Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 23, 2011

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday September 23, 2011! TIFF has come and gone for another year and we are back to having a packed Friday of 11 releases, some of which are coming to us hot off the festival trail. Let's take a look at what we have to choose from this week.

In limited release this week we have 6 films to choose from including Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame / Di Renjie a highly stylistic and intriguing mystery flick set during the reign of China’s first female Emperor Wu Zetian and based on Di Renjie, a minister of state who was known for his ability to solve the complicated cases through knowledge of science and human nature plus a mastery of martial arts. We also have two docs including the compelling film Limelight focusing on the trials against New York nightclub owner Peter Gatien and also in the doc corner is Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles looking at cryptic messages in tiles. Everything looks interesting this week! I'm also very curious to see Higher Ground which is Vera Farmiga's feature film directorial debut and Starbuck a French Canadian film starring Patrick Huard as an man who acts as a teenager who ends up having that catching up to him. Plus we have even more Canadian releases with the drama Afghan Luke starring Nick Stahl.

In wide release this week we have 5 films to choose from and there is not one but two action films from the big boys to the young starting with the Taylor Lautner identity-mystery/action/thriller Abduction. Wow. I think that's officially a subgenre. Also for action is Killer Elite based on the 1991 novel The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, from which there was controversy over the 'based on true events' aspect and the film stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Yvonne Strahovski & Robert De Niro. We also have more based on true stories that are more for pulling your heartstrings over hamstrings with Dolphin Tale based a true story of a tail-less dolphin and the humans who strive to save & support (I have to see that one!) and Moneyball a sport film/biopic based on true story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt). Last up for wide releases is the Bollywood film Mausam , and I have to get out to more Bollywood. Maybe this week will be the time to go for it.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon
Festival Watch

COMMFFEST
(Global) Community Film Festival
September 22 -25, 2011 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Special Screening

White on Rice
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival gets ready to rev up their 15 Years of Festivalling with a free screening of the comedy White on Rice at the Toronto Underground this Saturday Septmeber 24, 2011 at 7pm.

Friday September 23, 2011 Releases

Abduction
Dir: John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Shaft (2000), Poetic Justice).
Cast: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Afghan Luke
Dir: Mike Clattenburg (Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie)
Cast: Nick Stahl, Stephen Lobo, Vik Sahay
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame / Di Renjie
Dir: Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China film series, Seven Swords)
Cast: Andy Lau, Bingbing Li, Carina Lau, Tony Leung Ka-fai
China/Hong Kong
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Dolphin Tale
Dir: Charles Martin Smith (Stone of Destiny)
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, Nathan Gamble
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Higher Ground (2011)
Dir: Vera Farmiga - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Joshua Leonard, Dagmara Dominczyk, John Hawkes
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Killer Elite (2011)
Dir: Gary McKendry - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Yvonne Strahovski, Robert De Niro, Dominic Purcell
USA/Australia
Official Film Site, Official Facebook Page, IMDb Page, Trailer

Limelight
Dir: Billy Corben (Square Grouper, Cocaine Cowboys)
Documentary on New York Nightclub owner Peter Gatien
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Mausam
Dir: Pankaj Kapur - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Supriya Pathak, Callum Fuller, Ken Matthews
USA/UK
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Moneyball
Dir: Bennett Miller (Capote)
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Casey Bond
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Dir: Jon Foy - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Starbuck
Dir: Ken Scott (Les doigts croches)
Cast: Patrick Huard, Julie LeBreton, Antoine Bertrand
Canada
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 September 23, 2011**