anti-nuclear weapon theme, but thanks to immense budget cuts and rushed production, is the biggest train-wreck of the series. It is also filled with the best and most enjoyable series of continuity errors and scenes that don't make any sense at all.

What both films do showcase successfully of course is the performance of Christopher Reeve. No matter how bad the franchise got, each film remains genuinely worthwhile to see if only for his Clark Kent / Superman portrayal.

Starting tonight at 7:00pm at the Mayfair we wrap up our tribute to Christopher Reeve's incarnation of the Man of Steel with the encore double-bill screening of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. These are not great films over-all, but without them there is no doubt that we would not be in the golden age of comic book cinema the we are in the midst of currently.

Montreal Comiccon Day 3: At a good comic con, every time you're doing something interesting you are missing out on something else interesting. I was torn today 'cause I was really interested in sitting in on an Archie Comics panel. I don't read Archie Comics religiously, but am fascinated at their continual pop-culture importance and their fearlessness at pushing comic book boundaries in what are essentially kids soap-opera books. Look at what they've managed with their recent addition to the Riverdale universe of Kevin. Right wing and censorship hopeful groups went after the company for introducing the character, they didn't back down but essentially told the cowardly closed minded associations that they didn't care what they thought and to go to hell (I'm paraphrasing). Their reward was overwhelming media and fan support, goodwill, and most importantly for the bottom line of a publishing company - high sales.

My Buffy worshipfulness won out though, and ended up going to check out James Marsters panel (aka - Spike). Followed that up with a Patrick Stewart panel. Both were well worth checking out. My biggest disappointment of the day was almost finally getting a hold of Riddler style Converse. Evidently geek feet commonly come in size 10, because they had every size but the one I needed. The best purchase I managed was a very fairly priced vintage Gonk droid toy, to match my tattoo.

Had some nice comic geek conversations throughout the day. We stashed our backpacks and stuff underneath Tom's artist alley table so we didn't have to carry it all around (Tom had fled for the day). Darwyn Cooke was away from his neighbouring table, but ended up in a lovely Alan Moore bashing conversation with his wife regarding the whole Before Watchmen stuff. She and I were on the same page that Alan Moore is a big cry-baby and should grow up.

Chatted with Adrian Alphona, who I had met in Toronto and was nice enough to draw me a Molly sketch then. I'm very glad to see him making a comic book artist comeback after having been away for a bit. Not only because he happened to draw Runaways, one of my favourite comics ever, but he's also a really nice guy. Got more artwork from friend Kelly Tindall, putting our apartment one step closer to being completely covered with his art and a full scale stalker shrine.

Made up for missing the Archie panel earlier in the day by getting to chat with Archie Comics writer/artist Dan Parent. All conversation points I would have had at the panel, I managed to discuss with a person on the actual Archie trenches. Picked up a really nice page of art from Dan, and he was kind enough to draw me a quick sketch of Jughead. So maybe I don't get to read Archie Comics as much as I would like, but now I have a nice drawing of the Riverdale gang to frame and put up on the wall. The comic book splash-page even has Kevin on it. Take that right wing militants!

Began a hectic day first full day at the Montreal Comiccon by hosting a selection of short films from Quebec City's Vitesse Lumiere Film Fest, followed by a batch of shorts from the Mayfair. The attendance was a lil' low when the screening started up, but the room filled up much more by the time all was said and done. We started at 11am, and I think that line-ups were much longer than many expected. When we walked in, I again commented that I am spoiled now thanks to friends and professional association the last few years, and I will never ever go to a con again that I have to stand in line for. I take great joy with what little power I have I am able to skip ahead of my brother and sister geeks and walk right into a con.

Attended a William Shatner panel, this is the third time I've been in his presence in three different cities, and each time he excelled in his own certain style of a skilled improved one man storytelling show. There are some overlapping tales thanks to unoriginal q&a questions, like those regarding Twilight Zone or Star Trek. Not that those familiar tales are uninteresting to hear when being told live by Shatner. He really shines and proves his skills at working a room when telling stories about growing up in the streets of Montreal or his passion for horses. Was hoping to also catch the Shatner / Patrick Stewart team-up panel, couldn't sneak our way into that one though.

The highlight of the day was getting to meet legendary comic book artist and writer Jim Starling. Amongst other creative accomplishments (Cosmic Odyssey, Dreadstar, Batman, Silver Surfer...), Jim created Thanos at Marvel Comics. Besides for being a great character, Thanos also happens to be the all time favourite character of a friend of mine. A friend who shamefully backed out of attending the con due to responsible and boring grown-up obligations. I informed Mr. Starlin that my friend would be very jealous that I got to meet him. He asked if I wanted to make my friend really jealous? I of course did. He took my sketchbook and proceeded to draw a nice lil' head-shot sketch of Thanos. Standing near-by at his own artist-alley table was Tom Fowler, who I've known since high school. He yelled over "Get him to put To John, then scratch it our and put To Josh". Jim Starlin did so, and it was awesome. John will indeed be upset by this chain of events, and it will bring me great joy. Because I am evil like Thanos.

Made the trek to Montreal via bus to partake in what I'm sure will be an action packed Montreal Comic Con whirlwind of a weekend. While on the way there we watched the latest Doctor Who piece episodic offering, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. As I have just mentioned, it was (1) a Doctor Who episode, and (B) called Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. So, it was indeed awesome.

As happens 93% of the time when one is making their way into Montreal via ground transportation, we got stuck in a def-con 4 level traffic jam. Everything bottle-necked on the highway into the city, from what I believe was a Fast & Furious calibre cop car surrounded expensive car smash up. It caused such a delay that alas we missed out on getting to the con in time for the Adam Baldwin panel (saw him in Ottawa though, so not the complete end of the world).

While walking towards the convention centre, I commented that I wasn't sure if the Friday night would have the costumed craziness yet. Moments after saying that I saw Rogue...followed by Deadpool, Wolverine, some Ghostbusters, and various Steampunk, anime and video game characters who I was not familiar with. After grabbing our badges (pro badges no less!) we had just enough time to get in some geek visiting before security kicked us all out. Got to swing by artist alley and check in with friends (geek name-dropping!) Kelly Tindall, Marco Rudy (he's draws Swamp Thing!), Tom Fowler (he has a new Hulk book!) and Kris Waddell and the gang at Mirror Comics.

I think this will be an excellent comic con of a weekend indeed. Updates to follow...after sleep.

Tomorrow night Moonrise Kingdom starts it's run with us at the Mayfair! If you do not like Wes Anderson, and aren't interested in Moonrise Kingdom, I'm pretty sure that contractually it means that you must have your Mayfair membership revoked.

An example of the kinds of fine programming that we'll be showcasing during the Mayfair presentation at Montreal Comic Con on Saturday the 15th at noon. Victor Perpetual, a fine Twilight Zone of a short, stars and is directed by Ottawa talent Ray Besharah.

Found out yesterday that my short film presentation on Saturday at noon at Montreal Comic Con of stuff that has played at the Mayfair will be up against a Power Ranger and Will Wheaton. Not only that, I'm also up against a comic book panel hosted by my talented friend Kelly Tindall (he drew that picture up there). How will geeks possibly pick between those four options!? Hopefully, the Power Ranger and Will Wheaton will cancel each other out in a mighty battle and I won't have to worry about them. Kelly and I are now rivals, I will destroy him.

Tomorrow night at 7:00pm is our final night of screening Coast Modern. The film has been hugely successful at drawing in patrons over it's run with us. If only there were more architecture themed Canadian produced documentaries out there for us to screen, we'd be packed every night with rabid architecture groupies and have none of these pesky digital projector fundraiser needs.

This-afternoon at the Mayfair we present the first two chapters in our Superman film fest. The 1970's/80's Superman series are a strange batch of movies for me to review and discuss. More than any other series, these films have moments that I think are brilliant smashed up against moments that I think are horrible in the same movie.

For example, that part in Superman II where he takes off his chest logo and throws it at the bad-guy. There was no mention of this super-ability before, none of it after, and even as a little kid that moment left me with a what-the-hell feeling of confusion. Then there's the part in the original where Lois recites a love-poem to Superman in her mind for what seems like about 15 minutes. Or lest we forget what I'm pretty sure is the worst ending in the history of motion pictures. That's right, I'm pretty sure that Superman has the worst ending to a good movie in the history of motion pictures. All of them! Ever!

Conversely, the combination of the brilliant performance of Christopher Reeve and the still not dated even a little bit flying special effects, the movie is filled with an overwhelming sense of comic book magic that makes you believe a man can fly. Superman has taken flack since the late 1930's for the suspension of disbelief needed to accept that no-one in Smallville or Metropolis might be fooled by the Clark Kent / Superman secret identity. There seemed to be a universal critique that a fedora and a pair of glasses wouldn't fool anybody that Clark spent his spare time in a red and blue caped costume repeatedly saving the world. Contrary to popular belief, after decades of the character being in existence in various mediums, Christopher Reeve stepped in and pulled off the impossible. He made the Christopher Reeve / Superman back-n-fourth completely and shockingly believable.

Catch Superman & Superman II at the Mayfair this-afternoon starting at 12:30pm. Failing that, you have a follow-up chance to see the Man of Steel Monday the 10th at 6pm. Despite their flaws they are a hugely important and enjoyable part of geek cinema history, and will leave you humming the John Williams score for days.

The Reverb Syndicate will be playing a show tonight at The Rainbow in the market in Ottawa. If you are in town and you don't go see the show you are a fool who clearly must not enjoy great music and awesome times.

Re-watched JJ Abrams sci-fi adventure Spielbergian kid tribute movie Super 8 for the first time since seeing it big screen style. Not only does the film hold up, I think that I even enjoyed it better upon repeat viewing. If JJ Abrams could somehow squeeze in working on every movie that is currently in production into his hectic schedule, Hollywood would definitely be putting out a much better and more consistant high quality level of product. The movies would just have a lot more lens flares.

Often prints for genre fan-favourites are simply and sadly too expensive to bring in to screen at the Mayfair due to small movie-watcher turn outs for cult classics. Solution? Advance tickets!

At the Mayfair we currently have tickets available for John Carpenter's alien invasion 80's masterpiece, They Live. The 1988 Roddy Piper starring cult classic is not only awesome, it is one of the most highly requested movies that we get asked to screen. For a mere $10 bucks you can place your approving vote that this is the kind of programming you want to see at the Mayfair more often.

All we need to do is sell 75 tickets by September 15th to make this happen. The early nature of ticket cut-off date is due to information needed to puzzle-piece together the monthly schedules in an advanced nature of course. We have a 325 seat capacity, so selling 75 tickets seems like an easy goal for our lovely geeky patrons to help attain.

I was inspired to give this system of ticket sales an attempt upon listening to a Nerdist podcast wherein ticket sales was a topic of conversation. The stand-up comedian guest had had quite a bit of success selling tickets in smaller venues and markets in this manner. If this works, I hope (as do many others I'm sure) that this can be a monthly and regular tradition.

75 tickets by September 15th = 35mm print of They Live at the Mayfair.
Countdown has begun...Go buy tickets!

In my younger years, I loved the films of Adam Sandler. I was (and am) a big fan of his cinematic work the likes of Billy Madison, Happy Gilmour and Wedding Singer. I did not like or particularly care about the work of Woody Allen.

Then, perhaps a sign of reaching maturity or growing up a lil' (both of which seem unlikely), my tastes completely flip flopped. I watched a whole bunch of Woody's films thanks to a Bravo film fest...and I think around the same time Adam Sandler stopped caring about even trying a lil' bit at working on good product (with a few dramatic exceptions). Now every time I see a new Adam Sandler trailer I just shake my head at how horrible the thing looks. Every time I see a new Woody Allen trailer I get excited about the new release.

As you may guess from the title, this is another Woody film not set in his beloved New York City. It is a good old fashioned Woody Allen universe of a tale in every other way though, it features a great cast and is the first film he's acted in in quite a while. A Roman traffic guard introduces us into the cinematic world of the film, which involves an anthology of four tales of characters in the city of Rome. Three of the tales are fantastical in nature: an architect visits the apartment he lived in years ago and then strangely becomes an imaginary friend to the current resident, a normal man magically wakes up a celebrity, and an opera director discovers an incredible talent who can only perform in the shower. The fourth story has some comical twists and turns but doesn't quite hit fantastical levels, it features a young couple on their honeymoon who fall into a bizarre misadventure.

Some seemed to not like the weird levels that the film reached throughout, but if you're familiar with Woody's filmography, weird is nothing that out of place in one of his scripts. It also has the blessing and the curse of being the follow-up effort to come out after the Oscar winning and hugely acclaimed Midnight in Paris. It also mayhaps took some deserved criticism that it seemed like at least two of the stories just seemed like unfinished feature length scripts that were given up on and shoved into an anthology.

I'm late in the game at mentioning that we're playing To Rome With Love at the Mayfair, but especially if you are a Woody Allen fan, I highly recommend you catch our final night of screening the film tonight at 9:15pm.

Watched the fifth season finale of Breaking Bad. Actually, TV is weird now-a-days, the next block of eight shows will come out in 2013, but they might be counted as season five as well. Whether the episode is a mid-season break or a season finale, that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of TV-ness. What is important is that Breaking Bad may end up being the greatest TV series ever produced. Even shows that I worship have off-episodes, or at least a scene or two that don't pan out...not Breaking Bad. Every moment and character and plot-point so far has been completely enthralling, and it may be the all time king of cliffhangers.

There are eight episodes left (I think?), and I am fairly confident that I will watch each one with bated breath on the edge of my couch, cursing the end credit title-card as it hits the screen after some incredibly written and performed chain-of-events. People wasting their time with dance competitions and exploitative reality shows should be ashamed of themselves.

I had a free pass to go see a preview screening of ParaNorman a couple weeks ago, but when we tried to go see it there was come kinda' technical difficulty and the screening was cancelled. It was a sad afternoon indeed, but we did get run-of-engagement free passes and as an added bonus some of those wrist-bands that transform into different shapes (in this case, ParaNorman characters).

While in Toronto last night, and too worn out to do anything too productive, we braved downtown fake Times Square to go to the former AMC Cinema to make use of said free passes. It was a really weird theatre. The box office was on the main floor, then you had to go up roughly 85 different escalators, through a food court, then some more escalators, then past some Raiders of the Lost Ark calibre obstacles, before finally reaching a place that plays movies. Then we got into the theatre...and went up more escalators! We must have been about 300 stories above ground level at least.

I go to multiplexes on the free every so often, and I know hate is a strong word, but I kinda' hate watching movies in them. In the theatre where we viewed our movie, you could hear music and the sounds of various action movie explosions leaking in through the walls. I would have been more upset if I had actually paid I guess.

Luckily the movie was excellent, which helped distract from the sub-par theatrical exhibition surroundings. I love classical animation, and there have been a number of cg masterpieces the past few years (from Pixar), but there is something magical when it comes to stop-motion animation. It's an animated special effect, but there's a fantastical realism that the other cartoon art-forms don't quite reach.

ParaNorman's world is reminiscent of the 1980's geek cult classics the likes of Goonies and Monster Squad, with a bit more of a Tim Burton / Vincent Price of a twist. It's a horror movie that's safe for kids, with really great characters and proof that an original script can get through every once and a while in this age that gets constant criticism for it's lack of motion picture originality.

I liked the movie after having seen it, and the more I think about it the more I realize that I actually really loved it. I think it's going to become a Halloween viewing tradition for me right up there with Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie Brown.

On the short list of things to do on this visit to Toronto, besides for attending weddings and meeting new niece type babies, I really really wanted to catch the X-Men exhibit that TIFF is in the midst of hosting. The event is a tribute to Canadian make-up fx master Gordon Smith. Smith's resume includes Platoon, Dead Ringers, Near Dark, and of course the focus of this exhibit: X-Men and X2.

If in Toronto or visiting the city, you have until the end of March to check it out. If you are anything like me, you will spend most of your time while at the exhibit trying to figure out if you can smash the display case and make it past security with Wolverine's claws. If you need help doing so, let me know, I will gladly help out on that heist.

Last night saw a guy in a very professional looking Cyclops costume walking the streets of Toronto. It's not Halloween and there was no evidence for any reason to be dressed as an X-Man. I can only assume that it was a real Cyclops from an alternate universe stuck here thanks to some form of super villain caused time-space anomaly...or a crazy person. Either way, it was weird. Memorable...but weird.