The Film Cynics » Victoria Film Festival

Waiting on a Friday Night for Superman

eastmav — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:08:30 +0000

It’s a bittersweet day as we bid a fond farewell to Friday Night Lights which ended its 5 season run this past week, offering Brian his best possible opportunity to say “I told you so” to Steve. For some reason Steve apparently finds solace in chronicling the best roles of David Patrick Kelly, and spending time at the Victoria Film Festival. At the heart of this week’s show though, is our review of Davis Guggenheim’s latest, Waiting for Superman. It’s tricky reviewing a documentary without getting bogged down in it’s issues, but Brian plays the schoolmarm and judges it on its merits.

It’s not often that Steve admits he was wrong, but he made a major faux pas when he ignored Brian’s advice about Friday Night Lights. At least this time he tuned in before it was too late. After 5 strong seasons, it’s finally bowing out in fine style and Steve and Brian toast to its success.
It’s not exactly clear what brought it on, but Steve’s got David Patrick Kelly fever and he’s got a top 5 list to prove it.
Davis Guggenheim’s latest documentary, Waiting for Superman, examines the plight of the American education system. Does he have the skills to infuse the subject matter with the same buzz as global warming? Enough even to make the issue relevant to a pair of Canadians?
The Victoria Film Festival is wrapping up and there’s been some gems and some duds, but the important thing was to get out there.
Brian releases Dear Zachary from the Vault while Steve offers up The Warriors. For trailers we’ve got some leftovers from the Super Bowl: Super 8 and Captain America.

It’s Kind of a Funny Super Bowl

eastmav — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:08:14 +0000

The Super Bowl, you say? Humbug! We’re going ahead with our beloved show no matter what the cheeseheads have to say about it. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is on the review docket, and we’ve got plenty of odds and ends to catch up on now that Brian’s back from Los Angeles. Steve’s also got a Victoria Film Festival update, along with some crazy Vault picks and trailers too.

We open up the show talking about Super Bowl ads and a few bits of movie news.
Now that Brian’s back from California, he regales Steve with tales of the Arclight Theatre, and Steve reciprocates by giving while the thumbs up to The Illusionist.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story stays in the shallow end of the psych ward films, but that helps keep it light and pleasant. Is the story funny enough to get a consensus out of the ‘Cynics?
Steve offers up the best reasons he can come up with to check out the Victoria Film Festival, and film festivals in general.
We’ve each got a psych ward film for our Vault picks this week – the über-classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the scifi-schmaltzy K-Pax. For trailers it’s a mixed bag with Bridesmaids and Cold Weather, a special favourite for Steve.

A Festival, The Oscars & Has Beens

eastmav — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:08:27 +0000

We’ve got a show replete with “air quotes”, and no, we haven’t forgotten we’re on radio. Joining us for the opening half of the show are Kathy Kay and Donovan Aikman from the Victoria Film Festival to regale us with their thoughts on all things cinematic and their best recommendations on what to see. We’ve also clarity to offer to some Oscar nominations and a brief list of directors who’ve lost the elusive “it”.

We enjoy a playful round of “get to know ya” with Kathy Kay and Donovan Aikman and get a proper movie lovers chat happening.
We’ve got an instructional and informative palavering about what to expect from the upcoming Victoria Film Festival.
There have been some questions hanging in the air since the Oscar nominations were announced, and we’ve got some of the answers.
Steve offers up a few directors who have let their edge go dull and we move directly into the Vault for Dave and the UK Office and the trailers for Beginners and Black Death.

The A-Team Play With Fire at the Inception of the VFF

eastmav — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:08:49 +0000

A bit of a mixed bag this week with the skinny on the Victoria Film Festival, and a special interview with the producer of Play With Fire, a independent Canadian film screening this Tuesday at the Cinecenta. We’ve also got reviews for Inception and The A-Team. A great show and it’s even got Steve sweating under the pressure, and Brian holding everything together.

We start things off with a little nibble of what the Victoria Film Festival is gonna be about.
After some difficulties with making a connection we have a conversation with Mike Babiarz about his film screening in Victoria this week, Play With Fire.
Inception could well be the film of the year, do the special features have the goods to back it up?
The A-Team’s extended cut is 16 minutes longer. If we learned anything from Robin Hood it’s that 15 minutes goes a long way.
Our Vault picks of the week are Cadillac Records and Waking Life (as mixed a bag as our show) and we’ve got the Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Thor trailers to share with you.

Interview – Donovan Aikman

eastmav — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:08:29 +0000

This week, we had the programmer of the Victoria Film Festival to talk about what’s in store for this year’s showcase of films.

We open the box on Pandorum

eastmav — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:08:22 +0000

We open up this week’s show with an interview with Donovan Aikman from the Victoria Film Festival, asking him about how the Festival will bring film to life in Victoria. We follow that up with a brief discussion on our picks for the Golden Globes (you’ll notice Steve was on the money). Our DVD review of the week is Christian Alvert’s sci-fi thriller Pandorum, starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid, and we were both very impressed. There was a bit of a trailer drought this week, but we’ve maintained the balance from last week, by offering up 4 Vault picks: Alien 3, Event Horizon, The Jerk and The Office.

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