Film Fan Fridays for Friday January 18, 2008!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday January 18, 2008! You can so tell it is still January by the releases below. Lots of interesting films in limited release but also lots of... January films. One of the fun things I found out during my research this week was the fake working titles for Cloverfield, which include: Clover, Slusho and Cheese. Now that is some great stuff.

Our limited releases are almost exclusively documentaries. They include Kurt Cobain: About a Son for which the title should be self explanatory, Steep which focuses on extreme skiing and For the Bible Tells Me So which explores the Bible and homosexuality. Our one non documentary limited release is Starting Out in the Evening, which almost reads as a doc.

The wide releases feel much less exciting, with the exception Cloverfield which is the first film in a long time to conceal rather than reveal the content of the film. The early trailers didn't even give out the title of the film. It's definately got the buzz of the week, that busy bee. Other wide releases include the romantic comedy 27 Dresses and heist flick Mad Money, neither of which show great roles for women. You have the 'always a bridesmaid' routine and I don't even know how to describe Mad Money, it seems like such a waste of talent and the trailer even included the line "I hate being smart" by the youngest of the ladies, I'm sure it's suppose to get a laugh but from me it would be for all the wrong reasons. Good thing there are lots of choices this week!

In other film news, the Oscar nominations are right around the corner. They will be announced this coming Tuesday January 22/08 at 5:30am PST/8:30am EST. The short list of Foreign Films was announced earlier this week and a woohoo for Canada making the list with Denys Arcand's Days of Darkness / L'Âge des ténèbres for making the short list. Rumors are a plenty on if and how the show will go on with the current WGA strike, although the poster for this years show is out and it clearly states 'Live February 24'. We shall see.

Have a great week, stay warm!

Shannon

For the Bible Tells Me So
Dir: Daniel G. Karslake - directorial debut
American documentary exploring how homosexuality is dealt with in the Bible
USA
Limited release began Jan 11/08 and continues this week
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Friday January 18, 2008 Releases

27 Dresses
Dir: Anne Fletcher (Step Up)
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Krysten Ritter, Judy Green, James Marsden
USA
Official Film Site (autoplays trailer), IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer shows a lot, but it's a romantic comedy - not like we won't figure it out anyway

Cloverfield
Dir: Matt Reeves (The Pallbearer)
Cast: T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel
USA
Official Film Site (autoplays trailer), IMDb Page, Trailer & Teaser
Teaser is good, hints but doesn't show too much. I did not watch trailer, so watch at your own risk!

Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Dir: AJ Schnack
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, no trailer found

Mad Money
Dir: Callie Khouri (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)
Cast: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Ted Danson
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Like 27 dresses, trailer shows a lot but it doesn't seem to matter

Starting Out in the Evening
Dir: Andrew Wagner (The Talent Given Us)
Cast: Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, Lili Taylor, Jessica Hecht, Adrian Lester, Michael Crumpsty
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
You can get gist of whether you'd like by the 1/2 way point, after that I found it told just a bit too much

Steep
Writer/Dir: Mike Obenhaus (Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera)
Documentary on extreme skiing
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site (autoplays trailer), IMDb Page, Trailer
The trailer is amazing, although kinda scary in a vertigo (heights) way

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of January 18, 2008**