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.

TIFF time

Ah TIFF...the week or so of entertainment that bridges me from the melancholy of the end of summer to the new fall television season.

As I mentioned, I was lucky enough to get tickets for 9 of the 10 films I had selected on my pre-order form. I was in box 30 of 78 for the annual lottery mess and they started filling orders with box 9 so I guess I did ok by being in the first third.

My screenings this year are heavily weighted to the 'Special Presentations' programme which seems to have experienced a growth spurt since last year. And other than a couple more 'indie' productions and one documentary, most of them are set to open before the end of the year. For anyone who's interested...here's how I ended up with my film list:

I picked up the giant program book (with all the rest of the folks in line) on Tuesday August 26th. Then I sat at my desk and flipped through the pages pretty quickly and marked all the movies that hit one of two criteria:

1. Was the director or one of the stars someone who I particularly liked
2. Did the title and/or quick perusal of the description grab my attention

Then - as the spreadsheet queen I am - I take all those those movies and throw all the data into excel along with the venues, dates and showtimes for each film. One pivot table later and I have a summary by day, venue and block of time (morning, afternoon or evening) of all the movies I'd be interested in seeing. After that it's all about picking one movie within each block, which is done by asking myself:

1. Is there anything in that block that falls under my 'absolutely must see' list?
2. Is it playing at the Ryerson (my fav venue)?
3. What is the likelihood of anyone associated with the film showing up for a Q&A (one of my fav parts of the festival)?
4. Is there something I wouldn't get a chance to see anywere else?
5. If I haven't picked one by now...maybe 'eeny, meeny, miney moe'? I've never faced the problem :-)

Then I fill out the advance order book. I only put in the request for my first choices and don't provide second alternatives (as you are able to do). I figure I'm only looking for 10 tickets (unlike some festival goers who see 30+ films) and it's easy enough to try to rearrange afterwards.

And after all that, I end up with my package of tickets which for the most part I stick with, though I've exchanged a ticket, picked up extras and missed a screening in the past. Here's where I'm going to be over the next 10 days...maybe I'll see you in line.

TIFF'08 Screenings

1. Me and Orson Welles (Ryerson)
2. Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist (Ryerson)
3. Zack & Miri make a Porno (Ryerson)
4. Other Man (Ryerson)
5. Religulous (Winter Garden)
6. Gigantic (Isabel Bader)
7. Synecdoche (Winter Garden)
8. Uncertainty (AMC)
9. Every Little Step (AMC)
10. Genova (Ryerson)

Signs of the end of Summer

• I was floating on the lake this weekend, enjoying the weather that we should have had in July, and looked up at the trees to see the edges of the leaves turning orange and red.
• Seeing the back to school ads that always make me feel like it's time for a new year to start.
• Setting my PVR for the start of the new television season. 90210 tomorrow baby!!
• Standing in lines waiting to drop off my order form and then pick up my tickets for TIFF. I was lucky enough to get 9 out of the 10 films I selected :-)
• Enjoying the last long weekend we have until Thanksgiving.

The Final Summer Tally

Weekends at the Cottage: 7

Concerts: 4

Musicals: 2

Weddings: 1

Non-cottage vacations: 1

Pedicures: 4

Margaritas: too many to count

Random Olympic thoughts

• Seeing people achieve their dreams is very inspiring



• Hearing about censorship, fakes at the opening ceremonies and sweeping violent crimes under the rug by the Chinese government is depressing
  


• Switching back and forth between the Canadian and American networks coverage of the games is entertaining



• Reading/hearing all of the negative comments about the Canadian medal performance in the first week of the games swing to support and celebration after several great days and performances in a row is pretty ridiculous.



• I love Simon Whitfield for putting it out there that he wanted to be on the podium, almost forcing Triathlon Canada to put up or shut up and celebrating when it all came to fruition...how Uncanadian of him :-)



• I never look forward to the Olympics at all and then get swept up in watching for the entire two weeks every single time



• I have picked up many, many Olympic boyfriends including but not limited to Michael Phelps, Adam Van Koeverden and Alexandre Despatie

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You are welcome for the gratuitous photos

In Theatre news this week

Avenue Q had the serious potential to be a let down. Only because I've been waiting to see it for so long! The first time I tried to get tickets was in New York in 2005, but I wasn't really surprised when there were none available at the TKTS booth since it had just surprisingly won the Tony the year before. But surely, when we where there in April of 2007 there would be tickets available, right?? Well, I went up to the board to see what was up for grabs and of course I was out of luck. I came back to my friends in line and said I apparently wasn't meant to see this musical at which point the gentleman behind us in line informed me that it was "always" there and had been available just the day before...so not helping! Anyway, just after we arrived back in T.O. last spring Dancap Productions announced it's line up and lo and behold it was coming to Toronto! After purchasing the tickets almost a year ago, I finally got to the show last night.

And I'm seriously happy to report that even with my (admitedly) high expectations the show did not disappoint. Funny, raunchy and surprisingly sweet with great performances across the board. I wasn't sure how the whole puppet thing was going to come off but the actors performing (often with their faces right next to the puppets they were playing) were great. The dual movements actually seemed to add to the experience. And if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed that some of the folks were playing the multiple roles on the stage.

Ads for the show loudly proclaim that the material is inappropriate for children...muppet looking puppets aside. And anyone expecting anything different with songs like "Everyone's a little bit racist", "The internet is for porn" and "Sucks to be Me", not to mention the puppet nudity and a character named Lucy the Slut, would be in for a big surprise.

If you were giving thought to the idea of seeing it before it moves on at the end of the month I'd highly recommend getting off your ass and going. I'd hazard to say it may be one of the top 5 musicals on my list!