Someone yelled “Harry! Harry!” to the young couple strolling down a Toronto street. No, it wasn’t Prince Harry and a certain lovely actress from the TV show, Suits. According to Elan Mastai, the screenwriter and executive producer for The F Word (2014), the shout-out was for the magical Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, who was […]
Tag: movies
How well do you know Beach Academy Awards trivia?
What do Jodie Foster, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro and Aaron Sorkin have in common – besides two little gold men on their mantles? They all came north to Toronto in recent months and it wasn’t for the weather or to escape “alternative facts”. It was for “work, work, work, work” (as Rihanna would say […]
Opa! ‘Greek Wedding’ is back
What is your favourite romantic comedy? If you’re Clueless about What Women Want, try a Roman Holiday. If you’re a Sleepless Trainwreck, have whatever Meg Ryan was having When Harry Met Sally. The ‘rom-com’ genre may have lost its popularity lately, but many of us are still Moonstruck romantics who fall for a funny love […]
Catching up with the ‘grads’ of Degrassi Street
“Improving understanding and acceptance of individual differences makes it possible to raise a generation of much more compassionate people.” – Linda Schuyler in U of T Magazine De Grassi is a quiet little street we pass by as the Queen streetcar rumbles its way downtown, but to many teenagers around the world Degrassi is a […]
George Harsh and the Great Escape
With each passing Remembrance Day there are fewer Second World War veterans around to share their memories of courage, sacrifice and survival. A recent Star movie review suggested that “filmmakers may finally be running out of screen-worthy stories to tell from the conflict.” Last year the Fox held a special showing of The Great Escape […]
Room: love knows no boundaries
For love all love of other sights controls, And makes one little room an everywhere – John Donne (1572-1631) Imagine you are five years old and the only world you have ever known is the inside of a garden shed. In the new film Room, a mother and child share a strong bond in […]
Test your baseball movie IQ
Toronto is abuzz with Blue Jay fever. Try fielding these questions without an error and you’ll sound like a true blue fan even if you don’t know Mike Trout from a rainbow trout. Remember, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” (Yogi Berra, 1925-2015) The Toronto Maple Leafs were a baseball […]
Legends by the lake inspire film
This has been a golden summer of sports in Toronto. In celebration of the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games the Toronto Reference Library (Yonge and Bloor) is hosting a wonderfully nostalgic exhibit looking back at sport and recreation in a simpler time. Toronto’s Sporting Past includes early photos of the Balmy Beach Club and […]
Heather Menzies-Urich talks about The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. For many people the beloved classic is one of “our favourite things,” like “raindrops on roses.” For a little girl from Fernwood Park Avenue in the Beach, it would be the role of a lifetime. Heather Menzies-Urich was born in Toronto in December 1949. Her […]
A famous son, a forgotten father
Those eyes! That voice! Can you guess who played the nasty villain (photo above) in the 1978 thriller, The Silent Partner, with scenes at Kew Beach? Hints: He is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award. His great-grandfather was a Canadian Prime Minister. His father lived in the Beach for more than 30 […]