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

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.

Projector on CBC

I'm happy to announce Projector, my movie show on CBC Radio debuts today. The two part program airs today at 4 PM. If you miss it there's also a fantastic website where you can hear the entire show for yourself, not to mention some great bonus content (trailers, longer interviews etc).

You can find it all at

http://www.cbc.ca/projector/

Projector is a true labour of love. It began as a radio pilot and grew into this summer special. The first part explores heroes and in the second part we look at fear on film. It's not a film review show per say, but more about how we see ourselves on film and how films see us.

Enjoy!

Taking Inception For Another Spin

Inception isn't a masterpiece.


But it is a great, great film and a reminder of the difference between the films we watch passively and films that ask something more.

Having rewatched it recently I can say it's much more enjoyable the second time.

There are themes, motifs and clues spread throughout the film I missed (the first time) because frankly, I was struggling to keep up.

Inception is certainly an elegantly constructed movie. Director Christopher Nolan has carefully thought out the rules for this universe of dreams. The exposition littered throughout the film does a decent enough job of explaining it. But if you, like me, still have some lingering questions, here are some great links to explore.

The Ultimate Inception Guide. Over at Salon, Sam Adams begins with a very detailed recap of the film and goes on the explore the various levels and the rules.

Interview with Dileep Rao. On the always entertaining Vulture blog Dileep Rao answers some of the questions surrounding the rules of the Inception world. Dileep would know because he plays Yusuf, the chemist on the team. Read the interview and you'll see he doesn't look too kindly on the "it's all a dream" interpretation.

A Chart! If you're still confused the pretty colours provided by the fine folks at Cinemablend might help.

Interview With Chris Nolan On the always excellent The Treatment show, host Elvis Mitchell puts Christopher Nolan under the microscope in an extended interview.

Multi-layered Muisc. Hans Zimmer talks about how the Édith Piaf song was altered to suit the
fractal nature of the film. Sooooooo cool.

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ALL ABOUT WOBBLE

(Spoiler Spoiler, Good God Man for the love of Mary go see it first, SPOILER)

So, is Cobb dreaming in the final scene?

On my first viewing of Inception I was convinced the entire final scene, Cobb returning home, seeing his children, was an extended dream. The evidence: the top/totem was still spinning, the kids looked identical to the previous flashbacks, even the way the scene was lit seemed to suggest a dream-like state.

Now, having watched it again, I have to say I was wrong. But in my defence Nolan has put a lot of red herrings into Inception, ammunition for the "it's all a dream" team. (For example the dream-like chase sequence with the closing walls in Mombasa.) Why did I change my mind? Well, in the end it's all about the wobble.

Cobb returns home. He looks around. He's agitated. He takes out his totem and begins to spin it. Just then he sees his children. Their clothes are similar but slightly different. (Confirmed here.) They turn, we see their faces and he's finally reunited.
Then we cut back to the top, still spinning, spinning. Then just seconds before we fade to black, the top begins to wobble.

It's not much of a wobble. But it's certainly the beginnings of a top that is going to give in to gravity. Ergo, top falls = real life.

However, as Sam Adams and others have suggested in a way it doesn't matter. The ambiguity is part of the larger theme Nolan is playing with as he explores the reliability of perception and the power of memory. Listen to the interview from The Treatment and you'll hear these are themes that have followed Nolan throughout his career.

In the end that's what makes Inception so satisfying. It takes a universal theme (is this real?) or perhaps the oldest of film cliches (it was all a dream?) and builds an entire movie on that quandary. And his way of exploring these concepts? Using the cinematic language of action films. In fact my single biggest critique with Inception is how it abandons the surreal landscape of the dream and instead serves up something like an extended G.I. Joe action sequence featuring an army of Snow Jobs.

That said, what makes Inception so engaging is the way Nolan embraces the basic language of film, and reminds us the difference editing, music and motion can make. Time stretches and compresses. We flash back and forth between levels. The van falls and falls. It's a beautiful ballet of space and time, a dance of booms and buildings falling and in the centre, a haunted man trying to escape his past, but refusing to let go.

A Summer Film That's Good For You (Cyrus)

Stuck in the middle of this summer of junk food cinema Cyrus is fresh garden mix of funny. It's simple movie filled will subtle moments. Little micro bursts of emotion we so often miss in larger louder films.

The plot is rather simple. A sad schlub of a man finds his second wind when he hits it off with Molly. But Molly's 21 year old son Cyrus is threatened by the new man in his mother's life.

In other hands this would have become a run-of-the-mill Hollywood comedy starring Gerard Bulter and Jennifer Aniston. But it's more than off-kilter casting that makes Cyrus different.

It's about watching John C. Reily arch his eyebrows ever so slightly. It's the way Marisa Tomei's eye crinkle when she smiles. It's the quivering lower lip of Jonah Hill. It's a movie filled with generous close ups and awkward pauses. It's a movie that breathes.

If you have any interest in writing or directing I implore you to go listen to latest Creative Screenwriting podcast. It features a long interview with Jay and Mark Duplass, the writing directing duo behind Cyrus.

Like their movie, the Duplass brothers are endearingly honest. As they say on the podcast it took them years, years of making crap to find their voice. Here's a few of the gems from their interview.

$3.00 - That's what it cost to make their first successful short This is John (watch it here). Just their parent's video camera and the cost of a tape. But it was that short film (shot unrehearsed) that got them into Sundance, and led to the films The Puffy Chair, Baghead and Cyrus.

Story and Characters - That's all that matters for the Duplass brothers. Technical stuff, the set, the lighting and all the rest come a distant second.

The Vomit Draft - When they sit down to write their first script they have a unique method. You could call it the Vomit Draft. The brothers first agree on the basic structure of the film. They have a series of cue cards. Then Mark sits down with a dictaphone and talks his way through the first draft of the script. That's correct, he "writes" the movie orally. This has a couple advantages. One, you can't go back and fixate over anything, so the process keeps you moving forward. Two, your body naturally tells you when to move on.

Don't Fixate Over Dialogue - Since the Duplass brothers use a lot of improv in their films, they never get too hung up about the words, since the script is just a starting point.

Long Walks - When they hit an impasse during shooting, they leave. The two brothers walk off the set and talk, until they solve the problem.

Don't Move On Until You Feel Comfortable - As one of the brothers says, "If you don't know if you got it, you didn't get it." He's talking about the pressure to keep moving to the next scene during shooting. But he says, you know if you've got something and you can't let the pressure to keep on schedule to affect your movie. (Of course when you operate with lower budgets it's easier to stay in control. More money = more pressure.)

"Fuck all the noise and ask yourself what do you want to see next?" That's Duplass philosophy on filmmaking.

Don't Direct the First Take - No direction or blocking for the first take. The surprises that occur are about 25% of the film.


Shoot Chronologically - More expensive but works better for the actors who are improvising.

No Marks - No blocking for the actors, the action is shot documentary style.

"Are you Gung-Ho and brave enough, to come and say 'we don't know' with us and try and figure it out together?" - What they ask of the actors.

Skinny Movies - The Duplass brothers like skinny movies. 5 characters. 86 minutes.

The Script Isn't a Piece of Art - The Duplass brother spoke about how when they were working with Fox Searchlight, their screenplay began to change from a subtle comedy to something more overt. Part of the process was how the studio execs were influencing them to write scenes that read well on the page. But the Duplass style of comedy doesn't read well. The really subtle moments that ring true don't work on paper. So it's worth remembering, the script is not a piece of art. It's just a blueprint to get you to the point where you're making the movie.

Pity the Fool (A-Team and MacGruber)

I've been thinking a lot, far too much about the new A-Team film. Now let's be clear. This is a film based on a show that was about as realistic as the GI JOE cartoons of the same time. And the new A-Team continues the legacy of lunacy.

There is a memorable scene (SPOILER) where the guys attempt to slow a plummeting tank by firing at the rapidly approaching ground. Now I'm no Mr.Wizard, but I don't think that's the way the law of physics work. And then again, who cares? Because instead you get Jessica Beil muttering "They're trying to fly that tank." And it's funny. But ridiculous. Which is the essence of my A-Team conundrum.

There is a lot of fun stuff in the A-Team. Bradley Cooper as "Face" has the kind of charisma that could grow into Clooney-esque proportions. The same cock-sure attitude, the man who smirks in the face of fireballs. Another high point is Sharlto Copley. This is his first big role after playing Wickus in District 9. No Afrikaner accent here. Sharlto is playing "Murdock," the court jester of the bunch. His energy is manic and like Bradley it's infectious.

These guys make the A-Team fun. The team clicks, the back and forth, the cross talk make being in the middle of the crew a fun place to be. But the action is insane. The set pieces feel like they were hatched by the bastard love child of Michael Bay and the demented geniuses behind the Crank series.

Which is what frustrates me. The A-Team looks like an action pic. They're using the same vocabulary (car chases, fireballs, firefights) but there's no tension. It's a Noel Coward play drenched in Redbull and topped with gunpowder.

But then last night, I figured it out. The A-Team is a remake, but what they've created isn't an action drama....it's a sitcom. An incredible expensive (& loud) sitcom. Call it Four's Company.

Once I made that mental adjustment, all my issues; the lightness of tone, the unbelievable finale...they all melted away.

Really in a way the A-Team is the kind of movie MacGruber wished it could have been. Look at the similarities. The both start in the desert. Both feature heroes who excel at making elaborate devices out of

scraps. Both use familiar action cliches to amuse the audience. It's just that the A-Team is actually funny.

Summer Alternatives

Long time no update, blah blah blah, is there anything worse than a blogger apologizing?

Right then, as I look back on the list of movies I've watched recently I see there's a number of little gems that might go unnoticed next to the season's swath of blockbusters. So here is a short list of some of the smaller and dare I say smarter alternatives out there.

The Secret In Their Eyes

If it sounds familiar it's because The Secret won the best foreign feature at the Oscars. At the time I couldn't see how anyone would fail to pick The White Ribbon, but having seen Secret I understand the decision. (I don't agree, but I think I can see why.) The Secret In Their Eyes has a lot of things voters look for in an Oscar-Caliber movie. An epic love story. Dark themes. Restrained but effective acting. This is a movie about the dangers of desire. About being consumed by it or haunted. It has touches of film noir. It's also a very subtle look at the many lives of Argentina. And, as a murder mystery The Secret makes most Hollywood films feel like an episode of Law & Order.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

This is an extremely frustrating movie only because I greatly enjoyed it, but I'm afraid if I explain what makes it so satisfying I'll spoil it. So, I will only say this is much more than a movie about the street artist Banksy. This is movie about what happens when you invite the anarchists into the art gallery. It's quite consistent with Banksy's raison d'etre and one of the most provocative docs I've seen in years.

The Trotsky

This is a high school comedy that posits the question "Boredom or Apathy?" Which is why I love it. (Well they already had me at the Battleship Potempkin parody.) But for the rest of you let me say Jay Baruchel is all the reason you need to watch this film. Like Che Guevera crossed with Buster Keaton, Jay's conviction brings Leon Bronstein (aka Trotsky) to life. The Trotsky is as close as Canada has gotten to making a movie like Rushmore but director Jacob Tierney did it, by creating his own unique spin on the high-school hero genre.

Mid-August Lunch

From the co-writer of the searing Gomorra comes a zesty,

light-as-air comedy of mild-manners: Mid-August Lunch. During a holiday in Italy a good-natured mama's boy Gianni gets stuck watching his mother and a couple other ladies.

Watching the suave, calm and collected Gianni deal with these clucking, complaining women is a master class in coping, not to mention an excellent advert for powers of white wine. A gentle, affectionate comedy that brings to mind Big Night at moments, Mid-August Lunch doesn't oversell its story and knows sometimes a little is enough. (Written, directed and starring Gianni Di Gregorio who based it on his own real-life experiences with his Mama. Awwwwwww.)

Wild Things, With Fangs

LARP (Live Action Role Play)

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Lord of the Rings

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THE WILD HUNT

See it, it's good. Worth your time. Bloody good fun, a nice twist on the dungeons and dragons genre. Great example of the new wave of Canadian cinema, like Pontypool, Fido and Ginger Snaps. Smart slick takes on genres, fun films that don't depend on stars to succeed.

More here: http://www.wildhuntfilm.com/main.html

Revisiting Up in the Air

There's no doubt Jason Reitman's Up in the Air is a contender for Oscar glory this year.

Sure it probably wont win best picture, but best adapted screenplay is a safe best.

And already the Great Recession love story has appeared on dozens of “best of” lists (mine included.)

But not everyone, it seems, agrees about what happens to the main character: the modern man in grey, Ryan Bingham as played by George Clooney.

***Fasten Your Seatbelts, plenty of SPOILERS below***

For me, one of the great pleasures of Up in the Air is how it grows from a slick and smarmy love story to a tragedy. In the beginning, George Clooney's character is the master of his domain. He's not only comfortable in the alien artificiality of an airport, he revels in it. Perhaps it’s because the cold comforts of air travel mirror his life.

But by the third act the frequent flyer has been cruelly grounded. He made the ultimate sacrifice, taking a direct flight to his lady love only to find himself stuck in the snow; the door quickly closed in his crumpling face.

To me, this is the point of no return.

Like a bubble boy stepping outside for the first time, the character Ryan has lost his ability to enjoy the freshly sanitized pleasures of air travel. When his boss tells him they're sending him back on the road indefinitely (“send us a postcard when you get there”) there's a weary look in Ryan's eyes.

And so here's the question: Near the end of the film, (George Clooney's character) Ryan arrives back at the airport. We see him staring up at the departure board; carry-on luggage at his side. There's a close-up of his face. His hair is less than perfect. His eyes are wide. And he lets go. Lets go of his perfect-traveller’s suitcase as he stares up at the sea of destinations.

What is he thinking? For me, there's a sense of resignation there.

He doesn't want to be there. Having felt some real warmth in his life, going back In The Air is the last place Ryan wants to be.

Yet he does – which is the beauty of the film. And then there's the final line:

"Tonight, millions of people will come home to screaming children, barking dogs. Their spouses will hug them and ask them how their day was. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over".

Now to me, those are the words of a man in exile. Sure it's artful but there's a sense of sadness there. Of course, not everyone sees it that way.

A friend of mine had a very different interpretation of that moment in the airport. When Ryan is looking at the departure sign, my friend felt he was happy. Ryan was returning to a place where he felt safe. After giving a real relationship a try and getting burned, he's running back to his refuge in the sky.

And there’s one more interpretation to stoke those fires. Another friend believes Ryan is looking at the departure board and planning to use all of his remaining frequent flyer miles (he should still have about 9 million or so) to plan his very own trip around the world.

Of course I believe it's option A. Sure the final shot is a heaven of sorts… with it beautiful sun-kissed clouds. But again, it's a false paradise. Outside, the air is freezing and the wind howls.

What do you think?

*UPDATE*

Watch this deleted bonus scene from the DVD.

More fuel for the fire!

Pretty Poster, Nice Movie

Saw this at TIFF, was lovely.

Saint Steve

My cbc radio reviews for this week are Dear John and From Paris With Love. In that film John Travolta plays one of the strangest characters you've seen in a while. Charlie Wax. A bald, biker-dude turned secret agent. (right)

If you want to see him and Jonathan Rhys Meyers blow up Paris good, go nuts. But I think you'd be better off rewatching any of the Bourne identities.

For a great stab at what's wrong with From Paris With Love, check out this review by Roger Ebert.

And for a movie that's actually worth watching, try Saint John of Las Vegas. It's a rare treat for Steve Buscemi fans giving him ample space to do his trademark slow burn.

Saint John of Las Vegas is a road movie of sorts. Steve plays John, a reformed gambler turned insurance investigator on the case of a suspicous car crash. With his no-nonense partner Virgil, they set off to visit the scene of the crime and interogate witnesses. Along the way you'll meet Tim Blake Nelson, Sarah Silverman and John Cho.


What I liked about this film is that it didn't try to oversell the comedy. This isn't going for a in-your-face laugh attack like the overhyped The Hangover. Saint John is a gentler, more grounded brand of funny. John is just a guy, trying to do a job and get back in one piece. And who better to play the sad-sack hero than Buscemi, a man whose face was built for pain. Like watching Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, you can help but root for him.

As a opposed to John Travolta's over-sized Mini Me character, John fits Steve Buscemi as well as the simple suits he wears. You might say he's typecast from his Mr.Pink days of Resivor Dogs. But I think he's just playing to his stregth.