Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 4, 2009

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 4, 2009! December is finally here and I'm a little sad that this is the 4th last Friday of the year and we only have so many more releases that will grace our screens. It does mean we will be shifting into full force of awards season, which we can see by this weeks limited-but-will-expand-later release of Up in the Air which was just named by the National Board of Review as the Best Film of the Year. Going more indie, the Spirit Awards announced their nominees earlier this week with big nods to Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (currently in release) and The Last Station (to be released in early 2010). Get those lists started!

In limited release this week we have 5 release to choose from starting with the Canadian documentary Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould about, you guessed it, Glen Gould. We also have the latest from Rebecca Miller with The Private Lives of Pippa Lee starring Robin Penn Wright who plays a woman reflecting on life and wanting to be seen. John Woo brings us a historical action epic with Red Cliff / Chi ba, awards bait Up in the Air hits limited release (for now) and Bollywood film Paa hits the screens as well.

In wide release this week we have three releases to choose from, first up is Brothers a film that explores war, family & loss and is based on the Danish film Brødre directed by Susanne Beir (After the Wedding / Efter brylluppet), the trailer looks heartbreaking but I don't think I'll be able to resist it. On a completely different note we have Armored, which is so hard to type... I want to add that u and make it Armoured, but either way it's a heist/action film centred on armored transport. Last up for the week is Everybody's Fine which is our holiday-like selection of the week which stars Robert De Niro as a father looking to reconnect with his kids Kate Beckinsdale, Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell during the holidays.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Friday December 4, 2009 Releases

Armored
Dir: Nimród Antal (Vacancy)
Cast: Columbus Short, Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich, Amaury Nolasco
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Brothers
Dir: Jim Sheridan (In America, My Left Foot)
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Everybody's Fine
Dir: Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine)
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Kate Beckinsdale, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell
USA/Italy
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
Dir: Peter Raymont (A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman) & Michèle Hozer - directorial debut
Documentary on Glenn Gould
Canada
Limited Release
Film Blog, IMDb Page, Trailer

Paa
Writer/Dir: R. Balki (Less Sugar)
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal
India
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Writer/Dir: Rebecca Miller (Personal Velocity)
Cast: Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Mike Binder, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Red Cliff / Chi bi
Dir: John Woo (Hard Boiled, Face/Off)
Cast: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen
China
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Up in the Air
Dir: Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking)
Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Batemen, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of December 4, 2009**