Didn't realize I didn't post a blog on Myspace about the whole shebang, since I'm at the Facebook side a whole lot more these days. So I'll summarize........
Day 1 of the fest was pretty much a bust. Traffic slowed me up a bunch getting here. They found more ways to make it less fan friendly continuing a trend the past couple years. I have barely any pictures that are worth squat. And my back dislikes me.
I think that Thandie Newton picture from last year was bad karma. She wouldn't stop for anyone. Guy Ritchie looks perpetually constipated. Ludacris is taller than I thought. Jeremy Piven is shorter than I thought and I'm convinced he hates people. Their movie made me late for the Jean Claude Van Damme movie which sold out by the time I got there, so hopefully I will watch it tomorrow. Amazingly, it has great buzz and reviews. Yeah, I know, from a Van Damme movie! Only one positive out of 6-7 negs. I got Gerard Butler to sign my 300 DVD. He's a great friendly guy, but pretty hyper and twitchy. THIS IS TORONTO! (PS - That's a 300 reference) ------------------------------------------------------- Man, I tell ya. Nothing beats The Big Slice at 3 AM in Toronto.
I saw Guy Ritchie's new movie, RockNRolla. It's a great return to the fine form from Snatch and Lock Stock Two Smoking Barrels, especially if you watched the crap that was Swept Away and Revolver.
I also watched JCVD, short for Jean Claude Van Damme. Amazingly, it was really fantastic, a perfect bridge between Iron Man and Batman. I'm not kidding. Moments of levity and hollywood satire with interjections of grim reality and truth.
Red carpet action for Secret Life of Bees. Lots of young girls came out shrieking to support Dakota Fanning, who seems to be aging and growing rapidly. And I asked some others, if I said her name loudly, would that make me a pedophile? Heh. Also out for this movie were Queen Latifah, not quite American Idol Jenn Hudson, and Alica Keys.
Yeah, then there was the mayhem of Brad Pitt for Burn After Reading. He was much friendlier and jovial than last I saw him, even dancing for the crowd. The crowd though, just as nutty. Coens, Tilda Swinton, and a nearly bald Malkovich also appeared.
On the way to find food, I ran into Ricky Gervais and we talked about Kristin Wiig, who's in his new movie Ghost Town. He had very complimentary comments. We also talked about his upcoming HBO tv stand up special.
Interesting poll I asked Canadians: Do you think it's more likely that Obama will be assassinated or that McCain will die while in office. Obama is winning 9-3. Who would you rather see as president: Palin or Biden? Palin 2, Biden 6 (these were more about being anti-Palin, than actually voting for Biden), Who's Biden got 4. ------------------------------------------------------ Day 3 brought Lebron James for More Than a Game. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Several years ago, first-time director Kristopher Belman decided to follow a high-school basketball team in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. Its core group of players were four African-American youth from varying backgrounds, playing for the elite, predominantly white school St. Vincent-St. Mary. The boys had played together with the same coach since they were in grade school, developing an unusual chemistry. Hollywood should be so lucky to find such a script about family, redemption and what it takes to win. And as if that was not enough, one of the players went on to become an NBA superstar, Lebron.
Then in Dundas Square, he judged an amateur slam dunk competition. He didn't seem to be happy about being there though and muddled through all the proceedings.
Did you know there's a Canadian Walk of Fame like in Hollywood? They had a big event at 1000 bucks a ticket, and 10k for a VIP ticket. You can check out the attendees here: http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/news/2008-list-inductees-announced. ----------------------------------------------------- There was no day 4 as I stayed home to watch opening weekend of football. The biggest talk of Day 5 was the injury of Tom Brady, even up in Canada.
Start the day by seeing Losties Evangeline Lilly and Dominic Monaghan jumping into a cab marking the second time I've seen them in a few days, but no usable pics. Adrian Brody hasn't shaved in months. Kate Beckinsale, yeah uh, really pretty. Just for Anita, Timothy Hutton is a really nice guy. And Viggo Mortensen plays the piano well.
On the movie front, Larry Charles made a politcal version of Borat starring Bill Mahar. It's called Religulous combining religion and rediculous. It's funny in the same way Borat is. You get people who say and do really dumb stuff in the name of religion and don't realize how silly or one sided their version of the world is, while the Vatican priests inerviewed are the most moderate neutral people in the movie. Bill Mahar also told the media: "The USA is dumber than Canada."
Acolytes is a really well done teen angst psycological horror filck. If it's one thing the Toronto Film Fest teaches me every year, it's that when you find a dead body, just leave it alone or for someone else. Don't move it or try to frame the serial killer. ----------------------------------------------- Day 6 ended up being my last day. It was a fun last day that ended with the InStyle Party. It tends to be a big smoozefest and swag bag grab for any celeb that's still in town. It also draws in random celebs. I purposely went diagonally across the busiest intersection at Yonge/Dundas a few times. They've created a scramble walkway where you have one way green, other way green, then a 30 second period just for pedestrians to walk through however they want, much like Tokyo Shibuya and Akihabra. Ah, the things that amuse people. There simply weren't enough movies that interested me to stay. The festival ended up being alright as an experience on the whole. I think I'm jaded somewhat by the whole spiel. This marked year 11. As a fan or ticketholder, the festival just wasn't as friendly as previous years. It was also the cloudiest/rainiest year. Twice, I took cabs to go 5 blocks thanks to a bum foot.
The festival has lost a middle ground of movies. It tries to pull in the biggest names and movies, then fills out with Canadian and foreign films that tend to be from similar genres. I miss the animes like Steamboy or Hayao Miyazaki's trifecta of Spirited Away/Howl's Moving Castle/Princess Mononoke. There was a dearth of action or asain cinema or foreign comedy. It's also missing a middle ground of actors/actresses, preferring to go with the big stars. Here we go again with Brad Pitt. Although this year for him ended up much better than the previous 2 fiascos. I skipped Keira Knightly to watch a football game instead. It's got to be 4th or 5th year in a row I would have seen her. She's in yet another period piece.
I also continued my dislike of cell phones. Why do so many people carry on loud conversations while traveling from one place to another? If it's not while driving, then it's while walking. And the cell phone cameras? Is there a point to try taking a picture if you're target is 10 feet or so away or on the move? Yeah, I'm just ranting.
So quick thoughts: Hopefully, I will post some pics soon. I really loved the JCVD movie. Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler up for an Oscar? Really. RockNRolla by Guy Ritchie is a return to form back to his earlier movies Snatch and Lock Stock Two Smoking Barrels. Viggo Mortensen is one of the nicest guys you'll meet. Also plays the piano well. Slumdog Millionaire is the next Little Miss Sunshine, from Danny Boyle who gave us Trainspotting, Sunshine, and 28 Days Later. Thailand makes crazy action movies with this year's Chocolate. Check out Ong Bak and The Protector for introductions. Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais is funny. Ed Norton is still my archnemesis. Steve Nash is still a mess even when cleaned up. Kids in the Hall are old. Kate Beckinsale is hot even when not a black leather wearing vampire. Blindness was thumbs down. Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno is impressive with fun cameos. Brandon 'I used to be Superman' Routh and Mac Guy Justin Long appear. Elizabeth Banks hilarious. Jason Mewes goes nuts. Oh yeah Dan, I met another Porn Star. Katie Morgan is just as pretty, perky, squeeky, and short in real life as those HBO specials. Rose McGowan looks fantastic and pumped about Red Sonja, working out 2-3 hours a day. She said she's doing swordwork with the Matrix guys and it's supposed to start shooting this month.
X Men Origins Wolverine Trailer ..... Really .... Yeah Really
Ok, before this video gets taken down. Here ya go. This was shown to the panel at Comic Con over the weekend. Yeah, I know, this isn't a real blog entry. Boo freakin hoo.
There's a movie about to shoot in Ann Arbor. It's that suburb next to Detroit, where the University of Michigan is. It might also shoot in Ypsilanti. Ok, it sounds like a chick flick, but you have to start somewhere. So if you want to be an extra for a movie, here's your chance as they really need people for the movie called Whip It. This will be Drew Barrymore's directorial debut and stars Ellen Page. You might have seen her as Shadowcat in the X-Men movies or even more famously in Juno. The movie is based on a teenage girl's discovery of the roller derby world.
So if you're 18 or older and interested, then send an email to info@realstyleonline.com with your name, photos, date of birth, and contact info. Also put your availability in the subject line. It shoots July 28-31, Aug. 1, Aug. 4-8 and Aug. 11. If wondering about pay, you will get $7.40 an hour, and more if overtime is needed. Just as an FYI, they are specifically looking for men/women with mohawks or crazy hair (colored even better), bald people, people that know sign language, and of course, knowing how to roller skate is a big plus. If you are bald or know sign language, then put that in your email subject line.
Death of 2 Legends, Stan Winston and George Carlin
Friends, relatives and show-business colleagues gathered Sunday to remember Oscar-winning special-effects maestro Stan Winston, the man responsible for bringing so many iconic movie creatures to life. Check out his movie list that he worked on or created: Terminator 2-4 (4 is being filmed right now), Kurt Russell's The Thing, Penguin and Catwoman from Batman Returns, AI: Artificial Intelligence (that crazy Teddy Ruxpin doll especially), both Predator movies, Iron Man, Edward Scissorhands, Aliens, and all the Jurassic Park movies. We'll miss the vision.
"What Stan did is that he took our dreams - he took all of our dreams - and he blended them with his own dreams," Spielberg told mourners in attendance. "He then workshopped those dreams with pencil, clay and later years on the computer. He would basically give life to all of our ideas. He would make them come to life."
I learned of the news of George Carlin's passing with much sadness as well, and with the realization that we have lost one of the great thinkers and comedic minds of the last century. Someone who wasn't afraid to tweak authority, who questioned everything. He wasn't college educated, but he had a brilliant mind, and had views — albeit strange and wonderful — on practically every subject in existence. Carlin was the thinking man's off-color comic — he was made famous during the 1970's by his "Seven dirty words" and his challenging of the FCC, a battle that occurred 30 years before Howard Stern would face similar challenges.
I didn't grow up in the 60's, so much of his bucking of authority that I heard on some of his early albums was mostly apocryphal when I listened to them during my college years in the late 90's, when I was first introduced to him. Nevertheless, given today's political environment and the dissatisfaction many Americans now have with their current government and another unpopular war, if you go back and listen to some of his early work, it sounds as fresh as the day it was recorded.
I don't recall Carlin ever saying so outright, but he always crossed me as something of a Luddite, or someone that was fearful of technology and posessions unchecked, and that we were losing our humanity in the process of advancement.
"We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less."
His political and social commentary aside, I always was most fascinated with his "Place for our Stuff" routine which he developed much later on in his career. The bit is about collecting possessions and constantly finding a need to put them somewhere. Carlin may never have thought of digital information in the same way as physical possessions, but if you think of his monologue in terms of storing data, we are facing the exact same challenges.
Devices may have gotten smaller and more portable, but now we have all this digital "stuff" to take care of now. Digital Photos, Videos, emails, productivity data, social contacts — keeping track of all this stuff online and offline has become immensely challenging. The many social networks I belong to because nobody belongs to all the same ones. USB or SD cards I carry with me when I travel, and have found that I always carry spares. Even my GPS unit that tells me where to go can store almost a gig of music and pictures. I don't know if I'll ever have a place for all of my stuff. But I'll look to George Carlin as the prophet who envisioned it if I ever do.
And so off to the hellhole of New Jersey I went on Saturday morning leaving my house at a spanking 4am for a 5 1/2 hour journey. It was cold and made worse by my car’s heater freezing somehow, so no heat was better than cool air blowing around. At least it was traffic free and quickish.
When I got to the hotel, there were 2 long lines already, one for Corey Feldman and another for Bruce Campbell. I definitely didn’t want to wait outside for yet another cold windy 3 hour minimum, so off to the dealer room I went. Just for you folks, I got a bunch of Bruce/Army of Darkness merchandise pictures. I’ve put new pics of these in the Housewares pictures section. There was a great mishmash of toys, posters, dvds, skulls, macabre paintings, special effects works, some other crazy stuff that are really tough to describe, and independent movies (some without distributors, some just getting publicity). There actually weren’t too many people that dressed up in costume. I was disappointed by this. There was another ominous sign. I had forgotten to get money before the trip. The hotel’s ATM broke. And the 2 nearest machines ran out of money, so my quest for more money ended. I didn’t buy/spend much on this trip as none of the dealers took credit card. Probably a good thing.
I made a quick run into the autograph room. Pretty much everyone was charging 20 bucks for a signed specialized 8x10 picture. Then they would also sign something else that you had if you want. Bruce’s line topped out at 400 people. They just cut off the line completely, so not to disappoint the ones at that might have waited the whole time, then missed out. Unlike say the Corey Feldman line, when he unexpectedly never showed up at all, which became an ongoing joke during the Q&A sessions. Some people in his line stood outside for 6+ hours before finding out. 3rd biggest line was for Malcolm McDowell. I like autographs, but I don’t go out of my way for them or buy them. I like taking pictures though.
The chair at the Q&A panels became my home for the rest of the day. My time started out with Brutal Massacre, which stars Brian O’Halloran (from Clerks and other Kevin Smith movies) and Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre). It also has Ellen Sandweiss from Evil Dead, but she wasn’t here today. We also got to see a 10 minute clip. Pretty entertaining, but probably needs more. Brian did let us know that Kevin Smith’s new movie Zach and Miri Make a Porno just finished shooting.
A couple other Q&A sessions, which I probably dozed off during.
Highlights from the Zach Galligan (Gremlins / Waxwork) / William Ragsdale (Fright Night / Herman’s Head) Q&A: There will be no Herman’s Head or Fright Night 2 DVD. They met while doing the Broadway version of Biloxi Blues back in the 90s. Zach says he happy to have helped get the PG-13 rating created thanks to some Gremlins. He was checked every time leaving the set as each Gremlin was 30-50 thousand bucks. Unfortunately, he gave away what little props he did get from either Gremlin movie. Due to conflicts, there is no Gremlin 3 talk. The movie studios want CGI, while management wants animatronics.
Highlights from panel with JoBeth Williams (mom from Poltergeist movies), Heather Langenkamp (Nightmare on Elm Street), and Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction): Amanda Plummer is a nut job and even she knows it. If you think Gary Busey is weird, well there you go. JoBeth thought her scariest scene was the swimming pool set. Peete was used to make it look dirty. Unfortunately, it smelled like dog crap after a week. She only found out later that all those skeletons used were in fact real because it was cheaper than fake skeletons. Also, she was scared of the giant fans falling in and electrocuting her, so Steven Spielberg stood in the pool the whole time of shooting to assure her everything would be ok. Heather thought her scariest scene was in New Nightmare. She became extremely clausterphobic in the scene at the end where Freddy’s tongue completely wraps around her. She was covered by KY jelly and wrapped up in rubber.
They had a They Live reunion. It was the first time Keith David and Roddy Piper met since the movie came out more than 20 years ago. Keith actually talked more about The Thing than They Live, while Piper answered plenty of wrestling questions. Keith did answer my question of who would win a no holds barred match against David Keith. How many times do you see me get my assed kicked? David falls over every movie. Also, neither has ever seen the South Park episode where they redo the entire They Live fight.
As for the Bruce Campbell Q&A, a packed room was highly entertained. We also got to see a 10 minute clip from My Name Is Bruce, which he calls Galaxy Quest for the horror crowd. The new money for special effects was well spent. The trailer looks like crap in comparison. He says it is finally finshed and will definitely come out in 2008, but there is no exact release date yet. He did mention that the new Burn Notice season looks like will start in June with the DVD out the week before. He has no plans for a 3rd book. A Plumbing We Will Go is his favorite 3 Stooges episode. He hates the idea of any Evil Dead remake or sequel, unless it’s by Sam and him. And if he’s not Ash, then his choice for Ash is Ashton Kutcher. Fans booed, and he said he was only joking of course. The real answer is that he’d back any actor that would be happy to have hundreds of gallons of fake blood dumped on him.
Jason Mewes skipped his Q&A session to keep signing autographs at $25 bucks a pop. Then I decided to head home rather than stay for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reunion and Malcolm McDowell panels. Hey, my car’s heater works. And that’s my 25 hour day.
Super Bowl thoughts and the best thing I’ve seen this year
My wallet was a little lighter as this was the biggest statisical mismatch Super Bowl ever, but I really wanted to see the Pats go undefeated. It is near impossible these days and as a sports fan, you want to see the near impossible. Now other than the soon to be named play that exists for all time where Manning escapes 2 guys holding his jersey, going backwards, does a 360, and throws it as far as he can where a miraculous catch by the 5th string wr, the game will be remembered somewhere in the middle, but generally as a footnote used to talk about other undefeated teams, Giants, and Patriots.
Is it the best Super Bowl? Hardly. Is it the biggest upset? Definitely not. Even the commercials which you can see here, were just uneven.
1st quarter had the screaming animals Bridgestone ad, and the Audi looks awesome Godfather reference. But then you also had Sales Genie that had not 1 but 2 ads they purposely tried to win the award for worst commercial. Doritos had the chick lite rock which should have been saved for the Grammys.
2nd quarter was much better with the Budwiser Rocky homage, FedEx carrier pigeons, Iron Man, Tide Swedish stain, and Timberlake Pepsi. I even liked the really dumb but funny Doriotos fan made commercial. Worst commercial for the quarter I thought was Derek Jeter for G2. CMON, Jeter cares about calories?
3rd/4th quarter I liked the Stewie vs Underdog, and Carville vs Frist Coke ads, though I really dislike Frist for adding that really rediculous things to a port security bill last year which incuded some bad things about online poker. Adriana looked great for Victoria's Secret. Worst is Sunsilk, nice job getting the rights to Madonna's song for 3 mil, then paying 3 mil for a Super Bowl commercial to do a crappy job.
And for the best thing of the year I've seen this year so far comes from Jimmy Kimmel's 5 Year Anniversary Show last Thursday. Who needs writers when you've got the really hilarious and inappropriate Sarah Silverman? Her present to her boyfriend Jimmy was the video, "I'm F***ing Matt Damon."
The line was an instant classic. But for many Kimmel fans, the video was just the latest salvo in the long-running "feud" between Damon and Kimmel. It all started during the third season of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, when the host made a tradition of closing out episodes with, "Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time," even though the actor was never scheduled to come on the show.
The joke continued in September 2006 when Damon finally appeared as a guest. After a segment which explained the gag – and a lengthy introduction by Kimmel – Damon sat down, only to have the host cut him off and end the show. As planned, the actor unleashed a flurry of curse words on Kimmel and proceeded to storm off the set. His performance was so believable, many fans thought he was truly upset. The gag continued into 2007, employing Kimmel's sidekick, Guillermo – once while interviewing Damon on the red carpet at the Oceans 13 premiere, and again when the show premiered the "unofficial" trailer for Damon's film, The Bourne Ultimatum. All videos are hilarious. Matt Damon really needs more comedies.
Video 1 - The Bumping of Matt Damon (nice cameo Ben Stiller)
Video 2 - Hazing Matt at the Oscars
Video 3 - The alternate Bourne Ultimatum trailer
Video 4 - I'm F*cking Matt Damon ...... on the bed, on the floor, on a towel by the door, in a tub, in a car, up against the minibar.
I had to check out Cloverfield last night, even got out of work early to go see the flick. I thought Transformers was one of the better movies of last year, but the trailer before it for the yet to be named Cloverfield was by far the most interesting thing I saw. Also, I'm a sucker for watching any movie that blows up New York City. (PS - The zombieish movie I Am Legend is pretty good, but this is far better) BTW, the first trailers for Hellboy 2, Iron Man, and teaser for Star Trek will show before this film, so if interested, don't be late to the movie.
Cloverfield is a highly original, frightful funfest. It's a mix of Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project meets Saving Private Ryan, which is an odd mix. By word of mouth and viral marketing, it's built up an intense following since the original trailer. JJ Abrahms and his crew have done it yet again, making something revolutionary. The visual realism and feeling they obtain is unbelieveable. Even more incredible, it only cost 30 million bucks to make and market which is unheard of for a disaster flick. I'm going to leave this blog spoiler free, but just saying that fans of the horror genre will enjoy this immensely. Don't sit too close to the screen or you might get sick. There's a lot to absorb as well. To a regular person, this movie will seem just ok.
If you want a backstory on all the characters, plot, viral marketing, and behind the scenes stuff, you can check out www.cloverfieldclues.com. You can also find information on the characters via their myspace pages. Yes, really. All the main characters have been interacting like us real people, so you can get an idea of what the characters are like. You will also find out what this has to do with Slusho. Heroes has put them in as product placement on their shows even though it's not real. Slusho does sound good though.
The Curse of Doug Flutie Lives and Someone Has a Mancrush on Tom Brady
The only flakes floating around football today are the folks who no longer believe in the Curse of Doug Flutie.
The Curse of Flutie was born back in the 1999 playoffs. You might remember this as the "Music City Miracle" game. It continues to haunt the Buffalo organization and any team or coach that employs Phillips. In a dumb decision back then, incredibly insane in hindsight, Phillips chose to start surfing legend Rob Johnson over Flutie for the playoff game though Flutie had led them all season long. The Bills haven't even made the playoffs ever since.
In the meantime, Wade Phillips went on to join the Atlanta Falcons for the 2003 season. The Falcons were fresh off a season where the newly minted Mike Vick became the first ever winning playoff vistors to Packers Lambeau Field. What happens? Vick gets injured and the team plays so badly that management fires their coach and not Phillips. Phillips does leave and wouldn't you know, the Falcons return to their winning ways and make the playoffs the very next season.
Wade goes over to working the Chargers. In 2004, they lose to near 2 touchdown underdog Jets on a shanked field goal. 2005, inexplicably miss the playoffs. 2006, they lose in the playoffs where the key play occurs when they actually intercept the ball. Teams with Phillips have continued to lose improbably in the biggest game of the season. Again evidenced by the Cowboys loss to the Giants. Even more hilarious, the Chargers stunned everyone the past weekend in which their 3 most important offensive players were all taken out of the game. How can this happen against Payton Manning, who had 7 different commercials I saw over the weekend: MasterCard, Gatorade, Sprint, DirecTV, ESPN, and Oreo cookies? So Cowboys fans, beg to get rid of Wade Phillips.
As we march to the eventual Farve/Brady Super Bowl, the media play will be incredible. This would be one of the highest watched Super Bowls of all time. The Pats would be trying for the greatest perfect season against the ultimate old time gunslinger in what might be his last game ever. I love what the Patriots have done this season and Brady has been incredible. Dating Gisele on the side is just unfair. On top of that, she makes way more money than him. She's his sugarmomma. Anyways, here's a video to sum it up perfectly.
