FILM REVIEW: Take This Waltz

by Eli Glasner Posted: June 29, 2012 1:00 AM Last Updated: July 4, 2012 5:04 PM

Categories: Movies

Tags: Michelle Williams, Sarah Polley, Seth Rogen, summer, Take This Waltz

A hazy, shimmering love letter to Toronto in the summer, Sarah Polley's second feature follows a young married women who is tempted by her neighbour. Ambitious, colourful and a little indulgent, Take This Waltz is saved by Polley's keen eye for those personal and potent micro moments that define us, says Eli Glasner.
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FILM REVIEW: Magic Mike

by Eli Glasner Posted: June 29, 2012 1:00 AM Last Updated: June 29, 2012 9:27 AM

Categories: Movies

Tags: Channing Tatum, dance, hey now, Matthew McConaughey, Steven Soderbergh, stripping

From Steven Soderbergh, a director who's decided he only wants to make "fun" movies, comes Magic Mike - a film Eli Glasner calls the Scarface of male stripper films. Titillating? For sure. But Magic Mike is also a surprisingly caustic look at the lives of exotic dancers chasing the American Dream.
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Muse joins Olympics song canon

by Susan Noakes Posted: June 27, 2012 5:23 PM Last Updated: June 29, 2012 10:38 AM

Categories: Music

Tags: Muse, Olympics, Survival, theme songs

Britain has chosen a rock anthem by Muse as its official Olympics 2012 theme song. The tune Survival joins the dubious canon of songs commissioned for the Games. The Olympic mantra of higher, faster, stronger tends to sound like egotistical pomposity in musical form, while the typical "Believe-the-dream" pop ballads that are composed often turn out to be forgettable musical offerings. Susan Noakes takes a quick look back at Olympic tunes.
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Nora Ephron: a laugh at life's curveballs

by Deana Sumanac Posted: June 27, 2012 2:56 PM Last Updated: June 27, 2012 3:59 PM

Categories: Celebrities

Tags: author, director, Nora Ephron, screenwriter, When Harry met Sally


Few writers had Nora Ephron's lightness of touch when handling life's Big Things: love, loss of love, motherhood, aging, death. Deana Sumanac remembers her interview with Ephron and the sense of humour Ephron brought to the most serious of subjects.
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The cure for Game of Thrones withdrawal

by Sian Jones Posted: June 22, 2012 3:27 PM Last Updated: June 22, 2012 4:21 PM

Categories: Television

Tags: Game of Thrones, HBO Canada, Season 2, TV


Sian Jones admits she's been a citizen of Westeros since discovering Game of Thrones in its first season. Last summer, the garden became a weirwood as she neglected all to delve into George R.R. Martin's world. But now, Season Two is over and there are no more books to read. What's an addict to do?
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FILM REVIEW: Brave

by Eli Glasner Posted: June 22, 2012 1:00 AM Last Updated: June 22, 2012 1:15 PM

Categories: Movies

Tags: Billy Connolly, Brave, Emma Thompson, Kelly Macdonald, Pixar

Brave is many things: A mythic fable, a Scottish comedy as subtle as a Billy Connolly monologue and a movie about princess who needs no rescuing. There's a lot to admire in the new animated movie from Pixar, but the uneven and sometimes scary story will be stumbling block for younger viewers, says Eli Glasner.
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Rockstar Hotel bangs to '80s beat in Toronto

by Laura Thompson Posted: June 18, 2012 3:31 PM Last Updated: June 18, 2012 5:37 PM

Categories: Movies, Music

Tags: '80s, concert, music, Rock of Ages, Rockstar Hotel, Ryan Malcolm, Toronto

A so-called Rockstar Hotel arose in Toronto on Saturday, smack dab in the middle of a music-filled weekend. Promising "unabashed dirty rock 'n' roll fun," the well-attended homage to the '80s turned out to be a Rock of Ages launch event that brought the film's soundtrack to life, though it's a shame about the movie itself.
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FILM REVIEW: Rock of Ages

by Eli Glasner Posted: June 15, 2012 1:00 AM Last Updated: June 14, 2012 6:15 PM

Categories: Movies

Tags: 80s, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough, Malin Akerman, musical, Paul Giamatti, rock, Rock of Ages, Russell Brand, Tom Cruise


Rock of Ages takes one of the most creative periods in recent music history and substitutes style for soul. More about hair style than heavy metal, the movie features an energetic Tom Cruise as rock phenom Stacee Jaxx, but he's surrounded by fresh-faced newbies who can't hold a candle to the excess of the '80s.
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Dallas returns to high expectations from viewers

by Jessica Wong Posted: June 12, 2012 12:22 PM Last Updated: June 13, 2012 9:51 AM

Categories: Television

Tags: Dallas, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, revamp, soap, tv

Dallas, the iconic, ostentatious and addictive evening soap that occupies some of my earliest memories of television-watching, is returning. Remakes are a risk and, in the case of Dallas, nothing will satisfy TV viewers but soapy melodrama, killer plot, fabulous clothes and some genuine cads.
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Bonnaroo: a musical education

by Laura Thompson Posted: June 11, 2012 1:04 PM Last Updated: June 12, 2012 11:13 AM

Categories: Live Performance, Music

Tags: art and music, beach boys, bon iver, Bonnaroo Festival, kenny rogers, ludacris, santigold, skrillex

Surviving sweltering heat and rain storms alike, dusty crowds as well as friends gone M.I.A., Laura Thompson concludes that attending the Bonnaroo festival gives one an invaluable musical education in just a few days. She outlines personal highlights from the latter end of the fest and thoughts about her experience in Manchester, Tenn.
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