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X Company Auction: Colonel Sinclair memorial picture
Tag Archives: CBC
X Company Auction: Mags’ drawing
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Links: Anne
From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:
Link: Anne of Green Gables adaptation is sublimely reinvigorated
Anne is adapted this time by Moira Walley-Beckett, who wrote some of the most striking episodes of Breaking Bad. The leap from that to Anne of Green Gables might seem an extraordinarily risky one, but it makes sense. Anne is a rebel, after all. A classic one. This version, on the evidence of Sunday’s two-hour opener, is not reverential, nor is it overcontemporized, but it affords Anne Shirley an agency that is formidable. There is such fierce, uninhibitedly direct longing and defiance in this Anne. Continue reading.
From Bill Harris of Postmedia Network:
Link: Anne, the latest take on the Green Gables saga, goes a little darker than usual
It’s a simple question, but I thought about it quite a lot while watching the first episode of the new series Anne.
This, of course, is yet another take on the well-known Anne of Green Gables story. In Anne, the young Anne Shirley, played this time by Amybeth McNulty, pauses to consider everything she has experienced, everything she has seen, and she is mulling a future which, at that moment, does not appear too bright. Continue reading.
From Victoria Ahearn of the Canadian Press:
CBC’s Anne shows darker past of “accidental feminist” from Green Gables
The chatty Canadian dreamer that is Anne of Green Gables is internationally beloved for her cheery qualities: a big imagination, bold spirit and face full of freckles.
But the new series “Anne,” debuting Sunday on CBC and later this spring on Netflix elsewhere in the world, unearths a dark chapter of her life that shaped her resilience. Continue reading.Â
From Sarah Boesveld of Chatelaine:
Meet the plucky young star of the Anne of Green Gables remake
“She’s such a survivor. She’s so amazing because she’s gone through so much in her life — the bullying, the prejudice, the sexism, everything — and she still has such an incredible spirit. I love that about her so much.” Continue reading.
From Johanna Schneller of The Globe and Mail:
Breaking Bad writer brings ‘dark sensibility’ to Anne of Green Gables
So while the new limited series Anne is nowhere near as black as Breaking Bad, it’s certainly the darkest, truest rendering to date of what being a redheaded orphan in 1890s Prince Edward Island would have been like. Continue reading.
X Company 310: The end is nigh in “Remembrance”
After 27 episodes, CBC’s Second World War spy drama X Company comes to a powerful and moving conclusion tonight, as Aurora (Évelyne Brochu), Neil (Warren Brown) and Alfred (Jack Laskey) must turn to Faber (Torben Liebrecht) to take out Voigt (Kevin Griffiths).
Here is our preview of “Remembrance,” written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern, and directed by Morgenstern.
Full circleÂ
The finale brings the show’s concept full circle for series creators Ellis and Morgenstern. In 2001, the duo wrote and starred in a short film called Remembrance, about a man with synesthesia who is recruited into Canadian spy school Camp X by a beautiful woman. Like the film, tonight’s episode is called “Remembrance,” and also like the film, Morgenstern directs, having the opportunity to guide the characters she and Ellis created over 16 years ago on their final mission.
Morgenstern says she’s pleased with the way it all turned out—in her typically modest way.
“There aren’t any moments where I think, ‘Ah, if we could have just gone back and adjusted that or fixed that or written that differently,'” she explains. “I don’t think I’d be brazen enough to say it’s a piece of artistic perfection, but I would say I can’t think of what I would change if we had the chance or more time. I’m happy with it.”
My how they’ve grown
In a treat for long-time fans, there are several satisfying nods to Season 1 that show just how much Aurora, Neil and Alfred have grown since they first left Camp X.
Stunning work by the X Company cast
Morgenstern, a former actress, gets the most out of her cast as Évelyne Brochu, Warren Brown, Jack Laskey and Torben Liebrecht all give series-best performances. There is a scene between Brochu and Liebrecht that tops all their previous scenes combined, something I didn’t think was possible.
You will be satisfied (and teary-eyed)
After three seasons, X Company ends on a pitch-perfect note. “Remembrance” is a beautifully written, gorgeously lensed episode that was clearly made with love by all involved. A remarkable achievement.
X Company airs Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBC.
Image courtesy of CBC.
CBC’s excellent Keeping Canada Safe showcases everyday heroes
Last fall, Force Four Entertainment and CBC teamed for Keeping Canada Alive, a poignant documentary that showed the breadth and depth of our country’s health care in a 24-hour period. (Give Diane’s review of that a read, won’t you?)
Both companies have partnered again for Keeping Canada Safe, a 48-hour whirlwind look—spread over eight half-hour episodes—of the emergency personnel (and sometimes animals) charged with ensuring our safety last summer. With news of walls going up and national security in the headlines of late, Keeping Canada Safe is certainly timely. What sets this series apart from, say Border Security, is the 60-plus cameras dispatched across the country. Rather than being focused on one airport or border crossing—production was granted access to more than 47 organizations in 34 cities across 10 provinces and two territories—the program is able to profile a cross-section of this country and the personalities of folks who do this.
The debut instalment, airing Thursday at 9 p.m. on CBC, wasn’t what I was expecting. With Border Security as my only reference, I assumed Keeping Canada Safe would spend most of the time at airports, borders and other high-profile transit points. After having seen Keeping Canada Alive, I should have known better. You do get those broader national security stories here, but Force Four connects with viewers by getting down to a local level, like an enraged Calgary man trying to break into his house as a police helicopter swoops overhead. That situation is used to explain the reason for a helicopter being in the air in the first place: it’s safer for police and citizens for a chopper to track a criminal in a car than a high-speed chase is.
Meanwhile, in rural Prince Edward Island, Lewie Sutherland is the police chief of Kensington and everyone calls him by his first name. Because of the small population—a mere 1,500—everyone knows each other, and the death of a citizen is felt by the community. It’s easy to assume Lewie’s life is easier than that of the guys working in Calgary, but I think it’s harder. In a metropolis, people can become somewhat faceless. But in PEI, a criminal or someone in danger could be your friend.
The most disturbing segment of Episode 1 is devoted to following Winnipeg’s Bear Patrol, a group of volunteers who strive to find missing women in the city. Within the span of mere broadcast minutes (but remember, this is filmed over just 48 hours), a handful of girls and young women are reported missing. The race is on to locate them in a neighbourhood known for violence and the sex trade.
Upcoming stories during the eight-episode run include an all-access look at Pearson International airport, including their K9 Unit, wildlife control with trained falcons and an emergency landing; a Kingston drug bust against a suspected meth dealer; and Ottawa scientists testing a compound of everyday chemicals and a bomb suit for first responders.
Beautifully shot and wonderfully written, Keeping Canada Safe really should be seen, both to be informed about the jobs being done behind the scenes for our security and to celebrate those who are doing it.
Keeping Canada Safe airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
Image courtesy of CBC.
