The Review Revue

The battle between two heavyweights has never been recorded like this before. It's Cassius Clay trumping Sonny Liston but instead of the ring - an interview. Instead of physical blows - verbal disintegration. This is Frost/Nixon.
The film portrays a critical goal garnered by avant-garde filmmakers since the 1920s. The quest for truth, the definitive cinema verites. Capital tee Truth. What does it mean and how does one find the real Truth of a controversy?
The subject matter is precise, David Frost vs. Richard Nixon, an epic battle between two public titans. Whether an audience of conspiracy theorists or avid entertainment seekers, Ron Howard directs us into an event, a documented event, which would forever encompass the realities of Watergate and disclose, in my opinion, an unbiased Truth of events.
Howard is not hiding the fact that he is directing something already documented. We watch the cameras go on. We are a part of the film crew. We are there as it happens.
The realism is uncanny, as the audience is forced into a position unlike any other; a sense of time that places us into the unfolding circumstances. Nothing hides from the camera's gaze. We watch everything unfold; the mental breakdown of the interviewer and the possibilities of failure in search of truth, the pre-fight trash talking, the urge to define careers and abolish negativism towards controversial lifestyles.
An acknowledgement of the career defining or demolishing moment through the lens of a television projector. But equally, we are able to understand that Nixon himself, as a subject, is purely humanistic and not as careless as Frost and his colleagues had led us on to believe.
While the truth is found, the subject is being extinguished and forgotten as an actual being. He believes his actions are true, like any other man.
Through faux documentary-esque interviews, a notion of time is established at the beginning and at the conclusion. We are given all the facts of what occurred during these four infamous interviews and are asked to decide whether or not the truth should be found regardless of its abilities to debilitate those involved.
The acting works well: Frank Langella IS Nixon, Michael Sheen IS Frost. They're believable and the supporting players are just as astonishing as the main duellists. The dialogue is clever and accurate and delivered exceptionally.
Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt in one corner defending the freedom of free speech, Kevin Bacon in the opposite, defending politics and humanity. Howard's camera changes gears depending on the emotion shown in front of it. Static at times of desperate confrontations between man vs. man and man vs. himself, while other times calm and calculated, portraying a quiet pretence before an attacking shitstorm of verbal action.
The greatest point of Frost/Nixon, in a film sense, is the script itself, followed by the acting deliverance and tied up together through camera style reflective to flex emotion in its audience.
-Giordan KovacsClassic Cut
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Slaugterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death, the 1969 novel by the late Kurt Vonnegut, is a post-modern anti-war science fiction novel that focuses on Billy Pilgrim and his experiences with war and time travel. Sound strange? Well, it is, but more importantly, it's effective.
First, Pilgrim is captured by Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, then he becomes "unstuck in time" and ends up as an exhibit in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, then, after learning of the Tralfamadorians beliefs on life, he is able to jump from different situations in his life.
This novel is a terribly difficult one to explain, but its themes of fate, free will and human nature are easy to understand when read. Alongside Vonnegut's trademark dark humour, it goes beyond just an interesting read to a flat-out enjoyable one.
Slaughterhouse-Five is easily among Vonnegut's best works, alongside Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions. The tragedy of his 2007 death will only live to further this fantastic author's influence on literature.
I've always wanted an excuse to tell people that Vonnegut is a genius, and this column provided a great opportunity. I recall reading Vonnegut's entire catalogue while sitting in front of my locker in high school, and recall laughing endlessly to myself while doing so. If ever you find yourself with some time to read a classic, pick up Slaughterhouse-Five and lose yourself in its otherworldly ideas.
And so it goes.
-Matthew Hadley

MBV 3D
Ah yes, the ancient art of three-dimensional films - it's been around for over 20 years. It's also been effective for equally as long.
My Bloody Valentine 3D, directed by Patrik Lussier, is the first film of 2009 to utilize this technique. A remake of the 1981 original classic, MBV pushes to be more exciting than it's predessor with the 3D effect.
Ten years after the tragic Valentine's night massacre of Harry Warden, Tom Hanniger (played by Jensen Ackles) returns home to the town of Harmony to find that's he's a suspect in the ongoing investigation.
Alongside his return comes a spree of murders. Is it the return of Warden? Is it Hanniger? Is it the sheriff, Hanniger's former best friend Axel? Therein lies the suspense.
It's your pretty run-of-the-mill horror plot. The acting, more often than not, is atrocious. The cinematography, planned for the film's 3D effects, is probably terrible in 2D.
The 3D is the only real thing to talk about here, even though it's terrible for those who get migraines. More often than not, the shot gets blurry if the camera is moving too quickly, or if its focusing on someone who is not in the forefront, or if there's too much going on (as in any shot in the forest). But more often than not, it's still pretty badass.
The shots are prepared to be conducive to 3D. Numerous times you will be shown something jumping out of the screen from a first person perspective, which aids the effect wonderfully.
My Bloody Valentine 3D is a horror film that doesn't have that much new to offer the genre, besides that it's like Canada's Wonderland for the eyes.
-Matthew Hadley