New Moon thoughts

Thanks to my lovely friend Lara I got to go to an advance screening of New Moon last night and now you get to hear about it.

Let me say this up front. I am not a Twi-hard. Honestly. I don't believe in the magical love between Edward and Bella and find most of the overwrought obstacles put in their path more amusing than anything. BUT, I have read all the books, almost compulsively, because as silly as they are...once you start reading you must finish them, even if you find yourself screaming at the story (I mean, Renesmee...really?!?). It's been interesting to watch the Twilight phenomena from relatively early in the process to see what a rabid following has developed. I remember reading a bit about the casting and filming the first film and I honestly think Summit was unaware of what they had on their hands when they started on this whole journey. They are certainly reaping the rewards now.


A few things about the movie:

- It's deliciously cheesy. And really, if you were going to this movie expecting anything else you are going to be very disappointed and have been living under a rock for the past couple of years.
- I inadvertently giggled at several inappropriate points of the movie, including but not limited to the moment when Edward does his first slow-mo entrance, Jacob having to rip off his shirt in order to pat at the blood on Bella's forehead and pretty much any moment when Edward looked 'pained'
- There are a lot of actors in this franchise who really don't get much to do. Poor Jackson Rathbone seemed to have only 4 lines in the whole film and a really bad hair style on top of that. Nikki Reed and Rachelle Lefevre fared even worse with basically one scene apiece. Same goes for the crew of Volturri, Bella's school friends and pretty much anyone who isn't part of the lead trio
- The Bella/Charlie father daughter relationship has come a long way and provided some genuinely charming moments
- The effects were better than the first film and they did a pretty good job with the wolves in general
- There are several truly cute and or funny moments on the screen. Anna Kendrick's post movie monologue rocked. Bella's 'double-date' at the movies was cringingly funny.
- Rob Pattinson is pretty, no question. And he seems pretty self-deprecatingly charming in interviews. But his Edward is a bit....annoying. The pained expression, inexplicable departure, melancholy suicide mission and painted on abs, were not attractive on screen. Now some of this is absolutely the source material and not Pattinson's fault. But the trailer for his next film "Remember Me" aired before the movie and didn't shine a glowing light on his acting ability either (Oh, but I'll totally end up seeing it). He may have it in him to be a good actor one day but it isn't today.

Which leads me to...

A few things about why I'm solidly on Team Jacob (and also a dirty old lady):

- Taylor Lautner's abs. Look I resisted. Honestly. Popwatch has had an abwatch category for months. I told myself I wasn't that superficial. I am. He's really, really pretty.
- The fact that Taylor worked his ass off to keep the role after the first movie blew up and they thought he couldn't play it as the series went forward. The poor kid must be so sick of talking about how much time he spent at the gym and how much weight he put on but seriously, that shows dedication.
- Jacob's the warm body for Bella to curl up to. (Lautner's delivery of "108 degrees over here" was one of my fav lines of the movie)
- Lautner's protrayal of Jacob just seems so much more natural than Edward (which again, is likely 50% due to the source material)
- Jacob didn't take off on Bella and leave her to mope for months
- Did I mention how good he looks running around without a shirt?!?

So yeah, go see New Moon if you've read the book and want to see it come to life on the screen. Go see it if you're looking for some prolonged teen angst in your day. Go see it for the objectification of some pretty boys. Go see it for the cheese. But if you're looking for a quality film this weekend, you might want to avoid the line full of teenagers.

TIFF: Final Day - Out with a Bang...and a Whimper

I don't think it adequately expresses how much I loved this morning's film to say that it was my favourite of the festival. Every Little Step is a documentary that follows the casting process for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line on broadway. From the opening casting call of over 3000 people to the final casting about 8 months later we meet many of the auditionees and can't help but develop favourites among the bunch. Throughout the process, through interviews with people involved in the original cast and snippets of the audio recordings made by Michael Bennett which inspired the original production, we also get a bit of the history of the show. It was entertaining, and touching, and the filmmakers managed to catch some incredible moments on film. Now, I'm a musical nut so this movie was clearly going to be right up my alley but I feel pretty safe in saying that it will appeal to a much broader audience than just my fellow theater lovers. One of the directors attended and held a lively Q&A which was amazing in itself for a 9:00am screening on the final day of the festival. He said that they were close to being able to announce a distribution deal so chances are you may get a chance to see it in the spring.

I mentioned to my friends as we walked out of the screening that I felt like maybe I should skip my next one so that I could end the festival on a high note but I didn't and headed to the Ryerson for my last film of the festival. I probably should have followed my initial instinct.

Genova is the latest film from Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and stars Colin Firth as Joe, a father who moves his two daughters to Italy for a year after the sudden death of his wife in a tragic car accident. It wasn't the worst thing I saw at the festival (I'm looking at you Uncertainty) but it wasn't one I'd recommend anyone paying for. There were a bunch of scenes where the daughters seemed to be in danger in some way or another, with ominous music playing while they wandered through the narrow streets and alleys making their way home, that seemed really out of place. Catherine Keener was woefully underused as a university friend (who seemed to want more from Joe) who was helping the family getting settled. The youngest daughter sees the ghost of her mother and wanders off regularly and the oldest is sneaking off and sleeping with an older boy. And then it just ends.

Kind of like TIFF for another year.

TIFF: Uncertainty

Uncertainty was not a good movie. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is reminding me more and more of Heath Ledger) and Lynn Collins (who kept reminding me of Evangeline Lilly) as a couple who decide based on a flip of a coin whether to spend the July 4th holiday in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Like an inferior version of Sliding Doors, we then watch both possible outcomes.

The first scene, as they stand on the bridge and talk about how they're all so 'uncertain' of their decision was mind blowingly bad. After that, thankfully, it got a little better and was mindlessly entertaining (mostly because I find Levitt so charming) but it's one of those movies I'll pretty much forget. And though they announced that the directors would be on hand for a Q&A afterwards, when one of the programmers got up to say they were running late and would be another five minutes I decided I really didn't need to hear what they had to say about it and Denise and I took off to get home early and crawl into bed.

TIFF: Synecdoche, New York

Tuesday's TIFF screening was the directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Given his track record of films - Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I went in expecting something a bit surreal and twisted...and oh my did I ever get it.

I sit here still unsure about how I felt about the movie, though I can say that there were great scenes and fantastic performances which are definitely sticking with me. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden, a theater director who's body seems to be slowly shutting down, who has a wife (Catherine Keener) and daughter who seemingly disappear to Germany, another wife (Michelle Williams) and daughter who disappear to a better life somewhere (one supposes) and a mistress (Samantha Morton) who sticks around through most of his life. The story seems to twist in on itself over and over again as he directs a massive production of a 'real' performance including casting people as his wife and mistress. If that makes no sense to you reading it then I'm sorry but I can't really offer more in the way of explanation.

And Kaufman wasn't offering any of his own either. One of the first questions asked was one of those generic "can you talk about what x meant" things and he basically said no...he wouldn't talk about it what it meant to him writing it because he wanted the audience to take from it what they would. Keener and Hoffman showed up to be introduced before the film but didn't take the stage for the Q&A, which also seemed to be by design because they did stick around for the screening. Kaufman did take a lot of questions and was happy to talk about the process of making the film, writing the score and the performances. Just not to enlighten us on the film itself.

If anyone else sees it, I'd love to hear if you walked out as confused as I did.

TIFF: Triple play Monday

Monday was my annual full day of films when I take the day off of work and hit three movies in one day.

The first was The Other Man, a film directed by Richard Eyre who most recently did Notes on a Scandal. The director kindly showed up to do a Q&A for this 9am on a Monday showing and was eloquent and entertaining discussing the film and his actors. The film stars Liam Neeson as a husband who finds evidence of his wife's (Laura Linney) infidelity on her computer and searches out the titular "other man" Ralph (Antonio Banderas). The film was in what has become familiar 'good but not great' territory so far this festival.

Then it was off to meet Denise for brunch before we got into line for the next screening of the day. The movie was Religulous, which had premiered at the festival Saturday night and I had noticed the "protesters" of the film as I left the screening immediately preceeding. The documentary, directed by Larry Charles and starring Bill Maher, takes a satirical look at the idea of organized religion and has Maher interviewing subjects from a variety of backgrounds. The film seems to work a bit too hard to be deliberately provocative and push peoples' buttons but it still works. It's worth seeing if only to be a starting point for discussion. Larry Charles showed up after the film to answer some questions and he was fine but to me seemed to be bored to be there. I'm sure he's getting a lot of the same questions about the film but I got a bit of a "I'm the smartest guy in the room" vibe from him that was a bit offputting.


My final film of the day wasn't until 9:45 so I had a fantastic afternoon nap and watched the premieres of Entourage and True Blood at home (I could get used to the not working thing).

I picked up Kate and we headed down in the rain for the premiere screening of Gigantic. Thankfully the rain slowed to a near sprinkle while we waited in line outside the Bader. Gigantic is a movie from first time filmaker Matt Aselton which stars Paul Dano (who also has an executive producer credit on the film) as a mattress salesman who stumbles into a relationship with the daughter of a customer played by Zooey Deschanel. He's also in the process of trying to adopt a baby from China, dealing with his own family and has his own personal stuff going on. Dano and Deschanel have fantastic chemistry (she's really great with everyone isn't she?) and the respective fathers (played by Ed Asner and John Goodman) are larger than life and entertaining. The film would definitely fall under the 'quirky' description. I won't say too much more so as not to spoil it, but there is definitely a polarizing plot within the movie, and Aselton knows it based on his delivery of "I've never had that question" to the first question asked during the Q&A. He and Dano attended and took a number of questions after the screening, which lead to me getting home after midnight and not looking forward to getting to the office in the morning :-).

TIFF: Zack and Miri make a Porno

I figured I should show up extra early for the world premiere and only 'non-gala priced ticket' showing at TIFF of Kevin Smith's latest - Zack and Miri make a Porno. I was right. The line up started early and got long very quickly and I ended up sitting beside a guy who had been in the rush line since 1:00 for a 9:15 movie.



As the title would suggest, the film stars Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) as best friends and roomates who decide to make a porno (to solve their serious money issues). Of course, through the process they realize that they may have deeper feelings for each other than they had thought. The movie was very funny, a bit raunchy and truly kind of a sweet romance.

Kevin Smith, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Katie Morgan and Ricky Mabe took the stage after the film to field questions. Smith is a pro at entertaining an audience, as you would expect if you've seen any of the 'An Evening With' films, and the Q&A was highly entertaining. Here's a little snippet of it for ya...and it should go without saying but obviously the language is NSFW.

TIFF: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

First things first. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is not this year's Juno. As much as the filmakers seem to be asking for the comparison...from their leading man to the credit sequence of the film to the killer soundtrack. It's just not quite that good.



It is, however, a charming movie with good performances from pretty much the entire young cast. Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings) meet at a bar where she approaches him to play her 'boyfriend for five minutes' to avoid the scorn of her school's resident mean girl Tris (Alexis Dziena). Unbeknownst to her, Nick is also Tris' ex boyfriend. The rest of the action takes place over a night in New York while they chase after a secret concert, try to keep track of her drunken best friend and run into their respective exes.

The director and the entire cast showed up for the movie. I actually had never seen a larger reserved section of seats at the Ryerson. The moderator did a pretty good job on the post film Q&A, kicking it off by announcing that she didn't want any questions that began with "I love you Michael", which I thought was funny. The cast has great chemistry and seem to truly like one another, with a bunch of chatter and a big group hug on stage before they settled down to take questions.

I was excited to see Jonathan Wright in his first movie role after absolutely loving him in the broadway musical Spring Awakening when I saw it last year. And, in the flurry of exits of the cast, I took the opportunity to tell him so afterwards :-)

TIFF: Me and Orson Welles

First screening of the festival last night at the Ryerson for the world premiere of Me and Orson Welles. The film was directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset and School of Rock) and stars Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin and the fantastic newcomer Christian McKay as Orson Welles.

The story takes place over a week in 1937 and centers around a young actor (Efron) who gets a shot at a small role in the broadway production of Ceasar and gets pulled into the politics and backstage antics of the theatre troupe. It's based on the historical fiction novel written by Robert Kaplow and I was surprised to learn in the discussion afterwards how much of the story was factual. It was a solid movie and I enjoyed it, though I wouldn't put it on my 'must see' list. I was surprised by how charming and engaging Efron was, both in the film and during the Q&A afterwards, where he deftly managed breathless questions like "Zac, what's it like seeing yourself on the big screen?" (I mean, seriously??). Which was only topped in ridiculousness by the first question asked to Claire Danes being about My So Called Life.

Afterwards we joined my friend Lara outside the exit door to play paparazzi and caught the exit of Efron, Danes, Linklater and McKay. As you'd expect, the highest decibel of screaming and flashbulbs hit Efron as he exited the building.

Claire Danes looked lovely and brought the cute Hugh Dancy as her date.










McKay seemed overwhelmed by the whole experience and charmingly told the two teenagers who asked him for a picture "See, I played Orson in the movie".

All credit to my friend Lara for the pictures. Her camera and timing are so much better than mine.

Because there's not enough commentary on the SATC movie

Okay. So I came into the movie with certain expectations. I have seen every episode of the series multiple times. The show is one of my top five of all time. And I have to say that I walked out of the theatre absolutely, completely satisfied.

I went opening night with 14 of my friends for what was one of the most unique theatre-going experiences of my life. All of the oft-repeated observations about the movie's audience were evident...the theatre was on estrogen overload, populated by groups of women attending together, and there were stilettos and makeup and an audience more done up for a movie than I've ever seen. And everyone was excited to be there.

I've been reading reviews that swing from 'it's sexy' to 'it's sexist' and was gleefully informed by one of my coworkers of the 0* review in the Globe before heading out last Friday to see it. Here are my responses to the most commonly made criticisms.

1. I KNOW that real women don't walk around in designer clothes and $400+ shoes everyday. And have seemingly unlimited time to spend sitting around in restaurants over drinks with their friends. But we wish we could. Since when do movies need to show real life?

2. Ditto the money they have to spend on New York real estate, decorating their homes and travelling at the drop of a hat. Not realistic. Got it. Now get over it.

3. Frankly I pretty much disregard any review written by a man and I don't care it that's sexist in it's own right. So much that made this show and these characters special was in the way that the friendship between these women worked. I'm sorry, but if you're not a woman you just can't appreciate it the same way.

4. Yes, almost 2 1/2 hours is pretty long, especially for a romantic comedy. But I didn't look at my watch once. I can't say the same for the interminable 113 minutes I spent watching You Don't Mess with the Zohan this week.

5. Yes, Jennifer Hudson's character seemed a bit tacked on. But not obtrusively so, and I thought it gave Carrie a few great moments where she realized how far she had come.

6. If you didn't watch the show then this movie was not made for you. Period.

That last one is probably the biggest. For those of us that are fans of the show it was like catching up with great friends that you haven't seen in a while. And the fact that we know these characters so well means that we come into the movie with all of the background that makes the events on the screen have much more emotional impact (says the girl who was fighting back tears with varying degress of success through most of the second half).

The movie is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone who's seen the trailer knows that Big is going to screw over Carrie (again) and set up the major conflict of the movie. Charlotte didn't get much of a plot at all, though the two moments where she went all mama bear on Big were fantastic. And Samantha had, for me, some of the best and worst moments of the movie (the two worst? There's no way she wouldn't have taken her hunky neighbour up on his offer and the silly 'let herself go and gained weight' scene.) As an aside, I sat about 10 feet away from her at the taping of the etalk Kim Cattrall interview and the lady looks fantastic, and thankfully not plastic or frozen in the face.

I'm also one of the people who think it's fantastic that a female driven movie (and one where all the stars are over 40!) was able to open at number 1 in the summer blockbuster season, and knock off Indiana Jones after only one week to boot. If its sucess, and that of Baby Mama earlier in the season, helps to get more 'movies for women' made then I'm all for it.

At the end of the day, Sex and the City: the movie has earned a spot on the DVD shelf next to the well worn set of the series. And that's the best compliment that I can give.