The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 51

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN BREAKING NEWS AT OTTAWACITIZEN.COM FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2012 E3; ARTS MOVIE REVIEW A Canadian cult classic, revisited Bruce McDonald's Hard Core Logo 2 is dreamlike, poetic -and dull HARD CORE LOGO 2 Starring: Care Failure, Julian Richings and Bruce McDonald Directed by: Bruce McDonald Parental advisory: Coarse language, substance abuse Playing at: Mayfair Theatre Bank Street May 11-13 and 16-17 fJn-n raw'. mm i i Actor and director Bruce McDonald is shown with Care Failure of the band claims to be channelling the spirit of Joe Dick, a character who committed Die Mannequin, who in the film suicide in the first Hard Core Logo. the mock McDonald has sold out. And he's happy about it Yet when he gets an odd message from an amateur filmmaker with a special interest in Wiccan ritual, his glitzy lifestyle takes a drastic turn. The lead singer for Die Mannequin, Care Failure, believes she is pos- film about a film about a dead-end narcissist As the faux Bruce tells us in the introduction, he hasn't thought about Joe Dick in ages.

Comfortably content in Laurel Canyon, making heaps of money on a serial TV show about a wandering pilgrim, Japanese embassy says 'thank you' with film series McDonald played a non-fiction director following a band called Hard Core Logo, as they crossed the country gigging, and finally, imploding. McDonald played the inquisitor and objective observer, but in Hard Core Logo 2 he assumes the starring role the film circles back on itself a Sofia Vergara crash left him with a broken leg and fractured pelvis later that year. Vergara was one of many stars who hit the red carpet of the annual MET Costume Institute Benefit Monday, an event dubbed by designer Tommy Hilfiger as "the Super Bowl of fashion." "I have a dress from Marchesa and jewels from Harry Winston," Vergara said. "I'm enjoying it I have seen everyone, Jessica Alba, look at her, how divine. Look at the models.

don't even know if they are models or palm trees." To see a photo gallery of the fabulous dresses at the MET gala, check out ottawacitjzen.comarts. POSTMEDIA NEWS sessed by the spirit of Joe Dick, and; believing there may be cinematic gold in those psychotic breaks, the Wiccan fan contacts Bruce in the--hope of collaborating on a film. To make a needlessly complex story short, McDonald ends up following Failure and her band in the dead of a Canadian winter as they record an album. That's about it The only other scraps of plot elude a thread of romance as Fail-, ure and her boyfriend break up, and. the simmering tension between Mc- Donald and Bucky Haight (Julian Richings), the only original charac--ter besides McDonald to return for, Round 2.

Without a roller-coaster of events to give the movie momentum, things seem to move a lot more slowly than they really do. The same is true for the charac- ters. They don't seem to move or transform, so much in the movie feels contrived. For these reasons, as well as Fail- -ure's inability to make a dramatic, impression despite her ability to apply eyeliner with a trowel Hard. Core Logo 2 will likely disappoint -fans of the original.

Yet, for those with an affinity for-McDonald's freehand sketches, proves sufficiently compelling to keep us watching even if it's more like drifting in and out of sleep. POSTMEDIA NEWS 7 p.m. and last between 90 and 120 minutes, are: I May 15: Can You See Our', Lights? First Festival after the Tsunami; Setting Sail From the Ruins I May 17: clair I May 22: Rock: A Dog's J', land I Quartet! I Thursday, May 31: Fukushima Hula Girls; Light Up Nippon I June 6: Pray for Japan All screenings will take place at," the Embassy of Japan auditorium, 255 Sussex Dr. Synopses of each film are 3 1 )fi tf I if i i I 1 KATHERINE MONK The original Hard Core Logo is now considered something of a cult classic, so ramping up for another rock "n' roll road movie more than a decade later could have been a problem especially since the first revelled in the filth and loathing of untamed youth. The fact is, Bruce McDonald the director behind the 1996 adaptation of Michael Turner's novel about a disintegrating Vancouver punk band is a little long in the tooth, for all that piss and vinegar.

He's been there. He's done that And so have we. So why go back? It's an interesting question, but, fortunately, one that sits at the heart of Hard Core Logo 2. Cynics might think the whole premise is just a hipster cash grab, or a sad case of sequel-itis, but those suspicions will evaporate in the first five minutes of watching this dreamlike weave of images and poetic voice-over. The whole quasi-verite caboodle opens with McDonald speaking to his audience.

He's in a nostalgic reverie, thinking about the arc of his life and career following the first Hard Core Logo. He tells us that the onscreen suicide of lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon) helped McDonald make a name for himself, and even if it seems a little parasitic to use someone else's death to make your film seem more important, this character called Bruce McDonald seems perfectly OK with being a scumbag. If you didn't see the first film, it was framed as faux documentary. Splitsville for LEAH COLLINS Modern Family star Sofia Vergara arrived solo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art costume gala in New York on Monday. The trademarked "Most Desirable Woman Alive" split from her boyfriend of two years, Nick Loeb, just a few days earlier, the New York Post reports.

"Sofia was confiding in friends at the ball that she and Nick have split" a source told the outlet though neither the 39-year-old actress nor her 35-year-old businessman boyfriend have commented on the situation. Loeb, who is a descendant of the Lehman Brothers, met Vergara at a Golden Globes party in 2010, and the actress stuck by him when a car All aboard as Grammy-winning dubstep DJ Skrillex will be exploring a different kind of track this summer, as he leads a group of electronic artists on a train tour through Canada, including a stop at Bluesfest July 14. The tour also features performances by buzzy Montreal artist Grimes, Philadelphia DJ Diplo and Colorado's Pretty Lights. The cross-country trek on a private passenger train will kick off on July 13 in Toronto, stop at Ottawa's Bluesfest July 14, then continue to Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. The idea was inspired in part by 1970's famous Festival Express tour, which saw the likes of Janis Jop-lin, the Grateful Dead and the Band k.d.

lang coming to Ottawa in September Ottawa fans of k.d. lang will get their second chance in two years to be wowed by the famed songstress when she performs here Sept 18. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today for the concert at the National Arts Centre's Southam Hall. Lang will perform with The Siss Boom Bang, with whom she created her latest album Sing It Loud, which earned four stars from Citizen reviewer Patrick Langston.

Lang last performed in Ottawa last June at the jazz festival in Confederation Park, in a performance that the Citizen's Lynn Saxberg wrote made "time stand still." Ticket prices range from $82.50 to $122.50, plus surcharges, and will be available at the NAC box office, by calling 1-855-985-5000, online at ticketmaster.ca, hvenation.com and rogers.com wbo or by texting "tickets" to 4849. as I Skrillex arrives on train The Embassy of Japan wants to thank Ottawans for their support following last year's tragic earthquake and tsunami by showing nine free Japanese films. The films highlight the hardship, but also the enormous recovery of the disaster-affected region and the resilience of its people. The series opens at 6 p.m., Sat, May 12 with 3.11 In the Moment, by director Kyoko Gasha, which looks at the role of women in the disaster. Gasha, who works as a TV reporter for Reuters in New York City, will take part in a talk after the screening.

Other screenings, which begin at 7 4" -l '4l CULL V-' -J thKJ2s: J. TIMOTHY A. CLARY, AFPGETTY IMAGES Modern Family's Sofia Vergara attends the Costume Institute Benefit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday. Foo promised in a statement "It's going to be a night you won't forget" "Canada is the first place LMFAO went 1, and now the first place we'll host an award show," said RedFoo, his bandmatenephew Sky Blu echoing the sentiment. "Canada has always been very good to us," said Sky Blu.

"It is an honour to be able to host one of their biggest nights in music!" The pop act, whose Party Rock Anthem is the biggest selling digital single in Canadian history, will play Bluesfest July 5. The group's tour also includes Toronto July Quebec City July and Laval July 7. POSTMEDIA NEWS Kindle owners can lend Harry Potter e-books Amazon.com says that owners of its Kindle e-readers and tablets will be able to lend Harry Potter e-books to each other in a move aimed at encouraging more people to use the devices and sign up for its Prime service. Amazon, the world's largest Internet retailer, bought an exclusive license from author J. K.

Rowling's Pottermore e-book business to make all seven Harry Potter e-book available to lend through the Kindle platform Lending begins June 19 and includes Potter e-books in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Purchased e-books can be lent to other Kindle owners as frequently as once a month. Amazon said the library has more than 145,000 e-books to borrow for free. Comments from Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos suggested the deal was part of its plans to spend heavily to promote Kindle devices and its Prime service. CITIZEN NEWS SERVICES traverse a similar route across the country.

Skrillex whose real name is Sonny Moore won three Gram-mys this past February, including best dance recording. "We were really inspired when Mumford and Sons and Edward Sharpe and those guys did a train tour," Moore said in a release. "We wanted to do it as well and share this music with people across Canada. Just to do it and have fun." Meanwhile, another artist booked to play Bluesfest, the party band LMFAO, will co-host the 2012 Much-Music Video Awards on June 17, the station has announced. LMFAO is also set to perform during the broadcast and as the group's Red- Fox renews Touch, adds two new shows Fox has picked up three comedies and two dramas for the 2012-13 season, nabbing stars Kevin Bacon and Mindy Kaling.

In addition, the network renewed its Kiefer Sutherland-led drama Touch and canned Alcatraz and The Finder. The new shows include Mob Doctor, starring Jordana Spiro as a young female thoracic surgeon who becomes indebted to the South Chicago Mafia and is forced to moonlight as a "mob doctor." Fox has also given a series order to the The Following, starring Kevin Bacon as a former FBI agent searching for a serial killer. The new comedies are Ben Kate, about a single mother whose brother moves in to help raise her baby; Goodwin Games, which centres on siblings who inherit their late father's fortune; and It's Messy, starring Mindy Kaling (from The Office) as a young doctor trying to balance her personal and professional life. For Theatres and Showtime; Check Local Listings.