By BERNIE FLETCHER The Winter Stations are up at Woodbine Beach and “Conrad the Raccoon” is the star attraction. We all live in “Raccoon City,” the name for Toronto in the Resident Evil movies. Hey, we weren’t dubbed “The Raccoon Capital of the World” for nothing. Toronto raccoons even had their own Jeopardy moment. The […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER The best movies tell good stories. Here’s one story I first heard by the Boardwalk one sunny day last fall. I’ll let local resident Wendy Massey tell her personal anecdote: “Many years ago I owned a pet store in a small town. I have some really wonderful memories from the eight years […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER Queen Street is the beating heart of the Beach. Raise a New Year’s toast to three local favourites: the Fox Theatre, the Garden Gate Restaurant and Cobs Bread (great toasted or not). The Fox has a stylish new marquee, a sign our old friend is here to stay. To celebrate, general manager […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER What is the most adapted work of literature in the English language? According to the CNN special Tis the Season: The Holidays on Screen it’s A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Which is the only version to win an Academy Award? It’s the 1971 animated short classic directed by Richard Williams, born […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER Woodbine Park is a great place to listen to music at a festival, walk your dog, watch the ducks frolic on the pond or fly past majestic, snow-capped peaks on a truly humongoose Canada goose. Wait…what? Talk about a wild goose chase! Mountains? No problem! All you need is a bit of […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — William Faulkner quote in the film. Recent news headlines can make us feel like we’re trapped in an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale: repression in Iran, Hockey Canada scandals, domestic violence and sexual assault trials. One of the directors of Handmaid’s, Mike […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER This year’s Toronto International Film Festival played host to powerful female voices such as Hilary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Viola Davis. One of the most anticipated films was Women Talking which brought together the creative energy of author Miriam Toews, filmmaker Sarah Polley and actor/producer Frances McDormand. The […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER Have you ever read a good novel and wondered how it would be adapted to the screen? What would the characters look like? How would the director deal with flashbacks? Two of Canada’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Sarah Polley and Clement Virgo, tackle controversial issues in movies which premiere at the Toronto International […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER Marilyn… Elvis… we know them by their first names even after all these years. Their legends live on in two new biopics. Elvis is a summer hit while Blonde is a highly anticipated film coming to Netflix in September. One Beacher knew and liked them both on their brink of stardom. “Your […]
“Whose woods these are I think I know…” — Robert Frost Do you recognize these woods in the photo? Bonus points if you can guess the occasion. Is it a royal celebration? A ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new park? No, it’s just the Kids in the Hall up to their old tricks in a new […]
