Film Fan Fridays for Friday February 15, 2008!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday February 15, 2008! It's been a while since I can say that all of the releases for the week look really good. I guess mid February is when the year gets back on track!

Limited releases this week are bountiful, starting with the highly acclaimed The Band's Visit, which looks like a great film expressing human nature with dry wit. I am really forward to seeing that, even though I do find it odd when there are subtitles when the spoken language is mostly English. It continues to be year full of documentaries with two more being released with week: The Ants and Garbage Warrior. Both focus on 1 person and an issue, with The Ants the issue is Japanese soldiers whom were forced to stay in China after WWII and Garbage Warrior focuses on sustainable housing. Our final release of the week I will admit my surprize that is a limited release and the film is George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. It's hot of the tails of Cloverfield, another film shot in the first-person style. However, not only does Diary of the Dead have zombies, they are running a contest where you can submit your short horror film for a chance for it to be on the DVD release of the film, and the shorts are to be judged by Mr. Romero himself. How cool is that. Check out the films MySpace page for more details, it notes the contest runs until Feb 29/08.

No new wide releases this week, but all the carry over films from last week are: Jumper, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Step Up 2 the Streets and Definitely, Maybe.

Additions There were two previously released films I had not yet noted here: Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both World's Tour a 3D concert film was released Feb 1, 2008 and the Canadian A Winter Tale set in Toronto's Parkdale came out February 13, 2008. More details below.

Have a great week!

Shannon

Previously Released - Friday February 1, 2008

Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both World's Tour
Dir: Bruce Hendricks - feature directorial debut
Cast: Miley Ray Cyrus
3-D Concert Film
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Previously Released - Wednesday February 13, 2008

A Winter Tale
Dir: Frances-Anne Solomon (Peggy Su!, What My Mother Told Me)
Cast: Peter Williams, p! Barrington, Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall, Valerie Buhagiar, Nicole Stamp, Bobby Del Rio
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
First half of the trailer is spoiler free

Friday February 15, 2008 Releases

The Ants / Ari no heitai
Dir: Kaoru Ikeya (Daughter from Yan'an / Enan no musume)
Documentary on Japanese soldiers whom after WWII were 'volunteered' to stay in China
Japan
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page

The Band's Visit
Writer/Dir: Eran Kolirin - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Uri Gavriel, Sasson Gabai, Imad Jabarin, Ronit Elkabetz, Salah Bakri, Shlomi Avraham
Israel/France/UK
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is pretty spoiler free, but if very sensitive I'd say watch first 2/3rds only

Garbage Warrior
Dir: Oliver Hodge - directorial debut
Documentary on Michael Reynolds, an architect committed to sustainable housing
UK
Limited Release
VIFF link, Hot Docs Link, IMDb Page

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
Writer/Dir: George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead)
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Amy Ciupak Lalonde, Shawn Roberts, Philip Riccio
USA
Limited Release
Film MySpace Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
I chose not to watch the trailer, so watch at your own risk!

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of February 15, 2008**