Pick of the Day: The Cove

They call him Flipper! Flipper! Faster than lightning.
No-one you see, is smarter than he.

I don't know who wrote the classic theme song (YouTube) for the popular '60s TV show set in south Florida and starring a crime-fighting dolphin, but I have to call bullshit on him/her. While it's true that Flipper, with the help of the game warden and his two sons Sandy and Bud, did regularly manage to outwit crooks on the show; and while it's also true that dolphins do rank pretty high on the intelligence scale for animals; they're nowhere near as smart as humans.

No animal is. We boast by far the biggest intellects of any lifeform on Earth. Yet we still do stuff like what this documentary (which screens tonight at the RPL at 7 p.m.) condemns. Go fucking figure. Here's the trailer (YouTube)

And if you're in the mood for a doublebill, Food, Inc. plays at 9 p.m. (YouTube)

31 Days of Horror: An American Werewolf In London

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Just re-released on DVD, this is the best werewolf movie ever made. The story is simple --a couple of Americans (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) are hitchhiking across Britain one dark and stormy night. They stumble across a inn called the Slaughtered Lamb that happens to have a pentagram drawn on its wall. The local residents are very hostile when Naughton and Dunne ask about it.

As the pair leave the inn to go out into the night, they're warned: "Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors. Beware the moon, lads." Naturally they walk on the moors. They ignore the moon.

Then something attacks, leaving one mangled and dead and the other alive but cursed.

The movie is probably John Landis' best film. After this he tried to outdo Steven Spielberg on The Twilight Zone: The Movie resulting in the deaths of several people working on the film. He really hasn't made anything worthwhile since. [Editor's note: Shane and readers, check out Landis' short The Deer Woman, made for the Masters of Horror anthology series. It's a lot of fun.]

An American Werewolf In London has its funny moments but unlike Landis' previous movies--National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers, which were both comedies--this is a capital-H horror movie. And believe me, it's quite horrifying at times. Just the sound of the werewolf makes my hair stand on end. The other highlight of this film is its special effects. It features the first full body werewolf transformation on screen. In this day and age of CGI effects--it still doesn't come close to how amazing the transformation scenes looks in this film. The first time those terrible yellow eyes snap open is just chilling.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

This week in direct to DVD releases featured another in the long line of Warner Brothers original animated movies based on the DC Comic book line. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is based on the first 6 issues of the once popular Superman/Batman comic. The comic was written by Jeph Loeb - a screenwriter (of such classic movies like Commando and Teen Wolf) turned comic book writer. He gained some fame for writing a couple of popular Batman stories - The Long Halloween and Hush. And now the circle is complete. One of his mediocre comic stories is now an animated movie. The really interesting thing about this release is the return of voice actor Kevin Conroy as Batman. He was the voice of Batman in the innovative Batman Animated Series from the 1990's.



Batman had been in a variety of cartoons throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's but it wasn't until 1992 that they finally got it right. With a unique visual style from artist Bruce Timm and a team of excellent writers lead by Paul Dini, the series was darker than most cartoons out there and was leaps and bounds better than the live action movies that Warner was releasing into theatres at the time (cough Batman Forever, Batman and Robin cough). It was such an innovative series that several characters created for the cartoon had made their way into the comics and a permanent part of Batman's lore like Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn. Warner soon brought in a variety of superhero and various spin offs - Superman, Justice League, etc. And then Warner replaced the series with a dumbed down kid friendly version called The Batman in 2004.

Pick of the Day: Jazz & Juice

The title of this Regina Symphony Orchestra event at the Hotel Sask tonight shouldn't be taken literally. Yes, if you decide to attend (tix cost $50), you will be treated to some fine jazz courtesy of the Nigel Taylor Trio (Taylor, by the way, plays trumpet for the RSO. He's also a member of the agri-funk band the Nancy Ray-Guns).

But the "Juice" part of the title conjures up images of impeccably dressed servers at the hotel circulating through the audience with silver trays of McCain's drinking boxes. That most assuredly will not happen. Instead, patrons will be feted with fine wines and gourmet foods while they're being entertained by Taylor and his colleagues.

Whoever thought up the title for this shindig did a reasonably good job. "Juice" as slang for alcohol does evoke thoughts of the Prohibition era when the production and sale of booze was outlawed, and jazz was at its peak in terms of popularity. Indeed, the 1920s were known as the Jazz Age.

As a salute to the era, here's the trailer for The Roaring Twenties -- a classic 1939 gangster flick starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. (YouTube)

31 Days of Horror: Braindead

Well with Zombieland opening to great reviews and a zombie walk for the food bank going on, I guess today is a zombie kind of day.

Braindead from 1992 is also known in the America's as Dead Alive. This is the third film from a certain New Zealander director that some how managed to go on to win an Oscar for a certain epic trilogy in 2004.

It's not the scariest zombie movie out but it's most certainly the goriest and one of the funniest. The movie used over 300 liters of fake movie blood and at times pumped out five gallons of blood per second on screen it's one of my favorites of the horror / comedy genre.

After an entertaining opening about an explorer who captures a rare Sumatran Rat-Monkey (whose bite is extremely deadly) the film moves to Wellington, New Zealand and introduces us to Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme) whose mother (Elizabeth Moody) is an overbearing monster. He sneaks out one day to flirt with the local shopkeeper's sexy daughter, Paquita (Diana Peñalver) at the local zoo. Mother follows them and is bitten by the very same Sumatran Rat-Monkey that we see at the start of the film. She starts to get very sick and develops a sudden hungry for flesh. Her condition gets worse until she dies and then comes back. Lionel goes to great lengths to keep his mother's condition a secret and to cover up after her - indiscretions.

This movie is very wrong at times and there's at least one scene which will guarantee that you will never eat pudding / cream again. Ever. The ending is one of the bloodiest you will ever see. And to top it all off - the film is extremely funny at times - if you have a very twisted sense of humour. The best way to see this film is to watch the original uncut film which ran at 104 minutes. For some reason the US release ran at a mere 85 minutes with second unrated 97 minute version. For a director who has released extra long extended cut versions of The Lord of the Rings and a unnecessary extended cut of his already long King Kong remake, it's really strange that the 104 minute version isn't available in North America.

Friday Afternoon Kitty!

Cute! Kind of an abomination against nature, Darwin and the food chain. But cute!

Rat loves cat! 2 @ Yahoo! Video

Public Broadcaster Helps Private Media

So the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation now has a cash-for-content sharing agreement with the National Post. This sucks. And it's an example of just how beaten-up our national broadcaster is under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, who are even worse CBC-bashers than the Liberals were. Canada doesn't need its national broadcaster, which politicians already love to starve for funding, bailing out an alleged news company that caters to right-wing delusions like "there's no climate change" (Ross McKitrick) and "cowardly war protestors are as bad as doctor murderers" (Lorne Gunter). Both those examples are from today's National Post, by the way.

Instead, the CBC needs its funding increased so it can do its job for all of us. This funding also needs to be at arm's length so that politicians can't launch self-serving attacks on its finances--my understanding is this is the BBC model. And the CBC SHOULD NOT be working with private media companies famous for abusing their monopoly power to bring right-wing bias/factual errors/hatred to news coverage.

I'm a patriotic Canadian and I want my CBC working for all Canadians. Not private media companies.

This is ridiculous. This is scandalous. This is reprehensible. This is EVIL.

Grrrar!

UPDATE: llustration added--an artist's interpretation of the deal with CBC executive vice-president Richard Strusberg on your left and a Slavering Minion of Hell (representing the National Post) on the (cough) right.

UPDATE 2: CanWest is selling its papers? What? (Globe And Mail)

Only Patriots For White Presidents

I've been dilly-dallying on posting a link to this terrifc article in last Saturday's Globe And Mail and here we are, almost a week later--so it's now or never. Writer Sonia Verma looks at the base, unthinking predjudice of Americans who are criticising their current president after eight goddamn years of sitting on their hands while their last leader--a white, warmongering, apparent good-ole-boy who was actually a well-connected millionaire--spent their country into ruin.

Americans' political double standards are mind-blowing.

Six In The Morning

1 LETTERMAN PWNS BLACKMAILING DOUCHEBAG The talk show host reminds a blackmailer that while sex outside of marriage might be jerky (or it might not, depends on what people agree to), extortion is an actual crime. (Guardian)

2 A LONG, HARD LOOK AT DICK So, a federal judge in the United States has ordered the FBI to open up its classified Dick Cheney interview notes. The FBI questioned the, let's just say evil and disgraced, former U.S. vice-president in 2003 during their investigation of the Valerie Plame affair--specifically, to learn if Cheney ordered his aide Scooter Libby to blow CIA agent Plame's cover as political retribution against her husband, who had criticized the administration. (Toronto Star)

3 TEXANS: NOT ALL JACKASSES A Texas judge ignores a district attorney's pleas and rules a gay couple may be granted a divorce even though gay marriage is illegal in the state. Why? Because, she says, the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. constitution. Eat that, lone-star state bigots! (the Dallas Morning News)

4 AMERICA: WAY DIVIDED ON LEGAL ABORTION My god, if we could build a time machine for the nearly 50 per cent of the American population that can't cope with the modern era. They'd be so much happier in biblical times, marrying their sisters and wiping their butts with lizards--and I'd be so much happier with them out of my century. Once again: If you're opposed to abortion, DON'T HAVE ONE. But don't work against the legal rights of people living in 2009. (New York Times)

5 SASKATCHEWAN POUNCES ON KILLER'S BOOK PROFITS Read all about it. Or don't. (Leader-Post)

6 GOVERNMENT SURVIVES LIBERAL NON-CONFIDENCE VOTE Yawn. (The Globe And Mail.)

Pick of the Day: Capitalism: A Love Story

I admit to a certain amount of ambivalence concerning Michael Moore. I think, on occasion, he does bends the facts to buttress his position and heighten the entertainment value of his films. He doesn't produce documentaries as much as semi-balanced agit-prop. And he is a bit of a boorish loud mouth. But so what?

The neo-conservative right these days, especially in the U.S., is being driven by the looney fringe. People who feel no compunction about making wildy inaccurate and inflammatory statements to attack and demean anyone who doesn't share their selfish and soul-destroying outlook on life. If you believe in the inherent value of rational thought and reasoned debate how do you possibly relate to the venom these morons spew? But Moore is down with the way they operate, and isn't afraid to mix it up with them on their terms, and call them on their bullshit beliefs and actions.

Neither does he shy away from controversial issues. Guns. Health Care. Corporate Malfeasance. Right-Wing Terror Tactics. And now capitalism itself. Here's the trailer for his latest film Capitalism: A Love Story (YouTube) which opens tonight.