Despite more dancing with ex-stars and celebrity duets, the comeback of the dramatic TV series continues. Thank you very much Lost and Grey's Anatomy. The debut of Jericho on CBS reminded me of a fertile period in the early 1980s when a rash of movies The Day After (1983), Testament (1983) and the particularly terrifying British TV movie Threads (1984), dealt with the subject of a post-nuke world.
So who do you think is nuking us? Iran? North Korea? China? A nut from one of the former Iron Curtain nations? Of course it doesn't matter to the residents of Jericho. Their immediate plans are to survive.
I also liked Heroes on NBC and Kidnapped, the latter in particular for a chance to see Dana Delaney weekly. Six Degrees wasn't bad either. I like the fact that so many shows are using the "24" template and creating shows that build layers of character and story week to week, not self-contained episodic TV.
So what new TV series do you like so far?
Post a comment to let me know.

Posted by moviejunkie at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Just before I left for Toronto, one of the most likable of movie stars passed away, Glenn Ford. We haven't been able to squeeze the obit into AC Weekly, so I decided to make a blog entry.

Ford Tough
There are only a few movie stars left from the golden age of Hollywood, and one was lost last month with the death of Glenn Ford. Ford was never a superstar, but at the height of his career he was one of the most reliable and versatile actors of his generation. He has such a likable quality. When I heard of his death at ago 90, I didn’t think of a particular film role, but of the many films that used his quiet strength (especially the westerns) and his considerable skills as a light comedian. When a group of cowboys were asked once which Hollywood actor did the best job of representing them, it was not John Wayne they mentioned but Glenn Ford. His notable westerns include Cowboy, The Sheepman, The Fastest Gun Alive, 3:10 To Yuma and the comedy western The Rounders opposite Henry Fonda. He was also known as one of Rita Hayworth’s favorite co-stars including their most famous collaboration Gilda.
Beyond the westerns, he was Ford tough as a cynical cop in The Big Heat, as a schoolteacher who stands up to gang members in The Blackboard Jungle and as an FBI man trying to catch an extortionist in Experiment In Terror.
At the opposite end of the acting spectrum, he was a deft comedian. His comic skills were utilized in one of my favorite Ford films, The Gazebo, opposite Debbie Reynolds and as the Ramon Runyon nice guy gangster Dave “The Dude” in Pocketful of Miracles opposite Bette Davis. The son of a railroad executive, Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford was born in Quebec, Canada, on May 1, 1916. Pictured above, Vic Morrow and Glenn Ford in The Blackboard Jungle. P.S. The guy out of focus in the background is director Paul Mazursky.

Posted by moviejunkie at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

After seeing the best of world cinema (and a bit of the worst if truth be told), at the Toronto Film Festival, having to settle back into the routine of standard and sub-standard Hollywood movie fare is not an attractive proposition. Still I plan to go forth this weekend and check out a few of the movies I missed (Black Dahlia, Hollywoodland) and the Jet Li film Fearless.I'm a fan of classic martial arts films so the final one by Jet Li has to be a priority.

My feelings about the newly released All The King's Men were expressed on several of my TIFF blogs from last week. To remind myself how great the original film was, I've just added the 1949 ATKM to the top of my Netflix list. Isn't Netflix the best? I've been getting my foreign film/indie film fix from N-flix inbetween trips to Toronto for the past four years. It is terrific not having to depend on the selection of flicks available at the local Blockbuster.
Of course between the new TV season and the fact that my beloved Phillies are still in the playoff hunt (Yo, Ryan Howard, thanks for the three homers on my birthday Sept. 3!), I've been keeping my last working VCR busy. It is about time I hooked up with a TiVo. My younger brother, who just finally signed up for cable last week (I swear I'm not making this up), also upgraded with a DVD recorder to leap past me in the technology department. I'm jealous.
Speaking of the new TV season, I enjoyed the first episode of Six Degrees on ABC. It pulled off the notion that all humans are connected to one another through the people we know and interact with. On the other hand I 'm not impressed with the first episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This show is supposed to make me forget West Wing is gone? Not bloody likely mate.
As for returning shows, beyond the fact that a certain ER has had shots fired in it nearly as many times as flu shots have been dispensed, I'm happy new episodes are back. As you might have noticed by now, I am not a fan of "reality TV." I prefer well written fiction to faux reality. Of course I'm not a big fan of comedy shows either. Drama is what stokes my home viewing fires; that, and the animal reality of Animal Planet and the various Animal Cop shows plus Meerkat Manor. I can't wait for the new episodes of the best reality show on TV.
Enough typing -- I'm outta here.

Posted by moviejunkie at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back from the Toronto Film Festival, I was in that particular fog that comes from driving 630 miles then returning to work 48 hours later. Now that my head has cleared somewhat, here is the final wrap-up of my 2006 Festival experience.
It was not as good as 2005, but last year was my best fest experience in nearly a decade. Still, of the 27 films I viewed, my breakdown is as follows:
Best of the Fest :(3 stars or more) Snow Cake, Indigenes, Volver, Short Bus, A Good Year, For Your Consideration, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, White Planet, Rescue Dawn.
Enjoyable to acceptable:The Silence, Black Sheep, Catch A Fire, All the King's Men, Book of Revelations, Renaissance, Death of a President, So Goes the Nation, Breaking and Entering
Big names, but disappointing:The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Babel, Catch A Fire, Bobby, The Fountain
Boring to real stinkers: The Journey of Knud Rasmussem, The Silly Age, Exiled, Last Winter (the worst film I saw).

By the numbers, not a bad festival but I left the Great White North with the nagging impression that the festival has gotten to big to manage. As a member of the press, it was frustrating to know that in order to get a seat for one of the big name movies, you had to arrive 45 minutes to an hour ahead of time for a press/industry screening. I hate the fact that with so many journalists (900) plus the industry slots, you had to waste so much time waiting in line. It was worse for the press conferences, which don't include the industry. I arrived 45 minutes before the Brad Pitt/Babel press conference and it was already filled. Not to mention that the photogs are now four rows deep which makes it harder for a writer/photographer to elbow her way into a position to get a good shot of the talent. In year's past the press conferences for major stars took place in rooms that could accommodate 100 plus; the room now barely seats 50. Sometimes the room was cleared for the next press conference; sometimes it wasn't. It made the festival a whole lot less fun to cover. What's the use of having all these stars in town when there is not enough space for the press and performers to co-exist? Believe me, we want to help discover the top movies, not trash the big stars.
That's why I was so happy that Snow Cake lived up to my expectations. This small scale dramedy stars Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver as two people who become unlikely friends in the midst of a tragedy. It was just the type of small scale gem that film festivals are designed to unearth. The Weinstein Company has the US rights to the flick so it should eventually open here. Look for it.
I first decided to attend the Toronto Film Festival in 1986 after reading a story by Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer the year before. If my blog inspires you to go to the festival next year here is some advice about having a good fest.
Getting Around: The public transportation in T.O. is fabulous, a combo of subways, buses and trolleys that gets you around town in fine fashion. Save money by buying a weekly pass or tokens. I stick with the tokens since the pass can't be used if a stop is automated. And be aware that despite being a thriving metropolis of 2.5 million, the subway stops running at 1am on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Cheap Eats Toronto has a 15% sales tax so keep that in mind; it makes NJ's 7% look pretty good, hey? A grilled chicken salad and bottled water at McDonald'scost me $8.75 Canadian! (The US dollar is worth about $1.08 Canadian, a slight advantage that is eaten away by the tax. My favorite food places are the perfect combination of location, speed and good food, since I usually only have 40 minutes at the most between movies. My two favorite restaurants are the New Yorker Deli on Bay St. across from the Manulife Building/Varsity Cinema (the main movie venue), and, around the corner from the back entrance, Zyng Asian Grill on Yonge St. The former is just what the name says, a great deli with fabulous brisket and corned beef sandwiches, plus a cheap breakfast, and one of the best soups on the planet, owner Jerry's cabbage borscht (vegetable beef soup). Soup & sandwich is around $10 plus tax. The latter is an Asian noodle house where for their "bowl meals" you pick the protein, the sauce and are then handed a bowl to use at the veggie bar to grab your choice of veggies and hand them to the chef to grill together. The basic bowl meal is $8.99 plus tax. Here's the Web site for Zyng http://www.zyng.com/
That's enough blogging for now. I'll add some reviews later.
P.S.: Pictured top to bottom are: The Dixie Chicks at their press conference; a nasty lamb on the attack in Black Sheep; A sexual awakening in Shortbus; and the cast of Bobby-Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone and Nick Cannon at their press conference.

Posted by moviejunkie at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Toronto Film Festival is winding down (at least for me). Twenty-five flicks in the books, with a few more to go. Emilio Estevez has brought his work-in-progress, Bobby, to the Fest. The film looks at the mundane lives a numerous characters at the Ambassador Hotel the day Robert Kennedy was shot. Unfortunately, mundane is the operational work. A bunch of big stars including Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Laurence Fishburne, William H. Macy, Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood and Martin Sheen (gotta give some work to the old man now that West Wing is history), interact in a soap opera plot. Without the payoff of the Kennedy assassination there would me no film, but it would have been better if we cared more for the characters before the big finish. However, it does have a few nice moments so perhaps this work-in-progresse can be reworked a bit before its scheduled release in November.

On a brighter note, Snowcake, a small scale drama with comedy that is a co-British/Canadian production, is my favorite film of the festival. Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver are both Oscar worthy in this drama about a man who finds his soul again through a series of unexpected events. Weaver plays an austistic woman who has suffered a devastating loss, but the nature of her condition doesn't allow her to express it in ways that are acceptable. Rickman's character, normally not the patient sort, finds a way to comfort her while healing his own soul. His healing also includes a relationship with Weaver's neighbor, played by Carrie Anne Moss. It is an exquisite small gem, just the type of movie one hopes to discover at a film festival.

Well, I have to sign off now if I want to make it to the Bobby press conference.

Later

Posted by moviejunkie at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Toronto, Ontario—The Toronto International Film Festival has always been a forum for controversial films and this year’s edition is no exception. Knowing that the nature of the film would ignite controversy, the festival tried to downplay Death of a President--a film that images the assassination of President Bush--by listing it as D.O.A.P. in the program guide. The exact nature of the film was not revealed until a few days before the fest began on Sept. 7. The pseudo documentary by British director Gabriel Range presents the scenario that the president was gunned down in Chicago following a speech in October 2007.

The premise of the film is that it is two years later and a filmmaker has made a documentary of the event, interviewing the secret service agent in charge, an FBI man assigned to find the killer and the wife of the Syrian man accused of the crime. The film also suggests that the real killer is not the man convicted of the crime. Range uses the format to bash current U.S. policies and the Patriot Act that is being used to erode the freedoms of the American people. The film also suggests that the greatest danger to our country is not necessarily the forces from abroad that harbor anger and distrust of the U.S. government. The greatest danger is that Americans themselves, who feel betrayed by their country, will strike back in anger. Will the film make it to American multiplexes? I doubt it.
In contrast, the Barbara Kopple documentary about the Dixie Chicks, including their problems with their fans and country radio following Natalie Maines’ offhand remark that she was ashamed President Bush was from Texas, seems tame in comparison. The movie Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, is a straightforward look at Maines, Martie Maguire and and Emily Robison as they face their changing fan base and cope with the fallout, channeling their anger into their work.
Earlier in the week, I had the chance to view several of the big-ticket movies coming soon to a theater near you. A Good Year is a sweet comedy from the Gladiator team of Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott. Those who are used to the gloomy persona of Russell will be pleasantly surprised by his deft touch that recalls his earlier film work in Australia in particular Proof and The Sum of Us. At the press conference Crowe suggested we had just missed the intended humor in Gladiator. Said Crowe, “If you cut off a man’s head just the right way … it’s hilarious.”
All the King’s Men is a solid, but shy of excellent, remake of the Academy Award-winning film from 1949 that won Oscars for Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Writer-director Steven Zaillian’s period detail is exquisite and the performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jude Law are outstanding. Sean Penn is also good but a lack of subtle shadings is a handicap.
One of the present surprises was Shortbus, a film that blends real sex acts on screen by an unknown cast with a tremendous amount of humor and pathos. The money shot that everyone is talking about involves a man who can self-gratify himself in a way that I thought was only possible for a dog (use your imagination!).
On the disappointing side, Brad Pitt’s latest film Babel is a real downer that if extremely grim without an effective emotional payoff.
Other movies I enjoyed to date include the gory horror comedy from New Zealand, Black Sheep; the Oscar-hunting spoof For You Consideration from Christopher Guest; Volver, the latest from Pedro Almodovar starring Penelope Cruz, and Indigenes, an excellent war film about North Africans you fought for France despite the fact that the French treated them like American treated its black troops during World War II.
For more info on my TIFF experiences, check out my blog entries at http://blogs.acweekly.com/

Posted by moviejunkie at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two days into the Toronto Film Festival and your favorite moviejunkie has experienced pleasure and pain in equal measure. When you are a cinephile, the TIFF is an amazing place to meet and greet with like minded movie mavens. Nowadays, going to the movies during the Hollywood-dominated summer can be near torture. However, the TIFF is a motherlode where rare gems of cinematic artistry can still be excavated successfully. A mix of savvy and just plain dumb luck are required to find those gems from among 360 features from more than 70 countries.

So far the movies that have captured my fancy as a perfect example of what makes the fest great. Day one featured the excellent WWII drama Indigenes, about Africans who defended France, the country that colonized them and a country that did not respect their contribution to the war effort. Yet, they fought and died. Volver is the latest bit of insane whimsy from the fabulous Pedro Almodovar.
Day two was an even bigger contrast in styles. White Planet is a another fabulous nature film ala March of the Penguins. Shortbus is a sexually explicit (pornographic grade) comedy drama that provides an unexpected dose of pure hilarity one minute and pathos the next. It will become infamous for a scene where a male character does something we only thought was possible for dogs--use your imagination!-- but in the end it will be remembered for proving that the most important sexual organ is the brain.
I'll check back later with more updates from T.O. Meanwhile go Eagles this Sunday and hang in there Phillies.
Later

Posted by moviejunkie at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)