Movies

Now What?

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You're funny lookingThis is one of those weird weekends for movies — the studios are expanding the releases of Oscar-bait films like “Gran Torino” and hoping for a boost from the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday night, but they’re also dumping two utterly generic efforts into the mix in order to court the people who just want to see something shiny.

“Bride Wars”: Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson square off in a comedy about BFFs who turn on each other when their Perfect Weddings are accidentally double-booked at the same venue. I had something else to do that morning, but neither Susan nor Jason found much to love.

“The Unborn”: In which Odette Yustman walks around in her underwear a lot while having scary visions of eeeeevil children and gooshy bugs, while David S. Goyer throws a great deal of crazy at the screen and hopes some of it sticks. My review will be up on the NOW site later this afternoon; check back for the link.

Gotta run down to CTV Newsnet to talk about the Golden Globes at 9:15 AM; catch me if you can!

DVD, Movies

By the Time You Read This, I May Already Be Dead

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There's no free luuuunchI’ve decided to confront the whole “Wilner hates Canadian movies” thing head-on with a short essay in this week’s NOW. So, you know, if anything happens to me in the next few days, just tell the CSI guys to push Atom Egoyan and Ari Lantos a little harder on their alibis. I just don’t trust them.

Also: Here’s the long-overdue link to my latest Sympatico/MSN DVD column, which casts a baleful eye on “Pineapple Express” — and, to a lesser extent, “The Wackness”. As I said last summer, there’s a pretty good movie somewhere inside “The Wackness”; it’s just crushed under Ben Kingsley’s rampaging showiness. Seriously, somebody has to save this guy from himself.

Movies

That Went Well

And now he can afford to use real horsesThe Toronto Film Critics Association held its first super-sized gala awards dinner last night, where Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg” was named our Best Canadian Feature.

Actually, it’s now the Rogers Best Canadian Feature, with a cash prize of $10,000 — strangely, no one said anything about throwing in a free cable package. I suspect Guy would really enjoy HD.

I spent the whole thing with my camera in my pocket, so I don’t have a single picture … though all things considered, that’s probably best. I always look so uncomfortable in a suit, you know?

Culture Shock, Movies

Big Day

You'd be amazed how hard it is to get people to agree on a simple logoThe Toronto Film Critics Association is holding its first expanded Gala Awards Dinner tonight, and as the TFCA’s vice president I’ll be spending most of the day signing things, finessing press releases and making sure the cutlery is all nice and shiny. Not much time for the blogging, unfortunately.

Be sure to check tomorrow’s newspapers for at least one candid photograph of a Canadian celebrity stuffing his or her face with cornish hen. It’s how we keep our artists humble celebrate the essential humanity of our homegrown talent.

Movies

It’s a Point of Pride

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He can't read your mind, but he can totally lift your carThe Onion AV Club’s latest inventory runs down “fourteen disastrous revamps” — and while they won’t get any argument from me on New Coke or the “Bionic Woman” reboot, I do have to take exception to the inclusion of “Superman Returns”.

Seriously, what’s the deal? Bryan Singer’s ballsy non-reboot of the big blue cheese isn’t a bad movie at all; I called it one of the best films of 2006 (or, more precisely, the best movie of 1983) and still consider it a daring attempt to slide the universe Richard Donner and Richard Lester created into the present day, and pay tribute to the films that came before it.

Yeah, it’s a little on the grim side, but that’s kind of the point; the emotional core of the picture is the sad understanding — also a key theme in “Hancock” — that as much as Superman might want to be one of us, he fundamentally isn’t, and never will be.

And I know that people have trouble with Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor going back to another real-estate deal, but that was always part of Gene Hackman’s charm in the earlier movies; as much as he kept telling everyone how brilliant he was, he wasn’t a super-genius, just a sociopath with a fixation on land rights and a few classified missile-guidance manuals. Spacey’s performance is right in line with that, almost affectionately so.

Okay, I’ll concede that Kate Bosworth makes a poor Lois Lane. But at least she doesn’t recite any poetry.

Anyway, count me in as one of Singer’s impassioned defenders. (Not on “Valkyrie“, though; that shit just don’t fly.) And here’s hoping that “Superman Returns” someday gets the respect it deserves. They’ll totally get it in 2031.

Culture Shock

“Are You the American?”

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Because the Doctor needs his companionsTrue story: Late last October, on my way back from the Vienna film festival, I cleverly arranged a seven-hour layover in London so I could dart into the city to stock up on all the British goodies I so dearly love — bakewell tarts, mint Kit Kats, and the like — before catching my flight home.

Because the Piccadilly line train is largely above ground for the airport run, I phoned Kate to give her an update on my whereabouts. I don’t remember the exact content of the conversation, but it was in some way film-festivaly — some stuff about Vienna, and a mention of stopping by the London festival’s offices while I was in town, since that was still running and I’ve made some friends there.

And somewhere, I guess, we talked about “Doctor Who”. Maybe it was that the Christmas special had just been announced; maybe Kate had asked me to pick something Who-related up at Tesco’s, which is more likely. Anyway, there was some chat about that, and then I hung up.

At which point, I noticed the two well-dressed young gentlemen sitting opposite me, staring with what I can only describe as “goggle eyes”.

I nodded a hello. (I am polite, especially on public transit in foreign lands.) They nodded back, and after a moment, the younger one of them leaned forward and asked what seemed like a very important question.

“Are you … the American?”

Continue reading “Are You the American?” →

Movies

The Way Things Used to Be

You hardly talk to me anymore when I come through the door at the end of the dayWelcome to 2009, everybody — I spent New Year’s Day taking it easy, thanks to a combination of two large writing deadlines and the currently vicious Toronto winter. Turns out you don’t really need to go outside at all, if you’ve got the appropriate provisions and a Blu-ray disc of “Rio Bravo”.

Only one film opens today, and it’s “Revolutionary Road“, Sam Mendes’ much-credentialed new film. Not only is it based on one of the key American novels of the mid-20th century, but it’s also the long-awaited reunion of “Titanic” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a miserable suburban couple grappling with ennui and unrealized dreams.

Basically, imagine Ron Howard directing a Very Special Episode of “Mad Men”. And now you can wait for the DVD.

Movies, Pointless Personal Digressions

The Way Forward

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You want to go to thereSo here we are, facing the end of another year. On the upside, I didn’t lose as many friends and family members in 2008 as I did in 2006 or 2007; of course, after 2006 and 2007 I don’t have as many friends and family members to lose, so statistically that was probably bound to happen.

Let’s stick to the upside, shall we? Cannes. Vienna. London, more than once. A great new job, which came complete with awesome benefits, a lovely new group of friends and heightened visibility, for good or ill. (This week, with the online bitching about my review of “Toronto Stories” still ongoing, falls over on the “ill” side of the scale.)

Marriage going well. Health seems good. I turned forty without developing any mysterious lumps, boils or goiters. Oh, and in similar life-changing news, the magnificent Caplansky’s opened within walking distance of my house. Upside: The walk helps works off the exquisite smoked-meat sammiches. Downside: I could, conceivably, eat exquisite smoked-meat sammiches six days a week.

No, wait, that’s an upside too.

Happy New Year, everybody. If you really have nothing to do today, check out my silly (but entirely credible) trendspotting piece in today’s paper, and then brave the freezing cold for a sammich or two. Because sammiches are really the best insulation.

Ask the dogs. They know.

My other other gig.