TIFF MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

It's done. It's over. It's a distant memory. It was here and now it's gone.
The 34th Toronto International Film Festival touched down with a whirlwind of people, parties and prolific filmmakers like Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Adam Egoyan.

During it's nine day city invasion, TIFF reminded local and visiting filmfans why it really is the best and most consumer friendly film festival in the world. In addition to the regular mini tornado's comprised of heavyhitters like Le Weinstein, Lowe, Barrymore and Connellly, TIFF made a huge statement by hosting numerous free screenings and live performances including films about U2, The Dixie Chicks and Bob Marley. They told the world that TIFF is for the people and spent a considerable amount of money making it happen.

I got to see a few movies in between planning our CFC Annual BBQ fundraiser that helps keep the CFC training tomorrow's film, television and new media content creators. Each year, the team works tirelessly and we raise close to $200,000 from an amazing group of sponsors who make it possible for us to host over 1,000 visiting and local members of the industry. They come, they drink, they make plans to talk deals, then they are off to the next of dozens of stops on the TIFF tornado!

So what did I see worth mentioning? Out of the 10 films I saw, three of them are worthy of checking out.

1. The first pick is The Invention of Lying with Ricky Gervais. As my friend Dustin said, " It's a totally original idea and story". The Invention of Lying takes you on a journey into a world where people don't lie...EVER. It's an awesome, and you would assume idealistic place to live,
but Mr.Gervais takes the story from the clouds to the mean streets quicker that you can say ' no, your ass doesn't look fat in that". Its a cute movie that will make you laugh, done.

2. Whip It is my second pick. I totally wished I was a thirteen year old girl watching this movie about a young girl living in a small town near Austin, Texas. She is the odd ball, the quirky one, the purple haired, Doc Marten wearing rebel chick who needs a home. While in a head shop, she
finds out about roller derby and as soon as she sets foot into the warehouse space to see her first game, you know this little one has found her people. She tries out, and it's clear she can handle her own. The rest of the movie was as predictable as the beginning, but this movie is about sending a message to young ladies that you can be all that you want...Smart, tough, pretty and a little crazy all at the same time..Why this was not taught to us in grade eight sex-ed, I do not know...But I would have saved a lot of time had it been!

3. Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot) is my third pick. This film is from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who co-wrote and directed Amelie. Micmacs is a film about optimism. Based on a character named Brasil who was orphaned as a youngster when his soldier father was killed by a roadside bomb. Working in a video store and trying to find his place in the world, Bazil is hit by a stray bullet in a freak drive-by shooting incident. Emerging from hospital, he finds himself jobless and penniless. Brasil finds support in a group of underground gypsies who take him in as family and help him create plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers, one of which made the roadside bomb
that killed his father. The journey takes a few left turns and you are more than happy to go for the ride with a beautiful sensory experience only the likes of Jeunet and his team of free thinkers could create. Mic Macs is beautiful, subtitled and will become a classic like Amelie.

P.S: I also saw two NON TIFF movies recently.

THE INFORMERS: If you are doing a project on period pieces from the 80's, watch it. Otherwise, it will bore you and remind you that the 80's sucked..was a vacuous period of self-indulgence.

SUNSHINE CLEANING: Awesome, sweet and considerate storytelling, motivating and an overall good movie that makes your heart feel.

WIN SINGLE TICKETS TO THE TIFF WAVELENGTH PROGRAM PREMIERS

The first four people to post a correct response to four questions listed below, get one single ticket to the following:

Wavelengths 2: Pro Agri, Sat., Sept 12th at 6:30PM
or
Wavelengths 3: Let each one go...Sat., Sept 12th at 9PM
or
Wavelengths 4: In comparison, Sun., Sept 13th at 4PM
or
Wavelengths 5: Une Catastrophe, Sun., Sept 13th at 6:30PM

Winners get to pick the ticket they want based on who posted first. Ticket pickup responsibility of the winner. Ok, here we go succas:

#1: What movie does this line come from " You shut your mouth when your talkin to me"
#2: What is the longest movie in history?
#3: Who created the costumes for " The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover"
#4: What movie sucked really bad and should have just remained a book? HINT: The word Devil is in the title.

Once four correct answers are listed, I will post my email address on the blog for winners to contact me and get their tickets!

SIN NOMBRE- BEAUTY FROM THE SADNESS

"Honduran teenager Sayra reunites with her father, an opportunity for her to potentially realize her dream of a life in the U.S. Moving to Mexico is the first step in a fateful journey of unexpected events".

This plot is but a fragment of the full picture. SIN NOMBRE also tells the story of El Casper, a young gang member who can no longer rationalize the violent and morally reprehensible behavior him and his fellow homies not only take part in, but seek out. Sayra and El Caspers roads cross paths in the most unlikely of manners. What ensues is the ability for both characters to go through a series of self realizations that serve the story well and roll out in a natural and uncontrived manner.

SIN is set up from the first shot to make the viewer feel like this is a legitimate window into the world of these characters many people have only heard about. Riding illegally on train tops, avoiding border patrol and gang initiations are things read in books or in the occasional article about immigration laws and what we are doing to reduce gun violence.

There is no attempt to buy the viewers sympathy for future storyline outcomes or to pave a path for ultimate salvation. You are taken on a journey with flawed people who are trying to make just decisions and have hope for a future.
It's rare when you can say a story is honest in every way. SIN is honest in the broken lives, the anger that drives people and how salvation is a path of muddy terrains many never make it out of.

I think one of the things that made such a violent and sad story one that leaves the viewer with some love and hope in their heart is the way the story was set against the most spectacular bckdrops. Hundreds of travelers sitting on top of a train with an amber sky and mountains for miles gives perspective that there is beauty everywhere; inside and out. SIN tells us no life is perfect and we all have the capacity to forgive. It makes the viewer think on a humanistic level very movies could ever do. Please go see it.

If I was to pick a top 10 right now for 2009, SIN NOMBRE would be on it.

MOVIES BASED ON MUSIC===

I would like someone to create a movie based on the new WHITE LIES album "TO LOSE MY LIFE...It's like a story starts to write itself as I go from "death' to "Unfinished Business". Each song doesn't literally tell a story, but it paints a picture..AND ITS DARK, WITH THE SILHOUETTE OF A MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER, LOVER AND FRIEND.

It like the movies Desperately seeking Susan, Lean on me and Blade Runner keep crossing paths in the album. "I live on the right side, sleep on the left...That's why everything's gotta be love or death".. POETRY...POETRY I SAY.

15 movies I like---in no order

1. Once were Warriors (1994)
2. Pump up the Volume (1990)
3. Crash (2004)
4. Zoolander (2001)
5. Fight Club (1999)
6. All about Eve (1950)
7. Working Girl (1988)
8. Old School (2003)
9. Roger and Me (1989)
10. Edward Sizzorhands (1990)
11. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
12. Drug store cowboy (1989)
13. Wall-E (2008)
14. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
15. Braveheart (1995)

(AND A SHOUT OUT TO TEEN WITCH. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098453
.I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE THE MOST POPULAR GIRL IN SCHOOL)

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS--

With the Toronto International Film Festival fast approaching, Beyond the next will be all film and film related funtimes for the months of August and September!

The first film to kick off the cinema celebrations is INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (IB).

Quentin Jerome Tarantino and Eli Roth showed up to introduce the film. It was quick, messy and over before I could blink an eye. Roth told everyone Tarantino was a god and that he loved working on the movie..Wow, that's a revelation. Thanks for being so insightful about the movie we are about to see. It was cool to see Tarantino in all his glory for two and a half minutes..I was hoping for a Q&A, but immediately following the intro, he got on a plane for the NY premier and Eli Roth held it down for a few questions. Can we talk about Tarantino being on American idol.
I was confused by this and a little dissapointed. Ok, sorry, back to the movie.

To be honest, I was expecting it to be mediocre. I didn't think Dianne Kruger and Brad Pitt could really pull off what the trailer was selling; sophistication, revenge and yet another attempt at cross pollinating film periods/gengres. I pretty much ate my assumptions within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Inspired by 1978's "Quel maledetto treno blindat" (Inglorious Basterds), Tarantino's IG was filled with kick ass suspense, top notch acting and more than a handful of "creative kills". IG is based In Nazi-occupied France during World War II. The main storyline revolved around a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" who are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. They excel at their task and I may have spent more time looking at my neighbor to the left in the theatre trying to avoid some of the more gruesome kills scenes like the eye gouging or back skull stabbing.

IG's main storyline is actually not the main highlight for me. What made me leave the theatre saying, "Wow that was one of the most bad ass, entertaining and enlightening movies I have seen in a long time" was the way the other storylines married with the Basterds and that each characters personal history with the occupation allowed for a group of amazing stories, of which, each could fill a script for a full movie.

In addition to the layers of deep and diverse experiences, the movie gives the viewer the ability to sympathize and empathize with the occupied Jews during that time; making you almost beam watching the SS and Gestapo pay for their Sin's in some of the most inglorious fashions!

All the actors were stellar, story was satisfying, sets and shooting location were perfect and Tarantino yet again takes mixed genres to the next level. With strong lighting, immaculate makeup and a tip of the hat to war films of years past, IB is a triump in every way. I hope it spreads the world entertaining all and leaves the viewer wishing IB was not a fictional story, but inspired by true ones.

http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092633/

“Used-car liquidator Don Ready is hired by a flailing auto dealership to turn their Fourth of July sale into a majorly profitable event”.

Jeremy Piven makes you laugh, forget everything going on in your life and keeps you entertained for ALMOST two hours. THE GOODS: LIVE HARD, SELL HARD is a funny and slightly memorable story of Don Ready (Piven) and his band of merry men (and a lady), who make their way from dealership to dealership helping broken salespeople bring some buzz onto their lots and clear cars. With an awesome ensemble cast with the likes of Ving Rhames, Catherine Hahn (Anchorman), Ken Jeong (Roll Models and The Hangover), Ed Helmes, James Brolin, David Koechner and Will Farell, they keep the gut crunching one liners going throughout the film.

First and foremost, there are actually people who travel the country helping badly performing dealerships bring their numbers up. We were lucky enough to have Jeremy Piven at the screening for a Q & A and he told us about a doc called Slashers about people in the “Car moving biz”. Weird; yes. Tres American: Yes.

In The Goods, set in a small town in California, does what a quirky off-beat comedy should do; entertain, confuse and surprise. I’m not going to talk about the narrative or the character depth. Why you may ask? Well, there really isn’t any. It's a punch you in the face comedy with shiny colors. They try and pull a few heart strings to create some connections with the characters, but at the end of the day they serve up a funny movie that makes you laugh.

Can we end on a super random note. I asked Piven how the script for THE GOODS made its way to him and he said the name of the person and then went on to tell the story of how the movie got made. When he put it in his brother-in-laws hand, Adam Mckay (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0570912/), it moved quickly and was made within a year…ok, did you just hear what I said, Adam Mckay..What the H#$*…his bother-in-law is Adam Mckay…Crazytown. Adam McKay is married to Shira Piven, Jeremy’s sister. Ok, so there is your random fact for the day.