Tomorrow marks the start of the Toronto Film Festival. One day I dream of going, but alas not this year.
I mentioned on my last Toronto post that the one film showing that seems to have any buzz for the Best Picture Oscar is Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, so I felt it was worth holding onto the the trailer for it until today.
Showing posts with label Film festivals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film festivals. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Trailers - Miracle at St. Anna
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Toronto film festival - a step backwards
I'm going to hold my hands up and apologise. When I last posted about the Toronto Film Festival I indicated that the festival is terribly important when it comes to the oscar race. I still submit it is relevant but it's not as vital as I may have led you to believe. Yes, in 2007 four of the eventual Best Pic nominees showed at Toronto, but in the five years previous to that there hadn't been more than 2.
This year I wouldn't be surprised if just one of the eventual nominees came from Toronto. If we were to look at the films most prognoticators are bigging up right now they are mostly notable by their absence from the festival circuit; Australia, Body of Lies, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Milk, Revolutionary Road, The Road, The Soloist,The Changeling - although this is showing at New York and Venice. The Dark Knight and Wall-E have both already been released. It's only Miracle at St. Anna and the extreme longshot Blindness that have Toronto showings.
I guess we should make a space in our predictions for Spike Lee's latest joint.
Let me know what you think - will there be any Oscar noms coming from Toronto? Or is it almost an irrelevance.
Have i missed any major contenders (either showing at Toronto or not)?
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Toronto Film Festival
By now you will all have read the list of films playing at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. By now you will also know which films you want to get some positive buzz and which you want to sink without trace. You may even be a bit of an oscar watcher and will be waiting for those first reviews to change your predictions.
Because, as sad as this is to admit, Toronto is the unofficial start of the awards season - of the 249 features showing at the festival at least 30-40 will have hopes of getting some traction going for the all important golden man.
Some of them will succeed - last year Michael Clayton, Atonement, No Country for Old Men and Juno played there - that is not to say that without Toronto a film can't succeed merely that it can help. Toronto is unlikely to make or break a campaign but it can be a major positive or negative step.
I won't bore you will my predictions of which films will be in those final ballots but I would like to draw attention to two films premiering at Toronto that are unlikely to get much further but may still be worth a peek. I have selected these films because they were oringinally on my radar for 2009 but have moved up to 2008, it's a brave move and I wish them well.
Who do you Love is the story of Leonard Chess who's record company popularised Blues in the 50's and 60's with a roster of acts that include the great Muddy Waters. New York, I Love You is the US answer to Paris, je t'aime comprising of 13 shorts celebrating the different aspects of life in the Big Apple, with a collection of actors to make your brain pop.
These two films probably couldn't be more tonally apart but it's thanks to TIFF that someone be able to watch them both within 5 days of each other. How fantastic is that.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Venice Film Festival
The 65th Venice International Film Festival released it's full line up yesterday evening. You can visit their website for the full line-up here. Or gaze at the generic picture of the city to our right.
The Venice film festival is becoming quite important for Oscar watchers, at least in the acting categories. Each year for the past 6 either the best actor or actress from Venice has scored an Oscar nomination, although only Helen Mirren as the Queen hs managed to hold that buzz through to the main prize.
This year isn't quite as star filled as most years, and there are no British films in competition (boo!), but there are still some performances that may be worth looking out for.
The Wrestler
The new Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) film was due in 2009 but I guess he's already finished it. It stars Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei both of whom got some recent buzz that didn't quite result in an oscar nod (Sin City and Before the Devil knows you're Dead respectively). Maybe some love for this will help them. Personally I'm not sure about this one - after all how exciting can wrestling be?
The Burning Plain
Director Guillermo Arriega is probably better known for his writing (Amores Perros, Babel) but he's rustled up a fine mother daughter relationship drama with Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron.
The Hurt Locker
Another Iraq film - with Ralph Fienes playing "Mercenary Team leader". IMDB is so informative.
Rachel Getting Married
Jonathan Demme is hoping for a return to form with this black comedy. Remember he used to be good at these, see Married to the Mob and Melvin and Howard if you don't believe me. He's brought the stunning Anne Hathaway along for the ride.
Inju, La Bete dans l'Ombre
Or Inju, The Beast of the Shadows. This does not appear to be a horror movie. A title like that for a non-horror shows so much chutzpah how can we not want to see it.
Burn after Reading
Opening the festival, but out of competition this Coen production. I may have mentioned that I'm looking forward to it before. In fact now the Dark Knight's out of the way it's the film I'm most looking forward to in the remainder of 2008.
Here's Brad looking a bit confused:
So, what do you think? Will Venice hit on another good performance or has it's run ended? Will one of the above get a mention - or maybe something I haven't noticed? Is Brad more attractive when doing a hurt puppy impression? Feel free to comment.
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