Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Film Selection Tuesday
The film schedule comes out this morning at 9:00 CDT. I'll be spending this afternoon and this evening in my office reading about 249 feature films, cross checking with the schedule, whining about some films that I can't see because I'm not arriving until Sunday, and eventually settling on a list of 20 screenings. It's a good thing I have more vacation time than I know what to do with.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
I was restless Sunday night, and with the film festival rapidly approaching, I thought I could use some practice. After a quick scope of the Fleur Cinema's web site, I determined that Vicky Cristina Barcelona was the most eligible movie, and off I went.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Woody Allen's latest work and stars his muse of late, Scarlett Johansson, along with Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Penélope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson. The movie, narrated throughout by a non-character, follows the story of Vicky and Cristina, two young and pretty American women staying in Barcelona for the summer. While there, they meet an Artist named Juan Antonio (portrayed by Bardem in a starkly different role than in No Country For Old Men), who propositions the young women, simultaneously. Vicky and Cristina are best friends with similar interests, but very different outlooks on love.
As evidence of their differences, Vicky, the tall, thin, level-headed brunette, is appalled by Juan Antonio's invitation, while Cristina, the busty blond free-thinker is intrigued. They compromise, joining Juan Carlos on a sojourn to Oviedo by way of a small plane piloted by Juan Antonio himself, but checking into separate hotel rooms. While there, they spend time with Juan Antonio, together and separately, and relations ensue. After the weekend, they return to Barcelona, and things become more complicated when Juan Antonio's estranged ex-wife (it's rumored that one of them tried to kill the other, though it's disputed who was holding the knife) reenters the picture. Juan Antonio's wife is portrayed by Cruz, and I have to say it's the first time that I thoroughly enjoyed watching her in a movie.
The movie is about make believe people behaving in ways that you and I would not behave, and would not be able to in the first place because we wouldn't have the time nor the money. That much I learned from the septuagenarians on an apparent first date in the row behind me. I can deduce that they're both hard of hearing, and I am not, for I could hear every word they said. At least, I could until I moved some 50 feet away from them. How I can't wait for the festival, where talkers are booed by their fellow audience members...
Anyway, I enjoyed the escape of the movie, even if the ending leaves you with the feeling of "oh, the movie is over now." The narration speeds the film along without getting sidetracked on details that Woody deemed inconsequential, though I had to wonder if he was double-parked during production. No, I couldn't relate directly to any particular character, but they were believable and entertaining. My imdb rating: 7/10.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Woody Allen's latest work and stars his muse of late, Scarlett Johansson, along with Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Penélope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson. The movie, narrated throughout by a non-character, follows the story of Vicky and Cristina, two young and pretty American women staying in Barcelona for the summer. While there, they meet an Artist named Juan Antonio (portrayed by Bardem in a starkly different role than in No Country For Old Men), who propositions the young women, simultaneously. Vicky and Cristina are best friends with similar interests, but very different outlooks on love.
As evidence of their differences, Vicky, the tall, thin, level-headed brunette, is appalled by Juan Antonio's invitation, while Cristina, the busty blond free-thinker is intrigued. They compromise, joining Juan Carlos on a sojourn to Oviedo by way of a small plane piloted by Juan Antonio himself, but checking into separate hotel rooms. While there, they spend time with Juan Antonio, together and separately, and relations ensue. After the weekend, they return to Barcelona, and things become more complicated when Juan Antonio's estranged ex-wife (it's rumored that one of them tried to kill the other, though it's disputed who was holding the knife) reenters the picture. Juan Antonio's wife is portrayed by Cruz, and I have to say it's the first time that I thoroughly enjoyed watching her in a movie.
The movie is about make believe people behaving in ways that you and I would not behave, and would not be able to in the first place because we wouldn't have the time nor the money. That much I learned from the septuagenarians on an apparent first date in the row behind me. I can deduce that they're both hard of hearing, and I am not, for I could hear every word they said. At least, I could until I moved some 50 feet away from them. How I can't wait for the festival, where talkers are booed by their fellow audience members...
Anyway, I enjoyed the escape of the movie, even if the ending leaves you with the feeling of "oh, the movie is over now." The narration speeds the film along without getting sidetracked on details that Woody deemed inconsequential, though I had to wonder if he was double-parked during production. No, I couldn't relate directly to any particular character, but they were believable and entertaining. My imdb rating: 7/10.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Film List Out Today
The complete film list for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival comes out at 3 PM EDT today. While this allows me to do some pre-screening, I really can't begin to decide what I'd like to see until the schedule comes out. I won't be arriving in Toronto until late Sunday morning, so I can only presume that I'll miss a film or two I'd like to see. I have to wait until next Tuesday for the complete schedule. That's when the real mayhem begins...
Monday, July 07, 2008
The more things change...
...the more they suck. I got the reminder I'd set for myself to buy my tickets for this year's film festival and promptly visited their web site. I thought I would just quickly buy my usual 20 tickets and get back to work. A quick perusal of the available packages told me that they've made a change this year and that the normal 10-ticket packages are no longer good for the Elgin Theatre (that's the Visa Screening Room for all you high-powered consumers out there) showings. Now, I'll readily admit that it's not my favorite venue. Sure, it's beautiful, but the sound in there kind of sucks and it's always a struggle to hear the dialogue. But, some of the big films only show there and at Roy Thompson Hall, which has always been excluded from the ticket packs.
I may be forced to see more films this way. I guess that's the upside. I'll buy my 20 tickets, and then if there's some film that I just have to see and it's only showing at Roy Thompson Hall and the Elgin Theatre, it'll be beyond my control -- I'll have no choice but to buy a single ticket at exorbitant prices for that screening. I know you're all just feeeling sorry for me.
I may be forced to see more films this way. I guess that's the upside. I'll buy my 20 tickets, and then if there's some film that I just have to see and it's only showing at Roy Thompson Hall and the Elgin Theatre, it'll be beyond my control -- I'll have no choice but to buy a single ticket at exorbitant prices for that screening. I know you're all just feeeling sorry for me.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Bummer
I got an e-mail yesterday from the B&B association in Toronto. They regret to inform me that my B&B hostess will not be able to provide with a room for the week of the festival. I suspect she has retired. Bummer. Now I have to seek new shelter.
It's challenging picking out the right B&B. Location, accommodations, breakfast, amenities and personality all have to be considered. Barb's B&B had great location, livable accommodations, good breakfast, and interesting breakfast chit chat. I doubt I'll find as good of a location, but perhaps I'll get free wi-fi to make up for it. A desk would be nice.
Why not a hotel? Price, for one. B&B's offer more of a personal touch as well. Sure, every now and then, you find yourself locked out and stashing your luggage behind objects in the front lawn, but I got a good story out of it.
It's challenging picking out the right B&B. Location, accommodations, breakfast, amenities and personality all have to be considered. Barb's B&B had great location, livable accommodations, good breakfast, and interesting breakfast chit chat. I doubt I'll find as good of a location, but perhaps I'll get free wi-fi to make up for it. A desk would be nice.
Why not a hotel? Price, for one. B&B's offer more of a personal touch as well. Sure, every now and then, you find yourself locked out and stashing your luggage behind objects in the front lawn, but I got a good story out of it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Booked
I just booked my flight for this year's film festival. I'm officially giddy. I paid for it with frequent flier miles, which is nice, though I still had to pay $48.94 in fees. Anyway, my B&B room is booked (I hope they leave the right key this time), and I've got an airline ticket. All that's left is to buy my festival tickets and spend torturous hours sifting through 350 movie synopses. And wait for 179 days.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Review: Juno
Okay, it seems like forever since a couple friends and I headed down to the Fleur Cinemas to catch Juno, which at the time was the new surprise independent hit. We got there to find a line out the door and around the corner. We got sneaky and sent in a squatter to grab a few seats while two of us stayed behind to deal with the mundane "purchasing of the tickets".
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman, who previously had a handful of shorts and Thank You For Smoking in his list of directorial credit. For Juno, Jason racked up a killer cast including Ellen Page (remember her?), Michael Cera of Superbad fame, "the beautiful" Jennifer Garner (yes, she is, but has anyone else noticed how she's always introduced as "the beautiful" Jennifer Garner, like Jennifer is her middle name?), teen heart throb (okay, he's 39 now) Jason Bateman, Allison Janney (of many credits including American Beauty and The West Wing) and J.K. Simmons (think J Jonah Jameson). Spoiler alert (okay, real life, not the movie plot) -- Diablo Cody, an ex-stripper, wins best original screenplay for this one. Ellen Page loses to some French chick. Sadly, I didn't see it at the 2007 film festival, though I did have to wait behind a crowd of gawkers when Jason Bateman and Ellen Page exited the theatre.
Juno is the tale of a unusual high school girl who decides one day, out of boredom, to have sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker. Paulie is a nerd, and Juno is that girl that all the guys secretly have a crush on but won't admit it because she's weird. Apparently, they're both quite fertile, and after running through a dozen or so pregnancy tests, Juno is at last resigned to the fact that she's pregnant.
Her adventures over the next seven or eight months take her out to meet fellow classmate Su-Chin, who spends her weekends protesting in broken English outside an abortion clinic, through the halls of of her high school as "a cautionary whale", to her parents, who were maybe hoping for the easier-to-deal-with drug problem, and a troubled young couple hoping to adopt a healthy baby.
The script is smart and filled with wit, angst, bitterness, broken dreams, hope, and chair sex. Oh, there's nothing explicit here. Juno is something like 16 and though Ellen was at least 19 when the film was made, she does an astounding job of playing a 16 year old and that would be just a bit much. The film stays safely in the implied sort of PG-13 sex.
A short note to the "my parents would never act like that, this is so unrealistic" crowd: It's a movie, it's about people that are different than you. Get over it. And no, it is not encouraging teen pregnancy. But I also think that it rightly points out that it is also not the end of the world, and that life can go on normally, as it almost always does. Boy, we're resilient creatures.
In conclusion, happy happy joy joy, I liked the film. It's intelligent, entertaining, deals with complex issues while not getting bogged down in its own seriousness. And it was a nicely upbeat contrast to the more downer films of the season. My imdb rating: 8/10.
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman, who previously had a handful of shorts and Thank You For Smoking in his list of directorial credit. For Juno, Jason racked up a killer cast including Ellen Page (remember her?), Michael Cera of Superbad fame, "the beautiful" Jennifer Garner (yes, she is, but has anyone else noticed how she's always introduced as "the beautiful" Jennifer Garner, like Jennifer is her middle name?), teen heart throb (okay, he's 39 now) Jason Bateman, Allison Janney (of many credits including American Beauty and The West Wing) and J.K. Simmons (think J Jonah Jameson). Spoiler alert (okay, real life, not the movie plot) -- Diablo Cody, an ex-stripper, wins best original screenplay for this one. Ellen Page loses to some French chick. Sadly, I didn't see it at the 2007 film festival, though I did have to wait behind a crowd of gawkers when Jason Bateman and Ellen Page exited the theatre.
Juno is the tale of a unusual high school girl who decides one day, out of boredom, to have sex with her friend Paulie Bleeker. Paulie is a nerd, and Juno is that girl that all the guys secretly have a crush on but won't admit it because she's weird. Apparently, they're both quite fertile, and after running through a dozen or so pregnancy tests, Juno is at last resigned to the fact that she's pregnant.
Her adventures over the next seven or eight months take her out to meet fellow classmate Su-Chin, who spends her weekends protesting in broken English outside an abortion clinic, through the halls of of her high school as "a cautionary whale", to her parents, who were maybe hoping for the easier-to-deal-with drug problem, and a troubled young couple hoping to adopt a healthy baby.
The script is smart and filled with wit, angst, bitterness, broken dreams, hope, and chair sex. Oh, there's nothing explicit here. Juno is something like 16 and though Ellen was at least 19 when the film was made, she does an astounding job of playing a 16 year old and that would be just a bit much. The film stays safely in the implied sort of PG-13 sex.
A short note to the "my parents would never act like that, this is so unrealistic" crowd: It's a movie, it's about people that are different than you. Get over it. And no, it is not encouraging teen pregnancy. But I also think that it rightly points out that it is also not the end of the world, and that life can go on normally, as it almost always does. Boy, we're resilient creatures.
In conclusion, happy happy joy joy, I liked the film. It's intelligent, entertaining, deals with complex issues while not getting bogged down in its own seriousness. And it was a nicely upbeat contrast to the more downer films of the season. My imdb rating: 8/10.
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