Film Fans Fridays for Friday March 16, 2012

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday March 16, 2012! We have a heck of a lot of films out in release this week and it's an especially good lot for documentary (and Sesame Street!) fans with The Bloor Hot Docs cinema opening it's doors for it's first week of regular releases.

In limited release this week we have 9 limited releases and I'm chopping at the bit to see King of Devil's Island / Kongen av Bastøy with Stellan Skarsgård set in prison in the early 20th century Norway which is playing at the Carlton. Then we hot over to The Bloor which re-opens it's doors with the documentary goodness of Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey centred on on Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash (I almost wrote "Muppeteer") as well as Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel a documentary on prolific independent B-movie filmmaker Roger Corman. There are more documenataries to go around including Jennifer Baichwal's Payback, which is based of the Margaret Atwood book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, Jiro Dreams of Sushi following a master sushi chef and The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jane following the transformation of Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye Breyer P'Orridge to become more and more like each other. Getting to the more fictional we have Being Flynn which is actually based on a true story and then Off World which looks amazing and heartbreaking, and our comedy of the limited releases is Casa de mi Padre starring Will Ferrell.

In wide release this week we have 2 releases and the biggie is 21 Jump Street, a reboot of the 1980's TV show about cops going undercover to suss out the drug scene in high school and this new version starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill certainly is going for comedy as it's a approach and looks pretty good. Rounding out the releases is Jeff, Who Lives at Home starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms; directed by The Duplass Brothers (Cyrus, Baghead).

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Canadian Music Week Film Festival
March 21 - 25, 2012 at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Nepali Film Festival
March 17, 2012 at Innis Town Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Friday March 16, 2012 Releases

21 Jump Street
Dir: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jane
Dir: Marie Losier - feature film directorial debut
Documentary centred on Genesis P-Orridge, Lady Jaye Breyer P'Orridge
USA/Germany/UK/The Netherlands/Belgium/France
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey
Dir: Constance Marks (Green Chimneys)
Documentary on Elmo Puppeteer Kevin Clash
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Being Flynn
Dir: Paul Weitz (About a Boy, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, American Pie)
Cast: Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Wes Studi, Julianne Moore
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Casa de mi Padre
Dir: Matt Piedmont
Cast: Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr.
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
Dir: Alex Stapleton - feature film directorial debut
Documentary on Roger Corman
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Dirs: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass (Cyrus, Baghead)
Cast: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Dir: David Gelb - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

King of Devil's Island / Kongen av Bastøy
Dir: Marius Holst (Blodsbånd, Tito är död)
Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Benjamin Helstad, Kristoffer Joner
Norway/France/Sweden/Poland
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Off World
Writer/Dir: Mathieu Guez (Late Fragment)
Cast: Marc Abaya, Irma Adlawan, Marco Morales
Canada/Philippines
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Payback
Dir: Jennifer Baichwal (Manufactured Landscapes, Act of God)
Documentary
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 March 16, 2012**