Chasing Inspiration with a Stick
For the fourth time I went to the Vancouver International Film Festival. This year I saw more than 20 films and here’s a selection of them.
Continue reading “Awesome Friday: 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival Roundup”
I was invited to attend the 2019 Just for Laughs Film Festival this year and I watched and reviewed four of them.
I’ve been flirting with blogging again. Here are a couple of recent reviews.
I kinda love the Oscars. It’s popular to write it off as a bunch of rich people given each other gold statues but it’s also a celebration of film and it’s a great night to highlight many of the people who most of us don’t think about when it comes to filmmaking: screenwriters, editors, cinematographers, sound designers, and so on.
Continue reading “Awesome Friday: 90th Academy Awards Coverage”
Apple has done some great marketing in the past but this new ad might be my favourite ad for anything since… well since the last time Spike Jonze directed an ad.
Continue reading “Spike Jonze directed a new ad for Apple and it’s great”
Every year regardless of how much or little writing or podcasting I do (and it’s admittedly much less these days) I still like to highlight my favourite films of the year. 2017 is no different. I have a dozen favourites this year and if you would like to check them out you can do so over at Awesome Friday!
Another year, another list of favourites. 2017 has been a … turbulent year in the real world but a stellar one for film. You may have noticed that I haven’t been writing much lately, VIFF coverage aside, but I have been gong to the movies. As of this writing I watched 323 movies in 2017, 70 of which were 2017 releases. Not too shabby considering that I only go to one festival.
Link: http://awesomefriday.ca/2018/01/matts-favourite-dozen-films-of-2017/
I went to the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival! This is my third year covering the festival and this year I reviewed 15 movies for Awesome Friday! Here is a selection of those reviews.
Continue reading “Awesome Friday: 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival Roundup”
It feels like we’re at a crossroads. Emboldened by the election of a racists president int he United States, and the events at Charlottesville a bunch of racists decided to organize a rally in Vancouver City Hall. It didn’t take long for a counter protest to be organized. Then came the question: Do I go?
Continue reading “I went to an anti-racist rally and all I got was this renewed sense of hope”
Wonder Woman, the latest entry in the DCEU is out and, much to my relief, it’s really good. Here’s the review I wrote for Awesome Friday!
‘Wonder Woman’ Review: DC made a good movie and I am SO HAPPY
It’s been a long four years since Man of Steel premiered and started the new DCEU shared universe. It has been a universe of muted colours and asshole heroes, and one that has been hard to be optimistic about future entries in, but I am happy to report that Wonder Woman is a great movie and that you should definitely see it.
It’s not a movie without issues mind you, and it has a lot of the issues that even the best superhero origin stories do. The big CGI laden battle at the end is kinda blah. There’s a twist you might see coming from a mile away that leads up to said battle. There’s a huge lack of closure for some characters. None of this stuff is deal breaking though, and honestly I feel kinda nitpicky pointing it out. There are some things about good superhero movies that I can accept at this point, and a boring final battle is one of them because the big final battle with an ill-defined bad guy is ok when you have a hero who is incredibly well-defined and nearly perfectly portrayed.
Walt Mossberg writing his final column:
This is my last weekly column for The Verge and Recode — the last weekly column I plan to write anywhere. I’ve been doing these almost every week since 1991, starting at the Wall Street Journal, and during that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know the makers of the tech revolution, and to ruminate — and sometimes to fulminate — about their creations.
Now, as I prepare to retire at the end of that very long and world-changing stretch, it seems appropriate to ponder the sweep of consumer technology in that period, and what we can expect next.
Walt Mossberg is a titan in the field of tech journalism. Chances are you if you read about tech, you’ve read his work. This reflection on his career, and look forward, is a lovely last column to cap off his career.