Great Double-Bill: Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Appaloosa

Cinema

Given their usual woeful programming record, for some reason, or other, this week Vancouver’s last remaining repertory cinema, the Hollywood Theatre on West Broadway, has programmed a great double-bill (ends Thursday), two films which made VanRamblings’ Top Films of 2008 list.


VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Woody Allen’s strongest and most entertaining film in years, Vicky Cristina Barcelona proves to be the perfect antidote for this dreadful winter we’ve been having. Allen’s burlesque presents a blissful summer idyll and an inspired riff on the unique, unpredictable nature of romantic relationships, all wrapped up within a beguiling tragicomedy about two young Americans (Scarlett Johansson and a splendid Rebecca Hall) who spend a summer in Spain, and meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem) and his beautiful but slightly deranged ex-wife (Penélope Cruz). Loopy, exhilarating, bittersweet. Wonderful performances abound, with much good cheer. Definitely a film not to miss. 7:30 p.m. nightly.


APPALOOSA

You can all but feel the prairie dust the moment the theatre lights dim, and Appaloosa begins. A traditional genre western that sets itself apart with psychologically complex characters, an intriguing love triangle, as well as great performances and chemistry between the leads – Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons – this laconic yet gripping story of frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers and no-nonsense lawmen, entertains and involves from start to finish. Everything feels true in this slightly offbeat movie about friendly devotion; no mean feat, that. Plays nightly at the Hollywood Theatre, at 9:15 p.m.
The Hollywood Theatre is located at 3123 West Broadway, in Vancouver.

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VanRamblings has updated our Best Films of 2008 list, where we’re up to 10 films now (another 10 to come, as we see all of the 2008 releases yet to reach Vancouver screens). Be sure to check it out, by clicking right here.

For Your Consideration: The Best on Film in 2008

Cinema

BEST FILMS OF 2008

With the Oscars just around the corner, with the box office setting records this holiday season, with just about anyone who loves films anxious to catch all of the possible Oscar contenders, the time has come for VanRamblings to weigh in on the best films released thus far in 2008.

We do so with one proviso, though. We have not caught all of the films which will be considered Oscar contenders for 2008, including: Laurent Cantet’s Cannes’ Palme D’or winner, The Class (opening January 16th in Vancouver); Mickey Rourke’s comeback vehicle, The Wrestler (January 9); Gus van Sant’s sure-to-be-nominated, at least for Best Actor for Sean Penn, Milk; John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, Doubt; Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road; Clint Eastwood’s much-
anticipated Gran Torino; the Dustin Hoffman / Emma Thompson starrer, Last Chance Harvey (January 23); director Edward Zwick’s Defiance (January 16); and Kate Winslet’s controversial new film, The Reader.

The criteria for our Best Film list are this year, the same as last and all previous years: that each film is affecting, honest, poignant, authentic, and transporting; that the filmmaker and the actors take you so far inside their lives that you become one with the characters on screen; that, in the main, the films are low-budget, independent releases, which is to say, outside of the mainstream; and, heck, that each film simply moved us: to tears, to laugh, and to ruminate on the joy and tragedy, and the meaning of life.

We’ll update our Best Films list, as necessary and as we catch the remaining films that will find themselves nominated come January 22 2009.

VanRamblings’ Best Films of 2008 list continues after the jump …

Continue reading For Your Consideration: The Best on Film in 2008 →

The Sleeping Giant Awakes: VanRamblings Resumes Posting

BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver, VanRamblings

A WINTRY DAY IN VANCOUVER

A wintry, December day in Vancouver (from the Safeway parking lot facing Kits library)

There has been this past two months, since VanRamblings last published, a great deal of interest to VanRamblings’ readers that has occurred near to our little secluded isle, due east of the Pacific Ocean.

For instance …

  • The election of a Vision Vancouver government to City Hall. We have not weighed in on the ascension of Gregor Robertson to the Mayor’s chair, nor evinced any particular opinion on the councillors who were elected. But in the days to come, we will opine about the star in the making that is Geoff Meggs, and just what a destructive dunce Suzanne Anton will be to the forces of the NPA as she plays Republican style politics with the notion of democratic decision-making in our City. We might have something of interest to say.

  • While we’re on the subject of municipal politics, mention should be made about the launch of citycaucus.com, a centre-right apologia for the do-nothing government of Sam Sullivan. But, heck, the site is readable, the page design terrific (Frances Bula, take note), the writing first rate (damn those right wingers for being able to write and design, so well), and much to the horror of VanRamblings, the site surprisingly manages to be even-handed on occasion, as witness this piece by citycaucus.com contributor, Eric Mang.

    We would be remiss in our duty, as well, if we didn’t point you to this story on the quick action taken by Mayor Gregor Robertson and Premier Campbell in creating 200 new homeless shelter beds, arising citycaucus.com points out from months of preparatory work by the previous, Sam Sullivan administration. Fair’s fair, after all … Vision shouldn’t get all the credit.

  • We at VanRamblings are ‘lists’ people. Top 10 lists of the best movies of the year, the best music, and books … we just eat this stuff up. VanRamblings fully intends to drive you to complete distraction in the days to come with our take on the upcoming Oscars, what we’ve admired and were moved by on film this year (Brideshead Revisited, Elegy, Frozen River … all released earlier this year), as well as our favourite music of the year (no surprise that Adele will be right up there … we simply love her début, 19).
  • The up-until-recently impeccably well-orchestrated Obama transition, somewhat undone in recent days by the apparent thuggery of Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich.
  • And, finally, as a topic we’ll raise briefly in this entry and explore at greater length another day, the whole issue of homelessness, why homeless persons choose to sleep on the street rather spend overnight in a shelter, and just how difficult it will be in the coming days, weeks and many, many months to address the issue of homelessness in a compassionate, yet effective manner. Of course, homelessness is not the only issue in respect of housing that requires addressing: VanRamblings will also explore the affordable housing crisis in our City.

As we say, there are a great many topics to tackle in the days to come, to write about and reflect on. Some topics to be explored by VanRamblings will be of a serious nature, others not quite so much.

We hope to see you returning to visit VanRamblings, often.