The Fountain

JP:
Paul: *

* Paul keeps flip-flopping on his rating. (4… 4 1/2… 4…) Needs to see it again.

Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.

Being huge fans of Requiem For A Dream, we were highly anticipating this film.
This is a one-of-a-kind experience that you just will not be able to define.
See it on the big screen… it is visually stunning.
Hugh Jackman gives a gut-wrenching, impressive emotional performance.
Audiences will be split by the film. You’ll either love it or hate it.
It is not a mainstream film but an art film.
We talked about it for a long time trying to piece it together and decipher all of it. It is left very vague as to what actually happens to the characters… What is real? What is not?
Awesome score by Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet and Mogwai.
Finally, the best thing I can say about it is, I already want to see it again.

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Trapped Ashes

JP:
Paul:

A complete failure on all fronts. Shit acting, shit story, shit production values, shit, shit, shit. Extremely dull too… we strained to stay awake. Comparing it to a B-movie is unkind to B-movies.
You know what sucks, watching a movie this shit while sitting behind the writer of it — just makes you feel bad.

P.S. The best part of the film was when they had to stop the film to fix the projector.
Look for it on TV at 3 or 4 in the morning.

This Is England

JP:
Paul:

Based on childhood experiences of director Shane Meadows and the lead actor, Joseph Gilgun, the story follows a group of skinheads in the 1980’s.

The film felt very real, almost documentary-like (as if we are just following people around).
Great performances all around.

Joseph Gilgun playing the young boy looking for a father figure was outstanding.
It was nice to see a movie about skinheads that included non-racists skinheads (the original, true skinheads).
It balanced comedy and drama very well. It was as funny as it was ’scary’.

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The Dog Problem

JP:
Paul:

The second movie directed by Scott Caan (his first was Dallas 362 which we very much enjoyed), we really looked forward to this one. Giovanni Ribisi and Scott Caan (together and seperately) pull off their roles and click together. Funny and amusing script. Jimmy the Dog stole the show. He was amazing. Best dog ever.
We had a few problems with some elements of the script such as some of the dialogue felt unnatural and forced, and a couple of characters (Mena Suvari and Keving Corrigan) were underwritten or included solely to spout “cool” offbeat dialogue.
Look for the scene with “the Dog” ‘walking through L.A.’.
In the end it bring nothing new to the table, but it’s enjoyable enough as a fun coming-of-age Comedy. Take a date.
Seek out Caan’s first film Dallas 362 first. It’s a lot better.

Little Children

JP:
Paul:

JP’s favorite of the festival (so far).
Kate Winslet is fantastic as a bored suburban housewife falling for Patrick Wilson a fellow stay-at-homer. As they take their kids to the local parks and pools, the two build a relationship to the point of having an affair. The film explores why and what is lacking from their lives.
Jennifer Connely stars in a throw-away role as Brad’s (Patrick Wilson) wife. Largely underused.
Jackie Earle Haley who plays Ronald James McGorvey, the local sex offender is fabulous. He may or may not like hearing it, but he is completely believable from beginning to end.
The film is narrated (a lot like Dogville was) adding a dry sense of humour to the “goings-on”. This may turn off some viewers. JP thought it worked, Paul didn’t like it as much.
Paul felt it was just another “bored suburbanites having affairs to fill there lives”. Even though it’s very well done, it suffers from having seen it a million times before.

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The Pleasure of Your Company
(aka: Wedding Daze)

JP:
Paul:

A strange festival choice, a Farrelly Brothers-like comedy, we both liked Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher (who is destined to become a huge star) in the leads. With some hits and some misses laugh-wise. Even though the old bag next to me laughed throughout the entire film (you know who you are), to the point where she had trouble breathing, it wasn’t that funny, but it did have it’s moments and some decent performances. The crowd went ape-shit which lead to us liking it less because you know… movie audiences are stupid.

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All the King’s Men

JP:
Paul:

* Before we begin, we sat to the side and the sound sucked, so we had trouble hearing a lot of dialogue throughout the film.
Fantastic performances and great cast, but somehow still fell short. We felt the weakness lay in the script. It seemed to lose focus about halfway through and shift the attention from the Sean Penn character to others. Even though there may still be a Sean Penn Oscar nomination in the making, with such a great cast, and the potential for a great story, a film that we expected to be blown away by, ending up being just ‘good’.
(as a sidenote, Jude Law should be retired from film narration after this, which must be his fifth narration).

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All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

JP:
Paul:

We went into this expecting one thing and walked out with something else entirely. Jumping from a John Hughe’s style film to a high school drama, to a slasher flick and ultimately something else entirely, Mandy Lane succesfully subverts the genres of the style (although you read this all the time, this time it’s true — there are twists and turns that you won’t see coming). With a largely unknown cast, this independent film impressed us with it’s quality production values, which rivaled many major studio films.

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Black Sheep

JP:
Paul:

JP: slightly disappointed.
Paul: better than expected.
Both: A fun throw back to the Dead/Alive type horror/monster/slasher film which is as funny as it is gorry (and sometimes a little shocking if not scary). And you know what…? Sheep are fucking funny. But don’t get us wrong, given the right circumstance they’ll bite your nuts off. Which is even funnier.
If this doesn’t make you want to see it, don’t go….

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Shortbus

JP:
Paul:

Shortbus is awesome… if you like gay cock.

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Kurt Cobain About a Son

JP:
Paul:

Can you create an entertaining and informative documentary film based solely audiocasette recorded interviews? The answer is yes and no. AJ Schnack uses animation, still portraits and scenic footage from the cities Cobain lives to complement the audio, ultimately it is not not enough to keep your interest for 90 plus minutes. While it was entertaining enough for a single viewing it failed to shed any light (for us) on Cobain’s life, motives or state of mind. A worthy effort, but ultimately we feel it didn’t have enough to work with.

Stranger Than Fiction

JP:
Paul:

An intelligent and funny Kauffman-esque comedy. A lot of reviewers have been surprised by Will Ferrell’s performance. Why are critics and the public always so surprised when a comedic actor pulls off a dramatic role? We’ve seen Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and Michael Keaton just to name a few. We were not surprised by Ferrell’s performance… and yes, it’s fantastic. What we were surprised by, was the inventive and quirky direction of Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball). The rest of the cast is great espcecially Maggie Gyllenhaal as the love interest. We also loved the score and the music (dug the Spoon songs). Has the potential to be this year’s Eternal Sunshine. Look for it.

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Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)

JP:
Paul: *

* Paul’s rating is based on the portion of the film that he was awake during. Late night’s and not enough coffee play havoc when seeing 3 movies a day. What he did see he loved.
JP loved the fantasy elements and liked the realworld elements but would have liked to see more of the fairy tale world as that ended up being a secondary part of the film. The effects were phenomenal. From CGI fairy’s too full body makeup of the Faun and the Pale Man. The realworld element reminded me a lot of The Devil’s Backbone and during the introduction Del Toro mentioned that this film was a sort of companion piece to that film.
We have to mention Ivana Baquero who plays the lead in the film. She shines in the film, and at just 12 years old, and taking on a heavy role, that is quite the accomplishment.
His best film yet.

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Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights-Hollywood to the Heartland

JP:
Paul:

Fun to see Vince Vaughn come up to introduce the movie even though he looked like he just woke up from a long night of partying. (pictures to come later in the week).
An interesting premise… we follow 4 comedians (and Vince Vaugnn) on a 30 shows in 30 days, stand-up comedy tour across the United States. Really funny at times, slow at others, we see portions of the 4 comedians acts, split over the 30 days… some good nights, some not so good. We would have liked to have more of the on stage performances and a little less of the behind-the-scenes elements, even though there are some very funny moments there too. We liked all 4 featured comedians, but we both especially liked John Caparulo. We thought it was a bit long and could have been cut some.
The entire cast (and crew) stuck around for a Q&A after the (daytime showing of the) film.

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A Good Year

JP:
Paul:

The premise made us a little hesitant going in, as neither of us are big fans of wine or it’s history, but the movie was a pleasant surprise which included many funny and some touching moments. Good job by Russell Crowe portraying the different facets of the character including the more humourous elements of the film. Always nice to see Albert Finney who steals his scenes. Ridley Scott did a great job keeping the film simple, and subtle in his directing style. It complemented the story well. Well cast with many diverse and interesting characters. JP thought the romantic element of the film, although needed plot-wise, and well acted, felt a little formulaic and unbelievable. A simple but fun diversion.

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Penelope

JP:
Paul:

Told in a fairy tale fashion, Christina Ricci plays a girl cursed with being born with a pig-nosed face..
Due to schedule, we had to race to this film, and ended up with mediocre seats which surprisingly didn’t detract from what is a surprising and (extremely) well received film. The audience ate it up. Most (displayed by the Q&A) afterwards, felt that it was not only a funny and engaging film, but had a good message and had a lot of heart. Christina Ricci captures the lead role with ease. Could have been simple and cliche but was clever and original. A very impressive directing debut by Mark Palansky. Peter Dinklage was a standout and is quickly becoming one of our favorite actors.
As a sidenote, it was nice to see most of the crew and cast show up for a non-evening screening.
A fun and heartfelt film suitable for most.

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Fido

JP:
Paul:

Hard to say what or where it went wrong, but even though it was enjoyable enough with some good laughs there were moments where we lost interest and felt bored. It looked really good (especially considering it was a Canadian film) and was well acted. If I had to pin it down, I would say that the film tried to play it safe when it came to the zombies-eating-people elements. I’ve heard this movie often compared to Shaun of the Dead. Where that film was hilarious, gory and played up the spoofy/cheesy factor this one seemed restrained.
That being said, for what it is, it had some laughs, was fun and was good enough to recommend a rental.

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The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)

JP:
Paul:

We were a little hesitant going in as this was our first movie… a German subtitled movie that looked a little slow from the description and trailer… even though we were (already) tired, and it was a slow-paced movie it was never boring and kept our interest. The lead actor Ulrich Mühe (who reminded us both of Kevin Spacey :)) was great. We knew very little about the subject matter going in, and director Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck also mentioned that he wondered how non-German viewers would take the movie, we were both intrigued by the plot, it’s setting and circumstances. A nice surprise (that every festival viewing seems to have) where you don’t know what to expect and come out pleasantly surprised.

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Even before “it” happened, tonight’s screening of Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazhakstan - or simply Borat to those in the know - would have been the single strangest Midnight Madness I had ever attended. A three hundred person rush line, a throng of people outside the Ryerson chanting “BORAT! BORAT! BORAT!”, and Sacha Baron Cohen arriving on the red carpet in character… and riding a horse.

Then the projector broke.

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