Film Fan Fridays for Friday August 7, 2009

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday August 7, 2009! I hope you are sitting comfortable, as we have a whopping ten films in release this week. Shall we begin?

In limited release this week we have seven releases and two of those are documentaries, Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country which chronicles the 2007 protest in Burma from independent and smuggled footage and The Cove, a multiple award winning documentary where activists search out a hidden cove in Japan related to animal abuse. Keeping it in the realm of the real, we have Flame & Citron / Flammen & Citronen which is set in WWII, based on true events following two underground resistance fighters and stars Thure Lindhardt, Stine Stengade and Mads Mikkelsen (After the Wedding / Efter brylluppet). If you are looking for something a little lighter we have two slightly off kilter romantic comedies with Adam starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne along with Paper Heart which blurs the lines of documentary and fiction as it centred on girl that doesn't understand love and looking for answers. We also have the directorial debut from Sophie Barthes with Cold Souls starring Paul Giamatti. My pick of the week has to go to Thirst / Bakjwi, the latest from Chan-wook Park's (Sympathy for Mr. Vengence / Boksuneun naui geot) that merges vampire, priests and and experiments gone wrong.

In wide release this week we have three releases, starting with the highly anticipated Julie & Julia, an adaptation of the book by Julie Powell about blogging through Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 365 days. Also in release is G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which looks like a lot of fun and last but not least A Perfect Getaway a vacation gone wrong horror/thriller.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Friday August 7, 2009 Releases

Adam
Writer/Dir: Max Mayer (Better Living)
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Burma VJ: Reporting From A Closed Country
Dir: Anders Østergaard
Documentary chronicalling the 2007 protest in Burma from independent and smuggled footage.
Denmark
Limited Release
Official Film Site, Trailer, IMDb Page

Cold Souls
Writer/Dir: Sophie Barthes - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun
USA/France
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

The Cove
Dir: Louis Psihoyos - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Flame & Citron / Flammen & Citronen
Dir: Ole Christian Madsen (Prague / Prag)
Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade
Denmark/Czech Republic/Germany
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Dir: Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing, The Mummy, Deep Rising)
Cast: Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Sienna Miller, Karolina Kurkova, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
USA
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Julie & Julia
Dir: Nora Ephron (Bewitched)
Cast: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Paper Heart
Dir: Nicholas Jasenovec - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, Jake M. Johnson, Seth Rogen
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

A Perfect Getaway
Writer/Dir: David Twohy (Pitch Black)
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Hemsworth, Steve Zahn, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Thirst / Bakjwi
Dir: Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengence / Boksuneun naui geot)
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-vin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Park In-hwan, Eriq Ebouaney
South Korea
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of August 14, 2009**