Movie Box Review

Death Tunnel News Blog: DEATH TUNNEL SCI FI CHANNEL SEPT 6 9/8C SCINEMA SATURDAY

Two annoucements rolled out today shining a light on the closing night Gala film: Stone of Destiny as well as 20 films added to Special Presentations program. With the announcement a number of high profile films, directors and actors are revealed often for their World Premiere. Due to Special Presentations often providing the opportunity to see these film before it hits the regular theatres, and a lot of these film will make it to regular theatres. There is already buzz surrounding many of the film, here is some of the choices: Michael Winterbottom's Genova, Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, Stephen Soderbergh's Che (in two parts), Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, Marc Abraham's Flash of Genius and Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

There are also actors and stars galore in these films including Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Evan Rachel Wood, Kim Basinger, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Robbie Coltrane, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, Dermot Mulroney, Alan Alda, Mickey Rourke, and Marisa Tomei.

If that isn't enough check out the actors with more than one film that they are starring in: Colin Firth, Catherine Keener and Hope Davis.

Here is the list of films, sorted by program then sorted alphabetically:

Gala

Stone of Destiny
Dir: Charles Martin Smith
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd, Brenda Fricker, Charlie Cox, Kate Mara

Special Presentations

35 Rhums
Dir: Claire Denis
France

Aide-toi le ciel t’aidera
Dir: François Dupeyron
Cast: Félicité Wouassi
France

Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique
Dir: Rithy Panh
Cast: Isabelle Huppert
France/Cambodia/Belgium

The Brothers Bloom
Dir: Rian Johnson
Cast: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz,Rinko Kikuchi, Maximilian Schell, Robbie Coltrane
USA

The Burning Plain
Dir: Guillermo Arriaga
Cast: Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger
USA

Che: Part One
Dir: Stephen Soderbergh
USA/Spain

Che: Part Two
Dir: Stephen Soderbergh
USA/Spain

Easy Virtue
Dir: Stephan Elliott
Cast: Colin Firth, Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
UK/USA

Genova
Dir: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Colin Firth, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis
United Kingdom

Faubourg 36
Dir: Christophe Barratier
France

Flash of Genius
Dir: Marc Abraham
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, Dermot Mulroney, Alan Alda
USA

Inju, la bête dans l'ombre
Dir: Barbet Schroeder
Cast: Benoît Magimel
France

Is There Anybody There?
Dir: John Crowley
Cast: Bill Milner, Michael Caine
United Kingdom

Last Stop 174
Dir: Bruno Barreto
Brazil

Me and Orson Welles
Dir: Richard Linklater
Cast: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin, Christian McKay
United Kingdom

A Perfect Day
Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek
Italy

Séraphine
Dir: Martin Provost
France/Belgium

Slumdog Millionaire
Dir: Danny Boyle
United Kingdom

Synecdoche, New York
Dir: Charlie Kaufman
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Dianne Wiest, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, Hope Davis
USA

A Woman in Berlin
Dir: Max Färberböck
Germany/Poland

The Wrestler
Dir: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Judah Friedlander and the Necro Butcher
USA

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Dir: Kevin Smith
Cast: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks
USA

The Toronto International Film Festival 2008 runs from September 4-13/08 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

After a week of been cooped up due to sickness it was very exciting to get back out to the theatre and check out some current films. I caught two documentaries at the AMC: The Last Continent and American Teen both of which were enjoyable but not exactly what I was expected. Click through the links for full reviews. The happy surprize of the current releases was Get Smart, it's hilarious - I enjoyed every minute of the film. Joyful and funny without resorting to crudeness (save for one scene) and there was no meaness - in a comedy and it was funny! What a relief, to find humour without it being offensive.

I caught up with a few films that have been on various 'too see' lists for quite some time now. They were Wings of Desire and Bonnie and Clyde, which both made my lists for a combination of critical acclaim and varying degrees of arthouse status. I enjoyed Wings of Desire, but nowhere near as much as I would have liked quite possibly due to seeing the remake City of Angels first. I also found the characters not very accessible, and that felt like it was a conscious choice for which I'm puzzled at the the intent. Next up is Bonnie and Clyde, which reminded me that I don't really enjoy crime films. Great performances by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and the story was both more simple and more complicated than I had imagined. There was a wild sense of containment and restriction created in the film that was fascinating.

I'm always on the lookout for good scary movies, I picked up The Mist recently vaguely remembering hearing people singing its praises when it came out on DVD. This movie totally floored me, I have no idea how I missed it when it came out in theatrical release (gah, it looks like I picked Margot at the Wedding that week ... for shame!). I am certainly glad I caught up with The Mist, it is the scariest new films I've seen since 28 Days Later. It's refreshing to see a horror film with a strong story, interesting characters who are played by great actors. Kudos to Marcia Gay Harden, Thomas Jane and a fantastic supporting cast including Andre Braugher.

Trailer craziness this week is inspired by different formats. In front of both The Last Continent and American Teen was the trailer for The Duchess shown. But it was a completely different trailer each time! The one shown prior to American Teen was spoilerific, show many of the different plot lines and the trailer shown in front of The Last Continent was much more aloof with only a few key plot points and more music than dialogue. Are the trailers being taliored to the respective target audiences? If so, I guess I'm the The Last Continent demographic! Say more by showing less, please!

Two trailers made it into the Trailer of the week category this week:
Beautiful Losers from the folks at Cinematical and The Fox and the Child (last of the bunch) thanks to RowThree.com. Both trailers are quietly beautiful and spoiler free.

What did you watch this week?

Dir: Peter Segal (The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates)
Cast: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp
USA, 2008

Seen: August 8, 2008 at the Bloor

Reason to see: Looked charming & wished I'd seen the TV series

I had a feeling I would get a kick out of this film, but I had no idea I would love it. Coming from the perspective of someone who didn't watch the original series, I still enjoyed and appreciated the world they created and think it's fair to say you can enjoy it without knowing the references. There were moments that you could tell were referencing the series, but it didn't pull you out of the film to do so. It flowed very well throughout, the story was interesting but what really made it special was the characters. From the first teaser trailer I knew the casting of Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart was spot on, but it doesn't stop there. Alan Arkin as the Chief and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson were fantastic, with performances often had me in stitches. The movie delivers more than just laughs with the character of Maxwell Smart who has an striking kindness about him and an earnest quality which is not often seen films these days. Very enjoyable fresh comedy for the goofball in all of us.

Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I'd buy it
I'd recommend it for a laughing good time

Zero commercials. Zero previews.

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© Shannon Ridler, 2008

Dir: Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture, On the Ropes)
Documentary
USA, 2008

Seen: August 10, 2008 at the AMC Yonge & Dundas

Reason to see: Compelling preview

American Teen was promoted that it showcased the senior year of high school through the eyes of 5 stereotypical teens: The Rebel, The Princess, The Geek, The Jock and The Heartthrob. This felt like it was a brilliant idea and I was looking forward to what goes on in high school today. The stories of the teens and the teens themselves are compelling as they went through various different relate-able high school experiences. But, I found that the film didn't flow in the way I would have expected and although it was clear that it went from the beginning of the year to the end of the school year, it was not easy to tell how far along in the year they were at different stages of the film. Perhaps this is more clear to people whom have gone through the US school system, but as an outsider it felt a little random. I also found that just when getting immersed in the story of one of the teens, the focus would switch to another. There were strong moments of real honesty as well as showing some of the horrible things people will do. It also focused strongly on 4 of the teens as opposed to 5 and didn't overly lend itself it The Breakfast Club formula that the trailer portrays. However, I did enjoy the stories of The Rebel and The Geek enough to make the film well worth watching.

I was expecting the film to take the perfect opportunity to be zeitgeist of our times but ultimately its reinforces that high school is it's own zeitgeist regardless of if the is time period now or ten or fifty years ago. As long as there are sports, there will be jocks. As long as there is inacceptance, there will be people on the fringes. The pressures and worries are the same even if the outfits and technology are different.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I'd recommend it for those who like films based on the teen experience

15 minutes of preshow including 3 commercial and 5 previews: Hamlet 2, Religulous, The Duchess, Tropic Thunder and Eagle Eye

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© Shannon Ridler, 2008

Dir: Jean Lemire (The White Planet / La Planète blanche)
Documentary
Canada/France, 2008

Seen: August 10, 2008 at AMC Yonge & Dundas

Reason to see: Canadian co-pro documentary about travelling to Antarctica, sounded good to me!

Who knew 2008 would bring not only one but two documentaries about travelling to the Antarctic? I could say the world gets smaller but after seeing The Last Continent it becomes clear how big the world actually is. The team of explorers, scientists and filmmakers travel not only to the far corner of the world but they stay there for a very long time in the hopes to capture information regarding the effect of climate change to the Antarctic.

One thing about this film is that is shows when the subject of a documentary becomes something different than the original intention. Although the message is clear, the expectation and reality of the matter are different. The film carries well even considering this and the adventures of the crew teamed with stories of historical explorations are matched to the stunning visuals of a wonderful and seldom seen part of the world. There is a strong, and I found unexpected environmentatl message within the film, but I was more drawn to the beauty of the winter landscapes and wildlife.

The happy surprize is the unexpected and subtle human stories of the crew. They are hardworking and strong in tough circumstances, and also have a genuine joie de vivre which is extraordinary to see giving the extreme circumstances and the length of the journey. Bravo.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it to documentary fans as well as people concerned with the environment

12 minutes of preshow including 3 commercial and 6 previews: Defiance, He's Just Not That Into You, The Spirit, The Duchess, Nights in Rodanthe and Miracle at St. Anna

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© Shannon Ridler, 2008

Booth Brothers talks about "THE POSSESSED", their new release on Sci Fi and DVD with KAPS on Para X Radio Show