My Week(s) in Film

Over the past few weeks I've been festivalling like mad and I've not seen a 'regular release' film since... ok since March 18, which isn't that long ago but for me it feels like ages! Here are the films that have graced my small screen recently.

First up is the 2006 documentary Black Gold based on the international coffee trade, starting in farms in Ethiopia all the way to the first ever Starbucks. I had in the back of my head that the reason to see this was because it was Canadian, but it isn't - it's a UK/USA co-pro. Bizarre. It is a pretty good documentary, but I felt I still had questions on my mind afterwards. More information about the issue can be found at the films official site.

Next up was one that I missed last year on the awards crunch: Michael Clayton. I can tell I've been away from Hollywood films for a bit because I could see that this was a good film, but I didn't really enjoy it. Strong acting, good story, high production values it had all of those elements but it didn't grab me, beyond Tilda Swinton - she is well deserved of her Oscar with her amazing performance. Other than that, I found it to be very similar to The Insider but not as compelling.

The only other newish film I watched Caché, or at least started to watch. I got through the first hour and it was very good, but I will have to catch up on the second half later.

The next three films I saw were more up my alley and a world of kitsch. The Omega Man, Godzilla vs Megalon and a revisit of Tron. I ended up watching The Omega Man just days before the passing of the legend, Charlton Heston which is so sad. The reason I wanted to see the film was due to watching both I Am Legend and The Last Man on Earth recently, and all three films are based on the same book: "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. I have to say, The Omega Man has a totally different feel to it from the other two as it is oh-so 70's with the soundtrack, clothing, etc but ironically out of the three it actually has a feeling of a political message as well. At least, that is what I think it was going for, man. One film that took it's sweet time to get through my library queue was Godzilla vs Megalon. After some of the heavy films I've seen recently this was just what I needed to temper a balance. What little dialogue was in the film is oddly dubbed, the monsters are very campy and there are extended periods of time with no sound other than "Rawr!". I loved every minute of it, enjoying it with glee and joy. It is a total classic. Now to see if I can find more Godzilla movies! Last but not least was revisiting Tron, which I am so surprized is a Disney film. I hadn't seen it for a good 20 years and it reads the same: campy and fun and a lot of blue light. I was inspired to revisit Tron as it's based in the game world and I'm going to check out Second Skin at Hot Docs, which is a documentary based on people who play massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG's).

The next little while will be summing up some festivals as well as enjoying Hot Docs, but if I sneak in any 'regular' films I will let you know!