Slightly late, but here at last...

Hi folks sorry this week's review is a little late as the late great Douglas Adams said "I love deadlines I love the sound they make as they whoosh by." This week I will be reviewing "Hanna", "The Source Code" and Younger Brother's new album "Vaccine". These two movies and one album all have one thing in common they are all fusions of several genre's all with varying levels of success. Lets begin with the films.

The plot of "Hanna" is a very interesting hybrid of fairytale and spy drama. Before seeing the film I would never have imagined the combination but as Germany was one of the settings for the film it does make sense just recall The Berlin Wall and The Brothers Grimm. The heroine Hanna is played by young Irish actress Saorise(pronounced seer-sha) Ronan  to great effect in this film she seems more a creature of the wild than a young woman  here in fact when asked where she is from Hanna simply replies "The forest". There is no great personal discovery in this film Hanna shows up  gets revenge and grows up along the way. I liked the film but at times the violence seemed  excessive. Was it really necessary for Hanna and her father to kill quite so many Police Officers? The film also features an amazing soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers it's worth experiencing on that merit alone. If you like spy drama's you'll really enjoy this film.

"The Source Code" puts Jake Gyllenhaal into yet another time travel movie. Although this movie is good it has neither the edge or impact Jake gave us in Donnie Darko. The main premise of this film is the timeloop we've  seen this numerous times in TV and movies so I won't list them all but if you really have no idea what I'm talking about "Groundhog Day" is probably the most famous example of this. Added to that we have the "Army Hero" and "Damsel in Distress" cookie cutter characters. This is a well directed film even enjoyable to watch but it is also a merciless rehashing of cliche.. It's like a spice rack with only a half dozen spices the director settled for dumping them all in. Luckily it seems to have paid off for him, this movie was entertaining to watch it's just that watching it was far too much like the timeloop premise; I've seen it all before.

Younger Brother's new album "Vaccine" is a departure into the mediocrity for the electronica band. Formed as a result of Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan's attempts to make unclassifiable electronica Younger Brother has been one of my favorite musical delights for the last eight years. Their first album "A Flock of Bleeps" relied heavily on their backgrounds in Psytrance (Posford is still regarded by many as one of the gods of the genre) It was noted that there was a much more organic sound to the second Album "The Last Days of Gravity" as well as a more acoustic quality and experimentation with vocals. This third album is basically a alternative rock album with electronic elements which is kind of a shame with Posford and Vaughan relegated to keyboard and guitar respectively, I found myself really missing their talent here in the homogeneous mess the band has become in addition  the vocalist is of the school that believes emotion can only be expressed via a shrill emo-whine and you can understand why I wish iTunes issued refunds. I have no doubt many will love the new album and direction the band has taken I just shan't be among them to quote Hamlet: "Good-night sweet prince;And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

That's it folks I hope you enjoyed this weeks installment. See you next week.

Beauty and Bloodspray.

Dear readers welcome to this weeks installment of the Critical Canadian This week the reviews stand in stark contrast to one another: "Biutiful" and "Hobo with a Shotgun". As always I hope you enjoy reading them.

 "Biutiful" directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu is a melancholic meditation on beauty. Javier Bardem play's Uxbal a small time hustler and sometimes medium in Barcelona. Uxbal  learns early on in the film that he is in fact dying of cancer and that he has very little time left. The films title encapsulates the thesis of the film that beauty is subjective, fragile, and temporary just like our lives. Javier Bardem was a shrewd choice for this film his appearance and visibly broken nose would seem to preclude beauty, but Javier is in fact one of the most beautiful male leads working today (guys if you doubt me just ask your mother, your sister ,or girlfriend, they'll set you straight.) The downside to Javier being in this movie is that I doubt a few months from now whether I will even remember the other cast members in this wonderful movie which is unfortunate as each and everyone of them shows compelling flashes of beauty even mired in the the gutter as they often are. You can't see "Biutiful" fast enough if you ask me.

"Hobo with a Shotgun" is a return to classic grindhouse film. It features excessive, sadistic and plentiful shotgun assisted fatalities also it sports one of the worst scripts of all time. I find it interesting how the progression of the slasher genre is a parallel progression of how pornographic film evolved. Rutger Hauer very convincingly plays the "Hobo" it's amazing what thirty years have done to the man he barely resembles the actor who played Roy the replicant in "Bladerunner". If you like slashers featuring blood fountains and somebody screaming every five minutes this is your movie. I say skip it.

Welcome back, Critical Canadian, welcome back.

Welcome back readers I had to take last week off due to bruising all the ribs down my left side. Expect the reviews to be every week Friday at 11pm PST.  The Critical Canadian is becoming a podcast featuring exciting bonuses! Stay tuned for that.

The film "Dogtooth" inhabits a very interesting space. It takes place, for the most part, behind the walls of a mansion in Greece the kids are home-schooled and on the surface are polite and well mannered. However, that is about as far as normalcy extends in this film. The father has gotten it into his mind that outside world is corrupt. Therefore, he has to domesticate his family to prevent the world from corrupting them. This is when the situation begins to spiral wildly out of control. This movie really asks the question: How much of what our parents taught us is true? The movie is Funny, chilling and thought provoking well worth the watch.

"Another Year" centers around a very rare thing a happily married couple in this world of one night stands, social networking and self indulgence it seems we so rarely get it right. This film is a great example of how being around such people can be an oasis in the maelstrom of existence. Few of us are as wonderful people as Tom and Gerri, but I think that it is worth striving to be more like them caring, calm and gentle like your backyard at dusk in the summer warm and comfortable. This film made me smile. I'd recommend watching it with someone you love. Thanks, Kat and Simon for suggesting I watch this movie it was great.

I am going to  confess something to you readers. I know you may have a hard time believing this, but I did not  have strictly pure intentions when I went to see "Sucker punch" in fact, my motivation was along the lines of Emily Browning is gorgeous, and I wouldn't mind watching her put on sexy outfits and look angst ridden for two hours while workmen replace the drywall at my house. Needless to say I wasn't expecting much in the way of a script, and I wasn't disappointed the story is essentially a troubled young woman is institutionalized in a mental hospital by her evil stepfather where she becomes a magical stripper..... no, I'm not kidding. Script aside the visuals are fantastic the director "Zack Snyder" also directed "The 300" and you really do see some amazing eroticized violence I was surprised at a few of the choices not to exploit the actresses in the film the character baby doll is clearly established as being twenty years old when she is checked into the hospital and during her numerous acrobatic moves that cause her skirt to flip up and expose her knickers, they are black and preserve some small sliver of her scant modesty this transmutes the film from exploitative to merely exhibitionistic. However, it does definitely fall short of empowering which I can tell was what they were aiming for. My advice is to wait for it to come to Netflix or DVD and watch it with the sound off terrible, terrible dialogue.

I saw Studio 58's production of "1984" last Friday on opening night courtesy of my uncle,(Thanks Uncle Len!) It's a faithful adaptation of Orwell's book the acting was superb and the actors playing Julia and Winston were very comfortable in the many scenes where physical contact was required if I were to quibble about anything it's that the actor playing Winston Alex Ferguson was, in fact, a little too handsome, whereas I thought Julia was well played by Amy Hall-Cummings arrogant, slightly petulant and sexual. I'd highly recommend you go see it. "1984" runs until April 3rd at The Cultch.