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With summer around the corner, it’s hard not to think of coconut-scented sunblock, swimsuits and ice cold drinks on patios. I live for beach days in the summertime, but the warm months also mark the start of summer blockbuster season!

Hollywood will be churning out some major hits over the next few months, most of which you’ll find at a Cineplex Odeon theatre. This summer, Cineplex Odeon will be presenting some of these films in a brand new technology called UltraAVX. What does that mean for your move-going experience?

• Giant, wall-to-wall screens
• Crystal clear digital projection
• Incredible sound that lets you hear every detail
• Large rocker seats for the ultimate in comfort
• Reserved seating

Photo: NotoriousJEN on Flickr

To celebrate the launch of this brand new UltraAVX technology, Cineplex Odeon has generously offered up a chance for two of my readers to catch some flicks. What’s up for grabs? A bundle of four movie passes valued up to $70 – and they’re valid for films presented in RealD3D or UltraAVX! Treat three friends, treat a sweetheart or save them all for yourself.

You’ve got three chances to enter:

1. Leave a comment below and tell me which summer blockbuster film you’re looking forward to seeing. Need a hint? Cineplex Odeon has a list of what’s coming your way. (2 entries)

2. Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I entered to win summer blockbuster movie passes from @cineplexmovies and @keiraanne #UltraAVX http://tinyurl.com/3fate8n

I’ll draw one winner at noon on Thursday, May 26th and another winner at noon on Thursday, June 2nd. Good luck!

This contest is open to all residents of British Columbia. The passes have no monetary value and are not transferable. Keira-Anne.com contest winners within the last six months are not eligible. Cineplex Odeon theatres can be found in Nanaimo, Victoria, the Lower Mainland, Kamloops, Kelowna and Vernon.

The marquee lights around Victoria are ready to shine bright once again as the Victoria Film Festival gears up for its 16th year in the capital region from February 4-13. Since 1995, the festival has morphed from a low-key celebration of independent films into the annual gala that it is today.

Photo: Greg Bate on Flickr

In recent years, the Victoria Film Festival has seen attendance skyrocket with the addition of inclusive programming that appeals to a wider audience. Recent high profile guests such as Atom Egoyan, Barry Pepper and Beverly D’Angelo have also packed some star power punch into the festival. This year a large number of films have already been confirmed (click here for a list of 2011 films), including No Fun City, a Vancouver-set tale of the local music scene.

For more information on the films, the festival and the fabulous festivities, visit the Victoria Film Festival online. You can also like them on Facebook, check out Flickr photos from past festivals or follow the Victoria Film Festival on Twitter.

Want to make a weekend of the Victoria Film Festival? The Fairmont Empress Hotel is offering up the Lights, Camera, Action Film Festival package which includes overnight accommodation, breakfast for two, two film festival tickets of your choice and two tasty cocktails starting at $149CDN/$150US. Find out more or reserve your room online through the Fairmont Empress Hotel’s website.

There are few places on Vancouver Island where the Christmas season feels more magical than in Victoria. With its cobbled streets, British architecture and vibrantly coloured lights on every corner, it’s near perfection. I couldn’t be more excited to be heading that way in a few short days to partake in some early holiday cheer.

A modern Christmas tradition is soon returning to the capital region with the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort‘s Starlight Cinema series. Film lovers will be flocking to the waterfront resort for holiday movies under the stars, winter style.

Photo: Derek K. Miller on Flickr

Whether opting for a family night out or a romantic and cozy date night, Starlight Cinema promises to provide new memories while evoking ones from childhood. This year’s movie line-up is as follows:

November 30 – Miracle On 34th Street
December 1 – White Christmas
December 7 – The Grinch
December 8 – The Santa Claus
December 14 – Home Alone
December 15 – A Christmas Carol
December 21 – Elf
December 22 – It’s A Wonderful Life

Fill your thermos with hot chocolate, pull a toque over your head, a scarf around your neck and clutch your favourite fuzzy blanket and head to the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort. Heaters will be on site for added warmth and the movies are free for all.

In the true spirit of Christmas giving, the resort is graciously accepting donations for Victoria’s Santas Anonymous charity – dedicated to helping area children for more than three decades. For more information on Santas Anonymous, please visit their website. If you can’t make it to any of the Starlight Cinema nights, donations can also be made online through CanadaHelps.

Bumping into a movie set on the streets of downtown Vancouver is usually a given on any day of the week. In recent years, Greater Vancouver has quickly become one of Hollywood’s favourite places to film silver screen blockbusters. However, because of its gorgeous scenery, characteristic architecture and the warmth of its small towns, Vancouver Island has also provided the backdrop for many well-known films.

This week’s Island Profile takes a look at a few of those movies while hopefully inducing a few “huh- I had no idea that was on the Island!” moments along the way.

Insomnia (2002)

Photo: Warner Bros.

With dense forests and countless fishing boats, it’s easy to mistake Port Alberni for Alaska, but that’s just what the producers of Insomnia were hoping we’d do. Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank brought their star power to the mid-Island town in this cat-and-mouse drama. Though we’re made to believe it’s in and around Alaska, there’s no mistaking Argyle Street and the nearby Catalyst Mill.

Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

Photo: Warner Bros.

While much of this adaption of Jean M. Auel’s novel was shot in the Canadian Rockies, the lush forest of Cathedral Grove at MacMillan Provincial Park provided the setting for Clan of the Cave Bear. Daryl Hannah plays a young Cro-Magnon woman, Ayla, who’s taken in by a group of Neanderthals after being separated from her family during an earthquake. Though it was largely considered to be a box office flop, the movie is made watchable if only for the incredible cinematography.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

Photo: New Line Cinema

The string of Final Destination films have gained notoriety for their grotesque opening sequences, usually depicting a horrific premonition. The Jubilee Parkway just outside of Campbell River was transformed into a roadway of destruction after a logging truck was the catalyst for an accident of nightmare-ish proportions in the second installation in this series.

Bird on a Wire (1990)

On-Set Photo: Trew Audio

One of my personal favourite films follows Rick (Mel Gibson) and Marianne (Goldie Hawn) as ex-lovers on the lam through Detroit and Wisconsin. The Gastown and financial district neighbourhoods in Vancouver stood in for much of Detroit, but Rick and Marianne’s escape to Wisconsin by ferry was shot through the Southern Gulf Islands on the Tsawwassen-to-Victoria route. And further, their infamous motorbike getaway in what was supposed to be downtown Racine was actually shot throughout Victoria’s Market Square, the Johnson Street Bridge and Chinatown – including Fan Tan Alley.

Trapped (2002)

Photo: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures

The Comox Valley was buzzing when word came that Charlize Theron would be in town to shoot a thriller. It was hard to miss the Comox Glacier in the background during the opening scenes along the Goose Spit road. This kidnapping drama culminated in a climactic ending on the Inland Island Highway standing in for a Washington State highway.

One Week (2008)

Photo: Mongrel Media

This Canadiana favourite chronicles Ben (played by BC native Joshua Jackson) on his motorcycle journey across Canada with a desire to eventually dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean. Ben trip ends in the aptly-named One Week when he reaches the western shores, surfboard under his arm. The beaches in Tofino are incomparable in beauty to any other stretches of sand around the globe, and the film’s images of Tofino’s misty shores provide an almost sensory experience on the screen.

The above-named films are just handful of those filmed on Vancouver Island. In fact, the Vancouver Island North Film Commission (VINFC) puts that number well over 200! Some of those include:

• Twilight series (Long Beach – Incinerator Rock, Nanaimo River – Flat Rocks)
• The Scarlet Letter (White River Provincial Park, Myra Falls, Oyster River)
• Scary Movie 3 (Gabriola Island)
• White Chicks (Victoria, The Fairmont Empress Hotel)
• X-Men: Origins (Colwood – Hatley Castle)
• The 13th Warrior (Campbell River – Elk Bay, Elk Falls Park)

In addition, popular series such as Smallville and The X-Files have also been filmed on location on the south Island. The VINFC has created an interactive map that allows you to take a detailed film location tour.

Know of another film or series that was shot on Vancouver Island? Please feel free to leave a comment below and fill us in!

How much more badass would Ghostbusters have been if the Beastie Boys weren’t still cookin’ up License To Ill in their basement?

This is how…

Last weekend I watched a film that has long been known as the “ultimate chick flick,” so it surprised me that I’d never seen it before Saturday night. Steel Magnolias seems to have most men running for the hills, but I was astonished at this movie. Our generation’s flock of actresses can hardly hold a torch to the women that dominated the screen decades ago. Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis had me in stitches!

I wanted to post this scene because it was unbelievably real while at the same time undeniably humourous. Whether you appreciate Sally Field or not, you cannot argue that her performance was pulled from a place so deeply authentic that we can all relate to it.

If you’ve never seen Steel Magnolias but plan to, be aware that this scene contains all kinds of spoilers.

It’s been 14 years since I was a sophomore in high school. I have a hard time remembering what that was like, whether because too much time has passed or most of us generally end up subconciously blocking out that part of our lives.

The mid-1990s were a time when our most fashionable clothes and boots came from Le Château, our Sony Walkmans echoed the likes of Counting Crows, the Gin Blossoms and the Cranberries, and the biggest worry my girlfriends and I had on a Friday night was whether someone else had snagged our film-du-jour on VHS from the video store before we managed to get there.

At 14-years-old, I was awkward, goofy, entirely uncomfortable with my looks and didn’t know a thing or two about a thing or two. As a teenager, I liked the music I liked because the singers were cute and I watched the movies I watched because I had crushes on the actors. In junior high, my film of choice was Dazed and Confused, even though I was too naive and confused to understand most of the social relevance. I would spend hours fantasizing that I, too, could party at the Emporium with Slater, Jodi, Randall “Pink” Floyd and Mitch Kramer.

“That’s what I love about these high school girls, man…”
Photo: Universal Studios

In high school, I shifted from being stuck in the 70s to modern-day New Jersey. I can’t tell you how many times I watched Empire Records and how much of that film I can still quote to this day. However, like any other movie I obsessed over as a juvenile, it was just entertainment to me.

Last night Empire Records aired on KVOS, so I decided to forego my nightly ritual of Law & Order: SVU for a trip down memory lane. What surprised me more than how much I still loved the film was the understanding I gained from watching it as an adult. What I realized was why movies such as this, Dazed and even Singles were films I loved so much as a hopeful youth.

I was too young to be jaded, too inexperienced to be cynical. I believe that, as a young girl, I fell in love with the ideal that all the characters I grew up with, despite their shortcomings and marred relationships with each other, found a way to overcome. Every story had a resolution, every dispute found an answer. While that may not always be an accurate portrayal of real life, the characters we grew up with can give us a sense of optimism and remind us that there are still people in our lives that possess a little bit of true “human spirit,” whatever that may be.

“First time you ever plugged somebody?” Eddie Lee asked Jack Burton after Jack fired a number of rounds into one of the Wing Kong’s henchmen with a semi-automatic weapon. Visibly shaken, Jack composed himself, puffed out his chest and shrugged it off before replying “Course not.”

Big Trouble In Little China has been my favourite movie for as long as I can remember. That particular instant in the film, the first time Jack killed someone, has been seared into my memory since the first time I saw it. My young, saucer-like eyes understood the power of a gun.

It wasn’t until I first saw No Country For Old Men that I actually wanted to fire a gun.

Photo: Paramount Vantage Pictures on Rotten Tomatoes

Early in the film, Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon a drug deal gone really bad and finds a satchel full of cash and a shiny, silver handgun. Upon picking up the handgun, he pulled out the cartridge to inspect his new piece of hardware.

I was in awe. The sound of the cold steel in his hand, cracking against itself, echoed so heavy and so strong. I wanted to feel that gun in my own hands, to experience the weight of it as my slender fingers wrapped around the handle and to know what several rounds exploding feels like against my palms. There’s a fluttering in my stomach right now just writing about this.

Over the Christmas holidays, Amy and Lindsay felt the experience firsthand, and now Amy’s begging me to try. While we were hoping to visit the Pacific Shooters Association in North Vancouver, it appears to have closed down indefinitely due to licensing problems. That being said, does anyone know where we can go to get our shots off? And further, share your gun stories! Good or bad – I’m expecting flack from this post as it is, so feel free to fill me in.

It’s not a secret that I’m no fan of working on the weekends (one of the perks of a M-F job), but even though I spent both Saturday and part of Sunday in the office, I didn’t mind. The remainder of my Sunday was spent at Crab Park with my favourite boys, followed by grocery shopping, a nap, South Park and Snatch. Sounds pretty decent if you ask me…

My best friend has a virtual library of DVDs, and so on my frequent trips to the Island, I raid his shelves for flicks to watch on the ferry. This weekend I selected the Mel Gibson-helmed “Apocalypto” for my viewing pleasure. I won’t review it except to say that it was phenomenal and beautiful and the best movie I’ve seen in a long, long time. If you haven’t watched it yet, rent it.

Photo: Buena Vista Entertainment/Touchstone/Disney

Okay but here’s the problem. The movie is rated 18A for numerous human sacrifices, murders, stabbings, throat-slitting, beatings and impaling, but I didn’t bat an eyelash at any of that. There were also two instances that involved animals: in one, the impaling of a tapir (similar to an anteater); and the other, the senseless beating of a jaguar. The distress of watching those scenes caused me to turn away.

Am I just totally screwed up that animals being murdered is more bothersome to me than human beings?