From August 21st to September 1st, the Montreal World Film Festival celebrated its 32nd anniversary with a selection of 234 feature films, and almost as many short to medium films. Like previous years, the pot was a mix of critical successes and abysmal failures. As is the case with such festivals, any one film enthusiast can hardly see them all, especially with more paying engagements throughout. The best place to start with the MWFF’08 is in the World Competition picks, 20 films that in the end will vie for the festival’s grand prize: The “Grand prix des Amériques” (Grand Prize of the Americas, or “Best Film”). Read more »
Tags: Benoit Pilon, Brian De Palma, Cinema Imperial, Departures, Four Chapters, Grand prix des Amériques, La Vie en Rose, Montreal World Film Festival, MWFF'08, Place des Arts, Quartier Latin, Some Like it Hot, Teo's Voyage, The Kautokeino Rebellion, The Magic Hour, The Necessities of Life, The Tour, Theatre Maisonneuve, They Killed Sister Dorothy, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Wolf, Woody Allen
Film Festivals | 
September 30, 2008 | Comments Off
September ends with a bang - a good mixture of critically-acclaimed foreign films, documentaries and American mainstream film. Vying for your attention this week an Oscar-nominated war on terror documentary, a Judd Apatow-produced comedy, a fully restored Murnau masterpiece and Marvel’s Iron Man. This is a nice end to a month that started with some notable small films in its first week and fumbled along with a few notables in its middle.
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Tags: Alex Gibney, An Autumn Afternoon, Beaufort, Bigger Stronger Faster*, Chapter 27, Chris Bell, Clayton Jacobson, F.W. Murnau, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Iron Man, J.P. Schaefer, Jellyfish, Jon Favreau, Joseph Cedar, Judd Apatow, Julian Schnabel, Kenny, Laura Dunn, Lou Reed's Berlin, Nicholas Stoller, Peter Weir, Shira Geffen & Etgar Keret, So Much So Fast, Steven Ascher & Jeanne Jordan, Taxi to the Dark Side, The Last Laugh, The Mosquito Coast, The Unforeseen, Yasujiro Ozu
DVD Previews | | Comments Off
Unless you’re in the mood for some small documentaries or restored versions of classic films, this week has very little to offer filmgoers looking for anything mind-blowing or challenging. Nevertheless, a few blockbuster comedies should keep the masses happy until next week’s decidedly better release schedule.
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Tags: A Lion in the House, Aki Kaurismaki, Andrew Walton, Arctic Son, Ariel, Asif Kapadia, Bashing, Cinematographer Style, Curtis Hanson, Dario Argento, David Schwimmer, Deception, Far North, Ferzan Ozpetek, Francis Ford Coppola, George Clooney, Jon Fauer, L.A. Confidential, Leatherheads, Marc Schoelermann, Marcel Langenegger, Masahiro Kobayashi, Michael Patrick King, Mother of Tears, Pathology, Run Fatboy Run, Saturn in Opposition, Sex and the City: The Movie, Shadows in Paradise, Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert, The Godfather, The Match Factory Girl
DVD Previews | | Comments Off
Wading through the mud seems to be trick in the third week of DVD releases for September. Among the numerous mainstream and lowstream productions there are only a handful of films really worth checking out. Most notable among new releases are two indie productions, one starring a blue bulb-headed mascot, and the other starring Kate Beckinsale not playing a sexy gothic fantasy lead. Shocking.
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Tags: 88 Minutes, Andy & Larry Wachowski, Before the Rains, Blood Simple, David Gordon Green, David Ross, Earrings of Madame De..., Flood, Henry Bean, Joel & Ethan Coen, John Hughes, Jon Avnet, Kabluey, La Ronde, Le Plaisir, Made of Honor, Marco Schnabel, Marie-Monique Robin, Max Ophuls, Michael Glawogger, Noise, Paul Weiland, Santosh Sivan, Scott Prendergast, Snow Angels, Speed Racer, Stephen Walker, The Babysitters, The Love Guru, The World According to Monsanto, Tony Mitchell, Workingman's Death, Young at Heart
DVD Previews | | Comments Off
The second week of September is a bit of a drag, release-wise. Unless you’re in the mood for some re-released films already available on DVD and more new editions of Halloween classics and not-so-classics, then this week may be a good one to catch up on some other DVDs you may have missed over the past few weeks. However, there are still some releases of note, most of which have received mixed reviews, but which may hit the mark for some viewers. Also, Criterion has begun releasing some of its library in affordable editions without the plethora of extras. Nothing new for those renting films, but maybe a good buy.
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Tags: 14 Women, Akira Kurosawa, Baby Mama, Beauty and the Beast, Child's Play, Cool Hand Luke, Criterion Collection, Essential Art House Vol. 1, Event Horizon, Friday the 13th, House of the Dead, How the West Was Won, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir, Joel & Ethan Coen, Kicking It, Knife in the Water, Lord of the Flies, Mary Lambert, Michael McCullers, Paul Taylor, Peter Brook, Pumpkinhead, Rashomon, Rob Minkoff, Roman Polanski, Seed, Sleepy Hollow, Susan Koch & Jeff Warner, Tarsem Singh, The Big Lebowski, The Fall, The Forbidden Kingdom, The Grand Illusion, Tim Burton, Uwe Boll, We Are Together, Wild Strawberries, Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! Strippers VS Zombies
DVD Previews | | Comments Off
September is often an exciting month in home movie releases as it begins the countdown to the holiday season for distributors. Between the first week of September and mid December, DVD’s release en masse in order to take advantage of that November economic upswing (thanks to American Thanksgiving and the fiasco that is Christmas shopping). So while there are few notable mainstream releases for the first few weeks of the month, by its end the blockbusters come pouring in (see the week of Sept. 30). Thankfully, this gives all home theater owners the chance to experience some of the smaller films released internationally or in film festivals for the past one or two years.
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Tags: Aaron J. Wiederspahn, Ballet Shoes, Before I Forget, Boomerang!, Carlos Reygadas, Céline Sciamma, Death Note, Dilip Mehta, Dragonwyck, Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea, Jacques Nolot, John Jeffcoat, Kings, Moontide, Outsourced, Road House, Sandra Goldbacher, Shinichiro Sawai, Shusuke Kaneko, Silent Light, Steve Conrad, The Forgotten Woman, The Promotion, The Sensation of Sight, Tom Collins, Water Lilies
DVD Previews | September 28, 2008 | Comments Off
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