Holly Weird

Those of us in the know, know that Guelph is a very film-centric little berg. Which is why this piece in The Hollywood Reporter made me take notice this morning. It talks about how Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan is becoming a $100 million blockbuster, despite having opened in limited release early in December, and it's thanks to small markets, like Guelph, who are packing the movie house after the expanded release. 

I checked the movies currently in release at the Guelph Galaxy, along with Black Swan there's also other Oscar bait movies like Country Song and the new Canadian film Barney's Vision for which Paul Giamatti won the Golden Globe last weekend. Along with ongoing releases like The Fighter and True Grit about half the Galaxy is filled with examples of top tier filmmaking. (Of course the other half has Yogi Bear and Tron Legacy, but I digress.)

I was reading the 59 Carden St blog this week and saw a comment by someone waxing about Guelph's yester-years in the face of two proposed high-rises to be built in the city. Well, I wax about Guelph's movie patronage. When I moved here there were three film houses, and then when Galaxy opened there were four. And then there were two. The Cineplex at Stone Road Mall closed and then the Three Star folded. And while the Galaxy and the Bookshelf have their benefits, to my mind, there was always something better about seeing a film like Aeon Flux at the Three Star for half the price of seeing that same movie at the Galaxy. 

It's a curious thing that Waterloo now has four movie theatres inside it's city limits, with another three in Kitchener. Granted the combined population of K-W is more than twice what it is for Guelph, but you can't tell me that people from Guelph are not attracted to art house movies that come to the Princess Cinema before the Bookshelf, or might enjoy seeing a movie that's been in release a few weeks and is still in a K-W cinema, though it has long since be removed from rotation at the Guelph Galaxy. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm way too into movies. Tough call.

It surprises me that since the theatre in Stone Road Mall closed over five years ago, that people in the south end of Guelph haven't pushed for film screening amenities for their neck of the woods. It's not a pleasant drive I imagine, coming from the Claire Road area and heading to Woodlawn Road at Imperial for a night at the movies, especially when your dinner options are Turtle Jacks, Wendy's, A&W and Subway. Shall we start the petition to the Ward 6 councillors together? 

Oh, and what to make of Black Swan, is it worth your money or not? Well this guy thought it was pretty good.