November at Movie Moxie

Now that the scary days of October have rolled on by it's time to switch things up a bit here. When I think of November, I mostly think a month that is cold and rainy so to get out of that groove I'm going to focus on the exact opposite: westerns where the lands are dry and the fights are high. Now, hold on their partner, if that ain't quite your style I will also be attending and writing about the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (November 14-18/07) and the Akira Kurosawa blogathon (November 15-22/07) as well as current film. Gunslingers to samurais, it will all be here.

Tune in to TCM: Be Our Guest

This post begins a new subsection for "The Latest on TV" that will highlight the monthly programming for every movie lovers' favorite cable channel, Turner Classic Movies.

Kicking things off, November is "Guest Programmer Month" at TCM, where 29 famous names (and one lucky contest winner) present four of their personal pic picks each night. In addition to some of our celeb faves -- like Whoopi Goldberg (1), Cybill Shepherd (15), Tracey Ullman (17), Martha Stewart (30) and even Kermit the Frog (21) -- three gay icons are also participating in the month long event:

• Gore Vidal (4): The celebrated author and screenwriter includes two classic melodramas -- Bette Davis in The Letter and Vivien Leigh in That Hamilton Woman -- and two Shakespearean adaptations -- James Cagney in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Laurence Olivier in Hamlet.
• Charles Busch (8): The stage diva extraordinaire naturally picks a quartet of legendary ladies of the silver screen: Judy Garland (I Could Go on Singing), Ida Lupino (The Hard Way), Norma Shearer (Escape) and Joan Crawford (A Woman's Face).
• Harvey Fierstein (26): One-upping Vidal and Busch, the beloved theatrical legend has both Bette (The Catered Affair, a stage version of which he'll star in on Broadway next spring) and Joan (in The Women, natch), plus two rarities about misfit youths, The Boy with the Green Hair and The Devil is a Sissy.

Weekdays this month will find airings of some of the most popular film series ever, from spies (The Saint) to lawyers (Perry Mason) to doctors (Dr. Kildare) to the Mexican Spitfire, not to mention a slew of detectives (Nancy Drew, Philo Vance, Dick Tracy, Sherlock Holmes, The Thin Man, The Gay Falcon) and two days worth of Andy Hardy.

And finally, notables from the "Not on DVD" file: Test Pilot, The African Queen, The Magnificent Ambersons (3), This Sporting Life (7), Four Daughters (10, 27), None But the Lonely Heart (12), Blues in the Night (14), Red Dust, Kes (17), Maytime (19) and The Crowd (22).

Numbers in parenthesis are the airdates for each program; check the TCM schedule for showtimes in your area.

Links via TCM.com.

Robert Goulet: 1933-2007

Robert Goulet, the velvet-voiced actor/singer who originated the role of Sir Lancelot in Broadway's Camelot, died yesterday.

Known primarily for his Grammy Award-winning recording career, Goulet did appear onscreen occasionally in such movies as Atlantic City, Scrooged, Beetlejuice and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear. He also lent his distinctive vocal talents to animated films, like Gay Purr-ee, Toy Story 2 and Recess: School's Out.

Goulet won the Tony Award for his role in Happy Time and starred in several popular television productions of stage musicals, including Brigadoon, Carousel and Kiss Me Kate. His last Broadway role was Georges in the recent revival of La Cage aux Folles.

Links via Imdb.com and HollywoodReporter.com.

Women We Love: Cassandra 'Elvira' Peterson

Who else could be the subject of a Halloween day Women We Love (wrapping up our month long salute to the "scream queens of the silver screen") then the one, the only Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, nee Cassandra Peterson:

- Why we love her: For deftly mixing the saucy sexuality of Mae West with the gothic sensuality of Vampira to create an iconic character who made B movies sexy. Also: for better or worse, inspired perennial Halloween costumes for drag queens everywhere.
- Choice role: The sassy siren of celluloid screams, the "hostess with the mostess" of the long-running syndicated program Elvira's Movie Macabre and her own, self-titled feature film.
- What else has she done: Her film debut was in Fellini's Roma. Played the "biker mama" in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
- First big break: Right after high school, at age 17, went to Las Vegas and became the youngest showgirl in Sin City history. Elvis Presley saw her and encouraged her to become a singer (they briefly dated as well).
- Bet you didn't know: The original idea for the Elvira character was patterned after Sharon Tate's role in The Fearless Vampire Killers.
- Side job: Has made millions over the years licensing her unique likeness to everything from Elvira wigs to arcade games to her own line of DVDs.
- No kidding: Has always been a fan of Ann-Margret.
- Can we quote you on that: "I'm glad to see you're back. You're glad to see my front."
- You go girl: Is a big supporter of gay rights and animal rights.
- What is she up to now: Will pick her perky protégé on tonight's finale of Fox Reality's The Search for the Next Elvira. And, as you can see from this promo clip for that show, she looks as frightfully fabulous as ever. You think she sold her soul to the devil for some eternal youth?

Links via Imdb.com, FoxReality.com and YouTube.com.

Wicked Betty

Tomorrow night will offer a rare treat for musical theater fans: the Emmy Award-winning Ugly Betty goes to Broadway. And no, not for the rumored all-singing, all-dancing episode, but for a special visit to the Tony Award-winning Wicked. Through the magic of television, Los Angeles' Pantages Theatre will stand in for New York's Gershwin, and the stars of the west coast production, Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty, guest star.

Betty fans will remember last season's aborted date to see the show for our plucky heroine (America Ferrera) and her nerd prince charming Henry (the surprisingly ripped Christopher Gorham). Well, they'll finally see it this week, although new prospective love interest Gio (new cast member Freddy Rodriguez, of Six Feet Under fame) may disrupt the enchanted evening.

And if all that isn't gay enough for you, perennial That Girl Marlo Thomas also appears as a cougar out to land perennial bachelor Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius).

UPDATE: As every "greenie" will say from now on whenever talking about their favorite show, the episode was "wicked awesome!" Furthermore, it looked like Betty and Henry were going to do some "defying gravity" of their own at the end there. Go, Betty!

Links via ABC.go.com, InstinctMagazine.com, Playbill.com and OhLaLaParis.com.

Official 31 Films that Give you the Willies List!

Check it out! The final 31 FLICKS THAT GIVE YOU THE WILLIES is up at Shoot the Projectionist. If you haven't seen any of the films, make sure to skip the description if you don't want to know what happens in the film. It's a fantastic list, and out of the 31 there are a 11 I've not yet seen! I will be sure to put those on my too see list be

Pumpkins Scream in the Dead of Night

Movie Dearest has been celebrating Halloween all month, so to cap of the frightful festivities this year, here's a little treat to go along with all your (ahem) tricks: direct from Halloweentown, the cast of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, with a vocal assist from shock rocker Marilyn Manson, perform their official anthem, "This is Halloween".

The video footage is straight from the movie, but the audio is Manson's cover of the song, which can be found on the special edition soundtrackthat was released last year.

Links via Imdb.com, YouTube.com and Amazon.com.

30 Days of Night

Dir: David Slade (Hard Candy)
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Mark Rendall
New Zealand/USA, 2007

Seen: October 30/07 at Scotiabank

Reason to see: finishing off scary moviefest for October as well as See 1 film a week in the theatre for a year, this is week 45/52.

I was heading into 30 Days of Night after hearing numerous positive reviews and fresh off seeing spectacular horror and fantasy films from the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. When that is taken into consideration I think my expectations were set too high for the adventure that was the film. Although there is an interesting story there of a isolate region that goes through a period of, you guessed it, 30 days of darkness and low and behold there are night time creatures that come out to play. The influence of being based on a comic book can be seen by the creepy creatures, stunning visuals and excellent use of colour. There are however, some things that read a little more disturbing when seen in live action format when it comes to situational events. There was also a definite disaster movie vibe that often begged the question of 'What would you do' in such a scenario. There were some issues in continuity and logic that were slightly distracting, but only one or two really threw me and the audience off. What kept me in the film though were the very strong performances by the supporting cast. Top of the list is Ben Foster with his second show stealing performance this year, the first being 3:10 to Yuma (2007). Rounding out the acting chops are Mark Rendall as the scared younger brother of Josh Hartnett, and Danny Huston as the menacing leader of the creepies. I would like to see the film again, to be free of the preconceived notions I had going in, and I think after doing so I will enjoy it a whole lot more.

Warnings: Violence, gore

Shannon's Overall View:
I thought it was ok
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it as a solid horror movie

13 minutes of preshow including 4 minutes commercials (guessing that - I was actually a tad late - bad bad!), and 3 previews : Beowolf, One Missed Call (remake of Takashi Miike's Chakushin ari), Untraceable

Return to Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2007

The Latest on DVD: Filthier Then Usual Edtion

A gay icon's latest inspires this highly censored look at this week's newest offerings on DVD:

• John Waters: This Filthy World- The cult director asks "What the #@%$ is wrong with you *&!#?s"
• Barbara Stanwyck: The Signature Collection- The legendary leading lady in six of her finest: Annie Oakley; East Side, West Side; My Reputation; Executive Suite; Jeopardy and To Please a Lady. %@*# yeah!
• Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition- The whole $%&#in' thing, including the classic pilot episode, previously unavailable for some &*$ed up reason.
• Spider-Man 3- Sand Man, Venom and a @#$%in' goofy lookin' emo Peter Parker.
• Talk to Me- Don Cheadle as real-life kick &%$ radio jock Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Greene.
• No End in Sight- Sobering look at the cluster *@#$ we know as the Iraq war.
• Looney Tunes: Golden Collection - Volume 5- More %!$#in' awesome cartoons from the Warner vaults.
• Outing Riley- When a gay man comes out to his brothers, it triggers a string of revealing secrets ... oh, %*!#! Written and directed by and starring Project Greenlight winner Pete Jones.
• Starrbooty- RuPaul goes all Pam Grier on us as a hot &%#@ secret agent in this throw back to vintage blaxploitation flicks. Includes uncensored full frontal shots of a lots of #$%& and *@#$!
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Volume 12- Some more &*%$in' hilarious $!#@ from the wacky crew of the Satellite of Love.
• Family Affair: Season 4- Buffy, Jody and that #$&*in' creepy Mrs. Beasley doll star.
• And finally: Dear Jesse- Tim Kirkman's documentary on that *$%#ed up homophobic $@!hole Jesse Helms. What a *&%$, !@*&, $@#% &$*#-head.

All titles can be purchased from Amazon.com by clicking on the above links.

Links via GayBlade.com and Advocate.com.

Monthly Wallpaper - November 2007: Fantasy Worlds

November is a time for families to come together, and what better way to recognize that then to give you some "Fantasy Worlds" to escape to when you've had your fill of all that "family time".

From a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, to where no man has gone before, from the earth to the moon or a forbidden planet, to a never land waiting for you, these fantastic films offer wonders to behold. The lands of Oz, Wonderland, Narnia and Middle Earth await, or you can visit the magical realms of Sinbad the Sailor, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter, get lost in Pan's labyrinth, or take a trip to the ends of the universe on a space odyssey of your very own.

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.

Memo from Movie Dearest, RE: Back on the Beat

After a week away in not-so sunny Florida, I am back ... and I bear good news: I got the job! As of the beginning of next year, I will be back in the employ of a certain major worldwide entertainment corporation that won't be too hard for those who know me and/or read this blog on a regular basis to figure out. I know I will be very happy in this new role and even happier once I get out of the snowy Midwest and back to the Sunshine State for good, all settled in and back to work, both in my new "real job" and here at Movie Dearest.

My actual move won't be until after Christmas, which is good news for you all, as I have a lot of things planned for the upcoming holiday movie season, including special coverage of at least two movies (Enchanted, Sweeney Todd) we're all excited to see in the coming months. And I'm hoping to be up and running, post-move, just in time for Oscar season to kick into high gear.

In the meantime, a thank you to all who wished me well on my trip and in getting the new job; it is most appreciated, as always. I will be back shortly with the new November movie wallpaper, plus this week's Latest on DVD, an overview of Turner Classic Movie's schedule for next month, another article about MD in the gay press, and lots more.

But before I go, I wanted to remind everyone to visit my sponsors when doing their online holiday shopping this year. The links can be found toward the bottom of the sidebar on your right, and when you click through to their websites, all items purchased there generate a commission for MD, which will be very beneficial for my upcoming relocation. I am also planning a few Sponsor Spotlight posts in the weeks to come, to highlight some of the great movie-themed gifts available from Amazon.com, Sideshow Collectibles, the New Line Cinema Store, Entertainment Earth and more. And you know how the old saying goes: "Please visit our sponsors!" ... every little bit helps.

Be back soon ...!

The 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies

Fun project over at Ed Hardy, Jr site Shoot the Projectionist with the list of The 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies (nomination list) The list of winners will be posted on Halloween - I am so curious!

Tallying up my final list to submit was quite the ordeal and involved an spreadsheet with such factors as if it was so scary I couldn't watch it again (increased to top of the list), how I would rate the film as a film itself regardless of genre (grouped by ratings, then compared films within the same rating) and I scaled down films that didn't make me jump or yelp as well as films that were less scary upon multiple viewings due to twist endings. Here are my selections in order of scariness from the nominations list:

1. The Changeling (1980; Peter Medak)
2. The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick)
3. The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
4. The Ring (2002; Gore Verbinski)
5. The Blair Witch Project (1999; Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez)
6. Seven (1995; David Fincher)
7. Frailty (2001; Bill Paxton)
8. Saw (2004; James Wan)
9. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
10. Poltergeist (1982; Tobe Hooper)
11. Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
12. Jaws (1975; Steven Spielberg)
13. Signs (2002; M. Night Shyamalan)
14. Aliens (1986; James Cameron)
15. Ginger Snaps (2000; John Fawcett)
16. 28 Days Later (2002; Danny Boyle)
17. The Others (2001; Alejandro Amenebar)
18. Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)
19. Ringu (1998; Hideo Nakata)
20. A Nightmare on Elm St. (1984; Wes Craven)
21. Carrie (1976; Brian de Palma)
22. Ju-On: The Grudge (2003; Takashi Shimizu)
23. Sixth Sense (1999; M. Night Shyamalan)
24. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegel)
25. Dead Ringers (1988; David Cronenberg)
26. Jeepers Creepers (2001; Victore Salva)
27. Rosemary's Baby (1968; Roman Polanski)
28. An American Werewolf in London (1981; John Landis)
29. People Under the Stairs (1991; Wes Craven)
30. Friday the 13th (1980; Sean S. Cunningham)
31. The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988; Wes Craven)

I was suprized that out the 180 or so nominee's I had only seen 62 of the films. I have many to add to my list to see before Halloween next year! Also surprizing, although less so, is how few made it from my submissions to the nominee list (nominee list required 3 votes to get in). This is less surprizing as I know I can have an odd sense of what I find scary, and they certainly made appearences on the runner up list. My original submission list looks fairly similiar to my list of the Scariest Movies of all Time:

2001: A Space Odyssey

28 Days Later

Abandoned, The (Dir: Nacho Cerdà)

Alien

Aliens

American History X

Blade Runner

Brainstorm

Cape Fear (1991)

Changeling, The

Dark City

Dead Ringers

Donnie Darko

Frailty

Haunting, The (1963)

Jaws

Ju-On: The Grudge

Man Who Fell to Earth, The

Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Nightmare on Elm Street, A

Others, The

Poltergeist

Predator

Ringu

Saint-Martyrs-des-Damnés

Saw

Serpent and the Rainbow, The

Shallow Grave (1994)

Signs

Terminator, The

Tightrope (1984)

I knew some of those wouldn't make it due to limited releases, not techincally horror films, etc but they all were willie-ish to me! This has been a fun challenge, especially seeing everyones picks, and I am looking forward to the final results (to be posted here on Oct 31/07).

Toronto After Dark Film Festival Coverage

Pre-Festival Coverage:

September 26/07

October 5/07

October 19/07

Daily Coverage:

TADFF 07 Day 1 - October 19/07

TADFF 07 Day 2 - October 20/07

TADFF 07 Day 3 - October 21/07

TADFF 07 Day 4 - October 22/07

TADFF 07 Day 5 - October 23/07

TADFF 07 Day 6 - October 24/07

TADFF 07 Day 7 - October 25/07

Post-Festival Coverage:

Wrap Up

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival ran from October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2007 - Wrap Up

Seven days of mayhem has come and gone. As the Toronto After Dark Film Festival brought us a full week of jump out of our seat moments, scares, swords and last but not least, zombies! After consuming countless tea's, 2 bags of popcorn and the ink running dry of my pen from notes we are left with some great film and experiences. Considering the stellar film selection shown to enthusiastic and large crowds I would say it is destined to continue to bring us more spooktackular films in years to come. I know I have decided to add it to my yearly October rituals, and I think you should as well. If you need more convincing, here are some highlights of the fest.

Best Zombie Film: Mulberry Street - This is not only my favourite zombie film of the festival but also my overall favourite film of the festival. You have zombies, a great story and strong characters. It was a treat that the director as well as members of the cast and crew were present on Day 1 which made it an extra special screening.

Best Thriller: Alone - the trailer for Alone was so scary that on first viewing I had to stop watching, and the film itself led to many jumps and squeals and hiding behind my own hands.

Best Fantasy: Wolfhound - impressive epic Russian film that had all the mixings for fantasy fare, and then some.

Best 'Other': The Rebel, as a historical martial arts film seems not to fit in the other categories, but it was still excellent and well worth mentioning.

Best Short: Terror on the 3918 (Dir: Mathieu Fontaine) on Day 2. Inventive use of everyday items and an apartment as a ship. It's a must see.

Scariest Imagery: Dream sequences in Nightmare Detective

Icky-ist Imagery: Poultrygeist, on so many levels

Best Double Bill: Day 5 double bill of Wolfhound and Alone. Although the two films have nothing in common in terms of theme, they were stand outs in terms of quality.

Still has me thinking: Audience of One from Day 2. The documentary about one mans create a biblical Star Wars type film when he has no film background. What still has me thinking, is why the overwhelming instant reaction is humour.

Interesting Trend: In complete reversal of behaviour in the majority of screenings I went to, the crowd for TADFF often had people quickly opt to sit in the very front row. Centre/centre filled up as well, but people liked to be front and centre as well. I myself opted for the side section on the aisle for good sightlines.

Repeating themes: The world run out of natural resources and alternative are needed - usually scary ones, twins and of course, zombies!!!!

Fullest Screenings: Mulberry Street, Automaton Transfusion and Poultrygeist. Toronto After Dark fans love their zombies!

Wish I hadn't missed: Murder Party. The premise felt a little much for me, but it received glowing reviews across the board. Perhaps I will get a chance to see it on the Blood Car/Murder Party tour.

Wish I hadn't heard: Although I love that each film was introduced, on a few occasions I heard a little more than I would have expected about the film we were about to see. I loved the enthusiasm, but 'Don't worry - everyone dies' is a little too much. We are there in the theatre, we don't need further convincing to see the film.

Best Experience: Day 2 Screening of In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and Q&A with director Uwe Boll lead by Chris Alexander. The audience was enthusiastic, the film was highly entertaining and getting to see Dr. Uwe Boll in person was beyond cool.

Funnest collective experience: Zombies, zombies and more zombies. Walking out of Audience of One to a sidewalk full of zombies waiting for the double bill of zombie flicks that night. Totally awesome.

Can't wait for: Next October to come to see more amazing horror and fantasy films!



The Toronto After Dark Film Festival ran from October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

TADFF 07 Day 7 - October 25/07

The final night of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival closes with the Gala screening of Murder Party (dir/writer Jeremy Saulnier) and the screening will be attended by Chris Sharp. Following the screening, the closing party will be at the Bovine Sex Club.

Be sure to check back Wrap 'up post!

TADFF 07 Day 6 - October 24/07

Day 6 rounds out with a equal portion of hack and slash and spooky scares, it was another night of all around goodness at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

Mime Massacre
Dir: Colin Decker
Short
Canada

Impressions: Brilliant in concept and exectution (literally), this bloody short is a must see for anyone scared of mimes, and I'd stretch that to clowns too.

Simon Says
Writer/Dir: William Dear
Cast: Crispin Glover, Margo Harshamn, Greg Cipes
USA

Impressions: Teens camping out, crazy twin brothers and pickaxes. Slasher, or impaler? film Simon Says is full of blood, horror and creepiness galore. Crispin Glover plays both twins to a tee and delivers some pretty funny one liners to boot. Great considering the genre, ok overall.


(director of Key Lime Pie Trev Jimenez and Todd from Twitch)

Key Lime Pie
Dir: Trev Jimenez
Animated short
Canada

Impressions: On man's obsession with Key Lime Pie and the actions he will take, advice he will ignore to get.. that.. pie. Impressive animated short with grim yet humourous outlook.

Nightmare Detective / Akumu Tantei
Writer/Dir: Shinya Tsukamoto
Cast: Ryuhei Matsuda, Hitomi, Masanobu Ando, Shinya Tsukamoto
Japan
Language: Japanese

Impressions: I didn't think I would see something scarier than Alone this year, but Nightmare Detective gives it a good run for its money. Intriguing premise of a man who can enter into the dreams of others, and a detective investigating something that needs that. Although the idea did remind me of the 1984 film Dreamscape, the story is completely different. There is also a bit of a gender flip with the tried and true facts detective is a woman, and the emotional psychic is a man. Unique visual style punctuate the scary moments and a plot that keeps you hanging make Nightmare Detective a sure fire entertainment delight.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema , Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

TADFF 07 Day 5 - October 23/07

Here we are at Day 5 of 7 for The Toronto After Dark Film Festival! It's gone by pretty quickly and I am already looking forward to next year. Day 5 was a stellar success, I couldn't recommend either of the 2 features highly enough.

The Legend of Boruta
Dir: Bartosz Nowakowski
Animated Short
Canada

Impressions: Very stylish animation, amazing use of light, interesting characters and story. I am continued to be impressed with shorts that have little to no dialogue, this one had a few lines in German, but you still are giving all the information you need to understand and enjoy the film. Kudos.

Wolfhound / Volkodav iz roda Serykh Psov
Writer/Dir: Nikolai Lebedev
Cast: Aleksandr Bukharov, Oksana Akinshina, Aleksandr Domogarov
Russia
Language: Russian

Impressions: A really fun fantasy film with all the things you would expect and a whole lot more. Like the bat side kick. I kid you not - a bat side kick, who completely won over the crowd. Impressive battle scenes, scenery, costumes and performances are a plenty throughout the film. There are characters to love, hate, cheer for and growl against Wolfhound has all the mixings for a wonderful fantasy film. It would be amiss to not comment that parts of the story bear strong resemblance to other films (Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian), however it does hold true as its own film and is most certainly worth seeing. Wolfhound is one of my favorites of the festival so far.

Check out the Wolfhound official website here

God's Little Girl
Dir: Mitch Davis
Short
Canada

Impressions: The idea behind this short is very interesting, however the one tone voice over and length of the piece dragged it down too much to be very enjoyable.

Alone /Faet
Dir: Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongppom
Cast: Masha Vadhanapanich, Witthaya Wasukraipaisam
Thailand
Languages: Thai, Korean

Impressions: Don't watch Alone alone! It's so freaking scary, and awesome to boot. Brilliant story revolving around conjoined twins, Alone also provides us with stellar acting and scares galore. Even when you knew the scary parts were coming, they still made everyone jump. It was a real treat to see this in the theatre in the presence of an enthusiastic and loud crowd. I still remember the first yelp, then giggles - what could be bad? Nothing, it was all good. Well, fingers crossed I don't get any nightmares!

Check out the Alone official website here

Highlight of the Day: Not only was it a treat that I loved both of the features today, I was accompanied by my sister and her husband for the screenings which made it so much more fun! After the screening of Alone we kept coming up with freaky ideas that would scary people in the style of the film.

Runner up highlight: The bat in Wolfhound.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema , Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

TADFF 07 Day 4 - October 22/07

A little of a quieter day for me at on Monday at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, checking out just one movie, The Rebel a kickin' martial arts film from Vietnam. I decided to forgo the David Arquette directorial debut of The Tripper as I'm a little bloodied out and I have a sneaky suspicioun that it is one of the films that will more readily available. I'm sure I will back for more blood for Wednesday's for Simon Says.

The Bullet
Dir: Tanner Adams
Short
Canada

Impressions: This could be the first ever western short I've seen, and it made it expertly clear that the key elements of a western could be succinctly captured in 11 minutes. A hyper use of colour and electric soundtrack are a creative turn completing the extreme nature of this genre and the film itself.

The Rebel
Dir: Charlie Nguyen
Cast: Johnny Nguyen, Thanh Van Ngo, Dustin Nguyen
Vietnam
Languages: Vietnamese, French

Impressions: It is fair to say this is one of the films I was most looking forward to at this year's festival. It has been billed as the most expensive Vietnamese film, starring Johnny Nguyen whose credits include The Protector, Cradle 2 the Grave and the man inside the Spiderman suit. The happy surprize is that is following a current trend that I love which is the martial arts film with so much more. In a way, it reminded me of Myung Sung-Le's Duelist in that it has more than one main character and beautifully combines action and romance, without either feeling cheesy. The Rebel arguable has three main characters, along with Johnny Nguyen's character Chong, we also have Thanh Van Ngo playing a strong female character Vo Thanh Thuy and power hungry Sy played by Dustin Nguyen. The plot weaves through colonialism, rebellion, redemption and a thread of romance. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable film with solid story and of course spectacular fights and spinning kicks galore. Notablely, the Fred Astaire style full body shots were received much more enthusiastically than shots that were pieced together. Not that I doubt the skill, which all three actors have to a level most humans will never achieve. The Rebel is high on my list of favorites for this years festival.

*update* For those that were at the Oct 22/07 screening of The Rebel, it was later revealed that the version that was intended to be shown got held up at customs therefore we saw a back up copy. This explains the audio issues and no credits, and I hope it explains the reason why there were no subtitles at 2 brief moments of the film.

Memorable Quote: "That Goddamn move hurts"
I wonder if that was the character, or the actor...

Visit The Rebel official website here.

Highlight of the Day: Getting to meet fellow TADFF'er Bob from Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind.




The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema,

Memo from Movie Dearest, RE: Vacation Time!

As I mentioned earlier this week, Movie Dearest is going on a little vacation. Actually, it is more like a "working vacation", as I will be interviewing for a new job and, if all goes well, I will be moving to a new state by Thanksgiving.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here yet, I still have to land the job; I will say the prospects look mighty good at this point. In the meantime, MD will be experiencing some downtime until at last next Tuesday (October 30). I may be able to get some computer time in the next week, but I'm not sure if that will happen or not. If it does, groovy, if not, I will see you back here next Tuesday.

So wish me luck on the interview (it is on Thursday, so send happy thoughts my way), vote in this week's poll, buy lots of stuff through the shopping links so I can afford to move ... and I will be back soon!

The Latest on DVD: Just a Word, Please

This week's slate of new DVD releases can be summed up in one word - diverse:

• Masculine: Burt Lancaster: The Signature Collection- Five of the macho star's best: The Flame and the Arrow, Jim Thorpe All-American, His Majesty O'Keefe, South Sea Woman and Executive Action.
• Feminine: The L Word: The Complete Fourth Season- "L" is for ladies: Marlee Matlin and Cybill Shepherd join the cast.
• Nouvelle: Breathless- Jean-Luc Godard's highly influential progenitor of the French New Wave, now in a Criterion edition.
• Retro: Meet the Robinsons- Disney animated adventure about a boy inventor who goes to the future to find his past.
• Iconic: Battleship Potemkin: Ultimate Edition- Sergei Eisenstein's silent masterpiece, presented in its most complete form to date.
• Iconoclast: Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home Video Directors Series- Five of the master director's classics, each in two-disc editions: 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut (OK, four of his classics ...).
• Surrealist: O Lucky Man!- Lindsay Anderson's off-the-wall musical indictment against capitalism, starring Malcolm McDowell.
• Lyrical: Days of Heaven- Terrence Malick's beautifully photographed ode to an America long gone, from the Criterion Collection.
• Hysterical: I Love Lucy: The Complete Series- Yep, all of 'em, including the hour-long episodes.
• Unattainable: Under the Volcano- John Huston's film adaptation of the "unadaptable" novel, starring Albert Finney in an Oscar nominated role.
• Forgetaboutit: The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 2- The final chapters of the epic mob saga.

All titles can be purchased from Amazon.com by clicking on the above links.

Women We Love: Tippi Hedren

Due to Movie Dearest's upcoming vacation, here is a special Monday edition of "Women We Love", continuing the month long salute to the scream queens of the silver screen:

Object of our affection: Tippi Hedren, actress/ Hitchcock blonde.
- Why we love her: For holding her own against a roomful of blood-thirsty beaks in the Alfred Hitchcock classic, The Birds (her Golden Globe Award-winning film debut).
- Other choice roles: Hitchcock's Marnie, Chaplin's The Countess from Hong Kong.
- Family ties: Co-starred with future son-in-law Don Johnson in The Harrad Experiment; co-starred with daughter Melanie Griffith in six movies, including Pacific Heights.
- Nickname: Her real first name is Nathalie; her father called her "Tippi", which is short for "Tupsa", a Swedish nickname meaning "little girl".
- Yes, it's true: She was working as a model when Hitchcock discovered her; he saw her in a diet drink commercial airing during the Today show.
- Pet co-star: Named a pet cat after her Marnie co-star Sean Connery.
- Bet you didn't know: Her 1998 movie, I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, was based on a script written by noted "worst director of all time" Ed Wood. The film came out 20 years after his death.
- What has she done lately: Played an abortion activist in Citizen Ruth and got to slap Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees.
- What she is up to now: Protesting the impending remake of The Birds. Go Tippi!

Links via Imdb.com, MoviesBlog.MTV.com and HollywoodReporter.com.

Trivial Pursuits: Dirty Pillows Edition

As you may have gathered by now, Carrie is thought of very highly around here. Something about the "alienated youth with a secret" plot speaks to us, I guess. On the other hand, maybe it is the "getting revenge on your high school tormentors" that does it.

While you ponder that, here is some tasty trivia about the film starring the movies' most memorable prom queen:

• This was the first Stephen King novel to be adapted into a movie. (And it mostly went downhill from here.)
• Brian De Palma's Carrie and George Lucas' Star Wars were cast from the same casting sessions. Just think of the possibilities: William Katt as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Carrie White ...
• Bates High is the name of the school, and if you don't know what that's a reference to, then you don't know your horror movies.
• The little boy who taunts Carrie was played by De Palma's nephew, Cameron. His voice ("Creepy Carrie! Creepy Carrie!") was dubbed though, by ... Betty Buckley.
• Amy Irving's real-life mother, Priscilla Pointer, played Sue Snell's mom in the movie.
• What a trouper: Sissy Spacek was willing to have real blood poured on her; it was actually a mixture of karo syrup and food coloring.
• P.J. Soles' eardrums burst and she was knocked unconscious in the scene where her character is killed by the fire hose. And that shot is what is seen in the final film.
• That is actually Spacek's arm thrusting out of the ground during the famous final scare.
• Unusual for a horror film, Spacek and her onscreen "mama", Piper Laurie, were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.
• Buckley would go from sympathetic gym teacher to irrational mother in the infamous Carrie - The Musical, one of the biggest flops in Broadway history.

Click here to purchase Carrieon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and Wikipedia.org.

TADFF 07 Day 3 - October 21/07

Sunday was my fullest day at Toronto After Dark Film Festival by far, fitting in all screenings which included 16 shorts and 3 features. This was a tough decision as it means I missed seeing the zombie walk. Luckily not all was lost and the zombies were tromping around the Bloor and Bathurst area all night. In fact, upon exiting the theatre after Audience of One, I was faced with multitude of zombies, many of which were in line for the next film, Automation Trnasfusion. At one point I nearly crashed into a zombie and then had the quick & friendly "Sorry!" and "It's OK!" exchange. Good zombie!

Cutting Edge Fantasy
The day started with a collection of SciFi and Fantasy shorts which were introduced as "All the cool stuff". I would have to agree, they weren't all pigeon holed into the genre identification as SciFi/Fantasy but I think there could all be appreciated by SciFi/Fantasy fans. Here are the stand outs:

Agnieshka: A Dark Symphony of 2039
Martin Gauvrea
Poland/UK, 2007
12 min

This was the most polished film of the bunch and had an electric like energy to it that drew you in the world it created. Highly stylized with amazing sound and ideas brought to life, it was my favorite of the bunch.

Trionyx (Soft-Shelled Turtle)
Nick Child
USA, 2006
5 min

This brilliant short revolving around the preparation for a fight against Godzilla. Hilarious.

Drop
Flemming Jetmar
UK, 2007
4 min

Clocking in at 4 minutes this is the essence of short film. Enough visual information is provided for everything to mesh together perfectly but also leaves enough to keep you thinking.

The Drift
Kelly Sears
USA, 2007
8 min

Creepy tale of a sounds that overwhelms humans, told in an unnerving visual style bridging the familiar with the unthinkable. One to watch.

One of the great things about seeing SciFi/Fantasy is it opens up to fascinating ideas as well as new and inventive ways to tell stories. Fantastic ideas are the back bone of Ambassador's Day and The Un-Gone, and visual inventiveness is dominant in Hairlady and An Introduction to Lucid Dream Experience.

Brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the exciting things about today was that it was the annual zombie walk. Although I didn't attend myself, the zombies were everywhere!!! Here is Thea Faulds, Zombie Walk Coordinator looking fabulously ghoulish with Adam Lopez as they hand out prize packs before the screening of Automaton Transfusion:

Terror on the 3918
Dir: Mathieu Fontaine
Short
Canada

Impressions: Ironically after viewing all the shorts in the fantasy selection, I find my favourite short so far directly after it. Canadian and in French to boot this film brilliantly pairs known scifi culture to every day home devices. Absolutely brilliant.

Audience of One
Dir: Mike Jacobs
Documentary
USA

Impressions: This film was by far the one I heard that most people in being interested to see it, possible because it is a documentary. I wonder if it falls over 'horror' or 'fantasy'. I'm thinking they were going for fantasy. The documentary follows a pastor set out to direct a biblical film of Star Wars scale with zero experience and the continual refrain that 'the funding will come through'. Although there were many great moments ranging from hilarious to unbelievable the continual thought ran through me of why we think it is funny? Is it because of the religious element? The ineptitude? The main focus is really about one man's dream and going for it even if it is big and crazy idea - and that is something I can be totally for! Although it's more about him getting people to follow his dream, as oppose to everyone having their own. I would also be curious as to why he agreed to be filmed throughout, and if he has seen the film. It is entertaining on many levels, so for that I give it credit.



(Adam Lopez and Steve Miller before Zombie Jesus)

Zombie Jesus
Dir: Steve Miller
Short
Canada

Impressions: Wonderful, zom-com merging the ideas of religion to current day life with a twist of zombieness. Very well received and stellar zombie film.

Q&A Highlights: Parts of the film were filmed during the 2006 Zombie Walk, and numerous zombies from this year were in the audience! Cool!

Automaton Transfusion
Dir: Steven C. Miller
Cast: Garrett Jones, Juliet Reeves, William Howard Bowman
USA

Impressions: Introduced as a film that will be the first in a trilogy, this bloody as hell zombie film is entertaining but didn't quite meet the mark for me. I think it is the bloodiest of the films so far (excluding the possibility of Blood Car which I didn't see), and surely had lots of cheers from the audience. There are promising young actors but I felt some aspects of the film didn't quite hold up including that some of story is 'told' instead of 'shown', as well as some continuity issues. It was entertaining and the crowd loved it, but in terms of zombie feature films I found Mulberry Street from Day One of the festival to be a much more satisfying.


(Adam Lopez and Jason Zukowski before Eat the Parents)

Eat the Parents
Dir: Jason Zukowski
Short
Canada

Impressions: Very rowdy crowd gave this short about a average couple meeting the parent's dinner to a ritual zombiemaking process a welcoming response.

(Adam Lopez with Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma crew)

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Dir: Lloyd Kaufman
Cast: Jason Yachanin, Kate Graham, Lloyd Kaufman
USA

Impressions: Where to begin. My impression going into it was a zombie-chicken-musical. I thought, ok that sounds interesting. This is my second D'oh! moment of not reading the description carefully enough. This satire with the theme of protesting against the fast food business on an ancient burial ground, with the most visible protesters being girls who for some reason remove their shirts. Right. Add to that bathroom humour, bodily fluids, solids and parts all flying around going into things or being cut off or multiple other possibilities. I haven't even gotten to the whole chicken thing, or zombie thing, or satire thing. I think I'll leave it at that. I would think you would be able to know by now if the film was meant for you.

Q&A Highlights: The film did us mostly old school special effects as opposed to CGI, the soundtrack has karaoke delights, and it was good to hear that independent film is still kicking and that a lot of people volunteered from all over the world to help put this film together.

Highlight of the Day: Walking into zombies all day and night.



The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs October 19-25/07 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.