Movie Box Review

Above: Nowhere near my fave film of the year - but one of the the few pics I have of me at the theatre!

As we turn to the new year I want to take one final look back at 2011 and some of the very interesting, important and light bulb moments and realizations of the year.

Perfect Isn't Everything
Every year I make a list of films, be it favourite, bests, moments, memories, or a combination of all. I thought I would prefer consistency in this list year after year and at the end of 2010 I thought I had cracked the nut: Perfect Films. Films where there is nothing that needs to change about them and I could recommend widely. And last year I came up with The Perfect List and kept my eye out for them. But this year, I found a wrench thrown into that works with a film called The Adjustment Bureau. I LOVED this movie. But it wasn't perfect. That left me conflicted, because I wanted to give it the highest accolades but it didn't meet the definition I created to litmus test films as a way for ranking. Ah, well. I tried but it just reminds me that matching movies to audience is more clear & helpful than 'defining'.



I Saw Myself In Film
This was likely the biggest revelation I had this year, in film or our and happened in what felt like the most unlikely of place, while watching Soul Surfer. Yes, the film is a biopic on Bethany Hamilton, a teen surfer girl who lives in Hawaii and has some huge challenges to face. I went into this film because I like water movies, but I had no idea what a deep, relating experience it would be. I really 'got' her story. But more than that I felt it was my story too as I went through something similar and seeing it was like seeing a reflection of my own experience. It was a huge revelation not just the experience but that it was so unusual for this to *be* an unusual experience as many people see films to see just that - their experience be it past, present, or future/hopeful on screen. But until then, I never had. In fact, the only other character I've seen in film that I'd say was pretty spot-on like me (when I was a kid) is Lucy Pevensie from the Narnia films. It was really wild, and I can see why people are drawn to films where they see themselves as it's a very powerful experience.



Book to Film Club
One of my biggest endeavours of the year was running the 2011 Movie Moxie Book to Film Club where we read 11 books that were being turned into film adaptations, and 7 of them were released in 2011 with another 1 on DVD and at least 1 being released in 2012. I would have loved for them have all to be released, but sometimes it's hard to gauge! But it was 4,318 pages of book goodness and many insights along the way. I certainly enjoyed some books more than others but overall it was an enlightening, enriching and fun experience and I loved hearing peoples impressions of the books and films. I'll definitely be doing the Book to Film Club again 2012.



Let's hear it for FUN films
I think us film folk can often get tunnel vision focus of 'serious' films, sometimes even leaning on them so hard that we forget films have value for many different reasons. I realized this while in the theatre during 2011 while grinning ear to ear and laughing from deep in my belly. Films like Fast Five, The Three Musketeers (2011), Fright Night (2011), Kung Fu Panda 2 and I Am Number Four. Those were all really fun films that I really enjoyed this past year.



Incomplete Challenges, No Marathon, Wha?
One of the oddities of the year was that I didn't have a marathon, like in previous years when I ran the Vampathon, Wolfathon, Sword & Sandals marathon or even Harry Potter and Star Trek countdowns. I was this close to doing the Summer of SciFi but had to pass on it when I unexpectedly had to move, and I completed an exploration of 33 genres through the Movie Moxie Podcast but I didn't think of that as a marathon (although it was an epic endeavour!). My second 101 Films in 1001 Days came to a bleak close with only seeing 2 of those films in 2011 and only knocking back 71/101. I did pretty well with my Owned/Unseen Challenge and am giving myself the rest of the weekend to knock off the final 3 titles. Looking back though, I realize that the big marathon was the Book to Film Club, it took up the energy and format I used for marathons. Perhaps I also kind of forgot about it because I had 2 planned for 2012 from way early in 2011 that I forgot to do one! It's a mystery.


Above: all the boxes on the floor are boxes of movies

Checking in on the Numbers
I often gripe on the ones that got away, or than one more review that I want to do, but I have to say that I'm pretty happy that come the end of the year I've seen 101 of the 400 theatrical releases, and reviewed 82 of those films (plus an additional 23 straight-ish to DVD), and plan on having another 10 reviewed by the end of the month which will be a 90% review rate (or 80% if I don't do those 10!). Yep. I'm happy with that number. Plus as we turn to 2012 I'm at a total of 999 Reviews. What will be 1,000?

I Felt Like I Was The Audience
When you see as many films as I do, it almost goes without saying that they aren't all 'for you', or in this case 'for me'. Like I noted with Soul Surfer, I'm very used to not having my own experience reflected but that doesn't mean I don't love an appreciate seeing and learning about other ideas and experiences. Sometimes that can be a lot of work, and sometimes it's an idea or point of view I'm neither interested in or care to understand. But on occasion, something beautiful happens and I feel I was actually the intended audience. That I understand the language in which the film is speaking, and that it's speaking directly to me. This year the film that spoke to me was Drive. I understood every moment of that film on a visceral, direct-to-my-heart level. It was very powerful.



So, Yeah... I Don't Really Dig Drama or Comedy.
Another odd revelation for going through the genre analysis, was that these two HUGE genres are never my go to genres. Thankfully we live in a time with enough variety that I can work through almost every other genre before getting to straight-up dramas or comedies. But I will give that for performances, it's hard to beat drama and I found further clarity that with comedy I enjoy Canadian, British & some foreign comedies but given a choice I'll always go for action, art house, dance, martial arts, sport, sword & sandals, vampires, horror, supernatural, fantasy and especially science fiction first. Every time. I still get odd looks when I share this realization with people though, and have run into a few road blocks of possibly not being taken 'seriously', but in a time of films like The Tree of Life, Another Earth and TrollHunter / Trolljegeren I think that's just not the reality.



Monster Movies & B-Movie
Another great revelation this year was realizing a love of B-Movies, especially monster movies. From Sharktopus to Dinoshark to Mega Python vs. Gatoroid to Dinocroc vs Supergator I was all over these crazy movies. They are so much fun, even if they aren't 'good'. Actually, sometimes they are better if they aren't good - but not always. I think one of the things I love about them is that you know what you are getting into. There is a monster/crisis/natural disaster and then the challenge to defeat it and on that journey there will be many one liners, possibly familiar faces and many casualties and screaming along the way. I love them. Best watched with popcorn, and almost always exactly 90 minutes long. Fun times!



Elsewhere
This year I've also been hanging out outside the Movie Moxie mostly in the podcasting realm with Before the Dawn: A Twilight Podcast which is now at 118 episodes going strong since 2009 and Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural will have it's second anniversary soon - who knew there would be so much paranormal TV to talk about? I've also done several guesting on the Saturday B-Movie Reel over at Tuning into SciFi TV which has been a lot of fun. I love chatting about film (and TV!).



Writing Writing Writing
It's also been a big year of writing for me, and I've done tons of reviews, festival coverage, journalling and planning but I've also been writing a memoir-like something that I don't even really know what it is but it really shifted my thinking on things and led to many interesting realizations, many of which I've discussed here in this post. It's pretty rough and very much about the process over the product, but I would like to keep it up and hopefully have more of the thoughts and ideas translate into the written word here on the site. I guess that is where my 2012 year will begin.

Above: Nowhere near my fave film of the year - but one of the the few pics I have of me at the theatre!

As we turn to the new year I want to take one final look back at 2011 and some of the very interesting, important and light bulb moments and realizations of the year.

Perfect Isn't Everything
Every year I make a list of films, be it favourite, bests, moments, memories, or a combination of all. I thought I would prefer consistency in this list year after year and at the end of 2010 I thought I had cracked the nut: Perfect Films. Films where there is nothing that needs to change about them and I could recommend widely. And last year I came up with The Perfect List and kept my eye out for them. But this year, I found a wrench thrown into that works with a film called The Adjustment Bureau. I LOVED this movie. But it wasn't perfect. That left me conflicted, because I wanted to give it the highest accolades but it didn't meet the definition I created to litmus test films as a way for ranking. Ah, well. I tried but it just reminds me that matching movies to audience is more clear & helpful than 'defining'.



I Saw Myself In Film
This was likely the biggest revelation I had this year, in film or our and happened in what felt like the most unlikely of place, while watching Soul Surfer. Yes, the film is a biopic on Bethany Hamilton, a teen surfer girl who lives in Hawaii and has some huge challenges to face. I went into this film because I like water movies, but I had no idea what a deep, relating experience it would be. I really 'got' her story. But more than that I felt it was my story too as I went through something similar and seeing it was like seeing a reflection of my own experience. It was a huge revelation not just the experience but that it was so unusual for this to *be* an unusual experience as many people see films to see just that - their experience be it past, present, or future/hopeful on screen. But until then, I never had. In fact, the only other character I've seen in film that I'd say was pretty spot-on like me (when I was a kid) is Lucy Pevensie from the Narnia films. It was really wild, and I can see why people are drawn to films where they see themselves as it's a very powerful experience.



Book to Film Club
One of my biggest endeavours of the year was running the 2011 Movie Moxie Book to Film Club where we read 11 books that were being turned into film adaptations, and 7 of them were released in 2011 with another 1 on DVD and at least 1 being released in 2012. I would have loved for them have all to be released, but sometimes it's hard to gauge! But it was 4,318 pages of book goodness and many insights along the way. I certainly enjoyed some books more than others but overall it was an enlightening, enriching and fun experience and I loved hearing peoples impressions of the books and films. I'll definitely be doing the Book to Film Club again 2012.



Let's hear it for FUN films
I think us film folk can often get tunnel vision focus of 'serious' films, sometimes even leaning on them so hard that we forget films have value for many different reasons. I realized this while in the theatre during 2011 while grinning ear to ear and laughing from deep in my belly. Films like Fast Five, The Three Musketeers (2011), Fright Night (2011), Kung Fu Panda 2 and I Am Number Four. Those were all really fun films that I really enjoyed this past year.



Incomplete Challenges, No Marathon, Wha?
One of the oddities of the year was that I didn't have a marathon, like in previous years when I ran the Vampathon, Wolfathon, Sword & Sandals marathon or even Harry Potter and Star Trek countdowns. I was this close to doing the Summer of SciFi but had to pass on it when I unexpectedly had to move, and I completed an exploration of 33 genres through the Movie Moxie Podcast but I didn't think of that as a marathon (although it was an epic endeavour!). My second 101 Films in 1001 Days came to a bleak close with only seeing 2 of those films in 2011 and only knocking back 71/101. I did pretty well with my Owned/Unseen Challenge and am giving myself the rest of the weekend to knock off the final 3 titles. Looking back though, I realize that the big marathon was the Book to Film Club, it took up the energy and format I used for marathons. Perhaps I also kind of forgot about it because I had 2 planned for 2012 from way early in 2011 that I forgot to do one! It's a mystery.


Above: all the boxes on the floor are boxes of movies

Checking in on the Numbers
I often gripe on the ones that got away, or than one more review that I want to do, but I have to say that I'm pretty happy that come the end of the year I've seen 101 of the 400 theatrical releases, and reviewed 82 of those films (plus an additional 23 straight-ish to DVD), and plan on having another 10 reviewed by the end of the month which will be a 90% review rate (or 80% if I don't do those 10!). Yep. I'm happy with that number. Plus as we turn to 2012 I'm at a total of 999 Reviews. What will be 1,000?

I Felt Like I Was The Audience
When you see as many films as I do, it almost goes without saying that they aren't all 'for you', or in this case 'for me'. Like I noted with Soul Surfer, I'm very used to not having my own experience reflected but that doesn't mean I don't love an appreciate seeing and learning about other ideas and experiences. Sometimes that can be a lot of work, and sometimes it's an idea or point of view I'm neither interested in or care to understand. But on occasion, something beautiful happens and I feel I was actually the intended audience. That I understand the language in which the film is speaking, and that it's speaking directly to me. This year the film that spoke to me was Drive. I understood every moment of that film on a visceral, direct-to-my-heart level. It was very powerful.



So, Yeah... I Don't Really Dig Drama or Comedy.
Another odd revelation for going through the genre analysis, was that these two HUGE genres are never my go to genres. Thankfully we live in a time with enough variety that I can work through almost every other genre before getting to straight-up dramas or comedies. But I will give that for performances, it's hard to beat drama and I found further clarity that with comedy I enjoy Canadian, British & some foreign comedies but given a choice I'll always go for action, art house, dance, martial arts, sport, sword & sandals, vampires, horror, supernatural, fantasy and especially science fiction first. Every time. I still get odd looks when I share this realization with people though, and have run into a few road blocks of possibly not being taken 'seriously', but in a time of films like The Tree of Life, Another Earth and TrollHunter / Trolljegeren I think that's just not the reality.



Monster Movies & B-Movie
Another great revelation this year was realizing a love of B-Movies, especially monster movies. From Sharktopus to Dinoshark to Mega Python vs. Gatoroid to Dinocroc vs Supergator I was all over these crazy movies. They are so much fun, even if they aren't 'good'. Actually, sometimes they are better if they aren't good - but not always. I think one of the things I love about them is that you know what you are getting into. There is a monster/crisis/natural disaster and then the challenge to defeat it and on that journey there will be many one liners, possibly familiar faces and many casualties and screaming along the way. I love them. Best watched with popcorn, and almost always exactly 90 minutes long. Fun times!



Elsewhere
This year I've also been hanging out outside the Movie Moxie mostly in the podcasting realm with Before the Dawn: A Twilight Podcast which is now at 118 episodes going strong since 2009 and Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural will have it's second anniversary soon - who knew there would be so much paranormal TV to talk about? I've also done several guesting on the Saturday B-Movie Reel over at Tuning into SciFi TV which has been a lot of fun. I love chatting about film (and TV!).



Writing Writing Writing
It's also been a big year of writing for me, and I've done tons of reviews, festival coverage, journalling and planning but I've also been writing a memoir-like something that I don't even really know what it is but it really shifted my thinking on things and led to many interesting realizations, many of which I've discussed here in this post. It's pretty rough and very much about the process over the product, but I would like to keep it up and hopefully have more of the thoughts and ideas translate into the written word here on the site. I guess that is where my 2012 year will begin.

We are heading into the holiday stretch and for a lot of TV watchers that can often mean absolutely nothing to watch, but for fans of monsters, magic & heroes have no fear as The 12 Days of SpaceMAS is almost here. From Thursday December 22, 2011 to Monday January 2, 2012 Space Channel will be jam packing our days with marathons of monster movies to entire seasons of TV and possible the most exciting for Whovians, the Doctor Who Christmas Special being played on Christmas Day.

Myself, I'm gearing up more for the movie marathons, especially Beast Feast Marathon over 2 Days which has a mega-load of monster movies including Mega Piranha, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus and of course Mega Python vs Gatoroid (starring Tiffany & Debbie Gibson!). Also included in Beast Feast is shark classic Jaws and two of my faves: Deep Blue Sea and Rogue (killer crocodile!) starring Radha Mitchell & Sam Worthington and I might finally get to see the infamous Black Sheep!

There are also lots of films for dinosaurs fans (Jurrasic Park trilogy + Triassic Attack & Aztec Rex), Comic Book Hero fans with several Batman films and 2 Thor Films: The Almighty Thor and Thor: Hammer of the Gods and then the Man vs. Machine marathon with I, Robot, Demolition Man, Stealth, Transformers 1 & 2 and Starship Troopers 1 & 2. Although I think Starship Troopers is a bit of a cheat....weren't the monsters just.. bugs? Meh! No matter, it's all in good fun and it's got cool tech - perhaps they mutate to machines in the sequel.

For the TV fans there are lots of shows to catch up with including Season 1 & 2 of Merlin (great lead up to Season 4 premiere on January 7, 2012), Sanctuary Season 4 marathon, Christmas with the Doctor and Torchwood Marathon.

With so many awesome options, the true question is, what *won't* you watch?

Here's a listing of the full 12 Days of SpaceMAS:
Day 1 - Thurs Dec 22, 2011: Comic Book Hero Marathon
Day 2 - Fri Dec 23, 2011: Dino-Might Marathon
Day 3 - Sat Dec 24, 2011: Family Fantasy Marathon
Day 4 - Sun Dec 25, 2011: Christmas with the Doctor
Day 5 - Mon Dec 26, 2011: Beast Feast Marathon Day 1
Day 6 - Tues Dec 27, 2011: Beast Feast Marathon Day 2
Day 7 - Weds Dec 28, 2011: Magical Merlin Marathon Day 1
Day 8 - Thurs Dec 29, 2011: Magical Merlin Marathon Day 2
Day 9 - Fri Dec 30, 2011: Sanctuary Season 4 Marathon
Day 10 - Sat Dec 31, 2011: Man vs. Machine Marathon Day 1
Day 11 - Sun Jan 1, 2012: Man vs. Machine Marathon Day 2
Day 12 - Mon Jan 2, 2012: Torchwood Marathon

Thurs Dec 22, 2011: Comic Book Hero Marathon
7 p.m. ET – THOR: HAMMER OF THE GODS
8:55 p.m. ET – THE ALMIGHTY THOR (Encore at 9 a.m. ET on Dec. 23)
10:50 p.m. ET – BATMAN
1:25 a.m. ET – BATMAN RETURNS
4 a.m. ET – BATMAN FOREVER
6:30 a.m. ET – BATMAN AND ROBIN

Fri Dec 23, 2011: Dino-Might Marathon
11 a.m. ET – AZTEC REX (Encores at 9:50 p.m. ET and on Dec. 24 at 6:50 a.m. ET)
12:55 p.m. ET – TRIASSIC ATTACK
2:45 p.m. ET – JURASSIC PARK (Encore at 11:45 p.m. ET)
5:20 p.m. ET – THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK 2 (Encore at 2:20 a.m. ET on Dec. 24)
7:55 p.m. ET – JURASSIC PARK 3 (Encore at 4:55 a.m. ET on Dec. 24)

Sat Dec 24, 2011: Family Fantasy Marathon
8:45 a.m. ET – BEETLEJUICE (Encores at 1:40 a.m. ET on Dec. 25)
10:40 a.m. ET – NEVERLAND (NIGHT ONE) (Encores at 7:05 p.m. ET and on Dec. 25 at 3:40 a.m. ET)
12:35 p.m. ET – NEVERLAND (NIGHT TWO) (Encores at 9:05 p.m. ET and on Dec. 25 at 5:35 a.m. ET)
2:30 p.m. ET – E.T. (Encore at 11:05 p.m. ET)
5 p.m. ET – STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

Sun Dec 25, 2011: Christmas With The Doctor
7:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of DOCTOR WHO (Season 6)
8 p.m. – 6:30 a.m. ET – Back-to-back DOCTOR WHO specials including:
THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE Premieres Sunday Dec 25 at 9 pm ET on SPACE


THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE Premieres Sunday Dec 25 at 9 pm ET on SPACE

Mon Dec 26, 2011 - Beast Feast Day 2:
9 a.m. ET – DEEP BLUE SEA
11:10 a.m. ET – MEGA PIRANHA (Encore at 4:40 p.m. ET)
1 p.m. ET – COPPERHEAD
2:50 p.m. ET – MEGA PYTHON VS. GATOROID
6:30 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS
8:25 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. CROCOSAURUS
10:15 p.m. ET – JAWS (Encore at 4:30 a.m. ET)
12:45 a.m. ET – MALIBU SHARK ATTACK
2:35 a.m. ET – RAZORBACK

Tues Dec 27, 2011 - Beast Feast Day 2:
7 a.m. ET – COPPERHEAD
8:50 a.m. ET – MEGA PIRANHA
10:40 a.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS
12:30 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. CROCOSAURUS
2:20 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GATOROID
4:10 p.m. ET – ANACONDA (Encore at 12:20 a.m. ET)
6 p.m. ET – MALIBU SHARK ATTACK
7:50 p.m. ET – JAWS
10:20 p.m. ET – ROGUE (Encore at 4 a.m. ET)
2:10 a.m. ET – BLACK SHEEP

Wed Dec 28, 2011 - Magical Merlin Day 1:
6 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of MERLIN (Season 1) (Episodes repeat from 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. ET)

Thurs Dec 29, 2011 - Magical Merlin Day 2:
6 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of MERLIN (Season 2) (Episodes repeat from 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. ET)

Fri Dec 30, 2011: Sanctuary Season 4 Marathon
11 a.m. – 11:22 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of SANCTUARY (Season 4)
Final three episodes of the season start at 8:30 p.m. ET
Encore broadcasts from 11:22 – 11:30 a.m. ET

Sat Dec 31, 2011 - Man vs Machine Day 1:
11:30 a.m. ET – DEMOLITION MAN (Encore at 12:30 a.m. ET)
1:50 p.m. ET – STEALTH (Encore at 2:50 a.m. ET)
4:20 p.m. ET – I, ROBOT
6:40 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS (Encore at 5:20 a.m. ET)
9:35 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Sun Jan 1, 2012 - Man vs Machine Day 2
8:15 a.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Encore at 6:55 p.m. ET)
11:10 a.m. ET – STEALTH
1:40 p.m. ET – I, ROBOT
4 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS
9:50 p.m. ET – STARSHIP TROOPERS
12:30 a.m. ET – STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION
2:20 a.m. ET – ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
4:30 a.m. ET – STARGATE

TORCHWOOD Marathon
Monday, Jan. 2, 2012
7 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF THE EARH
1 p.m. – 12:10 a.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY


Sanctuary Cast Photo Credit Sanctuary Productions

Cross posted at Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural

We are heading into the holiday stretch and for a lot of TV watchers that can often mean absolutely nothing to watch, but for fans of monsters, magic & heroes have no fear as The 12 Days of SpaceMAS is almost here. From Thursday December 22, 2011 to Monday January 2, 2012 Space Channel will be jam packing our days with marathons of monster movies to entire seasons of TV and possible the most exciting for Whovians, the Doctor Who Christmas Special being played on Christmas Day.

Myself, I'm gearing up more for the movie marathons, especially Beast Feast Marathon over 2 Days which has a mega-load of monster movies including Mega Piranha, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus and of course Mega Python vs Gatoroid (starring Tiffany & Debbie Gibson!). Also included in Beast Feast is shark classic Jaws and two of my faves: Deep Blue Sea and Rogue (killer crocodile!) starring Radha Mitchell & Sam Worthington and I might finally get to see the infamous Black Sheep!

There are also lots of films for dinosaurs fans (Jurrasic Park trilogy + Triassic Attack & Aztec Rex), Comic Book Hero fans with several Batman films and 2 Thor Films: The Almighty Thor and Thor: Hammer of the Gods and then the Man vs. Machine marathon with I, Robot, Demolition Man, Stealth, Transformers 1 & 2 and Starship Troopers 1 & 2. Although I think Starship Troopers is a bit of a cheat....weren't the monsters just.. bugs? Meh! No matter, it's all in good fun and it's got cool tech - perhaps they mutate to machines in the sequel.

For the TV fans there are lots of shows to catch up with including Season 1 & 2 of Merlin (great lead up to Season 4 premiere on January 7, 2012), Sanctuary Season 4 marathon, Christmas with the Doctor and Torchwood Marathon.

With so many awesome options, the true question is, what *won't* you watch?

Here's a listing of the full 12 Days of SpaceMAS:
Day 1 - Thurs Dec 22, 2011: Comic Book Hero Marathon
Day 2 - Fri Dec 23, 2011: Dino-Might Marathon
Day 3 - Sat Dec 24, 2011: Family Fantasy Marathon
Day 4 - Sun Dec 25, 2011: Christmas with the Doctor
Day 5 - Mon Dec 26, 2011: Beast Feast Marathon Day 1
Day 6 - Tues Dec 27, 2011: Beast Feast Marathon Day 2
Day 7 - Weds Dec 28, 2011: Magical Merlin Marathon Day 1
Day 8 - Thurs Dec 29, 2011: Magical Merlin Marathon Day 2
Day 9 - Fri Dec 30, 2011: Sanctuary Season 4 Marathon
Day 10 - Sat Dec 31, 2011: Man vs. Machine Marathon Day 1
Day 11 - Sun Jan 1, 2012: Man vs. Machine Marathon Day 2
Day 12 - Mon Jan 2, 2012: Torchwood Marathon

Thurs Dec 22, 2011: Comic Book Hero Marathon
7 p.m. ET – THOR: HAMMER OF THE GODS
8:55 p.m. ET – THE ALMIGHTY THOR (Encore at 9 a.m. ET on Dec. 23)
10:50 p.m. ET – BATMAN
1:25 a.m. ET – BATMAN RETURNS
4 a.m. ET – BATMAN FOREVER
6:30 a.m. ET – BATMAN AND ROBIN

Fri Dec 23, 2011: Dino-Might Marathon
11 a.m. ET – AZTEC REX (Encores at 9:50 p.m. ET and on Dec. 24 at 6:50 a.m. ET)
12:55 p.m. ET – TRIASSIC ATTACK
2:45 p.m. ET – JURASSIC PARK (Encore at 11:45 p.m. ET)
5:20 p.m. ET – THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK 2 (Encore at 2:20 a.m. ET on Dec. 24)
7:55 p.m. ET – JURASSIC PARK 3 (Encore at 4:55 a.m. ET on Dec. 24)

Sat Dec 24, 2011: Family Fantasy Marathon
8:45 a.m. ET – BEETLEJUICE (Encores at 1:40 a.m. ET on Dec. 25)
10:40 a.m. ET – NEVERLAND (NIGHT ONE) (Encores at 7:05 p.m. ET and on Dec. 25 at 3:40 a.m. ET)
12:35 p.m. ET – NEVERLAND (NIGHT TWO) (Encores at 9:05 p.m. ET and on Dec. 25 at 5:35 a.m. ET)
2:30 p.m. ET – E.T. (Encore at 11:05 p.m. ET)
5 p.m. ET – STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

Sun Dec 25, 2011: Christmas With The Doctor
7:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of DOCTOR WHO (Season 6)
8 p.m. – 6:30 a.m. ET – Back-to-back DOCTOR WHO specials including:
THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE Premieres Sunday Dec 25 at 9 pm ET on SPACE


THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE Premieres Sunday Dec 25 at 9 pm ET on SPACE

Mon Dec 26, 2011 - Beast Feast Day 2:
9 a.m. ET – DEEP BLUE SEA
11:10 a.m. ET – MEGA PIRANHA (Encore at 4:40 p.m. ET)
1 p.m. ET – COPPERHEAD
2:50 p.m. ET – MEGA PYTHON VS. GATOROID
6:30 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS
8:25 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. CROCOSAURUS
10:15 p.m. ET – JAWS (Encore at 4:30 a.m. ET)
12:45 a.m. ET – MALIBU SHARK ATTACK
2:35 a.m. ET – RAZORBACK

Tues Dec 27, 2011 - Beast Feast Day 2:
7 a.m. ET – COPPERHEAD
8:50 a.m. ET – MEGA PIRANHA
10:40 a.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS
12:30 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. CROCOSAURUS
2:20 p.m. ET – MEGA SHARK VS. GATOROID
4:10 p.m. ET – ANACONDA (Encore at 12:20 a.m. ET)
6 p.m. ET – MALIBU SHARK ATTACK
7:50 p.m. ET – JAWS
10:20 p.m. ET – ROGUE (Encore at 4 a.m. ET)
2:10 a.m. ET – BLACK SHEEP

Wed Dec 28, 2011 - Magical Merlin Day 1:
6 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of MERLIN (Season 1) (Episodes repeat from 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. ET)

Thurs Dec 29, 2011 - Magical Merlin Day 2:
6 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of MERLIN (Season 2) (Episodes repeat from 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. ET)

Fri Dec 30, 2011: Sanctuary Season 4 Marathon
11 a.m. – 11:22 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of SANCTUARY (Season 4)
Final three episodes of the season start at 8:30 p.m. ET
Encore broadcasts from 11:22 – 11:30 a.m. ET

Sat Dec 31, 2011 - Man vs Machine Day 1:
11:30 a.m. ET – DEMOLITION MAN (Encore at 12:30 a.m. ET)
1:50 p.m. ET – STEALTH (Encore at 2:50 a.m. ET)
4:20 p.m. ET – I, ROBOT
6:40 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS (Encore at 5:20 a.m. ET)
9:35 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Sun Jan 1, 2012 - Man vs Machine Day 2
8:15 a.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Encore at 6:55 p.m. ET)
11:10 a.m. ET – STEALTH
1:40 p.m. ET – I, ROBOT
4 p.m. ET – TRANSFORMERS
9:50 p.m. ET – STARSHIP TROOPERS
12:30 a.m. ET – STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION
2:20 a.m. ET – ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
4:30 a.m. ET – STARGATE

TORCHWOOD Marathon
Monday, Jan. 2, 2012
7 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF THE EARH
1 p.m. – 12:10 a.m. ET – Back-to-back episodes of TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY


Sanctuary Cast Photo Credit Sanctuary Productions

Cross posted at Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural

Dir: Fred Andrews - Feature film directorial debut
Cast: Dillon Casey, Lauren Schneider, Mehcad Brookes, Serinda Swan, Amanda Fuller, Aaron Hill, Daniel Bernhardt, Sid Haig
USA, 2011

Reason to see: Been on quite the monster movie kick recently

Creature follows a group of friends travelling though Louisiana to New Orleans, who stumble on a local legend of the monster Lockjaw and get suckered into checking it out. The story of Lockjaw is creepy enough for the basis of a film, setting the story in a great legend and allowing for enough mystery to keep things intriguing while still jumping though most of the regular monster movie hoops of the back story, creeping hillbilly locals, and random opportunities for the cast to take off their clothes. Oddly, the story was solid but it was the characters that I found to be all over the place, so much so that when a brother or sister is mentioned, it’s totally confusing. There is a sibling set? Somewhere in this bunch of 3 couples? Who is it? It was only through the process of brutal elimination throughout the film did it become clear who was brother/sister. That was quite distracting and even worse, I hate to say it, but it actually was relevant and important.

The story managed to suprize me on the rare occasion and as did Mehcad Brookes performance as Niles (Eggs from 'True Blood'), whose acting & physicality really stood out and brought something special to the film. It hits a lot of the marks people expect in a higher-rated monster films, from creative gore to nudity, creepy ideas & imagery, characters you are rooting for and ones to laugh at, and the stand-by of women in peril. It meets a lot of the marks, but it missed a few as well, and unfortunately one of the marks is unforgivable to miss. As much as I don't want to push that films should have formulas, it’s clear that there is certain an expectation with monster movies and if you don’t deliver that expectation (or a creative alternative), people feel cheated. And unfortunately that’s exactly how I can imagine people will feel here.

If all your looking for is a creepy story, some nudity, characters to laugh at and a monster, then Creature might be enough to keep your attention. But I found that even by monster movie standards it didn’t offer much more than that. I wished it had pushed the camp side a little more and really needed to go for the formula follow through. But, if you are looking for counter programming this weekend in contrast to TIFF's opening, this low brow monster marshness is easily the movie to pick.

Creature opens in Canada on Friday September 9, 2011.

Warnings: Torture

Shannon's Overall View:
I didn't love it
I'd not likely watch it again
I'd recommend it only for low brow B-movie fans

Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed and All Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2011

Dir: Fred Andrews - Feature film directorial debut
Cast: Dillon Casey, Lauren Schneider, Mehcad Brookes, Serinda Swan, Amanda Fuller, Aaron Hill, Daniel Bernhardt, Sid Haig
USA, 2011

Reason to see: Been on quite the monster movie kick recently

Creature follows a group of friends travelling though Louisiana to New Orleans, who stumble on a local legend of the monster Lockjaw and get suckered into checking it out. The story of Lockjaw is creepy enough for the basis of a film, setting the story in a great legend and allowing for enough mystery to keep things intriguing while still jumping though most of the regular monster movie hoops of the back story, creeping hillbilly locals, and random opportunities for the cast to take off their clothes. Oddly, the story was solid but it was the characters that I found to be all over the place, so much so that when a brother or sister is mentioned, it’s totally confusing. There is a sibling set? Somewhere in this bunch of 3 couples? Who is it? It was only through the process of brutal elimination throughout the film did it become clear who was brother/sister. That was quite distracting and even worse, I hate to say it, but it actually was relevant and important.

The story managed to suprize me on the rare occasion and as did Mehcad Brookes performance as Niles (Eggs from 'True Blood'), whose acting & physicality really stood out and brought something special to the film. It hits a lot of the marks people expect in a higher-rated monster films, from creative gore to nudity, creepy ideas & imagery, characters you are rooting for and ones to laugh at, and the stand-by of women in peril. It meets a lot of the marks, but it missed a few as well, and unfortunately one of the marks is unforgivable to miss. As much as I don't want to push that films should have formulas, it’s clear that there is certain an expectation with monster movies and if you don’t deliver that expectation (or a creative alternative), people feel cheated. And unfortunately that’s exactly how I can imagine people will feel here.

If all your looking for is a creepy story, some nudity, characters to laugh at and a monster, then Creature might be enough to keep your attention. But I found that even by monster movie standards it didn’t offer much more than that. I wished it had pushed the camp side a little more and really needed to go for the formula follow through. But, if you are looking for counter programming this weekend in contrast to TIFF's opening, this low brow monster marshness is easily the movie to pick.

Creature opens in Canada on Friday September 9, 2011.

Warnings: Torture

Shannon's Overall View:
I didn't love it
I'd not likely watch it again
I'd recommend it only for low brow B-movie fans

Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed and All Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2011

DVD Review the killer car/monster movie Super Hybrid

Dir: Eric Valette (One Missed Call, State Affairs)
Cast: Shannon Beckner, Oded Fehr, Ryan Kennedy, Melanie Papalia, John Reardon, Adrien Dorval
USA/Germany, 2011 (DVD)

Reason to see: Killer Car & Oded Fehr was enough to get me interested!

Killer car, here it comes! The premise alone got me interested and I'm actually quite of fan on Oded Fehr and really wish we saw him of more and I was surprized that although he's the first name to appear, he's not the protagonist of the film. Although I do really enjoy Oded Fehr (who is in the film a lot), this was a happy surprized as this killer car movie actual follows Shannon Beckner and she is our protangonist Tilda, who with a get it done attitude and no-muss, no-fuss take on life who is easy connect to and empathize with at her not-so-glam lifestyle of working on cars with a bunch of guys included a quietly connected family member.

Given that this is an monster movie, we should chat about the car itself and this film has an interesting take on killer car idea and creatively blends in ideas that allow for the opportunity to showcase several cars and bring in a creature feel into the mix There is a fair amount of action via car chases and lots of destruction and mayhem. Although you might be thinking Christine, Super Hybrid actually takes inspiration from films like Aliens 3 and Pitch Black focusing on characters and moral dilemmas under pressure of being faced with a monster. It has classic monster movie elements of denial, disbelief and of course dismemberment. I actually quite enjoyed our female protagonist grease monkey Tilda (Shannon Beckner), she's reluctant to try out the hero role of the crazy situation but steps closer in that direction each time our antagonist (or at least non-vehicular antagonist) the brutish Ray (Oded Fehr). Ray & Tilda play off each other really well, giving both tension to the crazy situation and an uneven opportunity for the remaining cast members to feel the need to choose sides. And with survivalist films, you know side-taking is likely going to crop up and ramp up everything.

I enjoyed the action sequences and chases, both of which are pretty fun and we get lots of different cars and vehicles in action. This makes up for the non-car special effects which aren't as snazzy but pretty on par with a lot of monster movies out there. I also really enjoyed the rag tag group of characters we follow through the mayhem, whom I actually connected to more that expected. If you watch a lot of monster movie you can usually see where they are going, but with this kind of film that’s where I find half the fun – how crazy will they take it? How far will they go? Who will survive (if anyone) versus the monster? Even if you figure out each and every moment, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun to watch the mayhem in action.

DVD Extras:

• Under the Hood of Super Hybrid (34 minutes) substantial featurertte that includes film clips, behind the scenes, interviews with director Eric Valette, producers Oliver Hengst, Elizabeth Wang-Lee & Kevin Dewalt, writer Neal Marshall Stevens, production designer Tom Valentine, cinematographer John Leonetti, special effects artist Emersen Z., 2nd unit director Richie Burden, actors Shannon Beckner, Oded Fehr, Melanie Papalia, Ryan Kennedy on the premise of the film, the stigma of the genre, the stunts & the huge number of cars destroyed in the process of filming (100+!), selection of and working with director Eric Valette and Shannon Beckner as Tilda, that the film is centred on the story & character journeys over CGI & effects and the characters their roles in the film; plus sections on The Look, The Cars, The Special Effects & .... that go through the locations of the film including the creation of the parking garage and the inspiration behind the look & feel of it and the challenge of the confined location, working with the red camera, the car as a character and film and the changes it goes through during the film, the effects in and touches on their creation and placement in the film and behind the scenes on some set up and shooting of car action scene plus challenges of all stunt working being mostly interiors and the importance of putting the stunt team together. This featurette has a voice over to guide you through, but it refers to the film as Hybrid, as opposed to the DVD title Super Hybrid.

Super Hybrid is available on DVD as of August 23, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I'd recommend it as fans of car films and monster film

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2011

DVD Review the killer car/monster movie Super Hybrid

Dir: Eric Valette (One Missed Call, State Affairs)
Cast: Shannon Beckner, Oded Fehr, Ryan Kennedy, Melanie Papalia, John Reardon, Adrien Dorval
USA/Germany, 2011 (DVD)

Reason to see: Killer Car & Oded Fehr was enough to get me interested!

Killer car, here it comes! The premise alone got me interested and I'm actually quite of fan on Oded Fehr and really wish we saw him of more and I was surprized that although he's the first name to appear, he's not the protagonist of the film. Although I do really enjoy Oded Fehr (who is in the film a lot), this was a happy surprized as this killer car movie actual follows Shannon Beckner and she is our protangonist Tilda, who with a get it done attitude and no-muss, no-fuss take on life who is easy connect to and empathize with at her not-so-glam lifestyle of working on cars with a bunch of guys included a quietly connected family member.

Given that this is an monster movie, we should chat about the car itself and this film has an interesting take on killer car idea and creatively blends in ideas that allow for the opportunity to showcase several cars and bring in a creature feel into the mix There is a fair amount of action via car chases and lots of destruction and mayhem. Although you might be thinking Christine, Super Hybrid actually takes inspiration from films like Aliens 3 and Pitch Black focusing on characters and moral dilemmas under pressure of being faced with a monster. It has classic monster movie elements of denial, disbelief and of course dismemberment. I actually quite enjoyed our female protagonist grease monkey Tilda (Shannon Beckner), she's reluctant to try out the hero role of the crazy situation but steps closer in that direction each time our antagonist (or at least non-vehicular antagonist) the brutish Ray (Oded Fehr). Ray & Tilda play off each other really well, giving both tension to the crazy situation and an uneven opportunity for the remaining cast members to feel the need to choose sides. And with survivalist films, you know side-taking is likely going to crop up and ramp up everything.

I enjoyed the action sequences and chases, both of which are pretty fun and we get lots of different cars and vehicles in action. This makes up for the non-car special effects which aren't as snazzy but pretty on par with a lot of monster movies out there. I also really enjoyed the rag tag group of characters we follow through the mayhem, whom I actually connected to more that expected. If you watch a lot of monster movie you can usually see where they are going, but with this kind of film that’s where I find half the fun – how crazy will they take it? How far will they go? Who will survive (if anyone) versus the monster? Even if you figure out each and every moment, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun to watch the mayhem in action.

DVD Extras:

• Under the Hood of Super Hybrid (34 minutes) substantial featurertte that includes film clips, behind the scenes, interviews with director Eric Valette, producers Oliver Hengst, Elizabeth Wang-Lee & Kevin Dewalt, writer Neal Marshall Stevens, production designer Tom Valentine, cinematographer John Leonetti, special effects artist Emersen Z., 2nd unit director Richie Burden, actors Shannon Beckner, Oded Fehr, Melanie Papalia, Ryan Kennedy on the premise of the film, the stigma of the genre, the stunts & the huge number of cars destroyed in the process of filming (100+!), selection of and working with director Eric Valette and Shannon Beckner as Tilda, that the film is centred on the story & character journeys over CGI & effects and the characters their roles in the film; plus sections on The Look, The Cars, The Special Effects & .... that go through the locations of the film including the creation of the parking garage and the inspiration behind the look & feel of it and the challenge of the confined location, working with the red camera, the car as a character and film and the changes it goes through during the film, the effects in and touches on their creation and placement in the film and behind the scenes on some set up and shooting of car action scene plus challenges of all stunt working being mostly interiors and the importance of putting the stunt team together. This featurette has a voice over to guide you through, but it refers to the film as Hybrid, as opposed to the DVD title Super Hybrid.

Super Hybrid is available on DVD as of August 23, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I'd recommend it as fans of car films and monster film

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2011

DVD review of the brilliant Norwegian monster film TrollHunter / Trolljegeren





Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Legal Line ©2010 Filmkameratene AS. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved.



Writer/Dir: André Øvredal (Future Murder)

Cast: Glenn Erland Tosterud, Otto Jespersen, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Norway, 2011



Reason to see: A Norwegian monster movie is a must-see in my book.



Trollhunter is a vérité style (found footage) film following a group of students who are on the trail of capturing a story involving mysterious bear attacks and an elusive hunter. The team includes the quietly enthusiastic Thomas (Glenn Tosterud), Johanna working the sound (Johanna Mørck) and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) whom we mostly hear over seeing as his character is behind the camera. They set off in their search involving mysterious tracks in the woods and try to deduce what has been going on by interviews locals, as well as hunters and a government official. The follow their nose spirit of looking into the mystery gives the film a fantastic, adventurous spirit to it as the audience doesn't know any more or less than the trio at any time.



As a spoiler-free film reviewer, this is one of my favourite kinds of films and because it's so great I can (and do) recommend going into the film blind and just seeing it. It's highly entertaining, very engaging and looks gorgeous at every step. The characters are very accessible and pull off the natural tone with ease, creating a perfect canvas for any tone it takes, be it human drama or horror or even comedy. The actors are amazing, bringing very realistic reactions to any given scenario making it a joy for the audience to be brought into their world. I was particularly impressed with Glenn Tosterud as the curious and persistant Thomas and Hans Morten Hansen as gruff and elusive Finn.



The film is excellent, and is able to blend the horror easily with humour and the human factor. I loved how even though it's fun and very funny at times, it's not over the top or going for laughs because it's strongly rooted in the human factor as well as the mythology and stories of the Trolls. It's absolutely gorgeous to watch, with tons of time spend outdoors in the woods and in nature which is a treat to see and gives a huge vastness of the land that is ever present and mysterious given weight to idea of letting your mind fill with infinite possibilities on what could be 'out there'.



Bringing fable to life in modern day culture isn't easy, but TrollHunter pulls it off at every turn. I watch a lot of monster movies, and TrollHunter is truly a cut above. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend checking it out.



I had a chance to chat with director André Øvredal and actor Glenn Tosterud about the film, and you can see that interview here or listen to it here.



DVD Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (5 scenes, 3 minutes) * nice collection of deleted scenes more on the hunting and tracking, as well as some fun goofy bits with the students.
• Improvs & Bloopers (2 minutes) 2 improvs both funny to serious and some funny bloopers
• Extended Scenes (3 scenes, 7 minutes) * extended scenes including the students interviewing various people about the unusual activity and also chatting with Hans. These were fun to see and it's wild to watch extended scenes for a vérité style film, because you kind of turn your brain off a bit and don't question the pacing, but it is still structured and created. Very interesting.
• Visual Effects (6 minutes) 4 sections on Visual Effects Breakdowns: Ringlefinch, Digital Models, Jotnar and Tosserland & Mountain Kings. Really cool breakdowns of several of the creatures and shows visually how they were incorporated into the film, and I loved the Digital Models section which included really awesome troll classifications. No audio, just visuals and in very clear stages to tell the story of how they put the trolls in the film.
• Behind-the-Scenes (23 minutes) * 7 behind the scenes: Troll Foot, Good Vibes on the Shoot, While We Wait, Russian Bear, The Tin Man, The Beard & Movie Stars. Really cool to see some of the preparation, test run and then actual footage for a vérité style film, to see the planning that's involved as well as the final footage. It was also fun to see prep work for some of the stunts, props & make up (especially Otto Jespersen's beard!) as well as the contrast between prepping, waiting and goofing around until actual shooting. behind the scenes and shooting.
• Galleries (6 minutes) Troll Sketches & Troll Habitats concepts sketches of trolls and lots of locations shots of habitats set to music.
• HDNet: A Look at Trollhunter (4 minutes) featurette with film clip, critics quotes and interviews with writer/director André Øvredal & actor Glenn Tosterud about the premise of the film, the different layers in the film, the character of the Trollhunter, the road movie feel of the film, the intent to make it feel very real and the design of the trolls.
• * All DVD extras in Norwegian are subtitled in English
  
  

TrollHunter / Trolljegeren is available on DVD as of August 23, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com



Shannon's Overall View:

I loved it

I'd watch it, repeatedly

I highly & widely recommend it



Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed or see more DVD Reviews



© Shannon Ridler, 2011

Originally reviewed for Theatrical Release - August 19, 2011

DVD review of the brilliant Norwegian monster film TrollHunter / Trolljegeren





Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Legal Line ©2010 Filmkameratene AS. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved.



Writer/Dir: André Øvredal (Future Murder)

Cast: Glenn Erland Tosterud, Otto Jespersen, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Norway, 2011



Reason to see: A Norwegian monster movie is a must-see in my book.



Trollhunter is a vérité style (found footage) film following a group of students who are on the trail of capturing a story involving mysterious bear attacks and an elusive hunter. The team includes the quietly enthusiastic Thomas (Glenn Tosterud), Johanna working the sound (Johanna Mørck) and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) whom we mostly hear over seeing as his character is behind the camera. They set off in their search involving mysterious tracks in the woods and try to deduce what has been going on by interviews locals, as well as hunters and a government official. The follow their nose spirit of looking into the mystery gives the film a fantastic, adventurous spirit to it as the audience doesn't know any more or less than the trio at any time.



As a spoiler-free film reviewer, this is one of my favourite kinds of films and because it's so great I can (and do) recommend going into the film blind and just seeing it. It's highly entertaining, very engaging and looks gorgeous at every step. The characters are very accessible and pull off the natural tone with ease, creating a perfect canvas for any tone it takes, be it human drama or horror or even comedy. The actors are amazing, bringing very realistic reactions to any given scenario making it a joy for the audience to be brought into their world. I was particularly impressed with Glenn Tosterud as the curious and persistant Thomas and Hans Morten Hansen as gruff and elusive Finn.



The film is excellent, and is able to blend the horror easily with humour and the human factor. I loved how even though it's fun and very funny at times, it's not over the top or going for laughs because it's strongly rooted in the human factor as well as the mythology and stories of the Trolls. It's absolutely gorgeous to watch, with tons of time spend outdoors in the woods and in nature which is a treat to see and gives a huge vastness of the land that is ever present and mysterious given weight to idea of letting your mind fill with infinite possibilities on what could be 'out there'.



Bringing fable to life in modern day culture isn't easy, but TrollHunter pulls it off at every turn. I watch a lot of monster movies, and TrollHunter is truly a cut above. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend checking it out.



I had a chance to chat with director André Øvredal and actor Glenn Tosterud about the film, and you can see that interview here or listen to it here.



DVD Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (5 scenes, 3 minutes) * nice collection of deleted scenes more on the hunting and tracking, as well as some fun goofy bits with the students.
• Improvs & Bloopers (2 minutes) 2 improvs both funny to serious and some funny bloopers
• Extended Scenes (3 scenes, 7 minutes) * extended scenes including the students interviewing various people about the unusual activity and also chatting with Hans. These were fun to see and it's wild to watch extended scenes for a vérité style film, because you kind of turn your brain off a bit and don't question the pacing, but it is still structured and created. Very interesting.
• Visual Effects (6 minutes) 4 sections on Visual Effects Breakdowns: Ringlefinch, Digital Models, Jotnar and Tosserland & Mountain Kings. Really cool breakdowns of several of the creatures and shows visually how they were incorporated into the film, and I loved the Digital Models section which included really awesome troll classifications. No audio, just visuals and in very clear stages to tell the story of how they put the trolls in the film.
• Behind-the-Scenes (23 minutes) * 7 behind the scenes: Troll Foot, Good Vibes on the Shoot, While We Wait, Russian Bear, The Tin Man, The Beard & Movie Stars. Really cool to see some of the preparation, test run and then actual footage for a vérité style film, to see the planning that's involved as well as the final footage. It was also fun to see prep work for some of the stunts, props & make up (especially Otto Jespersen's beard!) as well as the contrast between prepping, waiting and goofing around until actual shooting. behind the scenes and shooting.
• Galleries (6 minutes) Troll Sketches & Troll Habitats concepts sketches of trolls and lots of locations shots of habitats set to music.
• HDNet: A Look at Trollhunter (4 minutes) featurette with film clip, critics quotes and interviews with writer/director André Øvredal & actor Glenn Tosterud about the premise of the film, the different layers in the film, the character of the Trollhunter, the road movie feel of the film, the intent to make it feel very real and the design of the trolls.
• * All DVD extras in Norwegian are subtitled in English
  
  

TrollHunter / Trolljegeren is available on DVD as of August 23, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com



Shannon's Overall View:

I loved it

I'd watch it, repeatedly

I highly & widely recommend it



Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed or see more DVD Reviews



© Shannon Ridler, 2011

Originally reviewed for Theatrical Release - August 19, 2011

Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Legal Line ©2010 Filmkameratene AS. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved.



Dir: André Øvredal (Future Murder)

Cast: Glenn Erland Tosterud, Otto Jespersen, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Norway, 2011



Reason to see: A Norwegian monster movie is a must-see in my book.



Trollhunter is a vérité style (found footage) film following a group of students who are on the trail of capturing a story involving mysterious bear attacks and an elusive hunter. The team includes the quietly enthusiastic Thomas (Glenn Tosterud), Johanna working the sound (Johanna Mørck) and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) whom we mostly hear over seeing as his character is behind the camera. They set off in their search involving mysterious tracks in the woods and try to deduce what has been going on by interviews locals, as well as hunters and a government official. The follow their nose spirit of looking into the mystery gives the film a fantastic, adventurous spirit to it as the audience doesn't know any more or less than the trio at any time.



As a spoiler-free film reviewer, this is one of my favourite kinds of films and because it's so great I can (and do) recommend going into the film blind and just seeing it. It's highly entertaining, very engaging and looks gorgeous at every step. The characters are very accessible and pull off the natural tone with ease, creating a perfect canvas for any tone it takes, be it human drama or horror or even comedy. The actors are amazing, bringing very realistic reactions to any given scenario making it a joy for the audience to be brought into their world. I was particularly impressed with Glenn Tosterud as the curious and persistant Thomas and Hans Morten Hansen as gruff and elusive Finn.



The film is excellent, and is able to blend the horror easily with humour and the human factor. I loved how even though it's fun and very funny at times, it's not over the top or going for laughs because it's strongly rooted in the human factor as well as the mythology and stories of the Trolls. It's absolutely gorgeous to watch, with tons of time spend outdoors in the woods and in nature which is a treat to see and gives a huge vastness of the land that is ever present and mysterious given weight to idea of letting your mind fill with infinite possibilities on what could be 'out there'.



Bringing fable to life in modern day culture isn't easy, but TrollHunter pulls it off at every turn. I watch a lot of monster movies, and TrollHunter is truly a cut above. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend checking it out.



I had a chance to chat with director André Øvredal and actor Glenn Tosterud about the film, and you can see that interview here



TrollHunter / Trolljegeren opens at The Royal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 19, 2011.



See also: TrollHunter / Trolljegeren DVD Review



Shannon's Overall View:

I loved it

I'd watch it, repeatedly

I highly & widely recommend it



Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed and All Film Reviews



© Shannon Ridler, 2011

Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Legal Line ©2010 Filmkameratene AS. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films. All Rights Reserved.



Dir: André Øvredal (Future Murder)

Cast: Glenn Erland Tosterud, Otto Jespersen, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Norway, 2011



Reason to see: A Norwegian monster movie is a must-see in my book.



Trollhunter is a vérité style (found footage) film following a group of students who are on the trail of capturing a story involving mysterious bear attacks and an elusive hunter. The team includes the quietly enthusiastic Thomas (Glenn Tosterud), Johanna working the sound (Johanna Mørck) and Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) whom we mostly hear over seeing as his character is behind the camera. They set off in their search involving mysterious tracks in the woods and try to deduce what has been going on by interviews locals, as well as hunters and a government official. The follow their nose spirit of looking into the mystery gives the film a fantastic, adventurous spirit to it as the audience doesn't know any more or less than the trio at any time.



As a spoiler-free film reviewer, this is one of my favourite kinds of films and because it's so great I can (and do) recommend going into the film blind and just seeing it. It's highly entertaining, very engaging and looks gorgeous at every step. The characters are very accessible and pull off the natural tone with ease, creating a perfect canvas for any tone it takes, be it human drama or horror or even comedy. The actors are amazing, bringing very realistic reactions to any given scenario making it a joy for the audience to be brought into their world. I was particularly impressed with Glenn Tosterud as the curious and persistant Thomas and Hans Morten Hansen as gruff and elusive Finn.



The film is excellent, and is able to blend the horror easily with humour and the human factor. I loved how even though it's fun and very funny at times, it's not over the top or going for laughs because it's strongly rooted in the human factor as well as the mythology and stories of the Trolls. It's absolutely gorgeous to watch, with tons of time spend outdoors in the woods and in nature which is a treat to see and gives a huge vastness of the land that is ever present and mysterious given weight to idea of letting your mind fill with infinite possibilities on what could be 'out there'.



Bringing fable to life in modern day culture isn't easy, but TrollHunter pulls it off at every turn. I watch a lot of monster movies, and TrollHunter is truly a cut above. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend checking it out.



I had a chance to chat with director André Øvredal and actor Glenn Tosterud about the film, and you can see that interview here



TrollHunter / Trolljegeren opens at The Royal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 19, 2011.



See also: TrollHunter / Trolljegeren DVD Review



Shannon's Overall View:

I loved it

I'd watch it, repeatedly

I highly & widely recommend it



Also see: All 2011 Films Reviewed and All Film Reviews



© Shannon Ridler, 2011