Movie Box Review

Canada's Top Ten 2008 films have been announced, including 10 features and 10 short films. After catching up with all the features from last years Top Ten, I found them to be some of the best films I've seen in the past year therefore this is one list to keep an keep handy as a recommendation films.

Having already had a chance to catch up with C'est pas moi, je le jure! / It’s Not Me, I Swear! and Pontypool during TIFF'08 I can say we are in for a treat with the remaining 8 features.

The films will be shown at Cinematheque in Toronto from January 30 - February 7, 2009.
Prices: All 10 features + 2 shorts screenings: $65*
Single Tickers to film, shorts programme or panel: $8*
* plus services charges

Not in Toronto? Have no fear, a selection of the films will tour to Vancouver’s Pacific Cinematheque and Ottawa’s Canadian Film Institute in early 2009.

Tickets are available for purchase online, by phone at 416-968-FILM (toll-free 1-877-968-FILM) or at the year-round box office’s new location at 2 Carlton Street (West Mezzanine, operating hours are Monday to Friday, 10AM to 7PM).

For more information check out the Canada's Top Ten website.

List of Canada's Top Ten 2008 (Feature Film)

Adoration
Dir: Atom Egoyan
Anticipated Release Date: May 2009

Before Tomorrow
Dirs: Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
Anticipated Release Date: February 2009

Ce qu’il faut pour vivre / The Necessities of Life
Dir: Benoit Pilon

C'est pas moi, je le jure! / It’s Not Me, I Swear!
Dir: Philippe Falardeau

Fifty Dead Men Walking
Dir: Kari Skogland
Anticipated Release Date: Spring 2009

Heaven on Earth
Dir: Deepa Mehta
Toronto Release Date: October 24, 2008

Lost Song
Dir: Rodrigue Jean

Maman est chez le coiffeur / Mommy Is at the Hairdresser’s
Dir: Léa Pool

La Mémoire des anges / The Memories of Angels
Dir: Luc Bourdon

Pontypool
Dir: Bruce McDonald
Anticipated Release Date: March 2009

List of Canada's Top Ten 2008 (Short Film)

La Battue - Guy Édoin
Block B – Chris Chong Chan Fui
Drux Flux – Theodore Ushev
Ghosts and Gravel Roads – Michael Rollo
Green Door – Semi Chellas
Next Floor – Denis Villeneuve
Nikamowin / Song – Kevin Lee Burton
Passages – Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Princess Margaret Blvd – Kazik Radwanski
Mon nom est Victor Gazon – Patrick Gazé

Canada's Top Ten was established in 2001 by the Toronto International Film Festival Group to honour excellence Canadian film.

Who chooses the films?
Films are chosen by national panels of filmmakers, journalists, programmers and industry professionals.

Feature Film panel: Ann Marie Fleming, Cameron Bailey, Camelia Frieberg, Damon D'Oliveira, Glenn Sumi, Jim Brown, Joanne Senécal, Jody Shapiro, Matthew Hays and Yung Chang.

Short Film Panel: Alex Rogalski, Daniel Cross, Deco Dawson, Gisèle Gordon and Katherine Monk.

What kind of films are they?
Features and shorts are selected among narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental films.

What films qualify?
Each film must have either premiered at a major Canadian film festival or obtained a commercial theatrical release in Canada in 2008. The filmmaker must be a Canadian citizen or resident and have a history of working in Canada or on Canadian-financed films.

We have yet another list to pour over! This time instead of people strictly 2008 films it's films searched on IMDb during the 2008 year. I find this one particularly interesting as I use IMDb on a daily basis. It will be no surprize that The Dark Knight is up at number one, followed by Twilight. I expected Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to come in next but is is sitting at 7 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes the number 3 slot.

The years of release are interesting to note. Well the most films from one year go to 2008 with 10 selections, 2009 and 2007 have an even selection of 5 films each. Looking to the past The Departed takes the lone 2006 slot whereas older entries fall to The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather - both of which hover at the top of the IMDb's Top 250 films list and during the past summer there was quite the brouhaha of users ranking them low to increase The Dark Knight chances to get to number 1.

Looking to the future we can see the films on peoples minds on sequels and remakes for 2009 as included on the list is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as previously mentioned along with Terminator Salvation, Dragonball, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and not surprizingly Star Trek. The furthest in the future award goes to TR2N (Tron 2) set for a 2011 release.

The lone eyebrow raiser for me was The Expendables, a film I had not yet heard of and is set to release in 2010. The details so far are that it's written/directed/starring Sylvester Stallone and it is about mercenaries going to South America. Remaining cast members? Those mentioned so far are Jason Statham, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren. Now that is a film that I'll be sure to keep an eye out for now.

Here is the full list of films:

IMDb MOVIEmeter Top 25 Films of 2008

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
2. Twilight (2008)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
4. TR2N (2011)
5. The Expendables (2010)
6. Iron Man (2008)
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
8. No Country for Old Men (2007)
9. Juno (2007)
10. Transformers (2007)
11. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
12. There Will Be Blood (2007)
13. Sex and the City (2008)
14. Into the Wild (2007)
15. Superbad (2008)
16. Cloverfield (2008)
17. Terminator Salvation (2009)
18. Wanted (2008)
19. Dragonball (2009)
20. Quantum of Solace (2008)
21. The Departed (2006)
22. Star Trek (2009)
23. The Godfather (1972)
24. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
25. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists have announced the winners of the 2008 EDA (Excellent Dynamic Activism) Awards including the EDA Annual Achievement Awards, the EDA Female Focus Awards and the EDA Special Mention Awards. The EDA Awards "recognize the amazing work done by and about women–both in front and behind the camera." Rock on.

I am a little surprize to see numerous critical commentary with the Special Mentions including a Hall of Shame. I did have a bit of a giggle at the Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest, even it the man wasn't a leading man in the film.

See the nominations list here and more about the Alliance of Women Film Journalist here.

EDA ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Best Film
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Direction
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

Best Screenplay Original
Wall-E - Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Screenplay Adapted
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan

Best Documentary (Tie)
Man On Wire - James Marsh
Trouble The Water - Tia Lessen, Carl Deal

Best Actress (Tie)
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Kate Winslet - The Reader and Revolutionary Road

Best Actress In Supporting Role
Viola Davis - Doubt

Best Actor
Sean Penn - Milk

Best Actor in Supporting Role
Heath Ledger - Dark Knight

Best Ensemble Cast
Rachel Getting Married

Best Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Best Foreign Film
Tell No One

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

Best Woman Director
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River

Best Woman Screenwriter
Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married

Best Breakthrough Performance
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Newcomer
Misty Upham - Frozen River

Women’s Image Award
Kristin Scott Thomas

Hanging in There Award for Persistence
Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Catherine Deneuve - A Christmas Tale

2008 Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry
Sheila Nevins, Producing/Programming at HBO

Lifetime Achievement Award
Catherine Deneuve

AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism
All of the Women in Pray The Devil Back To Hell

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
27 Dresses

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Kate Hudson

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn‘t (Tie)
Mamma Mia!
The Women

Best Of The Fests
Hunger

Unforgettable Moment Award (Tie)
Dark Knight: Joker’s first scene
Slumdog Millionaire: Young Jamal jumps into the poop

Best Depiction Of Nudity or Sexuality (Tie)
Elegy
The Reader

Best Seduction
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Sequel That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award (Tie)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Saw V

The Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award:
The Women

Cultural Crossover Award
Slumdog Millionaire

Bravest Performance Award
Mickey Rourke - The Wrester

Best Leap from Actress to Director Award
Helen Hunt - Then She Found Me

Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest
The Wackness - Ben Kingsley and Mary-Kate Olsen

In the past, I've heard rumours around the intervine that certain trailers will be shown in front of certain films. However the rumours don't usually hold up. Taking a different approach we can see that it's gone a step further, seeing the above ad noting the 'World Premiere' of a trailer. I usually like to know what I am getting into so in theory it feels like a good idea to let people know what trailer they will see. But in all honesty it feels a bit weird to see an ad, for an ad.

That being said. That ad campaign worked. Do you know how many people are talking about the trailer noted above? Tons. My google reader has oodles posts talking about just in the past 24 hours.

Personally I haven't seen it and am going to avoid the trailer. I'll wait the 136 days to see the film sans trailer. If you want to check it out you can see the film website or the trailer on myspace. Be wary of spoilers!

As we get closer and closer to the holidays time becomes more and more of a premium but we are treated to those end of year awards candidates. This week I caught of with two films that have been topping lists and nominations all around: Slumdog Millionaire and The Reader. First up was Slumdog Millionaire which I saw at the AMC and because it was Wednesday and I have a MovieWatcher card (which are free, btw) it was free small popcorn day - yay! That was a nice treat, but the better treat was the film itself. Oh my goodness, it's been drumming up a storm every since TIFF where it won the audience choice award and it truly is a great film and rightfully one of the years best. I was forewarned that it did have difficult scenarios including torture (thanks for the head's up Jamie!) which is odd for the film that is continually referred to as uplifting. There has also been some brouhaha over the rating (R in the States, 14A here in Ontario) ad I think it does deserve that rating there are many harsh scenes and ideas throughout. Not to dissuade anyone from seeing it, it's completely worth it but I know I'm glad that I knew about that ahead of time.

The second trip to the theatre was to see The Reader which recently snagged 4 Golden Globe nominations. I went though because I found the trailer compelling and I'm always interested to see anything Kate Winslet is involved it. I lucked out this week as this was another winner in my book. Again, it isn't an easy story by any means but it's told beautifully and with a surprizing amount of tact without losing the emotional drive of the film.

Both films had previews for The Wrestler which had me quickly grabbing for my iPod as I don't want to see anything about it until it hits the screens here on Dec 26, 3008. It's the last anticipated release of 2008 for me.

Other than that I settled in to catch a Clint Eastwood doublebill of the action comedies Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can. Only in '78 and '80 could you get away with a bar brawling, C&W listening, orangutan as a pet, action/comedy with a side of romance road movie. The first film Every Which Way But Loose is actually quite fun and I appreciated it as a buddy movie. The sequel Any Which Way You Can was not as entertaining and really ramped up some of the odd comedy moments and did a lot of 'goofy orangutan' scenes which now feels not in the best taste. It was fun to see Clint kick some butt though, in both of the films.

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 12, 2008! As we near the end of 2008 we are starting to see more of what will be 'the' films of the year. How do we tell? Buzz is one way and there has certainly been that around for this weeks release of Doubt but another indicator is the Golden Globes nominations were announced yesterday which add previously released Frost/Nixon and upcoming release The Curious Case of Benjamin Button both with numerous nominations. The Reader, which debuts this week also landed 4 nominations. For more details check out the film nominations lists by full nomination list, film list with nominations itemized or film list by total nominations.

In limited release this week we have two of the big nominees for the Golden Globes with acting nods with Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Viola Davis as well as The Reader starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Both films are historically set and deal with challenging issues. We also have Canvas, a dramatic film that explores the journey of family and mental illness. We also have straight from it's TIFF premiere the rockin' Toronto Stories, with four short films created by local directors that are strung together and it is truly worth seeing.

In wide release this week we have the animated Delgo which looks like a combination of Star Wars Episode I, Romeo and Juliet in a The Chronicles of Riddick like world, but...it's a kids movie. If you are looking to get into the holiday spirit you can try Nothing Like the Holidays which I'll admit the trailer actually got me a little emotional and a bit giggly. A good sign methinks! The biggest release this week is undoubtly The Day The Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 classic science fiction film. Not only will the film grace the theatres with its presense but it will be apparently beamed into space to another star system. Beamed into space. Release date for it's arrive at Alpha Centauri in 2012.

Have a great weekend whether you spend it on earth, or beyond!

Shannon

Friday December 12, 2008 Releases

Canvas
Writer/Dir: Joseph Greco - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Marcia Gay Harden, Joe Pantoliano, Devon Gearhart
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page
Trailer is spoiler free for first half

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Writer/Dir: Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose)
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith
USA
Official Film Site (autoplays trailer), IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is spoiler free for first 2/3rds

Delgo
Dir: Marc F. Alder & Jason Maurer - feature film directorial debuts
Voices: Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chris Kattan, Anne Bancroft, Val Kilmer, Malcolm McDowell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Louis Gossett Jr. USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is spoiler free for the first half

Doubt
Writer/Dir: John Patrick Shanley (Joe Versus the Volcano)
Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Voila Davis, Joseph Foster
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is spoiler free for the first third

Nothing Like the Holidays
Dir: Alfredo De Villa (Adrift in Manhattan, Yellow)
Cast: Freddy RodrÍquez, Alfred Molina, Elizabeth Peña, Luis Guzmán, Jay Hernandez, John Leguizamo, Debra Messing
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is spoiler free for the first third

The Reader
Dir: Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot)
Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Jeanette Hain
USA/Germany
Limited Release
Official Film Site (autoplays trailer), IMDb Page, Trailer
You get the gist of the film by the halfway point

Toronto Stories
Dirs: Sook-Yin Lee, Sudz Sutherland, David Weaver, Aaron Woodley
Cast: Toka Murphy, Tygh Runyan, Sook-Yin Lee, Carly Pope, Joris Jarksy, K.C. Collins, Gil Bellows, Ricardo Hoyos, Samantha Weinstein
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer
Trailer is spoiler free until 3/4 of the way through

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of December 12, 2008**

5 Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
5 Doubt
5 Frost/Nixon
4 Reader, The
4 Revolutionary Road
4 Slumdog Millionaire
4 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
3 In Bruges
3 Wrestler, The
2 Bolt
2 Burn After Reading
2 Changeling
2 Happy-Go-Lucky
2 I've Loved You So Long / Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
2 Last Chance Harvey
2 Mamma Mia!
2 Tropic Thunder
2 Wall-E
1 Baader Meinhof Complex, The / Der Badder Meinhof Komplex
1 Cadillac Records
1 Dark Knight, The
1 Defiance
1 Duchess, The
1 Everlasting Moments / Maria Larssons Eviga Ögonblick
1 Gomorrah / Gomorra
1 Gran Torino
1 Kung Fu Panda
1 Milk
1 Pineapple Express
1 Rachel Getting Married
1 Waltz with Bashir