MCN Originals Archive for September, 2012
Wilmington on Movies: The Words
I have a confession to make. I didn’t write this review.I tried, God knows, but after several hours of pecking away at the keyboard of my Toshiba Satellite computer, and then reading back only dull, empty words on a white screen, I realized that I would never be the writer I once dreamed of becoming.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The Torontonian: The People’s Festival
Readers from another country may not understand the feeling, but growing up Canadian usually involves a national inferiority complex: Canada is the USA’s younger brother, the little cousin, the friendly bumpkin to the North. TIFF has played a major role in changing that. The city is energized. It’s prepped and swept; cleaned and preened. It’s ready to go.
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Thursday the Toronto International Film Festival will kick off, and cinephiles, film critics and industry folks will be running amok all over downtown Toronto, rushing to get to screenings and holding court late nights on the patios of bars and restaurants near the Lightbox and Scotiabank, passionately dissecting the latest Malick or PT Anderson or…
Read the full article »TIFF12: Confessions Of A Film Fest Junkie
For the uninitiated, the Toronto International Film Festival began some three decades-plus ago as the aforementioned F of F. The aspiration of this fledgling event was to cull great films from Cannes, Berlin and the like and put on a show for the local gentry and cinephiles. It kinda worked out… or worked too well.
Read the full article »Gross Behavior: Summer on Low Simmer
The preliminary numbers are in and summer season 2012 clocks in at approximately $4.04 billion at the box office. The figure represents roughly a 5% gross decline in gross revenues and an 8% decline in actual tickets bought during the period running from early May through the conclusion of Labor Day weekend.
Read the full article »TIFF12: Special Presentations, Part Two
Anders Thomas Jensen co-wrote the screenplays for my two favorite Susanne Bier films, After the Wedding and In a Better World, and I’m hoping that bodes well for her latest ensemble drama. Paprika Steen’s presence in the cast along with that makes this one of the films I’m hoping to catch at TIFF.
Read the full article »TV-to-DVD Wrapup: Revenge, Homeland, 2 Girls, Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy … More
Now that the flow of TV-to-DVD compilations has grown from a trickle to a flood, it’s time for those titles to escape ghetto-status in DVD Wrapup, if only occasionally, and find their own place in the MCN world. Normally, there aren’t enough to fill a standalone column, but, rather than wait for the shows to enter the syndication market, the networks hope to boost interest in returning series and keep newcomers and fans, alike, up to date. Collections of episodes from vintage series, including next week’s “Kojak: Season Five,” make wonderful gifts for those convinced that everything has gotten worse since they turned 30. There’s even a market for shows that were canceled before completing a full season.
Read the full article » 3 Comments »TIFF12 Preview: Special Presentations, Part One
There are 70 films this year in my favorite TIFF block, Special Presentations—meaning I could easily build a fest schedule out of nothing but this slate and still not see everything I’d like to catch. Here are the films from the Special Presentations section of the Festival that are at the top of my “want to see these” list.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report (3-Day)
While tracking clearly put The Possession ahead of Lawless few anticipated that the film dubbed “The Kosher Exorcist” would generate more than $15 million in its opening three days. The Lawless conversely fell short of $10 million-to-$12 million estimates. Polling for Ooogieloves suggested scant interest but its financier insisted youngsters weren’t polled and that it would surprise pundits. The surprise would be a second adventure.
Read the full article »TIFF12 Preview: TIFF Docs
Which docs I actually end up seeing this year at TIFF will depend upon my interest in the subject matter or director, and how the schedule I’m putting together on paper actually ends up working out in reality once I’m on the ground at TIFF. I usually end up catching at least of couple of docs at TIFF that end up being among my favorites of the year, and missing more that I end up wishing I’d seen, and probably that will be the case again this year. Hopefully the really good ones I end up not catching will roll over to Sundance or SIFF and I’ll get another chance at those I don’t catch at Toronto.
Read the full article »Reviewing The Master
I don’t think of this as a movie that can really be spoiled. It is demanding of the viewer and each person will linger in the experience in their way. But if you want to go in clean, stop reading this now. I’m not going to offer up a blow-by-blow of the story, but a discussion of the ideas an techniques of the film.
Read the full article » 5 Comments »TIFF12 Preview: Contemporary World Cinema
This year I thought I’d dive right into the deep end of my TIFF Preview with the category I tend to find most challenging: Contemporary World Cinema. I’ve seen some gems in this category and I’ve seen some real duds, and it’s a tough category to get a read on; there’s just not a lot to go on, other than fest catalog descriptions
Read the full article »Friday Estimates
The big indies are showing the majors how it’s done this weekend, with Lionsgate doing what it does best, releasing a horror movie and the Weinsteins releasing Oscar bait. These two films should do about the same business as the three new releases in this slot last year. Still, the weekend is missing what it had last Labor Day weekend, a strong holdover like The Help.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Possession; (The Dybbuk)
Starting in The Possession’s very first scene, bad things happen. Minor characters get killed, major characters get threatened, houses are vandalized, moths crawl out of everywhere, and little girls named Emily go crazy and attack their classmates, stab their daddy with a fork, and start talking like Mercedes McCambridge.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: For a Good Time, Call…
Lauren and Katie start off as reunited old enemies who fell out early in early college years over a bad Farrellyesque joke involving a urine sample, and who are bought together now by their mutual friend Jesse the gay comic.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Apparition
THE APPARITION (Also Blu-ray) (One Star) U.S.: Todd Lincoln, 2012 (Warner Bros.) Dull, dreary, pointless and bad, sporting shock scenes that don’t shock, a grisly premise that doesn’t make sense, and a meager cast of mostly uninterested-looking Hollywood lookers (headed by Ashley Greene of Twilight) struggling with a meager, dialogue-challenged script, here is another horror…
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