As expected, the New Moon cast was in town for a few days for pre-production work (meaning preparation for filming). Though the crew wasn't on set, they weren't holed up in some hotel room either. They were spotted and pictures snapped everywhere from Robson and Granville Streets to hanging out outside their trailers.

At this point, it sounds like everyone's left for a bit but will be back. Will share more information as it becomes available.

I'd heard via the grapevine of a "New Moon" filming location but I didn't want to post it until I had confirmation and now I've been given the word.

"New Moon" will start shooting at Van Tech in March. At this point it's not clear what sort of filming in going on - I'm assuming it's only principal photography but it has been confirmed. Feelers are out to find the dates but at the moment, all I know is March. If you have a tip, be sure to leave a comment or drop me a line.

There are few people I hate but once in a while, folks do something that angers or rubs me the wrong way and such is the case here. So no, I don’t really hate this person but I do have some strong feelings that will come out below. Take a breath. Here we go.

In response to Josh Tyler’s recent article over at Cinemablend titled “Twilight Rant: They've Got It All Wrong”, I have a few words of rebuttal. My first thought was two words for you Mr. Tyler: Fuck You. But that’s a bit strong and after sitting with this at lunch, I’m a little calmer.

It’s a well written piece and accurate to a point. What rubs me the wrong way is the second to last paragraph which reads:

Not just any women; squishy, gooey, girly types who still swoon a little whenever they see book covers featuring Fabio. This movie’s audience is the Patrick Dempsey fangirl, the comfortable bodied, wine-drinking ladies who made Grey’s Anatomy a hit. They’re the love obsessed women who bought tickets to Made of Honor, and then went home to wonder why their relationships never seem to work out like the ones they see in the movies. They’re the women who believe men are secretly, well, women… and are dead wrong. Many of these women are teens, whom Summit has done a good job of courting, but most of them are just lonely, besotted, and blighted by society’s unrealistic view of romance.

I can get on board with some of the idea, of how women, and I’d venture to say men as well, are unsatisfied with the view of relationships in movies, but to rack up all of the “Twilight” fans into “squishy, gooey, girly types who still swoon a little whenever they see book covers featuring Fabio” and “the Patrick Dempsey fangirl, the comfortable bodied, wine-drinking ladies who made Grey’s Anatomy a hit” is not simply wrong, it’s down right, to me at least, insulting. I’ve never in my life read a novel with Fabio on the cover, nor do I like Patrick Dempsey and “Grey’s Anatomy”? That show is pure dribble. To assume that all fans of the book are shallow, needy women hit a nerve, not to mention that it’s down right condescending.

What bothers me most about this entire thing is that for the first time in what seems like a long time, we have a film that has a fantastical element targeted very specifically at teen girls yet folks seem determined to dole out the hate. Where were these articles when A Cinderella Story or Step Up opened? It was OK for those films to be released and target their market but it’s not OK for this one? What gives? Am I missing some piece of the puzzle?

At this point, I’m ready to stop reading the majority of the reviews from men simply because they seem more determined to insult the film’s potential audience than to speak about the film itself. And I fully realize that this isn’t any sort of review but it’s mean spirited and something I don’t appreciate. I’ll be sure to go around insulting the fanboys when the next shitty comic book movie is adapted. Oh wait – I won’t do that because I have class.

I'm not a huge fan of Harry Potter. I never managed to really get into the books and I've seen the films as they've been released but haven't loved or hated any of them and frankly, if you were to ask me which one was my favourite, I'm not sure I could tell you - they've all started to blend together.

I'm not particularly excited to see the upcoming film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - it opens November 21st, but I saw a few photos from the production that are really spectacular.

From the set which you can find over at /Film, I found this one particularly breathtaking:


I'm not a photography expert, you need only look at my photos to know that I'm a point and shoot sort of girl, but I do know what I like and this photo speaks volumes to me. I love the intimacy of the shot and the emotion it manages to capture on the faces of the actors but above all, I love the composition of it. Perhaps composition isn't the correct term but I admire the way in which the photo was framed, with Harry in the foreground and the clean, muted colours. I have a feeling there may be some computer enhancement going on here, I find it hard to believe anyone's skin is that flawless, but it's a gorgeous photo and one that immediately caught my attention.

Yes, that title is bound to catch attention. If I was writing for either Row Three or the FWC blog, I'd probably have added some asterix but as it stands, this is my personal blog and though the word can have some bad connotations, but in this instance, I think it's worth the risk.

The nice folks at the FWC have organized a great little event coming up this weekend, Saturday, June 14th. The event is taking place at the Ridge Theater. The film will play at 4PM and immediately after the film there will be a special "Pillow Talk" session with: Sonja Bennett (YPF star), Mackenzie Gray (local actor), Charlie Smith (Editor of the Georgia Straight), Neal Clarance (Partner, Ernst and Young LLP), Cam Labine (director of CONTROL ALT DELETE) and the entire thing will be moderated by Kathy Matak (SFU Philosopher's Cafe & Private Investigator). It'll make for a fabulous little event.

I've seen the film and it's great fun so if you're in town, or if you're in Toronto, there's a similar event taking place at the Scotiabank Theatre (Richmond & John Street). For loads more details, be sure to check out the First Weekend Club website.

In the meantime, check out the film's trailer!

There has been a lot of talk around the interweb over the last few months surrounding the firing/letting go of various "prominent" and not so prominent traditional movie critics (by traditional I mean traditional media). Some folks snapped out against bloggers, others against the papers themselves and other still managed to understand that we're in the midst of technological changes that will affect our lives and the lives of generations to come - yes, even things like the way we see film and how/what we read about it. To some, that may be one of the most unimportant aspects of the day to day but to others, myself included, film is a huge part of our lives. Even if I didn't "write" about it, for me movies provide an escape, a learning experience and sometimes even the motivation and inspiration to do something.

I had read a few of these various commentaries but it took Armond White of the New York Press and his essay to really make me question what my place is in my pseudo role as "film critic".

Reading the first few paragraphs I was angry and to an extent, I can't overlook White's dismissal of some of last year's best films but reading on, sleeping on it and re-reading the piece this morning, I also can't help but wonder if White doesn't have a point. With the ever growing number of bloggers out there, everyone has their say and I wouldn't want it any other way but are we missing something in our culture which critics used to provide that is now "apparently" provided by bloggers? If that's indeed the case, how come I don't stumble on these great criticisms on a regular basis?

It's been a hard admission but I'm guilty of White's charges. I don't have a PhD in film, English, art, music or even life but that also doesn't mean that my experiences and personal learning doesn't influence how I interact with film and what I take from it. My life is enriched by more than just movies. I read, I listen to music, I write, I talk to people, I learn from them. What I don't always do, and what I've decided to make an effort to change, is how I share my experiences interacting with film and vice versa. White's point that we need to look and engage beyond what's on the screen and whether it's good or bad and examine, question and argue the merits of the message is a well made point. I'm lucky enough to be involved with a group of people that feel the same way and that want to share, enjoy and discuss more than what's up on screen so I don't have huge steps to take to make my change - I just have to do it.

When I started this movie blogging thing, I never imagined I'd be here 3 years later, having moved from running my own site to contributing to what is shaping into a fantastic site yet - here I am. I'll admit that I have secret dreams of being discovered and becoming famous. I'll also admit that I know very well that it's wishful thinking. What I do want to gain from all of this is the opportunity to share my thoughts on one of the things that brings me great joy in life, film, with others and if one day I can do so and be able to support myself doing it, that would be a huge bonus.

In this recent interview, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg touches a little on publishing and how everyone's famous to 15 people but what struck me most was his comment of RSS feeds as personalized newspapers. What this suggests to me is that there's room for all of us out there on the bloggosphere. Traditional critics don't have to go silent, they simply need to move beyond lamenting on the loss of their daily/weekly/monthly regular readers and keep providing their thoughts and ideas on the web. I do this for free, because I love film. Yes, I understand that everyone needs to earn a living but life is hard for everyone. Critics aren't the only ones losing their jobs and sometimes, one needs to make sacrifices. Perhaps these great critics can't make a living from doing what they love but how many of us really can? Bottom line: if you love something enough, you should do it regardless of what it pays or even how many people are reading it.

Overall, I think Mr. White was a bit harsh in his commentary but it certainly struck a cord with me and for that, I thank him.