2010 TIFF Mini Movie Review Updated September 20

Tuesday, September 08, 2010


TIFF Ratings and Mini-Reviews

http://tiff.net/thefestival/

OK, so I am back it is 2010 and time again for TIFF and Steve’s famous mini reviews. I started these last year and some people enjoyed them and this year my friend Kelly follows my blog faithfully so I am going to do the best to keep them updated.



I have no idea who will be reading these but should say a few things about me so you know what kinds of movies I like. I am a horror film fan and do not like comedies for the most part and when I do like a comedy it is usually a darker comedy. I do like romance movies though which I know does not make any sense, I loved The Lake House and Leaving Las Vegas to me was a truly romantic movie. OK 2 more things I truly believe 90% of all movies can be made better with zombies in them and any movie with Angelina Jolie of Amanda Seyfried should have a nude scene featuring them, should be written in there contracts.



If after the above you want to go some where else for movie reviews and opinions I understand. I do try and look for the good in all the movies I review.



The ratings will be on following scale

0 - never see run from room if ever shown

1 - watch it only if tied down in Clockwork Orange chair or promised pleasures of 72 virgins once completed watching it

2 - OK you have a dentist appointment for a root canal or you can watch this movie well need I say anymore

3 -

4 -

5 -

6 -

7 -

8 -

9 - if you see it on TV while you are just passing by you stop and watch it loosing yourself in the movie

10 - you must own the DVD even if means you have fight a zombie for a copy or even worse a angry boxing day crowd at Wal-Mart(aka the devil)

11 - most awesome movie ever made on par with such classics as Blade Runner, Sound of Music and Dawn of the Dead 1979 version

Thursday September 09



Movie 1

FUBAR II 11:59 PM

Rating Legend of Beaver Dam 7.01

Rating FUBAR II 3.4

OK, the short film The Legend of Beaver Dam was a terrific mix between musical and slasher film, I think given enough time you would have seen a much tamer version of something like this on Glee. I am so glad it was down here first and was very well done from an effects point of view and story. It reminded me of The Lobotomymobile at TADD last year.

Now on to FUBAR II, the original FUBAR was a mocumentary about basically 2 hosers/metal heads and their lives. They basically drank beer, smoked a little dope and enjoyed life. The movie worked for a couple of reasons the interaction between Terry and Dean and the film crew. They also did harmless things like camping and just listening to music.

FUBAR II we find the boys celebrating Dean’s 5 year cancer free and already we find a difference, this is just a movie, not a mocumentary. During the party Dean drops acid and Tron drops by and it is obvious unlike the 1st movie he has not settled down. Next thing the boys are on their way to “The Mac” as it is referred to in the movie. Along the way they quickly stop in and pay a visit to Dean’s daughter who is longing just to spend time with her dad and they also rip off a hitchhiker. In “The Mac” they get jobs and the movie is just one over blown party scene to another and none of them are very realistic.

It was not a very good movie, insulting to everyone and everything, they lost the fun and innocence of the first movie.

Hoping the rest of the festival does not follow this track.




Friday September 10



Movie 1

The Legend of the Fist 12:00 PM

Rating 6.987

This was marketed or at least the write up said it was kind of a homage to Bruce Lee seeing as Bruce would have turned 70 this year. The movie starts in WW1 showing the Chinese laborers who were sent over to help on the front lines and some of what they went through. Then when the war was over they returned to China and had to contend with the Japanese occupation and the rest of the world ignored this.

This story takes place in Shanghai and involves the legend of Chen Zhen a sort of mythical hero in Chinese heritage. This movie is much more than an action movie but the action scenes are incredible. The director Andrew Lau creates a Shanghai that is eerily similar to Casablanca from that movie only with much more action. Donnie Yen is amazing as Chen Zhen.

Movie 2

Cirkus Columbia 3:00 PM

Rating 4.034

This a pretty standard foreign film set in southern Herzegovina after communism has fallen but before the civil war has started. The movie starts with Lucija and her son Martin living in a small village, things are pretty normal, Martin has a friend in the military who helps him with his ham radio.



Then Martin’s absent father shows up after 20 years of exile and things begin to change. Martin’s father has him and his mother tossed out of their home of 20 years and also has his mother tossed in jail. The movie shows how the corruption and poverty under communist rule was just accepted. It was an OK movie but not really my cup of tea. It was well acted and did reinforce the fact that I am glad I did not grow up in a communist country.





Movie 3

Stone 9:00 PM

Rating 5.0034

OK, we have Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Francis Conroy and Milla Jovovich, this would think would make a great movie or at least a decent movie, well that is not always the case.



This movie was a huge disappointment as it had a good story but went nowhere. De Niro plays a prison employee who evaluates prisoners for parole hearings and Francis Conroy plays his wife of many years. Jack Mabry (De Niro) is in the final stages of a long career and one of his last cases is that of Stone (Ed Norton) who is coming up for parole. The 2 of them begin a dialogue and then Jack gets involved with Stones wife and the movie seems to start going in a number of directions and for awhile you try and figure out how all of these story lines will converge but they never do.



A convoluted and disjointed story that never really lives up to anything. One of the few redeeming things at this screening was seeing Milla Jovivich in person and she is as hot in person as she is on screen.



If you are a De Niro or Ed Norton fan rent something else, but Milla and Francis Conroy were good in supporting roles.



Movie 4

Super 11:59 PM

Rating 8.634



OK, 2nd night of Midnight Madness and I hope it is better than the first night. Well I should not have worried, as James Gunn delivered well beyond expectations. I liked James Gunn’s 1st movie Slither (one of the few) and was looking forward to this one.

Frank (Ranin Wilson) is a loveable loser who is married to Sarah (Liv Tyler) a recovering addict and their lives are quite boring. Sarah leaves/kidnapped by a Jacque (Kevin Bacon) a drug dealer and Frank is devastated and does not know what to do. Frank has a vision that he should become a super hero and rescue Sarah and help others.

After an initial failure Frank seeks the information from a comic book worker Libby (Ellen Page) and soon the Crimson Bolt is created and joined some time later by his loyal sidekick Boltie. The movie progresses with the Crimson Bolt/Frank fighting crime and injustice in the way he feels is right. Along the way he is joined by Boltie/Libby and the two of them fight crime together. The results are serious sometimes and comical other times but always entertaining.

This movie works on so many levels and has great performances by all involved that it is a true gem. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Kick-Ass or The Defendor.





Saturday September 11 Happy Birthday to my daughter Cassie



Movie 1

The Pipe 9:00 AM

Rating







Movie 2

Trust 11:00 AM

Rating





Movie 3

Mataraki 4:30 PM

Rating





Movie 4

Beginners 9:00 PM

Rating



Movie 5

Bunraku 11:59 PM

Rating





Sunday September 12



Movie 1

Easy A 9:30 AM

Rating





Movie 2

Conviction 12:30 PM

Rating





Movie 3

Hereafter 9:00 PM

Rating





Movie 4

Vanishing on 7th Street 11:59 PM

Rating



Monday September 13



Movie 1

Client 9 The Rise and fall of Elliot Spitzer 12:30 PM

Rating





Movie 2

127 Hours 3:00 PM

Rating



Movie 3

Rabbit Hole 9:00 PM

Rating



Movie 4

John Carpenter’s The Ward 11:59 PM

Rating



Tuesday September 14



Movie 1

Black Swan 11:00 AM

Rating





Movie 2

Let me In 3:00 PM

Rating



Movie 3

Henry’s Crime 9:00 PM

Rating



Movie 4

Insidous 11:59 PM

Rating







Wednesday September 15 Roger Waters Concert #1





Movie 1

Buried 12:30 PM

Rating



Movie 2

The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town 2:30 PM

Rating



Movie 3

I Saw the Devil 4;45 PM

Rating



Movie 4

Route Irish [not going due to Roger Waters concert but seeing it on Saturday September 18] 9:00 PM

Rating



Roger Waters Concert at ACC



Movie 5(after concert will make it for sure)

Red Nights 11:59 PM

Rating





Thursday September 16 Roger Waters Concert #2





Movie 1

Dirty Girl 12:30 PM

Rating



Movie 2

What’s Wrong with Virginia 2:30 PM

Rating



Movie 3

A Screaming Man 4:45 PM

Rating



Movie 4

RIO Sex Comedy [not going due to Roger Waters concert, gave tickets to girl at TIFF office] 9:00 PM

Rating



Roger Waters Concert #2 at ACC



Movie 5(after concert will make it for sure)

The Butcher, The Chef and The Swordsman 11:59 PM

Rating





Friday September 17



Movie 1

Passion Play 11:00 AM

Rating



Movie 2

Oliver Sherman 3:00 PM

Rating



Movie 3

Girl in the Yellow Boots 9:00 PM

Rating



Movie 4

Stake Land 11:59 PM

Rating



Saturday September 18 Normally the Last Day of the Festival



Movie 1

Special Treatment 9:00 AM

Rating





Movie 2

Machete, Maidens Unleashed 12:30 PM

Rating





Movie 3

Route Irish 3:00 PM

Rating





Movie 4

Fire of Conscience 11:59 PM

Rating



Sunday September 19 New Last Day of the Festival



Movie 1

Tabloid 9:30 AM

Rating





Movie 2

Tears of Gaza 12:30 PM

Rating





Movie 3

Monsters 3:00 PM

Rating

Idiots at Movie Theatres

OK, I am going to rant about people at movies who use their phones. I went to a movie tonight and the tickets were free as a friend won them so I should not complain but I am sorry an idiot is an idiot regardless of the circumstances.

It took years for people to stop talking on their cell phones during movies and some still do and usually they are told to shut the bleep up quickly. Now we have everyone texting and for some reason people think opening there phone in the dark and the light from their phone and beeping of the incoming message is OK. I know there are some people who say it is only for a few seconds what does it matter.

I am tempted to carry a small mag light with me and every time someone opens there phone to text walk over shine the light right into there eyes for like 5 seconds and say it's only a few seconds what does it matter.

If your life is so important that you can't stop texting for 2 hours during a movie then maybe you shouldn't be there. If your wife's water breaks while your at the movie here is a friggin hint moron you should not have been at the movie in the first place.

It is too bad that our economy does not have the resources for movie theatres to have ushers monitor the theatres during the movies but even that wouldn't help because people are so arrogant today they would just tell the usher it is there right to text. I wonder if it is my right to use a laser pointer while there texting to annoy them.

OK I am done but 20 years from now when there are no movie theatres anymore and your watching your movie at home then everyone can talk and text and do what ever they wish.


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TADD Day 3 Movie 2 Dead Snow

Well, ask most people in line at TADD for first 2 days and all you heard was about Dead Snow the nazi zombie movie, how everyone was there to see it. I am afraid sometimes when the build up to movie is this big that the movie itself can be a let down. Well in this case the build up was totally justified, but more about that below

First as always is the Canadian short film and in this case we have Deadwalkers by director Spencer Estabrooks which basically is a zombie western. This short moved well and had great special effects for such a small film. A Marshall brings 2 criminals back to small town in the west but the town is not what it appears. A great film as a pre-cursor to Dead Snow.

Now on to Tommy Wirkola's second feature after Kill Buljo: The Movie which was a Norwegian parody of Kill Bill and now Tommy has moved on to nazi zombie genre. It should be noted that all of Tommy Wirkola's movies, are co-written by himself and Stig Frode Henriksen who also stars in them. This movie was the first sell out of TADD and was zombie appreciation night and the crowd was full of zombies and hard core horror fans. This was a crowd that would have eaten a bad movie to pieces but they had nothing to worry about, Dead Snow delivered in zombies and gore, plenty of both.

A group of friends fresh from medical school decides to go to one of there parents cabin up in the mountains for some winter fun instead of flying to somewhere warm. Tommy Wirkola has all the horror cliches as we have 2 couples, 1 single extremely hot slutty chick, the overweight movie nerd and the quiet cool guy but that is where the stereo types end.

When they get to the cabin, there host is nowhere to be found so her boyfriend heads out to find her leaving the others on there own. Que the strange man who turns up in the dark to tell them the history of the area and thus we know what we are in for. At this point the movie nerd heads to the outhouse for a crap, have to love outhouses in horror flicks and while he is there, it turns out the slutty chick is a movie nerd after all.

Can anyone say outhouse sex and more and from there the mayhem ensues. In the genre of nazi zombie movies Dead Snow will live on as one of the classics. Where else will you see a person get attacked by a zombie but instead of being bitten he bites the zombie and ends up hanging from a cliff by well you will have to see the movie.

Rest assured this movie has everything from decapitations, liberal use of a chainsaw, and much more. It is obvious that Tommy Wirkola has a great love of horror movies and the zombie genre in particular. The story is simple but effective and for a change the characters understand what they are up against and instead of just admitting defeat they fight back and fight back hardcore.

I don't like giving away too much of the story as I have read far too many reviews that tell you exactly what is going on. This movie grabs you and does not let you go and mixes humor well with horror and gore. I look forward to Tommy Wirkola's next film to see what genre he will tackle next.

So far the high point of TADD and all the fans left feeling like the hype and build up was worth it.

Enjoy you zombie fans and here is the link for the trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkC7HiAlAeE

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TADD Day 2 Movie 3 Black

We now move on to the 3rd movie of the day, a french action movie called Black which was preceded by the Canadian short "Becoming". This short film did not belong in this festival as it was did not seem to be in the genre or feel of the festival and the crowd did not enjoy it at all. The ending seemed to be mis-contrived and added just to make it more acceptable for the festival.

With a very poor short film I was looking forward to a good rip roaring action film that promised, lots of action, Russian Mercenaries, voodoo and giant snakes. I should have taken the warning from the short film that this was not my night as this movie started off with a almost comical action sequence that couldn't decide if it was going to be hard core action or action-comedy. Both the Parisian cops and the criminals seemed to be total inept at both hitting anything with there guns and any kind of organization.

The anti-hero of the opening sequence gets away and immediately leaves for Africa after receiving a phone call from a relative he has not seen in years. At this point I knew the movie had miles to go to live up to any expectations I might have. After narrowly escaping a massive shootout with automatic weapons and grenades he just casually leaves the country. In the mean time in Africa the easy score has changed and for some reason a tribe believes a chosen one is coming.

Are we confused yet and then before the heist is to take place his gang falls apart and we throw in an Interpol agent who just happens to be really attracted to our anti-hero. Between corrupt banking officials, the local criminal mastermind who is cohorts with a voodoo witch and some Russian mercenaries the movie just seems to go in many directions and makes no sense.

Just when it was to end you thought all of sudden, there is a tribal ritual and a "joining of the anti-hero and Interpol agent" and then a ridiculous climax and ending that makes even less sense.

Lets just say when it was finished I was like Thank God I made it to the end.

Here is the trailer and it has the best parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBMvzhgKHs

I will leave it up to you but I can't recommend this film in good conscience


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TADD Day 2 Movie 2 Franklyn

The second movie of the day was a British movie by first time director Gerald McMorrow which looked to be a cross between a cop film and V for Vendetta Utopian society gone bad. Prior to the screening of course was the Canadian short and this time we had Hirsute by A.J. Bond.

A quirky little short about time travel and the extents a man goes to have sex with himself. The short was view and and interesting at the same time which is one of the things I expect out of a short film, keep me entertained and also have a little story. A man has invented time travel and seems to be for the sole purpose of having sex with himself only in Canada.

Franklyn was the directorial debut of Gerald Mcmorrow who also wrote the movie and it starts in a fantasy city where not having faith in a religion is a crime. Faith plays a predominant role in this movie and one wonders how much of a role faith plays in the filmmakers life. Our hero Jonthan Preest (Ryan Reynolds) is a man with no faith who lives outside of the law and is seeking to safe a young heroine a story we have heard many times before. He must kill a man to safe a girl but will he get there in time, and without faith to believe will he be able to safe her.

The movie then jumps to modern day London and a another story begins to unfold of a father (Sam Riley) looking for his son and a woman (Eva Green) searching for acceptance by her mother. The movie then switches back and forth between these realities and the two realities are drawn closer and closer together till we know they are going to collide.

The movie is well shot and visually works quite well but as the story unfolds it becomes less and less compelling and more and more predictable. It could have been a brilliantly dark and mysterious movie but instead opted out for a pat ending. It was made with a nice flair and I enjoyed the interaction between the characters and realities that I will be watching for the next movie from Geral McMorrow if he makes another and give it a try.

The link for the trailer is below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHFCZBKfugg

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