RSS

[2011.10.01] TAKA KATO DEMONSTRATES "GOLD FINGER"

courtesy of on.cc

Japanese adult video actor Taka Kato and Mainland star Wu Qingqing two nights ago promoted their film 33D INVADER.  Taka Kato demonstrated his "gold finger" ability on a blow up doll and even advised male fans to trim their nails before their act.  He said that he has attended similar events in Macau and was quite fond of Hong Kong.  He hoped to be able to stay in Hong Kong even longer next time because he still had many "gold finger" secrets that he has not unveiled.

Wu Qingqing was embarrassed to see Taka Kato's demonstration and said that this was her first trip to a Hong Kong night spot.  "It doesn't seem much different from the ones in Beijing.  (Would you meet guys here?)  I can!"

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

[2011.0.10.01] TONY LEUNG CHIU WAI WEARS CONTACT FOR NEW FILM

courtesy of on.cc

Tony Leung Chiu Wai after completing THE GRANDMASTERS (YUT DOI JUNG SI) flew to Shanghai for the Alan Mak Siu Fai and Felix Chong Man Keung directed new film WIND SEEKER (TING FUNG JEH)'s costume fitting and preparing for the official shoot in a few days.  Wai Jai this time will play a 50s special agent who due to visual impairment had sharp hearing and other abilities.  He and female lead Zhou Xun will have a complicated relationship.

Wai Jai earlier at the costume fitting studied the eye make up with Mak Siu Fai.  He accepted the suggestion without any hesitation and put on special white contact lenses.  Mak Siu Fai was rather touched.  "He has never worn contact lenses and expected them to be tough.  His electrifying eyes are well known.  What am I going to do if something happens to them.  In the film he also has a surgery scene that returns his sight.  Right now we are still studying how to shoot it.  (Did you buy insurance for him?)  The film company will take care of that."

Mak Siu Fai honestly said that after enjoying the Emperor Motion Picture THE MESSAGE he was very interested in spy films.  Coincidentally this time a film company bought the rights to THE MESSAGE novelist Mai Jia's other book DECRYPT and approached him to collaborate.  Aside from Wai Jai and Zhou Xun, Mainland actor Wang Xuebing who rose due to the television series CHERISH OUR LOVE FOREVER will also join the cast.  The production has been slated to complete before Christmas.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE SKED: NBC Postpones Friday

Deadline reports that NBC has pushed the launch of its scripted Friday shows CHUCK and GRIMM by a week, from October 21 to October 28.  Supposedly this is to give the series the benefit of a 2-day Halloween marketing push to begin with the network airing holiday-themed episodes of its Thursday comedies on October 27, although both the Chuck and Grimm premieres have been in the can without Halloween content since before this idea came up.  (At least Grimm's genre fits in with a Halloween theme.)  One might wonder if NBC was happy with the solid (for a Friday) 2 rating Dateline gave them last Friday, and isn't in any hurry to move on to the untested Grimm and on-its-last-legs Chuck.  But we'll give them the benefit of the doubt...

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE BIJOU: Preliminary Boxoffice

The Hollywood Reporter has some very office boxoffice numbers.  These are based on matinee business only, so they can be misleading as to what will happen over the course of Friday, let along the weekend.  But for now, the big news is that COURAGEOUS, a Christian-themed movie produced by Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia and distributed by a division of Sony, is off to a fast start in only 1100 theatres, and could approach $10M for the weekend if it holds up.  However, films directed at the religious audience are often front-loaded with pre-buy church groups, so that's not necessarily where the weekend will go.

Even if Courageous does get that high, it probably won't be enough to get close to the weekend title, with LION KING, MONEYBALL and DOLPHIN TALE all expected to hold well with $12-14M each.  It would, however, put the movie in the thick of the new openings that are in many more theatres, with DREAM HOUSE also expected to do around $10M despite (deservedly) dismal reviews, 50/50 probably a bit less than that, and WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? in the same neighborhood.

Stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY all weekend for updated boxoffice numbers and analysis.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

[2011.10.01] DENG CHAO IS HAPPY ABOUT HIS WIFE'S GOOD CONDITION

courtesy of on.cc
courtesy of takungpao.com

The Gordon Chan Ka Seung directed MURAL (WAT PEI) will open nationwide on the National Day and on the 13th in Hong Kong.  Chan Ka Seung led actors Deng Chao, Yan Ni, Monica Mok Siu Kei yesterday to promote in Guangzhou.  Chan Ka Seung talked about the MURAL's human fairy love.

Chan Ka Seung said, "I put life all into MURAL, MURAL can be seen as PAINTED SKIN (WAT PEI)'s sister chapter.  PAINTED SKIN is a story that observes what happens to a family.  MURAL opens a door to another world.  I put life all into this film."  Deng Chao said, "In MURAL all the women are injured because of me.  Lead actress Sun Li due to her pregnancy would be absent from all promotions.  Sun Li's health condition is very decent now, only her body is getting 'heavier and heavier'."  In a film full of beauties, Deng Chao honestly said that he was afraid of his wife's jealousy.  During the shoot his wife was happier than him.  Yan Ni admitted that the ban on love was rather cruel, thus she said at the university where the press conference was held, "If I was the principal I definitely would let students date.  I feel in the university the most important thing is being able to date!"

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE BIJOU REVIEW: "50/50"



50/50:  Worth A Ticket -  A Genuinely Feel-Good Cancer Comedy

With The Big C renewed for its third season on Showtime, the concept of a comedy getting laughs from the experiences of a cancer patient is no longer especially shocking, which means that the new 50/50 has to be judged on its comedy-drama merits, rather than its daring.  Happily, the movie is quite good--better, in fact, than Big C--and stands up just fine to the scrutiny.


As is widely known by now, 50/50 is based on the real-life experiences of its screenwriter, comic Will Reiser. Transformed into the fictionalized Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a writer for radio, he's diagnosed at the age of 27 with a rare cancer that gives him a 50% chance of survival.  (It shouldn't require a spoiler alert to read any of his own publicity interviews for the movie and discover that Reiser is, in fact, very much alive.)  In real life, one of the close friends who supported Reiser was Seth Rogen, and he's been fictionalized here too, playing a version of himself as Adam's pal Kyle, who assures Adam his cancer will make him catnip to the ladies.  (Rogen is also one of the film's producers.)  

The material could easily have been mawkish and silly, but 50/50 finds just the right tone.  Unlike a fantasy like Restless, 50/50 doesn't shy away from the physical effects of illness and chemotherapy; it feels honest, and its blackly comic laughs are fully earned.  Gordon-Levitt, who's been tapdancing around the edges of stardom for the last few years, deserves to make the leap with this one--he perfectly captures he tidal wave of emotions that Adam goes through in the course of his illness, dealing with indifferent doctors, a family (including Anjelica Huston as his mom) that tries too hard to be compassionate, a girlfriend who finds the situation pushing against her limits (Bryce Dallas Howard, excellent in the small role), and his own sheer terror.  Rogen manages to be hilarious without overdoing his comedy-relief status, and he comes across as a genuinely good friend to have.  The other leading role, Adam's inexperienced therapist-in-training, may seem too gimmicky at first, but luckily for everyone the wonderful Anna Kendrick (from Up In the Air) has the part, and she's splendidly clumsy and then increasingly vulnerable. 

50/50 also marks a strong step forward for director Jonathan Levine.  His first picture All the Boys Love Mandy Lane was a fairly routine slasher picture, and he followed it with the hit-and-miss The Wackness.  In 50/50, he shows a sure hand for very difficult material, navigating the tonal shifts between gallows comedy and serious drama with ease, and guiding the cast beautifully past the many potential potholes.  The modestly budgeted movie isn't a visual feast, but it's handsomely shot by Terry Stacey (his credits include Adventureland and In Her Shoes), and has a fine score by Michael Giacchino.

50/50 is entertaining without being too slick, and truthful without being dreary.  The odds against it working were considerably higher than its title, and the very talented filmmakers have survived to pull their challenging project off.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE SKED: Thursday Ratings - Network Scorecard


On what used to be network TV's marquee night, only one series had a rating over a 4...

NBC:  ...and it certainly wasn't on NBC.  THE OFFICE is now the only non-football show on NBC to exceed even a 2.5 rating.  So far, Office is holding up pretty well post-Carell (down about 20% from last year's season average), although its number isn't all that impressive compared to comedy hits on all the other networks.  Still, that's by far the network's good news.  WHITNEY's plunge means that not a single new NBC fall series is any kind of success.  (Under the "you can't cancel everything" rule, that doesn't mean all these failures will be thrown off the schedule.  In fact, it's very possible several of them may get back orders for spring, not because NBC is suddenly talent-friendly--ah, the spin!--but out of sheer desperation, since apart from Smash, the network's midseason shows are midseason for a reason.)  NBC may be a couple of weeks away from a very difficult decision:  if they can't save both Whitney and Up All Night, which one gets the life-raft of the Office lead-in?  Meanwhile, at 10PM PRIME SUSPECT is on the critical list with a dire 1.5 rating.  From 8-9PM, COMMUNITY and PARKS & RECREATION provide some stability, albeit of the low-rated kind.


CBS:  THE BIG BANG THEORY is the hit of the night, with a terrific (and stable) 4.8.  But after that, things are a lot bumpier.  HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN didn't open (meaning that CBS Marketing was only able to get 2 Broke Girls any kind of debut sampling this fall, and that was because of the 2 1/2 Men lead-in) and is probably headed downhill from there.  It's not just that PERSON OF INTEREST is running 20% below CSI's rating in the same timeslot last year-- it's about 13% below the number CSI is doing now in its weaker Wednesday 10PM slot.  And THE MENTALIST is 20% below last season's average, despite NBC being a non-factor in the timeslot.

ABC:  It's just a matter of time till the misbegotten CHARLIE'S ANGELS heads to the trash-heap.  GREY'S ANATOMY, unable to capitalize on NBC's and CBS's problems, is running 20% below its average last year, but at least in its season debut, PRIVATE PRACTICE hit last year's average. 

FOX:  Once again, when all the smoke had cleared, X FACTOR may have declined a bit from last week, but it gave FOX an easy win for the night.  Next week's experiment with a repeat New Girl at 9:30PM is sure to have a strong lead-in, and the results should be interesting.

CWVAMPIRE DIARIES continues to be by far the network's strongest show, and even ticked up a bit this week, while SECRET CIRCLE seems to have settled in to a 0.9 rating, which ain't much, but is above-average by CW standards.

Tonight, CBS will hope that viewers watching A GIFTED MAN, unlike the show's protagonist, won't be seeing dead people.  Look for our Pilot + 1 Review later.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

The Sked: THURSDAY RATINGS September 29

With two Thursdays down in the young 2011-12 broadcast season, FOX is the #1 network on this important night (especially to heavy spending movie, retail and auto advertisers).  The X Factor is a not inexpensive show with a great pedigree.  Although it is not living up to its lofty expectations, it is getting the job done for the network by winning time periods.  In contrast, How to Be a Gentleman premiered last night on CBS and does not appear to be a keeper, and ABC's Charlie's Angels and NBC's Prime Suspect continue to struggle mightily.  Whitney is not a failure, but it is hard to term it anything close to a success yet. 

CBS ranked #2 on the second Thursday of the season with a 3.0 Adult 18-49 rating, despite a killer performance by Big Bang Theory (4.8 rating, down only 0.1 from the strong premiere).  The news was tough at 8:30 as How to Be a Gentleman tumbled 44% to a 2.7 rating, below what $#*! My Dad Says did last year and below our bearish ShowBuzzDaily fall ratings forecast for the show.  This did not help the dramas Person of Interest (down 0.4 from premiere) and Mentalist (down 0.3).  This night last year (9.30.2010), CBS was #1 with a 3.3 rating: Big Bang Theory (4.4), $#*! My Dad Says (3.3), CSI (3.1), Mentalist (3.0).

ABC ranked #3 last night with a 2.6 demo rating.  Charlie's Angels sunk to a 1.5 rating (down a scary 0.6 from last week's debut), and the show is already below the fall ShowBuzzDaily forecast for the re-make.  Grey's Anatomy declined a similar amount to a 3.5 rating, more than a full rating point below its delivery in the time period last year at this point.  Private Practice, however, premiered at the same level it turned in last year.  On this night last year, ABC was #2 with a 2.8 rating: My Generation -- its final telecast (1.1), Grey's Anatomy (4.6), Private Practice (2.8). 



NBC ranked #4 last night with a 2.1 rating.  The 8-9 pm comedies were actually up 0.1 from last week, but that was it for the good news.  The Office settled down to a 3.4 rating (down 0.5 from last week and not unexpected given the fairly heavily promoted premiere).  Whitney retained 73.5% of her lead-in, down substantially from 82% last week.  If the retention keeps dropping (especially from a smaller base), it will be a serious cause for concern.  Prime Suspect wilted to a 1.5 rating (down 0.3 from last week) and continues to be a distant third in the time period leading into late local news and the late night comedy line-up.  On this night last year, NBC was #3 with a 2.3 rating: Community (1.9), 30 Rock (2.6), The Office (3.7), Outsourced (2.8), Apprentice (1.3). 

FOX was #1 last night with a 3.8 rating for The X Factor.  The show started at a 3.1 from 8:00-8:30 and built to a 4.3 in the 9:30 half hour.  Nevertheless, the Simon Cowell property declined week to week as it did Wednesday, with the Thursday edition falling from a 4.2 to a 3.8 (although still above our fall ratings projection).  Despite not meeting other lofty expectations, The X Factor has turned around FOX's fortunes on the night.  On this night last year FOX was #4 with a 2.2 rating: Bones (2.5 rating) and Fringe (1.9). 

Through the first 11 nights of the season, FOX leads the way with a 3.43 rating, followed by CBS at a 3.25, ABC at a 2.79 and NBC at a 2.34 rating.  The CW is averaging a 0.77 season to date. 

THURSDAY FALL 2011  Estimates         Episode Rating     
                    May   Sep   #1   #2   #3   #4   #5   #6   Avg
ABC
 800 Charlie's Ang  2.3   2.2   2.1  1.5

 900 Grey's Anatomy 3.7   3.6   4.1  3.5
1000 Private Practi 2.6   2.5   2.8 
CBS
 800 Big Bang Theor 3.9   4.0   4.9  4.8
 830 How Gentleman  3.2   2.9   2.7
 900 Person Interest3.5   3.5   3.1  2.7

1000 Mentalist      3.3   3.3   2.8  2.5
NBC
 800 Community      1.9   1.9   1.7  1.8
 830 Parks & Rec    2.1   2.1   2.0  2.1
 900 The Office     3.1   3.0   3.9  3.4

 930 Whitney        2.6   2.4   3.2  2.5
1000 Prime Suspect  2.5   2.4   1.8  1.5

FOX
 800 X-Factor       3.4   3.4   4.2  3.8   
 900 Bones          2.5   2.5   11/3
CW
 800 Vampire Diar   n/a   n/a   1.5  1.2  1.3
 900 Secret Circle  n/a   n/a   1.3  0.9  0.9


An important note:  the ratings estimates are for original episodes across the entire Fall (from mid-September through mid-December).  Generally, a series will premiere at a high level and then settle into a more normal number by week four-six.  The important number to look at as the season unfolds is the average-to-date column at the far right.  By the time episode four rolls around, look at the average of episodes one-four and you should have a pretty good idea how the fall -- and the entire season -- will sort out.  CW shows are not currently estimated because we have incomplete historical data for the network's time periods.  CW estimates should be available later this season or early next season. 

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTIONS September 30-October 2

Hey, go see this movie.
A fairly strong weekend is in store in terms of overall box office volume, up about 9% from the same weekend last year.  Most of the business will go to returning films Dolphin Tale, Moneyball and Lion King in 3D, however.  The four films opening this weekend do not have much of a chance to make a big impact.  

Opening at more than 2,400 theaters in North America by Summit, 50/50 should average a soft $4,400 per theater (for $10.5 million for Friday-Sunday).  (All films the last two years have averaged $5,525 per theater in their opening weekend.)  50/50 has received strong reviews, with 92% positive at RottenTomatoes.  This Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt comedy/drama should be on track for around $40 million in North America when it leaves theaters, although there is some upside in that number if word of mouth matches the reviews. 


At about 2,600 theaters, Dream House from Universal should average a weak $3,500 per theater (for $9 million this weekend).  The horror-thriller does not have any reviews posted at RottenTomatoes, which usually means the studio did not have the confidence to put the movie in front of the nation's critics.  This movie is probably headed for around $17 million domestically. 

Opening at 3,000 theaters from 20th Century Fox, What's Your Number? should average a very weak $2,700 from Friday-Sunday (for a $8 million opening weekend).  Early reviews are quite negative, with 24% positive so far.  The Anna Faris comedy is on track for maybe $20 million in North America.     

Finally, opening at a small 1,100 theaters from Sony, Courageous should average a decent $6,500 from Friday-Sunday (for an $7 million opening weekend).  The Christian-themed drama has not been made available for review and might end up with about $20 million domestically.     

                                               (millions)
New Films                        Critics    Opening  Domestic
September 30-October 2           Positive   Weekend   Total*

50/50                Summit  R      92%      $ 10.5    $ 40 
Dream House             Uni  PG13   n/a      $  9.0    $ 17
What's Your Number?     Fox  R      24%      $  8.0    $ 20 
Courageous             Sony  PG13   n/a      $  7.0    $ 20

Note: Although critic reviews are not related to the size of the opening weekend, they are significantly correlated with the size of the declines in the opening weeks of a movie.
* The Domestic Total is a very early ShowBuzzDaily projection of the total North American gross, based on the Weekend Forecasts.

The second weekend films, Dolphin Tale and Moneyball, will have solid holds and will compete with Lion King in 3D again for the #1 weekend crown.  We give the edge to family film Dolphin Tale, but Moneyball has been grossing well this week and should make it close.

                                              (millions)
Major Returning Films            Change     This    Domestic
September 30-October 2          vs wknd 1  Weekend   Total*

Dolphin Tale            WB        -30%      $13.5     $ 85
Moneyball             Sony        -37%      $12.5     $ 70 
Lion King 3D           Dis        -43%      $12.5     $125
Abduction               LG        -55%      $ 5.0     $ 25 
Killer Elite      OpenRoad        -45%      $ 5.0     $ 25

Contagion               WB        -38%      $ 5.0     $ 80
Box Office Volume

For the past four years, the top 12 films in the comparable weekend have averaged $85 million total, ranking 47th of 52 weeks.  Last year this weekend's total was $86 million and the same weekend in 2009 was $92 million.  This Friday-Sunday is looking like a fairly strong $94 million, up about 9% from this weekend last year.       


This Weekend Last Two Years




10/1/10

 The Social Network SONY PG13 Jesse Eisenberg Justin Timberlake 
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $26  Actual: $22
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $92  Actual: $97
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $128

 Let Me In OVERTURE R Kodi Smit-McPhee Chloe Moretz 
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $10  Actual: $5
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $19  Actual: $12
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $12

 Case 39 PAR R Renee Zellweger Jodelle Ferland 
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $6  Actual: $5
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $13  Actual: $13
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $15

10/2/09

 Zombieland SONY R Woody Harrelson  
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $22  Actual: $25
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $89  Actual: $76
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $27

 Toy Story (3D) DIS G   
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $11  Actual: $12
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $47  Actual: $31
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $1

 Whip It FOX PG13 Ellen Page Kristen Wiig 
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $8  Actual: $5
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $19  Actual: $13
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $3

 The Invention of Lying WB PG13 Ricky Gervais Jennifer Garner 
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $7  Actual: $7
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $21  Actual: $18
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $14

 Capitalism: A Love Story OVERTURE R Michael Moore  
 Opening Weekend -- Forecast: $6  Actual: $4
 Domestic Gross -- Estimate: $18  Actual: $14
 International -- Estimate: n/a  Actual: $3

Come back throughout the weekend to see how the movies actually perform.  Saturday morning we will have an early look at how the weekend is shaping up as a whole (based on Friday's early numbers), on Sunday we will have initial studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals), and Monday we will have the final weekend numbers.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 30, 2011

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 30, 2011! It's another record high week of releases. 14 films. If you wanted to see everything you'd have to go to 2 a day! Personally, I would love to do that.

In limited release this week we have the majority of our titles with 8 films playing on just a few screens and I'm surprized to see Machine Gun Preacher in limited release, it's the biopic starring Gerard Butler as Sam Childers a biker preacher-defender of Sudanese orphans and was one premise I almost didn't when I heard it but it's true. Keeping it we have 2 documentaries We Were Here and Sleep Furiously. Making things go boom we have the indie sweetheart film Bellflower following two friends who literally like to blow cars up and it's been winning the hearts of many and it has a total hipster feel to it. We finally have Gus Van Sant's Restless (2011) coming out (I remember the trailers last summer!) a melancholy looking drama centred on mortality and love, starring Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska and I'm sure that one will have tears. There is also the South Korean film Poetry, Chang-dong Lee's follow up to the well received Secret Sunshine. Also out is the comedy The Last Circus / Balada triste de trompeta, and wow we've had a few circus movies this year! And last but not least the Thursday September 29, 2011 release of documentary A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt.

In wide release this week we have 6 titles to choose from including spooky looking Dream House starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz & Naomi Watts and from the poster I bet there are some kids in that one too. We have the comedy/drama 50/50 following a twenty-something battling cancer (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and is a semi-autobiographical story from screenwriter Will Reiser. What's Your Number? stars Anna Faris and is based on book 20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak and follows her journey as she looks back at her past 20 relationships to see if any of them could have been "The One", along with the help of neighbour Chris Evans. We also have the Canadian/Punjabi comedy-drama Breakaway / Speedy Singhs starring Vinay Virmani, Russell Peters and Rob Lowe, Force a Bollywood remake of the Tamil film Kaakha Kaakha and the Christian drama Courageous. That truly is a little bit of everything.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Brazilian Film Festival of Toronto
September 29 - October, 2011 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Palestine Film Festival
September 30 - October 7, 2011 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Thursday September 29, 2011 Releases

A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt
Dir: Sally Rowe - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Friday September 30, 2011

50/50 (2011)
Dir: Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, The Wackness)
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Bellflower
Writer/Dir: Evan Glodell - feature film directorical debut
Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson, Rebekah Brandes, Vincent Grashaw
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Breakaway / Speedy Singhs
Dir: Robert Lieberman (NetForce, The Tortured (2010)
Cast: Vinay Virmani, Russell Peters, Camilla Belle, Rob Lowe, Anupam Kher
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Courageous
Dir: Alex Kendrick (Fireproof (2008))
Cast: Alex Kendrick, Ken Bevel, Kevin Downes, Ben Davies
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Dream House
Dir: Jim Sheridan (In America, In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot)
Cast: Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Elias Koteas, Marton Csokas, Taylor Geare
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Force
Dir: Nishikant Kamat (Mumbai Meri Jaan, Evano Oruvan)
Cast: John Abraham, Genelia D'Souza, Raj Babbar, Mohnish Bahl
India
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

The Last Circus / Balada triste de trompeta
Writer/Dir: Álex de la Iglesia (The Oxford Murders, The Day of the Beast, La comunidad)
Cast: Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Carolina Bang, Manuel Tallafé
Spain/France
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Machine Gun Preacher
Dir: Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace)
Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Poetry
Writer/Dir: Chang-dong Lee (Secret Sunshine)
Cast: Jeong-hie Yun, Nae-sang Ahn, Da-wit Lee
South Korea
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer.

Restless (2011)
Dir: Gus Van Sant (Gerry, Good Will Hunting, Paranoid Park)
Cast: Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Sleep Furiously
Dir: Gideon Koppel (A Sketchbook for the Library Van)
Documentary
UK
Limited Release
No Official Film Site Found, IMDb Page, Trailer

We Were Here
Dir: David Weissman & Bill Weber (The Cockettes)
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

What's Your Number?
Dir: Mark Mylod ("Entourage")
Cast: Anna Faris, Chris Evans
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of September 30, 2011**

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 30, 2011

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 30, 2011! It's another record high week of releases. 14 films. If you wanted to see everything you'd have to go to 2 a day! Personally, I would love to do that.

In limited release this week we have the majority of our titles with 8 films playing on just a few screens and I'm surprized to see Machine Gun Preacher in limited release, it's the biopic starring Gerard Butler as Sam Childers a biker preacher-defender of Sudanese orphans and was one premise I almost didn't when I heard it but it's true. Keeping it we have 2 documentaries We Were Here and Sleep Furiously. Making things go boom we have the indie sweetheart film Bellflower following two friends who literally like to blow cars up and it's been winning the hearts of many and it has a total hipster feel to it. We finally have Gus Van Sant's Restless (2011) coming out (I remember the trailers last summer!) a melancholy looking drama centred on mortality and love, starring Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska and I'm sure that one will have tears. There is also the South Korean film Poetry, Chang-dong Lee's follow up to the well received Secret Sunshine. Also out is the comedy The Last Circus / Balada triste de trompeta, and wow we've had a few circus movies this year! And last but not least the Thursday September 29, 2011 release of documentary A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt.

In wide release this week we have 6 titles to choose from including spooky looking Dream House starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz & Naomi Watts and from the poster I bet there are some kids in that one too. We have the comedy/drama 50/50 following a twenty-something battling cancer (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and is a semi-autobiographical story from screenwriter Will Reiser. What's Your Number? stars Anna Faris and is based on book 20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak and follows her journey as she looks back at her past 20 relationships to see if any of them could have been "The One", along with the help of neighbour Chris Evans. We also have the Canadian/Punjabi comedy-drama Breakaway / Speedy Singhs starring Vinay Virmani, Russell Peters and Rob Lowe, Force a Bollywood remake of the Tamil film Kaakha Kaakha and the Christian drama Courageous. That truly is a little bit of everything.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Brazilian Film Festival of Toronto
September 29 - October, 2011 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Palestine Film Festival
September 30 - October 7, 2011 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Thursday September 29, 2011 Releases

A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt
Dir: Sally Rowe - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Friday September 30, 2011

50/50 (2011)
Dir: Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, The Wackness)
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Bellflower
Writer/Dir: Evan Glodell - feature film directorical debut
Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson, Rebekah Brandes, Vincent Grashaw
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Breakaway / Speedy Singhs
Dir: Robert Lieberman (NetForce, The Tortured (2010)
Cast: Vinay Virmani, Russell Peters, Camilla Belle, Rob Lowe, Anupam Kher
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Courageous
Dir: Alex Kendrick (Fireproof (2008))
Cast: Alex Kendrick, Ken Bevel, Kevin Downes, Ben Davies
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Dream House
Dir: Jim Sheridan (In America, In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot)
Cast: Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Elias Koteas, Marton Csokas, Taylor Geare
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Force
Dir: Nishikant Kamat (Mumbai Meri Jaan, Evano Oruvan)
Cast: John Abraham, Genelia D'Souza, Raj Babbar, Mohnish Bahl
India
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

The Last Circus / Balada triste de trompeta
Writer/Dir: Álex de la Iglesia (The Oxford Murders, The Day of the Beast, La comunidad)
Cast: Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, Carolina Bang, Manuel Tallafé
Spain/France
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Machine Gun Preacher
Dir: Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace)
Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Poetry
Writer/Dir: Chang-dong Lee (Secret Sunshine)
Cast: Jeong-hie Yun, Nae-sang Ahn, Da-wit Lee
South Korea
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer.

Restless (2011)
Dir: Gus Van Sant (Gerry, Good Will Hunting, Paranoid Park)
Cast: Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Sleep Furiously
Dir: Gideon Koppel (A Sketchbook for the Library Van)
Documentary
UK
Limited Release
No Official Film Site Found, IMDb Page, Trailer

We Were Here
Dir: David Weissman & Bill Weber (The Cockettes)
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

What's Your Number?
Dir: Mark Mylod ("Entourage")
Cast: Anna Faris, Chris Evans
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of September 30, 2011**

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE BIJOU REVIEW: "What's Your Number?"




WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? - Worth a Ticket:   The Number's Higher Than You'd Think

Romantic comedies that are actually romantic and comic are so rare these days, it doesn't matter so much that WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? is in many ways thoroughly second-rate.  It delivers some laughs and a likable couple to root for, and as you're watching it, the part of your mind objectively noting all the flaws and sloppiness is gradually eclipsed by the part that shrugs and says "Awww."


It would be impossible, for example, to defend the very premise of the movie, which stems from a novel by Karyn Bosnak, adapted by Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden.  Anna Faris plays Ally Darling ("Darling"?  Really, was that necessary?), a young woman whose younger sister Daisy Darling (Ari Graynor) is getting married, and in the way of women in romantic comedies, this makes Ally borderline insane about the need to be settled down.  She's particularly distressed when she realizes that her count of lovers has reached just about 20, and some study in Marie-Claire says that any woman who's slept with that many men will never find a husband.  So, obsessed with not exceeding her allotment, Ally decides to track down her 20 men in the hope that one of them will have morphed into her Prince Charming.  

So far, so hypocritically pretending to be sexually liberated while actually being completely morally retro.  But wait:  across the hall from Ally lives a dissolute, womanizing, good-looking and frequently unclothed aspiring musician named Colin (Chris Evans), who agrees to help Ally find her exes in exchange for getting refuge in her apartment from his own one-night stands.  Do you really need me to say who turns out to be the perfect man for Ally?  Who cleans up his own act and and is the only one who appreciates Ally for the woman she really is?  And that just as this is becoming clear, Ally will find herself pursued by a man who is, in every superficial way, Perfect, meaning that she'll have to make A Choice?

I mean, ugh.  Absolutely.  And yet... The script has some snap and off-hand surprises, and more importantly, it has Faris and Evans.  Faris has been waiting to be the Next Big Thing for so long that it feels like a broken record, and it looked like The House Bunny was going to be her ticket--but even though that movie was a hit, she's still not A Name.  She's even better in Number than she was in Bunny, because she gets to be smart instead of Judy Hollidayish dumb-yet-wise.  And Evans, who seems to be trying to prove himself in every genre at once this year, from the action heroics of Captain America to the serious drama of Puncture, does a softer version of the sleazy-guy-who-turns-sensitive that Gerard Butler's been playing in movies like The Ugly Truth and The Bounty Hunter, and it works.  He and Faris have a real comic rapport that's sexy and comfortable, and it makes them a pleasure to watch together.

The movie also has an unusually strong supporting cast, with people like Blythe Danner as Ally's disapproving mother, Eliza Coupe and Heather Burns as two of her friends, Andy Samberg, Chris Pratt, Anthony Mackie, Joel McHale and Martin Freeman as some of the exes, and Dave Annable as Mr. Perfect. Mark Mylod, who's been a house director on Entourage, keeps things moving briskly toward the predetermined ending and lets Faris and Evans do their stuff. 

It's more than a little uncool to admit enjoying What's Your Number? because every step of the way, it would be perfectly fair to characterize the movie as cliched, predictable and as subtle as a CG robot battle.  But a little wit and charm go a long way in this genre, and while Number isn't--well, it certainly isn't Crazy Stupid Love--it's an enjoyable piece of undemanding fluff.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE SKED'S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: "Person Of Interest"



A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear their ugly heads.  The results can include changes to tone, pace, casting and even story.  Here at THE SKED, we're going to look past the pilots and present reviews of the first regular episodes of this year's new series as well.

Previously... on PERSON OF INTEREST:  John Reese (Jim Caviezel) is a former CIA assassin who fell into a drunk and homeless life after something unspecified happened to his girlfriend some years ago; he's recruited by the utterly mysterious Finch (Michael Emerson), who has created a master government system which sifts through every single surveillance camera, e-mail and phone call in the country to detect potential terrorist plots.  However, the system has an unintended additional ability:  it can also predict which people will soon be involved in violent crimes--although it can't tell whether those identified people will be the victims or perpetrators of the crimes.  Finch talks Reese into joining him to stop these crimes before they happen, alternately protecting and capturing the people implicated.  Reese ultimately agrees, and along the way he gets enough damaging evidence on corrupt cop Fusco (Kevin Chapman) that the man has to become his inside source when police info is needed; Reese also draws the attention of honest cop Carter (Taraji P. Henson), who knows something strange is going on but can't quite figure out what.


Episode 2Person Of Interest has an original slant on the procedural, and in the second episode, written by series creator Jonathan Nolan and Executive Producer Greg Plageman, and directed by Richard L. Lewis, the series continues to be intriguing.  Finch's magic machine has popped out the ID of a teenage girl who, according to the files, was murdered with her family 2 years earlier.  Since the magic machine can never be wrong, Reese sets out to investigate, and sure enough, it turns out the hired killer who shot her parents allowed the girl to live.  Now, however, her life is in danger once again, because she's in line for a huge inheritance that the people who killed her family can't let her claim.  The story, like the pilot's, was quite cleverly worked out as long as you didn't think about it too much. 

We also get a dribbling of tantalizing details about Finch, including flashback glimpses of him and his business partner 5 years earlier, as he started to work on the magic machine.  Since the partner is played by Brett Cullen, it's almost certain he'll turn out to be up to no good--we also find out that the partner is (apparently) dead in the present.  Besides that, there's some welcome deadpan humor as Reese manages to follow Finch without being discovered and finds out that Finch's way of "hiding in plain sight" has him working as a humble software designer at a conglomerate that, in fact, he owns.  

The episode all works pretty well, and although the series' debut numbers weren't too exciting, it seems like a show that has potential for growth, especially if NBC falters in the hour.  A limitation, however, may be that since both Reese and Finch are largely keeping their lives secret, there's an awful lot of enigmatic clipped dialogue and little chance for emotion (although no one can do more with "enigmatic" than Michael Emerson).  Also, the "pressuring the dirty cop for information" sequence has been just about the same in both episodes, and will get old-hat fast if there's not some variation.  For now, the Taraji Henson plot and character are footnotes, although presumably Nolan has some ideas for where it's heading.

As the season's new procedurals go, Person Of Interest is easily the most promising.  It's not essential viewing at this point, but it's a diverting way to spend an hour.

Original Verdict:  If Nothing Else Is On...

Pilot + 1:  Worth Keeping An Eye On

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE SKED'S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: "Prime Suspect"



A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear their ugly heads.  The results can include changes to tone, pace, casting and even story.  Here at THE SKED, we're going to look past the pilots and present reviews of the first regular episodes of this year's new series as well.

Previously... on PRIME SUSPECT:  Detective Jane Timoney (Maria Bello) is newly appointed to an all-male homicide squad in Manhattan.  The other cops resent her, but she's stubborn to the point of abrasiveness, and her brilliant skills and intuition for police work mean they won't be able to get rid of her.  Meanwhile, she and her boyfriend try to navigate a committed relationship that includes his bitter ex-wife and young son.  

Episode 2:  There have been a few changes in Prime Suspect since the original version of the pilot.  Most visibly, the role of Jane's boyfriend Matt is now played by Kenny Johnson, previously of Saving Grace and The Shield; his character is still an architect, but now an all-American one, as opposed to the original actor, the very  British Toby Stephens.  The tone of the show has also been fiddled with:  in the original pilot, Jane was practically facing a cabal of evil males who would barely speak to her, let alone pay any attention to her ideas on a case.  Now the misogyny has mostly been crystallized into the character of Duffy (Brian F. O'Byrne), who's a terrible cop as well as a bad guy, and the other cops (including Aidan Quinn, as the head of the squad, and Kirk Acevedo) treat Jane with wary tolerance, if not acceptance.


Of course, all this begs a question which was true even in the pilot:  why is this show Prime Suspect?  It's not as though the title is going to bring in throngs of US viewers.  The main attributes of the original British series, which was produced in 1991 (with many sequels thereafter)--apart of course from the very fine writing and the spectacular acting by Helen Mirren--were the extreme boorishness of the other cops, and Jane's own self-destructiveness, which included heavy drinking, horribly ill-advised relationships, and outright flouting of the rules.  All of that has been minimized greatly for American network TV in 2011.  20 years later, even the recent British sequels have allowed Jane to be an accepted part of the force, and as to self-destructiveness, this Jane has a couple of glasses of scotch with her lovely boyfriend from time to time, and that's about it.  All that's left is a remarkably routine cop show.

On those terms, the new Prime Suspect is OK, in a CBS kind of way.  Bello is very strong as Jane, but the script of the second episode (by series re-developer Alexandra Cunningham, with direction by Jonas Pate) makes things far too easy for her.  A mother has been murdered and her young daughter taken, and since it's Duffy's turn in the rotation, he's lead on the case.  As soon as he fixates on an ex-convict child molester as the killer, we know he's dead wrong, and when he sends Jane out on routine interrogations, it's obvious she's going to hear and recognize the telling clue as to who the villain really is.  Late in the episode, when things briefly go dark as Jane tries to undo the damage Duffy's done to the innocent man, there isn't the kind of connection between Jane and this man that there should be, because this Jane doesn't really have a dark side of her own (not even as much as Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda sometimes has on The Closer, let alone Mirren's Jane).  Meanwhile we get another go-round of Jane spooking Matt's stick figure of an ex-wife, just as in the pilot, and Jane's lack of fondness for children is played for a laugh.

Aside from Bello (who does need to politely tell the costume people it's time to ditch the silly hat), there's nothing remotely exciting or distinctive about the new Prime Suspect.  It's just a functional crime show, comfort food for a crowd that doesn't want its sensibilities mussed in the least.

Original Verdict:  If Nothing Else Is On...

Pilot + 1:  Still Unmemorable

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

THE SKED'S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: "Charlie's Angels"



A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear their ugly heads.  The results can include changes to tone, pace, casting and even story.  Here at THE SKED, we're going to look past the pilots and present reviews of the first regular episodes of this year's new series as well.

Previously... on CHARLIE'S ANGELS:  Stop me if you've heard this before:  3 gorgeous women--disgraced ex-cop Kate (Annie Ilonzeh), ex-jewel thief Abby (Rachael Taylor) and ex-car thief Eve (Minka Kelly)--have all reformed and gone to work as private detectives for the unseen Charlie Townsend (voice of Victor Garber), working along with Bosley (Ramon Rodriguez).  

Episode 2:  Here are 2 fun factoids about the first regular episode of Charlie's Angels.  First, the episode was actually written (by Executive Producer/re-developers Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Producer Sony Staglione) to be the third episode of the series, but ABC moved it up to air immediately after the pilot on the theory that it was markedly better than the second episode that was shot (which will air next week)--so this is the network's idea of the show putting its best foot forward.  Second, the episode was directed by Angela Robinson, whose credits include the 2004 Sapphic action-comedy D.E.B.S., a movie one might easily see as having been influenced in interesting ways by prior incarnations of the Angels story.

Unfortunately, those are the sum total of worthwhile or fun aspects to the episode, which is almost entirely dull and routine.  A Charlie's Angels that isn't an escapist fantasy isn't much, and having a storyline set among aspiring fashion models, with a couple of the leads donning what are supposed to be designer outfits for a few scenes, doesn't get it done.  The dialogue is so uninspired it practically feels phonetic (when Eve leaps on a suspect and pulls him off a dock into the water because she thought he had a gun, someone says "She certainly knows how to make a splash!"), and the plotting is truly woeful.  In order for the story to move forward, characters have to act like idiots (cops don't even look at an air vent that's hanging partly open, no one notices a "security guard" making his rounds while carrying a military-style metal briefcase), all in service of something about an Eastern European hit man who has to fake a green card marriage to a model just so he can be in place to kill the Russian president's wife.  I think.  

There's also a mild and ineffective attempt at characterization, as the episode introduces Kate's ex, who was also her police partner before he dumped her both as colleague and fiance after her scandal, and who's now moved to Miami so they can have awkward encounters all through the episode, culminating in her realizing that what they had wasn't really love after all.    

The stars, at least two of whom have proven to be talented in the past (the jury is still out on Ilonzeh, based on her try at being "serious" toward the end of this episode), aren't even called upon to be sexy--just pretty, in an almost antiseptic way.  There's no fun to any of it, and even as a dumb cop show, the action here would be considered unimpressive on basic cable. 

Charlie's Angels could work for people who want something attractive playing on the TV screen while they surf online or have a conversation, paying attention for a few seconds every five minutes or so.  But for people who are actually watching the set, it offers little in the way of entertainment value.

Original Verdict:  If Nothing Else Is On...

Pilot + 1:  Community and Parks & Recreation Are Only a Button Away

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS

[2011.09.30] CECILIA CHEUNG'S NEW COMPANY OPENS

courtesy of mingpao.com
Yu Yuk Hing (second right), Rick Chin (third left), Emily (second left)
courtesy of takungpao.com

After her divorce Cecilia Cheung Pak Chi not only took care of her sons but also remembered to develop her own career.  Recently she and her manager invested in the New Asia Entertainment + Cecilia Cheung Workshop, which already opened in a low key manner.  Becoming a boss, Pak Chi even spent six figures for an employee lucky drawing to improve relationships with them.

Pak Chi posted three photos yesterday online and wrote "Cecilia Cheung Workshop Opens With Low Profile, Boss Cheung Blatantly Benefits Employees".  Actually Pak Chi and her manager's New Asia Entertainment + Cecilia Cheung Workshop earlier opened in Hong Kong.  That day she led ten employees in the opening ceremony.  In order to increase employee morale and improve their relationships, she threw in six figures for the employees to play a lucky drawing for cash prize.  Pak Chi's workshop design was simple and even faced the race track.

In addition, Pak Chi also posted two photos from the set of LEGENDARY AMAZONS (YEUNG MOON NUI YEUNG).  She was practicing with a long spear with a stunt coordinator.  She wrote, "As long as it is within my ability I would finish all of my scenes.  I hope to not only fight exciting but also fight pretty."  Thus during her free time she practiced her martial art scenes.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • RSS