By John H. Foote It was fortunate that I was in my teens for most of the seventies and able to see the forceful power George C. Scott brought to his roles. He was an astonishing actor, one I had the chance to interview while he was shooting a film in Toronto, just he and…
By John H. Foote Towards the end of the seventies many of the emerging and established directors suffered huge box office failures that would impact not only their careers, but the cinema of the time. Drunk with power, with access to hundreds of millions of dollars and free to make whatever films they wanted, they…
By Alan Hurst For most of 1940’s and into the early 1950’s Gene Tierney was a major Hollywood presence, but today even casual movie buffs look vacant when you mention her name. Her personal troubles forced a withdrawal from filmmaking around 1955 and, despite a few forays back on to a soundstage in the early…
By John H. Foote 8. CABARET (1972) I consider this film to be the greatest musical film ever made. Watching Cabaret the first time was like seeing the birth of the American musical, nothing like it had even been made, nothing like it possessed such artistry. It felt as though a bolt of lightning had…
By Marie-Renee Goulet OUT THE BACK DOORS – Short Films 55 minutes – 4 films – Mountain Sports, Adventure & Exploration, Snow Sports “Leave your passport at home because sometimes the best journeys are those taken right out the back door. Running, fly fishing, bike-packing, and skiing adventures close to home – wherever that may be…
By John H. Foote Sir Sean Connery passed this morning, the first James Bond is gone. Connery was a huge movie star for 40 years, inactive the last two decades but incredibly busy from 1960 to 2000. Considered the greatest of the actors to play 007, it was often forgotten just what a truly fine…
By John H. Foote Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, who blew audiences and critics minds with her towering performance as Effie, the pivotal role in Dreamgirls (2006), was handpicked by the great Aretha Franklin to portray the iconic singer in the film biography of her life. That film – Respect – has been getting Oscar buzz…
By John H. Foote Sure, when I was a kid, the old Universal monsters – Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Wolfman- scared the beejeezus out of me. Imagine sitting in a dark old house, my father in the middle of the couch, my brothers and I are on either…
By Craig Leask In 2016 the film Carol which starred Cate Blanchett as a bored housewife who falls in love with an aspiring female photographer (Rooney Mara) earned six Oscar nominations. The following year Moonlight, a film ultimately about a gay black youth struggling to find acceptance and his identity in a world filled with…
By Marie-Renee Goulet A true COVID Silver Lining Each year, I have tried to attend the Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival. If you are on a budget, it is not easy. Banff hotel rates tend to jump to high season, and eating out a few times a day adds up quickly. I would…