2019 - Hannibal: season two

I'm all caught up!  Which sucks, 'cause my reward is having to wait and watch s-l-o-w-l-y upon the shows return.  I have to say, I liked the first season better than this one.  To explain why I'll have to get into some SPOILERS... so beware of the below...

I guess my concern is with the idea of having Will Graham ride the line - from a long-game perspective I suppose I get it - we want to know if he'll head over to the dark side or not and we want to draw that out as long as possible.  I guess, for me, I'm excited to see this play into the established stories of Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs and, I suppose, Hannibal itself (although feel free to re-imagine that one all you want!).  The introduction of Michael Pitt and Katherine Isabel as the Vergers was pretty damn delightful, and I hope that storyline comes back down the line as it's meant to.

This season ended on a pretty great cliffhanger that allows the show to reboot when it returns next year, which I think is what will help keep it interesting and alive.  It's a new chapter and so changes need to happen.  I'll be there for sure.

2018 - Hannibal: season one

Dear Producers of Dexter, this is how you make a show about serial killers.  Okay, that’s a bit unfair given that clearly they’re different tones.  So I’m late to the game on this show, part of the beauty of that is I’ve been able to binge watch it and really just enjoy immersing myself in this first season.  It’s so damn impressive to see a network doing this kind of material and really going full tork with it.  It’s a visual feast and the gruesomeness is pretty high for a show that airs on a main network.  Kudos to everyone involved for having the balls to do this.

The 2nd part of this that makes me really gitty watching is seeing some Toronto actors that I know in supporting and guest starring parts (it’s shot in Toronto).  I like that this is a re-invention of the Hannibal Lector story to some extent, and we aren’t just seeing someone trying to do an Anthony Hopkins impression.  It’s a wise move and it works so well.  I’m excited that I can dive into the second season right away.  I really hope this show can keep up the quality.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens we it moves into the years of the story in which movies already exist for them… 

If you haven’t seen this yet and you like horror, suspense, or really just strong television than this one deserves your attention.

1746 - Take This Waltz

First off, a rant.  I was really excited to see this, especially when I saw that they were releasing it through iTunes first - but of course when the date came I realized it was only in the United States that they were doing it that way.  Which makes complete sense that they'd release a Canadian film in another country first.  I'm no expert on distribution or why they couldn't have done it in both countries at the same time, but what I do know is that we live in an age where if someone wants to get something - they can.  Luckily I work in the film and television industry in Canada and so all it took was a phone call and I was able to get my hands on a screener of this film (Yes.  I will buy it as soon as they deem it possible for me to do so through iTunes).  But I also noticed that there were already several versions of it available through bittorrent.  So here's a note to distributors - if you release a film in one territory and delay it in another what you're asking people who are really desperate to see the film, is for them to steal it.  I firmly believe that if you give people a chance to do the right thing, to pay to see something, that the vast majority will.  However if you don't give them that option as soon as possible, they'll just do whatever it takes.  Okay.  Rant over.
I love Sarah Polley's first film, Away From Her, and if you haven't seen it do yourself a favour.  For some bizarre reason it's not on Netflix.  Shame on Netflix. 
Take This Waltz follows the recent Canadian trend of putting recognizable faces into a Canadian film - thankfully at least Seth Rogen is Canadian.  There's a lot to like about this film.  It's sweet, it takes its time in really letting you into these characters and their insecurities and portrays a really realistic couple.  Rogen and Williams LOVE each other.  But with love in a marriage comes minor annoyances.  You aren't always on the same page and so you end up getting pissy with each other for the littlest things and hurting each other for things you don't mean and in ways you can't imagine.  Polley nails that aspect of long term relationships.  Michelle Williams dazzles here as a woman who is trying to figure out what she wants from her life.  She's married to really lovely and fun guy (Rogen), but is infatuated with her new neighbour (Luke Kirby - whom I love in everything he's in, always - another Canadian gem!).  And so the question begins - what makes relationships exciting - something tried and tested, or something new and shiny? 
I struggled slightly with the first half of this film as I started to feel like Polley was making a comment on relationships that I didn't quite agree with, but as the film progressed you see that she's masterfully setting up a situation in which she's going to pull the emotional rug out from under you in a way that you didn't fully expect.  Anyone that questions Rogen's chops as an actor needs to watch him here.  He uses his natural charms to full effect, but we get a very tender side, one that is vulnerable and lovely.  He's fantastic here.  Sarah Silverman gives a fantastic performance as Rogen's sister dealing with her own demons.  And if you've ever wondered what Silverman looks like fully naked - wonder no more - there's a scene halfway through where there's a pretty revealing scene for several women, and it's use in the grand scheme is really quite artful.
Some reviewers have called this film pretentious - and I'm not sure that I agree.  Is it slightly quirky, sure.  But it's honest more than anything else.  And it's a gorgeous film to look at, and a beautiful use of the wonderful city of Toronto.  It's getting a theatrical release on June 29th, so get thee to a theatre!  I don't think this one is for everyone, but if you're a fan of emotional love stories, it's a great one.

1696 - Young People Fucking

This is a film that I find myself continuing to come back to.  I've got several friends and colleagues that are in this, and that tends to make me enjoy it all the more.  I'm a big fan of ensemble films and I think I'm going to be watching a string of them in the next little bit just to get my headspace back around that sub-genre of film.
For those who haven't seen this film yet the title kind of says it all.  It juxtaposes several story lines that take place over the course of a sexual encounter and does so with a really lovely raw honesty and a sense of humour.  The film is filled to the brink with great performances from a phenomenal ensemble cast.  When people complain about how cliched Canadian films are they aren't talking about this one.
It's on netflix, so if you haven't seen it you should remedy that.  It's pretty godmn great.

1693 - The L.A. Complex: season one

So some reports are calling this a mid-season finale and others are calling it the season finale.  I wonder if they're not waiting to see the numbers that CW pulls in to decide whether or not it gets an extended first season and/or a second season.  I have to say though if this should doesn't get another season it will be a shame. 
It follows a group of Canadians living and trying to make it in L.A.  As someone who works in the entertainment industry I can tell you that I've witnessed a fair share of the terrible things that happen in this show, or I know people they've happened to.  It's a tough industry and this show makes no bones about it.  It's a very honest and harsh show in that capacity and good for it for having the balls to be so.  Take for example one particular story where a girl completely sells herself out, morals and everything, and in the end realizes that if she'd just waited she would have been fine.  Such is life. 
I believe that you can still stream episodes off of the much music website, so if you haven't watched yet give it a shot.  I love some of the characters, like others, and hate a few - but the few I hate are, I'm pretty sure, intentional. 
I'm really hoping this show gets extended.  I think it's got a lot more life in it and a lot more interesting stories to tell.  Please don't let it be another of those amazing Canadian shows that just doesn't get it's full chance.

1613 - At Home By Myself... With You

I was fortunate to sit with Kristin Booth sometime ago at a mutual friend's birthday party, and she was as charming and lovely in real life as she is in this film.  She stars as a woman who has several phobias, the most crippling being that she can't leave her apartment.  But when she meets a new man across the hall she makes a list of everything she's scared of, and goes at trying to get over them. 
It's a very cute film, and Booth and Aaron Abrams are really quite lovely together.  People that don't like quirky films would be best to avoid this - from it's fairytale narration, to animated sequences, and character's characteristics, it could be something that really grates at the wrong person.  Not me :) 
Clearly shot on a shoestring budget it never quite feels like that - more like everything is a choice.  It feels cinematic despite it's limitations that might take the story elsewhere.  This is a film that you could really pick to shreds if you wanted to be more nihilistic about it all, but it's not meant to be that, it's a cute little fairytale and it works really well as that.  It's pretty widely available and has just been added to netflix here in Canada, so no excuse not to check it out!
At Home By Myself ... With You