Art speaks to me or it doesn’t. My tastes are not sophisticated, informed or educated. When I see a painting or piece of art that uplifts me or makes me feel happy, I like it. It’s that simple. Which is why I don’t like winter scenes, paintings of crowded city streets on rainy days or industrial landscapes. I’ll never appreciate abstract art because I just…
When I left the theatre after seeing Mindy Kaling’s new movie Late Night, I was struck by how much I thought boomer gals would enjoy seeing it, especially since there are so few movies that appeal to us. Then, it occurred to me that men would equally benefit from the movie’s message, although don’t tell them that or they’ll never accompany you. It reeks of…
My girl gang went to the movies this week to see Rocketman, the biopic of Elton John, and we really got our money’s worth. Encouraged by how much we enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody we expected a spectacle just as great. It was a bit of a surprise when, a few minutes into the movie, the child Reggie Dwight pulls off to the side and sings a…
The two months leading up to the annual Oscar ceremony in Hollywood is pretty much the only time of year movies are released that appeal to baby boomers. From December to mid-February there are actually some decent movies in theatres that don’t involve monsters, wall-to-wall violence, sci-fi, zombies or irreversible annihilation of the planet. I’ve recently viewed three movies up for awards that I think…
For ninety glorious minutes one afternoon last week I was twenty years old again. I immersed myself in every delicious minute of (Sir) Michael Caine’s documentary My Generation playing at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on Bloor Street West near Bathurst in Toronto. The film is a macro view of life in swingin’ London in the 1960s, the historical genesis and touchstone for baby…
As if we weren’t frightened enough already by what’s happening south of the border, Michael Moore just added the finishing touches with his current documentary Fahrenheit 11/9 which is now showing in movie theatres. (Coincidently, I’m also currently reading FEAR by Bob Woodward.) Call me a masochist but watching the fall of the United States of America is fascinating and tragically sad at the same…