Diary of a Film Festival Virgin, Part 1

I have a confession to make. I was born and raised in Toronto, lived half my life there, I am a huge movie fan... and yet, up until this year I had never attended a single Toronto International Film Festival screening.

Every year there was some excuse: I had no time, I had no money, I was out of town, I forgot. Mostly I was intimidated by the whole process. So this year I just dove in head first and bought a stack of single tickets to anything that caught my eye. After all, what better way to celebrate losing your job at a video store than to spend your new-found free time and rapidly depleting final paycheck at a film festival?

Leap Year

Among the dozens of formulaic chick flicks Murray has forced me to watch, there seems to be a rather popular sub-genre that I have affectionately dubbed 'The Travelogue Rom-Com'. 'Leap Year' may well be the perfect example.

The plot is identical to nearly every other romantic comedy where the heroine has her sights set on some seemingly perfect but dull fellow, then finds herself falling for some obnoxious but charming lout instead. Jane Austin wrote a few of these. So did Shakespeare.

The Travelogue version simply takes these standard characters and arbitrarily ships them off to an exotic locale, usually in the Mediterranean, thus adding a 'fish out of water' element to liven things up a bit.

'Leap Year' flawlessly incorporates every element of this formula without offering a single surprise or twist. However, it does have the great advantage of being set in Ireland and thus giving us a tall, scruffy, utterly charming Irish lout to root for.

That's good enough for me. Three stars out of five.

(This will be my last review until after the October 25th election. Apparently critiquing films in the local paper once a month gives me 'unfair exposure'. Just as well - it seems that Murray and I really are starting to share taste in movies.)

Avatar

You're going to hear this a lot, but there's really no other way to say it: 'Avatar' is a mind-blowing and thoroughly entertaining immersion into another world, unlike anything you have ever seen before.

Much has been said about the groundbreaking 3-D technology created for the film, but what makes it so astonishing is that the effects are utterly seamless - so much so that after a while you are barely even conscious of them. The real breakthrough comes when the Na'vi and the creatures that inhabit their world become just as real to us as the humans.

Yes, the story is overly earnest at times, and the dialogue could really have used a few shots of Cameron's trademark humour. But in the end, Avatar has everything you could want from a movie plus a few things you never even imagined possible.

Even with the script's flaws, I'll give it five stars.

(Wow. It seems that, despite his best efforts to hate it, Murray loved Avatar as much as I did!)

The Blind Side

I was a little concerned when Murray picked 'The Blind Side' this month. I'm not keen on sports movies, especially those about football - a game I understand just slightly better than cricket.

Happily, 'The Blind Side' isn't really a football movie, and what football there is is explained in a very helpful "Football for Dummies" voice-over.

In most ways this is a pretty conventional feel-good movie, but a few things save it from becoming too saccharine. One is the understated but intense performance of Quinton Aaron as "Big Mike" Oher, whose gentle introversion makes for a startling contrast to his massive six foot ten inch frame.

Another is the careful attention paid to the relationships which develop between Mike and each member of his new family, giving us four unique stories of how disparate lives can intersect in unexpected ways.

For avoiding at least some of the expected stereotypes and leaving me with a smile at the end, I'll give it three and a half stars.

(Murray liked it even more.)

Paranormal Activity

Scary movies aren't what they used to be.

Sure, the body count is higher, the gore is gorier, and the special effects are better at showing you exactly what the inside of a human body looks like. But while all this has made horror movies more horrifying, they have somehow become less scary. And less fun.

Paranormal Activity is the perfect antidote to a decade of vapid 'dead teenager' and 'torture porn' sequels: an old fashioned ghost story that reminds you just how much fun a good scare can be.

Shot on a budget that could have been financed with a couple of credit cards, the movie has a cast of four and takes place entirely within one house. There are no visible monsters, no serial killers, and very little blood. And it's the scariest movie I've seen since The Blair Witch Project.

Four and a half stars out of five.

(I told Murray I'd try to find something he'd hate this time. It worked.)

Love Happens

'Love Happens' is a romantic comedy that manages to be neither romantic nor comedic. In fact, all the funniest lines go to the cockatoo.

It took me a while to figure out exactly what was wrong with this movie besides the endless travelogue shots of Seattle and the painfully obvious product placements. It started off tolerably well as a rather lightweight 'love/hate at first sight' story, and Eckhart at least showed some promise of depth.

But as the story grew more serious, I kept expecting the emotional stakes to get a little higher. A tragic setback. A dreadful secret. Something.

Instead, every sharp corner had been removed. The tragic setback is easily averted, the not-so-dreadful secret is revealed and resolved in three minutes flat, and everyone lives happily ever after. The end.

There. I just saved you an hour and forty-nine minutes. Two stars. Go rent 'Away We Go' instead.

(Murray didn't think much of it either. We've got to stop agreeing like this.)

Inglourious Basterds

Anyone familiar with the work of Quentin Tarantino will expect three things from his films: black humour, brutal violence, and a great deal of brilliant, often long-winded dialogue. Sometimes the combination works (Pulp Fiction), sometimes it doesn't (Deathproof). This time, it works.

'Inglourious Basterds' is a great guilty pleasure of a film that completely reinvents the war movie. There's no heroism or higher purpose here - there's just the biggest bad guys of all time getting their comeuppance. Tarantino even re-writes history to give World War II a more satisfactory ending.

From the sounds they were making, I suspect the two older ladies seated behind me had never heard of Quentin Tarantino. If you are as squeamish as they, I'd give this one a pass. But if you want a big, rolicking story with some of the most memorable cinematic characters of the past decade, go and enjoy. Guilt free. Four and a half stars out of five.

(Murray loved it too! And yet he still manages to complain about how long it was.)

Funny People

When I heard that Judd Apatow was going to be making a movie with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan, I couldn't decide if this was the best idea I'd ever heard or the worst.

It turned out to be a pretty good idea, but the combination didn't result in the kind of movie I think most people might be expecting.

'Funny People' manages to deal with issues like mortality, happiness, and the meaning of life in a way that is... well, funny. We are talking about a bunch of comedians after all. But it's also an introspective film that asks us to think about our own life choices and whether they have really led us where we hoped they would.

If all that sounds a bit heavy, it's not. It's funny and touching and not at all your typical Adam Sandler or Seth Rogan movie. I'll give it 3 1/2 stars for exceeding the sum of its parts.

(Murray found it overly long. Murray has the attention span of an eight year-old.)

ADDENDUM: Go read Roger's review. He gets more words to say it in, but we're on the same page here. Oddly, I'm beginning to wonder if writer / directors are starting to create movies dealing with mortality and the meaning of life just to get a glowing, poetic review out of him.

Public Enemies

'Public Enemies' is the latest in a long string of films about John Dillinger's life and brutal death. In many ways it's a pretty standard 30s gangster flick, but several things set it apart.

One is the performances. Johnny Depp is exceptional as always, and Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") brings a special humanity and hard-edged grace as Dillinger's girlfriend Billie.

What also makes this film a little different is it's focus on the FBI investigation and the implementation of J. Edgar Hoover's 'modern methods' such as wire tapping and surveillance. These techniques are presented as a counterpoint to Dillinger's own unique methods and style.

Some of the other historical details were apparently fudged, but even if you don't care about the history, 'Pubic Enemies' still has plenty of action and strong characters to keep you entertained. I give it 3 1/2 stars.

(and Murray liked it too.)

The Hangover

I cringed inwardly when Murray told me what his selection was for this month. Ok, I cringed outwardly too. So the best thing I can think to say about 'The Hangover' is that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The movie is a bit of a departure from the usual 'buddy road trip' flick in that we get to follow the main characters trying to re-trace their steps after their night of debauchery instead of just watching them stagger straight through it. And the three men - the geek, the freak and the hot guy - are such an unlikely trio that you can't help but laugh.

So I laughed. I did. It was funny. It wasn't really, REALLY funny, but it was funny enough I guess. And it certainly exceeded the low expectations I went in with, which I suppose is something. So for being somewhat more funny than not, I'll give it two and three quarter stars.

(not the most glowing review, but Murray thought I'd hate it.)

The Soloist

'The Soloist' takes us on a journey into a world that most of us don't even care to think about, let alone enter. If we do think about the homeless it is as an annoyance, or a poverty issue, or a mental health issue. Rarely, if ever, do we see these people as individuals.

In this film, we are granted entry into their world through the unique friendship between columnist Steve Lopez and musician Nathaniel Ayers, whose extraordinary talent has been ravaged by mental illness. As he tries to help, Lopez is drawn into not only Ayers' life but the lives of others, less gifted but no less unique, who are on the streets because of addiction, mental illness, poverty, and a host of other reasons.

'The Soloist' pulls no punches and offers no easy solutions. Instead, it celebrates the simple humanity of reaching out a hand of friendship as an alternative to simply dropping change in a cup and walking away. That message, brought home through a pair of extraordinary performances, makes this film worth four and a half stars.

(Even Murray liked it!)

I Love You, Man

There seems to be a bit of a gender divide with comedies these days. Between sticky-sweet romantic comedies and the 'American Pie' genre, rarely will one find a man and a woman in a theatre together without one or the other groaning and squirming and wishing it was all over.

'I Love You, Man' may have managed to bridge that gap by presenting a male version of the typical "finding a man for your single girlfriend/daughter/sister" chick-flick plot. The gender twist is actually quite clever, and offers more insight into male relationships than most 'frathouse' comedies. It helps that the two male leads are wonderfully funny and appealing - especially Jason Segel, who proved to be a very pleasant surprise after the abysmal 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'.

'I Love You, Man' may still be a little too relationship-oriented for some guys, but all in all it just might be the perfect date movie. Three and a half stars.

(Murray, of course, liked it even more.)

Watchmen

I haven't read the graphic novel that Watchmen was adapted from, but I am told that the film is utterly faithful to its source. So faithful, in fact, that director Zack Snyder is said to have used the comic as his storyboard.

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Watchmen is a grand visual spectacle, filled with action, style, and deep philosophical observations on the moral implications of power. The concept is incredibly original, but that originality stems entirely from graphic novel. Unfortunately, in making such a meticulous transition from page to screen, the filmmakers have added absolutely nothing.

The result is a curiously flat, emotionally uninvolving film. It's a little like having someone read a book to you - an effect exacerbated by some pretty mediocre performances, with the exception of Rorschach and perhaps The Comedian.

Watchmen is still a pretty good movie, worthy of three stars and the price of admission. It's just a shame that it wasn't great.

(shockingly, Murray liked it more that I did!)

(and the Champion TOTALLY butchered my review! grrrr!!!)

He's Just Not That Into You

You know that Hollywood has reached the bottom of the creative barrel when they present us with a movie based on a self-help book based on a single episode of a TV show based on a newspaper column.

Perhaps because of this pedigree, "He's Just Not That Into You" suffers from an excess of gimmickry. There are at least one too many story lines, the interwoven relationships are overly contrived, and the randomly inserted 'gal on the street' interviews bring what little momentum the film has to a screeching halt every twenty minutes or so. They are such a bad idea, in fact, that even 'Sex in the City' gave up on them after the first season or so.

That said, the movie isn't a complete disaster. What saves it is a talented and appealing cast - especially Justin "The Mac Guy" Long as the bartender who bestows his cynical wisdom upon the hapless but adorable Ginnifer Goodwin.

Just for them, I'll give it two and a half stars.

(for once, Murray agrees - but for reasons all his own.)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Life is not a straight line. It's a circle.

That's the thought that stayed with me as I walked out of the theatre. The thought that our lives gradually fill with memories and experience and then slowly empty again, regardless of whether we are getting older or, as in this curious case, younger.

This rich, languid film seems to encourage such philosophical musings. Set largely in sleepy New Orleans, the plot walks rather than runs through the extraordinary life of its protagonist. From his birth and abandonment, his 'childhood' spent in an old age home, through his many relationships and adventures right to his poignant end, we remain transfixed. I was shocked when it was over to discover that I'd been sitting there for almost three hours.

Through it all is Daisy, the love of his life, who tells the story to her daughter from her deathbed. And it's through her eyes that we come to see this seemingly tragic life as beautiful. Five stars.

(Murray would have liked it more if he didn't have the attention span of a twelve year-old boy.)

Four Christmases

A wise friend of mine once said, "Your parents always know how to push your buttons because they installed them."

That would have been a good movie. A movie about how obligatory holiday visits become the perfect opportunity for parents to express their ongoing disappointment in their children, and for their adult children to revive decades-old resentments against their parents. It doesn't sound funny, but of course it would be.

'Four Christmases' started off being that movie, but somewhere between the satellite dish incident and the nativity play, it went off the rails. It stopped being about families and became all about a couple coping with commitment issues. Which also could have been funny, but really wasn't.

The two lead actors were terrific, and their relationship was unusual but utterly believable. Unfortunately, their chemistry just couldn't overcome the fractured writing. I give it a disappointed two stars out of five.

(and of course, Murray thought it was terrific.)

Repo! The Genetic Opera

You probably won't like this movie. Then again, you might just love it.

I make that statement based solely on demographics and the law of averages. If you get queasy at the sight of blood, or you hate musicals, or you think opera belongs in an opera house, or you have no idea why any adult person would dress up in a costume unless they were getting paid to do so, then 'Repo!' is definitely not for you. That leaves out my parents, my sister, most of the people I work with, and everybody in my choir except possibly Harold.

Nah, Harold probably wouldn't like it either.

For the rest of you freaks, 'Repo! The Genetic Opera' might just become your new favourite movie.

The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where mankind has been decimated by a mysterious plague causing mass organ failures. A corporation called GeneCo, run by the devious Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) saves the day by creating genetically engineered organs, but at a hefty price. No worries, though - you can finance your new liver and kidneys through their easy installment plan.

Just don't miss a payment or the Repo Man will come to take them back. And he's not especially concerned about whether or not you survive the procedure.

Enter into this scenario a sickly teenaged girl who longs to be normal (Alexa Vega), her overprotective father with a secret life (Anthony Head), the three obnoxious miscreants who hope to inherit their father's GeneCo empire (Bill Moseley, Paris Hilton, and Ogre), and the formerly blind opera singer whose new eyes came at the price of eternal servitude (Sarah Brightman).

Then it gets complicated.

The story behind the film is almost as convoluted. 'Repo!' started life as a ten minute club act by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, and was eventually expanded into a full length stage play. At that point, Darren Lynn Bousman got involved. Darren, as fans of the genre all know, is the director of three of the wildly successful 'Saw' films. Having made millions for the studio, they told him he could do whatever he wanted for his next project.

He wanted to do this.

The studio execs suddenly became less enthusiastic. They loved the story and the gore - they just didn't like the singing bits. Bousman soldiered on, though, and despite having little support and no budget, he made his rock opera. And then the really hard part came - getting it seen. The studio had no idea what to do with it and just wanted to send it direct to DVD. But Bousman knew his audience and had other plans.

In an inspired bit of marketing genius, Bousman set up a kick-ass website and released the soundtrack one song at a time even before the film had finished shooting. By the time the first clips started hitting YouTube, 'Repo!' had a veritable army of fans clamouring to see this thing in a theatre.

By the time it sold out at the After Dark Film Festival in Toronto last month, they were showing up in costume, singing along with all the songs.

Last night was the first 'regular' showing in Toronto, marking the beginning of a limited one-week engagement at the Bloor Cinema, and they nearly sold out again. It's part of Bousman's privately financed Repo Road Tour with which he hopes to convince the distributors that this movie really does have an audience.

If it sounds like I'm avoiding writing an actual review, it's because judging 'Repo!' in conventional terms seems pretty pointless. It would be like trying to decide if Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn is a 'good painting'.

The story is unique and entertaining. The visuals are very, very stylish, although some moments suffer from budgetary constraints - notably the big opera finale which looks like it was filmed in a theatre smaller than the Bloor Cinema. The music is a bit uneven - some songs are a little painful, others you'll find yourself humming the next day. The cast is terrific, and all of them are excellent singers with the exception of Bill Moseley. Who knew that Paul Sorvino was an accomplished operatic tenor?


Which brings me to Paris. Yes, Paris Hilton plays Amber Sweet, the spoiled, superficial, surgery-addicted daughter of Rotti Largo. In other words, she's playing Paris Hilton. However, from everything I've heard from people who worked with her on this production, the Paris Hilton we see on tabloid TV is nothing more than a character, and the real Paris is a very smart, very savvy woman. Just look what she did to John McCain.

And yes, she can sing. But if you really can't stand the idea of seeing Paris Hilton in a movie, don't worry - she has a relatively minor role.

None of this really matters, though, or at least it didn't to me. I just found the whole thing immensely entertaining and just a whole lot of gory, campy fun. Most critics hated - hated! - it, and others had a great time. The Star and The National Post ran some pretty positive reviews yesterday for what it's worth.

Ultimately, this is a movie that needs to be seen in a theatre with a crowd of fans. Don't wait for the DVD. Do check out the website, watch the clips, and if you think you might be one of those rare birds who might enjoy this sort of thing (and you live in the GTA), make a point of going down to the Bloor Cinema this week and check it out. After this Thursday, who knows when you'll have another chance? If you want to meet some of the people responsible for the costumes and props (including my husband)*, they'll be at the 9:30 showing tonight doing a Q&A afterwards.

I'll have a pile of photos from last night that I'll post later tonight, including shots of Bousman surrounded by throngs of fans at the pub after he invited the whole theatre over for a pint after the show.

* In the interest of full disclosure, my husband did quite a bit of the leatherwork on this production, including Repo Man's iconic mask. He was a rock star last night once people found out who he was. He even got asked for an autograph. So where's his screen credit, Darren?

UPDATE: As promised, here are some shots from Friday at the Bloor.



'Genterns' waiting in line. They and everyone else in costume were eventually pulled out of line and given preferred seating.


All the media were there! Oh, and the hundreds of fans lined up around the block.


My man, posing with director Darren Lynn Bousman


The hardcore fans


Q&A with the director, MC'd by film critic Richard Crouse


Darren explaining the difference between 'musical' and 'opera'


Darren with his fans at the pub. He's engaged. Really.


Costume designer extraordinaire Alex Kavanagh

Passchendaele: Review #2

I managed to talk Murray Townsend - who claims to hate all Canadian movies - into seeing and reviewing 'Passchendaele' for our monthly review for the Milton Champion. I had already reviewed the film here, so I just had to edit it down to our 3-4 paragraph limit.

I don't get to see Murray's reviews until the day they're published in the paper, so I've been anxiously awaiting his verdict. Here's what he said:

If nobody said a word in Passchendaele, I would have thought it was one of the most beautifully filmed movies I’d ever seen.

The cinematography was amazing. From the scenery to the mood setting, everything about it was good enough for Academy Award consideration as far as I’m concerned.

But then, as with all Canadian movies, somebody has to go open their mouth and ruin things. And there’s no doubt this is a Canadian movie, even if it’s possibly one of the best ever made. Some of the acting is weak, at times it feels like a Hallmark production and some of the climatic scenes are eye-rolling — even laughable. The cross-carrying scene is just ridiculous.

I give it four-and-a-half stars for a Canadian movie and three stars in general. And stick around for the final credits, where the pictures create a more realistic emotional impact.

I know it's hard to tell, but that is actually glowing praise from this guy. Which means that I WIN!!! I finally found a Canadian movie that Murray LIKES! And by 'likes', I mean 'gave more than 2 1/2 stars to'.

Yippee!

(Both our reviews are in today's Champion)

Nights in Rodanthe

I have only ever read one Harlequin Romance novel, and it was so long ago that I don't remember anything about it. But watching 'Nights in Rodanthe', I am quite sure that this is exactly what a Harlequin Romance is like.

It's a pleasant movie, and not quite as saccharine as I was expecting. Richard Gere is still smokin' hot, which is a big plus. The setting in North Carolina's outer banks was spectacular, and I had to look up the house later before I believed it was real and not just planted on the beach for the movie. And I want a copy of the soundtrack.

On the down side, there were a couple of ham-handed flashback sequences that sucked me right out of the movie. And the chemistry between Lane and Gere seemed a little flat somehow. It was terribly romantic, but the passion wasn't quite there.

Still, not bad for a chick flick. I'll give it three stars out of five, but honestly Murray - 'Passchendaele' was better.


(And of course, Murray loved it.)

Passchendaele

In addition to the movie Murray made me see this weekend (review to be published tomorrow), I saw two other films that I actually wanted to see: Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Passchendaele.

_______________________


I had heard that Passchendaele had gotten mixed reviews when it opened the Toronto International Film Festival, so I was a little reticent about going to see it. What if I didn't like it, but then started to wonder if I was being overly critical because it was a Canadian film? What if I did like it, but then started to wonder if I just liked it because it was a major Canadian film with a lot riding on its success and I wanted to like it?

Does anyone in any other country on the planet go through this kind of angst over their own movies?

In the end, I decided to rely on my gut, and on the reality check question I always ask myself the day after seeing a movie: do I want to go see it again?

The answer in this case is most definitely: yes.

Passchendaele is a romance sandwiched in the middle of a war movie. The romance is intensely passionate, especially given the historical setting, but Gross doesn't take his lovers in any of the expected directions. Instead, he builds their relationship slowly, adding layers of complexity as they learn more about one another. Confronting each others demons only draws them closer.

The war begins and ends the film, and from the first sequence you feel that yes, this is what it must have been like. Brutal. Filthy. Surreal. In an interview, I heard Paul Gross say that his grandfather (on whose experience the movie was based) had told him that he could rarely see or even be aware of what was happening more than fifty feet away from him, so that's the way Gross chose to shoot it. The result is an almost claustrophobic intensity, with only the occasional boom shot to give us an overview of the carnage.

Paul Gross learned well from his grandfather. There is one remarkable scene where Gross' character goes to considerable lengths to explain to a superior officer the importance of dry matches to a soldier in the field. In another, reference is made to the widespread but probably mythical story of a Canadian soldier crucified on a barn door by German soldiers - a story which takes on some significance later.

Details like that add a richness and authenticity that I appreciate both as a history buff and a movie goer.

Passchendaele is not without its flaws. Sometimes the details get a little too detailed, to the point where it seems like Gross is trying to cram everything he knows about his subject into the film. The transition from the intense opening battle sequence is a bit abrupt and it takes a while to adjust to the more languid pace of the Calgary scenes. And there are moments - not many - where Gross indulges in a bit of Mel Gibson-like self-directed vanity. Then again, he is Paul Gross. Who can blame him for letting the camera linger on that face a little longer than necessary?

Of course, all of these points only occurred to me long after I walked sobbing out of the theatre, as I sat trying to think of some way to sound like a dispassionate film critic and not a total sap.

In amidst the drama and romance of Passchendaele, there was one particular moment that made me laugh out loud. Gross' love interest in the film has a neighbour across the street from her house in Calgary, and at one point he reveals himself to be a bigoted brute of a man who inevitably gets his comeuppance in the form of a forehead to the nose.

The character's name is 'Mr. Harper'.

I'll bet Paul enjoyed that scene immensely.