New Moon Mondays: Smile for the Camera!

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Images
I'm hiding from all the Eclipse set images (it's not out for almost a year!) but I'm stoked to see new images from The Twilight Saga: New Moon. There are several images from the film of the Volturi over at People, as well as Volturi character posters you can see at the Twilight Examiner and these are in the same vein as the character posters from Twilight. Want to see all the images in one spot? You are in luck as they are grouped nice & neatly over at IMDb. As I mentioned in the Fashion episode of Before the Dawn, I'm a little surprized in the choice for the Volturi to be a very classic vampire style, I had hoped for a re-invention of the style like was done with the Cullens in Twilight. The Volturi do look like a collective group, and an opulent and lush one at that - which does make sense. You can certainly see the personal touches in the differences of each the characters costumes, which is a nice touch.
Sources: Twilight Lexicon, People, Twilight Examiner, IMDb

What if... Twilight Came Out in the 80's?
Since we are talking images.... I could not resist sharing this article that picks 80's stars and inserts them visually in the What if? scenario if Twilight came out in the 80's. A huge thank you to New Moon Movie site for putting this up, because it is a world of awesome. My fave is Matt Dillon as Jasper - perfect!
Source: New Moon Movie, MTV
If Twilight came out in the 80's

Twilight Series Actors at TIFF'09
According to the press release of the guests attending TIFF'09, looks like a two Twilight series actors are coming to town: Michael Sheen and Xavier Samuel. As far as I can tell each actor is in one film at the festival, Michael Sheen is in The Damned United (see info on TIFF site) which is a Gala and Xavier Samuel is in The Loved Ones (see info on TIFF site) which is part of the Midnight Madness program. Both films are on my to see list, orders are being processed as I type this so fingers crossed that I get those selections and hopefully they will be at the screenings I'll be seeing. The Damned United I'm not holding my breath as I won't be going to the Roy Thomson Hall screening, but better chances for The Loved Ones. Here's to hoping!

More Eclipse Casting Revealed
We've already rejoiced over Jack Huston, Xavier Samuel and noted the Victoria switcheroo for Eclipse, but now we know ever more on the casting. Here are the details: Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace, Che) has been cast as Maria, Julia Jones as Leah, BooBoo Stewart as Seth, and Jodelle Ferland as Bree. The Eclipse IMDb page has been updated with the new casting.
Source: Summit Entertainment

First Song Confirmed on the New Moon Soundtrack
The Death Cab for Cutie song "Meet Me on the Equinox" is now confirmed via Stephenie Meyer’s Website to be on the New Moon Soundtrack. The song written specifically for the film. Looking forward to hear more about the soundtrack, the first films soundtrack is an fantastic collection of songs. The New Moon Soundtrack is scheduled to be released October 20, 2009 and album cover image can be seen here.
Source: Twilight Lexicon, Stephenie Meyer Site

I Want Some More: Vampathon
The Vampathon continues and the latest film reviewed was David Cronenberg's Rabid, and next up is the classic 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi and directed by Tod Browning. Check out the original Vampathon: Vampire Film Marathon for a list of more of the upcoming vampire films to be reviewed.

TIFF'09 Lottery: Box 48!

Box 48 drawn for the beginning of the advance order process.

At the lottery there were 54 numbers entered into the draw.

Donor boxes are processed first, then box 48 will be processed, then boxes 49 --> 54, then 1 -->47. *

And FYI they do put in all the numbers from 1 - 54 but I didn't think people would have the patience to watch all of that!

Total number of boxes is down from 78 in 2008. One volunteered mentioned that they could be using larger boxes. I'm curious if more people decided to become donors whose boxes are processed ahead of the advance order process.

What happens next? We wait. When orders are processed you are suppose to receive and email on the results of your order. In the past you have also been able to check online once your order has been processed. Package pick up and ticket exchange begins Thursday September 3, 2009 at 7am at the Festival Box Office. This is usually the longest line of the year for advance order process, although last year they separated out the 'pick up only' from the 'pick up and exchange' which made pick up only pretty smooth. Every year there are little changes, so it's hard to tell. This year it is a regular work day not labour day so turn out could be a lot smaller - there is no way to tell! Prep for the worst and hope for the best is what I say - comfy shoes, food & water, a good book and always be nice to your line mates! You never know who you will meet in TIFF lines!

I was in Box 16 and feeling pretty good about it!



Festival Box Office Hours - Nathan Phillips Square, white tent on West Side *
100 Queen Street West
June 1 to September 2, 2009: 10:00am to 7:00pm
September 3 to 18, 2009: 7:00am to 7:00pm
September 19, 2009: 7:00am to 5:00pm

Important Dates *
Thursday Sept 3, 2009 at 7am - Ticket package pick up and ticket exchange begins
Friday Sept 4, 2009 - single tickets go on sale
Thursday Sept 10, 2009 - TIFF begins

As always, check the official TIFF'09 site for all information on policies, procedures and up to date information.


Quite the crowd - were you there?


I was in Box 16 and feeling pretty good about it!

*The TIFF site indicated: "Box 48 was selected in the lottery draw as the first box to be processed for the public Advance Order Procedure. There were 56 boxes in the draw." has been revised to 54 boxes. Thanks Richard!

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 - 19, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Film Reviews - Indonesia

Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly / Babi buta yang ingin terbang
Forbidden Door, The / Pintu terlarang

*indicates co-production

Back to Countries List

Film Reviews - Brazil

B1
Embodiment of Evil / Encarnação do Demônio

*indicates co-production

Back to Countries List

Week in Film Vlog

Films Discussed
In Theatres: Orphan, District 9, In the Loop
101 Films to See Films: The 400 Blows, Vampyr
Vampire Films: Dracula (1931), Vampyr, Rabid, Dracula 2000
Random Watching: A Scanner Darkly, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Make sure to check out Vampathon: Vampire Film Marathon

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 Coverage

Pre-Festival Coverage
March 3, 2009 - 2009 Dates Announced
June 4,2009 - Passes on Sale
July 8, 2009 - First 8 Titles Announced
July 29, 2009 - Remaining 8 Titles Announced
August 6, 2009 - Short Film Preview
August 13, 2009 - Filmmakers in Attendance

Daily Coverage
Day 1 - Friday August 14, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 2 - Saturday August 15, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 3 - Sunday August 16, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 4 - Monday August 17, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 5 - Tuesday August 18, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 6 - Wednesday August 19, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 7 - Thursday August 20, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog
Day 8 - Friday August 21, 2009 - Write Up, Vlog

Film Reviews - Features
Black
Black Dynamite
Children, The
Dark Hour, The / La hora fría
Dead Snow / Død snø
Embodiment of Evil / Encarnação do Demônio
Forbidden Door, The / Pintu terlarang
Franklyn
Grace
Must Love Death
Revenant, The
Rough Cut / Yeong-hwa-neun yeong-hwa-da
Someone's Knocking at the Door
Strigoi
Trick 'r Treat
Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl / Kyûketsu Shôjo tai Shôjo Furanken
Warlords, The / Tau ming chong

Film Reviews - Shorts
0 (Zero)
A Little Mouth to Feed
Bad Roomate
Batmilk
Becoming
Blackheads
Captain Coulier (Space Explorer)
Danse Macabre
Deadwalkers
Die Schneider Krankheit
Fallow
Git Gob
Heart of Karl
Hirsute
Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon, The
Killer Bra, The
King of Power 4 Billion %
Legend of the Seven Bloody Torturers
Lobotomobile
Next Floor
Practical Guide for the Imaginary Friend (Abridged)
Santa: The Fascist Years
Under Pressure: A Story of Microscopic Stakes
Welgunzer
When It Will Be Silent
X-Mess Detrius
Zombie Zombie

Videos - Q&As, Introductions, etc.
Bad Roomate introduction with director James Gangl
Black Intro and Q&A with director Pierre Laffargue & producer Lauranne Bourrachat
Black Dynamite intro and Q&A with director Scott Sanders
Blackheads introduction with director Chris Nash
The Children introduction by Adam Lopez
Dance Macabre introduction by Todd Brown
Deadwalkers introduction with director Spencer Estabrooks
Fallow introduction with directors Colin Landry, Dave Alexander and producer Brenton Bentz
The Forbidden Door introduction by Todd Brown
Git Gob introduction with director Philip Eddolls
Grace Intro and Q&A with writer/director Paul Solet
Legend of the Seven Bloody Torturers introduction with director Connall Pendergast
The Revenant intro and Q&A with director Kerry Prior
Rough Cut introduction by Todd Brown
Someone's Knocking at the Door intro and Q&A with actor and co-producer Noah Segan
Strigoi intro and Q&A with director Faye Jackson and producer Rey Muraru
Trick 'r Treat Intro and Q&A with writer/director Micheal Dougherty
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl introduction by Todd Brown
Zombie Walk 2009 x2 announcements

Polls
Toronto After Dark is Starting - Are You Going?
Overall, My Toronto After Dark Experience Was...

Post Festival Coverage
Wrap Up
Awards

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 ran from August 14-21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Poll Results: Overall, my Toronto After Dark Experience Was….

The results speak for themselves: 61% had an Amazing! time at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival this year and 23% were Satisfying, both of those answers led to coming back to the festival more! There was a wee 7% tie between having an OK time and Not great time, but overall people really enjoyed it! It was another great year at Toronto After Dark!

61% - Amazing! I'll be first in queue next year
23% - Satisfying, will be a regular thing
7% - Ok, will consider revisiting
7% - Not a great year for me

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 ran from August 14-21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Monthly Wallpaper - September 2009: Teachers

With the school year about to start, the Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper for September offers a salute to cinematic teachers, from Mr. Holland to Miss Jean Brodie.

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.

Upcoming Films: Thrillers, Creatures & More!

One film that appeared out of nowhere and is now everywhere is Legion. Not only has the poster arrived everywhere (above) but the Trailer is being shown in front of a fair amount of films out there. The film has an interesting cast starting with Paul Bettany as well as Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Kevin Durand and Tyrese Gibson in this angels on earth supernational action flick during a biblical apocolypse. Directed by Scott Stewart (Priest) and set to be released January 22, 2010.

Sticking with the creature theme, trailers for both The Wolfman and Avatar has arrived and both have generated mixed opinions. The Wolfman trailer seems to have a generally positive response, but I'm not holding my breath just yet - it looks fairly Sleepy Hollow-esque and the released date has been pushed back again so we are looking at waiting until Feb 12, 2010 to see Mr. Del Toro as the Wolf. Sounds like a perfect Valentine's, no? New creatures are unveiled with the Avatar trailer and overall reaction is that people were expecting to see something completely unlike anything they had before and ended up, not so much. This feels like a double edged sword considering there has been so much secrecy about the film until now. On top of the trailer they showed selections from the film in IMAX 3D. Be interesting to hear what it was like in that format before it hits the screens in December 2009. For more info check out the Avatar and The Wolfman official film sites.

For those who just can't wait that long for a thrill ride, in just a few weeks we will be treated to Whiteout, an Antarctica set crime thriller starring Kate Beckinsdale. The trailer looks promising for some good fun, and it will be released Sept 11, 2009 - oh, man... that is during TIFF! Speaking of TIFF, if you don't get a chance to see Ong Bak 2: The Beginning which is part of the Midnight Madness program this year, you will still have a chance to see this sequel to Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior as it is hitting theatres October 23, 2009. Check out the trailer to get a sneak peek of Tony Jaa kicking butt!

Anticipation has been building for Christopher Nolan's upcoming project Inception ever since it was announced and now we finally have a teaser trailer to get a taste of the film which is an action/sci-fi/thriller that will be released July 16, 2010. Looking forward to seeing more on this one, it looks very intriguing.

Last but not least if the horror/thriller Sorority Row, which first off I thought "Wow, that looks like an interesting spin - nice to see something original". Hold the phone, it's actually a remake of the 1983 House on Sorority Row. Le sigh. But, still shows promise but that is from the perspective of only watching the first half of the trailer, I keep looking away as it feels like it shows too much. It shares a September 11. 2009 release date with Whiteout - what to pick, Sorority Sisters prank gone wrong or Kate Beckinsdale in Antarctica? Hmm.... what a conundrum.

Check out the lists of 2009 and 2010 to see more upcoming releases.

MD News Desk: Twisted Sisters & Mad Men

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Film Art:
- The Disney Princesses get a little twisted, courtesy of artist Jeffrey Thomas.

Videodrone:
- The 30-Second Bunnies do some trick or treating with Halloween.
- Trailer Park: The Descent Part 2.
- Meet the Ambassadors of Harmony.
- This is one thing we can agree with Hitler on ...

Coming to TV:
- "My teen-angst now has a twenty share": Heathers series planned by Fox.

Out in Film:
- Out Magazine interviews Mad Man Bryan Batt.
- [title of show] creators Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Michael Berresse collaborating with Desperate Housewives' Marc Cherry on a future ABC sitcom.
- Megan Fox will host the 35th (!) season premiere of Saturday Night Live.
- T.R. Knight starts rehearsals for the musical Parade.
- Alonso Duralde, author of 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men, has a new weekly movie-themed column at AfterElton.com. In his debut, he takes on Taking Woodstock and peruses The September Issue.

Women We Love:
- Natalie Portman interviewed by ... Jake Gyllenhaal, her Brothers co-star.
- Will Barbara Cook return to Broadway in Roundabout's Stephen Sondheim Revue?
- Yup, even screen legend Lauren Bacall tweets.
- Xanadu babe Kerry Butler joins Rock of Ages.
- Laura Linney set to headline Showtimes' The C Word (which has nothing to do with Showtime's The L Word).
- Elaine Paige goes digital: on iTunes and YouTube.
- Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald honored by the NAACP Theatre Awards.
- Aussie dance floor diva Kylie Minogue chats about her upcoming North American invasion.

Coming Soon:
- Things could get messy: Halloween helmer Rob Zombie to take on another version of The Blob.
- Johnny Depp and Geoffery Rush will hunt for the Fountain of Youth in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, to be directed by Rob Marshall.
- Twilight watch: meet New Moon's Volturi, including Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen. Plus: What if Twilight was made in the 80's?

Ride the Movies:
- The Princess and the Frog showcased at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Cinematic Crushes:
- American Cinematheque to honor Matt Damon.
- Thriller casts: Daniel Craig in Dream House and Hayden Christensen in Vanishing on Seventh Street.
- Campbell Scott joins the third season of Damages.
- Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell will strap on some swords and sandals for The Eagle of the Ninth.
- Our pal QueerTwoCents digs into the past of current One Life to Live hunk David A. Gregory (a.k.a. "barn bath" Ford), including this hilariously ab-alicious ad for Airborne.

Coming to DVD:
- The Humpday DVD(due November 17) gets "de-gayed".

The Latest on TV:
- Greek returns for its third season on ABC Family tomorrow.
- The Daytime Emmys will be presented tonight on The CW. The always-fabulous Vanessa Williams hosts.


From Screen to Stage:
- Minneapolis' Torch Theater will "turn the world on with a smile" with The Mary Tyler Moore Show live.
- Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is auctioning off a special closing night package for Broadway's 9 to 5.
- The upcoming Ragtime revival announces its cast.
- American Idol alum Diana DeGarmo joins the Off-Broadway musical The Toxic Avenger.
- The Bye Bye Birdie revival loses its "gang rape-y" Shriner's ballet.
- The Producers in Germany: "Frühling für Hitler".
- Meet the new Billy Elliot.

Potent Quotables:
- Evan Rachel Wood on her True Blood character, vampire queen Sophie-Anne: "She's not necessarily a lesbian. Her human partner is a girl, but I'm pretty sure she goes both ways ... I think vampires are like that in general."

MD Poll: The Boys of Summer 2009

The end of the summer movie season is almost upon us, so it is time for our annual look back at the film actors that made it so memorable ... and judge them on their looks alone and anoint one the hottest hunk of the past four months or so!

This year's batch is filled with some of our "old" favorites (Johnny Depp, Josh Duhamel, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds and Channing Tatum) alongside some new faces (Bradley Cooper, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Sam Worthington).

Take your pick and place your vote in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar. The ultimate summer movie hunk, class of 2009, will be crowned in four weeks.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

MD Poll: V for Victory

With nearly 50% of the vote, Viking vamp Eric Northman (played by Alexander Skarsgård) easily slayed the competition for the MD Poll title of sexiest True Blood character. The victory celebration will be held at Fangtasia sometime after sundown tonight.

Coming in a distant second was Bill Compton, Eric's chief romantic rival for the fair Sookie, while her brother, the oft-shirtless Jason, placed third. See the comments section below for the complete body count ... er, statistics.

The penultimate episode of True Blood's roller coaster of a second season will air tomorrow night on HBO, with the season finale scheduled for September 13, after a week off for Labor Day.

Reverend’s Reviews: In Heaven with the Basterds

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
– Mathilde by Marie Joseph Eugene Sue (original source)
At initial, casual glance, the current big-screen releases Five Minutes of Heaven and Inglourious Basterds wouldn’t appear to have much in common. The first is a straightforward drama about a man meeting the IRA assassin who killed his older brother 30+ years before. The other is a revisionist historical-fantasy by Quentin Tarantino and containing his usual flourishes of over-the-top ultra-violence, pop-culture references and offbeat casting choices.

Both, however, share the central, driving theme of vengeance. In the excellent Five Minutes of Heaven, which is directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (the acclaimed Downfall and the underrated sci-fi flop The Invasion, the latter of which is conspicuously absent from his press bio) and written by Guy Hibbert, protagonist Joe Griffin becomes increasingly — and understandably — fixated on his to-be-televised reunion with reformed killer Alistair Little as an opportunity to kill the murderer and avenge his brother’s death.


The first half of Five Minutes of Heaven is a re-creation of true events, while the second half is a speculative take on what might have happened if Alistair and Joe had the opportunity to meet. The film’s title refers to what Joe hopes to experience while watching his brother’s killer die. When the TV reunion’s producer tells Joe that his meeting with Alistair is an opportunity for “truth and reconciliation,” Joe thinks to himself, “Truth and reconciliation? I’m going for revenge!”

James Nesbitt (Bloody Sunday, Millions) conveys this private hunger for vengeance most admirably through his performance as Joe. As Alistair, Liam Neeson is initially cool as a cucumber but gradually shaken as his character becomes more aware of the consequences of his murderous actions as a teenager. Both Neeson and Nesbitt should be worthy end-of-the-year award contenders for their fine, challenging work here.


Inglourious Basterds may also emerge an award contender, and is already an audience-pleaser. It isn’t the first of Tarantino’s films to deal with the topic of revenge. Indeed, most of his films — from Pulp Fiction through the Kill Bill saga to his half of Grindhouse — feature characters motivated by the desire for retribution from people who have done them wrong.

Tarantino’s latest is unique among his works, though, in that it doesn’t feature just one person against another but a band of Jewish-American operatives (led by a very funny Brad Pitt) versus the entire Nazi party during World War II! The Basterds (the misspelling is inspired by the 1978 Italian film, Inglorious Bastards, which was reportedly hand-written as “Inglourious Basterds” on the VHS case in the video store where Tarantino once worked) are posing both a strategic and psychological threat to Hitler’s forces via their habit of scalping the numerous German soldiers they capture.


The Basterds eventually join forces with British intelligence, a French movie-theatre owner (the beautiful Mélanie Laurent) with a personal score to settle against the Germans, and a German movie star (a glamorous and funny Diane Kruger) who is secretly a spy for the Allies. They all face a formidable threat in the conniving SS Colonel Landa (the fascinating Christoph Waltz, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes for this performance). Mike Myers, Bo Svenson and Rod Taylor (as Winston Churchill!) also make guest appearances.

Like all of Tarantino’s movies, Inglourious Basterds simultaneously takes inspiration from and pays homage to prior cinematic genres and achievements, including 70’s Blaxploitation films, King Kong, Asian and martial-arts movies, film noir and, of course, the Nazis’ own works of propaganda.


Shades of the climactic opening of the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark can be seen in this film’s fiery finale, and I especially appreciated Tarantino’s inclusion of David Bowie’s theme song from one of my all-time faves, the 1982 remake of Cat People. The results are generally thrilling, even if some stretches of conversation tend to the long side.

Inglourious Basterds and Five Minutes of Heaven reach very different conclusions regarding the moral dilemmas and personal satisfaction possible in having one’s hunger for vengeance satisfied … or not. I can’t imagine a better double feature on the topic. See them, and let the debate begin.

UPDATE: Inglourious Basterds is available on DVD and Blu-ray and Five Minutes of Heaven is available on DVD and Blu-ray, now from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Toronto After Dark 2009 Awards

The Awards for the 2009 Toronto After Dark Film Festival have been announced! I've already had my say on the festival experience as a whole, lets have a look at what the masses felt. The results are:

Audience Awards - Best Feature Film
Dead Snow - Gold (1st Place)
Trick 'r Treat - Silver (2nd Place)
Black Dynamite - Bronze (3rd Place)

Vision Awards - Best Independent Feature Film
The Vision Awards are given out by the Festival in recognition of outstanding independent genre feature filmmaking

Strigoi - Gold (1st Place)
The Revenant - Silver (2nd Place)
Grace - Bronze (3rd Place)

Audience Awards - Best Canadian Short Film
Captain Coulier (Space Explorer) - Gold (1st Place)
Blackheads - Silver (2nd Place)
Danse Macabre - Bronze (3rd Place)

Audience Awards - Best International Short Film
The Users Guide for the Imaginary Friends (Abridged) - Gold (1st Place)
The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon- Silver (2nd Place)
King of Power 4 Billion % - Bronze (3rd Place)

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009 ran from August 14-21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Film Fan Fridays for Friday August 28, 2009

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday August 28, 2009! The last weekend in August has arrived making it feel like the end of summer with blockbusters winding down and tearing though the schedule, program and processes to gear up for the Toronto International Film Festival.

In limited release this week we have start off with a special treat of the fantastic French crime/action flick Black starring the charismatic MC Jean Gab'1 from District B13. Also from France we have Lorna's Silence, Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne follow up to L'enfant. Bringing it home we have the Canadian comedy You Might As Well Live starring Joshua Pearce as Robert Mutt, who takes upon a quest after hearing advice from his childhood hero. Keeping it real and limber, we have the documentary Enlighten Up! which follows the journey of skeptic on transformative power of yoga.

In wide release this week we have the last few blockbusters of the summer and what a way to finish it off with the final blockbusters being 2 horror films going head to head: Halloween II and The Final Destination 3-D (make sure to check your local listings to see it in your dimensional preference). Both films have name revisions over time, and The Final Destination 3-D has even had a few release date changes. I wonder if they really did save the best for last. Our final wide release of the week is Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock based on the memoir by Elliot Tiber.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Fan Expo
For all your fan needs: Comic Book Expo, CNAnime, SFX, GX Gaming Expo and of course, Festival of Fear
August 28 - 30, 2009 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto African Film & Music Festival
August 29 -30, 2009 on Bloor Street West between Ossington & Crawford in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Friday August 28, 2009 Releases

Black
Dir: Pierre Laffargue
Cast: MC Jean Gab'1, Carole Karemera, François Levantal, Ibrahima Mbaye
France
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Enlighten Up!
Dir: Kate Churchill - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

The Final Destination 3-D
Dir: David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Snakes on a Plane)
Cast: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Mykelti Williamson, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Krista Allen
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Halloween II
Writer/Dir: Rob Zombie (Halloween <2007>, House of 1,000 Corpses)
Cast: Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Sheri Moon Zombie, Danielle Harris, Brad Dourif
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Lorna's Silence / Le silence de Lorna
Dir: Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne (L'enfant)
Cast: Arta Dobroshi, Alban Ukaj, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Belgium/France/Italy/Germany
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Taking Woodstock
Dir: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Cast: Henry Goodman, Imelda Staunton, Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano, Kelli Garner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

You Might As Well Live
Dir: Simon Ennis - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Joshua Pearce, Liane Balaban, Kristen Hager, Clark Johnson, Michael Madsen, Stephen McHattie
Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of August 28, 2009**

MD News Desk: Brad, Blood and Beyond

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

True Blood:
- Clip and play: True Blood paper dolls! Includes the fab Lafayette and a bare-assed Sam Merlotte.
- Stephen Moyer (a.k.a. Vampire Bill) has been cast in the upcoming movie Priest (no relation to the controversial 1994 gay drama).
- Ryan Kwanten (a.k.a. Jason "You dirty little monkey" Stackhouse) takes it off for GQ.
- Also: time is running out to vote for the sexiest True Blood character in the latest MD Poll. Make your choice in the right hand sidebar.

Kish:
- One Life to Live's Brett Claywell dishes on “Kish”.

GLBT Entertainment:
- Beatles manager Brian Epstein gets a biopic with A Life in the Day.
- Tom Ford's feature film directorial debut A Single Man (based on the Christopher Isherwood novel) is one of a record 14 films competing for the Queer Lion Award at this year's Venice Film Festival.
- BearCity, billed as a "gay romantic comedy set in New York City’s bear community", is seeking hirsute extras.

Ride the Movies:
- Will the long rumored new Star Tours ride film be announced at Disney's D23 Expo?

The Latest on TV:
- The first season of BBC America's spooky Being Human (starring the sexy Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey and Lenora Crichlow) comes to a close this Saturday.


Coming to TV:
- ABC is planning a pilot based on the novel-turned-recent movie The Time Traveler's Wife.
- Also coming to haunt ABC: Clive Barker's Hotel.
- The sexy camp vamp series The Lair returns for a third season.
- MTV is developing an American version of the BBC teen drama Skins.
- Amanda Woodward returns? Heather Locklear may visit the new Melrose Place after all.
- The Kids in the Hall (including Scott Thompson) will be back on TV with an 8-part comedic murder-mystery series called Death Comes to Town.
- HBO looking to bring Dan Savage's sex advice column Savage Love to TV.
- Will & Grace executive producer Gary Janetti is working on another sitcom about gay-straight friendship for NBC — but this time, the friends are both men.
- Take a look at AfterElton.com's Best Fall Gay TV Guide Ever!

Cinematic Crushes:
- Zac Efron struts his stuff on the set of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
- Will Robert Downey Jr. be the next Lestat?
- John Hamm gets a Sucker Punch.
- Josh Lucas goes for a Little Murder.
- James McAvoy says I'm with Cancer.
- Ryan Reynolds is all by himself in Buried.
- The Advocate chats with Into the Pride's lion man Dave Salmoni.

Potent Quotables:
Brad Pitt on gay marriage: "You have a group of people telling other people how to live their lives, and you can't do that. I just say you have to ... you really have to check what country you're living in because the freedom that allows you to practice religion is the same freedom you're stepping on. That's not right. And I want to add that if there was a nation of gay married couples who were telling you you couldn't practice your religion, I'd be speaking up for you too. So let's stop the nonsense."

TIFF'09: First Picks

We are in that often panicked time after the TIFF schedule is out but before handing in out selections. Picking what to see is no small feat, and I start the task with lots of paper and the program book, I go through program by program and pull out my must see, strongly interested, interested, not-no and flat out no's. But usually somewhere in the middle I get flabbergasted as there are just so many amazing films to see. Even with clocking in about 42 films each year, I always feel like I'm leaving so many opportunities behind. I always try to keep in mind what will end up in regular theatres as well as which films seeing at the festival would be such a fantastic experience that it's worth it to see it there. I also try and make sure I see a fair amount of Canadian film, especially French Canadian as it's rare to see it on screens here in the T-dot.

But, after making all these lists and notations it feels like most of it gets thrown to the wind as you really are at the mercy of the schedule. This year I was disheartened right away because 2 films I really want to see are in conflict (the only public screening of Dorian Gray and the 1st screening of Vahalla Rising), and I couldn't for the life of me fit in J'ai tué ma mère but other than that I think my first set is pretty solid.

I'm also stumped on the final night - I'm considering doing a 6 film day ending with Ong Bak 2 but wonder if I'll make it. There are so few choices at the pre- midnight spot thought that it really is making it difficult!


The Process

So here is the list. It's heavy with Special Presentations which is a big change, and lots of Canadian (yay!) and Australian film. There is a lot of Nordic inspired films this year which I'm totally digging. Ironically the big wig titles on there are really the best film to fit in the time slot.

First Picks List:

Air Doll
Ape, The
Applause
Beautiful Kate
Damned United, The
Daybreakers
Defender
Deliver Us from Evil
Disappearance of Alice Creed
Donation, La
Down for Life
Every Day is a Holiday
Face
George A Romero's Survival of the Dead
Gigantic
Good Heart, The
Kamui
La Soga
Last Ride
Like You Know It All
Loved Ones, The
Mao's Last Dance
Nymph
Ong-Bak 2
Phantom Pain
Road, The
Sawadee Bangkok
SCC2
She, A Chinese
Solomon Kane
Symbol
Time Trip
Toad's Oil
Triage
Unloved, The
Valhalla Rising
Vintner's Luck
Waiting City, The
Warrior and the Wolf, The
Whip It
Wild Hunt
Year of the Carnivore

Program breakdown:
12 - Special Presentations
9 - Discovery
6 - Midnight Madness
4 - Contemporary World Cinema
2 - Canada First!
2 - Masters
2 - Vanguard
2 - Visions
1 - Gala
1 - Short Cuts Canada
1 - Sprockets

Country Breakdown:
6 - Canada
5 - Australia
4 - Japan
3 - Thailand
3 - UK
3 - USA
2 - Denmark
1 - China
1 - Germany
1 - South Korea
1 - Sweden
12 - Various co-pros

On tap for today: Make 2nd choices and fill out all the forms. Oh, boy - it's gonna be another long day!


Reminder: take breaks occasionally

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 - 19, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Introducing: The MD News Desk

In order to keep up with all the latest in entertainment news of interest to our readers, today we are introducing a new regular feature: the MD News Desk. These posts will provide links to news stories from our various departments, ranging from what our Cinematic Crushes and Women We Love are up to lately to the latest in Movie Music to what films will be Coming Soon to a theater near you. Enjoy!

And the List Goes On:
- Premiere.com presents the 40 Most Handsome Hollywood Men (Right Now). Their top five: James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman and Josh Duhamel.
- Vote now for AfterElton.com's 50 Greatest Gay Movies (polls close this Friday).

RIP:
- Author and investigative journalist Dominick Dunne (who also produced the films The Boys in the Band and The Panic in Needle Park) passed away yesterday at the age 83.

Awards Watch:
- The nominations for the 2009 Alma Awards (which honor the achievements of Latinos in film, TV and music) have been announced, including multiple nods for Lost, Star Trek, Ugly Betty and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Coming Soon:
- Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (starring Leonardo DiCaprio) has been pushed to next February. Adjust your Oscar predictions accordingly.
- Remake This: Excalibur, Outland and Yellow Submarine.
- A gay porn studio is making a movie titled Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls (NSFW). That's right, it's a parody of Harry Potter (what took them so long?) and will also feature characters named Himmione, Ron Sleazely and Voldemorecock (played by Matthew Rush, naturally).


From Screen to Stage:
- First look: Daniel Craig (porn 'stache and all) and Hugh Jackman in Broadway's A Steady Rain.
- Last call to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway and The First Wives Club in San Diego.
- Obie Award winning puppeteer Basil Twist has joined the creative team of the Broadway-bound musical The Addams Family, most likely to bring Thing to life.
- The documentary film of the Tony-winning musical Passing Strange is now available On Demand as part of "Sundance Selects."
- Find out about the three new songs that Tony winner Maury Yeston penned for the film version of Nine.
- Rachel York (best known as Broadway's Norma Cassidy) will play Cruella de Vil in the new national touring production of The 101 Dalmatians Musical.
- See the legendary chariot race recreated in front of your eyes in the new arena spectacle Ben Hur Live (where's the exclamation point?).
- Broadway will have a White Christmas once again this year.
- Rent alum Jesse L. Martin steps into Sidney Poitier's shoes for the new play based on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
- Speaking of Rent, the musical's stage and screen stars Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal will continue their "seasons of love" tour through January.
- Beware the Gay Bride of Frankenstein.

Hands Off the Merchandise:
- Smells like Bill Shatner: Star Trek cologne now on sale.

Women We Love:
- Susan Sarandon may play Shia LaBeouf’s mother in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
- Spend An Evening with Liza Minnelli at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Kate Winslet takes on Joan Crawford's most iconic role in a TV mini-series remake of the classic Mildred Pierce, to be written and directed by Todd Haynes.
- West End diva Elaine Paige's Australian concert tour will be filmed for an upcoming DVD release.
- Bette Midler will be on hand as the Academy celebrates the 30th anniversary of The Rose.
- The Ali Forney Center, NYC's homeless shelter for GLBT youth, is naming one of their residences for the late Golden Girl Beatrice Arthur.

Out in Film:
- Gus Van Sant is feeling a little Restless with his next film.
- Cheyenne Jackson and Michael Feinstein hit the studio to record an album version of The Power of Two, their hit cabaret show from earlier this year.
- Adam Lambert will croon a power ballad for Roland Emmerich's latest disaster flick, 2012.
- In addition to the aforementioned Excalibur redo, Bryan Singer is attached to a(nother) Battlestar Galactica reboot as well.
- Congratulations to The Young and The Restless' Thom Bierdz, who will receive the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award.

Stay tuned for a second edition of the MD News Desk later today.