Friday, October 26, 2007

Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 26, 2007!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 26, 2007! I hope you had a great week, I've been spending mine by watching scary movies at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, which just closed last night. If scary movies are your bag, I'd highly recommend checking it out next year, it was a wild ride!

Our limited releases this week include Rails & Ties the directorial debut of Allison Eastwood (Clint Eastwood's daughter), Kenneth Branagh's latest Sleuth, documentary where the title tells you all you need to know 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama and finally Control, the biopic on Joy Divisions frontman, Ian Curtis which is my pick of the bunch this week.

We have only 2 wide releases this week: Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carell and the only scary film of the bunch just in time for Halloween Saw IV. How they make a new Saw film almost yearly is beyond me.

Have a happy Halloween!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Est Docs Film Festival
Estonian Documentary Film Festival
Continues until October 26, 2007 at various locations, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.estdocs.com/

Planet in Focus Film Festival
International Environmental Film and Video Festival
Continues until October 28, 2007 at various locations, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.planetinfocus.org/

Friday October 26, 2007 Releases

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama
Writer/Dir: Rick Ray - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release

Control
Dir: Anton Corbijn - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra Maria Lara, Craig Parkinson
UK/USA/Australia/Japan
Limited Release

Dan in Real Life
Dir: Peter Hedges (Pieces of April)
Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook
USA

Rails & Ties
Dir: Allison Eastwood - directorial debut
Cast: Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Miles Heizer
USA
Limited Release

Saw IV
Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III)
Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scotto Patterson, Betsy Russell
USA

Sleuth
Dir: Kenneth Branagh (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dead Again, Henry V)
Cast: Michael Caine, Jude Law
USA
Limited Release

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 26, 2007**

Friday, October 19, 2007

Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 12 and 19, 2007!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to the double issue after the fact Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 12 and 19, 2007! I was vacationing last week and hence the double issue. I am liking this idea of vacations! Who knew it could be such a treat?


I have an interesting piece of information that came up during my research - it's been a while since one of these fun tidbits: imdb search for 'comebacks' most popular result was 'Bill Clinton'. Bizarre.

We have a mammoth amount of releases and festivals, many of which I would like to see. Some of the surprizing things have been such as My Kid Could Paint That is actually a critical look at the surprize popularity of a four year old painter and solid positive reviews for 30 Days of Night.


Although there are many fine films to choose from, I will have to put selections on hold til next week as I will be seeing all things scary at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Daily festival coverage will be available over at Movie Moxie from Oct 19-25, 2007.


Have a spooktacular week!


Shannon

Festival Watch

Est Docs Film Festival
Estonian Documentary Film Festival
October 19-26, 2007 at various locations, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.estdocs.com/

ImagineNATIVE Film Fesitval
Celebratint the latest works by Indigenous peoples in film, video, radio and new media
October 17-21, 2007 at various locations, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.imagineNATIVE.org/

Planet in Focus Film Festival
International Enviornmental Film and Video Festival
October 24-28, 2007 at various locations, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.planetinfocus.org/

Student Shorts Film Festival
Celebrating the best student films
October 18-20, 2007 at Innis Town Hall, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.studentshorts.com/

Toronto After Dark Film Festival
New horror and fantasy cinema
October 19-25, 2007 at The Bloor Cinema (1 screeening of shorts at Innis), Toronto, Ontario
http://www.torontoafterdark.com/

The Toronto International Latin Film Festival
Spanish and Latin films from around the world
October 13-20, 2007 at The Royal, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.tilff.com/

Friday October 12, 2007 Releases

American Venus
Writer/Dir: Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding)
Cast: Rebecca De Mornay, Matt Craven, Agam Darshi
Canada
Limited Release

Death at a Funeral
Dir: Frank Oz (The Stepford Wives, Bowfinger, The Dark Crystal)
Cast: Matthew MacFayden, Alan Tudyk, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner, Daisy Donovan
Germany/UK/USA

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Dir: Shekar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen)
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Samantha Morton
UK/France

King of California
Writer/Dir: Mike Cahill - directorial debut
Cast: Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood
Mexico/USA
Limited Release

We Own the Night
Writer/Dir: James Gray (The Yards, Little Odessa)
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Whalberg, Eva Mendes, Robert Duvall
USA

Weirdsville
Dir: Allan Moyle (New Waterford Girl, Empire Records, Pump Up the Volume)
Cast: Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley, Taryn Manning
Limited Release
Canada/USA

Why Did I Get Married
Writer/Dir: Tyler Perry (Daddy's Little Girls, Madea's Family Reunion)
Cast: Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry, Jill Scott, Sharon Leal, Malik Yoba
USA

Friday October 18, 2007 Releases

30 Days of Night
Dir: David Slade (Hard Candy)
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster
New Zealand/USA

The Comebacks
Dir: Tom Brady (The Hot Chick)
Cast: David Koechner, Carl Weathers, Melora Hardin, Brooke Nevin, Matthew Lawrence
USA

Gone Baby Gone
Dir: Ben Affleck - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan Morgan Freeman
USA

My Kid Could Paint That
Dir: Amir Bar-Lev (Fighter)
Documentary on the story of 4 year old painter Marla Olmstead
USA/UK

Rendition
Dir: Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, A Reasonable Man)
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Omar Metwally, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin
USA/South Africa

Reservation Road
Dir: Terry George (Hotel Rwanda)
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino
USA
Limited Release

The Things We Lost in the Fire
Dir: Susanne Bier (After the Wedding)
Cast: Halle Berry , Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny
USA/UK

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 12 & 19, 2007**

Friday, October 05, 2007

Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 5, 2007!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday October 5, 2007! We have many anticipated films this week as we move more and more into the fall which could bring us to some early Oscar bait before we break to the scary Halloween films which in the past years have been few and far between.

Our limited releases this week include some of the most anticipated films of the fall. The biggest contender for anticipation is Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. I will admit I was intrigued by the trailer and I loved The Royal Tenenbaums but the tone and pace appear to be so similar I wonder how much more it has to offer. We also have Michael Clayton, it's been a while since we've had a legal thriller and it looks like this one will fit the bill. Lastly but not leastly, we have Ang Lee's Lust, Caution which was hugely anticipate at the film festival this year and then resulted in many lukewarm comments. I still have hope for it and am always happy to see anything with Tony Leung.

Wide releases this week include the Farrelly brothers pseudo date movie The Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller, young-people targeted yet epic The Seeker: The Dark is Rising and finally the wrong side of the tracks story Feel the Noise which one first look appeared to possible be a dance movie, alas it's focused on a rapper. There could still be some groovin' in it so out of the wide release it would be my pick.

If you are already getting into the Halloween groove, feel free to check out my film blog: http://www.moviemoxie.blogspot.com/ where October is scary movie month with daily posts and reviews of scary films old and new.

Festival Watch

Indie Can Film Festival
Film festival dedicated to the independent low budget filmmaker
October 4-7, 2007 at Innis Town Hall, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.indiecanfilmfestival.com/

Kino Art Festival
First Annual Festival of Russian Film and Art
October 4-7, 2007 at Royal Theatre and NFB, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.kinoartfestival.com/

Friday October 5, 2007 Releases

The Darjeeling Limited
Dir: Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou)
Cast: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman
USA
Limited Release

Feel the Noise
Dir: Alejandro Chomski (Hoy y maƱana / Today and Tomorrow)
Cast: Omarion Grandberry, Zulay Henao, James McCaffrey, Kelita Smith, Giancarlo Esposito, Victor Rasuk
USA

The Heartbreak Kid
Dir: Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly (Fever Pitch, Stuck on You, Shallow Hal)
Cast: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman
USA

Lust, Caution / Se, jie
Dir: Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Eat Drink Man Woman)
Cast: Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Joan Chen
USA/Taiwan
Limited Release

Michael Clayton
Writer/Dir: Tony Gilroy – directorial debut
Cast: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
USA
Limited Release

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising
Dir: David L. Cunningham (To End All Wars, Beyond Paradise)
Cast: Ian McShane, Christopher Eccleston, Frances Conroy, Drew Tyler Bell, Wendy Crewson
USA

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 5, 2007**