It has been 20 years since I read Edgar Rice Burrough’s A Princess of Mars and 100 years since the character of John Carter first appeared in print. To see it turned into a movie is to me, as it was to Harry Potter fans, seeing their literary hero on screen.
If you are not a fan of the novels, some other reasons that you may want to check John Carter out is because it is a big-budget special effects extravaganza from Disney directed by Andrew Stanton, making his live-action debut after scoring big with the Pixar classics Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
And it stars Kelowna native Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights).
John Carter is a Confederate army captain who is mysteriously transported to Mars (known as Barsoom by its inhabitants) where he becomes part of a conflict between the various nations of the planet. He takes it upon himself to save Mars and its people from a growing threat.
Also starring Willem Dafoe, Dominic West, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton and Thomas Haden Church, producers have high hopes for John Carter and are already talking sequel as there are 10 more novels they could adapt.
In A Thousand Words, Eddie Murphy stars as fast talking literary agent Jack McCall who tells a fib to New Age guru Dr. Sinja, who responds by cursing McCall, allowing him only 1,000 words before he dies. Now he must stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.
I would write more, but I only have 500 words and I wanted to mention The Travelling World Community Film Festival.
Documentary films can provide better drama, entertainment and enlightenment than many fictional movies. And even though reality seems to rule television, other than a very select few, reality on film gets nowhere near the attention that scripted movies do.
I believe the lower cost and flexibility that digital cinema will provide documentary filmmakers better chances of getting their messages into mainstream theatres, but events like The Travelling World Community Film Festival will continue to give people an opportunity to see docs that cannot be seen elsewhere.
Coming are 35 documentary films from around the world dealing with environmental, social justice and human rights issues from March 8 to 11 at UBC Okanagan and the KLO campus of Okanagan College.
You will be introduced to people, places, ideas and issues that range from tragic to inspirational.
If I had two minutes (more accurately, two times 90 minutes) to rub together, two of the movies I would go see are Happy, a documentary about happy people who we would perceive would have little reason to be so and Kinshasa Symphony, the story of the 200 members of Central Africa’s only symphony and how music helps the various crises and war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The full schedule can be viewed at www.worldfilmfestkelowna.net and while admission is free, donations are accepted for the Ki-low-na Friendship Centre and Inn from the Cold.
