Oscar 2009 Live Blog "I can't wait for the upcoming montage of montages."

It's that magical night of too-high expectations: Oscar night is here. I'll be live-blogging on this site tonight, so come on by and add your 2-cents. I'll be on around 8pm EST.

No need to sign up an account or anything. Just plug in a user name and away you go.

A Broken Social Night at The Basement Revue, starring Kevin Drew as Jason Collett

What started out as an invite to check out Kevin Drew play at The Dakota Tavern turned into a remarkable night where I'm bumping elbows with some incredible musicians, drinking beer with Kevin's science teacher and parents, sharing the love of music with other fans, and generally carousing in a bar that took on the intimate feel of a kitchen party or a social. I suppose the band's called Broken Social Scene for a reason.

Jason Collett has been hosting his second annual The Basement Revue series on Tuesday nights in December at the Dakota Tavern, a gem of a downstairs bar tucked into the Dundas and Ossington neighborhood of Toronto. The shows feature Jason hosting and performing in the bar, with many friends and performers contributing. The only date he couldn't make was December 9^th, due to a previous engagement on the west coast. So for the night, hosting and performing would be Jason's bandmate in Broken Social Scene, Kevin Drew. I was given the heads-up to check out the show, as the plan sounded like it would be Kevin Drew playing with The Beauties, covering some Pavement tunes.

I made my way to the bar to take up a nice position to the left of the stage. As I sipped on my pint, I struck up a conversation with a woman who turned out to be Kevin Drew's science teacher from high school. She had come down with her co-worker to see her former student on her birthday. Her friend Lesley gave me some of the scoop on this remarkable woman, a teacher for 35 years and now the head of the Association for Canadian Educational Resources, a volunteer organization that monitors ecology and measures the impact of climate change on biodiversity. Check out the site and it's Measure Up program, which goes beyond tree planting as a “dig, plant, and walk away” activity. Retired from teaching and she's out there digging in the dirt planting trees. Brilliant.

"Kevin always was able to draw people to him, even back then."

- Alice Casselman, Kevin Drew's high school teacher.

You know how in high school, if you're luck enough, you get one of those teachers who connects with you, motivates you, has that knack for relating to students? You know, one of The Good Ones? I could immediately tell Alice was one of the good ones from the way Kevin lit up when he saw her there in the line-up. I could tell from the way she asked about what brought me to see the band tonight, and how she asked me if my love of music was something that was part of my work. She still is one of The Good Ones, because when I told her that my job didn't involve music, it left me pondering a bit afterwards.

As the bar filled up, I started recognizing a few faces in the crowd, as it seemed like there were as many musicians as fans in the Dakota that night. And I started to suspect that things would get interesting. I'm in a 200-capacity bar and I'm bumping into members of Stars, Metric, a few other musicians from the Arts and Crafts record label. Brendan Canning and Charlie Spearin and others from members Broken Social Scene were in the house. Shawn from The Beauties came by and tipped me that this would be a hell of a night. No doubt my friend. I didn't have my camera on me when I got the call about the show, so all I had was my cellphone camera to capture the night in all it's "you had to be there" glory. record label. Squeezing by to say hi to Kevin was K-OS and over there was Darcy Yates from Flash Lighting with his mighty rock and roll beard.

Kevin Drew took the stage, informed/warned us it would be a bit of a fast and loose night. First up was Kevin teamed up with a Derek Downham on drums, Charlie Spearin on guitar (I'm blanking on the second guitarist) and proceeded to pick a chord and jam for a bit - “This is a C jam”. When asked for an impromptu name for the band, the shout came back “The Jason Collett Band”. I think I would have gone with Alice's Birthday. Kevin played a couple bars of a Smashing Pumpkins, lamenting the fact that he used to love them and now Billy Corgan just harrasses the crowd at his shows, only playing the new material that's a shallow imitation of the band Kevin and many of us loved.

I was introduced to Kevin Drew's parents at one point, very friendly people. His dad said that at some point his name was changed to “Kevin Drew's Dad”. I didn't get the chance to ask anyone if the were looking forwards to seeing David Drew's Son play that night. I chatted with new friends about that first time we heard Broken Social Scene's 2002 album “You Forgot It In People”, one of those album you hear and nothing is quite the same after that.

From there, things started to pick up steam as an indie rock variety revue developed. Gentleman Reg took the stage and played a lingering cover of Wicked Games by Chris Isaak. Jimmy Shaw from Metric got on the stand-up piano tucked into the side of the stage and played Nobody Home from Pink Floyd's "The Wall". Musicians would be called to the stage, only for Kevin to discover they'd snuck out to The Communist Daughter, another well-loved little bar just across the street. It happened so often, I pronounced the Commie as the unofficial Green Room for the night.

Kevin Drew and Amy Millan

Amy Millan from Stars was found and did a few numbers, and oh Lord what a voice. Derek Downham kept getting called back to the stage to drum with one musician or another he used to play with. Poet Mark Goldstein of Bookthug publishers read a poem or two. Jimmy Shaw teamed up with Torq Campbell from Stars for a number. Here before us were musicians playing for the love of music, no albums being pushed, no merchandise table in sight.

A Broken Social Scene erupts

Inevitably, it was time for a game of “how many indie musicians can you fit on a stage” as Broken Social Scene formed on stage for a few songs with Torq on trumpet, Justin Peroff on drums, Lisa Lobsinger singing. The beauty of a collective like Broken Social Scene is it can form with whomever is at hand. The crowd, mesmerized by the intimacy of the first half of the night, were dancing and singing along as Broken Social Scene played Shoreline and Love is New.

The Beauties

Things got euphoric, things got hazy at that point. I remember Kevin teamed up with The Beauties for a cover of Pavement's Gold Soundz that had me grinning and whooping. The Beauties proceeded to knock out the crowd with a few songs of their own like Die Die Die before killing with a version of the Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For The Man that drove the energy in the bar up until you thought it would explode.

As the night wound down, I remember Bill Priddle jamming with Kevin. I remember Bill from Treble Charger (he wrote Red among other songs and left in 2003), Broken Social Scene and now in The Bill Priddle Concern. The night closed out with Kevin noodling on drums, and then he came by, shaking hands and, thanking us for sticking around for the whole show. I thanked him, because I can't conceive how you could duplicate that sort of night.

Torq Campbell and Jimmy Shaw

I left that bar after last call, walked into the night thinking about what I learned that night and thinking about some potential that's waiting for me. Like I said earlier, nothing was really the same after I heard Broken Social Scene's album "You Forgot It In People" back in 2002. I dug out my worn and loved CD today and noticed the album was dedicated "for our friends, families and loves." That Tuesday night at The Dakota Tavern, I got to see exactly where that dedication came from, whether it was meeting teachers and parents that influenced these musicians, seeing old bandmates get together again, or hearing these performers cover songs that they love enough to honor in tribute. Know what you love, remember where you came from, and acknowledge the people you draw strength from. All that and some good music will get you through the night.

Jason Collett returns to host The Basement Revue this Tuesday. The shows are sold out but if you can wrangle a ticket, I strongly encourage you to go: you never know who's going to drop in. Stars have just finished a 3 night stand in Toronto and are looking to go back to the studio. Kevin Drew and the rest of Broken Social Scene is making the trip to New York City to play The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday night (reminding me of seeing them on Conan O'Brien a few years back, where Conan came on stage after to cry out “I think we need more guitars!”). Gentleman Reg just put out a single for the first time on vinyl, and look for his new album in the new year, along with Metric's next disc. The Beauties play Sunday nights at The Dakota Tavern and have a 4-track EP “Die Die Die” out now.

All pictures copyright the2scoops - Flickr here

the2scoops 2008 Oscar Wrap-Up

Like many parties around town and in Hollywood, the end of the writer's strike came too late to plan any proper Oscar get-together. The party I usually go to was cancelled, leading to my first Oscars spent at home in years. The two-weeks notice may have contributed to what felt like, to me, a leaner meaner Oscars. The production numbers were few and host Jon Stewart didn't stray from the stage to perform any "bits" like Ellen DeGeneres did.

Some thoughts on the show and some moments:

No Country For Old Men came in as the frontrunner and claimed a number of prizes, including taking both Best Director for Joel and Ethan Coen (the first co-winners of the award) and Best Picture. I can't recall the last time a picture won both top categories. Javier Bardem and Daniel Day Lewis were the favourites in the Actor categories, while the surprises came from the Actress side with Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress for her portrayal of singer Édith Piaf in the French language film La Vie En Rose, and Tilda Swinton winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Michael Clayton. Cate Blanchett went home empty-handed, but that happens when you're nominated in both Best Lead and Best Supporting - it splits the votes. It was an Oscar sweep as all four acting awards went to non-American actors - two from Britain, one French and one Spanish. Kind of funny in a year when a lot of the talk was bout exclusion in the Foreign Film categories saw foreign actors taking top acting honours.

I love that Glen Hansard (from the Irish rock band The Frames) and Czech musician Markéta Irglová won for Best Song from the film Once. A truly sweet moment as they took the stage, and a really classy act was to follow: Glenn spoke first and the band played the duo off before Markéta could speak. After the commercial, the show director had Jon Stewart bring Markéta back out to speak. Don't think I've ever seen that before, so really class act there. Story and speech linked here to AP:

"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," Irglova said during take two. "And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream, and don't give up. This song was written from the perspective of hope, and hope, at the end of the day, connects us all, no matter how different we are." - Markéta Irglová

This is a really sweet reward for this little film. You're all urged to go rent it now. Once is a 2006 Irish musical film set in Dublin, but it's not musical comedy like Hairspray. It takes a naturalistic approach to storytelling with musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová telling the story of two struggling performers, set against song composed and performed by them. And there's something nice about a pair of indie musicians beating Disney's film Enchanted.

Speaking of Enchanted, while I enjoyed the performance of Amy Adams, I was surprised the production for "Happy Work Song" was so low-key, with only Amy singing on stage - where are all the happy helping animals and interpretive dancers? But that song from August Rush was well done.

A couple of great moments came in the acting categories: Best Supporting Actor winner Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) giving most of his speech in Spanish to his mother, and in one of the few surprises of the night, Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) won Best Actress and gave a speech she thanked life and love and seemed truly blown away by the moment. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Marion Cotillard's win marks the first time an Academy Award has been given to a French-language performance.

Terrific that Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor, but his speech just reminded how deeply he disappears into his roles. There was no trace of Daniel Plainsview (There Will Be Blood.) or Bill The Butcher (Gangs of New York) as this sweet man thanked his father, grandfather, and sons. He is scary good.3

Despite some rumours, there was no tribute singling out Heath Ledger career as he was included in the annual necrology collage.

Bourne Ultimatum won a number of technical awards: Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

The Academy awarded Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody with Best Original Screenplay, which was pretty cool of them. Best Original Screenplay tends to be the "cool award", typically seen as the "you did something cool, your film won't win any big awards, but you earned/deserve something" award. See previous winners: Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Charlie Kaufman and Little Miss Sunshine - Michael Arndt. No, literally go see them, there all favourites of mine. I'll wait here until you're done.

ALOTT5MA has their annual Academy Awards wrap-up here. They had some good ideas for improving the show, such as dropping some of the technical award presentations off the broadcast and introducing some viewer friendly categories like Best Debut (actor) and Best First Film (director). Might I re-new my plea for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture like they have at several awards including the Screen Actors Guild? I also agree with Adam that we could have used fewer clips from past awards and more exposure for the nominated Best Pictures.

And that's about it until next year. It was a pleasantly low-key show with no real risk-taking but some amusing moments. Maybe two-weeks notice is all we should give Oscar producers from now on? Drop any thoughts in the comments.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

2008 Oscar Winners and Nominees

Notes from a happy guy with rest of the week off

Observations, lessons learned, and odd things I've picked up during my week of leisure:

• Daniel Day Lewis is my Best Actor pick in the Oscar pools this year. Hell, any year. The man is terrifyingly good in There Will Be Blood - he starts off obsessively ruthless, then he really loses it. Love or hate the movie, the performance is otherworldly - and so is that soundtrack. Composed by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), it provokes an ever-present unsettling sense of dread - you know the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats, and how he describes a beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born? I imagine the noise the beast would make would sound alot like Greenwood's movie score.
• My plans to see U2 in 3D in IMAX were thwarted when someone in programming thought that it made sense to have The Spiderwick Chronicles 3D Experience booked this week. I can understand daytime showings, but who the hell went to see a kid's fantasy film at the 10:15pm showing? You couldn't drop one concert film that appeals to those who can stay up past 10pm?
• Carlin Rule #103: if my dining companion spends more than 3 minutes describing her lingerie, I am legally entitled to see it.
• Remember the 90s band Tripping Daisy? They had that one hit "I've Got A Girl" - I had no idea that they eventually went on to form the choral symphonic rock band The Polyphonic Spree.
• I'm pretty damned happy with my new Sony w810i Walkman phone - i just got it through Rogers Wireless and it is sweet - great music player, clear call quality, sharp design, surprisingly good 2mp camera, and an easy to use interface. My only complaint, minor as it is: I can't seem to access any info in my contacts lists aside from names and phone numbers. I can add and edit the info, but can't view it easily. Otherwise, very happy with the upgrade.
• I am definitely in the market for an indie-music loving girlfriend. Tell your friends.
• That trailer for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull has me hooked - I'm in. And how excellent is this summer movie season shaping up? Hellboy 2, Iron Man, Batman - The Dark Knight, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, even freaking Speed Racer (way to stick to the original material Wachowskis!) all look like they're going to deliver great entertaining films that are faithful to the source material. I can't recall being so optimistically into a slate of movies.
• And finally, just how much ass is the new season of Lost kicking? Four solid episodes that have been delivering exciting revelations, great character moments, and a quick breathless pace.

This is my boom stick

Big Baby

The Hellboy 2 movie website added a gallery of concept drawings last week, including Hellboy’s “Big Baby” gun.

via the Newsarama blog

sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how AWESOME I am.

"That poster was obviously photoshopped. A real unicorn would have collapsed under the weight of Neil Patrick Harris' awesomeness." - comment by furry_tom on EW Popwatch

My Name is Bruce. Hail to the King.

This is an instant pick for the next Stupid Fun Movie Night with the guys:

Via Newsarama

Mike Russell with the Oregonian chats with actor Bruce Campbell and Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson, who are working together on My Name Is Bruce, a horror-comedy that was co-written and directed by Campbell and produced by Richardson. In the film, Bruce Campbell is kidnapped by a town that believes he’s the hero from the Evil Dead series because they need him to kill a demon.

Casting continues on "Star Trek: Under 30 and Loving It"

J.J. Abrams, the man who brought you 'Lost' and 'Alias' is producing and directing a rebirth of the Star Trek franchise with a new movie set during the early years of Kirk and company. The Star Trek franchise has been pretty quiet since the end of 'Star Trek: Enterprise' in 2005, and the lackluster box-office draw of 'Star Trek: Nemesis' back in 2002.

The new movie, simply titled "Star Trek" will bring back Leonard Nimoy as Spock, in what I would suspect is a framing device/hand-off as old Spock relates an adventure of young Spock. Think of it as "How I Met Your Shanter", set in the early first-mission days of the original Star Trek crew.

The cast so far is interesting to say the least:

Zachery Quinto (Sylar on 'Heroes') as young Spock, Anton Yelchin as Russian navigaotor Pavel Chekov, Zoë Saldaña ('Guess Who') as communication officer Uhura. Last week eye brows were raised as John Cho (Harold from the 'Harold & Kumar' films) would play helmsman Sulu, and Simon Pegg ('Shaun of the Dead', 'Spaced', 'Hot Fuzz') would play ship's engineer Scotty. I should point out that while Cho and Pegg are known for comedic roles, both have the range to play drama and have shown signs of this in their work. Eric Bana is onboard as the villain of the film, but story details have not been revealed.

The roles of Captain Kirk and Doctor "Bones" McCoy are uncast at this writing. "Star Trek" is set to film from November - March, and open Christmas 2008.

Spider-Man 3 - How It Should Have Ended

I've had no time to write or blog this week. I'm just too busy this week, so here's fun video from the folks at How It Should Have Ended to keep you occupied until I get back on track here this weekend.

the2scoops TIFF Review - "The Band's Visit"

"Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian Police band arrived in Israel. They came to play at an initiation ceremony but, due to bureaucracy, bad luck, or for whatever reason, they were left stranded at the airport. They tried to manage on their own, only to find themselves in a desolate, almost forgotten, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert. A lost band in a lost town.

Not many people remember this.

It wasn’t that important.”

- opening of The Band's Visit

My favourite film of the festival so far has been The Band's Visit, directed by Eran Koliran from Israel. It was the only one of the four films I’ve seen so far that had the audience laughing and cheering together. An Egyptian police band enroute to a performance at an Arab cultural centre takes a wrong turn and is stranded overnight in a desolate rural Israeli settlement. The town takes in the band for the night, and the tension between the cultures gives way to a prevailing sense of awkwardness. But there are things that cross political boundaries, like the universality of loneliness, love, joy, and music. It takes some humour to navigate through the seriousness of life, and The Band's Visit finds its way with a deft comic touch, both whimsical and moving all at once.



The actors are brilliant, with the band’s conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) as the stoic leader trying to maintain a sense of dignity in an undignified situation. He plays well off of the other band members and especially with the sensual and self-assured Dina, the Israelli café owner who takes in the band, played by the stunning Ronit Elkabetz. The youngest member of the band, Haled, is played by Saleh Bakri with a handsome movie actor charm that wins you over quite easily.
The dialogue is quite clever and some scenes had me laughing hard – the scene where the dashing Haled tries to show one of the Israelis the finer points of dating at the local roller disco had me in tears. The whole cast seems to have taken an advance course in deadpan humour. Director Eran Kolirin has crafted a gentleman of a film - handsomely attired with impeccable timing and charm.

The movie, without being heavy handed about it, really builds to the final scene where the band finally performs together. We’ve gotten to know the individual burdens the band members carry, but to see them come together united in performance is so beautiful and powerful, that the audience cheered and whooped. It was really quite moving to see the band’s conductor Tewfiq, a man who carries himself so polite, so stoic and properly noble, expressing himself so beautifully through song. Even without knowing the language, you know what he is singing. A joy of a film, this is the type of discovery that makes me glad I go to the Toronto International Film Festival each year. 5/5

Official Site: The Band’s Visit


Variety Review: The Band's Visit

the2scoops TIFF Review - California Dreaming (Endless)

“California Dreaming (Endless)” was my first experience with Romanian film, and just a taste left me looking forward to a second serving.

The story is based on a real-life incident during the Kosovo war. It’s 1999, and a unit of American soldiers, led by Captain Doug Jones (Armand Assante) and Sergeant David McLaren (Jamie Elman) are escorting a piece of radar equipment to Kosovo, when their train is halted in a small Romanian village (based on a real event). Doiaru (Razvan Vasilescu), the station master and town troublemaker/fixer, seeks to teach the Americans and Romanian government a lesson and holds up the train in red tape. Meanwhile, the rest of the villagers embrace the Americans. They represent opportunity in the form of commerce, romance, or escape. For the pandering mayor, it may be a way to rid them of Doiaru. To Doiaru, they are soldiers who have arrived 50 years to late to do him any good.

A real life tragedy is that the director, Cristian Nemescu, was killed in a car accident along with his sound editor, Andrei Toncu, on August 24, 2006. I would have loved to see what he would have done next, as this film is an excellent first feature that showed more potential than flaws. I wonder what the film would ultimately look like if he had survived: the film was not completed when Cristian died, but was finished to a point that it can be shown. I imagine there would have been some subsequent tinkering as the story and editing could use some tightening, and the ending a little ambiguous (it's Romanian New Wave, so maybe that's to be expected). But the film serves as a beautifully shot and poignant testement to his life.

The story itself is interesting without being heavy handed and overly sentimental, with the Romanian’s viewing the American’s as both saviour and interloper, and the American soldiers just wanting to complete their mission and move on. Razvan Vasilescu as Doiaru and Maria Dinulescu as his daughter were excellent, and I was impressed by this turn by Jamie Elman, whose previous work included the lead in the old YTV high school sitcom Student Bodies (he was the cartoonist working with his friends on the school paper). The movie’s cast manages to convey the humour, the hope, and the inevitable disappointment, as the Americans can’t fulfill all the promises expected of them. 3.5/5

the2scoops TIFF review - Chansons d'amour

Chansons d'amour begins as a French bedroom musical that takes a dramatic turn. While the songs themselves are pleasant enough, the premise is a bit flimsy. Ismaël, his wife Julie and their friend Alice share a pleasant ménage a trois arrangement, and the opening scenes depicting that relationship are charming. Then things get heavy when suddenly Julie dies. Ismaël despairs the loss of his wife, the attentions of her grief-stricken family, and the attraction of the brother of the man now dating Julie. Ismaël then precedes to screw anything that moves. The cast look like they’re out of the pages of a Benetton catalogue. And they all sing what they’re feeling. It’s very French. And a bit too precious for my tastes.

On the plus side, the actors and Paris sure looked pretty. 2/5

the2scoops TIFF Review - Philippine Science

Philippine Science gets it right in depicting high school life, in that Degrassi Junior High type of way. There's even a moment when the school heartthrob puts on his hat ala Joey Jeremiah. Director Auraeus Solito depicts life at his real life alma matter, the elite Philippine Science High School, during a turbulent time in Philippine history. The film, based on his own experiences, follows 8 students from freshmen year through to graduation, during the early 80s. The format keeps the story moving well, as each of the four years focuses on 2 or 3 of the students in the group. And there could be parallels made to the Degrassi series: there’s a Joey, a Caitlin, a Mr. Raditch. But that’s not as much a case of deliberate imitation as it is recognizing the universal themes of high school life: dating, making grades, establishing identity.

What’s different is that they’re depicted against the backdrop of 1980s Philippines, a time of upheaval that builds to the People Power Revolution and the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The students contend with rebellion, class systems, and the high expectations carried by being chosen to attend Philippine Science High School. The kids are sweet, but the script is a little clunky: one well intended (based on an old schoolmate) but poorly executed plot doesn’t occur until the last act, as one student starts suffering a headache, and 3 scenes later he’s got cancer. The camera work was odd as it was excellent in the middle segments, but was dizzying as the opening theme of orbits is shown by keeping the camera constantly circling actors. But all in all, it was a sweet movie that I enjoyed. Like watching old Degrassi reruns. 3/5

"I can't wait for the upcoming montage of montages. Seriously, I think we're out of clips"

It's never to early to think about the Academy Awards, as they've already confirmed that Jon Stewart has been invited back as the 2008 Oscar host. Stewart first hosted in 2006 to mixed but generally positive reviews.

"I am thrilled to be asked to host the Academy Awards for the second time because, as they say, the third time's a charm." - Jon Stewart

You can refresh your memory of Jon Stewart's first time as Oscar host at the2scoops Oscar Wrap 2006.

Amusing side note: The Emmy's are on Fox Television this year. Fox chose Ryan Seacrest over Hugh Laurie as host. The reason? Apparently they thought Hugh Laurie speaking and acting like his charmingly witty British self, as opposed to the difficult cantankerous American character he plays on House, would distract the audience. Basically, his British accent would freak out America.

TIFF films opening this Fall

Courtesy of NOW Magazine, here’s a rundown of movies showing at the Toronto International Film Festival that will be opening commercially in the next few months. Dates may be changed as the season rolls on. Many of these films will be making a run for the Oscars, building on the buzz generated at TIFF.

Opening September 14:

Across The Universe / Eastern Promises / The Brave One

September 21:

In The Valley Of Elah / The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

September 28:

The Jane Austen Book Club / Shake Hands With The Devil / Into The Wild / Silk

October 5:

Weirdsville / Michael Clayton

October 12:

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

October 19:

My Kid Could Paint That / Reservation Road / Poor Boy’s Game

October 26:

Sleuth / Run, Fat Boy, Run / Fugitive Pieces

November 2:

4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days

November 16:

Breakfast With Scot

November 23:

Margot At The Wedding

To be confirmed, mid-fall to early winter:

Atonement / Cassandra’s Dream / Lust, Caution / I’m Not There / The Savages / Redacted / The Walker / Persepolis / The Diving Bell And The Butterfly / Lars And The Real Girl /

Shoot Em Up will blow you away

I received passes to go see "Shoot Em Up" last night, and I have to say this is just the palate cleanser I need before all the "artistic" and "Oscar caliber" films I'm seeing in the next few months. "Shoot Em Up" is a whole lot of good craziness.

The movie is one long manic, lunatic, funny running gun battle. It goes over the top, with Clive Owen is a man named Smith, who saves a baby and finds himself acting as protector while the child is being hunted by Paul Giamatti and his endless supply of flunkies. Both actors are in on the joke with this movie - it's like watching Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd going at each other with handguns. It's not an Oscar winner, or a contemplation on morality. It's about guys trying to kill each other with lots and lots of bullets. The action is cranked up to ludicrous speed. The movie as a whole is sly, relentless, and darkly funny, winking at the audience as if to say "Yes, we know its ridiculous and implausible, but it still looks cool". Smith easily has the sympathy of the audience, finding time while mowing down hitmen to deliver his own brand of justice to pony-tailed posers and those drivers dare change lanes without signaling.

The dialogue is littered with one-liners and innuendo, and only Clive Owens has the gravitas to deliver these lines straight faced, such as after dispatching a hitman with a carrot "Eat your vegetables". Clive Owens, Monica Bellucci (as a lactating call girl - hey, baby's got to eat) and Paul Giamatti are all accomplished actors, and they have fun with this film. They never act like they're above being in this sort of movie, but jump in with manic energy, keeping the pace pounding forward. There is a plot, but it's incidental to the action. Even the characters remark on the weirdness of it all. Everyone knows that this is a cartoon come to life.

Director Mike Davis really delivers on the action sequences, which are top notch and have a perverse sense of logic to them, like the comic fallout of a gunfight that takes place while free falling from an airplane. And the soundtrack is hard rocking with Nirvana, Motorhead and Motley Crue thrown into the mix, keeping the beat as every body and bullet casing hits the floor. I defy you to not throw the horns.

It's a perversely funny ride, and I'd recommend it if you like your action and laughs firing from both barrels.

Apple - Trailers - Shoot 'Em Up

IMDB - Shoot Em Up

Rotten Tomatoes - Shoot Em Up (70% Fresh)

My TIFF schedule

California Dreamin' (Endless) – Friday Sept 7 @ 3:00pm Scotiabank 14
Les Chansons d'amour – Friday Sept 7 @ 7:15pm Scotiabank 3
The Band's Visit – Sun Sept 9 @ 3:30pm Ryerson
Philippine Science – Wed Sept 12 @ 6:30pm Scotiabank 1
Smiley Face – Thurs Sept 13 @ 10:00pm Scotiabank 1
Here Is What Is – Fri Sept 14 @ 11:15pm Varsity 3
The Trap – Sat Sept 15 @ 1:00pm Cumberland 2
Joy Division – Sat Sept 15 @ 8:15pm Cumberland 3


So despite being processed around the halfway mark out of all the total advance orders, I got all but one of my first picks. Probably because the films I picked weren't "big screen" premieres or films with a huge amount of advance hype. The only pick I didn't get was Run, Fat Boy, Run.That's not bad at all, as it's out this month in regular distribution. I was mainly going as I hoped to see Simon Pegg and Hank Azaria there.


Movies I may still try to see with same day or rush lines:
Control, Jar City, Son of Rambow, The Tracey Fragments, and The Last Lear.

Movies I'm looking forward to, but I'll likely wait until they get their theatrical release during Oscar season:
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men , Shekhar Kapur Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and Persepolis

I hope I can get at least a small review up for each film as I go. How about I do my best and we see how it goes, hmm?

"I think that, a) you have an act, and that, b) not having an act is your act."

Re-watched Singles this weekend. After 15 years (!), it’s still a good movie, but now some of the fun is how much it feels likes a time capsule: look, no cell phones! No Starbucks! Video dating instead of Lavalife! Albums! Doc Marten boots with shorts! And where the hell did Jim True (Steve’s friend Dave) go after Singles and before "The Wire"?

Like any Cameron Crowe movie, there are a number of different cameos to watch for:

• ·Musicians specific to the setting: a pile of musicians from the 1990 Seattle music scene appear, including most of Pearl Jam (a young looking Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Eddie Vedder) as Cliff’s (Matt Dillon) bandmates in Citizen Dick, Chris Cornell as a bystander during the car stereo fiasco, and Alice & Chains and Soundgarden both play during club scenes).
• ·The Cameron Crowe repertory players: Jeremy Piven as the store clerk praising Steve’s DJ-ing, and Eric Stoltz as the angry mime. It's easy to imagine John Cusack playing "Steve", but Campbell Scott really makes the most of that role.
• ·“Holy crap it’s that guy who got famous!”: I noticed for the first time that Paul Giamatti (Sideways) pops up as the rocker making out with his date during Steve (Campbell Scott) and Linda’s (Kyra Sedgwick) first date, and Victor Garber (Alias) as the father who Debbie (Sheila Kelley) falls for.
• ·Also watch for Tim Burton as the video dating director and the director/writer of Singles, Cameron Crowe, as a reporter interviewing Matt Dillon at the club.

Pepperpot: Links for Friday

For your “Friday afternoon before a long weekend/trying to look busy”, here are some good reads. This post is brought to you courtesy of the deep-fried Mars bar I had last night at the CNE yesterday. That's one food I'm glad I tried, but can now mark it off the "Try It Once" list:

What’s Alan Watching does a guest post at House Next Door on his "5 for the Day: Underdog Sports Movies". I have to say it inspires me to go out and re-rent Diggstown and Major Leagues: “F*ck you Jobu, I’ll do it myself.”

Alan has just finished a terrific number of posts as he re-watched the entirety of Judd Apatow’s brilliant coming of age series Freaks & Geeks. He has detailed write-ups and analysis on each episode here.

Jenster at No Such Nonsense has her annual NFL Rundown: This Year's Big Questions post up. Go check it out and give her some feedback (Lord knows I can’t provide any). Having known Jen for years, she knows her stuff.

The list of musicians playing the U ofT and Ryerson university frosh week shows is pretty damned good. Torontoist breaks it down: Hidden Cameras and Stars play on Sept 7th on the U of T campus, while the more private Ryerson party on Centre Island (student ID cards required for entry) has M.I.A. , You Say Party! We Say Die! and k-os. M.I.A.? That’s a big “get” for Rye High. I think we had Treble Charger and Lowest of the Low playing our frosh week in the way back when.

Comic book fans rejoice Rob Schrab has announced he will be completing cult fave Scud the Disposable Assassin finally, 10 years after the penultimate issue. When last we left Scud, the robotic assassin was cradling the dead body of his one true love, was told by the angels of Heaven to kill the Earth. The last line: “I’ll do it”, and then no next issue as Rob went through some rough times. You can read Rob’s full account on just what the hell happened here. He’s back and better than ever now, so I’m looking forward to this long-awaited conclusion.
For more of Schrab’s work and Scud updates, keep checking out www.robschrab.com
(via Newsarama)

I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane with The AV Club lists 15 television sensations whose popularity faded fast, like The O.C. and Ally McBeal. So Heroes and Lost should take note. This article is also a good argument that it’s better to have a good show with a short perfect run (Arrested Development, Freaks & Geeks, Spaced) than to watch it eventually fade away into a lesser-version of itself (Also known by Alan Sepinwall as “Leave A Good Looking Corpse”).

Big surprise: World Wrestling Entertainment has suspended 10 of their performers connected to an Albany, New York investigation into the Signature Pharmacy outlet based out of Florida. No names of the wrestlers have been released but a 30-day suspension means that they’ll be absent from T.V. As of November 1st, any talent that is suspended will be identified publicly. You know that anyone who defended the WWE’s “Wellness Policy” in the wake of Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide has zero credibility right now. (Names of the wrestlers involved in the investigation can be found here.)

And some bands whose music I’ve been really enjoying lately: The National, Tegan and Sara, Shout Out Louds, The Hold Steady, and the new Stars album “In Our Bedroom After The War” is really good.

Toronto International Film Festival picks

Here are the films I hope to see during the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Even though they are divided into First and Second Picks, I'd love to see them all, plus a few more at the bottom of this post. Pretty music heavy year with two Joy Division films, (Joy Division is a documentary, Control is the Ian Curtis biopic) and a documentary on Daniel Lanois (Here Is What Is). Seemed to be lots of Romanian and Australian contributions this year as well, with several films on world conflicts (Darfur, Iraq) and immigrant experience. Picks for the Advance Ticket Ordering are due at the College Park office by 1pm Friday.

My First Picks

California Dreamin' (Endless) (trying Romanian film this year)
Les Chansons d'amour (charming romantic musical farce from France)
The Band's Visit (from Israel - a small, uniformed Egyptian police band becomes lost in rural Israel on their way to performing at a concert. Cross cultural misunderstandings ensue)
Run, Fat Boy, Run (UK comedy - directed by David Schwimmer,with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) as the lead)
Philippine Science (high school life by way of the Philippines)
Smiley Face (Gregg Araki's new movie)
Here Is What Is (documentary on Daniel Lanois)
The Trap (Serbian film about a man who can save his child's life if only he will kill a mystery benefactor’s business rival)
Joy Division (documentary about the legendary band)

Second Picks (Back-up)

Control (Ian Curtis bio-pic - I may still try to get rush tickets for this)
No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel of a drug deal gone wrong, described as "taunt" and "ruthless")
The Tracey Fragments (Canadian, directed by Bruce McDonald (Highway 61 (91), Dance Me Outside (94), Hard Core Logo (96)), starring Ellen Page, and music by Broken Social Scene. Yep, that's pretty Canadian)
Jar City (Icelandic murder mystery)
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (US - Wayne Wangs' new film about Chinese immigrants in America, centered around the conflict between a father and daughter)
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (sweet Japanese coming of age story)
It's a Free World... (UK - Two women form their own recruitment company and navigate the legally murky waters of hiring Eastern European migrant workers for wealthier European Union nations)

Stuff I would have liked to have seen:

Nocturna (Spanish animation), Roming (Romanian farce), The Savages (US - Laura Linney & Philip Seymour Hoffman as sister and brother0, Sukiyaki Western Django (Midnight Madness craziness), Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil (French Canadian), And Along Come Tourists (German), I Am From Titov Veles (Macedonian), Dainipponjin (more Midnight Madness craziness), A Stray Girlfriend (Argentina), Son Of Rambow (sweet looking UK movie about two young boys filming their own version of "Rambo), Persepolis (animated adaptation of the graphic novel about a girl growing up in Iran; well recieved at Cannes), Happiness (South Korea), Le Voyage Du Ballon Rouge (whimsical French movie starring Juliette Binoche)