Month: September 2013
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Interview: Jeremy Gardner (The Battery)
I have been a fan of all things ‘zombie’ since I was a kid, but lately, I’m starting to feel that zombie fatigue that comes with my favourite thing being mined for all sorts of nefarious purposes; it used to be a weird thing that weird kids like me watched in their basement at night,…
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The Hunt
Co-Founder of Dogme 95, Danish director of The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg’s recent film The Hunt (Jagten) is a dazzling and intense study of public persecution, but also of the nature of friendship and trust. It asks the question — how well do we really know each other? How far are we willing to go on…
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Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – The Pilot Episode
I’m not usually a fan of the big networks, especially ABC, because they take everything to the lowest common denominator in order to try and please the highest number of viewers, which ultimately, always ends up homogenizing the material. But like it or lump it, ABC was the network that just aired the pilot for…
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The Field – Cupid’s Head
Loops. Is it right to credit those who find, engineer, or create them? Is ‘create’ even the right term for what one does when a small section of a digital audio file is circled back into itself like an aural Ouruboros? Don’t we sometimes find ourselves listening to those who deconstruct and reconstruct preexisting, borrowed…
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Revisiting ‘River’s Edge’
I hadn’t seen the 1986 film River’s Edge in years, so when it came on one of the HD channels, I sat down to give it another viewing. It was famously a comment on disaffected suburban youth, but a lot has happened since the mid-80s. I wanted to know — would the film still stand…
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Interview: Eamon McGrath
Eamon McGrath has torn a well-worn path in the road the last few years, putting out raw, honest music, and touring the hell out of it. His latest album is being released in three digital installments over the next nine months, which will culminate in a full-album vinyl release at the end. It’s aimed at…
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Ty Segall – Sleeper
How many listens does it take to truly appreciate an album? The brilliance of records like ‘Let it Bleed,’ ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On,’ and ‘Funeral’ is immediately apparent. One listen and you’re floored. Other albums, however, while just as great, don’t shine as bright initially. You’ve gotta play those records over and over to…
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Hell Baby
October is almost upon us, the month of all things horrifying: family gatherings (gasp!), harvest (shudder!), pumpkin spice everything (cringe!). Fall is truly a bone-chilling time and it can be difficult to face this season without turning to horror films as an escape. Just when the transformed foliage reminds us of the cycle of birth…
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Resolution (Spoiler Free)
In Resolution, Mike is a man with a sense of responsibility, so he goes to a dilapidated cabin to find his friend Chris, who has been spending his days firing off guns and smoking crack like it’s as awesome as…well, crack. Mike chains Chris up, in hopes that he can get his old friend to…
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The Friedkin Connection
For a director with a more than 40-year career in film, there are only a handful of William Friedkin movies that have really captured my attention: staples like The French Connection and The Exorcist, and maybe some lesser-known movies like Sorcerer, Cruising, and To Live and Die in LA. In fact, there’s a lot of…