Newt’s top 10 things to do in Vancouver this week, December 1 to 5

Orwell: 2+2=5 screens at VIFF Centre

By Steve Newton

WEDNESDAY: screening at the Cinematheque of director Ringo Lam‘s influential 1987 heist film City on Fire, starring Chow Yun-fat as an undercover cop who infiltrates a syndicate of jewelry thieves.

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY: cult filmmaker and legendary provocateur John Waters brings his solo comedy tour, A John Waters Christmas, to the Rio Theatre for two nights.

WEDNESDAY TO FRIDAY: A Wonderheads Christmas Carol, running until December 14 at the Arts Club’s BMO Theatre Centre, is a wordless reimagining of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, featuring 10-foot tall puppets, incredible masks, and an original score.

Victoria Raskin performs at the Biltmore

THURSDAY: night two of the Elevate Music Project features performances at the Biltmore Cabaret by emerging Vancouver acts TY Koch, Dilly Cooner, Mark Ledlin, Victoria Raskin, Trophy Dad, and Canyon Riders.

THURSDAY: screening at the VIFF Centre of I Am Not Your Negro director Raoul Peck‘s documentary Orwell: 2+2=5, which surveys the 1984 author’s final years to understand how a man shaped by poverty, imperialism, and war penned a warning the world has yet to heed.

THURSDAY: the Vancouver Rock Choir, featuring 125 singers and a rock band, performs the music of Metallica, Bob Seger, Supertramp, Kiss, Guns N’ Roses, and the Ramones at Burnaby’s Michael J. Fox Theatre, with all proceeds to the Lookout Housing and Health Society.

Black Swan screens at the Rio

FRIDAY: late-night 15th anniversary screening at the Rio Theatre of Requiem For a Dream director Darren Aronofsky‘s psychosexual thriller Black Swan, starring Oscar-winner Natalie Portman as a ballet dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival.

FRIDAY: Victoria indie-rock quartet the Bankes Brothers plays the Pearl, with local guest Emmett Jerome.

FRIDAY: the Vancouver Canucks take on the Utah Mammoth in National Hockey League action at Rogers Arena.

Ozzy’s Birthday Bash at the Rickshaw

FRIDAY: Ozzy’s Birthday Bash is a fundraiser for the Parkinson Society BC at the Rickshaw Theatre featuring local rock and metal bands WORSE, Bloodrhine, Dagger, Bend Sinister, Space Queen, the Nausea, and Michael Slumber performing their fave Ozzy and Black Sabbath songs.

If you’re a concert promoter, arts organization, music store, club owner, or just somebody wanting to support my work, I’m looking for an exclusive sponsor of my twice-weekly Newt’s top 10 things to do in Vancouver blogs. If interested, please contact me at steve@earofnewt.com.