Midnight Radio: The Matineecast Episode 26.5 - 2010 in Review

I can't help but be amused at the fact that this final episode of 2010 feels like it's taken half the year to put together. You see all it took was me listening to two or three episodes of podcasts from my favorite podcasting couple, and I was struck with an idea. The hitch was, being patient enough to execute the idea properly, and keeping calm enough not to spill the beans about what I had in mind months ahead of time.

So get comfy kids - it's a long one, but this podcasting double-date is so very worth it. And make sure you listen all the way to my "See you at the matinee" send-off, as the party ends with some awesome guest appearances.

This episode is by far my most collaborative one to date and I want to thank everybody who helped me bring it together. I couldn't be happier with the results, and it's probably the best send-off I could give this year of moviegoing that has taught me how much more fun it all is when there's a larger community to share it with.

Here's the Year-End episode...



(Go here or to iTunes if the embedded player doesn't start)

Here's what's in store in episode twenty-six-point-five...

Runtime
86 minutes, 05 seconds

Up for Discussion

1. Introduction
2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY - Q & A with this episode's guests, Lady Hatter and Whitney & Scott from Frankly My Dear podcast (2:32)
3. THE BEST OF YOU - Lady Hatter, Whitney, Scott and Hatter discuss their top films of 2010 (17:50)
4. COME TALK TO ME - My podcasting & blogging friends chime in with their picks for the best of 2010 (81:30)

Comments and feedback are welcome, Happy New Year and thank-you very much for listening.

Enjoy!

Everybody's Talkin' 12 - 30 (Chatter From Other Bloggers)

Dearly Beloved...

We are gathered here today to celebrate this entity that was named "Twenty Ten".

It was a very giving soul - one that told us wonderful stories about kings, swans, and monsters.

It taught us always to be wary of things we'd heard before. To prove it, it took us by the hand and showed us the further adventures of four unlikable women from New York, a once valiant green ogre, and a strange computer world where people like to play frisbee. Oh yes, and pretty young people "stepping up".

It wanted us to see the world, and to that end showed us the wonders of Italy, Sweden, England...and even my beloved Toronto.

This year will be missed as it was a year that made us work. It liked to play tricks with us by seemingly offering us a bounty of stale, unfulfilling treats. But this was just its way of getting us to search harder for true delights, which we found in excess if knew where to look. A good lesson to be learned, and one that I won't soon forget.

Good night sweet prince. May flights of helpful ushers take you to your sweet snack counter in the sky...

So for your consideration, here are the year-end top ten lists from the blogs I follow. I realize I'm a day or two early as many in the community haven't posted their lists yet. To that I offer that if you want yours included, leave a comment and I'll add it to the links. Or, if you're one of my non-blogging readers, feel free to leave comments with your own year-end top fives and tens!

CAST - A collection of online Toronto film cinephiles of which I am a member.

Between The Seats

Dark Matters

Fandango Groovers

From the Front Row

I Can't Get Laid in This Town

Minty's Menagerie

My Film Views

Reel Fanatic

Added: Not Just Films

Added: Things That Don't Suck

Added: Diegetic Sound

Added: The Movie Moxie

Added: Review By Tom Clift

Added: The Movie Ness

Added: The Flickering Myth

Added: I See Hungry People

Added: Forget The Popcorn

Added: the m0vie blog

Added: Nevermind Pop Film

Added: Big Thoughts From a Small Mind

Added: Marshall and The Movies

Added: Diary of a Film Award Fanatic

Added: John Likes Movies

Added: Black Sheep

Added: Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob

Finish What Ya Started (Reflections on The 2010 Blogging Goal)

A few of you might already know about this, but with two days left to go in this year, I wanted to share a goal that I set for myself with everybody who reads this blog.

In the final days of 2009, I tossed around ideas of what I wanted for The Dark of The Matinee in 2010. One concept that came to me was to push myself a little bit harder. My other passion is photography, and at the time, I was gearing up for a "365 Photos" project, where I'd take one photo a day every day through the year. (Sidebar: That project flamed out in late February)

So when considering blogging ideas, the 365 project felt like as good a starting point as any. Thus the bar was set:

Post at least once a day, every single day, for one year.

Now, I'll readily admit that the screencaps I put up on Saturdays for the "Today, I Feel Like This" feature feel like a bit of a cheat. However, sometimes it takes just as long to settle on one of those as it does write a post, and many times I have to get the movie from the shelf and go about creating the screengrab myself.

Ditto the "Everybody's Talkin" blogosphere round-up on Fridays. It takes quite a bit of time to peruse what many of y'all have been up to during any given week!

As for the rest, at a glance I can tell you that running to and fro around four different film festivals certainly makes for a good source of material. So if I do say so myself, I think the goal and the experiment was a success. It pushed me to get into a routine and a writing habit. It helped me become a better writer. It led me deeper into the community to read and interact with more and more blogs. Some days were tough - more than once I sat frustrated staring at a blinking cursor after midnight just begging for inspiration.

What I learned in those moments was the best advice I could pass on for anyone looking to try a similar experiment: If you're stumped, look around and ask other movie geeks for ideas. Those little, seemingly benign chats you have with them can often be expanded into a decent post!

And before you ask - no, Virginia...just because the year is over doesn't mean that I'll be slowing down any time soon.

Circus (WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Trailer)

This is the sort of trailer that leaves me a tad perplexed.

It's possible that it might offer something memorable...or it's possible that it might not be anything more than "pretty pictures". Pattinson has never really done much for me, but I'm willing to give the guy some latitude and chalk that up more to the material he's been doing than the work he's been doing in it.

Bets on whether it's sublime or silly?

Some Kind of Monster

I just realized that it was ten Christmases ago that I got my first dvd player. So there's a small touch of coincidence that this Christmas, a blu-ray player with a tag addressed to yours truly made its way under our tree! (Thanks honey).

Upon connecting this shiny new toy to our system, I was struck by a thought or two as a first time user of HD video. The first thing I learned is just how essential an HDMI cable is. Picture if you will, an excited Hatter fussing with the back of his TV stand sometime after 1am on Saturday. After seemingly getting everything connected and set-up, I popped in the accompanying b-d copy of INCEPTION to test out the new ride.

If I could sum up my reaction in one word, it would be "Meh".

The good news though, is that given what I knew about our TV's capabilities, and what I already knew about the quality of blu-ray, I started thinking something was amiss. Come boxing day morning, a quick trip to a big box store and my "Meh" was turned to "wow". The lesson? Even though many players don't include it, an HDMI cable is a blu-ray essential if you truly want to get the full effect.

My next thought was sparked when I looked at the shelves and shelves of dvd's Lady Hatter and I have accumulated over the years. The fact that they weren't rendered obsolete in the same manner that our old VHS tapes were was part of the reason I finally decided to take the plunge. However, that detail was far outweighed by the fact that many players will up-convert DVD's to a rather lovely high-def quality.

So with gift cards in hand, I ventured out to grab a small handful of titles to begin the blu section of my library. Making matters easier? The complete lack of temptation to upgrade titles I already own. You might want to bookmark this page, because I might end up eating these words later, but for now, I'd really like to refrain from becoming some kind of double-dipping monster.

So hopefully you found goodies under your tree that brought you this sort of happiness, and likewise, ones that avoided you needing to set so many provisos for your future spending habits.

I do have one question for any blu-ray collecting readers. Back when I first bought my dvd player, the movie that showed off its capabilities the best was THE MATRIX. So much so, that I always believed it should just come bundled with it, Super mario/Duck Hunt style. So my question is this...

If there's one blu-ray I must have to start my collection and give my system a workout...what would it be?

Review: TRUE GRIT * * * 1/2

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter -
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.

The tale of TRUE GRIT begins with reports of the murder of Frank Ross. He is shot in the back by one of his hired hands named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Chaney then robs Ross of two gold pieces and a horse before fleeing for his life. Not long after, Ross' daughter Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) travels a few towns over to collect his body. It's then that she takes matters into her own hands.

Letting U.S. Marshalls bring Chaney back in due course isn't enough for Mattie. She wants a lawman with true grit to hunt him down, and make sure he is put to death for what he has done. Whether Chaney dies after due process or not doesn't concern Mattie in the slightest. She is pointed towards Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) - an eye patch wearing drunkard, who has killed at least two dozen men...and doesn't seem to let of of their souls weigh on his mind.

Cogburn doesn't seem interested at first, but in the meantime a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) does talk to Mattie about a manhunt for Chaney. The hitch, is that LaBoeuf is tracking him for a crime Chaney committed in Texas, and wants to take him back there to hang for his sins. To Mattie, this will not stand. She wants Chaney to be counted for what he did to her family - nothing else matters.

After much hem'ing and haw'ing, LaBoeuf, Cogburn, and Ross reluctantly set out together after Chaney. And while they differ in opinion on where to find him, how to catch him, and what to do once they get him, they can all agree on one thing:

One way or another, Tom Chaney must die.

TRUE GRIT feels like a sermon about cowardice and consequences. The movie begins with a quote, pointing out that the lowest form of cowards are the ones that run when nobody is there to chase them. What sort of fate should befall such a person? Do they deserve the mercy and luxury of the law? It wouldn't seem so if even a fourteen-year-old can grasp the gutlessness of the action. No. In the society TRUE GRIT inhabits, such lack of spine merits bounty hunters, vigilante justice, and retribution.

Mattie is determined without being precocious...which makes her harder to handle for all involved. This is a time and place where someone like her isn't taken seriously, which she obviously knows since she doesn't waste time acting meek or mincing words. When that doesn't work, she's not above riding a hose across a river just to get a grown-up's attention. On the one hand, such actions seem reckless and foolish. However, it's clear that for Mattie such a feat is calculated, since it's the sort of thing that will prove just enough mettle to earn her a ride-along (even if her head is too small for her hat).

Rooster meanwhile, is a man who seems to drifting further and further away from the parameters of civilization. Already gaining a reputation for mercilessness, Bridges plays him like a man who is only using the law as a means to an end. He doesn't respect the law...doesn't even have a wicked amount of interest in upholding the law. Listening to him testify, reflecting on his methods, and watching him track down Chaney, it's abundantly clear that flies the flag of the law only when it serves his bottom line.

It's difficult to decide what is colder: that a marshall like Rooster is permitted to act outside of the law, or that someone as young as Mattie goes to him to get a particular brand of justice. In a society that turns a blind eye to these sorts of blood contracts, all it takes is one bad decision until one finds that they "have it coming". Sure, what Chaney did was heinous...but how long until mere misunderstandings start warranting a lynching?

What makes all of this feel so special, is the manner in which this western - while an adaptation of a classic novel - seems to clearly inhabit The Coen Brothers' universe. From the way Rooster pronounces LeBoeuf's name to the quick wit that Mattie possesses, there are a lot of markers around TRUE GRIT that indicate that some scenes and characters could be transplanted into FARGO or O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? with very minimal tweaking necessary.

This movie takes those Coen-isms and dots a grim and classic tale with them. In many ways it contains touchstones of all their greatest films, while still being very faithful to the source material. While flawed, the resulting tale of payback is a sobering look at a desire for justice the law cannot provide, and the sort of damage it can do to a person's conscience.

What did you think? Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions to TRUE GRIT

Welcome Christmas

Today, I Feel Like This...

Merry Christmas Everybody!

love,

The Hatters

Everybody's Talkin' 12 - 24 (Chatter From Other Bloggers)

Dear Santa...

I know you have a busy night ahead of you and all, but I was hoping you had time for one last letter. You see, I've been a very good boy this year, and I'm hoping it will work in my favour when you make your rounds.

I haven't trashed the work of too many filmmakers...I haven't pirated any dvd's...I haven't even snuck into a second movie after paying for a different movie this year!

I've even tried to curb some of my bad habits - for instance, I've been trying not to feign shock when hearing about a classic film a fellow movie lover hasn't seen. I'm not so great at it (ask James & Bob) but I'm trying at least! That's gotta be worth a VHS copy of something, isn't it?

Actually, if you have a moment away from delivering gifts to kids in Australia, what I'd like to ask you about isn't for me: It's for others near and dear.

So for your gift-giving consideration, I ask of you...

For Fletch, an abnormally huge HDTV. His theatre-going time will be lessened for a while, but that's no reason not to be able to see movies in style. Oh, but then again, he's already received an amazingly awesome gift already. Spot him one more...he deserves it.

For the boys at Row Three, new watches. having listened to their amazing-yet-lengthy podcasts, theirs have stopped working.

For Castor & Ruth, a good table, a set of pint glasses and a case of the best beer Minnesota has to offer. They need to start a twin cities blogger meet-up and could do with some encouragement.

For Univarn, a really good mirror. He's a great friend and is filled with a sense of community. Just want to make sure he can always see that.

For Rachel, the warmest and best pair of socks you can find. She's stepping into some pretty big LAMB sized shoes these days, and could use the added comfort. Funny thing is, what so many of us have already noticed is that those shoes fit pretty nicely already!

For Sebastian and Tom, a continuous delivery of fresh apples. They've both just completed their first semesters of studies, and they could do with staying on their professors' good sides.

For Brian and Steve, a dictionary. Never have I met two so-called "cynics" act less cynical...and this is a very good thing. Cynicism might be a more admirable trait if there were more cynics like them around.

For Jess, the best quality set of headphones you can find, which will inevitably look doofy. I get the feeling she doesn't know what she's missing. (While you're at it, give Fletch a pair of those too). However, if you do that, odds are both will start to pick up on the fact that what I lack in know-how I'm making up for with enthusiasm.

For Bob, anything he wants. He's such a great guy...and even though he's consistantly wrong, there are so few people out there as great as him. Hand him carte blanche - he's french, he'll know what that means.

For Simon & Jo, coats. Their bravery to take their mad podcasting experiment to the streets makes them a truly unique presence in our little community. That said, I don't want to hear that one or both of them have caught cold in the name of community.

For every other blogger and podcaster I haven't mentioned by name, any blu-ray or dvd of their choosing. Movies are what brought them into my life - both real and virtual. Giving them more movies will give us something more to talk about and ensure that they stick around.

Finally, and most importantly...for Lady Hatter, a brighter halo that shows everybody what a saint she is. She has the patience of one...putting up with all the time and energy I spend typing out this movie-obsessed drivel. She comes with me to so many movies I know she doesn't always want to see. She lets me create these podcasts that require her to stay quiet for the sake of a few dozen listeners. And what's more...she actually encourages me to do these sorts of things. She's a rarity, and it'd be swell if complete strangers could see that at a glance.


Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!

Something to Talk About (Mad Hatter & Susie Q Discuss TRON: LEGACY)

I'm a lucky guy for many reasons. One of my many bits of luck is Susie Q. Not only is she one of my very best friends, but this summer she moved a mere two blocks from my pad. Thus we get to see a lot of one another and talk about many a topic given that we commute to and from work together almost everyday.

Susie liked TRON: LEGACY a lot more than I did, so I thought I'd let her explain what it did for her that it didn't do for me...

MH: So what did you see in this movie that I didn't?

SQ: For starters, the fact that in this world Kevin Flynn surrounded himself with games and computers and had very few friends, because he was so immersed in the digital world he was helping to create. But then, when he's trapped there and has none of the comforts of home, he surrounds himself with books and theology and ... a bubbly thinking mat. And stuff. Stuff from here, or that reminds him of here.

Likewise, there's a certain feeling that the original gave me as a kid...something about the discovery of a whole new frontier. It's like settling the moon or the ocean - only this was a digital frontier, and Kevin Flynn was the pioneer trying to tame it. So whatever feeling of mystical excitement that brought me as a kid seeing the original for the first time and playing the games (while thinking maybe the Programs in the games had actual feelings - raised the stakes of videogame playing for a while there), that was completely present in this incarnation.

Oh, and Sam is really hot.

(Check out the full - and slightly spoilerific - conversation after the jump)

MH: Clearly you're a critic with high standards. I feel like there wasn't much in the way of stakes though. From the pilfering of Flynn’s disc to CLU wanting to get through the portal, I didn’t feel like we were given the consequences of what would happen should these things come to pass.

SQ: Flynn explained to Sam about how CLU thought he could get through with Flynn's disc, and Sam didn't know what that meant. So his dad said, "The guy doesn't dig imperfection. Can you think of anything more imperfect than our world?"

Clu was building an army that he could take through the portal, to build his idea of a Utopia here, is how I understood it. He had all those other programs that he was reconfiguring to be his army warriors.

MH: Wow. I don't know if I zoned out or something but I totally didn't get that. Let's talk about how it stacks up for a moment - how would you say this 3-D IMAX film compares to AVATAR?

SQ: I was actually thinking about Avatar when I saw it in IMAX, because I was stuck in nearly the same somewhat crappy seats, just not as far down!

The worlds created in both films took on a life of their own, with beings that could think for themselves, and wanted to have control over their own lives. They both had their own sets of rules that had to be learned by outsiders in order for them to survive. And both worlds were invaded, essentially, by people from ours, who wanted to make it different from what it was.

The difference being that Flynn was never portrayed as an evil conquerer like the guys in Avatar were. Where Tron differed, then, is in the fact that none of the Na'avi ever said, "Oh yeah? Well then hows about we jump into YOUR world and have a little takeover of our own, huh? Would you like THAT?!"

MH: True, but what about from an overall experience?

Going back to AVATAR, I let out an audible “wow” when that tree came down, and I never got any similar moments from TRON. It was if the world of The Grid had unlimited properties and potential, but nobody was ever allowed out to play. There was one light cycle chase that was over in a heartbeat, one areal dogfight that felt anticlimactic, and precious little else where action was concerned.

Did you get that too?

SQ: Nope. Unlike you, I wasn't there for the action.

the first rumble of the Recognizer as it comes to capture Sam as soon as he hits the Grid actually made my seat tremble.

The first time I watched it, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. And even the second time, the moment K-Flynn hits the Grid to do battle in the bar trying to save Sam, and Daft Punk starts spinning that theme song I've been hearing so often, and all the lights go out and the one guy yells, "RESIST!" as they all start fighting a-new...that was a huge moment for me. It still gives me goosebumps.

Beyond that, I loved the little things...CLU's arrival onto the game grid amidst the fireworks and applause; Sam's slow-motion leap onto his lightcycle for the first time.

Both movies looked pretty...as they should. One made me a giddy kid again, and one reminded me of Dances With Wolves. They are, of course, completely different films, though, and I enjoyed both. Avatar had more just for the foliage factor alone- it's much denser than the innards of a computer, I think.

And, of course, it goes without saying that there was a lot of blue in both flicks.

MH: I think we’ve tapped into something here. How much of your love is coming from the movie as a movie, and how much is springboarding from your childhood love of the original?

SQ: Probably quite a bit...i mean, the nostalgia factor alone is worth it for me.

I didn't understand the original very much, and this one looks way better, and has more of a human component to it that the original did not. i definitely like it more than i liked the original, but both of us are a good 20 years older, so that makes sense.

if i just walked into it with no history of the franchise? no knowledge of the mythology behind it? if i just wanted an action-y sci-fi-y background to my popcorn-eating habit? *shrugs* I don't think I would have hated it. I doubt I would have loved it. I'm sure I would have still thought Sam was hot. and i would have wanted one of those light-up suits and a Flynn cloak. and it probably still would have made me laugh ("Between digital devices? Huh. I thought of that in '85!").

Likewise, the father-son reunion would have still gotten to me...but that's because I have daddy issues

MH: That explains so much!

Let’s look at big bad for a second. Even though I wasn’t nuts about the original, MCP struck me as a better villain than CLU. Perhaps because it felt like more of an intimidating entity to overcome.

SQ: MCP was more of a disembodied baddie, no? more intimidating because he wasn't exactly there, but in a way, he was everywhere. CLU never had that sort of control...that sort of power. MCP could tell when someone was on the Grid who shouldn't be, and when hackers were poking around at his backdoor. And he had not a human thought in his computer-consumed mind. CLU had feelings and motivation.

MCP was, like...it was The Grid, in a way. I half pictured everyone running about its belly, trying to get the upper hand from the inside, but having no place to hide or regroup, because they were all simultaneously a part of it, almost. it'd be like if the sun turned on us, and we were trying to put it out without it seeing us coming.

MCP mindlessly did what it was created to do, so yeah, way more intimidating. CLU was more like Hitler. Big on speeches and ideas, but needs a bunch of henchmen to carry out his plans and do his dirty work for him.

MH: Fascinating.

So if I were to take my own usual line of advice and “Watch It Again”, what would you suggest I zero in on to enjoy it more than I did the first time around?

SQ: Does how hot Sam is count?

The father-son story had a huge impact on me. I wished I hadn't seen ahead of time the moment where Sam and his dad see one another again for the first time. I thought it was well done...both of their love, anger, disappointment, forgiveness and absolute reverence of one another, despite their flaws and because of them. It really came through for me, and watching them awkwardly try to find their way into one another's lives again was really quite touching for an action-y sci-fi flick.

Then there's CLU almost throwing a little tantrum when they are all at the portal..."I did everything you ever wanted!" It was so Frankenstein-esque to me. Only with Dr. Frankenstein trapped in the same world his monster helped him create, and trying to stop him from escaping to where the rest of his family and people he cared about were sitting all vulnerable and unsuspecting of the danger he'd sacrificed himself to keep them from.

Subterranean Homesick Alien (PAUL Trailer)

It feels like it's been far too long since we've seen Pegg and Frost together, but in reality it's been just short of four years. And while this particular outing doesn't have the added advantage of being an Edgar Wright joint, it still looks like it'll be good for some laughs.

Oh, and being one for small details, I got a good smile at the fact that this trailer uses the font from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.

Thoughts?

Review: THE FIGHTER * * * *

How long do you keep deceiving yourself? How long do you tell yourself that you are still young, still a contender...still in the fight despite a face that looks like hamburger and legs as sturdy as styrofoam?

Usually all it takes is a glance at the life that awaits you if you throw in the towel and quit. One glimpse of that, and you'll lie to anyone to stay in the fight for just one more round.

THE FIGHTER is the story of Micky Ward (Mark Whalberg). Ward is a welterweight boxer who has never managed to become much more than a stepping stone: the sort of boxers true contenders fight to work up the ranks and build their confidence during a run at the title.

One look at Micky's inner circle and you immediately understand how he is where he is. His trainer is his older brother Dick Eklund (Christian Bale). Dicky was once a true contender who even held his own against Sugar Ray Leonard. Nowadays, Dick is a crack addict and in no way dependable. He still understands the science of the sport, but doesn't have the mental clarity to advise his brother on the fights he should and shouldn't be taking.

Right next to Dicky is the Ward brothers' mother Alice (Melissa Leo). She manages Micky, but always seems to be doing so with more focus on her cut than on her son's career. That is if she's really focused on Micky and not Dick. Get her talking for five minutes and its clear that she has a favorite son. What's worse is that she seems so convinced that Dick is capable of a comeback, that she short-sells Micky and often turns a blind eye to Dick's worsening drug habit.

If there's a bright spot for Micky, it's Charlene (Amy Adams), a bartender he falls in love with. She seems to have half a brain in her head, and is the beginnings of a real support system for Micky. This is a good thing, but people like Dick and Alice don't take to change well...and they don't see it as such a good thing.
What THE FIGHTER does well is make us confront the lies we tell to distract ourselves from the truth. Alice and Micky's sisters claim to be his support system, but in truth they're all doing little more than mooching off his hard work. They act like they want the best for him, and know the boxing business. The reality is that when opportunity presents itself, we begin to see that they are thinking foremost about themselves, and want to keep Micky in check.

Dicky has volumes of lies that he tells as a drug addict just to keep functional, just as all addicts have. These lies become a fuel for his pathetic track in life. Sadly, when he sees the documentary of his situation he is left with no lies to hide behind. Well, almost. In one of the film's best scenes, he is confronted by Charlene about one of the biggest lies he continues to carry. However, being the fighter that he is, Dicky is able to trade punches and comes right back at Charlene with a lie of her own.

We armour ourselves with these perceptions...these skewed versions of what is really happening. Sometimes because we're ashamed of the truth, sometimes because we're afraid. It takes a certain degree of mettle to rise above them, a characteristic that Micky ultimately finds within himself. What's best though, is that he doesn't tap into it to better himself, but he uses it to push some tough love on his support system. He forces them all to "man up". This makes them all find within themselves what it takes to be better: for Micky and for themselves.

That's what makes Micky a true product of Lowell. These people might not have much, but they have their pride and they are deceptively demanding of each other. They'll turn a blind eye, but only for so long. If you decide to make your stand, you'd better be able to back it up with results. If you can't, one short walk through the breakfast diner will be all the reminder that you need that you have failed.

The funny thing is that I really shouldn't love THE FIGHTER as much as I do. It's unoriginal, it's uneven, and it's a boxing film where the boxing sequences aren't given the same sort of visual craft a film like this usually gets.

However, the film finds an alchemy that either works with these lesser components, or distracts you from them altogether. Sure, Christian Bale might be playing the typical crack addicted older sibling disappointment...but he plays it with an honesty that we seldom get in this sort of story. The sunken shape of his face after so much weight loss zeroes our attention on his massive eyes, and they sell every syllable in a very real way. Whether he's boastin' or whether he's beggin', we believe him.

As for the ESPN-style boxing footage, it too creates an unexpected effect. The early 90's TV look takes us out of the ring, and fortifies us in the audience with Dicky, Charlene, and Alice in Micky's corner. We don't feel the body blows, we can't taste the sweat...but we're not supposed to. It's Micky's fight, not ours - he's even told us so.

We're not supposed to be throwing jabs, or staying on our toes. We're supposed to be yelling and cheering with hearts pounding. By keeping us outside of the action, the film makes sure we do just that.

What did you think? Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions on THE FIGHTER.

Midnight Radio: The Matineecast Episode 26

I feel like I was a little bit off during this episode...perhaps recording after midnight instead of after breakfast threw me off a bit.

This week also had me dust off my celebrity impression skills, and I'm not sure if the results are better or worse than my Christopher Walken in episode 21. All in all, this episode was one I've been looking forward to for a long, long time as my guest is a blogger/podcaster I've been following for a long time and finally was able to get on to the show.

Here's the Wade Boggs episode...



(Go here or to iTunes if the embedded player doesn't start)

Here's what's in store in episode twenty-six...

Runtime
61 minutes, 26 seconds

Up for Discussion

1. Introduction
2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY - Q & A with this episode's guest, Tom from Reviews by Tom Clift (2:38)
3. COME TALK TO ME - We peruse some letters to Santa and see what dvd's listeners want for Christmas (11:50)
4. THE NEW SLANG - Review and reaction of TRON LEGACY (16:31)
5. THE BEST OF YOU - Tom and I talk about our favorite Christmas movies. (34:16)

Comments and feedback are welcome, and thank-you very much for listening.

Enjoy!

Review: TRON LEGACY * *

In trying to express my thoughts on TRON LEGACY, I had to consider the legacy of TRON. What Disney gave the world with TRON was an offering that featured cutting edge effects, wrapped around an uninteresting plot filled with enough mumbo-jumbo to keep the whole thing rolling.

So with that in mind, should there be any surprise over what we've been handed to continue that legacy?

Twenty years ago, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) disappeared. He left behind control of his company ENCOM, and his son Sam, and left no explanation of his absence. One day, his friend Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) gets a message originating from Flynn's Arcade. Alan relays the message to a now grown-up Sam, and suggests that he follow the message to its source.

When Sam gets to the arcade, he finds a hidden lab. As he tries to hack his father's system and learn what he can, he is drawn into The Grid - a world that exists inside some sort of super-computer, and the setting of his father's adventures twenty-eight years ago.

Life in The Grid is pretty bleak it would seem, with a clone of Flynn named CLU running the show. Moments after Sam's arrival, he is kicked into a gauntlet of games and nearly killed by CLU himself. However, right before the deathstroke, Sam is rescued by Quorra (Olivia Wilde), an entity with huge potential referred to as an ISO (don't ask). She ferries Sam "Off-Grid" and reunites her with Flynn, who still has ultimate power over The Grid but has been living as a recluse.

Together, Sam, Flynn, and Quorra are poised to overthrow CLU and restore order to The Grid.
I think.

TRON LEGACY, like its predecessor, seems somewhat interested in pointing out to us that as we evolve technologically, we run the risk of becoming subservient to our own innovation. When I think about how out of sorts I feel on days where I forget my cell phone, that course of narrative becomes rather apt. Underneath all of that traces of a warning: forsaking human contact in the name of digital connection can leave one regretful later on. Flynn has taken The Grid to great places, but one has to think that he'd go back and give it up if it meant he could have been a better father to Sam. These are noble themes.

Unfortunately, TRON LEGACY doesn't want to let these themes run through the film like the neon lines that illuminate so many shots. Instead, the film buries them under pseudo-stakes, incomprehensible mythology, and tyrannical rhetoric until they blend into the background. In the end, the plot is no more unique or faceted than one of the CGI-created faceless extras in the film...of which there are legions.

What makes all of this especially unfortunate, is that for a spectacle like this to work, the plot didn't have to be exceptional...it just needed to be "good enough". People willing to pay for a film like this aren't looking for nuance - they're just looking to have fun. With rope like that, the promise of stunning visual effects, you'd think that constructing a passable story would be an open-court-layup. The film would come with enough lightcycles and disc battles to keep us all distracted. It was literally going to amuse us with pretty flashing lights.

The story didn't have to be evocative, memorable, or even original. They could have stolen any story structure they wanted and overlaid it on to this amazing world. Unfortunately, the story they decided to steal from was the original TRON. Bad idea.

TRON LEGACY uses 3-D and IMAX technology in a rather amusing manner. Essentially, these elements don't come into play until Sam arrives in The Grid. Makes you think of Dorothy Gale opening that door to Oz and hearing a Daft Punk score blaring back at her. These elements are used to great effect to play on the imposing and vast nature of this world, becoming a fitting canvas for visuals like gathered mass armies and an impossibly massive coliseum. In many ways it felt like the filmmakers were watching all of the faux 3-D we've been offered this year and decided to say "Sit down kid, lemme show you how it's done."

Unfortunately, that's just not enough anymore. The effects on display aren't exactly groundbreaking, and once you get past those effects there's not much left. When nobody in the movie seems to be having any fun, it makes it tough for us in the audience to have any fun. Thus the legacy of this film is assured. Like it's predecessor, it will awe a particular audience for a little while with effects, before fading into a quaint relic when it reaches an unimpressive "end of line".

What did you think? please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions on TRON LEGACY

When Christmas Comes to Town

Today, I Feel Like This...

Everybody's Talkin' 12 - 17 (Chatter From Other Bloggers)

First things first - any Toronto folk who are looking for a dose of
filmgoing fa-la-la-la-la, The Bloor will be showing IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE this coming Wednesday at 7pm. Lady hatter and I will be there (as is our annual custom). If you feel like joining us, the more the merrier!

I have bits and pieces of two separate reviews in my head...tonight I'll add a third...and then I'll blur it all the more with a midnight podcast. Pour it all over ice and shake well with shopping, socializing, and drinking and you have the festive mush that is my brain these days.

(Remind me why I'm trying to blog through the holidays again?)

For your reading fulfillment, I give you...

Pretty sure I've already chosen a BLACK SWAN review for E-T this month, but I need to choose one more. Wide Screen World's post about the Aronofsky film is a wonderful take, because beyond offering "one more opinion" of the film, he takes you into the entire experience of going to see the film in Manhattan. As an aficionado not only of what we see, but how we see them, this is wonderful brain candy.

We're into full on year-in-review mode these days, and in that vein Univarn is looking at the year's offerings in the subtle art of the tagline.

It's the holidays: a time of year where many of us drink a bit more than we usually would. As if to remind herself not to go overboard, The Flick Chick watched LEAVING LAS VEGAS.

Bob is having a lot of fun creating montages, and his latest one is quite pretty. Take a look at Any Colour You Like.

Got a sneak peek at TRUE GRIT last weekend. I haven't finished my review just yet, but The Film Forager has something better. She offers up a review of the film and also a review of its original source material. Indeed, she took in a TRUE GRIT/TRUE GRIT double-feature.

Enjoy!

Fight For Your Right (SAG Award Nominees Announced)

For a moment or two this week, I thought about doing my annual post about how The Golden Globes are a party thrown by a gaggle of star-obsessed idiots...but looking back through similar posts in years past, I feel like I've made that point quite clear. If you really want to know my stance, take a look at this post from January.

The SAG Awards on the other hand are something to be paid attention to. Actors make up the biggest percentage of The Academey, so a pat on the back here is one of the best signs of things to come...far moreso than the AFI & NBR Awards, ditto the Broadcast Critics Awards and all the various critic circles.

With that in mind, this morning's award nominations provide a bit more clarity.

One point that caught my attention is the continued rise of support for THE FIGHTER. The film has come on strong in recent weeks, and landed four nominations this morning including Best Ensemble. While it must suck to be Mark Whalberg this morning (the only one of the film's four principle actors left out in the cold), I'd wager that this film has now joined SOCIAL NETWORK and THE KING'S SPEECH as the third lock in the Best Picture category.

This was also a good morning for BLACK SWAN. It too landed a Best Ensemble nomination, and earned some love for Mila Kunis as Best Supporting Actress...though it's a little sad that spot didn't go to Barbara Hershey.

Other performances nominated that were a little surprising (though not at all undeserved) include Hilary Swank for CONVICTION, Jeremy Renner in THE TOWN, and John Hawkes in WINTER'S BONE.

As for those left at the kids' table, things don't look good for Justin Timberlake or Andrew Garfield going forward (conversely, Jesse Eisenberg might as well send his tux to the cleaners right now). Not sure if it came down to a category confusion or something for Julianne Moore in THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. I was also left slightly perplexed by the complete lack of love for INCEPTION (at least where ensemble is concerned).

Full nominee list is below the jump...any thoughts on what this means going forward?

Best Ensemble:
BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE KING'S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Best Actor:
Jeff Bridges, TRUE GRIT
Robert Duvall, GET LOW
Jesse Eisenberg, THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Colin Firth, THE KING'S SPEECH
James Franco, 127 HOURS

Best Actress:
Annette Benning, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Nicole Kidman, RABBIT HOLE
Lawrence, WINTER'S BONE
Natalie Portman, BLACK SWAN
Hilary Swank, CONVICTION

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, THE FIGHTER
John Hawkes, WINTER'S BONE
Jeremy Renner, THE TOWN
Mark Ruffalo, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Geoffrey Rush, THE KING'S SPEECH

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, THE FIGHTER
Helena Bonham Carter, THE KING'S SPEECH
Mila Kunis, BLACK SWAN
Melissa Leo, THE FIGHTER
Hailee Steinfeld, TRUE GRIT

Life Itself (THE TREE OF LIFE Trailer)

Wow.
Just wow!!

Sea Legs (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Trailer)

So a funny thing happened on the way to the quadrilogy - the third movie turned out terrible. Tremendously terrible. After a disappointing middle chapter, the PIRATES film needed a wallop of a third act and instead gave us a gentle nudge.

The series seemed lost...wrecked at sea...devoured by that maelstrom...never to be heard from again.

But then this week, we were handed this trailer for a fourth PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN film; ON STRANGER TIDES. Knightley and Bloom are gone, so too is director Gore Verbinski. Curiously it actually seems to have potential. I for one, believe it's that epic theme music ratcheting up the excitement, but we'll have to wait and see. For now, let's just say that foresee possibilities...

Running Scared

Those critters seem pretty harmless, wouldn't you say? Well for one young boy, they were the source of cinematic trauma.

Last week, when I spoke with Douglas Trumbull, I started the conversation off with one of my five questions. I broke the ice with Mr. Trumbull by asking him if he could recall his first theatrical experience, and his answer was somewhat familiar...

"It was BAMBI, and it freaked me out - I had to leave the theatre.

It was too much, I think I was only 3 or 4 years old. When the mother deer was going to die in the fire I just couldn't handle it. Disney was pretty hard edged, there's been a lot of talk about how even Walt Disney's family members were horrified by what was in his films. He had scary witches and death scenes, and all sorts of stuff that freaked his own kids out."

Time and time again, I'm hearing stories about people's earliest moviegoing memories relating to so-called 'family' features. Time and time again, I'm hearing stories about how said family features gave them the heebie-jeebies. Seems a bit counterintuitive, wouldn't you say? On the one hand it's a rigged deck...sit any kid in the dark and flash giant coloured images at them, and I'd wager nine times out of ten the tyke's budding brain capacity just registers the whole she-bang as 'too much'.

But getting past that first hurdle of sensory overload, it seems like darned near every great animated movie has a moment or two that are almost designed to upset young viewers. Think of that trip to the dump in TOY STORY 3. Harken back to Scar's machiavellian actions in THE LION KING. Hell, go to any random moment in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. These movies seem somewhat toothless at first glance, but all it takes is one scary look...one clap of thunder...and junior will shove his sobbing face neck-deep into the popcorn bucket just to make it all stop.

See you take these stories, juxtapose them with the news that parents groups are grumpy that BLUE VALENTINE'S NC-17 was overturned, and you get a paradox of juvenile mental scarring.

What it all adds up to for me, is that movies are subjective and kids are unpredictable. In short, there's nothing - no branding and no rating - that can prepare people for how their little ones will take to a movie. I've watched films with bad words that I'd have no problems showing my nieces and nephews (no word on whether their parents would mind!). I've seen PG rated movies that I know would scare the same kids in a hurry.

Perhaps the lesson is that when it comes to movies, if parents really want to expose their kids to these cinematic delights, it can't happen without a bit of homework. The parents have to know the movie...and more importantly, the parents have to have a good read on their kids.

Clearer View (LA Critic Awards, AFI Awards, Broadcast Film Critic Award Nominees Announced)

Another day, another round of awards, another instance where THE SOCIAL NETWORK seems like the monster to beat.

Yesterday, The L.A. Film Critics announced their year-end awards. It appeared to be business-as-usual with THE SOCIAL NETWORK taking the top prize as best picture. It likewise landed David Fincher an award for best director, an honour he will share with CARLOS director Oliver Assayas (they tied). Best Actress was given to Kim Hye-ja for MOTHER. Best Actor went to Colin Firth for THE KING'S SPEECH. As for the supporting players, Niels Arestrup won for UN PROPHETE, and Jacki Weaver won for ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Just before that bit of news was the announcement of The AFI's films of the year, which is contained to just a shortlist (they don't hand out a best picture). Their year-end ten looks like so...

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
INCEPTION
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE TOWN
TOY STORY 3
TRUE GRIT
WINTER'S BONE

Finally in the wee hours this morning, The Braodcast Film Critics named their award nominees. Their almost identical list of contenders for Best Picture would be...

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
INCEPTION
THE KING'S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE TOWN
TOY STORY 3
TRUE GRIT
WINTER'S BONE

So this makes two early groups calling THE SOCIAL NETWORK top dog, which has to nudge it ahead of THE KING'S SPEECH at this stage for the pole position. These lists are likewise a bit of validation for films trying to grab a chair at the grown-ups table, namely THE TOWN, TOY STORY 3, and WINTER'S BONE.

(Sidenote: I beg all awards junkies out there to pay as little attention as possible to The Golden Globes...they're only an excuse for fans with less professionalism than we in this community have to hang out with celebrities).

Barring a wicked departure from form by the guilds, it would seem as though about seven or eight of the ten spots are spoken for. What the guilds will help clarify is which five of those are the ones that are really in the hunt for the prize.

The full list of BFCA award nominees can be found below the jump Anyone ready to go out on a limb and start making predictions yet?

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – “True Grit”
Robert Duvall – “Get Low”
Jesse Eisenberg – “The Social Network”
Colin Firth – “The King’s Speech”
James Franco – “127 Hours”
Ryan Gosling – “Blue Valentine”

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening – “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman – “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman – “Black Swan”
Noomi Rapace – “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Michelle Williams – “Blue Valentine”


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale – “The Fighter”
Andrew Garfield – “The Social Network”
Jeremy Renner – “The Town”
Sam Rockwell – “Conviction”
Mark Ruffalo – “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush – “The King’s Speech”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter – “The King’s Speech”
Mila Kunis – “Black Swan”
Melissa Leo – “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld – “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver – “Animal Kingdom”

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – “Black Swan”
Danny Boyle – “127 Hours”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “True Grit”
David Fincher – “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper – “The King’s Speech”
Christopher Nolan – “Inception”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Another Year” – Mike Leigh
“Black Swan” – Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
“The Fighter” – Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
“Inception” – Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
“The King’s Speech” – David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“127 Hours” – Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
“The Social Network” – Aaron Sorkin
“The Town” – Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner
“Toy Story 3” – Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
“True Grit” – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter’s Bone” – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

Review: THE KING'S SPEECH * * * 1/2

We've all had moments where we're trying to express something and end up tongue-tied and tripping over our own ideas. Well what if one was a monarch in waiting who not only can't articulate the idea, but worse - he can barely publicly enunciate two coherent sentences?

It would seem as though the answer is to put aside all of the pomp & circumstance, think less about the masses and more about the message.

THE KING'S SPEECH is the tale of King George VI (Colin Firth). When our story begins, he is still a prince - and still only second in line to the British throne. He is nonetheless a public figure, and expected to stand behind a mic and address large gatherings of his subjects. This is a problem, since The Prince has a terrible problem with stammering, making any bit of public speaking a torture to endure for anyone unlucky enough to be within earshot.

He has tried many forms of therapy to get past the debilitating problem, but so far it has all been in vain. Seemingly on a whim, his wife, the future Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) finds a rather unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Logue is able to make measures of progress with his regal patient, and modest goals seem within reach.

However, just as he seems to be getting grasp on what will be asked of him as a prince, his father King George V (Michael Gambon) falls ill. Suddenly it's not enough to be able to handle what's required of a prince. The king's death, and the questions surrounding his brother's suitability as heir to the crown mean that our hiccuping hero must prepare himself to speak as a sovereign...which very quickly ups the ante on what results an eccentric would-be actor can achieve.
What THE KING'S SPEECH wants most to tell us, is that we are defined not only by what we say, but by how we say it. If we have it within us to speak with conviction, anything is possible. We can get a raise at work, we can defend a thesis at school, we can get an entire nation to go along with something they otherwise wouldn't. Sadly, a lack of conviction - or worse, a complete inability to string a coherent sentence - leaves one feeling like they are capable of nothing.

Colin Firth embodies the plight of King George VI, not just in his broken words, but in his expression and body language. This is a man after all, who has trouble speaking and thus speaks only when he has to. The result is that Firth's face and physical expression fills in the blanks. As he is being scolded by his father, like a schoolboy who has been naughty at school, his mix of shame and anger strikes to the heart.

Later, when he watches a newsreel of Hitler speaking with fire and force, Firth's expression is one of awe. In that moment, it doesn't matter that his words are in another language. It doesn't matter that his words will directly lead to war with George's very kingdom. It doesn't even matter that those words are words of venom and hate. What has the King so taken aback, is the power of Hitler's expression, and how naturally that power seems to come to him. In moments like these, Firth's performance tells of The King's deep desperation to be heard, and his frustration with how difficult a task it is.

In a subtle touch, this frustration is very much echoed in the way THE KING'S SPEECH was photographed. Visually, King George spends much of this film off-centre. He spends many-a-scene in the lower left corner of the frame - especially during his sessions with Logue. This sort of framing both creates tension, and likewise suggests that something isn't right.

Perhaps he's angrier about his stammer than he lets on...perhaps he's intimidated by the challenge of getting past it. It's a wonderful visual metaphor for his predicament, and for his life thus far. Of course to counterpoint this emotional imbalance, anytime he gets past his hang-ups and finds his voice, he is usually shown dead centre.

THE KING'S SPEECH wants us to understand how belittling it can feel to endlessly reach for our own words. Such difficulties can leave both prince and peasant wrestling with their station in life. What's fascinating, is that sometimes it's getting past the shackles of that station that allows us to finally be heard. For many of us plebes, it can be about momentarily getting in touch with our inner JFK or our inner Muhammed Ali. For King George, it's very much the opposite. At the core of his struggle is trying to forget about addressing an empire's worth of subjects, and instead express his thoughts to just one person.

I can't help but be a bit amused at the fact that I found this film tricky to write about. After all, if a king should find himself lost for words, why should a humble blogger be above the same fate? At least on the bright side, after having watched this story of self-empowerment, I'm able to take this historical lesson and amply it to my own sheepish shenanigans.

What did you think? Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions on THE KING'S SPEECH.

Hot Patootie Bless My Soul

Today, I Feel Like This...

Everybody's Talkin' 12 - 10 (Chatter From Other Bloggers)

First of all, thanks for all the great feedback on the interview folks. I caught a pretty lucky bounce in landing it, thanks in no small part to some pretty awesome people over at TIFF who don't forget smaller fries like myself. Took quite a bit of work to prep it and get it 'just so'...very proud that it worked out.

It's been a great few weeks for me movie-wise, and within this little community of ours. Beyond hanging out with one half of MaMo last week, I made a long overdue return to the LAMBcast last weekend, have a potential double-feature to look forward to tomorrow, and Toronto Movie Blogger pub night this coming Tuesday.

Sometime in amongst all this geekery, I'm still managing to get Christmas shopping done, wrap the occasional gift (not my favorite part of Christmas), and buy festive touches for Casa del Hatter like that pretty plant pictured above. Indeed, everything's coming up Hatter lately. But enough about me, let's get to the Friday tradition of spreading the love, shall we?


For your reading fulfillment, I give you...

TIFF recently hosted a Tim Burton marathon. While I thought about going for a few minutes, I eventually listened to reason. Sasha the Final Girl did try to brave it, and has posted about seven of the Burton screenings so far!

Anomolous Materials was kind enough to plug my Trumbull interview, so it's only fair that I return the favour. Castor went open mic yesterday, encouraging theatre-goers to cleanse their aura and discuss their worst movie-going experiences.

The movie on tap for me this weekend is THE KING'S SPEECH (with Mr and Mrs Cheshire in tow!). Looks like Aiden has already seen it, and thought it was pretty swell.

Did you know that Rachel Thuro likes the small ones? (Me neither)

Seems like many of you are coming up with games lately (must...resist...the urge...). Sebastian has a fun one going one where he invites readers to come up with clever captions for a still frame. Play along, won't you?

Fandango has come up with quite a fun way of summing up the cast of a given film - hinge it back to the actors' past roles.

Enjoy!

Effect & Cause (In Conversation with Douglas Trumbull)

Oscar nominated visual effects wizard Douglas Trumbull has worked his magic on such iconic films as STAR TREK, BLADE RUNNER, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. He was gracious enough to take a few moments to talk with me about 2001, larger than life cinema, and a particularly exciting upcoming project...

Douglas Trumbull doesn't consider himself a film historian. In fact he readily admits that there are a whole bunch of classic films that he has never seen. This may seem odd, considering the fact that he has worked on films that themselves are classics. However, the reason for it makes complete sense:

"I don't like having thoughts in my head that are derived from other movies."

While he tips his cap to men he's worked with - specifically Lucas and Spielberg - who are able to transpose material from John Ford movies into the science fiction genre, he prefers to start from scratch. "I like to have ideas myself," he tells me, "whether someone has had them before or not."

Trumbull is in Toronto to kick off a special run of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. For the next four weeks, the cerebral science fiction classic can be seen in a medium few get to experience anymore: 70mm. When I mentioned to Trumbull that 2001 is sometimes an answer to my "unseen classic or essential question", he points out that it needs to be an immersive experience.

He notes that the film was designed and created for Cinerama, back in the days where there were deeply curved screens that were 90 feet wide. This created an experience that, in certain aspects, was even more immersive than IMAX. When reduced to tv, the immersive experience is lost. So one could look at 2001 without knowing that they’re supposed to be in the movie, not looking at the movie.

"The cinematic language of 2001 is largely dependant on the giant screen and the engulfment of it. If you really want to understand the potential of the film, you need to see it that way". So in other words, where 2001 is concerned, watch it big and watch it loud.

Trumbull understands that not everybody has a 70mm cinema in their neighbourhood. He also understands the plight of the modern moviegoer's time and money. For these he says there's options. "I recently watched 2001 using a very high end digital projector and a blu-ray disc – which is of extraordinary quality. I had a screen at home that was about 20 feet wide, and I could sit 10 feet back. It was like watching a 70mm print!" So while a drive to The Lightbox might not be feasible in one's schedule, they can still get a healthy taste of the experience. "The quality can be absolutely stunning. Sometimes the quality can be even better than a theatre because the image is much brighter, and the colour saturation & contrast are much better. You can have a rather excellent blu-ray home experience these days."

The main advantage to seeing particular films in a cinema is preserving a sense of scope. Trumbull cites another film coming up in the 70mm Series as an example: David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

"Lean filmed shots that are so huge, you almost require a 70mm screen to notice that there are a whole trail of camels down there on the edge of a sand dune. On TV that would be completely invisible and you would wonder ‘why am I looking at this shot?’ In 70mm it makes perfectly good sense and adds to the epic poportion of the movie." He muses that the medium today just doesn’t handle that kind of immensity, though he hopes it will in the near future.

With Trumbull being an effects wizard, though not actively offering up his talents anymore, I wondered his take on the state of effects in Hollywood. It feels like seldom a day goes by where I don't hear someone grumble about a movie's special effects seeming "So CGI". Could this be a sign that effects designers are pulling up short, or perhaps that we as an audience are becoming more cynical?

Trumbull notes that often the issue is a financial one. Filmmakers can make photo-realistic CGI environments, buildings, and even creatures. If they want to make it super-realistic, incredibly lit and incredibly detailed, the computer rendering time gets to be extraordinarily high and expensive. Most filmmakers have to back off from that and admit that they can’t have a render farm churning for two days to get one frame of film. Thus, they have to reduce the quality of the CGI in order to get it within a realizable budget. This leaves the audience with a product that has a layer of artificiality to it.

So perhaps, what leave audiences dissatisfied isn't short-selling the CGI, but instead placing the entire bet on one style of effect. "One of the most successful series of films is Peter Jackson’s LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy. Those films were a blend of GCI, synthetic characters, real characters, some real locations, and tons of miniatures." He then reminds me that audiences can fall for a film that is completely CGI, noting Pixar's run of success with computer animated stories.

"The sweet spot is somewhere between the two. I think that when filmmakers decide that they’re so in love with the graphics they’re not gonna go any other way, that's when it looks somewhat synthetic". It's then, Trumbull believes, that audiences become discontent with the quality of the effects.

Reflecting on cinema's past is wonderful, but I feel I'd have wasted an opportunity if I didn't ask Trumbull about something in the near future. After almost 30 years away from Hollywood, Trumbull has recently returned to the game to help a good friend of his with a much-anticipated project.

The friend is Terrence Malick, and the project is TREE OF LIFE.

"It was a lot of fun working with him. Terry said he had certain issues that he wanted help on, so went and helped him on a number of shoots. I'll be very interested to see what the completed film is going to be like and how it will be received." Trumbull goes on to tease, offering cinematic sugerplums to dance in my head. He alludes to a painterly, impressionistic film: much more like an art film of the 60’s. What he's seen suggests that TREE OF LIFE will have an editorial and a photographic style and mood that is totally different than the structured tones of films today. "Gonna be interesting to see if the audience can get it." he muses. His voice at this moment has a tone that suggests something involving cats and canaries.

Mallick has instructed Trumbull not to discuss details of the film before its release. However, I am able to get a little bit more when I ask about the film's place within Mallick's canon. "It's very much in the mood of THE THIN RED LINE and A NEW WORLD, but I would say even farther out...more amazing...more unusual. From what I’ve seen so far , I can tell you that if you felt that THE NEW WORLD was a departure from THE THIN RED LINE, this new film will be a like departure from THE NEW WORLD."

I'd suggest that until TREE OF LIFE hits theatres, that we will just have to make do with 2001. That said, I believe suggesting anybody is only "making do" with a 70mm presentation of 2001 qualifies as cinematic blasphemy.

Douglas Trumbull will be at TIFF Bell Lightbox tonight to introduce BLADE RUNNER at 8pm. The 70mm presentation of 2001: A SPACE ODESSY will be showing at The Lightbox daily until January 5th.

Do They Know It's Christmas? (RARE EXPORTS Trailer)

Of all the movies at TIFF that I missed, I most regret not seeing this one.
Think GREMLINS was a messed up Christmas movie? Well you ain't seen nothin' yet...

Edit: Toronto readers interested in actually checking out this movie - it will be playing at The Royal Cinema beginning on December 17th

Wail

Without getting into specifics, I recently listened to a conversation where a film I love was torn to shreds.

I couldn't defend my precious film's honour in the least. What's more, it was quite evident that even if I could, the participants of the conversation wouldn't be swayed. But that's alright, it gave me an idea.

Dear readers...grab a bat, step up to the plate, and swing away...

What's a film everyone else seems to love that you just loathe?

I ask this out of curiosity. While I know it is usually my habit, I promise that I won't try to tell you that you're wrong - or even suggest you watch it again. Consider it a gift from me during the Holiday Season. Consider it a chance to vent some frustrations. Or consider it Bizarro Day in the life of a usually argumentative blogger.

So? Who's first??

Midnight Radio: The Matineecast Episode 25

My episodes have been clocking in over an hour recently, so i made a conscious effort to keep this one brief. Not sure how much fifteen minutes will help, but what's done is done.

I feel like I've been talking about this week's feature film for a while, but if you're getting weary of hearing me talk about it, I promise that you won't hear much more about it from me from here-on. But for now, I still feel the desire to spread the word...hopefully some theatre managers will listen and book the film so some of you fine folks in smaller towns can finally get to see this movie.

Here's the Mike Lowell episode...



(Go here or to iTunes if the embedded player doesn't start)

Here's what's in store in episode twenty-five...

Runtime
54 minutes, 12 seconds

Up for Discussion

1. Introduction
2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY - Q & A with this episode's guest, Vanessa Locke from The World According to Ness. (1:46)
3. COME TALK TO ME - Leafing through emails about the worst films you watched this year. (7:58)
4. THE NEW SLANG - Review and reaction of 127 HOURS (12:19)
5. THE BEST OF YOU - Ness and I talk about our favorite desperate measures movies. (25:44)

Comments and feedback are welcome, and thank-you very much for listening.

Enjoy!

Doubleback: THE GHOST WRITER

Sometimes, you have to realize the universe is trying to tell you something and make a point of seeing something. In the same day, two of the Row Three crew got into Roman Polanski conversations with me completely unbeknownst to one another. Admittedly, my Polanski vocabulary is weak, so I took the cue to start boning up and decided to work backwards...thus a rental of THE GHOST WRITER was in order.

The film is about a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) who is trying to publish his memoirs. His work needs a polish so his publishing house brings in a ghost writer to tweak it (Ewan McGregor). Problem number one occurs when the ex-PM is accused of war crimes mere hours after the ghost writer is given the job. Problem number two is that this is the second ghost writer to take the gig - the first one died on the job.

What got me about the movie was the omnipresent notion that something was wrong...almost from the very beginning. If I was an author, and I went for an interview to a publisher that had metal detectors and armed guards posted in the lobby, you bet your bile duct that I'd think twice about taking the gig. What keeps the movie chugging along, is that time and time again as our hero tries to do his innocuous job...we never leave that initial notion that things aren't right.

There's a wry humour to this film that I loved, and I was hooked by how well Polanski was able to get Germany to stand in for Martha's Vineyard. Another great hook was what Polanski was able to get out of his supporting actors. Tom Wilkinson plays seemingly curmudgeon, yet quietly cold and calculating.Olivia Williams (can't remember the last bad thing I saw her in) likewise seems to be playing three different characters at once. And while it's precious more than a bit part - watch for Jim Belushi playing way against type and showing the audience something they've never seen out of him.

Finally I need to give this film kudos for one of the greatest endings I've ever seen. Purely for cinematic craft, its conclusion is nothing short of stunning. I could spoil it for you...but you never know who's listening.

Summer Teeth

Today, I Feel Like This...

Review: BLACK SWAN * * * *

Ballet isn't pretty.

It's an art form populated by athletes and artists...the divas and the damaged. Behind all of those slippers and chiffon is an existence fuelled by obsession, lust, politics, immediacy and borderline insanity.

Makes you wonder what keeps a ballerina from going insane.

BLACK SWAN is the story of Nina (Natalie Portman). Nina is a ballerina in a New York ballet company under the tutelage of a director named Thomas (Vincent Cassel). Thomas has pushed the company into a state of flux by promoting Nina to the position of prima ballerina...much to the dismay of the outgoing prima ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder).

The company begins work on a production of Swan Lake - a production Nina has long dreamed of starring in. But there's a hitch - Thomas wants Nina to play a dual role. This requires her to not only demonstrate exemplarily technique (which Nina has), it also demands her to exude an extraordinary amount of sensuality (which nina lacks).

Thomas taunts as much as he tutors, leaving Nina at a loss for answers. Likewise adding to the stress is that the company's latest addition Lily (Mila Kunis) effortlessly exudes the sensuality Nina so desperately needs to capture. And topping it all off, Nina's mom Erica (Barbara Hershey) seems bent on her daughter achieving a level of excellence that she never did in her own dancing days.

Like I say - makes you wonder what keeps a dancer from going insane.

The only thing holding someone like Nina back is herself - hence the omnipresent imagery of the mirror. When mirrors are everywhere, unmercifully showing you nothing more than you show them, one can soon be left with the feeling that there's nowhere to run. It's this constant paranoia, and fixation on her own reflection that causes Nina to crack.

She comes undone not only because of the face she sees staring back at her, but in the traces of herself she can see in the women around her. She sees part of herself in her mother - the dancer whose talent is long in the past. There is a part of her in Beth - the dancer trying to cope with the curtain falling for the final time. And most upsetting for Nina is the part of her in Lily - the firecracker ingenue hungry to take her spot.

Thus the artist is not only pushed by want she wants to achieve, but by what she hopes to avoid. It's enough to make any normal person go insane (yet another difference between us and them), and underlines just why it is that so many of the greatest talent comes with being a tortured genius.

Framing this story perfectly, is the way Darren Aronofsky has focused in on the demanding physical exuberance required for ballet more than the poise and grace. One of the best examples of this is a shot seen through Nina's eyes as she spots through pirouettes, leaving us determined and disoriented as Thomas yells "Attack It!" in our ear. Indeed, what BLACK SWAN wants us to understand, is that ballet is not about posture and beauty as much as it is about athleticism and surrender.

Portman embodies this story perfectly. Beyond the fact that she has physically committed to the role to the point that seemingly every filament of her muscle can be seen, she embodies Nina's poise and panic in a way that is heartbreaking and unsettling. She shows us just how far she has to go to achieve mastery of her craft, and once she shows us, she leaves us in a confused state...not knowing whether we should encourage her to keep going, or to stop for the sake of her sanity.

BLACK SWAN is a dark, disturbed tragedy. When great talent drives to be its best, the biggest hurdle is themselves. While the rest of us stand back in awe of what people like Nina are capable of, she looks inward and sees subtle flaws that hold her back. That the difference between them and us. Those of us who sit in the seats can take a better-than-average outing and call it a win. Those who are up on the stage however, can't call anything less than perfection a win.

What did you think? Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions on BLACK SWAN.