Warm Bodies: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - To tell you the truth, I was not at all interested in seeing Warm Bodies when I first heard the announcement of it. Their pitch was all wrong. Judging by an early poster, they seemed to be going for a Twilight follow-up, this time instead of faux-Vampires being the romantic leads, it would be zombies. The whole idea was pretty disgusting to me. Figure that, a story aimed at teens involving necrophilia  didn't seem like a good idea to me. My opinion changed when I saw the trailer and heard a little bit more of the concept. First off, the trailer gave me a crucial piece of information that makes the idea a lot more palatable; Warm Bodies is a comedy. The next Twlight pitch was a big mistake, both because it is misleading and also because it is off putting. I don't see Twlight fans enjoying this one as much. It's too smart. If anything, it should have been marketed to those who like zombie movies, or at least zombie comedies such as Shawn of the Dead and Fido.

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To Rome with Love: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - After the success of last year's Midnight in Paris, it appeared that Woody Allen was back in the game as a writer and director. Generally speaking though, Allen has always been able to make the films he wanted and as often as he desired, but his vision hasn't always aligned with an understanding embrace from the critics. Personally, I've grown to really enjoy his style of film, which is often dialogue heavy and character driven, more so than situation or action driven. He has an amusing sense of humour that is invested into each of his films, which is light and far from overwhelming. Yet with his characters, though I enjoy them, they never seem to resemble true life very closely, but look more like archetypes that we are all familiar with in film. To Rome with Love looks and feels to be a hallmark Woody Allen picture with all of this to be found within.

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Often films have rather simplistic two word or single word titles, but once in awhile, a title comes so out of the blue, it brings with it a sense of intrigue. This is very much the case for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Being from Canada, I'm more than familiar with how well suited salmon are to Canadian climate, thus the idea of salmon fishing in the Yemen seems ludicrous. Honestly, I have very little interest in fishing in large part because I'm terrible at it and tend to catch sea cucumbers and whatever else people have dumped into the ocean (read: I don't catch much organic life), but beginning with a promising cast of Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen gave me reason to believe that there may be something worth examining in this film.

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Jeff, Who Lives At Home: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - I think we live in a time where people don't know what to do with themselves. And yeah, that includes me. I think we have a difficult time finding fulfilment because we are given messages that we can achieve anything we want if we put our minds to it, but the truth is that most of us just carry on trying to survive and as such, we find ourselves unsatisfied by the daily grind. This dissatisfaction is both a good and bad thing. It's a good thing in that it pushes some of us to better ourselves and achieve our goals, but it can also be a bad thing in that it can take the joy out of the more average things in people's lives that can also be rewarding. Jeff, Who Lives At Home is a film that explores this from a number of points of view.

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Servitude: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Although it’s true that I work in a movie theatre and can see movies anytime I want for free, it’s a rare day when I can get out and do so. Firstly, it’s quite a time commitment for someone who works fulltime, and secondly, coming to a theatre to see a movie….well, it feels like going to work. It can be frustrating to be behind on movies though, as I’m expected to be quite educated on what’s new and hot in cinema-land. So when an opportunity arose for me to sit in on a screening for an upcoming movie, I leapt at the chance. I purposely did not read up on the movie so that I would have no preconceived notions as to what it was about. I didn’t even know if it was a comedy or a drama. I recommend going about this approach sometimes, as then you can judge the film fairly and more objectively. So I sat back and took in the newest representation of Canadian cinema that is Servitude.

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