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REVIEW: Greendale: The Movie


Basher

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Just got home from the flick. I ended up getting down real early, and there was very few people in line, so I grabbed veggies and noodles to go, got in line, made new friends and chowed down. By the time we went into the theatre, there were maybe 20 people ahead of us. We got great seats, third row centre, and waited for Neil to arrive. He introduced the film, saying "it's a movie, kinda".

For those who have seen/heard Greendale, the movie is the entire CD, start to finish with no narration. Actors portray the story on screen, but almost every voice is that of Neil's. I won't talk about the story itself, I've said before that I love it. The movie was pretty good. All shot on Super 8, real grainy and rough. Bandit still makes me cry.

After the film, Neil did some Q&A. He said his favourite movie of late was "that musical with Nicole Kidman". "Yeah, Moulin Rouge" he says after the crowd helps him with the answer. He is asked about the Devil's shiny red footwear in the film, to which he responds, "yes, the Devil is wearing Nike shoes". Hilarious. And then, to my delight, I got to pose my own question.

Me: The story of Greendale has been told live solo acoustic, with Crazy Horse in concert with a full stage production, the studio CD, and now the movie. Do you have a favourite way to tell the story of those 4"?

NY: No, I really don't. The movie was so hard to make, and we never thougth we would see it on a screen this big (Uptown 1). I mean, this screen is real big. I remember coming to this theatre as a kid, and I loved it. Too bad they're tearing it down. Did I answer you're question?"

What a night. I was having a rough week, and this was a surprise ending and a great way to kick off the weekend. The fun continues in Ottawa tomorrow.

Peace.

Bash.

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Nice report BS!

As Neil mentioned, they are going to tear down the Uptown Theatre and replace it with a condo. Fuck Famous Players and the " wheelchair access " complainers. The Uptown is the best theatre in Toronto and the last of the " old-style " venues left. One more week and it's all over. Enjoy the box theatres everyone in Toronto!

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Famous Players is a business like any other, and if the theatre isn't making enough money to survive they should not be obligated to leave it open. That being said I have a lot of fond memories of the Uptown, especially during the film festival. I once got to ask Al Pacino a question there too.

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Hey BS,

The Uptown makes money. My beef is with Famous Players being pushed around by the wheelchair access people - the same people that put pressure on Famous Players to build a better wheelchair access facility, which Famous Players said they couldn't afford ( for the Uptown ).

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a) Famous Players had no choice but to bow to the "pressure" from the "wheelchair access people" due to the fact that the decision to close the Uptown was a result of a court order: The Turnbull (et al.) decision dictated that FP either make the venue fully accessible or close by a certain date. The only other avenue would have been to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate to make the theatre fully accessible. It wasn't as simple as attempting to retrofit the theatre with an elevator...

B) The operational expenses in running that building are prohibitively expensive in comparison to the profit turned..it most likely would have been sold/closed anyway within a few years, regardless of the Turnbull decision.

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