Anvil is the story of a Metal Band from Canada, who has struggled for many many years to make it to the top of the Metal Scene. We follow the bands struggles from day to day.
They go through many bad times. Bad management, almost no fans at their shows, but they continue on. They miss their train connections, get lost in a city and are late for a gig, club owners refuse to pay them. Whatever seems that could go wrong, does go wrong.
There are interviews with members of bands that did make it big, such as Lemmy from Motorhead, Slash, Lars Ulrich. While they all say that Anvil was a really good band, no one can really say why they didn't achieve it to the next level, and are a struggling band.
The 2 main members of the band, Steve"Lips" Kudlow, and Robb Reiner have stuck with it for 30 years, thinking that they can still make it really big. As you watch this film, you wonder what it will take before they throw in the towel.
Through it all, "Lips" keeps going even after going through small crowds, a bad manager who can't get them decent paying gigs,rejection after rejection from record labels, he still goes on about his day and is still a happy guy through it all.
With all the bad things that go through both of their lives, you start to cheer for them and hope that some good news will come their way, and when the final scene has them going to Japan to play, and "Lips" worrying about their maybe only being 5 people show up to see them play, it was really nice to see a full arena to watch them.
Films can just creep up and surprise you sometime. Not because you did not expect the film to be good. Rather it slams you with such an emotional response that leaves you questioning your life and what exactly you cherish in it. Anne Wheeler’s 1989 film, Bye Bye Blues left me doing just that.
Set in the early days of the Second World War, the tale begins with the Cooper family and the duress that besets them while they are living abroad in India. Daisy’s (Rebecca Jenkins) husband Teddy (Michael Ontkean) is transferred deeper into the war, so she must relocate back home to live with her mother and father in law on their farm in Canada. More specifically, a small town in Alberta, less than a days drive from Edmonton.
Anne Wheeler wrote, directed and produced this wonderfully looking film almost entirely in her home province of Alberta. She truly makes good use of the variety of seasons over the decade this story follows. A few shots evoke such beautiful imagery of the rolling hills that many people find boring.
Daisy is the main protagonist, although the film touches on the entire Cooper family and how they deal with the lack of information about the whereabouts of Teddy during the war, wondering if he is even still alive.
Rebecca Jenkins started off the film without much confidence. It really showed for the first set of scenes that she was not comfortable with the character yet. I was worried at this point that I was about to watch a train wreck after the opening scenes in India. It was the furthest thing from it though! As Jenkins settled into her role as Daisy and her new life, you really start to see her amazing acting ability shine. She also has a very talented voice that takes center stage quite a few times in the film.
As Daisy begins her journey with the realization that she may never see her husband again, she sets out to find work to provide better for her family. This brings Daisy into the hardships women endured back in the 1940s, but her persistence eventually lands her a well paying career in a local dance band. The subtext about her being the only woman in the band is continually in the background.
It is a about this time where Anne Wheeler’s screenplay starts to bring a unique love triangle into Daisy’s life. Fellow band member Max Gramley (Luke Reilly), the man with the mysterious past, begins to fall in love with her. How can he compete with a man who has been out of her life for years now and could possibly be dead? Max pushes Daisy about a relationship but never pushes very hard, just enough to get an honest response. At least until his next opportunity arises.
Somewhere after the band got together did I realize that Anne Wheeler has gotten me so emotionally invested into these characters that I did not want anything to change for them. Aside from Daisy and Teddy’s boy Richard, everyone was content with life and the way things were turning out.
So when the war ends, you can really witness how the demeanour of all the characters shifts. Not because anything has changed, but they know the change is already on the way. Still unsure if the change will be because Teddy will return home or they finally find out that he is deceased.
Teddy does make his way back home, causing some heart wrenching moments that would probably make me cry again and again when watching this film. This puts everyone’s life in a state of flux. We never find out if Teddy returning was good for the family or if his return slowly changed everything for the worse. The saddest part is, Teddy realizes this and really is not sure what to say to Daisy about it.
The music is also a great complement to this film, really helping to sell the time period. Sure you could tell from the visuals themselves but the use of the music really adds to the overall experience.
I saw this film outside on a blow up screen on a very nice evening. My lawn chair, thermos filled with hot chocolate and a friend (Emil!) were prepared to watch this free film, our expectations were not very high. I think we were both blown away by this film. Anne Wheeler made a film full of complexities that will last forever; so many filmmakers fail to achieve making a film of this calibre in their entire careers. I think she can say Bye Bye Blues will last the test of time.
Director:Jamin Winans Writer:Jamin Winans Distributor:Double Edge Films Year of Release:2005 Running Time:8:15
Synopsis: "Penned, shot, chopped & scored" by Jamin Winans (Ink), the 8-minute Spin film has no dialogue, and stars Hayz II as a mysterious street DJ with God-like abilities that allow him to bend time and control objects with his fold-away turntable. The indie short has won dozens of festival awards around the world, and has been viewed on YouTube more than 2 million times.
In my continuing effort to see every kid’s movie ever made, the family and I went to see Toy Storyand Toy Story 2 in 3D. Other than the thrill of looking like Buddy Holly, I generally enjoy the movies I’ve seen in the new-fangled 3D movie-making, be it live action or animation. The best part of the 3D is the depth and detail. The sensation of stuff coming out of the screen and at me is a bonus, and normally not critical to the plot or story. For instance, the depth and clarity of the 3D in Up was far more important to me as a viewer than the classic effect.
Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are similar in this regard. But, it is difficult for me to tell exactly how much of the depth and clarity was provided by the 3D and how much was there to begin with. As you may remember, Toy Story was revolutionary when it came out because of the animation’s depth, clarity, and how realistically the toy characters were rendered. The few 3D effects that were added were cute and novel. However, Toy Story needs far less “gimmicking up” than other movies. And that is simply because of what a great movie it still is and how good the animation was the first time around.
To recap, a pre-teen (Andy) boy’s toys come to life when nobody is around. They are led by “Woody,” a pull-string cowboy. Andy’s birthday party gets moved up because the family is moving soon. Woody and the rest of the toys (Bo-Peep, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm the Piggy Bank, Rex the Dinosaur, etc.) worry about any new toys that will take Andy’s attention. Lo and behold, Andy gets a Buzz Lightyear toy, the coolest toy around. To top it off, Buzz does not even realize he is a toy. Woody gets jealous of the attention Buzz receives from Andy, inadvertently knocks him out of Andy’s window, and has to rescue him. Buzz learns he is, in fact, a toy and gets depressed. Woody rescue’s Buzz, Buzz overcomes the fact that he is toy, and they are reunited with Andy just in the nick of time.
In Toy Story 2, Andy goes off to “Cowboy Camp” and his mother has a garage sale. Woody tries to rescue a broken penguin toy named Wheezy and ends up in a “for sale” bin. Andy’s mother realizes that Woody is not supposed to be for sale, but “Al” of Al’s Toy Barn steals Woody because he is part of a complete set of rare and valuable nostalgia toys. Woody discovers that he was part of an enormously popular television franchise until the launch of Sputnik caused kids to forget about cowboys and pay attention to racecars—I mean space based toys. “Stinky Pete,” the prospector toy, really wants to be sold to Japanese collectors and does whatever he can to make it happen. Buzz, Rex, Hamm, and Mr. Potato head set off to rescue Woody.
What I had forgotten is that these are GOOD movies. I also hadn’t realized that I missed part of Toy Story and that I had never seen Toy Story 2. (I was aware of the plot from a toddler’s video game my son played over and over and over and over.) There is humor for adults and kids. There is a positive message in accepting who you are and your purpose in life. There is a positive message in overcoming your shortcomings. The main characters grow and change over the course of the movie to something better. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Kelsey Grammar and the rest of the voice talent are excellent at acting with only their voices.
I have to say, if you get a chance to see these movies, go and see them again or for the first time. Not for the 3D, but for how good these movies are. And besides, when else can you see a double feature these days?
Thrills, chills, laughter and booze make for a great night!
BY COLIN ENQUIST
It is that time of year again. Halloween is right around the corner. Horror films are beginning to take over the cinema world for a few weeks and if you live in a city big enough, you probably have a horror film festival that you could attend. Some are world famous, others, not so much. Last Friday night I attended DEDfest (Day 2 of 4), Edmonton, Alberta’s horror film festival. To be fair, this is the first year of the festival, although it is run by some of the same group that ran last years Deadmonton festival.
The Friday showing consisted of two big showings: Neighbor and Return of the Living Dead. It is the first time since 1985 that Return of the Living Dead has been seen in Canada on 35MM. Like many horror fests, short films were spread throughout the two marquee films. Here is a quick review for each film I saw that night.
To get the crowd in the laughing mood, Clowning Aroundwas unleashed on us. It was a terrible looking trailer that really just played off the title of the film, essentially it was just like the faux trailer Don’t, in front of the Grindhouse double feature. I am still not sure if this is an actual film or just a trailer made for laughs.
Next up was the short film, Thirsty, based off of a Joe Knetter story. It was directed by Andrew Kasch and stars Wrong Turn 2 director Joe Lynch, Michael Bailey Smith (The Hills Have Eyes) and Tiffany Shepis (a scream queen herself of many horror films!). Lynch is on a cross-country drive when he starts to crave a frozen slushy. His destiny seems to not want him to get his slushy, as it keeps providing complications attempting to thwart his slushy efforts. This is full of laughs from the start and was one of the best shorts at the festival.
Next up was a few trailers of older films, Savage Streets, Punk Rock and another I cannot recall. These looked terrible but the Linda Blair exploitation/revenge flick Savage Streets is supposed to be quite good.
Every year Adam Green makes a Halloween short film. The Tiffany Problem, King in the Box and last years The Tivo are fantastic. This year’s film is Jack Chop, it is a real short short, running just over two and a half minutes but it is so entertaining. Jack Chop is just a parody of the Slap Chop infomercial but I can say I was laughing (and so was most of the audience) for the entire two and a half minutes. Take a gander at it below!
Finally we reached our first feature film, the debut (at least to Edmonton) of Neighbor. This film prides itself with the tag on one of the posters as the film that “caused its own editor to vomit”. I can see why, my guess is that the editor was male and he vomited during the “love scene”. I was looking away during the sequence of events that I would never wish on anyone! The image will haunt me (and probably most of the audience) for a few evenings. The film was created by writer/director Robert A. Masciantonio (Cold Hearts). Christian Campbell (who also was in Cold Hearts) and America Olivo star in the sadistic horror film. Olivo simply plays “The Girl”, a crazed psychotic who breaks into neighbours houses and tortures them. She uses a wide array of household items that now scare the living hell out of me. I will never look at a pizza cutter the same way ever again!!! Typically I am not a big fan of the torture horror films, this one is not really an exception either but I did enjoy it more then the others that would fall into this same category. I felt that, unlike most torture films, Neighbor created an unreal amount of character development in the opening that I was actually concerned for the group of friends. Masciantonio does not just make us cringe but feel an attachment to Don (Campbell) during his ordeal. The film does get a bit muddled throughout with an obscure set of flash backs and flash forwards. Never really understanding why he chose this at first, but after thinking about it, I realized that the director wanted to remind us about the emotional attachment we were feeling for the characters earlier in the film. It still was mystifying to an extent, never explaining if the flash forwards were a hallucination or just a possible future. I would probably file this in with most other torture porn films, but it would go to the top of my list if I was forced to watch one, although I would probably “excuse” myself from the room so I wouldn’t have to sit through the “love scene” again!
Intermission time led to a quick bathroom break. What can I say, beer goes right through me. A few speeches from the gracious hosts of the festival (beer in hand!) and we were back on track.
The 3 short films showed before the big finale was all Alberta made to some aspect. Two of the films, Escape From Death Planet and Fallow were shot in Edmonton. Both were from Edmonton directors as well. I wouldn’t call these films great but Fallow at least had a sense of creepiness to it that caused a few shivers. Deadwalkers was a quick-draw western zombie film from Calgary. If the sound was matched up better with the picture I would have said this short was made extremely well, even though it was not very entertaining.
Finally the big finale, Return of the Living Dead! How can you not love this film? Of course it isn’t what it was back in 1985 but it is still worth viewing! This film probably juggles the humour and horror aspect better then any film. Dan O’Bannon’s fanboy take on George A. Romero’s lifeblood is fantastic. The dialogue crackles on screen and the film is filled with quotes that last still to this day. Not to mention the kick ass soundtrack of Billy Idol, The Cramps, 45 Grave and SSQ. See this film if you have not already, before a zombie eats your BRAAAAIIIIINNNNSSSSSSSSSS!
I had an excellent time during DEDfest even with a few of the films not being my cup of tea. Already I am wondering what next year will bring. This proves that even if the films are good, terrible or not worth your time, a good crowd and some alcohol can still make the night worthwhile.
FlashForward gets full season, Toy Story 3 trailer and ID4 2? BY COLIN ENQUIST
-ABC picks up several shows for a full first season. FlashForward is the most prominent of the shows but Modern Family, The Middle and Cougar Town were also picked up. FlashForward has performed very well in the competitive Thursday night time slot. The show has also been very well liked by critics.
-The Box is Richard Kelly’s newest film. Based off of the 1970 short story Button, Button by author Richard Matheson. The film stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella. The website just launched. Click the picture poster below to check it out. If you were a fan of Richard Kelly’s film Donnie Darko and got a chance to see the fantastic site for that film, check this one out for sure.
-Mel Gibson is returning to acting, his first film since The Singing Detective in 2003, and is starring in Edge of Darkness, based off a 1985 BBC mini-series of the same name. As homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) investigates the death of his activist daughter (Bojana Novakovic), he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.
-Joe Hill has put out some fantastic stories. I am a big fan of his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts and his comic book series, Locke & Key. Heart-Shaped Box was his first novel (which has gotten rave reviews) but I have not gotten around to reading it. His next book, Horns, is set to be released this coming February but the books is already optioned by Mandalay. It is a story about a man who wakes up after a drunken blackout, only to find horns growing out of his head.
-Independence Day was a surprise blockbuster back in 1996, making an absurd $817.4 million at the worldwide box office. The director, Roland Emmerich, has a new film debuting this year (2012) and Fox wants to bring the director back for a sequel to the Will Smith’s first blockbuster. Emmerich wants to bring Smith back but negotiations between him and Fox have seemed to hit a standstill. Would you watch an ID4 sequel without him?
-The Cleveland Show will now have 22 episodes for the second season. Fox just announced that they ordered a full season. The series premiere of The Cleveland Show was Fox’s highest rated Sunday comedy series debut in over six years. Follow Cleveland’s adventures Sunday evenings (8:30 ET).
-It looks like Bryan Singer may be returning to the X-Men film franchise. According to The Associated Press, Singer and Fox are discussing the possibility of his return. “I’m still looking to possibly returning to the X-Men franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it,” the X-Men and X2: X-Men United director said at South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival. “I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast.” With the train wreck that was X3 a big disappointment I do hope he returns.
-October 13th we saw the release of Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly. Connelly created his lead character of this series, Harry Bosch, back in 1992. Nine Dragons will be the 15th novel featuring Bosch.
-CBS has given a pilot commitment to Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (both co-wrote: Star Trek, Fringe, and Mission: Impossible III to name a few). They will update the classic cop series which chronicled the workings of the fictional Hawaiian state police department led by Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord). Originally the series ran from 1968-1980. Not many details have been given on what direction the new show will take.
-Toy Story 1 and 2 were just released in theatres again, this time in glorious 3D! The double feature has a nice trailer before it for the third film…here it is below.
They go through many bad times. Bad management, almost no fans at their shows, but they continue on. They miss their train connections, get lost in a city and are late for a gig, club owners refuse to pay them. Whatever seems that could go wrong, does go wrong.
