by Joseph Rossi Pacific Rim is everything I’ve ever wanted to see in a popcorn movie. It’s huge, loud, thrilling and emotional. It doesn’t dumb down character in service of the spectacle. The film embraces its characters as well as its size cumulating in a genre movie lover’s paradise. This isn’t stuffy, pretentious or dry. […]
Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution by Brett Martin (The Penguin Press, $29.50)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! “…shifting economics revealed that maybe it had always been advertisers, rather than audiences, who were so averse to difficult characters…” -from Difficult Men by Brett Martin Over the last decade there has been a changeover in prestige from the cinema […]
Orson Clarke: Bass On High
by Rik Roe July 4th 2013 will forever have a singular significant meaning and impact for many of us. This day marks the loss of Mr. Orson Clarke. A great man, renowned musician and bassist, family to some and friend to many, as well as being a Grand-master of memory-making. The musical community in and […]
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel (Grand Central Publishing, $31)
By Stuart Nulman In December of 1972, while Barbara Cernan’s husband Eugene was in outer space as part of the Apollo 17 mission – the final mission to the moon — she commented on his remark while he was orbiting the moon three years earlier with Apollo 10, in which the job of being an […]
Da Vinci
By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up www.globalgourmets.ca michael@globalgourmets.ca I’ve been a subscriber to Living Social for some time but have never got around to actually purchasing any of their “deals”, until now that is. A couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and purchased a few for Montreal restaurants and this Saturday I decided […]
Music & Menu Magic at Maddie’s
By Tracey Hill for Curtains Up The word ‘convenient’ isn’t how most restaurateurs would describe their establishments. But at Maddie’s Place, ‘convenient’ is sexier than Channing Tatum in a thin cotton t-shirt on a humid day. Taking the 20 to the Mercier Bridge after rush hour took about 13-14 minutes, and Maddie’s Place is 2 […]
Chef Michael’s Quick, Easy and Delish Dish for the Weekend.
By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up www.globalgourmets.ca michael@globalgourmets.ca Kebabs on the Barbie! Everyone should now be well ensconced into barbecuing, I know I am, at every opportunity. When I think of grilling I immediately think of those wonderful skewered meats and vegetables that we call kebabs. Kebabs originated in the Middle East and were mainly […]
Nuits d’Afrique: Angélique Kidjo conquers the world with love
By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up @bugsburnett Some years ago I asked Angélique Kidjo – one of the world’s great singers – if she could sing her devastating cover of the traditional Tanzanian song Malaika at her Montreal concert. And she did. Malaika, first recorded by Kenyan musician Fadhili William back in the 1950s, tells […]
Curtains Up on The Lone Ranger
by Joseph Rossi Oh, what new hell is this. The Lone Ranger is a disaster of tone. It doesn’t know what it wants to be; a comedy, an action film, an ode to a time gone by. Basically a carbon copy of the over blown Pirates of the Caribbean movies, this flick […]
Flip: The Inside Story of TV’s First Black Superstar by Kevin Cook (Viking, $28.50)
By Stuart Nulman Forty years ago, the late comedian Flip Wilson was one of the most popular entertainers on television. His “Flip Wilson Show” on NBC was a Thursday night viewing habit for millions of Americans, and gave such ratings titans as “All in the Family” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” a run for their […]