EIFF REVIEW: Crime After Crime commits a few of its own
There are a few things that you should know if planning to attend the documentary “Crime After Crime,” airing today at Empire City Centre at 4:45 pm as part of the Edmonton International Film Festival. First, the subject of the documentary, Debi Peagler, should have been out of jail years ago. Instead, she served 26 […]
EIFF REVIEW: The Swell Season and the not-so-swell season after that
The Swell Season is a story about the frailty of relationships, of trying to balance the expectations of others against one’s own needs. It’s set against the backdrop and influence of fame, with an Oscar-winning songwriting duo at its heart, but it could well be about just about any couple you might know. Ultimately, that’s […]
EIFF ENCORE: Bob and the Monster turnaround
Bob Forrest is one brilliant guy. He’s funny, compassionate, talented, magnetic. Unfortunately, he credits all of it to the comfort he feels when he’s drunk or high. It’s not an uncommon story. But surviving it when you also happen to be a minor-league rock star with a big budget and lots of time on your […]
ART: Does this look like $350-million worth of museum?
All right, someone has to say publicly what plenty of us are thinking: the proposed design for the Royal Alberta Museum looks like a high school. Even the distance perspective drawing looks, at best, like the front of a mid-sized city airport. This? This is what we’re getting for $350-million in taxes? Keep in mind […]
Blues bands face off to rep city in Memphis
There’s no way around it: it’s a little disappointing that in a city as big as Edmonton, only three outfits are facing off for the title of top local blues band and a chance to represent Champ City in Memphis. The contest is the first annual playdown, with the winner to be sponsored by the […]
Metro Cinema returns with a week of camp
If the offerings in a film series are, for the most part, of material available on most decent cable packages, is it really a worthy film series? Or is it another excuse for like-minded folk to get together in this thing we call “community”? “Camp” would seem to be a theme in Metro Cinema’s grand […]
TONIGHT: Santana brings greatest hits parade to Rexall Place
Back in the day, Santana was the real deal — we’re talking way back in the day, that period from about 1969 to 1974, when Santana was more than a guy’s last name. It must be said the Carlos Santana — who plays Rexall Place tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. (tickets) — is one very […]
Madame Butterfly illustrates opera with nightly fireworks
OK, lesson number one in populism for the good folks at Mercury Opera: if you’re going to explain an addendum to your plot, don’t give away the ending in doing so. Of course, this is Madame Butterfly, not the line outside the Empire Strikes Back, so perhaps there’s an expectation that ye olde opera buffe […]
TONIGHT: Taylor Swift to pluck our heartstrings a second time
A dad I know is afraid of Taylor Swift. He doesn’t put it that way of course. He goes at if from a backdoor approach. “Have you listened to that tune “Picture to Burn?” he says. “Her boyfriend breaks up with her for another girl, so she trashes his house. And she’s a kid.” This […]
PREVIEW: Shake your marimbas at Edmonton’s Second Annual Latin Fest
So you’re Fringed out — or even, perish the thought, think live theatre is like watching paint dry. Or darn it, you just need a change of pace for a few hours. You have a few choices: self-flagellation with the limb of an Olive Branch to celebrate the birthday of The Blessed St. John of […]
