Rating: A-

What’s it about? 22-year old slacker Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, but must defeat her seven evil exes in battle before he can date her.

What’s its Bechdel Test Score?

2/3 – the girls only talk to each other about Scott, which is a step back from the books where they sometimes talked about other things too. There is a “small talk” conversation or two but it’s just tense, coded talk about boys.

What About Minorities?

B for effort? I guess? Knives is still Chinese (if she wasn’t I would be raging so hard), and she is actually more awesome than in the books, BUT the Japanese twins don’t even get any lines? Which was weird? A lot more attention was paid to Matthew Patel’s Indian-ness than in the comics which… I don’t think was necessary. But other than that it was pretty faithful.

So…

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Rating: C+ 

What’s it About? When a famous super villain is overshadowed by a young upstart, he adopts three little girls to use in his master plot to steal the moon.

What’s its Bechdel Test Score?

3/3 – the three little girls in it have their own agenda of getting a new family, but at the end of the day they have little character growth and are just there for Gru to learn a lesson.

I was pretty disappointed by this movie. I wasn’t too enticed by the trailers when I saw them, but I let myself be swayed by word of mouth, and since I like most kids movies anyway I figured I’d go see it. However, it’s not that funny, the 3D is a crutch that is exploited more than any other aspect of the movie and doesn’t really help the story, and the story drags a lot in the first half.

I did end up having an emotional connection, and I got a little teary in the moments when Gru was reading the girls a bedtime story, but I wish we had had more time to spend with the girls than we did. Too much time was spent on the other villains and the world of villainy, it could have been streamlined a lot, or at least weaved into the family story a bit better so it wasn’t a suuuper long and boring first half.

I suppose kids will like this film, but there was potential for it to be a lot smarter than it was, and that’s a bummer.

I am just going to say it. I will not be paying money to see M Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender this weekend, or any weekend. I might end up seeing with engagement passes, I might not. But I will certainly not pay. I will no longer support a system of institutional racism with my hard-earned money.

Yeah, I’m saying it. “The Last Airbender” is racist. I have been attacked in another forum, when discussing Avatar, for having the gall to say that racism is a legitimate reason to not like a film. But I’d say a given film being racist is in the top three non-fannish reasons to not support said film. The other two reasons being 1) a given film is sexist and 2) the director of a given film is a convicted child rapist still somehow walking free.

There are numerous wonderful and articulate posts floating around on the internet that lay out the case for not paying to see this film better than I can. And given the growing number of incredibly negative reviews from many different parties, it’s not really necessary at this point for me to contribute to the white noise.

What I’d like to do is share a little fancast. A lot of the talk about the race issues in this movie has focused on the source material’s Asian inspirations, with mention of the First Nations/Inuit influence, but usually only a mention. Racebending has tried to keep this issue part of the focus, but in the wider discussion it tends to get lost. It seems like a lot of people are convinced that there aren’t any Native/First Nation/Inuit actors to choose from.

That is ridiculous.

Here are my choices for Katara and Sokka, two of the main heroes of the series Avatar: The Last Airbender (one of the best TV shows of all time), and their family. They belong to the Southern Water Tribe, one of two tribes in the ATLA world based on an awesome mashup of indigenous cultures, mostly various Inuit/Yupik and Pacific Northwest aboriginal cultures. This is mostly indicated by their skin tents, their igloos, their parkas, Katara’s “authentic Inuit hairstyle” (direct quote from the commentary on the series pilot), their canoes, and yes, their colouring. Some other indigenous cultures are referenced as well, in their catamarans and Sokka’s boomerang. The evidence is overwhelmingly in support of Native American/Inuit Water Tribes.

All of my fantasy actors are First Nations people.

So, under the cut, here’s the fancast!

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Grade: B

Rating: 18A

What’s It About?
A young girl goes on a quest for sexual experience to win the heart of a boy she loves.

What’s its Bechdel Test Score?
3/3. Sammy has two female allies and encounters other women, and even though the plot revolves around sex and Sammy’s crush on a boy, they all manage to have much deeper conversations, very effectively tying Sammy’s external “problem” to her real, inner issues.

What about Minorities?
There is a wise old Japanese lady I was a bit worried about at first, but she’s really cool, and her mentor role doesn’t diminish her as a full character. Other than that, this was the whitest depiction of Vancouver I’ve ever seen.

So… Read more

On Saturday night I had the immense pleasure of experiencing the New Music from Tokyo!!! tour at the Biltmore Cabaret.

Imagine five of Japan’s hottest indie acts all on one stage, in one evening, for the incredibly reasonable price of ten dollars. There is also a food corner, featuring gyoza and other finger foods – a custom I’m told is the norm at Japanese indie nights. People bring food to share like a big potluck. Sounds good to me!

Apologies for the poor quality! This is why I'm only uploading one photo.

The five bands showcased on the Next Music from Tokyo tour are diverse in sound and style, and they are all, to put it simply, fantastic. From Goomi’s twee folk to Andymori’s radio-friendly pop punk to Owarikara’s noise rock, there is something for everybody on offer.

Owarikara were my favourite performers of the night. Enthusiasm on the part of the performer goes a long way, and it was completely infectious. They were a delight to watch, and a must-see for any music lover.

Mothercoat, however, played my favourite songs of the evening, and were the sweetest and loveliest people I’ve ever met. Their one set spanned so many sounds, from sweet and sleepy to face-meltingly awesome.

I have been to a few small gigs this year, not as many as I would like, but New Music from Tokyo was certainly my favourite so far, and I will be on the lookout for Vol. 2 if and when it comes to Canada.

New Music from Tokyo continues in Toronto on May 28th and 29th.

If you have the opportunity, do not miss this show.

A much more eloquent review, with some gorgeous photos over at VanMusic.