The TV Addict 

TURN THE RIVER

Aided by a stellar minimalistic performance by Famke Janssen, Chris Eigeman’s accomplished first feature film is a powerful yet quiet little character study of a pool player (Janssen) trapped in her day-by-day circumstances, trying to make good and do right by her son by removing him from her semi-abusive ex-husband, but struggling to pull herself afloat. There’s an effective tragedy in how spartanly understated the film follows those struggles. Nothing is glamorized here, it’s all gritty, grim, and lacking any cloying drama. That’s why it’s unfortunate when the film awkwardly (and curiously) decides to completely shift its tone at the very end, and go down an excessively dramatic, darker, and much more thriller like road that seems schizophrenically incongruous with everything that’s come before. It left me disappointed because it keeps the film from being a much better well-rounded work. But as it is, it’s still definitely worth recommending (if anything for Janssen’s performance), and an impressive debut from Mr. Eigeman.

Overall rating: B

CHAOS THEORY

For something fixating itself on something as inconsistent as chaos, CHAOS THEORY is a pretty paint-by-numbers affair following your typical uptight middle-class yuppie busting loose from the monotony of his life and learning lessons along the way. Despite the familiarity, the film fare well with its comfortable territory, and thanks to an interesting twist and a charming performance from the always great Ryan Reynolds, it manages to largely off-set the film’s sense of déjà vu and some of its more peculiar histrionics.

Overall rating: B-

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First off, to all the REELaddict readers whom I am honored to call my fellow countrymen and women, I’d like to wish you a wonderful Canada Day, no matter where you may be spending it, and who with. Second, for those of you who may accidently stumble onto the internet and this site during the course of your day, I thought that in honor of Canada Day I’d throw out a quick list of ten of my favorite Canadian actors. Because all Canadians rock, and today shouldn’t be about competition, I’ve only listed them alphabetically.

Please feel free to contribute your own favorites. You can even throw in other Canadian filmmakers if you like, whether it be directors, producers, screenwriters, etc. Also if there are any Americans out there who also have Canadian filmmakers they love, please feel free to throw in your two cents as well.

Will Arnett
Though he is making his way more and more into film, Will Arnett will forever hold a special Canadian place in my heart for his consistently hilarious performance as Gob on the much-missed TV-show ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

Sarah Carter
I’ve had a pretty big crush on Sarah Carter since her sexy guest spots on both SMALLVILLE and ENTOURAGE. After a few unsuccessful films, Carter has found a permanent place on the TV show SHARK, making her one of the many Canadian actors representing our country on the boob tube. Hm. That was probably a bad time to use the expression “boob tube.” Pun not intended. I think.

Tom Cavanagh
I wish Tom Cavangh were my best friend. I think he’s awesome, whether it be his charming roles on the now defunct show ED and LOVE MONKYE, his amazing recurring character on SCRUBS, or his turns in the films ALCHEMY (with fellow Canadian, Sarah Chalke), GRAY MATTERS, or BREAKFAST WITH SCOT. Besides the latter was not only a Canadian film, he played a former Maple Leafs hockey player. It doesn’t get more Canadian than that folks.

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With the announcement that a CAPTAIN AMERICA film is coming our way, and that Marvel has already a compiled a list of actors it wants to potentially play the star-spangled superhero (with Matthew McConaughey at the top of that list apparently), I decided to sit down with my friend, fellow comic book connoisseur, and co-editor of MONDOmagazine – the online magazine that gave this humble blogger his start – Miles Baker and talk about possible casting choices for the film.

NOTE: At the time this article was written Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige had not yet informed us the McConaughey rumors were false, nor confirmed that the film will be a period piece set in World War II.

REELaddict: So, Matthew McConaughey. I think though he has the physical build, I just see him as too much of a silly rogue who likes taking off his shirt and smoking weed. I don’t think he’s “serious” enough for the role. He always has that ironic glint in his eye in every movie he’s in.

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That sound you hear? The one that resembles broken glass being stepped on and being crunched and ground further into even smaller pieces? That would be the sound of the utter destruction of all my hopes to write a script that would make me millions of dollars, get Scarlett Johansson attached to star in it, leading her to meet with me to discuss her character which then subsequently would lead to her hopelessly falling in love with me, and my ineffable wit and adorably geeky charm. Given the announcement that she is now engaged to hunky Ryan Reynolds (dammit, why it’d have to be someone I have nothing against and actually like?!), I guess I’ll just have to settle for making millions of dollars off of my scripts. Le sigh.

By: Alexander B. Huls

The fundamental obstacle every romantic comedy must overcome is the inherent predictability of its genre, while simultaneously being entirely dependent upon it. People go see a rom-com because they want to watch boy and girl meet, fall in love, fall out and back in love, and live happily ever after. What they don’t want to see, however, is a film just going through the motions, adhering to the formula without a somewhat original concept, approach, or tone. Even rom-coms that have those latter things don’t always succeed because it takes some talent to pull it off. This is partly why I find that many modern romantic comedies fail, and why I can’t name you very many that I (a genuine lover of the genre) think have been really good.

DEFINITELY, MAYBE, thankfully, is one of the good ones, largely because writer-director Adam Brooks and the actors of the film succeed in capitalizing on the clever idea of turning a romantic comedy simultaneously into a mystery and a coming of age story.

Shortly before Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) divorce is to be finalized, he relents to his daughter Maya’s (Abigail Breslin) insistent inquiries as to how he met her mother. Instead of telling her directly though, he turns it into a bed-time mystery, telling her about the three major loves of his life (changing their names), and then letting Maya try and guess which one is her mother. From there he recounts the tale of Emily (Elizabeth Banks), his small-town Mid-Western college sweetheart who fears she will lose her boyfriend to the seduction of New York City; April, the charming, quirky, fun super-left Daily Show/Colbert Report type, who (in Maya’s words) is “the best friend who wants to be the girlfriend”; and Summer Hartley, the sophisticated, uninhibited, aspiring journalist.

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