Film Reel

The Winnebago Man is coming to Vancouver

Wendy Dallian

Aug 31st, 2010

Director Ben Steinbauer and Internet sensation Jack Rebney.

“WINNEBAGO MAN reveals the story of Jack Rebney, an unlikely folk hero whose outrageously funny outbursts were caught on tape during the making of a Winnebago sales video in 1988. Today, the “Winnebago Man” has been seen by more than twenty million people worldwide and is regarded as one of the first and funniest viral videos. WINNEBAGO MAN is a smart, funny and unexpectedly poignant tale of one man's response to unintended celebrity.”

We sat down with documentary filmmaker Ben Steinbauer to talk about his latest film and get some insight into his journey with this remarkable and timely film.

WD: How did you come to find your subject on the internet. What prompted you to look there?

Ben: I'd found out about Jack beforehand and went to the internet to find out more about him. I got a copy of the tape in 2001 and just immediately fell in love with it.

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The inside scoop on Walking With Dinosaurs

Wendy Dallian

Aug 27th, 2010

Today we talk with Kari Klein, voodoo puppeteer for Walking with Dinosaurs – the Arena Spectacular.

WD: Could you tell us what a voodoo puppeteer is?

KK: We're the ones who basically give the performance to the dinosaurs. It takes three people, over all, to perform each of the large dinosaurs. One person is the dinosaur driver and they're seated in the chassis underneath the dinosaur, kind of like a sled, and they control the physical placement and the speed of the dinosaur on stage. For the puppeteers, it takes six puppeteers per dinosaur.

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Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

Wendy Dallian

Aug 22nd, 2010

Aleks Paunovic, Lori Triolo, Jason Goode. photo: Wendy Dallian

John Patrick Shanley’s play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, chronicles a one night love affair in the Bronx that turns into a life changing encounter between two people who’ve reached rock bottom and have nowhere to go except into each other’s arms.

Aleks Paunovic, (Seven Times, Personal Effects). is the violent yet sensitive Danny, first made famous by John Tuturro in 1984. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is his stage debut.

Lori Triolo (The 4400, Alice I think, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball) plays the emotionally broken Roberta. Triolo was nominated for a Jessie award for her performance in The Sweetest Swing in Baseball.

The play is directed by Vancouver filmmaker Jason R Goode (making his stage directing debut).

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Wendy Dallian

Aug 20th, 2010

This is a fantastic film. One of the most surprising films of the year so far.
I have to admit, that when I went in to the theatre I had a completely different idea of what to expect.

The theatre was packed with mostly 20-something girls and guys. Everyone seemed to be quite familiar with the background of the characters: based on a comic book series.

All I'd heard or read, was that it would most likely be a cross between Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Twilight.
It's probably a good thing I can't recall where I'd heard that, because that was so incredibly far off the mark.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World was almost as much fun as the time I walked through a mall in Tokyo and someone asked if I'd like to try out the new virtual war game they were testing.

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Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel

Wendy Dallian

Aug 20th, 2010

Director Brigitte Berman's documentary about the legendary founder and creator of Playboy Enterprises Inc. is a fascinating, fresh look at a man many associate as simply the owner of a girlie magazine.
Turns out Hef is all that, and a bag of chips: a really big bag of chips.

Clad in silk pyjamas, surrounded by voluptuous near naked women, he first burst onto the scene in 1953 with probably the most famous issue of Playboy magazine: that contained the insatiably beautiful and naked Marilyn Monroe.

Since then he's built an enormous empire that's withstood the sands of time and a whole lot of other potentially ruinous elements along the way.

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Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant hit the mark with CEMETERY JUNCTION

Wendy Dallian

Aug 20th, 2010

Cemetery Junction is the latest film by directors Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

It's a beautiful coming of age comedy set in 1973 in a small English town called Cemetery Junction.
A story of three friends, Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes), and Snork (Jack Doolan) who fight, drink, and chase girls until one day when Freddie decides to grab his ticket out of town in the form of a white collar job.

It's a familiar story of the struggle to crack the mold and break away to better one's life, and sure it's a little predictable, but Gervais (who also plays Freddies dad) hits the mark well enough to forget that and appreciate it for what it is: a lovely feel good piece of art and entertainment.

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GREASE is coming; get tickets in advance

Wendy Dallian

Aug 18th, 2010

The phenomenal stage musical GREASE is on a world tour and stops by Vancouver for eight incredible performances starting October 26th.

The one that you want is back! GREASE, Time Magazine’s 2007 pick for “#1 musical of the year,” is rockin’ across the country in this new production direct from Broadway. Now starring Laverne & Shirley’s Eddie Mekka (Carmine “the big ragu” Ragusa) as DJ Vince Fontaine.

Take a trip to a simpler time of poodle skirts, drive-ins, and T-birds. “Bad boy” Danny and “the girl next door” Sandy fall in love all over again to the tune of your favorite songs: “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’” and “We Go Together” as well as additional songs from the hit movie: “Grease,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want.”

So throw your mittens around your kittens and Hand Jive the night away with the show that’ll make you want to stand up and shout, “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop A-wop-bam-boom!” GREASE!

You won't want to miss this extraordinary classic and for limited time only, advance sale tickets are offered here. They're sure to go quick.

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Eat, Pray, Love attracts crowds of Vancouver women to Park Theatre

Linda Solomon

Aug 15th, 2010

"Eat, Pray, Love" has opened in Vancouver, and women last night lined up from the Park Theatre entrance to the end of the block, waiting to live the journey all over again.

I heard comments in the lineup like, "As we get older it gets worse. There's this, there's that."

And, "I'm with the girls tonight... Doug's off playing golf..."

Inside, a sensual journey through Italy, India and Bali rewarded the crowd with a huge romantic fantasy pay-off at the end. Julia Roberts sails away with sensitive/macho uber hunk Javier Bardem: a match made in middle age heaven.

On the way out I heard, "I don't care what the reviewers say. They're men. It's a fantastic film."

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Welcome to the First Weekend Club

Wendy Dallian

Jul 29th, 2010

Paul Armstrong and Anita Adams. photo: Wendy Dallian

If you want to know what's going on in the Canadian film world, the First Weekend Club is the place to be. Founder Anita Adams with Paul Armstrong, tell us how they started and how this organization is contributing to the Canadian film industry.

AA: The First Weekend Club is a film group that is dedicated to promoting the best in Canadian cinema. We're a membership driven organization and we just try to rally the troops and get people excited about Canadian film.

As our colleague Katherine Brodsky has coined, “The First Weekend Club has been putting bums in seats since 2003.”

WD: What has the response been like?

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A day at the Beach with Falstaff and Henry V

Wendy Dallian

Jul 23rd, 2010

Falstaff hit the tents of Bard with resounding force. That may have had to do with actor/director Dean Paul Gibson in the sizeable role of the roguish knight. An enormous part for an enormous talent.

Alessandro Juliani took on the role of young Henry V and Kevin McNutty as is father, Henry IV.

Bob Fraser stood out as Hotspur, the son of the Earl of Northumberland and the chief opposition to Henry IV. His presence on stage was immediate and strong, stealing scene after scene.

Colleen Wheeler was captivating and extremely engaging as tavern owner Mistress Quickly.

Choreographer Treena Strubel's fight scenes were unique and interesting. A mix of swordplay interspersed with red-headed women with long red robes and tall narrow flags moving rhythmically throughout; both haunting and beautiful.

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