New Digs

Howdy folks. Sorry the blog's been fossilizing while I've been busy writing reviews over at cbc.ca/arts.
If you'd like to see a more recent collection of my stuff just follow the link.
Otherwise, kick off your shoes and take a look around. You could start with my top twenty list from 2010. Or my anti-retro rant inspired by Where the Wild Things Are.
See ya soon.

"Does it? Bollocks!"

Good god, what a face.

We've lost another great one.

Pete Postlethwaite.

Anyone with those lines, those nooks and crannies could have been a great character actor.
But there was a fierceness there, behind his eyes that made him more than just another interesting face.

Thanks to those Norman Rockwellesque looks Pete was often slotted into a lot of salt-of-the-earth type roles. Although his range was much wider.

Take a look at the Brassed Off video below. Yes, it's one of those "we're all in it together" charming British pics they do so well. Pete played Danny, the conductor of a coal miner's brass band. Like he did with so many movies he took a simple little role and gave it gravity.

"Aye, they can knock a bloody good tune, but what the fook does that matter?"

So long Pete.

Top Twenty of 2010

Every year it's the same; as January washes over me in a grey mid-winter gloom, I look ahead at the year on film and wonder, what will be the one? What magical film will give me that spark of awe. A crinkle of a smile. A knowing nod. A film where I'll see myself or even a glimmer of something otherworldly. The kind of experience that makes up for sitting through the latest Nicolas Cage trash-sterpiece.

Now here we are, another year has gone by and below are 20 plus films. Each great, many in different ways. The film industry continues to simultaneously shrink and bloat. Producers worry, studios shift, and somewhere someone is making the next Great Thing. A writer or director has convinced a Hollywood mogul to throw millions behind her demented fever dream. Here's 20 of those fever dreams committed to celluloid for our mutual pleasure.

TOP TWENTY OF TWENTY TEN

20. The Town

Directed and starring Ben Affleck The Town was an action film that was far better than expected. In some ways a return to the no-nonsense action films of the 70s. I figure if The Departed hadn't happened, The Town would have been an Oscar contender. Nevertheless it's a great gritty heist flick, with muscular performances, a strong cast and fine work all around by Benny boy.

19. Tangled

Simply an enchanting movie that allowed Disney to do what it does best. A fairy tale that doesn't try to smother us in pop culture references. It lives in its own world and is populated with smart self-aware characters (including a Princess you won't mind your daughter emulating). Mandy Moore and Zach Levi both delivered great performances. Donna Murphy was divine as the witch, Mother Gothel, and fits in nicely with Disney's long line of classic villains. "Mother Knows Best" should have been a contender for song of the year at the Oscars. Why it hasn't made the list is beyond me.

18. Tales From The Golden Age

From the writer and director of Four Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days comes this absurd tale of life in Communist Romania. A series of short films spun from urban myths of the life during the 1980s. The stories are populated by grifters and romantics, bureaucrats and average Joes. Life in a country governed by committee where having a healthy sense of humour is essential.

17. The Wild Hunt

Done for pennies, The Wild Hunt, similar to Fubar II, is an example of ballsy filmmakers putting to rest the stereotype of boring Canadian films. Set in the world of medieval reenactments or LARP, The Wild Hunt starts a little slow but once it gets going it gallops at a furious pace. Gritty, funny and an original take on a tired genre.

16. True Grit

Take a Western. Peel off the excess emotion, the bigger-than-life characters. Leave in the dirt, the scruffiness. Add in a generous measure of language. Eloquence and Oratory the way only the Coen's can. Stir with a grizzly Jeff Bridges, a cocky Matt Damon and a shooting star of a performance by Hailee Steinfeld. "Go Little Blackie Go!"

15. Easy A

If only all Hollywood comedies were as smart and subversive as this high-school fable about rumours and promiscuity. Yes Emma Stone is a great wit, spilling off lines like a modern Elizabeth Bennet. Credit is also due to the parents, great supporting work by Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci.

14. Megamind / Despicable Me

A tie here for the two great animated films that mock super heroes and villains. Both as smart as the super-villains they focus on. Excellent work by Steve Carell as Gru and Will Ferrell as Megamind. Bonus points for the lovable sidekicks, the minions (both David Cross and the funny yellow-pill shaped dudes.)

13. Stone

Stone is here for two main reasons. One, as a reminder Robert DeNiro can be a cinematic force when he isn't playing poor parodies of himself. Two, for how director John Curran used the prison drama to say something bigger about post-911 America's hollowed out post-industrial wastelands. Empty factories, farm fields and prisons are the primary colours of this film.

12. Get Him To The Greek

I guess after his performances in Get Him to the Greek and I'm Still Here we all have to take P.Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Combs a little more seriously. In fact, this movie made me reassess my opinions of Russell Brand, Jonah Hill and Puff. Seriously funny, wacky, dozens-of-jokes a minute kinda stuff.

11. 127 Hours
The "guy-who-had-to-cut-his-arm-off" movie found director Danny Boyle returning to the adrenalized energy of Trainspotting. Remember the terror of the toilet scene? Boyle still has that ability to put us THERE, in the moment. Digging deep into his filmmaker's toolbox. Macro and micro shots. Time lapse, split screen and more. Whatever it takes to put us in the canyon with Aron the giddy hippie making peace with himself as he faces his final days. Franco is unforgettable and almost too charming in a movie about life, not death.

10. Blue Valentine / Cyrus
A tie for two films about performance. About small moments. About giving actors space. Blue Valentine is a bittersweet love letter to a failing marriage, cutting the sour with the sweet as we watch the couple falling in and out of love. Sweet without pretension. Cyrus, a small comedy of manners and strangeness. John C. Riley gets lucky for once, Marisa Tomei sparkles and Jonah Hill gets to stretch (a little.)

9. Mid-August Lunch

If Mid-August Lunch was a story it would be a novella. As size goes, it's just right. A man, his mother and some unintentional house guests. A leisurely ride on a scooter through Rome. And many many glasses of wine. Nothing more or less than it has to be. Salut! to Gianni the director and actor in this charming follow up to Gomorrah.

8. The King's Speech

After all the hype, I was a slightly disappointed with The King's Speech. Only because I'd expected something akin to the second-coming of Christ on screen. Still, once I'd adjusted my expectations it was easy to savour this beautifully told buddy movie. The awkward friendship of King George and Lionel Logue. Colin Firth is getting a lot of attention for this role but it was the idiosyncratic performance of Geoffrey Rush that won me over. Plus, once again Tom Hooper brings a keen eye to Britain's most upper-class family. Hooper is half Australian and it's his skeptical gaze that elevates The King's Speech above a typical period piece.

7. The Kids Are All Right

The Kids captures a lot of beautiful moments of how kids and parents, gay or straight relate to one another in 2010. This is very modern smart stuff filled with earthy characters. Mark Ruffalo as the organic restaurateur/sex god. Julianne Moore as the confused free-spirit and conceptual gardener. It's a movie about love, about family and the danger of making assumptions. Great subtle stuff by Mia Wasikowska. Ruffalo is at his most magnetic. The script is super sharp and yes, a damn fine turn by Annette Bening.

6. Exit Through the Gift Shop

Is it a hoax? A brilliant meta-prank? A wry comment on the modern art scene, the hyperspeed hype factory ready to leap on the Next Big Thing? A guerrilla style doc on the graffiti scene? Yes. Yes. Yes. Whether you believe it or not, Exit Through the Gift Shop was a brilliant remix of the traditional doc. Hijacking the form to continue Banksy's practice of manipulating the media for the message. If you're looking for more, check out these behind the scene notes from Producer Jaimie D'Cruz that only deepen the mystery.

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

A personal pleasure but a complete one. Maybe you don't like Michael Cera. Maybe you could give a damn about comic books and 8-bit video games. But if you do, and you're like me then you were in heaven from frame one for this witty pixel-powered romance/21st century battle royale. Triple Score Awesomeness.

4. Incendies

Denis Villeneuve crafts an origami-like story that folds back on itself as a brother and daughter delve into the secret life of their mother. The final scene is a silent, earth shattering thud. Heart breaking and never failing in courage, Villeneuve is one of Canada's treasures.

3. I Am Love

Like Il Divo, it was the marriage of music, motion and emotion that won me over completely. A movie of manners, high society and Italian Style but different, due to the rawness of the actress so good she's almost alien, Tilda Swinton.

2. Inception

Far too appropriate in the year when we lost Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of fractals, Inception arrived. In the middle of the summer, in between happy-meal ready movies like Marmaduke and Prince of Persia, Christopher Nolan gave us a movie that wasn't quite sci-fi but far too strange to call a typical action flick. A heist film to end all heist films. Movies are often the realm of dreams and so Nolan crafted a caper set in the dreamscape. Dreams within dreams. The closer you look, the deeper you fall. Inception isn't perfect. The vocabulary of the action set pieces, (the downtown car chase, the Swiss Alps fortress) is dissapointingly conventional compared to those early moments of architectural chaos. But Inception was a film that made the audience work and rewarded us for our efforts. In the middle of a season of loud sounds and empty moments, Inception was a statement. Yes we like action and car chases and things that go boom but we want it to mean something. We want a uniting idea. We want to be teased and provoked. We want beauty, fine acting, quick quips and an amazing experience. We want it all. (And Joseph Gordon Levitt's wardrobe. Could we have that too? )

1. The Social Network

(click to see in youtube)

Honourable mentions:

A-Team, Barney's Version, Fubar II, Defendor,

Black Swan, Get Low, Morning Glory (except for the last 20 minutes),

Splice (except for the swamp battle), The American, Winter's Bone,

Shrek Forever After

Meta Montage (Year in Film 2010)

Best parts are at the beginning and end and I wonder how he/she gets all those clips, but a great overview of 2010.

Big Box Filmmaking

Buried, the new movie starring Ryan Reynolds was one of those legendary scripts that floundered on the "black list." The list of amazing screenplays that are considered un-filmable. Until one day, director Rodrigo Cortes got in touch with Reynolds and showed him how it could be done.


Given the story, you can see how the script would be intimidating. The entire film takes place inside a coffin. The cast, one man - Paul. A truck driver who is working in Iraq for a private contractor and wakes up in a wooden crate. (There's also a couple voices on the cellphone with excellent reception.) Soon his captor is calling with their demands. 5 million dollars or they leave him there. Oh, and there's a snake.


The biggest surprise is how cinematic Buried becomes. Sure it's claustrophobic at times. In fact, be prepared to listen quite carefully since occasionally there's nothing but black and panicked breathing. Kudos to Cortes and his cinematographer for constantly finding ways to vary the setting. Changing light sources and using everything from macro to crane shots.

Of course none of this would be worth it, if the story and Reynold's performance didn't work. Luckily the script is rather tight, with the exception of one silly flashback episode. When your entire film takes place in real time...don't go for the flashback montage.

As Paul, Reynolds has no trouble holding our attention. I've always liked Reynolds, who has a sly funny streak that seems to pop up in most of his roles. Buried isn't exactly Van Wilder (not that I wanted it to be) but if not humorous, there's a sincerity which helps pull us even deeper into his predicament.

(somewhat minor spoiler)

Finally, after a number of wishy-washy films about Iraq, this is one film that takes a stand with a finale that won't soon be forgotten. Buried is a film that almost feels like a short story in the way that it had the potency of a simple, well told tale. Enjoy.

Finally, after a number of wishy-washy films about Iraq, this is one film that takes a stand with a finale that won't soon be forgotten. Buried is a film that almost feels like a short story in the way that it had the potency of a simple, well told tale. Enjoy.

(Minor Update: saw the trailer for Reynold's upcoming Green Lantern superhero spectacle and it's as I feared. Looks like a galaxy of bad CGI with Reynolds' typical charm wedged into an outfit built to show off his best assets. Alas)

Recommended Listening for Never Let Me Go

Among some of the many new movies you should try to catch (Fubar II, Easy A, The American, I'm Still Here and Machete) you should also check out Never Let Me Go.

Never Let Me Go takes a well worn sci-fi trope and holds it up as a mirror on the human condition. Or perhaps mirror isn't the correct word, because the situation faced by the characters simply magnifies something we all share. I wont spoil the details, although they're getting increasingly impossible to avoid.

(I saw a trailer for Never Let Me Go that just about revealed every single important moment, not to mention critical lines of dialogue....but that's another rant for another day.)

This is beautiful meditative movie that take places over the span of 3 decades. Three friends Ruth, Kathy and Tommy grow up together and confront their uniquely limited destiny.

At the very least it is a heartbreakingly beautiful film, shot with a palette of soft mustard yellows and earthy greens. The setting, a seemingly arrested version of 1950's Britain.

And the cast, well this is mainly Carey Mulligan's film. Watching her piercing gaze made me realize just how much intelligence was missing from her Blogger Barbie role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Also, Keira Knightley does a fine angry scared girl and Andrew Garfield made me sit up and think, "Who is that guy?" (Answer: The Guy who is the next Peter Parker and now I understand why.)

Anyway, all of this was all just an excuse to suggest if you enjoyed the film, or the book it was based on, there's a terrific discussion with the screenwriter Alex Garland and the original novelist Kazuo Ishiguro at the creative screening magazine podcast. Enjoy!

Post TIFF Recap

Howdy! TIFF is done and I'm here to share what has been an extremely busy season of cinema.

So here are some of the highlights from my time at the Toronto International Film Festival. Don't miss 'em when they return.

The Trip

It's the British Odd Couple on a road trip, except that it feels like a documentary and we're in the hands of the subversive director Michael Winterbottom. A relaxed, droll and silly ride, this is highly recommend for fans of Steve Coogan or James Bond. (That will make sense after you see it.)

13 Assassins

From the director of Ichi the Killer comes a classic samurai tale. A Japanese spin on the "one last job" genre. 13 Assassins finds a group of samurais on an impossible mission, to kill the sadistic emperor who is ruining the country. 13 men versus an army. Makes 300 look like the cartoon it was based on.

NEDS

One of the strongest films I watched and a film that totally caught me off guard. NED is short for Non Educated Delinquent. Set in Glasgow in the 1970s, the movie follows the tale of John. A bright kid with a brother in a bad spot of trouble. Soon he's on the same path, running with the wrong boys and getting shunted into the slow class at school. Think Gommorah meets Lord of the Flies. Very strong stuff, look for it.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog serves up the best 3D experience since Avatar. A lyrical, whimsical trip into the Chauvet Caves of Frances. This made my fest.

Stone

You'll be hearing more about this later this fall. But let me just say, this prison drama starring Edward Norton and Robert De Niro is a better movie than the trailer suggests. Will surprise you.

Biutiful

Tough to watch yes, but worth it, not just for Javier Bardem's performance as a struggling father in Barcelona, but also for the unvarnished look at life below the social safety net. A world of street vendors and sweatshops, but it's also populated by real people as director Alejandro González Iñárritu reminds us. A more tightly drawn web than Babel with some haunting set pieces.

Easy Money

From Sweden another look at the criminal underground. Drug runners, the upper and lower class all meet in the middle of this wild ride. A snappy little flick which will no doubt be remade into a movie starring Paul Walker any day now.

Gorbaciòf - The Cashier who Liked Gambling

Il Divo's Toni Servillo knocks it out of the park again playing this sweet and sour little tale of Gorbaciof, a nearly mute prison cashier who falls for the waitress at the local Chinese restaurant. Servillo is a strange cross between a gangster and a clown, but such sadness in those eyes.

Rare Exports

Your new favourite Xmas movie.