It looks like we’re finally seeing the backlash to Jane Austen’s rise in popularity over the past decade or so. Maybe backlash isn’t the right word: It’s more of a side-lash, a re-appropriation. Hollywood’s treatment of Austen has typically targetted the female demographic, full of lush escapism and romantic intrigue. Well, no more. Wresting her work from the clutches of sentimentality are a bunch of projects which marry the Victorian stories with the most sordid aspects of Pulp genre fiction.
Archive for February 23rd, 2009
The DRIVEN calendar, “Soon”: Fringe Rewind
March 12-14 & 19-21, Calgary—For two weekends, six of the most popular artists of Calgary Fringe Festivals past have been invited back to perform in special encore presentations of their shows, in Fringe Rewind.
The beauty of the Rewind is that it’s a kind of greatest hits package, pre-filtering the flops and failed experiments inevitable in any full fringe theatre line-up. You’ll find that record of success all the more reassuring as you wait for the curtain to rise on the well-enough-titled Jihad Me at Hello. More titles after the jump. Read More
DVD Review: Pineapple Express
Now that the 81st Academy Awards are behind us, we can spend this week examining a series of less… artistically celebrated films from 2008, which are now available on DVD. First up is the stoner action comedy Pineapple Express, co-starring Seth Rogen and James Franco—that is, Oscar-nominee James Franco.
Read More
