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Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is More than just Gospel, A Review

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By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

For much of the month of August, Kahlil Gibran‘s animated version of The Prophet is finally making its pilgrimage throughout North America in select theatres, and it is a tour de force of spirituality and wonder. It’s beautifully worded euphemisms and metaphor imparts important lessons not only to the people of Orphalese but also to audiences. Hopefully more theatres will be added to this tour, as this is not your typical animated film. It’s a spiritual film that makes perfect use of the animated medium to impart knowledge to the masses. The animation blends a variety of styles into a cohesive whole and it truly is a journey of self-discovery for anyone coming to see it.

In this tale, a young Almitra has lost her way. The Hamsa that’s seen in this film and promotion of it offers her some protection against the township who see her as a street urchin, a scoundrel. Her mother believes that she is simply lost. Ever since her dad passed away, she stopped uttering a single word. When Kamila has to go off to work, to take care of a poet, Almustafa, under house arrest, the day goes awry when this young girl tags along instead of going to school. When she meets this supposed criminal, what happens is a journey of realization. When he gets released, the township greets him with open arms while the French administration has other plans. Just what happens is ultimately predictable and the action connects this character to other prophets of yore.

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The Passion is Misplaced in Ricki and the Flash, A Review

Ricki By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

This year is seeing an interesting pairing of two aging musicians trying to come to terms with the families they left behind. Early in the year saw Danny Collins trying to shed his playboy image while attempting to get to reconnect with his son. In early August, audiences got to see Ricki and The Flash, where the lead singer of this band, Rendazzo (Meryl Streep), finds love with patrons at a juke joint in Tarzana, California but in the real world is attempting to make ends meet. Trying to make it in the entertainment business is tough, and she left a whole family behind in order for her to achieve her dreams. When her daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) completely loses it over a cheating spouse and is informed by her ex-husband, she rushes to Indianapolis to offer some moral guidance. But no one wants her back in their lives. For a good decade and a half, at least, she was never there for them.

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American Ultra is certainly Outlandish, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

new-american-ultra-posters-arrive-for-comic-con-new-poster-for-american-ultra-497864 If Shaggy Rogers of Scooby-Doo fame ever meets the stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) in American Ultra, he better start running away now! This amusing action-comedy-romance explores the life of a clueless young adult who has the skills of a trained assassin. He knows how to utilize it but when he’s spent a good part of his life wonderfully sedated, some of those special skills he knows are not as well honed as they could be. Neither is this movie.

The bigger plot that unfolds outside of Howell’s world is more interesting than the cat-and-mouse game where Howell’s involved. The onus is on Adrian Yates (Topher Grace), a high-ranking CIA operative trying to impress his superiors. He ordered the hit on Howell in order to erase the people involved in a CIA program to create sleeper agents.

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Go Turbo Kid! Go! A Movie Preview

Coming to select theatres in Canada starting August 27th.

Toronto – Cineplex Vonge & Dundas and Carlton Cinemas
Ottawa – Mayfair Theatre
Waterloo – Princess Theatre
Edmonton – Metro Theatre
Vancouver – Rio Theatre
Kitchener – Apollo Theatre
Halifax – Cineplex Park Lane

Arriving on VOD on August 28^th on Bell, iTunes, Rogers, Shaw and Vimeo.

Back in the 70’s, bicycle motocross racing became very popular and it’s turned into the only mode of transportation in an aptly created post-apocalyptic world in Turbo Kid. This realm looks like it belongs in the 80’s, and that’s part of this film’s charm. It waxes tribute all the way and wanes with a cinemagraphic style to make it belong to the low budget category to make it a class of its own.

In this world, there’s no gas to move vehicles along. Everything depends on people using their own feet to get anywhere either in life or to destinations unknown. In this Mad Max inspired world, a lone boy simply known as The Kid (Munro Chambers) wants to outlive his peers. He trades junk — vestiges of a ruined world and perhaps also his youth — to survive. In what doesn’t get traded are his comic books, as they represent a dream world for him that he hopes to become part of.

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How Many TV Spies can I Eye This Year?

Quite a number of TV spies have appeared throughout the years featuring agents of varying abiliites. From 24 to The Wild Wild West, only a handful (including the latter title) have been developed to film.

Quite a number of TV spies have appeared throughout the years featuring agents of varying abiliites. From 24 to The Wild Wild West, only a handful (including the latter title) have been developed to film. The appeal for this genre certainly hit an all-time high from the mid 60’s to early 70’s, and from there on, the odd program would emerge to re-ignite interest. I’m a huge fan of Chuck, and not since then has a new series of a similar calibre emerged.

From that past era, the list of properties to film includes The Avengers, The Saint, Get Smart, I Spy, La Femme Nikita and Mission Impossible. A few were developed to simply be spy comedies and others were modernized for amping up the action, especially Mission Impossible. A few stayed within context for the time. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is one such release. Both these films saw recent releases, and to say which one is better is a tough choice. Reviews are offered to investigate both on its own merits.

Pages: 123

Follow the Rising Water known as Yakona, A Documentary

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Plays at Cinecenta
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC
Aug 11 7:00 & 9:15 pm

For other showtimes, please click here.

Not many documentaries can hold a viewer for more than 45 minutes. When one does, they are typically filled with narration to explain the purpose of why it is expanding an individual’s mind to the wonders of the planet Earth, or the universe. Sometimes, in a theatrical presentations like Yakona, the purpose is to captivate and let the viewer decide for themselves what the visual thesis is about. Through sound and image instead of narration (having this track would have been beneficial), a creation and apocalyptic myth are being forged about the San Marcos River (located in Central Texas) as it borne from springs in the aforementioned region to Spring Lake.

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