Canadian | timotheories

You’re Gonna Start A Howl (Wolfcop review)

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

I like to think I’ve seen my share of horror movies. Mainly because I’m a child of the 80’s and horror movies were in their heyday between the 1980s and 1990s, so just as I was growing up I got to know the major successes of the time and watch them in the comfort (read: discomfort) of my parents basement.

But the thing about horror movies is that they come out all the time and haven’t really slowed down by any means since that supposed heyday.

What that means for the novice movie watcher or the aged veteran, is that there are now all kinds of genre benders out there, and there is a good chance that you haven’t seen them all yet. Which is where this week’s entry comes in.

Wolfcop (2014)

Cast: Leo Fafard, Amy Matysio, Jonathan Cherry, Sarah Lind, Jesse Moss
Director: Lowell Dean
released on blu-ray March 10, 2015
******* 7/10

IMDB: 5.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%, Audience Score 46%
The Guardian: ***/*****

Lowell Dean is a Canadian film maker – yay for Canadian content! He has directed two feature films to date, 13 Eerie which was released in theatres in 2013 and Wolfcop which was released in theatres in 2014. I scoured the internet, including IMDB, Wikipedia and even his personal website, in the hopes of explaining his directorial style some more but unfortunately that was all I could find. Oh, I also know he was born in 1979 which makes him 37 or 38 years old.

So yeah. There’s not much to go on in the way of an introduction.

But sometimes that’s what happens with indie films, you don’t get a lot in the way of traditional information. And further to that point, the content often strays from your typical fare because, dammit, it can.

Taken from Wikipedia and edited,

Lou Garou (Leo Fafard), an alcoholic cop in the small community of Woodhaven, spends most of his day either asleep at work or at Jessica’s (Sarah Lind) bar. When his friend Willie Higgins (Jonathan Cherry) phones in a complaint of occult activity in the area of his gun store, the police chief (Aidan Devine) sends Garou to investigate. After meeting with Higgins, Garou dismisses his concerns as the actions of heavy metal fans. Higgins again reports a disturbance, and the chief forces Garou to investigate. When he arrives at the scene, Garou finds occultists in the middle of a ceremony to sacrifice an upstart politician who was running on a platform of reform and anti-corruption. Garou is knocked out and wakes up the next morning in his bed, not remembering how he got there, though he has a pentagram carved into his stomach.

Garou’s senses become extremely sharp, and his wounds heal near-instantly. As he investigates the case, he surprises Jessica and his coworkers, all of whom had written him off as lazy and incompetent. As he goes over his notes at Jessica’s bar, she encourages him to drink more and invites him to join her privately. Before he can, two criminals part of a local gang sneak into the bar and attack him in the bathroom. Garou, who is in the middle of a transformation into a werewolf, easily kills one and drives off the other. Angry that they did not kidnap Garou, the gang leader stabs out the eye of the escaped gangster when he claims to have seen Garou transform into a monster. Meanwhile, Garou ends up in Higgins’ house, handcuffed to the bed. Higgins explains that he captured Garou and restrained him for his own safety. Higgins later researches his condition, and they learn that occult ceremonies in which a werewolf is sacrificed can strengthen the magic of reptilian shapeshifters.

Garou and his partner, Tina (Amy Matysio), investigate the deaths at the bar and a series of seemingly unrelated armed robberies by a gang who wear pig masks. Higgins convinces Garou that he must be restrained at night, and Garou submits to being locked in the town’s jail. However, when the police station receives a call for help, Garou, who has since transformed into a werewolf but has retained his human intelligence, dons his policeman’s uniform and heads to the local supermarket, where the pig-mask gang have taken hostages. Garou savagely kills all the pig-mask robbers and heads toward a meth lab. Higgins cowers in the car as Garou again savagely kills several gun-wielding gangsters…

This movie is rather short, as most horror and comedy films are, and it takes full advantage of the runtime to slowly draw you in and assimilate your sensibilities. It does this so that all of a sudden that when the final 25 minutes start to creep in, you haven’t realized how casually you’ve invested in the construction.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing, because the movie starts slow and is somewhat confusing, but as you understand Lou, the town of Woodhaven and it’s characters you almost feel robbed of more movie. On top of that Wolfcop walks a fine balance between the nostalgia of practical effects and the impracticality of them in execution. You can tell that the crew had fun making the movie, that’s for sure.

Pros: The spin Wolfcop takes on the werewolf mythology is charming, funny, and something to be appreciated. Of course, it helps that it takes it’s cues from the campiness of the 1980s. That’s the beauty of Postmodernism though, taking dissimilar concepts like a werewolf and a police officer, combining them, and producing interesting results.

Cons: Because this is unexplored territory and the comedy uneven, not all of the jokes come through – They are particularly dry. I wish that more time was spent on developing the humour of the situation.

Runtime: 1 hours 19 minutes

Points of Interest: The film exists in distribution because Dean was awarded the 2013 CineCoup Film Accelerator, worth $1 million in financing. The main character is is named Lou Garou which is a play on words. In French loup garou means werewolf.

So there you have it, a movie about an alcoholic cop turned werewolf and filmed in Canada exists. It’s rare for Canadian film to be part of the horror landscape (think Ginger Snaps), and even stranger still for a movie to do well, but it is in a fine tradition.

The truth is that Wolfcop isn’t doing anything tremendously new or interesting as it relates to horror movies, but what it does do, it has a lot of fun doing. Sure, there are lots of horror comedies out there, but that doesn’t mean that they are Canadian born and breed. As I mentioned earlier, maybe you haven’t watched a horror movie in a while, so If you want to try something “new” Wolfcop will likely surprise you, in a good way.

But that’s just a theory. What do you think? Have you seen Wolfcop? It’s been out for a couple of years now, but it’s not stale by any means. I’m done for now friends, I’ll see you tomorrow with some wisdom.

Tim!

Security Blanket (Wintersleep, The Great Detachment review)

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Winter is a weird season, it manages to be both comforting and stifling. You bundle up, enjoy creature comforts and hang out with only the necessary people for short periods of time; daylight is precious after all. But with that lack of freedom and sunlight, people have a legitimate reason to be afraid of seasonal affective disorder.

Which is why having a security blanket can be a good thing. It’s a transitional object that gives your brain rest and ease, especially in those months when it feels like the sun has left forever. But what if your security blanket was also an electric one? Would the risk of starting a fire qualify it’s status or eliminate it?

Wintersleep – The Great Detachment
released March 4, 2016
******* 7/10

Wintersleep are a Canadian indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They have won one Juno for New Group of the Year, and a MMVA for their song Weighty Ghost.

Before we get started, please go watch the video I just linked to, and if you don’t know who they are from their name alone, I’m sure you’ll recognize that track, which it will help give the rest of the review context.

What a cool song, eh?

Well unfortunately, it seems like Weighty Ghost has haunted Wintersleep ever since they released it back in 2007 (pun intended). Because almost a decade later and here we are with The Great Detachment, Wintersleep’s 6th studio album, anticipating something similar to that beautiful little number.

I’d be hard pressed not to describe this as a fitting album title, given what we already know about the band and their awesome single Weighty Ghost, from my hundred or so words of exposition above. They are attempting to separate themselves from the two albums between Welcome to the Night Sky and this one, realizing that they need to be invigorated to remain relevant. But it turns out the group has also made some other decisions that factor into the title. They parted ways with their manager recently and also went on a one year hiatus, so there are literal elements at play as well as symbolic ones.

Equal parts anthem and apathetic (listen to Spirit in particular), this record has some punch to it.

The Great Detachment opens on an extreme high, reminiscent of that curse-like song, and follows just as well with Santa Fe. By all accounts these two songs are worth the price of admission alone. Paul Murphy has amazing vocals and these two songs showcase them well. Santa Fe teases us with some synthpop elements too, which is ALWAYS fun to hear, especially from indie-rockers.

This is the kind of music that both casual listeners and genuine fans of the band can enjoy and not feel guilty about singing along to on a roadtrip or while jamming out at home on a weeknight.

More Than is sweet and sentimental, Shadowless is somber and serious, and Metropolis conjures up images of The Tragically Hip and Pearl Jam simultaneously. I’m also a big fan of Freak Out, which I bet will be fun to dance to at a live show.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any music videos for this album to share with you, but you can listen to the official audio of Amerika and Santa Fe if you’re up for it. As I mentioned already, it’s a one-two punch that can’t really be beat.

So I guess we are left with a final question. Does The Great Detachment win album of the year or any other accolades? No, but it’s damn good indie-rock and nothing to be ashamed of, plus it’s a positive change of direction for Wintersleep which should be encouraged.

Like a security blanket, Wintersleep make us feel at ease and comforted. But sometimes they turn up the heat and also provide us with some heat too, but I don’t think you have to worry about them ever short-circuiting and starting on fire. They aren’t that kind of blanket, I mean band.

That’s all folks, come back tomorrow for something theatrical and also seasonal.

Tim!

Blue? Boycott The Red Carpet and White Folk? (88th Annual Academy Awards Night)

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Anyone familiar with apologetics? It’s this concept that reasoned communication in support of a theory, belief or doctrine (usually spiritual) will help win people over to that belief, and the idea behind it is that this method of discussion is actually more useful than the typical debate format.

Now don’t get too far ahead of yourself dear readers. I suspect some of you may already be thinking to yourselves… Here we go, we know the topic is the Academy Awards, and the title is referencing the decision-making process behind it. Oh timotheories, you small, silly, social savant, you are about to tell us why the Academy Awards are really actually quite good and that we shouldn’t scrutinize an American institution which is biased “white washing” and ignoring people of minorities.

And you wouldn’t be wrong to say that I am going to address this, because quite frankly it’s out there, and it seems like my Facebook feed and half the articles I’ve seen on other social media are discussing this topic. So let’s get topical, because it’s important.

The Oscars are almost 100 years old, and they are run by mostly American filmmakers. I cannot stress the importance of that word enough. American. Look at what Wikipedia has to say about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) –

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy’s corporate management and general policies are overseen by a Board of Governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.

The roster of the Academy’s approximately 6,000 motion picture professionals is a “closely guarded secret.”^[2] While the great majority of its members are based in the United States, membership is open to qualified filmmakers around the world.

The problem is inherent. You ask someone to rate something and they will do the best they can given their knowledge and experience. And that’s in a vacuum. But when you make that rating system important, segmented, and secret, it creates inbreeding of the worst kind. The authors of these votes are hidden, they cultivate a look and feel for their event, and they want to keep it that way.

After all, that’s what we’ve come to expect.

Someone might say to you, don’t blame the Academy members, they are only voting based on what they know. And I would agree that it’s true that the Academy is working to maintain it’s position whether it’s consciously destructive or not. But that root issue is whether the institution should be allowed to continue to operate the way it does or whether it needs competition and possibly a replacement. Obviously it’s more complex than just wanting one of those outcomes, but change needs to start somewhere.

Because even if we were to overlook the fact that this is an American organization that puts on an award show for films (mostly American films), the United States is made up of more than just Caucasian males, so American movies should be awarded based on a representation of the American population. On the other side of the coin, if you have supported the institution you can’t get mad at it because it’s been defined by it’s public support over the last 87 years.

Think about that for a minute. People watch the show.

Millions of people around the world tune in to watch an American film awards ceremony and complain that it’s flawed. No shit, really? Well we live in a time when democracy, free will, and striving for equality are on everyone’s lips. Subversion and evolution is slow-going, unless enough change happens quickly and at the same time to force a shift in priorities, this won’t change, and we’ll continue to complain about it for decades.

So we have to decide something as individuals. Do we boycott the Oscars? Do we complain about the Oscars on social media and traditional media, through petition? Do we fund organizations that support diversity and quality of film rather than very specific criteria based on opinions dictated by a hidden membership?

Well, shit. I guess you’ve made it this far, so you must want to know what timotheories really thinks about it. We support the rights of representation by population. Organizations should exist to support the majority. Which means that Canadian films should be supported at Canadian awards shows, American films at American ones, and so on, and so forth. What we all should be supporting at the end of February every year is a global award show that showcases the best in film internationally.

So long story short, I think you should watch the Academy Awards, so that you can understand what is wrong with it, and then speak out about it and know what a film awards ceremony should look like. Please also support organizations which are young, so that older institutions like AMPAS have to evolve or die. That’s the only way to see real change.

For you Edmontonians, one way to enjoy this experience is by heading over to Garneau Theatre and joining Metro Cinema as they guest host the event from the comfort of your local independent movie theatre. Metro Cinema is an amazing organization which supports diversity of film and grass roots change is really the best place to start. As I’m sure you already know, dear readers, this event called the Oscars usually takes more than 2-3 hours to complete, so the organizers at the theatre have prepared something special for you to get yourself in the mood and on par with the festivities. Check it out, you just might see me there.

But what do you think? Am I off my rocker? Too much of an idealist, not enough realist? Am I cynical? A white male moron? Please leave some comments and subscribe. I wanna get better.

Those are all of the theories I’ve got for today dear readers, I’ll see you on Sunday with something stimulating!

Tim!

Lollipop (Grimes Art Angels review)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Tim Kuefler

I’m gonna tell you a little secret dear readers, while I don’t own any of their albums, I’m a pretty big fan of CSS.

This is probably because when I was in my early 20’s they were “cool” and “weird” and something hipsters were into, but I think my favourite thing about them was that they had a song called Art Bitch and another called Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above.

I’ve always been a fan of pop music, and if the music and lyrics were engaging, you had my money.

Which is why today’s review is kind of awesome, because this feels like a throwback and something completely original at the same time. Also, anything with the word art in the title has to be good, right?

Grimes – Art Angels
released December 11, 2015
********* 9/10

Claire Elise Boucher, better known as Grimes, is a Canadian singer/songwriter, music video director and record producer. This is her 4th studio album release and the most chart-topping example of her unique vision to date.

I have had a lot of fun listening to this album. It changes dramatically throughout, and even varies inside of specific tracks. I think some the most euphoric experiences with it have been listening to the CD in the car on my way to and fro.

But while this album is incredibly well crafted, I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as easy-listening for the more timid listener.

For instance, while I gravitated to the content almost immediately, both my girlfriend and one of my brothers couldn’t quite place the music the first time listening through themselves and as a consequence they both wanted to move on quickly.

It’s the kind of album that perfectly encapsulates the era we are living in, it pulls from a plethora of influences and captures them in fantastical and dreamlike ways. There are celtic parts, dreampop moments, psychobilly screams, spoken word in other languages, horror-movie inspired progressions, and audio samples that I’d swear came out of a video game from the 64 bit days or earlier.

Wikipedia has tried to summarize her identity by taking other summaries and mashing them together, which I find hilarious, by the way. And oh so relevant to what Grimes represents.

This quote from The Guardian says it well –

By sounding a little like everything you’ve ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard.

I’m gonna tell you something that might seem crazy, but really shouldn’t be. The reason why Grimes’ music is so awesome is not because she is a trendsetter in a sea of pop music, and as a result her music is as high of a caliber as the likes of Lorde, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Ellie Goulding, among others, but because she sets trends by controlling her oeuvre and making music that is interesting and has intent. This is what pop music should sound like. Authentic music by artists that suit their personalities and tastes.

Claire Elise Boucher is inviting us into her reality, as opposed to trying to work in the reverse.

Kill V. Maim is a song from the perspective of Al Pacino in The Godfather pt II, California addresses her new hometown (a play off of Taylor Swift’s Welcome to New York?), REALiTi a love song that features insanity, and Butterfly is a send-up to Mariah Carrey and environmentalism.

If you don’t believe she is electic, and seeing is your truth, check out these music videos for Flesh without Blood/ Life in the Vivid Dream and REALiTi for a visual treat and a sample of her music directing skillz.

It is an incredibly rich and diverse offering, and I like it. But my major complaint is that it doesn’t dovetail with the same explosive and powerful quality that it opens with in the first track, laughing and not being normal. But if you are looking to shake up your pop roots, this is the one for you.

Art Angels is a fantastic entry from a really great artist who is embracing her weirdness and producing something original. Like CSS, she has made a fan of me, but unlike CSS, I’m gonna keep to my word and continue to buy her records. You should too.

See you tomorrow for a movie review, have a good night folks!

Tim!

Hurts So Good (Alessia Cara, Know-It-All review)

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Tim Kuefler

I blame Alicia Keys for my unfounded belief that I can play the piano, whenever I see one. She started it with the song Fallin’. Let’s be honest, the lady makes it look incredibly easy to do because she uses emotions and well constructed hooks to sing about issues that we all experience. Falling in love for example.

But you know what they say? We often hurt the ones we love the most?

I love R&B music, and it’s really difficult to not get hurt by or to attempt to hurt it with words, so keep that in mind for this week’s Melodic Monday.

Alessia Cara – Know-It-All
released November 13, 2015
********** 8/10

Alessia Caracciolo, who also goes by the stage name Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter.

I don’t know Cara, but I like her. And I think that even though she is 11 years my junior, we could probably be good friends if we hung out in real life.I suspect it might be the music convincing me of this idea, but a guy can pretend every once in a while right?

No, I’m kidding. It’s also her social media presence that makes me believe.

Cara made a record that I instantly liked. I know this because I’ve heard this kind of music so many times before, but what was different this time was that I recognize her potential to become so much more than the label production that Know-It-All is born of.

Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to this album.

You absolutely should. It is Canadian music, by a talented female musician who happens to be getting recognition for her career choice right now, and it makes perfect sense.

I think it’s super cool that as a child of the internet she began playing at 10 years old, got a YouTube channel 3 years later, and slowly built up an audience of 20,000 subscribers. The best ranked of these videos is a cover song of The Neighborhood’s Sweater Weather. What is even more exciting about this story is that the video eventually made it’s way to a music executive at EP Entertainment (affiliated with Universal) because his daughter liked it enough to tweet the content. And all of a sudden a spotlight was cast on Alessia Cara.

And that’s not the only cover that Cara has done.

This past summer she published a video of her singing Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood for BBC Radio 1. And Taylor loved it. She even tweeted about it herself. And let’s be frank, that’s some pretty good press for a 19 year old who has talent but only a small reputation.

But what about the album? That’s what you really want to know, right dear readers?

Well Alessia has the conflicts of teenage life covered quite well with Seventeen, the opener track. Outlaws does a good job of this as well. But where she really shines in the concept is with Here. What an anthem track! It’s so damn well done, that they had to put in another version of it as a bonus track. A smart choice for the first single to be sure.

She isn’t the first teenager to realize she doesn’t know it all, but I like her take on the challenges she is working through. She tweeted this after she decided what to call her album.

Wild Things is the second single of the album, and it is great throwback to the children’s story by Maurice Sendak. Whether intentional or not. Another anthem, but this time specifically for those people who hang on the fringes, pioneers and outsiders. A place to play a drum and hold a rumpus.

There are of course, typical songs about heartbreak (Overdose) and songs about being true to yourself (Scars to the Beautiful) which don’t realize her identity at all, but because of the voice behind them, and the hints of personality and potential found elsewhere, I think it makes you appreciate them a little bit more than you should. And heck, just because it’s formulaic, it doesn’t make the music unenjoyable.

Cara hasn’t convinced me I can play piano, but she has reminded me that R&B music is alive and well, and I really hope she keeps making it look easy.

Tim!