February - the month that movies go to die or succumb to illness

...oh no wait, that's just me succumbing to illness!

One minute it was 30 Films in 31 Days, then February rolled around and work picked up, but before the brunt of that could hit me - the flu did instead. And that was that. I lost two weekends in an already short month, and spent about 2.5 work weeks in a fog.  Being able to speak at an audible level again was a triumph, and only coughing in the late night and early morning now is downright sensational.

I can't claim illness was the sole cause of my absence, there was also a little something called House of Cards (which I think took up one of the weekends where I wasn't so sick...).  I binged through 8 episodes, nothing to brag about I know, and when I went in to the office on Monday, was informed by my boss that he and his friends got through them all in one sitting (harkens back to the legends of the LOTR or GOT marathons doesn't it?)  Afterwards I thought "why did I stop Sunday night and go to bed? I would continued and when he found me facedown on my desk on Monday I could've claimed "house of cards" and he would have understood.  Next year...

So...how 'bout them Oscars? I don't know if there are any readers of this blog who only read the blog and not follow me on other forms of social media? I highly doubt it, therefore I'm sure you're aware that I like to use the major film/TV awards shows to practice my live tweeting.  Not that I've ever searched for the definition of "live tweeting" but I've been led to believe it involves recapping information as well as providing some commentary, I think this year I just leaned towards providing fashion commentary.  Pretty ludicrous coming from someone who's hardly an authority.  Still, I had my fun and as always I thank you for not unfollowing me over the past couple of months. I'm still trying to figure out why everyone was freaking out over Margot Robbie's outfit at the Oscars though, it's well-fitting dinner & cocktail attire on a beautiful woman, but that's about it.

As for Birdman taking Best Picture over Boyhood, I'll say it... it was a shame.  Not because Birdman doesn't deserve accolades, but because it didn't deserve to be titled 'best film of the year'.  It was 'the finest technical achievement of the year' and it was 'michael keaton's best performance ever'.  Period. No more. But moving on...

You'll get to see my Top 10 of 2014 at some point, now that no one cares I'm no longer feeling the pressure (my apologies to like the one reader who might care... Jerry? Maybe Lynette too?)

In attempts to get a little back on track (before I go on vacation next month... so maybe I can be "on track" for a couple of weeks?) I'm looking forward to seeing some of what the Canadian Film Fest has in store later this month, as well a couple of blog columns in their infancy on Toronto Film Scene about Canadian Film History and Movie Merch (yes, one is so related to the other...).  Here are the links to the inaugural entries in case you missed them:

http://thetfs.ca/2015/02/26/canadian-film-history-oscar-winning-actors/
http://thetfs.ca/2015/02/12/movie-merch-hot-topic-dresses-like-favourite-movie/

Lastly (for now) I had previously alluded to how I wanted to recap my media consumption like Steven Soderberg did, so I'll leave you with my notes from Jan/Feb to puruse/ignore as you see fit.

--------------------------

numbered = films
not numbered = TV
" " = started books/plays
n = 2015 release
f = my first time viewing 
(#) = number of episodes watched

Jan 1-7
1.In Time - f
2.Fury - f
3.the avengers

4. How to steal a million - f
5. 71 - f n
6. The bling ring
7. Funny girl - f
8. Selma - f n
"The forbidden game trilogy"
"It's not easy being green"
9. What Richard Did

1/8
10. Kingsman: The Secret Service

1/9-11
11. The fifth element
12. Inherent vice - f n
13. A clockwork orange
"Dark crystal creation myths vol 1"
"Secret societies"

1/12

14. 13 Assassins

15. Foxcatcher - f

1/13

16. The Ides of March - f

"A bunch of pretty things I did not buy"

1/14

17. What we do in the shadows

18. The Babadook- f

1/15

"The cute girl network"

1/17

19. American Sniper - n f

1/18

20. Wild - f

21. 127 Hours

1/19

22. Lovelace - f

1/20

23. Out of Africa - f

1/21

24. American Hustle

25. A Place in the Sun

1/23

26. Triplets of Belleville- f

1/24

27. Two days, one night - f n

28. And god created woman

1/25

29. A girl walks home alone at night - n f

30. Once Upon a time in America

1/27

31. Revenge of the Green Dragons

32. The Killer

1/28

33. Hard Boiled

1/29

34. 20 Feet from stardom -f

1/30

35. Guardians of the Galaxy

1/31

36. Still Alice - n f

2/1

37. Cake - n f

2/2-5

38. Jupiter Ascending- n f

Banshee (3 ep)

"Shallow Grave" (John hodge)

2/6

Banshee (1)

39. Life as we know it - f

2/7

Banshee (1)

40. Bridget jones's diary

2/8

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (1)

2/9

Anthony Bourdain's parts unknown (1)

"Act like a lady, think like a man"

2/10

41. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason- f

2/11

The Walking dead (1)

Game of Thrones special 

2/12-14

42. About Time

43. The Philadelphia Story

Banshee (1)

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (1)

2/15

Better Call Saul (2)

44.War and Peace - f

Big Bang Theory (3)

2/16

The Walking dead (1)

"Trainspotting" screenplay by John Hodge

2/19

45.Xmen days of future past 

2/20

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (2)

2/21

46. (Korean movie whose title I could not translate) - f

47. It's Complicated 

48. Bringing Up Baby - f

2/22

Big Bang theory (2)

2/23

Big Bang theory (1)

2/24

Banshee (1)

Big Bang Theory (1)

2/25-26

The walking dead (1)

2/27-3/1

House of cards (8)

I'm not too sick to catch the Oscars tonight!

I just woke up in the middle of the night and realized that the Oscars are today!

Despite best intentions, I have been down for the count the past few days suffering from a socially acceptable form of the plague... I believe others call it 'the flu', and my Top 10 Films of 2014, like the rest of my writing assignments, lie in a state of half completion.

The best I have to offer you is my "short list", if only to show you how uninfluenced/influenced I am by the outcomes of the Oscars tonight. Please check back soon to find out which films made my top 10 and which are honourable mentions...

Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mommy
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
The Lego Movie
That Awkward Moment
Eden
Interstellar
What We Do in the Shadows
Life Itself
Pride
Whiplash
Nightcrawler
Fasten Your Seatbelts

Some quick Oscar predictions (until this round of meds kick in again...), where I'm rooting for the frontrunner in many of the categories...

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Eddy Redmayne (sorry Michael Keaton)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - J.K. Simmons (hands down)

Actress in a Leading Role - Julianne Moore

Actress in a Supporting Role - Patricia Arquette

Best Cinematography - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Costume Design - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Directing - Alejandro Gonzales Inarrritu

Best Film Editing - Boyhood (though part of me wonders if it should be Whiplash, also I'm rather surprised that David Fincher made a film this year and it wasn't up for Best Editing... go figure)

Best Music (Original Score) - The Theory of Everything (should be The Imitation Game)

Best Original Song - Glory (should be Everything is Awesome)

Best Production Design - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Adapted Screenplay - I don't know will win, but part of me thinks American Sniper should win

Best Original Screenplay - Birdman (should be Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Picture - Boyhood

With that, I'm headed back to bed!  Happy Oscars!

Back to the 90's and Back to Steve Soderbergh's 2014

Before I forcefully cram more of my 90's movie memories down your throats I want to draw your attention to another blog that's been generating a bit of buzz in the world wide film web.

As a number of you must have seen (if not read meticulously) Steven Soderbergh shared a list of everything he watched and read in 2014.

http://extension765.com/sdr/22-seen-read-2014


Comb through it if you must (hopefully we'll hear from you again in 2-3 days...), I personally skimmed and never made it past April.  The reaction I've seen has largely been one of interest, some people are deep in analysis, asking why he watched particular films twice, others argue that it's really not that much compared to what they themselves consume (those that broke down the numbers make a good point, I probably watch the same number of films as Soderbergh does in a year, but then again, I don't also have an award winning writing/directing career on the side...)

What I found most interesting was the simple way in which he recorded everything, putting his TV series in caps, books in italics.  It's a concise, elegant way of coding things.

Let me backtrack a second... One of my new year's resolutions (and I haven't done this resolution thing in a while now) was to reestablish my list of "movies that I watched over the year", something that was inspired by my friend Alex Carter many years ago, but a habit I fell out of with the advent of GetGlue (whose every goodness was completely undone by the shift to TV Tag).  These lists were particularly useful when coming up with my top movies of the year, or just being able to look back and seeing what I watched.  The common practice during 30 Films in January is to use letterboxd.com, a great site... that still doesn't have a mobile app.  Hence my desire to re-start that list on Evernote (one of my favourite mobile apps, I don't know how anyone can live without it).

Seeing Soderbergh's list has sparked my imagination and amibition of record something similar for myself in 2015!  Perhaps even slightly more ambitious because in my original list I am listing my films by number (so I know offhand at any point in the year how many films I've watched) as well as giving a coding for films that are new releases (easy reference come Top 10 of 2015 time) and films I've seen for the first time.

I think the result is going to be muddled and obviously generate a lot less interest.  However I may post some of it on this blog from time to time for those who are curious what consumes my time so much that I never talk to them anymore.

And now... Back to the 90's - Can't Hardly Wait

My mom always likes to point out what a stupid movie Can't Hardly Wait is every time I tell her I'm watching it.  So it's an annual conversation pretty much.

Can't Hardly Wait is definitely a movie that has the potential to kill brain cells, but it's also amazingly awesome.  Preston, Amanda, Kenny, et al from Huntington High were class of 1998 just like me.  I saw this movie at Sherway Gardens back when Sherway Gardens still had a theatre. It was June 1998, pretty much when I was getting ready to say farewell to Lakeshore C.I. so I'll always remember them fondly as fellow graduates.

Other reasons I like Can't Hardly Wait:  I love large ensemble casts, I love the exploration and integration of high school cliques, and I love how the cast was a who's who of failed teen TV dramas of the late 90's/early 00's (I think half the cast of Popular must have roles/cameos in this movie, and let's not forget Jason Segel)

The cliques in Can't Hardly Wait are interesting to me in that it was a modernization of say, The Breakfast Club, that and it wasn't simplified down to one individual to represent a group.There were multiple cliques that were kind of like offbeat weirdos and that was something I could very much relate to.  It was a time when everyone was striving to be different, at Lakeshore we had the alt rockers hanging out at the front of the school, us half academic/half artsy types hidden in the Art Hall, the cool kids at their table by the vending machines in the cafeteria, and lord knows where the computer geeks, avant-gardes (who were all Polish from what I remember), etc got to.  We interacted between cliques, which is a realistic representation of high school.  Plus let's face it, who wouldn't love Preston Myers? And Kenny Fisher!!!

 Back to the 90's - Cruel Intentions

TIFF really got into the good stuff in the back end of  this series.  Cruel Intentions is one of my all time favs, based on the tale of Dangerous Liaisons (which is also one of my all time favs!) It was the first time Sarah Michelle Gellar did a villainous role since her part in Swan's Crossing (which I reminisced about in a previous blog post), I really wish she'd done more roles like that, she's much more suited to it than trying to righteous.

It goes without saying alongside the soundtrack (Placebo! The Verve!) I was in love with Ryan Phillippe, but let's not for Joshua Jackson's Blaine Tuttle, I have an appreciation for a cute cunning gay man - so long as he's on my side.

Cruel Intentions lived on in the early 00's when we were auditioning actors for our film projects in University.  Half the girls who came out performed monologues by Kathryn Merteuil from the film, to the point even I had them memorized for years.

Back to the 90's - Empire Records

Of the entire series programmed by TIFF, I was most excited about Empire Records.  Yes, it's one of my favs right up there with Can't Hardly Wait and Cruel Intentions, but unlike the other two, I never had an opportunity to see Empire Records on the big screen.  I'd seen the trailers in theatres, but though I waited patiently for it to screen at Sherway, it never did!  I couldn't determine from an internet search whether Empire Records never had a release in Canada or just not a wide release, either way, after 19 years I was finally getting my chance to see it in a theatre!

Dec 19, 2014 was Rex Manning day! Seeing the whole gang on screen (in the original cut not that crappy re-mix they tried to con us with the in the late 00's) was nothing short of magical.  The idea of working in a record store with all my friends was the dream in 1995, hell, it still is...

Without conscious effort, Empire Records permeated my life, even to this day!  At the time of the film's release, I had just about every single piece of clothing Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger wore.  Lines from the movie made it into my every day utterances, even now you'll occasionally hear me exclaim "What's with today, today?" and of course there's AJ's response when asked by Warren why he glued the scattering of quarters on the floor... (I'll give you a hint: scroll up to the title of this blog!)

 And now a disappointing denouement...no, no, I'm not purposely trashing Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.  The truth is for whatever reason, I've never seen it.  It screened at Lightbox on Boxing Day, when I was, of course, busy shopping and I have not been able to find a copy for download since.

So there you have it, the end to our happy trip through the 90's.  This felt like but a taste, hopefully TIFF will program Back to the 90's Part 2 sometime this year...?

Back to the 90's - Back to 2014...

Happy New Year!

I trust I'm not the only person to have had a busy holiday season. I told myself "it's ok to fall behind on your blogs, no one has time to read them anyway"... Now here we are, weeks behind on the 90's movies series (which ended on Boxing Day) with thoughts more focused on Top 10's and 30 Films!

That's right, what's a January without 30 Films in 31 Days?  9 Years Strong (and badly promoted this year by yours truly), we are over a week into a January tradition!

Also on the list of to-do's every January (even though I've shamefully done this in February some years) is to provide one's Top 10 films of the previous year. While I read critic and website lists unabashedly, I try to stay away from friends' lists until I've finalized my own, this year few friends have posted their lists (yet?), but out of those who have, I've peeked at Mr. Nadarajah's list on chichdarling.com.  Jerry's a good friend and local film writer for whom I have a great respect.  He also declared early on in the year that Ida was one of the best films he'd seen, but I see from your list it was actually more like one of the 20 best films you've seen this year! ;)

I've been jotting down notes for my own top 10, hopefully to be posted before the month of January expires.  In the meantime let's touch on those Back to the 90's Films from the latter part of the 2014 program...

Back to the 90's Reality Bites

(some portions written in November 2014)

90's recap or not, I like to talk about Reality Bites a lot, so forgive me if you've heard some of this before.

Though it was made in 1993, I didn't see Reality Bites until a few years later when my uncle introduced it to me. I didn't think much of it the first time, but it really grew on me during subsequent viewings until it became one of my favourite 90's films.

I didn't really get the characters when I was 15... Lelaina, Troy, Vicky, and Sammy.  From everything I'd been taught up to that point, they were college graduates, and that meant they should've had everything handed to them on a platter.  Yes, this is what was instilled into me as an asian child growing up in the 80's/90's:  study hard and get into university, it is your ultimate goal and will solve all of life's problems and guarantee you happiness.

So you see why Reality Bites resonated more and more over time.  School didn't give us the answers, school didn't even get me a job, I finished university more lost than ever. Troy's friends implore him to go back and get his BFA in an early scene, I can't help but snicker whenever this part comes up.  I've got that piece of paper hanging on my wall, it represents memories of creative freedom, of a time when everyone bent over backwards to do everything different because that's what was expected, but it's never earned me a buck or solved any of my problems.

I miss film school all the time. And sometimes I even miss the slacker attitudes that defined young adults for a time.  Sure it gave those I grew up with a bit of a bad rap, but the possibilities somehow seemed greater then, greater than what youth of today have even (unless that's just the age talking...?)

Anyway, to me Reality Bites is the quintessential Gen X film, I'm surprised Amazon doesn't package it up with Douglas Coupland's book and promote it under the "customers who bought Reality Bites also bought this" section.

The only attitude I'm kinda glad has changed is the lessening of the appeal of Troy Dyer-types, that is, young women have been swayed by nerd culture (even if it does mean the glorification of the hipster) and other forces, and have moved away from the brooding artist types as the "dream male".  I mooned over my share of such guys growing up, and while some of them are still good friends (and much less brooding!), I have to say that many of them did not treat women well. Not in their self-absorption and moody outbursts. Girls of the 90's:  Troy Dyer is a jerk and we should've never put up with that.

Back to the 90's Romeo + Juliet

A visual feast of the 90's, and by that I mean Baz Luhrmann's visuals too.  Seriously though, was Leo DiCaprio ever more beautiful than he was in Romeo + Juliet?  I was 14 years old and Leonardo DiCaprio was 18 when I first decided I was in love with him, however when I went to see him in this movie, it was actually with my high school boyfriend on our first movie date.

As I say, Luhrmann's stunning visuals are pretty much guaranteed to delight, but as far as stories go, this has never been my idea of Will Shakespeare's finest.  Actually, I'm not even a fan of the bard truth be told, and this movie did little to change my opinions. It's one of those films where I like everything about it - Leo, the cinematography, the wicked soundtrack - except the story. I'm also not entirely sure what makes it so "90's" as to qualify this list other than our youthful worship of Leo and Claire.

For whatever reason, I had actually watched Romeo + Juliet just prior to the Back to the 90's series getting started, so I didn't see this film in and around the time it screened.  That week I chose another 90's film instead, another (loose) adaptation of Shakespeare's, The Taming of the Shrew this time, that I thought should've been included in this series but wasn't:  She's All That.

Ok, I get She's All That perpetuates the ridiculous Hollywood practice of throwing glasses and baggy clothes onto a pretty girl and branding her as an "ugly ducking", but the story underneath that was modernized and made much more relevant to 90's culture than Romeo + Juliet was, whose only real modern reference was the use of media to transmit news of events in Verona (what did Will Shakespeare use again? Voice of God? A minstrel?...kidding...) Laney Boggs may have had bizarre interests in interpretive theatre but you could relate to her character and what she went through as a teenager.

Back to the 90's - 10 Things I Hate About You and some more recent recomendations

Ok, let's start with rereading that famed Kat Stratford sonnet that made all of our young hearts ache :

I hate the way you talk to me,
And the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car.
I hate it when you stare.
I hate your big dumb combat boots,
And the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick.
(It even makes me rhyme.)
I hate the way you’re always right.
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh—
Even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it when you’re not around, and the fact that you didn’t call.
But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you—not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

And a re-watching for those who need it:

10 Things I Hate About You is a contemporary overhaul of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, not being a big fan of the bard I've never read any of his plays outside of what high school forced me to read, therefore I'm not familiar with this one.  I do love the movie though.

I probably adore a larger number of romantic dramas and romcoms than I care to admit, but unlike a the bulk of them, I'm not ashamed to admit my love for this one.  Maybe it's got something to do with how no one conforms to gain love, or that every character is blatantly flawed but it makes them more endearing rather annoying. Also it might have something to do with being told that I look a bit like (an Asian) Julia Stiles and that my high school personality reminded people of Kat Stratford and Stiles herself. I realize 10 Things isn't free of cliches, but it's better than most.

Watching 10 Things set me off on a bit of a romcom kick.  Sure, the two romcoms I followed up with were actually films I had to review for Toronto Film Scene, but my editor did give me a list to pick from and I blatantly chose the romanaces.

One of them was Two Seater Rocket, which screened this past weekend at the European Union Film Festival, Austria's answer to Amelie-esque whimsy.  It was a galant effort, but didn't quite do it for me. It was a bit more reality-based and less forcefully delightful than Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo (a huge disappointment for me earlier this year), but still some ways from winning me over.

What I do recommend is EUFF's opening film Fasten Your Seatbelts, which actually has 2 screenings, so there's still a chance to catch it on Nov 30th. I mention in my review that "Writer and director Ferzan Ozpetek presents us with some familiar characters, but even in this charted territory, the film is still wholly engaging." - examples being mismatched lovers, a wild amorous friend, the flighty aunt, and even a token gay character.  The thing I like best about the latter is that while the character of Fabio is gay and acts like a cliche gay man sometimes, he's not in the film to serve as comic relief, he has a rather sad and endearing back story which I love.

What's also interesting about Fasten Your Seatbelts is the non-linear fashion in which the story is told - events unfold, jump, and loop back.  There are unanswered questions, and we don't always find how certain situations turn out, but Ozpetek has spun these events together in a way so that our not knowing actually gives us hope.  It's the feelings that he invokes through the journey that stay with you, the scenes and dialogue that are treated with a delicacy that makes these otherwise ordinary occurrences memorable.

After completing my reviews, I continued to indulge my girly self with a re-watching of The F Word (aka What If for our friends in the US... what a lackluster alternate title).  I guess the good thing is the film itself is not lackluster, and no matter how many times I watch it, I can always appreciate an ode to the city of Toronto.  The way I feel about The F Word is similar to 10 Things and Fasten Your Seatbelts, the flawed characters that I can love inspite of everything.

I don't recall if I've mentioned on this blog my flip-flopping feelings towards Director Michael Dowse, who also made another film that I love:  It's All Gone Pete Tong.  However his Q&A following the screening of that particular film left me with some feelings of negativity.  The first time I saw The F Word was at Canada's Top 10, it was also followed by a Q&A with Dowse and that was fine (though I didn't ask him a question this time).  So I guess, in short, it's fine.

Watch the film(s), it's always best to focus on the films.

Back to the 90's - The Craft & Pump Up The Volume

In the interest of getting caught up, I'm going to double up on this blog post.  There are some obvious similarities between the two films - both of which feature outcasts who find their voice and find their power... perhaps a little too much power.

For Halloween, TIFF appropriately programmed The Craft, the 1996 film that rocketed goth culture to mainstream popularity (much to the dismay of the true goths perhaps).  There's so much about goth culture that I agree and disagree with to this day, but what interested me most about The Craft wasn't the fashion and eye make-up (tho I am to this day a fan of box purses, heavy mascara, and Urban Decay makeup), it was their take on paganism as both positive and negative, targeting it to a teenage audience.  It wasn't a completely accurate representation of the Wiccan faith, but it blended many elements of real rituals that impressionable young minds may have found it hard to distinguish.

Having been interested in horror, magic, and supernatural things since an early age meant I'd read up on witchcraft long before I saw this movie.  Both the medieval persecutions and the Salem witch trials were familiar territory, I even knew a little bit about modern witchcraft including Gerald Gardner and Aleister Crowley's names (if you're not a Crowley fan, don't get uppity that I mention him in conjunction with Wicca, I'm just referencing what's widely out there, true or not).  Still The Craft was really the first time I'd seen paganism and witchcraft detailed on screen in such a manner, I had grown up more accustomed to stuff like The Witches of Eastwick.

Not long after The Craft there was Practical Magic (1998), a more adult take on magic maybe, but also kind of a crappy movie.  I don't recall too many prominent magic (or magick) films since, horror and fantasy genre flicks aside of course.  One needs to look no further than Queen St. West to know that goth culture has gone back underground, along with it the mainstream's fascination with paganism.

On a related note: The Craft star Fairuza Balk has most recently been involved with a documentary film called Beyond Clueless, which has been doing the festival circuit.  It takes a look at teen movies and their impact on contemporary cinema.  My (fellow 90's teen movie enthusiast) BFF and I checked it out at Hot Docs earlier this year, it didn't bowl us over but was a nice trip down memory lane.

Pump Up The Volume hit theatres in 1990, right at the start of the decade, featuring high school students who felt heavily pressured to conform.  This made the film very Gen-X in my eyes.  Having been born at the tail end of Gen X, and sometimes finding myself lumped into the (unrelateable) Millennials category in surveys, I'm part of that age group that in some ways feels the most lost because on top of potentially being a part of a more aimless generation, we're not even sure if we quite belong to it!  That's a whole other discussion though.

It wasn't until many years after Pump Up The Volume was made that I realized what a 90's time capsule the movie really is.  Waves of deja vu hit me watching these kids with boom boxes and cassette tape dubs.  Fine, these are also found in Facebook memes as well, but others went beyond.  Seeing friends on the phone with each other while simultaneously listening to a radio show reminded me of lunch hours with my friend Christopher, when we would race to our respective homes at lunch, call each other, and proceed to chat while listening to 680's Top 12 at 12 (groaning that our favourite rap song only made it to #2 while some bogus R&B track topped that day's countdown).  Then there is one scene in Pump Up the Volume where a girl holds the phone up to the radio so that her friend on the other end can hear.  I had a phase in middle school where my friend Dejana and I were addicted to a teen soap called Swan's Crossing (my first glimpse of Sarah Michelle Gellar being evil btw - more of that to come when TIFF screens Cruel Intentions!) I would program my VCR to record the show which aired at noon, but who could wait until after school?  We would dash to Dejana's whenever possible, but then there was the problem that we had to head back at 12:50 to make it before the bell, causing us to  miss the last 7 mins or so of the episode.  Our solution:  after school I would play back the last 7 mins I had recorded over the phone so that she would hear how the episode ended. 

A more personal connection I have with Pump Up the Volume is that a friend of mine loved Christian Slater and this movie.  Always having been a little insecure herself, coupled with a love of unusual things, Pump Up the Volume probably spoke volumes to Monique. The fact that she adored the film's star Christian Slater didn't hurt either. Monique is no longer with us, so when I see this movie I think of her and the good times we had in high school.

I'm not sure there has been many other movies like Pump Up the Volume since, please point out any glaring omissions.  It's my hopes that (as the end of the movie alludes to) technology has helped to give rise to a diversity of voices and so fewer people are finding it difficult to express themselves.  

Talk hard. Blog hard.

Back to the 90's - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

So I disliked Clueless in the 90's, but I thought the Buffy movie flat out sucked.  In 1992 my idea of monsters were Dr. Giggles and Candyman, not some vampires who got their asses handed to them by a blonde bimbo and Dylan McKay from 90210.  As well, those stakings in Buffy were not gruesome deaths, and the vampires merely bit your neck, showing a complete lack of creativity.  I wanted dismemberment. Then if you were to assess the psychological horror factor, this was definitely no Stephen King.

In conclusion, the Buffy movie was so beneath my snobby 13 year old notice that this was actually only my 2nd time seeing it because I have made zero effort to rewatch it in 22 years. Now, of course, I would later become a fan of the TV series and movie writer - now director/producer/god - Joss Whedon. Without getting into too much dissection, I would say that the TV series was a maturing and development of Whedon's writing skills.  The movie was like a weak pilot, a premise on which he was to expand, flush out, etc. I'm glad the movie was made, otherwise we would've never had the Buffy series, the Angel spin-off, the creed that Whedon needed to create everything that he's done to this day.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie is like Christopher Nolan's The Following! It's what you tolerate and try to make the best of knowing what a genius the maker of that little project became.

Couple of parting thoughts:

I didn't look closely enough during these scene, but that's gotta be a bodysuit Hillary's wearing right? Man I still want those earrings!  Only thing is missing is a hair tie with a matching daisy flower on it.

Luke Perry looked so much better without the James Dean wanna be hair, he's pretty cute here.  David Arquette... ???

Back to the 90's - Clueless

This isn't related to this post's title, but regardless it's a passing thought.  I think it goes without saying that my life is manically (maniacally... which it can be too) busy, leaving me with very little time to contribute to this blog (which is unfortunate because I greatly enjoy it).  I was thinking how the only real opportunity I have in an average day to let my mind wander (aka muster up an ounce of creativity and come up with ideas for this blog) is in the shower.  Thus the first person to come up with a device that allows me to blog while I shower will have my money and unwavering devotion.  Just putting that out there...

That said, my TIFF experiences, only a few weeks ago prevalent and powerful, are admittedly starting to fade. I will have to try and get those thoughts down before they are gone away. (But then I'll just watch more moves and make new experiences :))

Today's blog though, is meant to get started on a trip back to the 90's!  Once again thanks to TIFF, I was overjoyed when they announced this program. It's a collection of campy teen favs from the decade in which I was a middle and high-schooler.  I could go down the specifics of memory lane, but my experiences aren't that different from everyone else who was a teenager of the 90's, and our connection to those years is pretty much like everyone's connection to their teenage years, regardless of the decade.  So I'll let the movies do the talking.

The launch of TIFF's Back to the 90's program made me realize that 1) I own 8 of the 11 films that are screening and 2) I wanted to re-watch them all! (Even the ones I don't own are only a download away ;)) So that's become my mission, watch the 90's film that's screening at Lightbox on a given week and write a little about my impressions of the movies, my memories of when I first saw it, etc. Actually for those who are also revisiting 90's favs, I would love to hear your thoughts and memories too - please proceed to the comments section!

So far I'm so-so for being on schedule but I'm trying here.  I was out of the country when Clueless screened in early October but got caught up over the weekend.

I never really liked Clueless when it came out 1995.  You see, I wasn't like Cher in high school... Ty maybe, but even then, not really.  My little floral skirts were more Lisa Loeb that Cher, and my box purses were definitely more inspired from The Craft. I was sometimes grunge, and loathed rap in favour of techno, euro, and other forms of underground dance music.  So me want to be like the girls in Clueless? As if.

That lame TV show that came after pretty well sucked too, do you guys remember it? So much bloody pink...

Later in life I was to learn that the plot of Clueless was based on Jane Austen's Emma, which I do like. That may have softened my harsh opinion of Clueless, but still it never really rocketed it up my movie list to the point where I wanted to purchase a copy for myself. As a result, I've probably only seen it like 4 times in my life.

Watching it this time was a novelty, like a cheesey throw-back, and it was a lot of fun.  Also young Paul Rudd, I should've paid more attention to former stepbrother Josh!  Oh, speaking of former stepbrother/stepsister, that element has alway been a little weird to me in Clueless.  Yet, Katherine & Sebastian in Cruel Intentions? No big deal. I never quite understood why that was? Maybe cause Katherine was so delightfully devilish? But that's another movie (that's screening later this year!)

Until the next movie...

The Movie Sounds Better With You - Eden at TIFF 2014

Eden caught my eye early on when I was reading the 300+ film synopsis for TIFF 2014.  Re-reading that synopsis now, I can see what caught my attention ... "EDM", "Daft Punk", "underground dance music scene of early-nineties".  I hate to criticize TIFF's beloved Cameron Bailey, who programmed Eden and wrote the synopsis, but I think that some of the film's essence may have been a little buried in the verbiage.

My preconception of Eden was also further skewed after speaking to a couple friends that had caught an earlier screening of the film.  They reported back that it was mediocre, but maybe in doing so it lowered my initially high expectations so that I wound up enjoying it more.  Also this is where I feel Mr. Bailey's eloquence may have mislead those who are not the target audience to see this film.  That's always a danger isn't it?  You want your film to come across as wide-reaching because you want a lot of people to see it, but if the wrong people wind up seeing it, then you get a slew of disappointing and bad reviews.

But let's focus on my experience with Eden, shall we?

It was the last day of TIFF 2014 and the last movie of TIFF 2014 for me. I staggered from Scotiabank Theatre down to TIFF Bell Lightbox, texting my friend Sachin on the way.  Though we didn't plan it, I couldn't think of a better person to see Eden with than Sachin, who is a friend of about 10 years, with whom I spent countless hours at one of two places - at TIFF or in the clubs.  I have a sneaking suspicion we may have gone to a Daft Punk concert together, and we count several DJs and promoters amongst our mutual friends.  Eden is a French reflection of our lives, our world, and our experiences.

Sachin and I at a club for Halloween 2005

The film is far from perfect, but so is life. I'm not familiar with Mia Hanson-Løve but countless articles tout her abilities in "capturing the intimacy of relationships".  I'm not sure that's best displayed in Eden, unless we're talking about the intimacies of his relationship with music. If anything it showed me how we pass through relationships, some more significant than others, each developing and ending differently, but ultimately a thing that's woven through our lives as a part of something bigger.  If anything, I thought Eden portrayed the intricacies of life itself.

Daft Punk's Toronto show in 2007

Main character Paul's own struggling career is contrasted against Daft Punk's.  Here in Toronto, we could contrast many friends' careers against Deadmau5's - once a candy kid we couldn't pick out of a crowd at a rave of thousands, while other hometown heroes the same age as him took the stage.  Now he's performing at the Grammy's and my old friends and acquaintances are still in Toronto, plugging away at day jobs in order to fund their music careers that are still primarily local performances.

Last Hullabaloo and specimen of digital photography from 2005

Don't get me wrong, this isn't some rave movie, it's not the 2014 version of Go. Even for the portions of the film taking place in the early 90's, Hanson-Løve doesn't go to the trouble of recreating arena rave footage, instead opting for moments of interaction at the door or in the DJ booth.  It's very much about the interactions. And the soundtrack. I was elated by the music and actually a little disappointed that few articles made mention of the excellent music selections.

Photo I took of DJ Joey Beltram in 2006. His anthem track Energy Flash is featured in Eden.

If you have a chance to see the movie (which hasn't been picked up yet, far as I've heard), you will see Paul meeting up with a group of friends - his musical partner, a promoter, and a bunch of people including several girls who are frequently around but not introduced by name in the movie... that would've been me in the Toronto version. (ie. the girl who was essentially nobody, but somehow never had to stand in line to get in ;))

What I'm driving at here, other than the opportunity to reminiscence about my teens & 20's, is that for those who lived it, Sven Hansen-Løve's experiences and contributions to the script of Eden is an accurate and detailed recreation.  It's going to resonate with those viewers,  but I have doubts it will translate to those that didn't maintain a similar lifestyle. While I think Paul's life experiences are very universal - aspirations, girls, drugs, and struggling with a mountain of debt, my own experiences with other films of this genre and even my own filmmaking experiences have taught me that people have trouble seeing past the partying (raving) lifestyle. It's unfortunate.

So... like my previous post about I Dream of Wires, if you're part of that small contingent for which I write these particular blogs, I recommend you keep an eye out for Eden. It's a nice little film and will provide you with hours and hours of reflection afterwards.

If you've read this far, I clearly have your captive attention (or you're really bored, therefore you might as well keep reading) so I'll leave you with a couple random but (presumably) interesting links:

• In my post about I Dream of Wires, I had additional links and nerdy info that I did not ultimately include in the interest of time... One band/group that I've followed for 20+ years is The Prodigy, from the first time I heard Chris Sheppard play "Out of Space" at one of his "live to air" broadcasts in the early 90's.  Liam Howlett is not-surprisingly the proud owner of a lot of synth toys... here is a list. 
• In that same post I also made reference to a film called Modulations by Iara Lee, she also made another film before Modulations called Synthetic Pleasures - focusing on the use of technology (circa 1995) by human beings..."from body piercing to bionics, to transform our environments, bodies and minds in search of pleasure" which is available on youtube --> http://youtu.be/muUklk8pTCE
• Finally getting back onto the topic of Eden, here is a good article I came across about the film and the importance of Daft Punk's role in it.
• Lastly, the title of this post is a play on words, it comes from club anthem "The Music Sounds Better with You" which was co-written by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.

The TIFF Hangover - 2014 Edition

2014 marked my 16th festival. My first festival was in 1999 and I saw one film that year. The most movies I've ever caught in a single festival is 30, though this year I got to see a handful of things pre-fest, which brings my grand total over 30 (though I feel like if you didn't sacrifice sleep and poison your body with Red Bull to see it, it doesn't really count).

Random:  I was browsing ye old internet for some images to include in this blog and came across this one of Jessica Chastain, back at the Elgin for TIFF 2014.  The background of this photo looks so civilized.  Take it from someone who was right by the barricades. It was not. :P

Now normally after each TIFF, I set out to write short reviews about all the films I've seen, which I always think will take a few days, but in reality becomes a prolonged task... so then I find myself on my annual fall vacation, wracking my brain, while on a plane, trying to finish up my reviews.  That being said, I'm not sure if I will be following in that model this year, during the festival (translation: it may just be a sleep-deprived crazed idea) I felt a recurring desire to focus on several films that I reacted to more strongly, rather than superficially skim over everything.

 
What this means is that in the upcoming days/weeks or maybe never (heh), I'd like to delve into the films: Mommy, Revenge of the Green Dragons, Eden, and maybe even Before We Go/Meet Me In Montenegro.

That said, I'd still like to list everything I saw at TIFF 2014:
(with my usual 5-star rating system)

Pre-Festival:

1. Pride - 4 - TFS Review
2. Guidance - 3.5 - TFS Review
3. Short Cuts Canada Programme 4 - TFS Review
4. Short Cuts Canada Programme 5 - TFS Review
5. Short Cuts Canada Programme 6 - TFS Review
6. Short Cuts International Programme 1 - TFS Review
7. Short Cuts International Programme 2 - TFS Review

During the Festival:

1. Spring - 3/5 - I feel like everyone else loved this more than me.
2. Preggoland - 3 - I don't know if I can ever look at red jello quite the same again, nevermind eat it. The film was more endearing than I expected it to be.
3. Luna - 2.5 -  For something created by one of my fav illustrators/artists, I hoped for more drawn imargery vs. live action.
4. Waste Land - 2.5 -  I didn't hate this nearly as much as everyone else did.
5. Hyena - 1.5 - This was on a trajectory to get a 2, then came the cop out ending, which is not opened ended so much as they stopped writing mid--
6. Tusk - 3 - Dammit Kevin Smith fucked up my perceptions to Tusk by Fleetwood Mac so badly.
7. Tour de Force - 2.5 - It probably deserves a higher rating, but I lack a heart sometimes.
8. 99 Homes - 4 (it will probably be 3.5 in subsequent viewings) Great performances, plus I love twisted morality.
9. Gemma Bovery - 2.5 - How you felt about Tamara Drewe, is pretty much how you will feel about Gemma Bovery - though the directing is not as strong.
10. Mommy - 4.5 (probably 4 in subsequent viewings) I was wholly unprepared for how much I would enjoy this movie.
11. My Old Lady - 3 - With Maggie Smith comes a certain amount of charm and wit, so there are certain expectations for the films she's tied to. This one met my expectations but did not exceed.
12. Dragon Inn - 3 - A 4K remastered version of the 1967 Taiwanese film, I've wanted to see this for years as the 1992 Hong Kong remake is one of my favourite films.
13. Men, Women & Children - 3.5 - I like Jason Reitman, I do not think this is his worst film at all, despite what some critics have said.
14. The Last Five Years - 2 - I should know better than to choose a musical, about a failed relationship story told in reverse. (500) Days of Summer is the only movie of this kind that I liked.
15. Revenge of the Green Dragons - 3.5 - A Chinglish 80's throwback, if I'm not the target audience for this movie, I don't know who is.
16. Kabukicho Love Hotel - 2.5 - Film itself was probably fine, but I remained disengaged from the characters.
17. The Imitation Game - 4 - I really think this is Oscar material. Brilliant performance, but Cumberbitches, you can keep Benedict, I'll take Matthew Goode any day.
18. The Wanted 18 - Exhaustion got the better of me, I was really enjoying this but nodded off all the same. Will look for it so I can watch it again.
19. Nightcrawler - 4 - Some really dark subject matter, so naturally I loved it.  This is my idea of a good Hollywood blockbuster.
20. The Connection - 3.5 (would've been a 4 if they'd shaved off 20mins) - Maybe I was very tired, but at least 3 of the main characters in The Connection looked similar to me. I could pick out Jean Dejardins but the other two, were not as easy, this surely confused the story in my head.
21. Before We Go - 3 For a movie that starts with "before", Chris Evans has nothing on Richard Linklater. I do like that it was not a conventional boy meets girl story.
22. Meet Me in Montenegro - 3 (2.5 if the directors hadn't been there) - I'm still trying to decide if I really like this film, but the fact that I'm still considering the story 3 days later says something...
23. The Editor - 3 - I'm a fan of Giallo and I'm a fan of parody, over the top parody even... but this only reached "interesting" in my movie scale, not "amazing" or anything.
24. What We Do in the Shadows - 4 - Ok, this was amazing. It was my 5th movie that day and I expected to be asleep no matter what, instead I giggled through 86 minutes
25. The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness - 3 - Studio Ghibli will likely enjoy this more, it was a dangerously relaxing film to see on day 10 of the festival.
26. The Little Death - 3.5 - Maybe I read the synopsis wrong, but it was a heck of a lot funnier than I expected and I like the intertwining storyline.
27. The Guest - 3.5 - As if I didn't love Dan Stevens enough from his portrayal of Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey, he goes and takes off his shirt in The Guest. <insert a more credible comment here> ;)
28. Eden - 3.5 - this is not a film for everyone, it may not be a film for most, hell I'm not even sure it's really that good a film, but it spoke volumes to me because I filled in the blanks with my own life and experiences.