Tag: Cancon

CanCon 101: Our Man Flint, Lo-Fi style

October 30, 2013 | By | Add a Comment
CanCon 101: Our Man Flint, Lo-Fi style

The latest installment of CanCon 101, a periodic series showcasing Canada’s less-than-illustrious cinema, is Our Man Flint: Dead on Target, a rather inept attempt to transform the eponymous super-spy in Fox’ two Films Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967) into a weekly hero.

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CanCon 101: Sexcula – “She’ll suck more than your blood!”

May 21, 2013 | By | Add a Comment
CanCon 101: Sexcula – “She’ll suck more than your blood!”

Yes, it’s true: the first and perhaps only hardcore film to enjoy the benefits of Canada’s tax shelter system during the heady seventies not only exists, but is available on DVD from Impulse Picttures / Synapse Films. I guess this means as taxpayers, we took part in Sexcula’s making, and I’m okay with that. Are you?

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James Coburn is… In Like Flint!

March 25, 2013 | By | Add a Comment
James Coburn is… In Like Flint!

Derek Flint returns in swanky HD via Twilight Time’s Blu-ray edition of In Like Flint, with all the key extras from the Ultimate Flint DVD set plus Jerry Goldsmith’s score isolated in uncompressed stereo.

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CanCon 101 and a Career Nadir: John Huston’s Phobia (1980)

January 24, 2013 | By | Add a Comment
CanCon 101 and a Career Nadir: John Huston’s Phobia (1980)

Yes, another installment of CanCon 101, featuring John Huston’s much-maligned tax shelter film Phobia (1980), shot in Toronto, and available nowhere. Also: short Editor’s Blog with nods to EOne’s recent purchase of Alliance Films, and the Canadian film channel Starlight.

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Canada’s Top 10, Doc Soup, and CanCon 101: Death Ship (1980)

January 5, 2013 | By | Add a Comment
Canada’s Top 10, Doc Soup, and CanCon 101: Death Ship (1980)

Quick tally of notable screenings in T.O., including The Bloor’s Doc Soup: Portrait of Wally (with director Q&A) + Cinema Politica: Doctors of the Dark Side (with guest Q&A), and Canada’s Top 10 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Speaking of Canadian cinema heritage (ahem): I’ve uploaded a lengthy review of Alvin Rakoff’s Death Ship (1980), recently released in a crisp Blu-ray special edition by Scorpion Releasing, which somewhat replaces the 2007 Region 2 DVD from Nucleus Films.

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Happy 1st & 4th of July. Ahem.

July 3, 2012 | By | Add a Comment
Happy 1st & 4th of July. Ahem.

To tie in Canada Day (July 1), U.S. Independence (July 4), and the headache of why CanCon continues to get short-shrift from local companies, here’s a lengthy Editor’s Blog, using Leon Marr’s excellent & unavailable Dancing in the Dark (1986), which screened back in January at the TIFF Bell Lightbox with its director and star Martha Henry in attendance.

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Jan Kadar does CanCon – Lies My Father Told Me (1975)

January 15, 2012 | By | Add a Comment
Jan Kadar does CanCon – Lies My Father Told Me (1975)

Review of Ergo Media’s new DVD of Lies My Father Told Me(1975), Jan Kadar’s film version of Ted Allan’s semi-autobiographical tale of 1920s Jewish Montreal.

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Cancon I: A Ticket to the Heavenly Mother Lode

April 12, 2011 | By | Add a Comment
Cancon I: A Ticket to the Heavenly Mother Lode

In the first of an ongoing series on Cancon (Canadian content) films made during the tax shelter years, we start with Charlton Heston’s underrated directorial venture Mother Lode (Warner Home Video), which isn’t a Canadian film per se, but is loaded with Cancon talent and was filmed in B.C. Because the film co-starred Nick Mancuso, I’ve added a review of a true Cancon film, the equally underrated drama Ticket to Heaven (Echo Bridge), but check out the Editor’s Blog prior to the reviews…

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