http://filmfest.tnir.org seeing an inhuman number of movies Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:52:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en During the last three days of the festival this year I must have had a friend at nearly every screening. That's great fun of course, but it means that I didn't get a lot of writing done then. If I wasn't with a friend between screenings I was normally able ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-8 I actually have a seat on the subway this morning. Not that I haven't had one every other day so far, it's just that I haven't been on the thing so deeply in the heart of rush hour until today. Of course, the guy beside me is taking up 1 ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-7 Day 6? Already? It's 9:21 AM - the earliest I have been in a cinema for a film this year, but I'm just practicing for a 9 AM film I have tomorrow, and I'll have to get there earlier than that. Some films - not many - are starting as early ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-6 I have always liked the first Monday at the festival, especially the mornings, as it heralds four more weekday mornings when things aren't quite as crazy, and even the sillier films take on a bit more of an air of respectability, as the audience is reduced to the hard-core take-the-week-off ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-5 There are a lot of iPhones at TIFF. I have already endured(!) a party with friends a couple of weeks earlier where 6 iPhones showed up - and showed off - and I have been telling everyone that I will wait the year until my current contract is up before ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-4 Well who knew you could make a smashing documentary about a buncha guys from the wrong side of the tracks in a rust belt Ohio town who coalesce into possibly the best high school basketball team ever? Well, first time filmmaker Kristopher Belman did. The result of countless hours of ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-3 I've been attending the Filmfest since 1992, and back then the festival was centered at Bloor & Yonge where it inhabited theatres that are mostly gone now: the Uptown, the New Yorker, the Plaza, the Towne all are toast. It also played in the Cumberland and the Varsity (which only ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-2 We're off and running: the filmfest is on again, and so are these emails. As always, if you do not want to receive them, let me know, and I'll remove you from the list. When at 7:30 this evening the film $9.99 premiered in Cinema 7 at the new AMC Megagoogleplex ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2008/tiff08-day-1 Hi! I'm neither dead nor injured - just a bit tired! I'm not sure what way I am going to continue the reports this year, but they may come out as one lump at the end of the festival. Cheers! http://filmfest.tnir.org/2007/tiff07-reports Seven years ago I bumped into Roger Ebert on Yonge Street. He typically asks festival goers what they've liked, and he is happy to pass on what he's liked. That year he told me to go see Roy Andersson's Songs From The Second Floor. That was one of the best bits ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2007/tiff07-day-2 Hi everyone! The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off it's 32nd edition tonight, and it started quite well for me... ...it's just that I don't know of it I am going to write it up this year. I have more tickets than ever - 48 - as I have a pass this year. ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2007/tiff07-another-year-of-reports ★★★★ Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) ★★★½ The Bubble L'Homme de Sa Vie Manufactured Landscapes Paris, je t'aime Shortbus Venus Volver ★★★ The Art of Crying Brand Upon the Brain! Congorama For Your Consideration The Half Life of Timofey Berezin The Pervert's Guide to Cinema Slumming Taxidermia Ten Canoes This Filthy World The Wind that Shakes the Barley ★★½ The Caiman Chacun Sa Nuit The Host The Hottest State Hula Girls Lights in the Dusk Love ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-star-ratings The social order at the festival has broken down. It would seem that the last time I would see a Q&A following a screening was at THIS FILTHY WORLD on Friday morning. Since then there have been no directors, no stars, and not even the programmers introducing the films, just ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-10 Chacun Sa Nuit How high is Belgium's suicide rate? Not so high that you can't get a film crew together apparently, but really, it must be higher than other countries. How many therapists do they have per person? And where must they import them from? CHACUN SA NUIT, which mean 'everyone has ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-9-part-2 This Filthy World THIS FILTHY WORLD is John Waters doing stand-up, and every anecdote he knows - or so he told us when introducing the film. FILTHY is 86 minutes of funny nuggets of offbeat wisdom gleaned from Water's life - from making his first films as a teenager up through ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-9-part-1 While none of my five films today were great, it was another good day at the festival. You'll have to forgive the rather short reviews tonight - with five films again tomorrow, I have to find a little time to sleep. Primo Levi's Journey PRIMO LEVI'S JOURNEY is a documentary by Davide ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-8 MON MEILLEUR AMI is by Patrice Leconte, one of my favourite French Directors, responsible in the past for gems such as RIDICULE and THE WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE. Some of you will think 'and MONSIEUR HIRE too, fool!' I haven't seen it though - I only know it by reputation - ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-7 A friend called me this morning who expected to find me downtown at the festival. I was still at home when I picked up the phone however, and it took some convincing to get him to believe he hadn't woken me up, something about the sound of my voice I ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-6 Some days the festival seems to be more about the cumulative effect of the films than the films individually. One never reviews a film completely divorced from everything around it anyway - but today the films conspired to gang up. I put that down to two reasons: I'm getting ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-5 This festival is going very well so far. Sure every film has started at least a little bit late, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! being the worst offender, (late enough that I had to miss the end of a very special presentation, what with the live score and sound effects - ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-4 Jamie Gulpilil TEN CANOES, winner of the Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival this year, is Australia's ATANARJUAT, which means that while you'll see no ice, you will see a beautifully shot and uniquely transportive aboriginal story that takes you to a time and place you've never been to ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-3 Thank goodness I didn't book a 9am movie today. With 5 hours of sleep I was able to make it to my 11:15 at the Paramount, but before bolting out of my place I hoovered down a little food, relaxed in the shower for 4 minutes, read some email (including ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-2 BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FORMAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN Imagine a packed 1237-seat cinema, full of excited twenty and thirtysomethings (uh, plus a few of us from other age brackets), at midnight on a Thursday, when the story runs through the crowd that the star of the uber-buzzy film ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/tiff-2006-day-1 Here is Craig's schedule pasted together from his calendar. Click on the image to see the full-sized image. It's over 1,300 pixels wide. One item that doesn't conveniently fit in is "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America Ryerson" from midnight to 1:30am on the night of Thursday Sep 7 (i.e. tomorrow night)./ http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/craigs-schedule Craig's Toronto Film Festival calendar is now available. If you use iCal on a Macintosh, click here. For other calendar programs, you can either download the calendar or copy the URL and paste it into your calendar program of choice to subscribe to it, which allows you to get updated versions ... http://filmfest.tnir.org/2006/subscribe-to-craigs-calendar