Just in from TIFF - Sunday night and back to the drawing board

Our Schedule (click here) from TIFF came in this weekend - and we were not entirely pleased. 27 out of 30 with 3 duplicate films, 2 time conflicts and 3 coupons to redeem.

Waltz with Bashir THU 9/4/08 09:00pm

Three Wise Men FRI 9/5/08 05:30pm

Wendy and Lucy FRI 9/5/08 07:45pm

Detroit Metal City SAT 9/6/08 12:00pm

Nick and Norah's Infinite... SAT 9/6/08 06:00pm


Katia's Sister SAT 9/6/08 08:45pm


Nick and Norah's Infinite... SUN 9/7/08 09:30am


The Burning Plain SUN 9/7/08 09:45am


La Fille de Monaco SUN 9/7/08 12:15pm


Wendy and Lucy SUN 9/7/08 12:45pm


Le Silence de Lorna SUN 9/7/08 06:00pm


Genova SUN 9/7/08 08:30pm


The Hurt Locker MON 9/8/08 06:00pm


Gigantic MON 9/8/08 09:45pm


Nuit de Chien TUE 9/9/08 06:15pm


The Brothers Bloom TUE 9/9/08 09:00pm


What Doesn't Kill You WED 9/10/08 06:30pm


Good WED 9/10/08 09:15pm


Uncertainty THU 9/11/08 06:30pm


Revanche THU 9/11/08 08:45pm


Control Alt Delete FRI 9/12/08 06:00pm


Deadgirl FRI 9/12/08 09:00pm


The Wrestler SAT 9/13/08 09:00am


Genova SAT 9/13/08 12:00pm


Martyrs SAT 9/13/08 04:00pm


Once Upon a Time in Rio SAT 9/13/08 07:00pm


The Other Man SAT 9/13/08 09:30pm

TIFF08 minus 5 days - shock

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!



In rehearsal mode for TIFF, descended back into the world of the AMC 24 at Yonge and Future Shop and it was not totally unpleasant. Comfortable seats - good sound system for sure - pristine prints - the downside was the presence of other sapiens sitting in the theatre as well and acting as if they expected to stay here too. This is not the regular home theatre experience - so girls in short skirts and flipflops propping their feet on the chairs ahead of them munching on popcorn which is another thing - some people know how to chew popcorn quietly and others are just plain rude about it.

And the final shock - trailers! trailers for movies that were about to open and we were planning to see at TIFF08 ! Burn After Reading ! An indie Coen brothers movie ! Really ? a movie that would be individually 45 $ for one ticket or one of the 8 for $350 Gala pass ! Appaloosa ! An Ed Harris movie with a trailer ! This was going into shellshock territory. And movie posters ! Rocknrolla ! a gala movie denied to anyone without the Gala pas. The Day The Earth Stood Still ! And finally Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - the next Michael Cera movie everyone is falling upon as the next Juno for some reason - a movie we picked three times for our TIFF list and hoping for the best. And if you read the freebie magazine you would find out that Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a P*rno would actually be in a movie theatre in October !

So there it is in a nutshell - a movie that you pick at TIFF may actually be seeable in the near future

TIFF08 minus 6 days

How did it come to all this madness - with its maddening lineups, its maddening scheduling riddled with spacing and conflicts, the maddening days of too little sleep nights, the maddening realization at 3 in the morning that the selections have to be handed in the morning and the realization that those last few picks and desired movies will just not fit or the decision on what those are in the first place ? And because the decision was made to not skip the employment and instead see TIFF at night during weekdays and weekends and purchase the Festival *Lite* package of 30 tickets. Yet it ends up going into work late so that you could [ and see below ] anyway end up on this final day to get the selections in before the 1 p.m. deadline, racing downtown in the morning on The Better Way [ knows as take the car to all the propagandists ] to the box office gives an appreciation to what it is to not to have to make that daily commute downtown. And still the necessity to buy that one more cup of A&W coffee in the Eaton Centre Food Court and open up the advanced schedule book to make the final markings of first and second choice and still taking another hour to complete the book with yellow first choice and green second choice and end up making way too many yellow markings and hoping for the best that the conflicts will play themselves out to a model daily schedule of movie watching perfection then to get to the Toronto Life Building across the scrambled crosswalk and fly past the volunteer pointing up to the escalator to the final destination - only to see another lineup just to drop off the envelope into the dropbox - and to be floored by the sight of people huddling at steel tables in the food area still poring over pieces of paper and now you know the rest of the story.

[ The lineup - at the end of it was a table of more TIFF volunteers to meet and have them ask if any last minute help was needed in going over the book to which the reply was what could possibly go wrong now - and then the envelope is handed over and being told that it is going into Box 50 ]

[ Then the race to get back north up the TTC way to the place that pays for all this movie mania in the first place. Fun? Wow ]

This just in from TIFF - oh oh

Aug 29 - Box #9 has been selected as the first to be processed in the Advance Order Procedure. There were 78 boxes in the draw. Completed orders can be picked up only at our Festival Box Office at Toronto Life Square, starting Monday, September, 1 at 10am.

Lucky 50

The lucky box is number 50 at 10 am

It has to be

( song of the moment - Joy Division Disorder )

The Lucky Ones

It seems the lucky ones to see
The Lucky Ones will be the gala types after all.

This is a reversal of procedure from last year - it seems only the elite few who can shell out the $45 for the gala ticket can enter the Elgin now.

http://tiff08.ca/images/films/luckyones.jpg

/* Here's looking at you kid */ - Casablanca bringing the crowd together at Toronto Life Square

August 26, 2008

On a perfect cool summer evening in Toronto but still with fashionable strappies and shorts in abundance - and the feel of real downtown - Toronto International Film Festival 2008 opened up for serious business - today was the first day to pick up the big programming books and the schedule is online - and now comes the pondering and the grr-ing as we head towards that Friday at 1 p.m deadline. The evening was jacket and sweater type of cool in Toronto - and down at Toronto Life Square in the outdoors it was a perfect night - standing under the big lit advertising signs - holding the TIFF bag full of all the programming goodies - including chocolates, Starbucks coffee and a box of TARDIS filled with a Stella Artois glass - and a marker pen and a penlight - and the programming book - and the just out Best Buy exclusive Heroes box complete with season 2 and a Kensei helmet ! [ we had to buy that separately - that's not part of TIFF ]

But we digress - for this summer eve was devoted to Summer Romance - on the theatre screen in on the stage at Toronto Life Square - amidst the hubbub of Toronto's busiest tourist intersection that is Yonge and Dundas and the glare and the glow of the overhead billboards lighting the evening - especially one touting the Traveling Pants 2 and the Sisterhood looking so fetch - the screen sprang to life with the story of German couriers in Africa during the Second World War carrying two exit visas - and three people.

It was a perfect day and night - chill in the air - sitting on the ground on a carpet or lucky enough to bring a chair - the people sitting under the stars drawn together by the chemistry of the stars and the on screen magic that is movies.

Have a great Festival !

music of the moment = Trembling Blue Stars Sometimes I Still Feel the Bruise

The schedule is up !

08TIFF

It's the final countdown

The schedule is online now and out to the world !

Now begins the most hectic 75 hours of your life - trying to juggle all your movie choices into the precious little time that is ten days and nights - and make that schedule.

Good luck!

[ ... more to come ]

/* Are you in or you out? I'm in */

I'll go pack my stuff


It's that time of year to dive again into the heady world of Toronto International Film Festival - the 08 edition.

Somehow the thought of those undeserving dimwits at E! Canada et al [ nice guy al but a dimwit ] covering the red carpets while we remained at home just did not sit well in the tummy. Even though it might not be possible this year due to the outside world to attend all 50 tickets on the Festival pass - we still have to be there.

First things first. Where do you buy the pases this year and where do you pick it up?

What are the top 20 fun movies to see for now ? Feel free to let us know - and drop by TOfilmfest '08 - a good place to be.


For relaxing times make it Suntory time

/* Oh Max */ - Would you believe Get Smart is smart fun

The new 2000s Get Smart movie delivers the spirit of the original television show of the incomparable Don Adams role Maxwell Smart without the original chaos or KAOS. At best Steve Carrell [ from The Office and Little Miss Sunshine amongst other things ] channels the mannerisms of Don Adams without strictly imitating his iconic gestures and Anne Hathaway embodies the independent strength of Barbara Feldon's 99 and is smoking hot to boot. And even she gets to deliver her trademark "Oh Max."

Aside from all that notwithstanding the moving nods to its predecessor, the movie Get Smart really bears little resemblance to a Get Smart episode but gets by on sheer fun and personality. Some new nuances are the duo of Heroes Hiro and a super bad virgin. The Chief's sidekick Larabee was never this annoying or bumbling - played as a Vince Vaughn type wannabee by David Koechner. And Fang was a mutt. The quick backstory is Maxwell Smart is a field analyst in CONTROL who yearns to be an agent in the field - and the day finally comes where he is promoted to Agent 86. There are obviously elements that harken the show: the Cone of Silence is de rigeur and Agent 13 jammed in some tiny nook or cranny - and the passageway of the doors - and that great theme song. Alan Arkin is the put-upon Chief who suffers the slings and arrows of misfortune - sorry about that Chief - but he is no Edward Platt [ yes he of Rebel Without A Cause ] .

Just sit back and enjoy the ride - and follow the development of the chemistry between 86 and 99 onwards to see Get Smart again?

Smart People - smart and witty viewing

Ellen Page as the arch conservative Republican with the arch wit fits in well with this small ensemble cast of Dennis Quaid who delivers a very curmudgeonly professorial persona which given the circumstances fits him to a T.

/* Unfortunately she drank too much and passed out */ - My Sassy Girl - Elisha Cuthbert sassy to the end

Write well.

The tale of an accidental prone relationship between Charlie Bellows and Jordan Roark [ with two syllables ] told in narrative by the boyfriend looking back upon his first love.

The movie's charm relies on the cute as a button Elisha Cuthbert - the love at first glance with a sassy spirit and a penchant for aggressive behaviour as she starts drinking too much which is part of her zest for living. Charlie played quite affably by Jesse Bradford who is once caught up in the net of an attractive girl a la Swimfan.

Studious Charlie is trying to follow in his father's footsteps trying to move ahead in the company - only this time by going through college and moving forward through management ranks. But one day in the subway and trying to be gallant and noble, he saves the drunken girl from mishap and the course of his life is changed.

I wish you a story with a happy ending.

Mad Detective

Mad Detective seen at TIFF 2007 is making a slow release in the US at the moment.

A bizarre film of a detective with an unconventional method of "profiling" - without giving the whole story - he gets inside people's heads. Recommended if you have the patience for letting the movie unravel and getting through the plotline and subtitles. The lead is not the nicest character on the block so give the story time.