When politicians attack, artists strike back. Barry Cole, president and chairman of Montreal’s Cole Foundation, is helping do just that through his Intercultural Conversations—Conversations Interculturelles program. The program gives grants to Montreal theatre companies to show the city’s diversity on their stages. “The mission is to present onstage the stories[Read More…]
Articles by Max Bledstein
Green is the warmest colour in Glengarry Glen Ross
The devious machinations of modern capitalism provoke an awful lot of hand-wringing, but they sure make for a great spectacle. Though much of the contemporary media coverage of Wall Street tycoons tends to be negative, the fact that they receive so much interest in the first place indicates the undeniable[Read More…]
Wrong answers are blowing in The Wind Rises
How much responsibility does a filmmaker working from non-fictional material have to accurately represent his subject? It’s a complicated question, and one which muddles the The Wind Rises, an animated biopic that writer-director Hayao Miyazaki re-released with an English cast of voices that replace those in the original Japanese version.[Read More…]
The Lego Movie reminds us that it’s good to be a kid
“Everything is Awesome,” the song heard at the beginning of The Lego Movie, sets the mood for the film right away: it’s fun, hilarious, and unapologetically zany. Remarkably, writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller—known primarily for their work on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street—sustain this[Read More…]
The Seagull will have Montrealers flocking to its stage
In Tom Stoppard’s introduction to his English translation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, he writes, “You can’t have too many English language versions of The Seagull.” Although he very well may have written those words in the interest of stressing the relevance of his translation—particularly given the plethora of other[Read More…]
POP RHETORIC: Grammys take the easy route instead of going Mackleless
Awards shows inevitably feel designed to frustrate fans. The very concept of a group of industry insiders picking a single album, movie, or TV show as the best from a given year almost guarantees that a large swath of people will be unhappy with their choice. However, certain snubs carry[Read More…]
Family matters spiral out of control in All My Sons
The ‘dystopian suburban soap opera’ has become somewhat of a cliché in recent years. Between Alan Ball’s film American Beauty, Tracy Letts’s play August: Osage County, and David Chase’s television series The Sopranos, writers have managed to wring an impressive amount of drama out of debunking the American Dream. Legendary[Read More…]
Bruce Springsteen—High Hopes
Bruce Springsteen has spent his career using extraordinary elements to spice up the seemingly mundane. Be it through the illumination of small-town New Jersey life through deceptively sparse poetry, or the energizing of simplistic song structures with larger-than-life guitar riffs, Springsteen has often found a way to milk material to[Read More…]
Rosanne Cash—The River and the Thread
On Rosanne Cash’s latest album The River and the Thread—her first new record in eight years—the veteran country music singer-songwriter proudly displays her virtuosic talents as a vocalist, lyricist, and a tasteful composer with an acute sense of how to use musical devices to keep her tunes interesting. The themes[Read More…]
TV spectrum
Homeland As fun and compelling as Homeland was at first, the show’s inherently limited premise left viewers wondering where the series could possibly go in future seasons. However, the central concept of a possible undercover terrorist on the loose in the United States was so compelling that it seemed worthwhile[Read More…]
Venue histories
From the West end to the Mile End, Montreal is home to entertainment venues that make its prolific cultural presence possible. The Tribune’s Arts & Entertainment team dug up the histories of some of the city’s notable venues for a look at how they became what they are today. [Read More…]
Rock and roll heart
Legendary producer Brian Eno once famously remarked, ìThe first Velvet Underground record sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.î These thoughtful words say a lot about the type of artist Lou Reed wasóbut not everything. While[Read More…]
Great vengeance and furious anger
The history of racial relations in North America has certainly been a topic of interest among filmmakers and playwrights in recent years—one which audiences have been happy to engage in. One need look no further than the recent successes of Django Unchained, Fruitvale Station, or the buzz around 12 Years[Read More…]
School of Ska
“Two roads before you, and you must make your choice,” legendary ska singer Roy Panton intoned during the final night of the 2013 Montreal Ska Festival. His words aptly described the contrast between the final two nights of the festival, though thankfully for many Montreal ska fans, they didn’t have[Read More…]
Felina finale lands on its feet
*This article contains spoilers* Early on in the Breaking Bad series finale, Skinny Pete, friend and former drug runner for main character Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul), makes a remark that aptly sums up the episode and the series as a whole: “The whole thing felt kind of shady,[Read More…]
Album Review: Sultans of String – Symphony!
Sultans of String have always had an interest in expansion. Though the band started off in 2007 as a duo, they eventually grew to a quintet. On their latest album, Symphony!, they take that growth to a new level with the addition of a full symphony orchestra.
McGill alumnus Mary Alouette explores gypsy jazz on a lark
What would gypsy jazz and electronic music sound like together? Singer-songwriter Mary Alouette provides the answer on her latest EP, The Lark.