"Based On Actual Events"

Check out the teaser trailer for the short film BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS, which happens to be written by my good friend Serena Whitney!

You think you're SO big!

Sitges calling...

Check out this fantastic poster for an equally stunning film.  AMER, by first time feature directing team Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani plays The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia this year.  It's a beautiful, haunting film described thusly:

Desire has always been linked to one’s look. And cinema too. Luis Buñuel knew that very well when he filmed the short of a razor over an eye with a detail shot. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani recover this image in an experimental film with immaculate style. Someone watches a girl through a keyhole. The wind lightly lifts a woman’s skirt as a group of men look on. The fantasy of a dress tearing. Composed of fragments –of eyes, lights, shadows, gestures— and without dialogues, Amer delves into the life of Ana, always halfway between the real and the imaginary. A film of sensations, always shot skin-deep.

I wish I was in Spain to see this film again, but on the big screen where it's sure to transfix it's audience.  Hell, I wish I was in Spain for a lot of reasons!  Check out this year's line up here.

Thoughts on TIFF - Day One

Here we go again. TIFF (the festival) will start for me later tonight at my first screening, as opposed to TIFF (my everyday job) where I am currently chained to my desk. Mainly I'm interesting in challenging and controversial films from around the world.

My first film, great idea, or worst idea ever?

But also I can't help but wondering if this year I'll meet any of my future ex-wives?


I will always have a crush on crazy-pixie Drew Barrymore (WHIP IT)


I'd have to duel my buddy Andrew over Penelope Cruz, but it would be worth it (BROKEN EMBRACES)


Eva Green... bites knuckle! (CRACKS)

And sure, every fanboy in town is drooling over Megan Fox, but she's almost TOO hot sometimes, in a scary way, like she can rape you with her eyes!

In the Midnight hour...

I'll sleep in 10 days!

It's beginning to look a lot like TIFF!

Not counting Midnight Madness, here are the films I will definitely be at. Wondering if there is any way to fit in the other 37 I want to see?

Behind the screens, in Print Traffic @ tiff

Touching JENNIFER'S BODY ;)



The future?



BITCH SLAP goes both ways.




Giving Uncle George another chance with his latest.

Toronto After Dark 2009 line-up is complete!

Here are the other 9 flicks for this year's fest, it all starts in 8 days!

ROUGH CUT, the South Korean action flick that takes place on the set of an action flick, MUST LOVE DEATH, a German take on American Rom-Coms and gory horror all mixed into one, THE DARK HOUR, an understated Spanish post-apocalyptic story, THE WARLORDS, a 19th century Chinese epic starring Jet Li, STRIGOI, a tale of greed and vampires in a small Romanian village, THE REVENANT, an LA zombie-buddy-comedy, DEAD SNOW, Nazi zombies, nuff said, THE CHILDREN, a chilling British tale of the kids going all wrong, and opening night Blaxploitation throwback extravaganza BLACK DYNAMITE!

And because I hated TRANSFORMERS...

I admit it. I'll be at the midnight screening tonight. I'm hoping it's as ridiculous as it should be! This could be my big dumb summer popcorn flick.

First wave of Toronto After Dark 2009 announced!

The Dark comes a little earlier this year. Moving the Toronto After Dark Film Festival to August (14th-21st) was an interesting maneuver, that leaves me wondering what the Hell am I going to do in October?
Anyways... the first 8 titles for this year's fest have been announced!
In alphabetical order:

BLACK, a modern French riff on a mystical blacksploitation bank job, EMBODIMENT OF EVIL, the return of Brazil's cult icon Coffin Joe, THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, a stunning Lynchian noir from Indonesia, FRANKLYN, an ambitious alternate worlds fantasy starring my future ex-wife Eva Green, GRACE, where motherhood becomes a nightmare, SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, comes with the tag line "Caution, you might be too old for this film!", TRICK 'R TREAT, the highly anticipated Halloween night omnibus flick, and this year's bizzaro gore-fest from Japan VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL.

I'm Nancy?

If you've seen the trailer for (500)DAYS OF SUMMER you know what this is about, if you havn't, I'm not speaking to you!


Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Cinemash "Sid and Nancy"

FANTASIA 2009 teases us!

This year's Fantasia International Film Festival is almost upon us, 21 days of genre cinema in the great city of Montreal. The full line up will be announced on July 3rd, but until then they've given us a taste. Here's what caught my eye:

DREAD



CRYPTIC



CANARY



YATTERMAN



THE CHILDREN



WHITE LIGHTNIN'



DEAD SNOW



LOVE EXPOSURE



THIRST



TRICK 'R' TREAT




I hope to take in a weeks worth of films this year, reviews to found here and at Quiet Earth. Check out all the films announced so far right here.

Kids need hugs, not drugs

Here's something I'd really like to see. Screened at the EIFF yesterday was the latest colaberation between Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine, an improvised faux-rockumentary called LE DONK & SCOR-ZAY-ZEE, which was shot in just 5 days, for 30,000 pounds, without any script to speak of. The film follows Le Donk's quest to find fame through his one client, rapper Scor-zay-aee, by getting him an gig opening for the Arctic Monkeys.

Eternal Sunshine of Being Paul Giamatti?

Watch the trailer for COLD SOULS and it's easy to see where the knee jerk Charlie Kaufman comparison comes from. Paul Giamatti plays an actor named Paul Giamatti, struggling with his upcoming performance in an off-Broadway production of "Uncle Vanya", he decides after reading an article in The New Yorker about soul removal to undergo the procedure. Hijinks ensue? I'm intrigued to see where this all goes.

8-Bit Schlock!

Remember those classic NES movie games, like Gremlins 2 or Dirty Harry? Me neither. But someone clearly does, so Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday is running with the idea of some not-so-blockbustery games that could have been, check out the 8-bit schlock!

Nic goes "FULL CAGE" for Herzog!

Witness the first trailer for BAD LIEUTENANT : PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS.

There are no words.

The Most Important Movie Of The Year?

Well, Esquire Magazine seems to think so. Check out the first trailer for THE ROAD over at Yahoo.