Nightmare Alley
Guillermo Del Toro's Film Noir & remake of a classic film about a grifting sideshow carny. Permeated with a dark ambience, great set pieces and props, good performances by Cate Blanchett, Ron Perlman, Willem Dafoe, that said it grows a little stale and old when you can see the ending clear as day a mere 20 minutes into the film. After which it becomes a tired exercise in seeing how it realizes itself. Meh. Although - the sideshow attractions, the tarot cards, the good Psychiatrist's office - they all serve to inspire, merely a less predictable plot would have driven it along a lot better.
- Details
- Category: Film
The Vampires
The Persian girl, her boyfriend, a couple of others...
"Long-timers" here, almost as long as I, they've adapted to living in the Hostel by sleeping all day, and spend all night up gaming on their computers. They come into the common area, 9, 10:00 PM, set up their computers, they're there when I finish work, and again when I wake up in the morning, before packing their shit up and going to bed.
They're just here passing time, and I'm wondering - why? I mean - why be here - overpaying for squalid quarters - and not looking for a more permanent or cheaper place to live, find employ - the Persian girl, she has anxiety attacks every other day - and no wonder - but - her lifestyle is largely fueling it.
Curious, this, these travelers, one imagines their reviews of Canada or Vancouver in the next edition of "Lonely Planet" - "Days are grey, nights are dark, WiFi is so-so...".
- Details
- Category: People
The Green Knight
Serendipity, this, downloaded on a whim, enjoyed it very much. A pretty clean, writ large layout of "The Hero's Journey", with some intriguing symbolism and details.
I'm pretty sure I read this once, should read it again, it fits in with a few of my own projects and was appropriate to the moment. I love it when that happens.
Very good. You might enjoy.
- Details
- Category: Film
Window Dressing
They were filming a movie here - across the street in an alley - a couple of weeks ago. Lots of vans, booms, lighting, people gathered, actors, extras, pedestrians just watching.
It went on a couple of days.
And - the last couple of weeks they've been window dressing the building next to the Cambie - "The Tongue and Tail", making it into a fictional butcher shop. They've put decals on the windows, cleaned up and retiled the inside, brought in coolers, fridges, painted the butcher's signage on the building next to the alley - finally, now, they've filled the window with choice cuts of plastic molded to resemble meat - sides of beef, sausages, chickens, etc.
Every night, after work, there's security guarding the site - a "Teamsters" car parked out front, a security guard (or 2) on foot...
They've put more money into the "appearances" and the fiction of a butcher shop than most real butchers would put into a real butcher shop.
This is hilarious. And when the movie - or scene - is done shooting the building again will be vacant, junkies will shoot up in the doorway, use it as a toilet - but - for the moment - I'm living in a fictional gentrification of Gastown, an substantially upscaled neighborhood that will pass as a friendly neighborhood (or maybe not? I don't know what they're filming...) butcher - is this for a fleeting scene? Given the money spent on renovations I would expect a substantial portion of filming to be done here - maybe a new Canadian sitcom?
Wait and see...
**Update: Outside for a cigarette, street blocked off, booms and crew in place - looks like filming starts today. And I have to work a double and will miss it. Damn!!
- Details
- Category: Blog
Page 171 of 997