Features
Hat tip to The Playlist for reminding us of this brief trailer for Richard J. Lewis’s comedy “Barney’s Version,” which will premiere in competition at next month’s Venice Film Festival, before moving on to Toronto. (It’s a couple of months old, but for many, the film only hit the radar recently.) There is too little […]
‘Barney’s Version’ teaser
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:52 pm · August 3rd, 2010
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Foreign-language tally rises to 57
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:45 am · September 30th, 2009
Though that number will probably be out of date the second I post this, such is the crush of films squeezing in before the deadline these last few days. Any, the latest trio of contenders come from minor national film industries all seeking their first nomination in the category: Estonia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Estonia’s entry, […]
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‘Precious’ takes Toronto’s People’s Choice
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:59 pm · September 19th, 2009
I’m a bit out of pocket down south so a fleeting post is all I can offer the history-making moment that is ‘Precious’ winning Toronto’s audience prize. No other film has taken the audience award at both Sundance and Toronto, I believe, but this miraculous film’s Oscar trajectory has been written for months. Congrats to […]
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TORONTO: Wrap up
Posted by John Foote · 6:56 am · September 19th, 2009
And so it ends. The last of the press screenings have winded down, the final Gala is tonight, and the awards are on the way, ending this year;s Toronto International Film Festival. This year’s fest was terrific, one of the better festivals, though still not as strong as 2007, which for me was the greatest […]
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WEEKLY WRAP: Swayze passes, Venice wraps, Toronto runs
Posted by Guy Lodge · 9:02 pm · September 18th, 2009
• Patrick Swayze left us this week, passing away of cancer at the age of 57. • The Venice Film Festival drew to a close, with Israeli war drama “Lebanon” taking top honors. • It was Colin Firth, however, who emerged with Oscar buzz for the Weinstein-acquired “A Single Man.” • Across the Atlantic, we […]
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INTERVIEW: Steven Soderbergh
Posted by John Foote · 10:14 am · September 18th, 2009
Toronto Film Festival Steven Soderbergh freely admits how much luck has played into his career, beginning with winning the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1989, the victory that launched his career and his first major work, “sex, lies and videotape.” “First of all the film was not supposed to be part of the competition […]
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TORONTO: ‘Whip It,’ ‘Valhalla Rising’
Posted by John Foote · 12:42 pm · September 17th, 2009
More from the fest… “Whip It” (***) Skinny Milly Miller. I remember that name from the roller derby shows on Saturday afternoons in the 1970s. My grandfather loved sports of any kind and when there was nothing else, it was roller derby he would watch, and invite me to do so with him. I loved […]
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TORONTO: Douglas tops in the tedious ‘Solitary Man’
Posted by John Foote · 8:14 am · September 17th, 2009
People tend to forget that Michael Douglas won his first Academy Award not as an actor but as a producer, bringing the classic film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to the screen in 1975. His father Kirk had given him the project after years of trying to get the things going and Michael went […]
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TORONTO: Michael Caine, ‘Harry Brown’ and Oscar
Posted by John Foote · 1:03 pm · September 16th, 2009
Michael Caine has won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, the first time for his performance in Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,”and the second for Lasse Hallström’s “The Cider House Rules.” Among others, he ousted Tom Cruises’s brilliant performance in “Magnolia” with the latter. Beloved within the business, Caine is considered an […]
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INTERVIEW: Clive Owen
Posted by John Foote · 7:05 am · September 16th, 2009
Toronto Film Festival “I have two lives, mate,” Clive Owen says with clear-eyed certainty. “My work, and when I am done, my home life. There is no question to me which is more important. My wife and children are everything to me.” Owen is as intense in person as he is in some of the […]
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INTERVIEW: Robert Duvall
Posted by John Foote · 4:27 pm · September 15th, 2009
Toronto Film Festival Sitting down with Robert Duvall is more than a little intimidating. The man does not suffer fools, nor does he have a lot of time for small talk or stupid questions. He likes to talk, but he also likes an informed conversation. As he nears 80, he is still a force of […]
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TORONTO: More on ‘The Road’
Posted by John Foote · 8:20 am · September 15th, 2009
There were some complaints in yesterday’s Toronto thread that I wasn’t specific enough as to why I enjoyed John Hillcoat’s “The Road,” so let me make it clear. The film captures, miraculously, in its performances and its images, a profound sense of loss, both for what was and for what will never be. Trees fall […]
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TORONTO: ‘The Road,’ ‘Bad Lieutenant,’ ‘Chloe’
Posted by John Foote · 2:27 pm · September 14th, 2009
(Please note, as opposed to Kris and Guy, I tend to grade films on a 5-star scale.) Loads to catch up on today and some interviews still to write up. First off, I have to confess that I disagree with Kris’s review of “The Road,” respectfully of course, and I think I have a reason […]
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TORONTO: Duvall the talk of the fest — shades of 1997
Posted by John Foote · 2:01 pm · September 13th, 2009
You know a film is hot when it is the subject of conversation in the screening, in the press room, and in the hallways of the hotels where the press junkets and meetings are being held. In 1997, “The Apostle,” the exquisite film directed, written by and starring Robert Duvall, was the talk of the […]
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TORONTO: ‘Precious’ — a work of art
Posted by John Foote · 5:27 pm · September 12th, 2009
The problem with film festivals is that sometimes we critics speak too soon. Earlier today I stated that after seeing “Up in the Air,” it might be the best American film of the year, and until seeing “Precious” this morning, I meant it. Two hours later, walking out of the theater, exhausted, beaten up, stunned […]
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TORONTO: ‘The Informant!,’ ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ ‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Hugh Hefner’
Posted by John Foote · 2:43 pm · September 12th, 2009
(Please note, as opposed to Kris and Guy, I tend to grade films on a 5-star scale.) Day two of the festival is always among the busiest because the major studios are here and they want you to see their films. Movies with buzz coming out of Toronto quite often end up in the Oscar […]
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TORONTO: Settling in, ‘Antichrist’
Posted by John Foote · 9:41 am · September 11th, 2009
I left home at 6:30am yesterday to make an early check-in to my hotel at 8:30. One bummer, my youngest daughter, Ariana, has a flu bug and I hate leaving Sherri with her on her own. She assured me it was cool, so I managed to get out the door without being overwhelmed with guilt. […]
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Previewing the 34th annual Toronto fest
Posted by John Foote · 7:25 am · September 4th, 2009
In less than a week I will kiss my wife and kids goodbye and head into Toronto, about 50 miles away, for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Twelve years ago my wife and I found it makes no sense for me to attend the festival for 16 to 18 hours and then try to […]
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