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'Valentine's Day'? I'd Rather Knife Myself Through the Heart

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Feb 16th 2010 1:03PM
Filed under: Reviews, The DL From LA


I hope all you Canadians, whom I miss so dearly (that is not sarcasm), had a lovely Valentine's Day. Myself, I received a lovely shortbread cookie with the word "love" in red icing and a sweet Valentine's Day card. Yes, LA was a very loving place all weekend. Now, it's back to its usual selfish... I mean, self.

The film 'Valentine's Day' opened this past Friday. I suppose it had to. I wish it didn't. Normally, I am a sucker for love-themed movies. Then again, maybe I still am. I wasn't sucked in to 'Valentine's Day', though, because I didn't feel any love.
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'Dear John' a Sweet Valentine's Day Treat for the Young (or Young at Heart)

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:00PM
Filed under: The DL From LA

'Dear John'


In honour of Valentine's Day, I went to see 'Dear John', a romance directed by Lasse Hallstrom ('Chocolat,' 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape') and based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. Since the rest of the world and I fell in love with our homegrown girl Rachel McAdams in Sparks' 'The Notebook,' I figured I'd give 'Dear John' a shot.

This romantic drama stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried ('Mamma Mia') as a young couple who fall in love and try to see their relationship through tough circumstances.

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'Amelia' Crash Lands

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:00PM
Filed under: The DL From LA

One of the latest releases on DVD is 'Amelia', the story of legendary pilot Amelia Earhart, a pioneer for women everywhere. I was eager to see a film about this remarkable woman who once worked as a nurse at the Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto. I expected a passionate, moving movie about a highly-charged, independent woman who carved new (flight) paths and didn't let anything, including the foreseeable risk of death, get in her way.

Unfortunately, this biopic is far too tempered. The film focuses on the time between her first flight as a passenger (where she earned the nickname "Lady Lindy" in conjunction with Charles Lindbergh) on a cross-Atlantic flight in 1928 up until her mysterious death in 1937 when she was flying over the Pacific Ocean (along with expert navigator Fred Noonan) and her plane disappeared (and, has since never been found).
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'Edge of Darkness'. Edge of Boredom

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Feb 2nd 2010 11:21AM
Filed under: Reviews, The DL From LA


Another day, another cop film. Yup. Here we go. Welcome to 'Edge of Darkness' (a re-make of a BBC miniseries thriller). Mel Gibson plays Tom Craven, a Boston police detective whose 24-year-old daughter Emma is shot dead in a drive-by shooting right in front of him on his doorstep, just when she had come home to visit dear ol' dad.

Since cops are often targeted by vengeful criminals, it was Tom the shooter was after, right? Or was it Emma? It couldn't have been Emma. She was just a sweet, hard-working young woman. But, sweet, hard-working Emma worked at a nuclear facility. And, nuclear facilities have classified information which, if it were to leak out, would create all sorts of havoc. Why would Emma risk breaching the security of the very place which employs her and, more importantly, her life? Or, would she? Who was Emma exactly? Her own father didn't even know that much about her.

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!
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'The Ugly Truth'. That Ain't No Lie.

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Jan 28th 2010 1:55PM
Filed under: Reviews, The DL From LA


I am writing this column from my Ikea bed with a pounding headache. I am sick with bronchitis and, so far, resisting antibiotics in favour of tea and relaxation. It seems that everyone in Los Angeles is sick right now. Perhaps it was the rainstorms from last week. We are allergic to rain here.

With the little energy I had yesterday, I drove to the nearest grocery store and rented a film from a RedBox. RedBox sounds dirty, but it's not. It's a DVD vending machine that charges $1 for a movie. I scrolled through the various movie titles and settled upon an easy film which wouldn't require any concentration. I rented, yes, you guessed it -- a chick flick -- 'The Ugly Truth'.

At this point, I don't even really have to watch another chick flick to know exactly how it is going to unfold. Girl is single. Girl is lonely. Girl meets sweet guy. Girl meets another guy who she thinks is a jerk. Girl tries to connect with sweet guy. Girl wins over sweet guy. Jerk guy seems more appealing. Girl recognizes she is hopelessly in love with jerk guy. Jerk guy becomes a little nicer, but not quite as nice as sweet guy, which is what girl really wants anyway. The relationship starts. The movie ends. Wow, that story took two minutes to write. I wonder if I can sell it to Hollywood.
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'Extraordinary Measures': Extra Ordinary

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Jan 25th 2010 1:02PM
Filed under: Reviews, The DL From LA


While the relentless rain continued in Los Angeles last week, I headed out to Arclight Hollywood during one of the 700 storms to see 'Extraordinary Measures'. Normally, I am illness-squeamish and can not sit through any film whose story has a hospital or anyone who suffers from a disease. But, I decided that it is time that I desensitize myself to this problem, since it has prevented me from seeing many films. I have never seen 'Million Dollar Baby', 'Philadelphia' or 'The Doctor' due to my extreme sensitivity. I once consulted a therapist about what is deemed to be my "blood phobia", but I didn't return beyond the first session. The minute he mentioned the word "blood", I began to feel faint.

Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for 'Extraordinary Measures', the film was pretty light. It stars Brendan Fraser (who, once upon a time, attended Upper Canada College private school in Toronto), who we sometimes consider to be a Canadian compatriot, but who was actually born in Indianapolis. The film, based upon a true story, is based upon the book, of course. Lately, every film is either based upon a book or it is a re-make of something that didn't need re-making. Are we out of fresh ideas, dear Hollywood?
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Fall in Love With 'Leap Year'

By Pamela Chelin (Subscribe to Pamela Chelin's posts), Posted Jan 20th 2010 1:30PM
Filed under: Cheat Sheet , The DL From LA
'Leap Year'
It was pouring in LA yesterday. It has been raining for two days and it's supposed to continue all week. The streets in my neighbourhood were flooding. Cars were hydroplaning everywhere. People were running into the 7-Eleven near my apartment asking if they sold umbrellas. They don't (they do sell 3-foot-tall birthday cards and rap records, however). I wondered if this was a biblical type of flood and if LA was finally being recognized as so shallow a place that it should just be wiped off the map. But no such luck.

Me, I went for a nice long walk in the rain. No matter how bad the weather gets here, nothing can top the days when I was an intern at Eye Weekly, walking to work in -38 degree temperatures. Once I got home, absolutely soaked to the core from doing my rain dance, I decided to take refuge from my leaking apartment building by going to see 'Leap Year', starring It-girl of the moment Amy Adams and the charming Matthew Goode.
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