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On Saturday night, a group of protesters picketed the premiere of Larry Charles‘ Religulous, the Bill Maher anti-religion documentary. I caught some footage of the protesters in action (above). I was initally told that they were trying to have the screening shut down. So when I went over to interview them, I’ll admit that I was probably a little aggressive in my questioning. But it turned out that the protesters weren’t anti-free speech after all. And while I might not agree, I [...]

Tonight I attended the North American premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Wrestler. I plan on writing a full review tomorrow, but for right now check out this quick video blog review. I am joined by Indie movie expert Eric Lavallee of IOnCinema.com and Alex Billington from FirstShowing.net. If you can’t tell, I absolutely loved the film. I hate to add to the Oscar buzz, but well, I see award nominations in Mickey Rourke’s future.
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Spike Lee’s Miracle At St. Anna is definitely not the type of movie you want to see tired, in the early morning hours. But that was my experience. I’ve seen many World War II films over the years, and Anna is distinctly a Spike Lee Joint. It has the obvious race perspective war story you expect, mix one part combined murder mystery (which is used as a framing device), and the obtrusive bass-y grandiose score (ala Inside Man).
If you’ve seen the trailer then you know that it all begins with a random murder at the post office, with a teller who kills a customer with a German Luger. Joseph Gordon [...]

A couple days ago I noticed reoccurring graffiti of a bunny on the sidewalks around toronto. Next to the graphic is the words “Where’s Fluffy?” Later when I screened Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, I realized that it was actually viral marketing for a fictional band which is part of the film’s story. In Nick and Norah, everyone in New York City is frantically searching for the rarest show to ever happen. Fluffy is playing a secret show somewhere, just follow the bunnies. Unfortunately, the website url on the flyers, which I found around Ryerson today, only redirect you to the film’s official website.

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler appears to be a big hit at the 65th Venice Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film created “a buzz that had been absent for most of the festival.” Anne Thompson reports that the film is hoping to land a distributor which could “ramp up a release before year’s end so that [Mickey] Rourke can qualify for Oscar consideration” making a December release very likely.
Here is a small excerpt from Variety’s review: “Talk about comebacks. After many years in the wilderness and being considered MIA professionally, Mickey Rourke, just like the washed-up character he plays, attempts a return to the big show in “The [...]

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Yesterday morning, I caught Cinematical’s James Rocchi off guard, and after totally butchering the pronunciation of his last name (hey, for the last two years I’ve just been calling him “James”), I got his opinion on Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom and JCVD. Eric D Snider also makes a quick cameo appearance. Sorry for the lackluster video quality, the theater was very dark, and apparently the Flip ultra camera doesn’t work well in extreme low light conditions.

Many people have drawn a comparison between Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Juno, due to the hand drawn opening title sequence / poster title, Michael Cera and a focus on indie pop music. It also doesnt help that Norah screens at the Toronto a year after Juno premiered at the Film Festival. But Nick and Norah is nothing like Juno.
The teen comedy genre has always placed one step below Horror movies on the meter of public respect, probably because there are so many bad ones. I’ve always had a soft spot for high school films, and have had to defend the genre over the years to friends and family, [...]

Four stark profile posters for Ed Harris’s revival Western, Appaloosa, have popped up at IMP Awards. The film reunites Harris with his A History of Violence co-star Viggo Mortensen for a tale of “two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.” The widow is played by Renee Zellweger, and the antagonist by Jeremy Irons, who seems like a inspired choice for this type of genre and setting.
Harris’s previous film, the 2001 biopic Pollock, garnered two Oscar noms including Best Actor for his performance. Opening this October, early buzz for Appaloosa [...]

In about 6 seconds, I will lose a lot of geek cred… 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… I’m not a fan of Ricky Gervais. There, I said it. Also, I have yet to get into either the British or American versions of The Office. ::gasp:: I know, a travesty. That said, I caught David Koepp’s Ghost Town at the Toronto Film Festival, and I didn’t hate it. I also didn’t love it either. It’s your paint-by-numbers romantic comedy, with a little dry humor thrown in for good measure.
In Ghost Town, Gervais plays a loner dentist who dies for seven minutes during a routine operation, and is now able to [...]

It’s day seven of my 28 day movie adventure. The Toronto International Film Festival has begun. And anyone who doesn’t think Canada can be hot obviously hasn’t visited Toronto in September. I arrived at 2:00am due to an unforeseen delay in my flight, and was unable to catch the morning press screening of Guy Ritchie’s latest Rocknrolla. Luckily I was able to catch up with Liam Cullin of EmpireMovies.com after the screening of Ghost Town. We talk about the Ricky Gervais comedy and Liam gives his thoughts on Guy Ritchie’s latest (you can read his written review here). Hopefully this will be the first of many video blogs where we [...]

Sunday night at the Telluride Film Festival, I was sitting in a half empty theater waiting to watch the new Mike Leigh film. I later learned that my friend was also at a half empty screening during the same time slot. A volunteer for the festival came over and began to make small talk with me. He said “You know, this is the first screening at this theater that is not to sold out.” I responded that it was strange, especially considering Happy-Go-Lucky was getting good buzz at the fest. You see, buzz is to a film festival like gas is to a car. The volunteer looked at me and [...]

The reason why Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler has the un-popular position of closing the Venice Film Festival, is because the film is waiting on a new song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written for the closing credits and is also titled The Wrestler. Aronofsky calls the song “beautiful” … “wonderful acoustic piece”.
“Makes me choke up every time i hear it,” Aronofsky writes on his blog. “He really captured the spirit of the film and Mickey [Rourke]’s character in the piece.”
It has already been reported that Slash (formerly from Guns and Roses) provided some guitar on Clint Mansell’s score.

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/Film editor Peter Sciretta is about to embark on a 28 day trip that will span three film festivals - Telluride, Toronto, and Fantastic Fest. This is the first of a series of video and photo blogs that will be filed over the course of the trip.
Don’t worry, /Film news coverage will not come to a grinding halt. Hunter Stephenson, David Chen and Devindra Hardawar will be filing updates through out the day. I will also post when time allows, so keep [...]

We’re in the midst of an industry preamble for a 3D revolution flush with cash, but there are countless doubters. Ebert’s hating, and while I liked Beowulf and eagerly anticipate Avatar, it’s easy to see 3D becoming the Reebok Pump of cinema (again?). Personally, I’m prone to believing the future holds a more participatory creative role for the viewer, one that would leave room for a 3D visceral experience if needed. With the popularity of Final Cut Pro, GTA IV, web video, Comic Con and movie sites which connect fans directly to the talent and vice versa, this seems like the more natural, obvious progression when compared to convertible 3D [...]

The Toronto International Film Festival has released their list of the 2008 festival’s slate of twenty special presentation films. You can check out the highlights below and the rest after the jump. We’ll be at the festival next month, so keep it tuned for our coverage.
The Brothers Bloom Rian Johnson, USA World PremiereThe brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo) are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they’ve decided to take on one last con - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz) the time of her life with a romantic adventure that carries them around the world. [...]