Saturday Night at the Movies Blog

Saturday Features: "The Gold Rush" and "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" - Silent Night

Thom Ernst — Mon, 20 May 13 12:00:01 GMT

Originally Saturday Night at the Movies aired these two classic comedies ("The Gold Rush" and "Monsieur's Hulot's Holiday") as our Christmas show and so we called it Silent Night. We're in may now, but the title still holds.

We start with the endurable classic, The Gold Rush from (1925), by one of the masters of the silent era, Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin plays his iconic character known simply as ‘the tramp’. He’s out to find his fortune in the Klondike gold rush; an innocent among thieves caught-up in gold rush fever.

The film is packed with classic nuggets of comedy that remains cherished today. One of the most popular scenes in the movie Chaplin’s dancing potato scene, so popular, that during its original release projectionists would stop the screenings, rewind – and show it all over again.

"The Gold Rush" is considered a classic and rightfully so. I know very few who would disagree.

Our second gift to you tonight is Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday starring Jacques Tati. Tati is a French national treasure – a comic who, although not technically a silent film maker – is most certainly a man of few words. Just as Chaplin created his signature character with ‘the Tramp’ so did Tati with Monsieur Hulot. Hulot is immediately recognizable by his trademark trench coat, pipe and hat.

Tati was not a silent film star and so it’s a bit of a cheat including him in our Silent Night episode. He was more pantomime than silent but he could carry entire scenes without so much as a whisper. And like Chaplin, Tati was writer, director and star. His on screen persona, Monsieur Hulot worked within the tradition of cinema’s great clowns- Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd –men invariably out of step with the modern world – and who inadvertently cause havoc wherever they go. And so, in Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday when Hulot arrives at a seaside resort to get a bit of rest and relaxation - his best intentions always take a turn for the worse.

Monsieur Hulot’s holiday was nominated in the “best writing, story and screenplay” category at the 1956 academy awards – three years after it’s European release in 1953.

What makes these two films so suitable for Saturday Night at the Movies beyond being great movies and everyone should have a chance to see them, is that they are about people out of synch with their time and their location. Both the Tramp and Monsieur Hulot our outsiders doing their best to fit in. They are innocents with kind hearts and grand intentions but limited abllities to interact or socialize with any great success. Both men are, to a degree, bullied by those around them - sometimes pitied, sometimes scorned. But by remaining true to their nature both men rise above, and sometimes beyond, the world around them.

These are comedies but they are also stories about the endurance of the human spirit. Perfect for the holidays and, so it seems, a lovely spring evening.

Saturday Features: "About A Boy" and "Mary & Max" - An Age of Difference

Thom Ernst — Mon, 13 May 13 12:00:01 GMT

Our films this weekend are about friendship - but the friendships here are notable for the age difference between the characters.

In About A Boy, Hugh Grant plays 38-year old Will Freeman who befriends 12-year old Marcus Brewer (Nicholas Hoult). Will is a man in arrested development who learns about responsibility and being an adult from his young friend. In turn, Marcus, who is an easy target for the local bullies, learns to refine and own his quirky nature. The plot may sound like a cinema trope, but this is a Nick Hornby story put into the hands of directors Chris and Paul Weitz (they're brothers); together create something surprisingly new and refreshing.

In Mary and Max (2009), the two lead characters have only a vague resemblance to anyone we might encounter in our daily life. We recognize them as being one of us because they have arms, legs, a head, eyes, ears, nose and so on, but these features are so exaggerated and grotesque that they stand apart from being human. And yet we can identify completely with Mary and Max. In many ways Mary and Max come across as more real than many live-action performers who choose a rote and stereotypical interpretation of their movie characters. Toni Collette gives voice to Mary a sweet but troubled 8 year-old Australian girl who begins a 20 year pen-pal relationship with Max, a 40 year-old Manhattan shut-in with serious anxiety issues, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Through their vocal talents it's the actors who provide the nuances of fear and hope felt by the character and it's the animators who sculpt the performances through telling facial expressions and body-language Mary and Max is adult theme animated film told with gentle humour, pathos and tragedy without straying into the kind of adult animation that distinguishes Fritz the Cat (1972) and Heavy Traffic (1973) from children's animated fare. Mary writes to Max of her neglectful parents, her pet chicken ( the only animated conceit the film allows itself) her troubles at school and (eventually) her beyond. Max writes to Mary about his doubts, mishaps and offers the occasional insight life has provided him with to pass along.

Saturday Features: "Coming Home" and "The Quiet American" - Before and After Vietnam

Thom Ernst — Wed, 08 May 13 12:00:01 GMT

In 1955, Graham Greene's novel, The Quiet American, is published; its the same year military conflict begins in Vietnam.

Three years later Joseph Mankiewicz directs the first film version of Greene's book. It stars America's most decorated war-hero, Audie Murphy, as 'The American" (Alden Pyle in the novel) and one of Britain's most accomplished actors, Michael Redgrave as Thomas Fowler. The title, "The Quiet American" conveys a dual-purposed illusion for the reader suggesting the stealth maneuvers of a CIA operative as well as being an ironic play on the stereotype of Americans as boisterous and intrusive. Mankiewicz's beautifully shot and suitably dramatic film chooses to ignore the irony of the title and instead offers a more literal interpretation as a way of enhancing Murphy's character as an innocent abroad. In Mankiewicz's version the American is the indisputable hero; if he were anything but a hero the film would likely have never been made.

In 2002, "The Quiet American" is again, remade as a film. This second version is directed by Phillip Noyce and stars Brendan Fraser as Alden Pyle (The American now has a name) with Michael Caine as the British journalist,Thomas Fowler. Noyce's film is a more direct interpretation of Greene's critical slant against foreign involvement in Vietnam. Then comes 9/11 and fear that the film might be perceived as anti-American gives Miramax cold feet. Michael Caine convinces Miramax to take a chance on the movie by premiering it at TIFF 2002, "The Quiet American" is well-received and thereby salvaged from the straight-to-video bin by getting wide theatrical distribution.

Though different in tone and sentiment, both films relate the story of a love-triangle between two opposing men and their affections for a beautiful Vietnamese woman. It's Noyce's version we'll be airing on Saturday Night at the Movies.

Fears of anti-American accusations became a concern of the late director Hal Ashby when releasing his film, "Coming Home". The film stars three of the most radical names in 70s Hollywood-cool: Bruce Dern, Jon Voight and Jane Fonda. "Coming Home" is clearly anti-war, definitely anti-Vietnam war but its now three years after the fall of Saigon and the political landscape has changed enough to allow for dissenting voices to be heard and there were few voices more dissenting than Jane Fonda's.

"Coming Home" is another political love-triangle of sorts. Sally Hyde (Fonda) is the wife of career-minded military man Bob Hyde (Bruce Dern). While her dutiful husband is away, Sally volunteers at a hospital for wounded vets. There she meets and falls in love with Luke Martin (Jon Voight), a paraplegic war vet, now an anti-war activist. "Coming Home" is a film that receives both acclaim and accusations. In his book Vietnam at the Movies, author Michael Lee Langing writes that "Coming Home" is "an extremely powerful drama and touching love story...explicit in its anti-Vietnam message." However, this same author later refers to what he sees as the film's "cheap shots at veterans." "Regardless of the merits of the film, anyone seeing it will understand why Vietnam Veterans are not "fonda" Jane."

The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, losing out to "The Deer Hunter".

This weekend's presentation of "The Quiet American" (2002) and "Coming Home" (1978) offers a wonderful cinematic perspective of Vietnam before and after the war.

Saturday Features: "Billion Dollar Brain" and "The Music Lovers"

Thom Ernst — Mon, 06 May 13 12:00:01 GMT

Director Ken Russell died Sunday November 27, 2011. The Associated Press printed an article which appeared, among other places, on the home page of IMDB under the headline British film director Ken Russell is dead at 84. Then, beneath that headline appeared a far more prominent article (with picture), announcing, Anne Hathaway's engagment to Adam Shulman. It seems a miscarriage of news preferences, although that might just be the film lover in me. Even as I write this I'm aware that a few readers will be distracted by the nuptial news of Hathaway/Shulman and annoyed that I didn't hyperlink their names.

The fact is, Russell was 84 years old. He was British and he was a bit of a madman.

Russell's madness was all on the screen. Or at least it seemed that way to me. I'm not aware of any public misbehaviors - although I'm sure they occurred and I'm not aware of any outrageous antics on a late night talk show - though I'd give anything to see Russell and Letterman have a run at it together. The Associated Press article, a humble piece of factual writing, lists Women In Love (1969) as his big hit. Indeed it was his big screen entry into feature film making and away from television and television documentaries. The article mentions that the film earned it's star Glenda Jackson a Best Actress Oscar. The article also references Tommy (1975) based on The Who rock opera concept album with a startling A list cast, and even the under-performing Lisztomania (1975) showing Franz Liszt as a pop-star played by then famed British rocker, Roger Daltery.

The AP article made me wonder as to the age of the person assigned to the task of reporting his death. What I really was wondering is, did the person writing the article even know who Russell was. No shame for not knowing. Russell was a Hollywood outsider who made his mark in the 70s and 80s. He was certainly not part of the Spielberg, Scorsese, Friedkin, and Lucas crowd. Still, the arrival of Ken Russell film was worthy of suspicion, controversy and anticipation. Wonderfully prolific he would sometimes come out with as many as 3 films per year.

Russell taunted both critics and audiences alike with sometimes unreasonably bizarre plots, settings and performances. As I said, he was a madman, and it would take a madman's vision to appreciate his work.

And yet, there was incredible life and lightness in (some of) his films. The Boyfriend (1971) a back-stage musical, starring Twiggy and Tommy Tune is strange in it's squeaky Boo-Boop-Be-Do take on 30s musicals but it's a delight. The splendid The Music Lovers (1970), is a kind of D.H. Lawrence follow-up on the success of Women In Love. It starred Jackson again, and as Tchaikovsky, Richard Chamberlain.

Clearly song impressed Russell, as did the classics in both literature and music. He would later tackle another D.H. Lawrence in The Rainbow (1989) and make an unsuccessful stab at gothic horror ala Lord Byron (Gabriel Bryne) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (Julian Sands) in Gothic (1986). The film supposes what might have happened when Byron, Shelley and Mary Shelley, played by the late Natasha Richardson, got together the night Mary Shelley was inspired to write the novel, Frankenstein.

More successful, I thought, was the campy send-up of the Bram Stoker in the film The Lair of the White Worm (1988) starring Hugh Grant. Most people don't agree me.

There too was his wonderfully silly play-within-a-play send-up of Oscar Wilde's Salome's Last Dance (1988). He took on silent film star Rudolph Valentino in Valentino (1977) stunt casting with dancer Rudolf Nuryev and Michelle Phillips of the 60s band The Mama's and Poppas. He would revive the insanity that Anthony Perkins showed in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) in Crimes of Passion (1984) also starring Kathleen Turner. In 1980 he would try Hollywood and direct a Paddy Chayefsky script, Altered States (1980) with William Hurt in the lead.

But the best Russell film, and if I was to do a one paragraph synopsis of the man's life I would lead with this, The Devils (1971). The Devils is a true psychological horror film about religion, faith, torture, madness and obsession. It is his most realized work and his greatest cinematic accomplishment.

"It's a shame that (Russell) didn't live to see a DVD release of The Devils," says Canadian film critic Richard Crouse, "...it would have meant a great deal to him to have people be able to see and enjoy the film after forty years of censorship and mistreatment."

Crouse describes a live interview he did in Toronto with the maestro, "He was frail, but mischievous. At dinner before the show he was quiet, almost to the point of mutism, but when she stepped in front of the crowd, a crowd who clearly adored and admired him, he opened up and displayed the kind of humour and eccentricity that were the trademarks of his films."

Crouse was perhaps the last journalist, film-writer to have engaged Russell in an ongoing conversation.

Richard Crouse's book, Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils is about Russell's brilliant, hellish vision of sexual repression in the 17th century.

This weekend on SNAM we air Russells first feature length non-documentary film, Billion Dollar Brain and The Music Lovers. Also go online and see the live

Saturday Features: "Persepolis" and "Frida"

Thom Ernst — Mon, 29 Apr 13 12:00:01 GMT

'Frida' is a biographical film; 'Persepolis' is an auto-biographical film. Other than that, similarities between 'Persepolis' and 'Frida' are not necessarily self-evident. That 'Persepolis' is an animated feature based on a comic book (graphic novel, if you insist) and 'Frida' is not, might be enough for some to overlook any comparisons. But get beyond the esthetics and you'll find these movies are remarkably alike.

Both films focus on a singularly strong, independent, and politically outspoken woman rising out of a time and culture that discourages rather than rewards individual thought.

Of the two women Frida Kahlo is likely the more familiar. Kahlo had a public presence; a distinguishable face which she frequently depicted in her own work. People study Frida and there are many publications - books, magazines and essays alike - devoted to her life and her work.

Marjane Satrapi has but one book with an artist rendition of Marji that serves as a suitable likeness but does not have the same identifying familiarity as does Frida.

Persepolis is written by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi who both went on to write and direct the film. The story is based on Satrapi's experience as a young Iranian girl growing up in a time and country in conflict. (Note of interest: The film features Chiara Mastroianni (daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni) as Marjanne, and Catherine Deneuve as her mother.)

The black and white animation is in keeping with the artistry of Satrapi's book but it is also, according to the authors, a way of neutralizing the characters so that anyone from any background can relate.

The film begins with an older Marji reflecting upon her past from being a child of nine, into her adolescence and young adulthood. 'Persepolis' shows Marji's struggle to forge her own identity while using the political unease of her homeland, Tehran, as a backdrop, .

In 'Frida', director Julie Taymor also takes her central character, surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, through a journey. And although Taymor's 'Frida' is not technically an animated film, she does emphasis the spirit and soul of her subject through abstract images and non-traditional effects.

As people, Frida Kahlo and Majanne (Marji) Satrapi are unique in and of themselves. As films, 'Frida' and 'Persepolis' share a respect and admiration for individual growth, and personal strength.

Saturday Features: "Changing Lanes" & "Punch-Drunk Love"

Thom Ernst — Sat, 20 Apr 13 12:00:01 GMT

It's the last day of the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival; a TIFF press and industry screening of "Punch-Drunk Love" is being held at one of the Cumberland theaters. It 's the last chance to see the highly anticipated Paul Thomas Anderson/Adam Sandler project before it's commercial release.

In the film Sandler is established as a sweet, beleaguered business owner who suffers on occasion from sudden burst of uncontrollable anger.

In the theater someone's phone rings. He answers. Another patron angrily asks the man to put down the phone. He doesn't. A verbal argument ensues and then, as if the whole thing is a staged publicity stunt, a fight breaks out between the men. It's an across the aisle, over the seats, grabbing shirt lapels, all-out rumble.

Meanwhile on screen a fit of rage sends Adam Sandler's character into smashing a glass door .

Life imitates art.

We are witnesses to anger so out of control that both men dismiss any concern they may have for protocol, etiquette, professionalism, or reputation.

No matter what side of their argument you're on (the man probably should know better than answer and carry on a conversation on his phone) neither man displays good judgment nor an ability to control their anger.

And I doubt anyone overlooks the irony that the film, in part, deals with anger management issues. In fact, the incident makes the anger management issues all the more relevant.

If this same incident occurred during a screening of Changing Lanes" the level of irony would be heightened. Whereas "Punch-Drunk Love" is not entirely about anger, "Changing Lanes" is.

The "Punch-Drunk Love" press screening incident was likely about much more than simply someone answering their cell phone during a movie. Neither man, one dressed in a tie and jacket the other casually adorned in a button shirt and jeans, seems prone to acts of physical violence, although appearances are never as reliable as actions,. Each man brought to that altercation their own history and experience. The phone talker may have had an argument with his partner or boss. The other man may have had his fill of people allowing their phones to go off in the theaters. Or it was something as innocuous as not having the chance to get their morning coffee. The only certainty is the inappropriateness of their actions.

I imagine both regret their hot headed responses. It's an assumption of course since I've no contact with either man to know what personal embarrassment followed. But do we condone them for their anger or for the way they expressed their anger?

One of our guests on The Interviews, a trained anger management therapist, clearly views anger not as an emotion to purge but one to embrace and learn to work with.

The ability to harness a force that can so easily become disruptive if left unfettered marks the difference between a healthy anger and unhealthy hostility.

In "Changing Lanes" we see anger at it's extreme being pushed out onto society. In "Punch-Drunk Love", the anger is internal, focusing on an inner-rage, but it is also an anger that can be harnessed to his benefit and safety. Maybe Sandler's character is saved by love. It's not called "Punch-Drunk Love" for nothing.

Saturday Features: "The Great Escape" and "The Train"

Thom Ernst — Mon, 15 Apr 13 12:00:01 GMT

A few years back Saturday Night at the Movies received a letter from author and Canadian icon, Farley Mowat.

Mr. Mowat was responding on behalf of a concerned group of Ontarians, some of them war veterans, questioning why TVO wasn't showing films featuring the Canadian military during the Remembrance Day weekend. At the time we were airing "Patton" (1970).

The answer is simply, availability. Neither "Passchendaele" (2008) nor Eric Petersons' superb staged film, "Billy Bishop Goes to War" were made yet (I would have loved to have aired "Billy Bishop"), "The Wars" (1983) was around but with rights held by another station, and "The Devil's Brigade" (1968) would be good, but it just wasn't in our library.

Canadian Troops are sorrily underplayed in Hollywood and independent cinema and perhaps that's worthy of conversation.

But we don't think many are going to be too disappointed with John Sturges' classic, "The Great Escape" and John Frankenhiemer's "The Train"

"The Great Escape" is based on Paul Brickell's book of the same name. Brickell was captured during WWII and served much of his military career as a P.O.W. The story he writes in The Great Escape is based on fact but is, to some extent, a work of fiction. Many of the characters appearing in the film are either fictitious or amalgamations of real people. It's more a case of utilizing a dramatic license rather than fabricating the events.

And there is a Canadian connection with "The Great Escape" with a man named Wally Floody, a RCAF pilot and mining engineer who was, in real life, the tunnel king. Floody worked as a Cowboy in Alberta, and a miner in Northern Ontario before joining the Canadian Air Force. He was shot down, captured and held at the same prison as Paul Brickell. Floody worked as advisor on the set of "The Great Escape"..

Were Brickell to create a more actually account of the Stalag Canadian III escape (the camp which held Brickell and Floody) the Canadian connection would have been a great deal more. Reportedly there were no less than 150 Canadian prisoners in the camp. All of them took part in the preparing for the escape.

We follow "The Great Escape" with "The Train".

Burt Lancaster leads a strong cast in John Frankenheimer's "The Train" (1964) including Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau. "The Train" is based on Rose Valland's non-fiction book Le font de l'art, about a German officer during the last days of the war, attempting to kidnap the some of France's finest collections of artist's works: Gauguin, Renoir, Van Gogh, Manet Picasso, Degas, Miro, Cezanne, Matisse, Braque, Seurat and Utrillo. The resistance here comes from the French who set out to stop them- them being specifically Colonel Von Waldeheim played with nasty efficiency by Scofield.

With "The Train", Frankenheimer has made more of a morality tale than an action war picture, though there is no shortage of combat action, including colliding trains, in the film. The cause the resistance fighters take up is not one of freedom but of art and beauty. The irony Frankenheimer sets in place is that it seems the appreciation for artistic merit belongs to the villain, the very man attempting to steal the works. The resistance fighters seem to care little for the work and are more wrapped up in the potential thievery of their history. That lives are lost culls into question the value of human life over historic and artistic wealth.

Saturday Features: "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "The Thing"

Thom Ernst — Mon, 08 Apr 13 12:00:01 GMT

This weekend, embrace your paranoia.

Saturday Night at the Movies offers two films highlighting a our theme, "The Decline of Humanity": Director Joseph Sargent's "Colossus: The Forbin Project": and director John Carpenter's horror-masterpiece, "The Thing".

Both films play upon a fear that we might not be as secure as we think, and that our inevitable undoing could be of our own design.

This paranoia is most potent in "Colossus".

"Colossus" is a science-fiction thriller about a massive computer that, independent of any human interaction, plots to take over the world . It's a James Bond plot with an artificial villain.

The film was made in 1970 when computers were confined to large rooms in universities and research centers.

The idea of mechanical bullying has been tackled before in film, notably in "2001: A Space Odyssey" and then again in "The Terminator" "Demon Seed", "Westworld" and "Blade Runner". What makes Sargent's film stand-out is that, despite being 40 years old, it all seems so feasible, perhaps prophetic.

A few months back Dominic Basulto wrote a blog in the ideas@innovations section of The Washington Post titled, How we're playing God now. It's a well-researched, well-written piece. Even so, I might have easily passed Basulto off as an alarmist were he not writing under the The Washington Post banner.

"Yes, the machines are, for all intents and purposes, alive." writes Basulto.

Basulto backs up his claim with precise examples of where technology blurs the boundaries between machines and humans like, Google's "Cat Experiment", synthetic life-forms and 3D printer organs. That kind of technology is 80% astounding and 20% unsettling. No doubt we'll benefit from this kind of advanced technology, but it's still worth asking, are we going too far, too fast? .

My paranoia doesn't rest after our first film. We have one more movie to go.

In John Carpenter's "The Thing" a community of scientists are systematically possessed by an alien parasite. "The Thing" has a radically different style and presentation from "Colossus" but with one thing in common - scientists. Of course it's no one's fault that an alien crashed and froze in the Antarctic but if we are going to start pointing fingers, we all know who decided to drag the thing in to be studied.

Yep...it's those pesky scientists again.

But I have nothing against scientist (Heck, my wife works for the Discovery Channel which practically makes her a scientist). I'm all for the march towards discovery and the advancement of technology.

I just have to occasionally look towards Aldous Huxley and agree that it's "a brave new world". I just hope we all remain a part of it.

The discussion on-line in our Bonus Content steers away from paranoia and into some creepy details about "The Thing" from make-up artist Rob Bottin, actor Richard Dysart, and an amazing transformation, courtesy of Form & Dynamic's David Scott, of me from your dashing and handsome host to ...well, check it out for yourself.

Saturday Features: "Diary of a Mad Housewife" and "Repulsion"

Thom Ernst — Mon, 01 Apr 13 12:00:01 GMT

Frank Perry was one of the most accomplished film directors of his time and yet today he is probably better known as uncle to pop star Katie Perry. But if this connection to Katie Perry is bringing Frank Perry's name back to the surface, than I'm all for it.

Frank Perry died young at the age of 65. The year was 1995. It was enough time for him to create some of the most memorable films of the 60s and 70s; dark, comedic, satiric films that help pave the way for other filmmakers like Hal Ashby and Nicholas Roeg. In the span of his career Perry directed 21 films including ), starring Burt Lancaster, the criminally under looked social thriller, "Ladybug, Ladybug" (1963), his first, and one that earned him an Academy Award for Best Director' "David & Lisa" (1962) and "Diary of a Mad Housewife" (1970). If Perry isn't immediately familiar to film goers today it might be because his films were small, intimate works of human drama. Occasionally he employed stars, like Burt Lancaster in John Cheever's short-story "The Swimmer" (1968) and Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in the controversial "Mommie Dearest" (1981). Mostly Perry cast young actors seemingly more intent on their craft then on stardom - Keir Dullea, years before Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", (1968), Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella, Carrie Snodgress and William Daniels

Perry was a New Yorker. He married a New Yorker (playwright Eleanor Perry - who he later divorced in 1970) and spent the early part of his career in the theatre. Perhaps it was living in New York that kept him from public eye, though guys like Woody Allen, Martin Scorcese and Sidney Lumet managed to flourish while still maintaining their NYC roots.

By airing "Diary of a Mad Housewife" we are introducing many to one of Perry's best works. The film comes from Sue Kaufman's novel of the same name. (Kaufman too died young in 1977 at the age of 50.)

In "Diary" Carrie Snodgress (and yet one more untimely, young death at the age of 58) is housewife, Tina Balser, a woman whose life is no longer her own. (Snodgress

At a time when women's liberation was on the rise, "Diary" was a real eye-opener. It's not likely too many will think of "Diary" as a feminist film, given Tina's wandering bug-eyed acceptance of being mistreated by a bullying husband, played by Richard Benjamin. Still, through Snodgress's performance, Perry captures Tina's unspoken bewilderment as well as the cultivated and socially sanctioned abuse that many women endured. The appeal of "Diary" is not how Tina rises above her situation but at just how ingrained these situations were in society.

This year, the movie turns 43. It hasn't aged.

We pair "Diary of a Mad Housewife" with "Repulsion" (1965).

We're calling the evening, Women on the Edge.

The Top 50 SNAM Films From the Past 15 Years

Thom Ernst — Thu, 28 Mar 13 10:33:43 GMT

This weekend marks the end of Saturday Night at the Movie's 39th season. The show continues on in encore presentations until the end of August, with a kicker episode August 30th, 2013 featuring the films "The Lives of Others" and "Black Book" plus a special tribute to SNAM,

Saturday Night at the Movies is, I imagine, the longest running movie program in the nation, perhaps in the world. I have been involved with the series for 15 years. It has been an unequivocal pleasure and an honour to be part of such an incredible show. I remain in awe of Elwy Yost and the people who came before me; I remain in awe of the many people who worked alongside me.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I've culled a list of of my favourite 50 films (and their partnered film) aired on SNAM since I began.

Note: Films aired prior to 2004 were programmed by Risa Shuman

Top 50 SNAM Films (since 1998)

5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) first aired December 29, 2007 paired with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Theme: Family Fantasy
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) first aired March 1, 2008 paired with Soylent Green. Theme: The Future Ain't What it Use to Be
The Three Kings (1999) first aired January 5, 2008 paired with The Ugly American. Theme: American Invasion
Salvador (1986) first aired November 3, 2007 paired with Bananas. Theme: Stones Salvador
Cabaret (1972) first aired March 23, 2002 paired with Ordinary People. Theme: Pushing the Envelope (I have no idea, either)
Election (1999) first aired October 6, 2007 paired with The Candidate. Theme: On the Campaign Trail.
Troubled Water (2002) first aired October 8, 2011 with The Limey. Theme: To Avenge or Forgive?
Five Easy Pieces (1970) first aired January 16, 1999 with Annie Hall. Theme: Significant Films of the 70s
Splendor in the Grass (1961) first aired September 28, 2002 with Rebel Without A Cause. Theme: Almost Famous (reference to tragic deaths of Natalie Wood and James Dean)
King Rat (1965) first aired November 6, 2004 with Bridge on The River Kwai. Theme: Prisoners of War
Heaven's Gate (1980) first aired February 3, 2007 as a single feature. Theme: Rethinking Heaven's Gate
CachÃ¨ (2005) first aired January 16, 2012 with The Anderson Tapes. Theme: Surveillance
Starting Out in The Evening (2007) first aired March 13, 2012 with Infamous Theme: Writer's Block
Pennies From Heaven (1981) first aired November 28, 2009 with Places in the Heart. Theme: Cinema and the Depression
The Machinist (2004) first aired October 31, 2009 with Insomnia. Theme: The Insomniac's Guilt
Deliverance (1972) first aired October 19, 2002 with Hear My Song. Theme: Back to the River: Making of Deliverance. Note: both films feature Ned Beatty
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) first aired October 20, 2007 with The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three. Theme: New York Hostage
Short Cuts (1993) first aired November 12, 2005 with California Split. Theme: Robert Altman
The White Dawn (1974) first aired February 5, 2008 with Cheyenne Autumn. Theme: Indigenous Stories
The Station Agent (2003) first aired April 16, 2011 with The Cuckoo. Theme: Lost and Found Souls
Manny & Lo (1996) first aired March 12, 2013 with Thelma and Louise. Theme: Sisters in Crime
Dogfight (1991) first aired May 8, 2012 with Georgy Girl. Theme: Ugly Bettys
The Bridge (1959) first aired October 10, 2009 with The Falcon and the Snowman. Theme: Youth In Over Their Heads.
My Sister Eileen (1955) first aired February 16, 2008 with Sweet Charity Theme: Bob Fosse's Beginnings
The Conversation (1974) first aired February 2, 2002 with Marathon Man. Theme: Is it Safe?
Blade Runner (1982) first aired January 18, 2003 with Soylent Green. Theme: Future Shocks: The Making of Blade Runner
The Americanization of Emily (1964) first aired December 13, 2003 with Network. Theme: Mad as Paddy (Chayefsky)
The Limey (1999) first aired October 9, 2010 with The Late Show. Theme: Times Are A Changin'
Save The Tiger (1972) first aired March 18, 2006 with Glengarry Glen Ross. Theme: Jack Lemmon: Actor
Breaking Away (1979) first aired November 1, 2003 with Summer of '42. Theme: Coming of Age
The Long Riders (1980) first aired March 19, 2005 with Jesse James. Theme: Outlaws
Straight Time (1978) first aired November 24, 2007 with Straight Story. Theme: Getting the Story Straight.
Saint Jack (1979) first aired (and only aired) February 9, 2008 with The Last Picture Show. Theme: Two From Peter Bogdanovich
Little Big Man (1970) first aired October 8, 2005 with The Searchers. Theme: Being Indian.
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) first aired October 27, 2007 with This is Spinal Tap Theme: Paradise: Lost and Found
The Swimmer (1968) first aired December 10, 2005 with Elmer Gantry. Theme: Burt Lancaster
The Company of Strangers (1990) first aired December 17, 2011 with Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage Wars. Theme: Seniors Standing on Their Own.
Half Nelson (2006) first aired October 2, 2010 with Music of the Heart. Theme: Teacher/Student Dynamics
24 Hour Party People (2002) first aired February 8, 2009 with A Hard Day's Night. Theme: Life's Soundtracks
Elephant (2005) first aired October 11, 2008 with If... Theme: The Politics of If...(both films include school shootings)
The King (2005) first aired November 2, 2008 with Dear Frankie, Theme: Telling Lies
Priest (1994) first aired April 18, 2009 with I Confess. Theme: Ethics in the Confessional
Bigger Than Life (1956) first aired January 21, 2012 with Half Nelson. Theme: Substance Abuse
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) first aired January 2, 2010 with Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Theme: Transgender/Transvestite in Film
The Host (2006) first aired October 24, 2009 with The China Syndrome. Theme: Monsters of the Environment
Sullivan's Travels (1941) first aired September 1, 1998 with The Palm Beach Story. Theme: The Zany World of Preston Sturges
Paths of Glory (1957) first aired March 6, 2005 with The Dawn Patrol. Theme: Kubrick's Glory
The White Ribbon (2009) first aired January 26, 2013 with Let The Right One In. Theme: The Malevolent Child
Mary and Max (2009) first aired February 1, 2002 with Persepolis. Theme: Our Adult Life Animated
Mysterious Skin (2004) first aired November 6, 2010 with Missing. Theme: The Affects of Trauma

Saturday Features: "Beguiled" and "Fellini's Casanova"

Mon, 25 Mar 13 11:08:45 GMT

This upcoming Saturday Night films are "The Beguiled" directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood and "Fellini's Casanova" directed by (maestro) Federico Fellini and starring Donald Sutherland.

Thes theme is "The Fall of the Ladies Man"

"The Beguiled" has Eastwood, circa 1970, strapping, young with leading-man good-looks (albeit a revised type of leading man from the Clark Gables, the Cary Grants and the Rock Hudsons), as a wounded Union soldier held hostage in a finishing school for young Southern ladies. He's their hostage, but he's also their patient. Eastwood's character is a man who takes full advantage of the care and kindness given by each impressionable belle as they nurse him back to health. But he's unaware that his seductions come with a price that turns this Southern civil-war romance into gothic-horror

In "Fellini's Casanova" the ladies man, played with outrageous pomp and foppish by Donald Sutherland, is the infamous Casanova. Though based on the auto-biography of Giacomo Casanova, Fellini's film, as does Sutherland's performance, takes a non-traditional poke at the world's greatest lover. But Casanova is politics, and his auto-biography perhaps somewhat sided to his own philandering image.

Saturday Features: "Diabolique" and "Games" - Suspense Games

Thom Ernst — Wed, 20 Mar 13 10:24:28 GMT

There was a time Alfred Hitchcock, feared he might lose his moniker as cinema's Master of Suspense to French director Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Clouzot made headway among critics and cinema goers who were quick to l him The French Alfred Hitchcock. We can imagine Hitchcock being fine with the comparison, so long as he remains the standard to which all else is compared.

By the time Clouzot came on the scene in 1933 with a modest feature "Tout pour l'amour. "Hitchcock had long established his credentials as a filmmaker Of the two directors, Hitchcock was the more productive and with greater commercial backing. Clouzot had the attention of the French audience, but on the international scale he remained art-house material - respected but with modest popular appeal. By the time Clouzot made his mark in 1942 breaking out with "The Murderer Lives at Number 21", Hitchcock was already positioned as the leader in suspense. Clouzot's efforts, it seemed, were too little, too late. Still, Hitchcock kept his eye on Clouzot, and for good reason.

Clouzot followed "The Murderer Lives at Number 21 with "Le Corbeau: The Raven" (1943) an excellent thriller that, because of it's seemingly anti-French narrative, dogged him with controversy and prevented him from making another picture until 1946 when he came back with "Quai des OrfÃ¨vres" . By then Hitchcock was leading the race by nearly 20 films - most of which were critical and financial successes. Hitchcock's title was safe.

Then, in 1953 Clouzot gained international acclaim for "The Wages of Fear" (airing June 8, 2013 on TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies) a highly taut thriller so masterfully directed that no one, not even Hitchcock, could ignore it's significant impact on the suspense/thriller genre. But the crux came in 1952, when the novel Celle qui n'Ã©tait plus (She Who Was No More) by French writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac appeared on everyone's must-read book list. Hitchcock wanted it to be his next film but missed out on securing the rights to Clouzot who had beaten Hitchcock by mere hours.

In 1955 Clouzot turned that novel into the film "Diabolique" ("Les diaboliques"). It would become one of Clouzot's masterpieces and, as author David Thompson writes, "the most frightening of all his films".

Writers Boileau and Narcejac would later option their book D'Entre Les Morts, to Hitchcock. That book became "Vertigo" (1958). But it was "Psycho" that Hitchcock's considered to be his answer to "Diabolique". "Psycho" turned out to be a formidable response but not one that diminishes the skill of Clouzot's skillfully crafted suspense. But in the end, Hitchcock held on to his title, The Master of Suspense.

There is little, if anything, recorded as to Clouzot's ambition to become the Master of Suspense. It's possible that this was a one sided contest with Hitchcock as the only player.

Watch Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Diabolique" 8pm Saturday night March 23rd, on Saturday Night at the Movies.

Saturday Features: "Spartacus" with "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum"

Thom Ernst — Wed, 13 Mar 13 11:01:54 GMT

Just over a year ago to this date, Josh Mostel, came up from New York to take in the opening stage production of Zero Hour at Toronto's Al Green Theatre, a one-man play based on his father, Zero Mostel. Toronto Star theatre critic, Richard Ouzounian gives it a glowing review.

A bit about Zero Mostel: Mostel died in 1977. He was 62. Zero had a skill at portraying the fast-talking, fast-thinking con-man which Mel Brooks put to brilliant use in the original "The Producers". But when he played a blacklisted comic in the under-rated Martin Ritt film, "The Front" alongside Woody Allen, he proved he had a serious side as well. On Broadway he became known to many as the original, and to some, the only, Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof". To Mostel's dismay, Norman Jewison would cast Topol as Tevye in the film version of Fiddler.

He had a brief moment in the academy award winning documentary "Best Boy" where he met Philly, the 50 year-old man who stopped aging mentally at 5, backstage after a performance of Fiddler on the Roof. Philly's favourite song was If I Were A Rich Man, the centerpiece performance from the play. At first Zero met Philly and his parents (and camera crew) with the aloof respect that any performer, exhausted from just finishing a show, might meet a fan in his dressing room. The moment Zero recognized Philly's capacity, as well as his warmth and gentleness, he opened his arms and heart. In an unforgettable moment Zero and Philly sing, If I Were A Rich Man.

There are many films to choose from from the canon of Mostel's work. " A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is not necessarily the best choice. Josh Mostel, doesn't even like the film suggesting that Zero didn't quite care for it either.

The problems with Funny Thing are not obvious to me. It works. Perhaps as a tale of a conniving, plotting and self-centered slave (can a slave actually be self-centered) the comedy is too broad and bawdy to be consider tasteful. But with a cast like Mostel, Jack Gifford, Michael Crawford (who would, years later, show up in Toronto as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera), Phil Silvers, and in his final film, Buster Keaton, how could you be anything else but broad and bawdy? The music numbers by Steven Sondheim are as catchy as they are hilarious from the opening credit sequence featuring the song A Comedy Tonight to the wonderfully campy Everybody Ought to Have a Maid.

The film boasts the talents of Richard Lester, who was accused of trying to use the same frantic, reckless pace that worked for him with The Beatles in "A Hard Day's Night" to a far lesser affect in this film. Its a valid criticism that I quite easily forgive. The film was shot by future director, Nicholas Roeg with a script co-written by Larry Gelbart and Melvin Frank.

If the film is a failure, and you will judge for yourself and let me know what you think, than it's a delightful, memorable, and wonderfully giddy failure.

The other feature this weekend is "Spartacus". Now we're in the hands of master director Stanley Kubrick. This is epic sword and sandal material that also deals with slavery just without the back beat.

Tonight we visit the Roman Empire - one as a satire, one as a social comment.

Enjoy.

Saturday Features: "Coming Home" and "The Quiet American" - Before and After Vietnam

Thom Ernst — Thu, 07 Mar 13 10:10:57 GMT

In 1955, Graham Greene's novel, The Quiet American, is published; its the same year military conflict begins in Vietnam.

Three years later Joseph Mankiewicz directs the first film version of Greene's book. It stars Audie Murphy, America's most decorated war-hero, as 'The American" (Alden Pyle in the novel) and one of Britain's most accomplished actors, Michael Redgrave as Thomas Fowler. The title, "The Quiet American" conveys a dual-purposed illusion for the reader suggesting the stealth maneuvers of a CIA operative as well as being an ironic play on the stereotype image of Americans as boisterous and intrusive. Mankiewicz's beautifully shot and suitably dramatic film chooses to ignore the irony of the title and instead offers a more literal interpretation as a way of enhancing Murphy's character as an innocent abroad. In Mankiewicz's version the American is the indisputable hero; if he were anything but a hero the film would likely have never been made.

The film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, losing out to "The Deer Hunter".

This weekend's presentation of "The Quiet American" (2002) and "Coming Home" (1978) offers a wonderful cinematic perspective of Vietnam before and after the war.

Saturday Features: "Please Give" and "Friends with Money" - Films by Nicole Holofcener

Thom Ernst — Mon, 25 Feb 13 10:22:44 GMT

You might not recognize Nicole Holofcener's name but you're likely to be familiar with her work. Holofcener is a a new and original voice in cinema, and by new I mean she's only been on the scene since 1996 when she premiered her film 'Walking & Talking' at The Sundance Film Festival. 'Walking & Talking' featured Anne Heche, Liev Schreiber (movie's most overlooked actor) and Catherine Keener. Keener would go on to be a prominent feature in all of Holofcener's feature films. Holofcener and Keener have made four movies together including a still untitled project due for release later this year (2013)

A bit about Holofcener: She's a native New-Yorker now working in California. She writes, directs and, on occasion, acts making her one of the few authentic auteurs in the business.

Holofcener is the daughter of composer Lawrence Holofcener and set director Carol Joffe. As a child she tagged along with her mother to movie sets and got first-hand exposure to one of the cinema's most recognized filmmakers,Woody Allen. Hanging around a Woody Allen set paid-off; Holofcener appeared as an extra in Allen’s 'Take the Money and Run' (1969) and again in 'Sleeper' (1973).

There is, arguably, the spirit of an Allen film in Holofcener's work; her characters suffer through varying states of neurosis and comedic disarray. But unlike Allen's nebbish and self-centered, therapy-addicted protagonists Holofcener's characters are agreeable members of society who are, perhaps only temporarily, overwhelmed by their situation.

Her films provide a voice that is perfectly attuned to creating ensemble pieces with strong female leads. Most of her characters are women, There is a feminist slant in the depiction of these women although Holofcener admits that her female characters might appear inconsistent with traditional feminist thought. Consider 'Friends with Money' (2006), where Jennifer Aniston appears in a French maid’s outfit as a way to supplement an income - not a situation endorsed by Gloria Steinman.

Holofcener concedes her women characters can be “girlie and frivolous” but adds that, “true feminism embraces all sides of women.”

In 2010 Nicole Holofcener released 'Please Give'. 'Please Give' is the kind of relationship comedy that every adult can enjoy. It’s about friends and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, struggling to maneuver through life in downtown Manhattan. The story involves a young couple hoping to take over an elderly neighbour’s flat once the old woman dies; it's not so much a heartless waiting game as it is a reality of New York real-estate. But there are also the woman’s grown grandchildren to contend with. Lives begin to overlap and interact.

The woman playing Andra – the 91-year old grandmother with the enviable flat - is Ann Morgan Guilbert who some might remember as Millie, Rob and Laura Petrie's neighbour in 'The Dick Van Dyke Show"

Both "Friends With Money" and "Please Give" air March ND on Saturday Night at the Movies starting at pm.

Saturday Features: "In the Heat of the Night" and "Moonstruck" - Two From Norman Jewison

Thom Ernst — Tue, 19 Feb 13 11:53:33 GMT

It is rare to be in the company of a man like Norman Jewison; a man so accomplished and yet so unassuming. I have done two long form interviews with Jewison over the years.

This weekend Saturday Night at the Movies is showing two of Jewisons' best known films: 'In the Heat of the Night' and 'Moonstruck'. You might be surprised at how well these two films hold up. Time has not dampened the racial punch in 'In the Heat of the Night', and neither has time been able to age the appeal and charm of Moonstruck.

Rod Steiger stands-out as Gillespie a Police Chief in a small southern town forced to work with a detective from the city. Stieger could have played Gillespie as an ignorant, bullying southern racist cop - instead his Gillespie is a hard-core police officer who's disrupted but not offended by the arrival of a black detective, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier ).

Over the years Jewison has granted us many interviews, both in his Toronto location and in L.A. Jewison's also been the subject of a 30 minute long tribute. You can find the whole tribute on the SNAM page

More on: Diversity Ethics Film Society & Culture

Saturday Features: "Ajami" and "Do the Right Thing" - Neighbourhoods

Thom Ernst — Wed, 13 Feb 13 12:54:17 GMT

Spike Lee was 32 when he made, "Do The Right Thing" (1989). It would be just as remarkable if he were to make it today at the age of 55. But if the film was done today, Spike would have a foundation of like-minded filmmakers to build upon. Spike Lee didn't have a Spike Lee to turn to when making "Do the Right Thing". Prior to Lee, there were few, if any, films where black characters appeared on screen for any other reason than because they were black. As well-intentioned as Stanley Kramer, Martin Ritt or even our beloved Norman Jewison might have been (all directors who've made films that tackle themes of racism) their stars played black. In other words; if the role didn't specifically call for someone black, Asian or Native, the role went to a white actor.

It's arguable that the characters in "Do the Right Thing" are defined by race for the story to work: Saul needs to be Italian, Mookie needs to be African-American, the fruit-market owner's need to be Vietnamese. Not so much his earlier film, "She Gotta' Have It" (1986), which could be cast with no regard to race, although that film does delve into areas specific to the African-American experience but that is more of a directorial preference than a racial definitive.

It's easy to forget the significant strides and breakthroughs Lee has made in cinema. And yet there are few directors who come under-fire more often than Spike Lee. His vocal objections against Quentin Tarantino's work - notable the amount of racial slurs uttered by Samuel L. Jackson in "Jackie Brown" and recently of Tarantino's presentation of the American slave story as an entertaining western in "Django Unchained's" - leaves some to pass him off as a reactionist. But critics of Lee were around long before the arrival of Tarantino. They began in 1989 when "Do the Right Thing" was released and immediately perceived by some as dangerous; a strongly militant film that runs the risk of inciting riots. To date no known riot has ever been linked to a screening of "Do the Right Thing".

One reason for concern is based on an assumption that the events in the film are endorsed by the filmmaker but there is nothing in the movie to substantiate this to be true. Yes, Mookie, who is played by the director, is the audience's closest connection to the story and traditionally that's the character we trust as a moral guide throughout. The assumption again is that the character we most closely connect with will act in a way that is in keeping with the moral standards and ideas of the filmmaker, and by proxy, our own standards. So when Mookie does what Mookie does, he does it with or without audience, or perhaps even the director's, approval. The film depicts events without casting judgment. It's not a movie that sets out to raise alarms, or call people into action or even to placate us with a hope. The film does not ask us to take sides, nor does it choose sides for us.

Film critic, Roger Ebert has written several articles on the film. He wrote that he was so moved by the picture when first seeing it that he left the theatre in tears. Says Ebert, "...anyone who leaves the movie with more intolerance that they walk in with wasn't paying attention". Ebert then adds, "Do the Right Thing comes closer to reflecting the current stat of race relations in America than any other movie of our time." He wrote that in 1989. The sentiment remains today.

Saturday Features: "Mostly Martha" and "Big Night"

Thom Ernst — Tue, 05 Feb 13 16:36:10 GMT

Dinner and a movie? Fine. Movie and then dinner? A great idea. But a full course meal in a movie theatre should not happen. Popcorn crunching, soft drink-sipping, and candy wrappers crinkling are bad enough but the nauseating smell of someone else's fast food taken out of the context of a food court, is just too much to endure. And so, thankfully, most people limit what they bring into a movie theatre.

However, those rules change when in the comfort of your own home, in which case, we say, "Eat Up!" particularly if you're sitting down to watch films like "Mostly Martha" and "Big Night" (airing February 9th on TVO Saturday Night at the Movies starting at 8 pm).

So in honour of great food films such as "Like Water For Chocolate", "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover", "Babette's Feast", "Chocolat", "Tampopo", "Eat Drink Man Woman" and "Soul Food", SNAM offers a list of great movies and the perfect meal to go with them!

We'll start with the obvious - the film's we are airing on Saturday and these, by the way, will be the only food related films on the list. Feel free to cook up something wonderful for yourself and who ever might be joining you...but do it before the movie starts.

1/ "Big Night:"(1996) No question; serve Italian. The brother's are Italian, their restaurant is Italian and even the accents are Italian (including Ian Holmes). If you're not serving Italian during this film, you should have a pretty good reason as to why not. We recommend a pasta dish which may not seem to inventive, but prepared and presented in the right way, as in this Spicy Parmesan Meatballs with Spaghetti, you can come up with a combination of great film with a new twist on the traditional meatball.

2/ "Mostly Martha": (2001) Martha is feisty, controlling and in need of a companion so we've picked a meal that stands out dynamically on it's own, but is still wonderfully exquisite with a light salad, a mushroom sauce and a good friend. This one didn't take too much thought. It's easier when the film comes equip with it's only cultural references. This one is German. We suggest sticking with a traditional German dish which could mean sausage or sauerkraut but we're going with Weiner schnitzel. And don't forget the beer.

3/ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon": (2004) This little gem of a flick starring Sean Penn is as underrated as the American Cheeseburger. With the right ingredients even the seemingly traditional can be spiced up to something worthy of a discerning palate. Consider director Neils Mueller's overlooked drama of a man's descent into madness and murder becomes more than just a political drama by adding incredible performances and unnerving suspense to a somewhat familiar story. Suggested drink: Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Your choice.

4/"Welcome to the Sticks": (2008) French movie = French cuisine. This one might take a bit more time than the other snacks - actually, a lot more time. We suggest you go Provincial instead of urban for this French delicacy. The film is about a man moved from the city to a French rural location. So what better way to prepare yourself for re-location than to eat like the locals do. Here is a wonderful recipe straight from the backwoods of France: Confit de Canard.

5/ "All About My Mother": (1999) We could go two ways with director Pedro Almodovar's film: We can do Spanish cuisine or pick-up on the Mother theme and find some comfort food. But since we already have a hamburger on our list (a comfort food at my home) let's go Spanish. The meal can be as exotic, as spicy and as wild as befitting an Almodovar movie. Mixed Paella is by far my favourite but it does take FOREVER to make. If you don't feel like taking the time find your local Spanish restaurant and order it in. But homemade or pre-bought - it's worth it! Recommended drink: Wine or Beer.

6/ "Zulu":(1964) There are two ways to look at this film; either as a story about British soldiers fighting a nation of Zulu warriors or as a story of Zulu warriors standing their ground against British soldiers. Zulu is an adventure film filled with the kind of surprises that might go against the expectations of the genre. As much as it can boast the heroics of British soldiers frightened and outnumbered it also features the gallant and brave fight the Zulu warriors put up against their would-be oppressors. Seems like the best meal to go along with this battle would come from South Africa. Try the Sweet Lamb For Ramadan. It's not nearly as difficult to make as it might seem - and you don't have to wait for Ramadan to serve it. Recommended drink: Just about anything goes with lamb.

Saturday Features: "All That Heaven Allows" and "Imitation of Life" - The Films of Douglas Sirk

Thom Ernst — Fri, 01 Feb 13 14:03:45 GMT

Director Douglas Sirk takes on the hot-button social issues of the 50s in the only way the time would allow – through searing melodramatic soap-operas. Themes of marital stability, race, class, May/December romances, colour, single parenting and other ideas that would have seemed progressive at the time are dealt through a highly entertaining perspective unique to the times. Contemporary filmmaker Todd Haynes used Sirk’s style of filmmaking as the template for his film Far From Heaven (2002).

Sirk began his career directing theatre, and carried much of the theatric spirit to his film projects with a great deal of emphases put into costumes,sets and fashion. Sirk's keen interest paintings - particularly French Romanticism and the works of HonorÃ¨ Daumier (Don Quixode) and Ferdinand Delacroix - led him to fill the screen with colours and create a glossy sheen that illuminates even his film's darker moments. Subtlety, at least in presentation, was not Sirk's concern. His stories were big, with big performances most notably, and most frequently, by Rock Hudson. But there were others: Robert Stack, Jane Wyman, Lana Turner, John Gavin, all who took to the camera like they were taking to the stage. But the stage was magnificent and the camera catches it beautifully.

Sirk's movies were grand sweeping dramas full of heart-ache, loss, and overt-emotion. But through this high-drama Sirk was crafting a critique on 1950s America; an unmasking of its prejudices, its classicism and the underling pressures it has to conform. It was this expression of angst and discontent that earned Sirk respect from filmmakers linked to the French New Wave (Truffaut, Rohmer, Godard) who considered his work to be ironic; a social critique of America presented in the country's most glamorous and appealing package - the Hollywood movie.

A quick look at Sirk's history reveals a man who understands the depths of which a society can fall into corruption. He was born in Germany and for a brief period he made several films for the German Minister of Propaganda. But he fell in love and married a Jewish actress which so outraged his first wife, who remained a staunch Nazi supporter, that she refused to allow Sirk to ever again see his only son. The boy died fighting in World War II. We can imagine that this kind of wound never heals. It is speculated that Rock Hudson became Sirk's surrogate son. The age was right. Hudson, himself, has stated that Sirk was very much like a father to him.

Hudson appears in the first of our two Sirk presentations tonight: All that Heaven Allows (1955) a story of a wealthy widow whose love of a younger man is poisoned by her friends and children - not because of their age difference, but because of their class difference. The man is her gardener.

The second feature is the classic weeper - 'Imitation of Life"(1959) a story of love, ambition and race.

Saturday Features: "The White Ribbon" and "Let The Right One In" - The Malevolent Child

Thom Ernst — Fri, 25 Jan 13 13:20:05 GMT

Adult films about children are rarely playful and the tone is often more grim than fairytale. This weekend, Saturday Night at the Movies features two films that cast a dark shadow over innocence. In Michael Haneke "The White Ribbon". the children belong to a small village just outside of Germany, 1913. It's a place and a time where the misdeeds of a group of children are likely to be overshadowed by a growing political unrest. But even with the threat of fascism on the rise, the townspeople can't ignore that something evil is taking over their town.

"The White Ribbon" is a mystery. Someone is responsible for a series of unexplained accidents and tragedies. Haneke immediately turns our suspicions towards the children. It's an uncomfortable place to be - to need protection from those we are meant to protect.

In 2010 "The White Ribbon" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. It lost to director Juan JosÃ© Campanella's "The Secret in Their Eyes".

This year Haneke has another chance with his film "Amour", a heart-felt challenge to the nature of long-term love, "Amour" is up for five Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture.

The second feature is "Let the Right One In."

It's 1998 and zombies are running rampant, vampires even more so. The vampire film is begriming to grow stale and then along comes director Tomas Alfredson (above). His take on the vampire myth in "Let the Right One In", based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel of the same name introduces a ice-cold desolate twist on an ancient format.

Here the twist is not just in location, we are in a non-descriptive housing tenement in Stockholm, but in that the characters are children. Here there will be blood, but not in the gushing, shocking tradition of the teenage slasher film. The underlying narrative here is about bullying, about friendship and about the burden of youth. And despite being re-made as a surprisingly effective American film, Let Me In (2010) the film does not comply to the values of familiar stereotypes and situations.

Saturday Features: "North Dallas 40" and "Cold Turkey"

Thom Ernst — Fri, 18 Jan 13 12:44:20 GMT

COLD TURKEY (1971)

To 'win at all cost' is the most ironic and misused clichÃ© in the English language.

It sounds good.

It can even sound inspirational, rallying up all those good things like determination, focus, and tenacity. But when you've won at the loss of everything else, you've won nothing. It's a trap Lance Armstrong fell into. It's the parable of many a great story: Citizen Kane, A Face In the Crowd, Scarface. And it's the source of the comedy in Norman Lear's "Cold Turkey"; the source of controversy in Ted Kotcheff's "North Dallas Forty"."

"Cold Turkey" might seem a strange film to pair with "North Dallas Forty", director Ted Kotcheff's fact-based comedy-sports-drama about the infiltration of the drug industry into professional sports. The connection between the two is that both films deal the lengths people go to win.

We begin the night with "North Dallas Forty",

The film is based on the experiences of the late Peter Kent, a Dallas Cowboy receiver turned author. His book, North Dallas Forty, is a semi-autobiographical account of his pro-ball days that exposes, among many things, the lengths team owners would go to win the game.

Kotcheff's film, written by screenwriter Frank Yablans, sticks closely to Kent's book.

But it's Nick Nolte's performance as Phillip Elliott, a fictional character based on Peter Kent, that makes North Dallas Forty much more than an insider's exposÃ© on the ugly side of pro-sports (although there's that too) . Elliott, like Kent, is a receiver for a pro-ball club, The North Dallas Forty - loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys. Elliott knows his career is coming to an end but he is not quite ready to give up the game.

The second film, Norman Lear's "Cold Turkey" has nothing to do with pro sports and is not even remotely based on fact, but, like "North Dallas Forty", it's about competition and the drive to stop at nothing in order to win.

"Cold Turkey" is the story of a fictional neighbourhood in Eagle Rock, Iowa, whose residents are offered $25 million dollars to quick smoking. Even in the light of tonight's theme, Winning At All Cost, "Cold Turkey" is not a film to take seriously but a film to enjoy.

You won't find much in film journals about its director Norman Lear . Television was Lear's domain and it's in television where his talent and strengths excelled. But he did have some flirtations with movies. He began as a screenwriter with "Come Blow Your Horn" (1963) and "The Night They Raided Minskys" (1968). Eventually he stated to direct with "Divorce American Style" in (1967) and then "Cold Turkey" (1971).

"Cold Turkey" stars just about every face known to 60s television with Dick Van Dyke and Pippa Scott being the film's most experienced big screen performers.

Roger Ebert (read his review here) gives the movie a 4/5 star rating applauding the film's comic use of stocky grumbling men.

Saturday Features: "The Hospital" and "Bigger Than Life" - When the Prescription Fails

Thom Ernst — Fri, 11 Jan 13 09:34:32 GMT

Director Nicholas Ray loves when things get out of hand, when tempers peak and sanity begins to fail. He loves letting his actors loose to chew up as much scenery as their on screen time allows.

In "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) he allows James Dean to contort his face into a grieving heap of twisted flesh, and his hands into gnarled, arthritic looking claws as he screams, "You're tearing me apart!" Everything about that moment tells us that it shouldn't work; it's too big, too extreme, and too over wrought. And yet it has become a classic movie moment, and a signature line for James Dean.

In "Johnny Guitar'(1954) Ray creates the first (assumed) gay western character with Joan Crawford's Vienna. The film is decidedly campy, and yet Martin Scorcese calls it "compulsive viewing". And it is. But even the idea of casting Crawford suggest that Ray has a taste for keeping things slightly off kilter.

Then, following on the heels of "Rebel Without a Cause", comes "Bigger Than Life" and Ray does something rather unexpected - he casts James Mason. Mason, a man of such structured refinement, a voice that teeter on arrogance, and a reserved manner that resists emotional outbursts, seems to stand in complete opposition to Ray's grand feel for excess. But it's a clever thing does here - casting Mason as the good father, good husband and respected teacher, who then must progress in the film to become an irrational bully capable of causing great harm to his family.

The melodrama is thick in "Bigger Than Life" and yet it is one of Nicholas Ray's most effective and powerful dramas.

Mason is a man given an experimental drug that cures him of a potentially fatal ailment. When one pill makes him feel better he figures two pills with make him feel good, three pills will make him feel great and so on until he undergoes a Jeckyl and Hyde transformation, that changes his personality into something dangerously psychotic.

Like most of Ray's movies, there are huge moments of dramatic flare and license that test the realms of feasibility, but the effect does not ring false but rather catapults us into the kind of theatre where illusion plays a more important role than reality.

"Bigger Than Life" was recommended to me by a viewer. Could I remember who gave me that recommendation I would call, first to let him know that we're airing his suggestion and second to thank him for introducing me to the film.

"Bigger Than Life" is screened with Arthur Hiller's "The Hospital" written by Paddy Chayefsky and starring George C. Scott,

Saturday Features: "Wages of Fear" and "Welcome to the Sticks" - Risky Business

Thom Ernst — Fri, 04 Jan 13 12:51:37 GMT

Were I to make a list of the top fifty filmmakers worthy of your time and attention - fifty names whose distinguished careers in cinema have ended, but whose work continues to live - the name Henri-Georges Clouzot would appear somewhere near the top.

He was considered by many to be the French Alfred Hitchcock. Even Hitchcock thought so, fearing Clouzot to be the toughest opponent to beat as the reigning master of suspense. There is a story that Hitchcock missed out on securing the rights to make "Diabolique" ("Les diaboliques") from 1955, one of Clouzot's masterpieces airing on Saturday Night at the Movies March 23, pm , by mere hours. Author David Thomson calls "Diabolique" the most frightening of all his films. "Psycho" was Hitchcock's apparent answer to "Diabolique". "Psycho" turned out to be a formidable response but not one that diminishes the skill of Clouzot's skillfully crafted suspense.

But before "Diabolique" there was"The Wages of Fear" (1953) airing this Saturday, January 5, 2013.

"Wages of Fear" stars Yves Montand as a one of four desperate men hired to transport two trucks of nitroglycerin through the dense, dangerous and remote terrain of South America. Every bump in the road, or rattle in the engine becomes a potential detonator that could set off a powerful and deadly explosion. Adding to the tension is the conflict between the drivers.

Clouzot's films often have the edge disassociation between characters. Sometimes cold, sometimes calculating - always mistrustful and suspicious. It's a bleaker world than even Hitchcock's, who would occasionally add levity in even his most depraved scenarios. Clouzot never seemed interested in lightening up the foreboding darkness. His films are intense, but with infused with the kind of suspense that carries us through it, rather than pushes us away.

It's unlikely anyone would be put off by Clouzot's vision. "Wages of Fear", or any of his films, might lack the playfulness of more westernized thrillers, but the payoff comes in the unshakeable uncertainty imprinted upon every frame.

The follow-up film is a French comedy, "Welcome to the Sticks". This is also about a desperate man in the midst of an unpleasant career choice, although the tone here is highly farcical and is indeed quite light.

Saturday Features: "Everyone Says I Love You" and "8 Mile" - Musical Expression

Thom Ernst — Thu, 27 Dec 12 02:00:00 GMT

This is a message to all the closeted musical lovers in the world – it’s time to step up (or if you really want to make a statement, Shuffle off to Buffalo) and be counted as a fan. I, for one, have never shied away from my love of the genre. I’ve always been open about liking musicals, taking every opportunity to defend them, and even outed a few people who claim to hate them. Yet even I come up short when it comes to crusading for the rights of the musical comedy or its less acceptable cousin, the drama.

People seem offended the moment someone in a movie starts busting into rhythm as though this deflection from real life is just one note too many beyond an acceptable level of absurdity.

But for me, spontaneous burst of musical emotion seems no less absurd then a ballroom fist fight (I’ve actually witnessed one of these and it’s nothing like the movies), a street side gun battle, city wide car chase, multiple explosions or even something as standard as a jump cut or crane shot. All of it is unreal. Singing and dancing in a movie is just one more unreal option in a canon of unreal dramatic expressions.

What is truly annoying – and were this a musical you can bet this would be my feisty, fiery solo full of spirit and self assured dance steps with a damn fine impressive vocal range – is not so much that people claim not to like the musical, but to go as far as to endorse their disapproval with a self-righteous certainty that it is a genre to despise. It’s like hating Salvador Dali because clocks don’t really bend like that.

It’s been said that the best movie soundtracks are the ones that go unnoticed.

That’s not the case in our films this weekend where the soundtrack is the action "Everyone Says I Love You" and "8 Mile".

Woody Allen has never been shy about his love of Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter or old MGM musicals. He puts all of that love and passion into “Everyone Says I Love You” but this is Allen so there’s more going on than just song and dance. The film is about family, and the way it changes through marriage, divorce, death, politics and rediscovered loved ones. It’s less rooted in plot and more focused on character than many Allen films.

Allen uses familiar tunes from both Gershwin and Porter to tell the story but, unlike traditional musicals, there is not so much of an outburst of song and dance in the performances as there is an outburst of feeling and energy. And he throws another wrench into the genre by casting non-musical actors in all the roles. He didn’t bother to inform any of his actors that they would be crooning on camera until after they signed on. Only Drew Barrymore refused and somehow managed to convince him to dub in someone else’s voice.

Then we get to “8 Mile” (2002) It’s a musical of a whole new sort.

“8 Mile” stars rapper Eminem fresh from the success of his Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers lps. He plays Jimmy ‘B-Rabbit’ Smith a frustrated but determined young rap hopeful. Life hasn’t always been good to ‘B-Rabbit’, then again, he hasn’t always been good to himself. The drama is set against the back drop of a hip hop/rap competition where b-rabbit puts everything on the line for a chance at something better.

8 Mile refers to an acutal road close to where eminem grew up and the character, Future, played by Mekhi Phifer, is based on Eminem’s best friend, Proof. Art imitates life.The film is by directed by academy award winner Curtis Hanson who also gave us LA Confidential and Wonder Boys and stars Kim Basinger and the late Brittany Murphy.

SNAM Twitter Talkback: What Movie Changed How You Looked at Movies?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 21 Dec 12 12:25:33 GMT

With today being my last day on the Saturday Night at the Movies team, I've been thinking a lot about the impact the show has had on me. In particular how a viewing of "Stagecoach" so many years ago opened my eyes to the fact that movies which may seem like superficial entertainment, can be so much more than that, have so much more going on underneath the surface. So, in honour of that, I decided to ask our Twitter followers what movies had a similar impact on them.

What film catalyzed your realization that movies have the potential to transcend mere "entertainment"? Why that movie?

Josh Brunsting, @joshbrunsting:
The films of Jean Painleve.

Doug Till-E-y, @Doug_Tilley:
2001 really changed everything for me. I don't consider it among my favorite films, but watching it was a revelatory experience.

Alison Broverman, @brovermania:
It wasn't a positive experience, but Todd Solondz's "Happiness" caused me more trauma than I ever thought a film could. (I was 17.)

Matt Zurcher, @Berzurcher:
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN then THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Coming of age in 2007 was a great idea.

HannaRockhead, @HannaRockhead:
David Lynch's Eraserhead. Saw it at the Towne Cinema in Ottawa when I was 15. Looked & sounded like nothing I had ever seen before.

Kenji Fujishima, @kenjfuj:
MEAN STREETS because it helped me realize that movies could also reflect lived experience in addition to being entertainment.

Paul Bruce, @PaulsFilmReview:
2001: A Space Odyssey, or 8 1/2.

Peter Labuza, @labuzamovies:
Triple feature of LA CONFIDENTIAL, PULP FICTION, and MEMENTO in one week in Kansas of all places.

Rick Burin, @rickburin:
I saw Les 400 Coups in a French lesson, and the portrait of innocence and cynicism, allied to that technical wizardry, blew my mind

C. Worsnop, @poced:
I think it was "Jour de fete" for me I'd seen Chaplin before, but this film brought comedy into one place for me. I got the art.

Andreas, @astoehr:
I've been wishing I could answer this, but I've been lucky enough to watch movies as art AND entertainment my whole life.

Monika Bartyzel, @MBartyzel:
Artistically, it's not quite film, but TWIN PEAKS. It led me to Lynch, to ERASERHEAD, and opened me to the artistic possibility. Before that, HEATHERS, which started to make me realize my love of satire, and how a catchy, fun film could be creatively smart.

Juan, @woahitsjuanito:
I want to say the precise moment was when I discovered Annie Hall because everything felt right once I added Woody Allen to my life

John Semley, @johnsemley3000:
mine was ERASERHEAD, after some guy told me it was marilyn manson's favourite movie.

Jemima Bucknell, @FilmFervour:
for my generation, it's 3 films: #FightClub #AClockworkOrange #PulpFiction - but for me? #PulpFiction and #if....

Saturday Features: "The Gold Rush" and "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" - Silent Night

Thom Ernst — Thu, 20 Dec 12 12:55:41 GMT

Saturday Night at the Movies is showing two classic comedies this holiday weekend as a seasonal treat for the entire family. Both films are silent, or at least, have minimal sound. And because we're so close to Christmas, we are calling our evening, Silent Night. And we think ourselves rather clever for doing so.

"The Gold Rush" is considered a classic and rightfully so. I know very few who would disagree.

Monsieur Hulot’s holiday was nominated in the “best writing, story and screenplay” category at the 1956 academy awards – three years after it’s European release in 1953.

These are comedies but they are also stories about the endurance of the human spirit. Perfect for the holidays.

Saturday Features: "About A Boy" and "Mary & Max" - An Age of Difference

Thom Ernst — Fri, 14 Dec 12 09:13:58 GMT

Our films this weekend are about friendship - but the friendships here are notable for the age difference between the characters.

Saturday Features: "Henry Poole is Here" and "A Man For All Seasons"

Thom Ernst — Fri, 07 Dec 12 09:25:26 GMT

December kicks off with two movies dealing, in varying degrees, with religion. 'Henry Poole is Here' (2008) and 'A Man For All Seasons' (1967) deal specifically with Christianity, but the stories they tell are not intended to convert, uphold or deny anyone's beliefs.

'A Man For All Seasons ' , directed by Fred Zinnemann, is a story about Thomas More, played by Scofield who stands up to his King, Henry the VIII, played by Robert Shaw, by denying the monarchy a divorce.

It's a battle of wits where Royalty is garbed in rich fabrics and vibrant colours revealing not only a sense of privilege and status, but something close to being God-like, The clergy, by comparison wears dark colours and simple, albeit impressive clothes. The clergy's outfit suggest piety, purpose and, in some ways, humbleness. Here the costumes become very much part of the drama. A Monarch vs. an Archbishop - despite both enjoying exalted positions, and a claim to have been appointed by God, it is their wardrobe that sets them apart. And not always do the better clothes win.

Zinnemann's film explores the battle between church and state; raising the question as to how or whether the two should meet. But this isn't a message film. No doctrine is held up to be admire nor condemned. This is a film that thrives on performances.

'A Man for All Season', swept the 1967 Oscars with Best Picture, Best Director for Fred Zinnemann, Best writing for Robert Bolt, Best Cinematography for Ted Moore, Best Actor for Paul Scofield, and, in a rather oddly specific category, Best Costume Design for a Colour Film for Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge.

Director Mark Pellington and screenwriter Albert Torres claim that there is no Christian mandate is being pushed in their film, 'Henry Poole is Here'. But despite any claim to being impartial the film found a devoted audience among groups with strong religious convictions.

Henry Poole (Luke Wilson).is a man who believes he's dying and chooses to live out the remainder of his life a hermit. But when a water stain, shaped to look like the face of Jesus, appears on the side of his house, being alone is not an option. A community of believers start coming around worshiping the water stain and even a few miracles occur. Poole is a firm non-believer but cannot shake the foundation of his neighbours' faith.

When watching this film, it's important to understand where director Pellington was emotionally when Henry Poole was made. Pellington's wife, costume designer Jennifer Barrett Pellington died suddenly four years before the films release. 'Henry Poole is Here' is his return to film after that tragedy.

Perhaps the focus in 'Henry Poole' is not religion nor Christianity, but a focus on hope. And hope - a close relative to faith - can be universal.

Saturday Features: "Billion Dollar Brain" and "The Music Lovers"

Thom Ernst — Fri, 30 Nov 12 17:11:21 GMT

Ken Russell - A Madman on Film

by Thom Ernst Monday November 28, 2011

Director Ken Russell died Sunday November 27, 2011 after a series of strokes. The Associated Press printed an article which appeared, among other places, on the home page of IMDB under the headline British film director Ken Russell is dead at 84. Then, beneath that headline appeared a far more prominent article (with picture), announcing, Anne Hathaway's engagment to Adam Shulman. It seems a miscarriage of news preferences, although that might just be the film lover in me. Even as I write this I'm aware that a few readers will be distracted by the nuptial news of Hathaway/Shulman and annoyed that I didn't hyperlink their names.

The fact is, Russell was 84 years old. He was British and he was a bit of a madman.

More successful, I thought, was the campy send-up of the Bram Stoker in the film The Lair of the White Worm (1988) starring Hugh Grant. Most people don't agree me.

Crouse was perhaps the last journalist, film-writer to have engaged Russell in an ongoing conversation.

Richard Crouse's book, Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils is about Russell's brilliant, hellish vision of sexual repression in the 17th century.

This weekend on SNAM we air Russells first feature length non-documentary film, Billion Dollar Brain and The Music Lovers. Also go online and see the live

SNAM Twitter Talkback: Do You Watch Deleted Scenes on DVDs/Blu-Rays?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 30 Nov 12 14:24:59 GMT

Do You Watch Deleted Scenes on DVDs/Blu-Rays?

M Bartyzel, @MBartyzel:
Yes. It's much better than self-congratulatory "featurettes."

Noel Prime, @MrF1978:
very rarely.....one watch is enough to see why they were deleted

J. Chlebus, @J_Chlebus:
Deleted Scenes were usually deleted for a reason. Unless I truly love the film (and wish there was more of it) then SKIP IT.

Peter Labuza, @labuzamovies:
depends on the film. Like a Judd Apatow? Not really. If it was a Michael Mann? I'm quite curious.

Tiaan van Niekerk, @Tiaanvanniekerk:
I find them amusing. Sometimes cool to see what had to be cut.

Greymattersplat, @Greymattersplat:
It kinda depends on the movie, but I always watch them at least once. I'd choose a gag reel over deleted scenes any day though.

Doug Till-E-y, @Doug_Tilley:
For my favorite movies, they are adored. For everything else, they make for a fun, temporary distraction.

MovieViewer-Man, @MovieVigilante:
Not really. Most of the time they were deleted for a good reason. On the other hand, I'll take all the blooper scenes I can get.

Rick Burin, @rickburin:
Yeah, I love 'em. It gives you extra film, for a start, reveals something of the process, and often contains some little gem cut only for pacing.

Zoobia, @zoobia_xo:
I always watch them, but they are not the most important for me. I'm more excited about behind the scenes stuff.

John Oursler, @JMOursler:
depends on the director. But yeah maybe

Andrew Davies, @dashielldavies:
I was interested in seeing "The Amazing Spider-Man" deleted scenes because they made certain things on the film a lot clearer.

Owen Craig, @owenkcraig:
Used to, in the early days of DVD. Now I generally just assume they were cut for a reason.

To.silentfilmfest, @tosilentfilm:
maybe as a curiosity, but not important. It's distracting out of context

SNAM Twitter Talkback: What's the Greatest Animated Movie You Have Seen?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 23 Nov 12 15:44:54 GMT

What's the greatest animated movie you have seen?

Billy Hooligan, @TFCHooligan69:
It's a toss-up between Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Matt Mansfield, @mattmansfield_:
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, or Ratatouille.

David Eng, @davideng:
I'd have to say Ratatouille.

Aline, @IMadoria:
I really like WALL-E.

Rob, @robtrench:
AKIRA!

Neil Mitchell, @nrm1972:
Belleville Rendevous

Evan Jerred, @evanjerred:
Probably Spirited Away

Fulmer, @Fulmer:
Tough call: Princess Mononoke. Fantasia. The Incredibles. Spirited Away.

Doug Till-E-y, @Doug_Tilley:
Porco Rosso. Grave of the Fireflies. Fantasia. But I'm going with The Iron Giant. Bridges the gap from traditional animation to CG.

Christopher Runyon, @CGRunyon:
SPIRITED AWAY. Not just a great animated movie, a joyful experience and one of my very favorite films.

Harry Harris, @hharrisfilm:
Mary and max, ParaNorman, Belleville rendezvous, toy story 3

Graeme Burk, @graemeburk:
the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons. The power and effortless grace Superman has is the sort of thing Zack Snyder can only dream of

Adam HopeLies, @adamhopelies:
RenÃ© Laloux's Maitres du temp and Fantastic Planet are my favs.

Kyle Turner, @TyleKurner:
Fantasia

The Filmatelist, @Filmatelist:
Norman McLaren's BEGONE DULL CARE. Runners-up: Short - The Fleischers' SNOW WHITE with Betty Boop. Feature - Disney's PINOCCHIO

Sammy Younan, @mypalsammy:
Iron Giant, Transformers oh and Akira! I wish, wish, wish we got more animated movies like Akira rather than Disney's kid tripe.

Paolo Miguel Kagaoan, @paolocase:
Finding Nemo, but then again I just saw that so I might be biased.

Allen Almachar, @MrAllenAlmachar:
Grave of the Fireflies, Princess Mononoke, Pinocchio, Iron Giant, Wall-E/Up

MovieViewer-Man, @MovieVigilante:
The Thief and the Cobbler. A visually stunning masterpiece, and true labor of love by Richard Williams The Iron Giant was my second choice

Myles Herod, @MylesHerod:
Toss up between Heavy Metal or La PlanÃ¨te Sauvage. Those French were seriously on(to) something

Saturday Features: "Persepolis" and "Frida"

Thom Ernst — Wed, 21 Nov 12 16:23:20 GMT

'Frida' is a biographical film; 'Persepolis' is an auto-biographical film. Other than that, similarities between 'Persepolis' and 'Frida' are not necessarily self-evident. That 'Persepolis' is an animated feature based on a comic book (graphic novel, if you insist) and 'Frida' is not might be enough for some to overlook any comparisons. But get beyond the esthetics and you'll find these movies are remarkably alike.

Both films focus on a singularly strong, independent, and politically outspoken woman rising out of a time and culture that discourages rather than rewards individual thought.

Marjane Satrapi has but one book with an artist rendition of Marji that serves as a suitable likeness but does not have the same identifying familiarity as does Frida.

As people, Frida Kahlo and Majanne (Marji) Satrapi are unique in and of themselves. As films, 'Frida' and 'Persepolis' share a respect and admiration for individual growth, and personal strength.

Saturday Features: "Changing Lanes" & "Punch-Drunk Love"

Thom Ernst — Fri, 16 Nov 12 15:17:43 GMT

It's the last day of the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival.

A TIFF Press and Industry screening of "Punch-Drunk Love" is being held at one of the Cumberland theaters. It 's the last chance to see the highly anticipated Paul Thomas Anderson/Adam Sandler project before its commercial release.

In the film Sandler is established as a sweet, beleaguered business owner who suffers on occasion from sudden burst of uncontrollable anger.

In the theater someone from the press (or an industry person's) phone rings. He answers. A second industry person (or someone from the press) asks him to get off the phone. He's not nice in the way he asks. The person on the phone is not nice in how he responds . A verbal argument becomes physical. And then, as if the whole thing is a staged publicity stunt, a fight breaks out between the men. It's an across the aisle, grabbing the shirt labels, all-out physical struggle.

Meanwhile on screen a fit of rage sends Adam Sandler's character into smashing a glass door .

Life imitates art.

It'd be disturbing if it wasn't so surreal and even a bit comical although it is not the least bit funny.

We are witnesses to anger so out of control that both men dismiss any concern they may have for public decency, protocol, etiquette, professionalism, reputation or just plain acceptable behavior.

And I doubt anyone overlooks the irony that the film, in part, deals with anger management issues. In fact, the incident makes the anger management issues all the more relevant.

If this same incident occurred during a screening of Changing Lanes" the level of irony would be heightened. Whereas "Punch-Drunk Love" is not entirely about anger, "Changing Lanes" is.

One of our guests on The Interviews, a trained anger management therapist, clearly views anger not as an emotion to purge but one to embrace and learn to work with.

The ability to harness a force that can so easily become disruptive if left unfettered marks the difference between a healthy anger and unhealthy hostility.

SNAM Twitter Talkback: Which Film Best Honours WW I and II Soldiers?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 09 Nov 12 12:55:46 GMT

Which war films best honour the soldiers who risked their lives in World War I and II?

Andrew Clark, @Aclarkcomedy:
Paths of Glory

Matt Zurcher, @Berzurcher:
Without hesitation or question, BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

Andrew Parker, @AndrewJParker:
Saving Private Ryan on the North American side. Joyeux Noel on the European.

Chris Edwards, @SilentVolume:
I'll throw out a few that others may not: What Price Glory?; Shoulder Arms; All Quiet on the Western Front; Objective, Burma!... Paths of Glory; Cavalcade... ...The Best Years of Our Lives...Mrs. Miniver...The Roaring Twenties, in a way...

Fulmer, @Fulmer:
Band of Brothers of course. Paths of Glory. All Quiet OTWF. Patton. Pvt Ryan. Letters From Iwo Jima. Das Boot. The Enemy Below. They Were Expendable. The Bridge on River Kwai. From Here to Eternity. Hell in the Pacific (too) ..& Best Years of Our Lives

Maureen Nolan, @missmccrocodile:
The Dawn Patrol, 1930 & 1938 versions. Battleground ('49), The Last Flight ('31), Objective, Burma! ('45).

Doug Till-E-y, @Doug_Tilley:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. I think the best war movies really try to capture the fear and stresses which fuel the soldiers. And WAR HORSE, which really.. shows.. that people love horses. And that horses are good. And stuff.

Film Samurai, @FilmSamurai:
Does Band of Brothers count? [Also] Sam Fuller's The Big Red One. Ace World War II film.

J’s_Soul, @thunderinmysoul:
The Thin Red Line

David Neary, @DeusExCinema:
All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory, The Great Escape, all of Band of Brothers.

David Eng, @davideng:
Thin Red Line, Bridge on the River Kwai, Paths of Glory, Das Boot, Letters from Iwo Jima / Flags of our Fathers

J T, @TheScarbro:
Saving Private Ryan, The Big Red One

If you want to take part in future SNAM TwitterTalkbacks be sure to follow me on Twitter @alxhuls and every week I'll ask your opinions on individual movies, genres, trends, and other fun film buff inquiries. You tweet me back your answers, and then every Friday I'll post some of the responses in this weekly column.

One Step Ahead of the James Bond Backlash: Why Skyfall is an Important film

Thom Ernst — Fri, 09 Nov 12 12:18:29 GMT

It’s one thing to have "Skyfall" touted as the best Bond to date – a risky call when referring to a chapter in the series that doesn’t star Sean Connery - but to label it important? That might be too extreme for even its most passionate supporters.

But if "Skyfall" can take Bond from popcorn-movie to prestige-cinema will audiences go along?

An immediate response is to answer ‘yes’ – a smarter, more thoughtful Bond is just what the franchise needs. And indeed, initial reactions to the film are glowing.

Days before its North American release Rotten Tomatoes, the one-stop critical round-up web page that rates films according to a collective summary was ranking the movie at a solid 92% positive while the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) representing an even wider range of non-professional film-lovers and critics was clocking it in at an 8.1/10 approval rate. Numbers will rise or fall as more opinions come in, but even if the remaining voices are less favourable its’ unlikely we’ll see a significant dip in ratings.

But few things incite disfavour like mainstream success and that’s likely going to earn "Skyfall" some serious backlash. Numerous online detractors have already expressed a lack of enthusiasm for the movie by cleverly dubbing it, Skyfail and often citing the films attempts to present a more vulnerable Bond to be at the heart of their disappointment.

And that’s a shame, because director Sam Mendes doesn’t destroy Bond with sentiment and psycho babble but rather introduces a Bond that suddenly makes a great deal of sense. We always knew something was going on with the guy – we knew it since "Dr. No" - the way he can use and be used by women, kill without remorse, live without need and face loss with little emotion. But Mendes doesn’t go so far as to make Bond human. Bond is still our invincible Bond only now he is more than an unbreakable thunderball plowing his way through ridiculous odds. Now he’s a Bond we can care about.

But not everyone is buying it.

Karina Longworth writing for OCWeekly has mix feelings about "Skyfall", but hits upon some core issues when commenting on Bond’s PTSD and his relationship with ‘M’ (Judi Dench). But even though we’re drawn in by her review’s tantalizing heading “License to Feel: Skyfall lays bare the unknowable spy” and later when it reappears in web page format, “Skyfall Deals With OO7’s Mommy Issues”, Longworth is far more interested in the film’s debate between old world M16 escapades and new world espionage.

“There are ideas despite the fetishism and improbability native to the franchise. Bond’s world is undeniably modeled after a real one engaged in debates about transparency and obfuscation…” writes Longworth.

Her focus is not unfounded and is indeed an important aspect of the films narrative and its appeal, but it’s the parts that she glosses over and tosses aside that weakens an otherwise thoughtful analysis, as when she ends her review aligning Bond with a current superhero trend to, “…reposition Bond as a kind of cousin to caped crusaders: another loner, orphaned man-child who kills a few to protect the many, all because he misses his mommy.”

Yes, by framing it in the paradigm of contemporary superhero lore and topping it off with a curt, almost bullying dismissal, Longworth makes it all seem quite silly.

What Longworth is missing is that "Skyfall" has less resemblance to "The Dark Knight" then it does to a M. Night Shyamalan’s "Unbreakable"'. "Unbreakable" is a remarkable achievement that set the ground work for many filmmakers, like Christopher Nolan, to effectively re-imagine the superhero motif. "Unbreakable" displays a vulnerability among superheroes that is inherent and not worn on their sleeves.

Mendes’ seems aware of this and so delivers everything 007 has always been by making subtle (and some not so subtle) references to previous Bond films but he then digs deeper into the Bond mythology by intuitively digging deeper into our own mythology. Carl Jung might have labeled this as playing on our collective unconsciousness where we don’t necessarily recognize that it’s happening until it’s happened. Regardless, for some it’s more than they want from 007.

Reactions, such as Longworth’s that prefers a Bond that doesn’t show his wounds (and he doesn’t, we merely come to understand that he has them) is not dissimilar to the way many respond to real-life sufferers of Post-Traumatic Syndrome. But if nearly fifty years of Bond films have created a character no man can live up too, than Skyfall has created a character that no man feels a need to.

And that makes"Skyfall" an important film. Everything else about the film just makes it a great Bond movie – perhaps the best to date.

When is a War Movie Also an Action Movie?

Alexander Huls — Thu, 08 Nov 12 17:00:00 GMT

Editor's Note: This piece originally ran a year ago, but in honor of our re-airing of Frankenheimer's "The Train" and our Remembrance Day themed double-bill this weekend, it's been reposted to complement this week's movies.

Action films have sort of by default become defined over the last decades as any movie that has a whole lot of shooting, explosions, and fighting in it. It’s no surprise then that action movies have been sharing an incestuous relationship with the war film for a while now, given that in case you have any doubts, those same defining elements can assure you that you’re in the middle of a war torn battlefield.

The close kinship between the two film genres is exactly why someone like Katrina Hill can ask the Twitterverse “what war movie is the greatest as an action movie?” It seemed at first an easy question to respond to, but in setting my fingers down to type I paused.

Just because they share similar characteristics, does that necessarily mean all war movies are also action movies?

Action movies to me have a sense of fun and enjoyment to them. Sure, they are absurd and over the top, but that’s precisely what makes them so entertaining. You can’t say the same about all war movies. There’s no doubt there is – in the strictest sense of the term – a lot of action and events happening in the opening of Saving Private Ryan but who can declare it a rollicking good time? I have a hard time imagining people marveling at it for its action, as opposed to how it – as I discussed in a previous blog about the 10 Best Movie Openings – “seamlessly depicts and immerses you in the brutality, chaos and intensity of war”?

That perhaps is the key to the distinction between action movies and war movies. As Michael Hann from The Guardian put it in a follow up to his newspapers’ list of “The 25 Best Action and War Films of All Time” – “nowadays, action means an explosion every five minutes, collateral damage, and no heed paid to consequences.” There’s an unspoken agreement we make when we walk into an action film that we are going to turn a blind eye to the hypothetical real-world damage that the fictional violence would actually cause. We do it because it’s done in a sort of entertaining “isn’t this all silly and fun” spirit. It’s so over-the-top it loses any semblance of realism. It’s the nature of the action film genre. It’s the nature of our enjoyment of it.

War is different. The moment you invoke war you make it extremely difficult to disassociate the events from the real world. Because war is real, and presenting it in the context of action movie rules makes it hard to swallow them as simple innocuous fun. There’s that tether of “This really happens” you never quite lose. It’s simply harder to jump blindly and call any war movie an action movie just because they have shooting and explosions in them.

Still, there’s no doubt there are highly entertaining war/action movies out there, but how do you not feel somewhat uncomfortable with the notion of enjoying war presented in that way though? I managed to reconcile myself with that question though thanks to a crucial distinction film writer David Neary pointed out via Twitter. There are movies where “war is hell versus war is entertainment.” What’s more, if a movie is good enough, even when it’s presenting war as action and entertainment, it can still use the opportunity to present “war as hell” and reminds us of its cost. There’s little doubt movies like Three Kings and to a degree Black Hawk Down are entertaining action movies, but they are largely smart enough to also temper their absurdity with enough realism to not do disservice. For everything else, thankfully there are enough filmmakers working in the “War is hell” side of the tracks to remind us there is a place for both kinds of movies.

Saturday Features: "The Great Escape" and "The Train"

Thom Ernst — Thu, 08 Nov 12 13:26:20 GMT

A few years back Saturday Night at the Movies received a letter from author and Canadian icon, Farley Mowat.

The answer is simple; availability. There just aren't a lot of films that deal with the Canadian military during WWII: "Passchendaele" (2008) was not yet made,"The Wars" (1983) was around but with rights held by another station, and "The Devil's Brigade" (1968) would be good, but it just wasn't in our library.

Canadian Troops are sorrily underplayed in Hollywood and independent cinema and perhaps that's worthy of conversation.

But since Mowat's letter, SNAM has been more attentive to what films we air during the Remembrance Day weekend program. Currently in the works is an attempt to secure the rights to actor Eric Petersons' superb staged film, "Billy Bishop Goes to War". Should all go well, "Bishop" will be on next year's Remembrance Day slot.

But we don't think anyone is going to be disappointed with this year's offering of John Sturges' classic, "The Great Escape" and John Frankenhiemer's "The Train"

"The Great Escape" is based on Paul Brickell's book of the same name. Brickell was captured during WWII and served much of his military career as a P.O.W. The story he writes about in The Great Escape is based on real events but is, to some extent, a work of fiction. Many of the characters appearing in the film are either fictitious or amalgamations of real people. It's more a case of utilizing a dramatic license rather than fabricating the events.

We follow "The Great Escape" with "The Train".

Canadian Directors on Filmmaking: SNAM'S Newest Online Series

Thom Ernst — Wed, 07 Nov 12 13:02:54 GMT

Patricia Rozema inaugurates our new monthly online series of Canadian Directors on Filmmaking,

Canadian Directors on Filmmaking is the brain-child of Shereen Ali, Saturday Night at the Movies director and producer. Ali utilizes nearly 40 years of interviews and footage from TVO's exclusive SNAM database. Film conversations from some of the most influential Canadian filmmakers, and some of the most inspiring newcomers can now be accessed at anytime and anywhere in Canada.

"The goal is to celebrate Canadian cinema." says Ali, "...it’s a great way to show off the in-depth interviews from our incredible archives."

Beginning the series with director Patricia Rozema was a no-brainer. Says Ali, "Rozema is such a thought-provoking speaker. SNAM sat down with her in 2003 and 2004 and from those interviews we're featuring clips about the film business, the power of film and adapting A novel for the big screen. I feel she is emblematic as to why we should celebrate Canadian filmmakers".

Since 1973 Saturday Night at the Movies provided long form conversations called "The Interviews" or "In Conversation With..." exploring the art, the importance and the history of cinema as a way to compliment films aired on TVO. Former producer, Risa Shuman, noted that TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies interview segment basically introduced the DVD extra as a way to further enhance the movie viewing experience.

Recently a move has been made to allow public greater access to these interviews. By checking out the Added Bonus material posted and updated each Saturday Night and, now, the Canadian Directors on Filmmaking which will feature a new Canadian director each month,you can search and discover even more information about the movies, the actors, the stories and the directors you love. And you don't need to wait for Saturday.

As for future plans for Canadian Directors on Filmmaking you can look forward to the inclusion of such notable directors as David Cronenberg, Phillipe Falardeau, Sarah Polley, Deepa Mehta, Atom Egoyan, Denys Arcand, Jean-Marc Vallee, Ruba Nadda plus a few up-and-comers.

The Canadian Directors on Filmmaking is one more way TVO is aligning the experience of Saturday Night of the Movies with the convenience of online viewing.

SNAM Twitter Talkback: What Is Your Favourite John Cassavetes Movie?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 02 Nov 12 13:26:05 GMT

In honour of our airing John Cassavetes' "Gloria" this weekend, we took to Twitter to ask what everyone's favourite Cassavetes movie was - whether it be one he directed, or starred in.

What is your favourite John Cassavetes Movie?

The Filmatelist, @Filmatelist:
Directing: FACES, for its effortless immediacy & stellar cast chemistry; Acting: MIKEY AND NICKY, for his affable desperation

Cult & Horror Movies, @BlackHoleMovies:
THE FURY, for his explosive performance...

Jake Cole, @notjustmovies:
I have many gaps and need to rewatch what I've seen but for the moment, definitely KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE.

Jason Bailey, @jasondashbailey:
I'm way in the minority on this, but honestly, mine is GLORIA. The tightness of a genre film gave his style an interesting shape.

Andreas, @astoehr:
Either Chinese Bookie or A Woman Under the Influence, the latter because sweet mother of god Gena Rowlands.

Janice Marasigan, @JaniceMarasigan:
Rosemary's Baby

Saturday Features: "Gloria" and "From London to Brighton"

Thom Ernst — Thu, 01 Nov 12 11:59:27 GMT

Movies have a hard time accepting that not everyone wants or is meant to be a parent so when a confirmed childless character comes along nothing pleases Hollywood more than to toss in a toddler just to shake things up.

The butt of this kind of humor is usually men because traditionally movies depict men as being inept caregivers. There is the French hit, 3 Homes et UFC Coffin (1985) which became the American hit "3 Men and a Baby " (1987) which turned into the follow-up " 3 Men and a Little Lady" (1990). There's " Big Daddy " (1999), " Mr. Mom " (1983), " Daddy Day Care " (2003) and the sequel no one asked for "Daddy Day Camp" (2007). There are the heart warmers: "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1963) and " Imagine That " (2009). There's " About A Boy " (2002) coming soon to Saturday Night at the Movies.

Even when the films take a dramatic turn, " 3 Godfathers" (1948), " Kramer Vs. Kramer " (1979), "Kola " (1996), they can't help but toss in comedic moments of a guy dealing with a dirty diaper or awkwardly navigating kitchen duties.

But what happens when women take on the role of unexpected motherhood? There are certainly fewer films to choose from. Plenty feature single mothers, Cher in "Mermaids" (1990) and "Mask" (1985), Julia Roberts in "Erin Brock" (2000), Meryl Steep took her turn in "Music of the Heart" (1999) and "Mama Mia!" (2008) and Sally Field did in " Places in the Heart" (1984). But the single parent aspect of these films are secondary to the plot, and in each case these women begin the film as parents which is a significant difference from films where motherhood has otherwise been avoided .

The few movies that come to mind where women actually have motherhood thrust upon them are " Bachelor Mother" (1939)," Name" (1974), " Auntie Name" (1958), "Baby Boom " (1987) and the two movies airing May 5 on Saturday Night at the Movies, "Gloria" and "London to Brighton".

"Gloria" (1980) is director John Cassavavetes' most commercial and least personal project although it still has that undeniable Asseverates' tone.

Gloria (Gena Rowlands) has saved up enough cash to live out her retirement (from what I'm not sure) in the peace of her own company. She's the kind of woman gangster films once referred to as a moll. But Gloria has a mind of her own. She's no one's glam girl and probably wasn't even when she was young enough to play the glam girl card

Gloria isn't in the market for a companion. She relishes the idea of a future alone. She certainly isn't anguished about missing the deadline for having children.

Enters a 12-year old boy, the only surviving member of a mob hit. Either Gloria's maternal instincts kick in or her sense of humanity but for whatever reason she begrudgingly takes on the care of this boy and protects him from her old mob buddies.

The second feature is "London to Brighton" (2006). Here a woman still immersed in the world of crime, drugs and prostitution has a sudden change of heart, something close to an epiphany, when she rescues a young woman from a brutal fate of sexual and physical exploitation. Perhaps she recognizes herself in the child and the finds the need to break the cycle of abuse.

Both woman in these films bypass their child rearing years only to end up rearing a child. The films are entertaining and even thought provoking. But a more critical observation might suggest that these films are continuing along the notion that women aren't fulfilled until there are children in their lives and arguably the roles they take on are more masculine than feminine.

Are these films challenging the traditional roles of motherhood/fatherhood or merely confirming an age old belief that different sexes bring different skills to child rearing?

Five Reasons 'Skyfall' Might Earn Bond An Oscar After 47 Years

Thom Ernst — Tue, 30 Oct 12 11:47:09 GMT

Since the Bond franchise began in 1962 it has won two Oscars out of it's nine nominations. Not bad for a series that's more interested in gadgets, gals and villains than it is in awards.

Bond movies aren't expected to win Oscars. Most of the nine nominations pop up in the Best Original Song category with four nominations, zero wins. The balance shows-up in Best Sound, Best Sound Effects (one win for 'Goldfinger' in 1964), and Best Visual Effects (one win for Best Visual Effects in 'Thunderball').

An upset did occur in 1977 when the theme song for 'The Spy Who Loved Me' - Carly Simon's "Nobody Does it Better" - loses to Debbie Boone's 'You Light Up My Life' from the movie of the same name. That same year 007 loses to 'Star Wars' in both the Best Set Direction and Best Original Score category, but we all saw that coming.

Now, forty-nine years and twenty-two films later, along comes 'Skyfall', a Bond film that doesn't understand that it needn't be as good as it is.

Some people are calling 'Skyfall' the best Bond in years - some go as far as to call it the best Bond ever.

Is it possible that 'Skyfall' just might walk away with a... (read to the sound of Shirley Bassey's singing)...Gold-statue?

Here are just five reasons why we might see 'Skyfall' get some big Oscar attention:

1/ 'Skyfall' looks fantastic.

Man, it must be amazing to see the world through Richard Deakins' eyes. A lot of cinematographers go for a coastal over-view shot of a city flooded in glass and neon, particularly when cruising off the South China Sea. But few bother to drum up an image of a Jackson Pollock inspired landscape dotted in an arbitrary splashes of colour. And Deakins knows how to light Javier Bardem so that any trace of whatever it is that appeals to the likes of Penelope Cruz is lost on the screen. But more than anything, Deakins sees the world the way Bond might see the world - turning brawlers into shadow puppets, elevator shafts into gaping caverns, squatter-digs into jutting debris of dust and rubble, and marshy vistas into a dark comfort.

2/ There's an accomplished director in charge.

I expect to see both Paul Thomas Anderson ('The Master') and David O. Russell ('Silver Linings Playbook') get Best Director Nominations for their work, but I would be just as happy if the award went to Sam Mendes. 'Skyfall' is a textbook example of a genre film's potential to excel when the right director is in place. That Mendes can raise the bar on a series that's been kicking around for nearly fifty years is reason alone to place him in the running. There are touches of Mendes everywhere in the movie - most go unnoticed because good directors let the audience believe they dreamed up the experience themselves. And Mendes finds occassions in every scene to layer, if only slightly, the deeply woven fabric that has become 007 lore.

3/ 'Skyfall' is about something.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, are Bond writers with a good track record. In 'Skyfall' the duo team with John Logan ('Gladiator', 'Rango', 'Hugo') to develop a story that is beyond Bond. The script delivers everything 007 has always been by making subtle (and some not so subtle) references to Bond films of the past. And then digs deeper into the mythology by digging deeper into our own psyche. Jung might have labeled this as a play on our collective unconscious. Bond is still a super-spy but he's more important to us than ever before. And there are so many other reasons why, but as J Gorber from Filmfest.ca (@filmfest_ca) tweeted "To anyone wanting to know about ''Skyfall', know that it's fun, but I think much of its charm is based on surprise. Try to avoid spoilers." And so, to say anymore could well encroach on those surprises.

4/ 'Skyfall' puts great actors in great roles.

'Skyfall' confirms Daniel Craig as a serious contender to be the best Bond ever. No small feat to turn preferences away from Sean Connery. 'Casino Royale' introduced Craig as a colder and sometimes more ruthless Bond than his predecessors. With 'Skyfall' Craig turns in a performance that is equally cold, sometimes silly (a tribute to Roger Moore?) and deeply pained (a tribute to George Lazenby - Yes, I said George Lazenby!). Then there is the menacing delight of Javier Bardem as the villainous Silva. He's this year's Heath Ledger playing the Joker - a mix of mayhem, cruelty and over-the-top weirdness. And then there is Dame Judi Dench's 'M'. Dench took on the role of M in 'GoldenEye' (1995), quickly making it her own and successfully carrying it through seven consecutive Bond follow-ups. M has mostly been a back-drop role - a familiar and favourite go-to character that helps keep the series planted in tradition. 'Skyfall' wants more. Dench delivers.

5/ 'Skyfall' is good movie first, a Bond movie second.

'Skyfall' works. Even those convinced that Bond movies are second-tier action-blockbusters will likely be surprised at just how accomplishe'Skyfall' is. The fantasy of Bond remains intact but for all the reasons listed above, and for many reasons not listed (editing, set design, score), 'Skyfall' succeeds. A really good movie is a really good movie. A really good movie that's number twenty-three in a forty-nine year franchise is remarkable.

Review: "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World"

Alexander Huls — Tue, 30 Oct 12 10:57:31 GMT

In the real world, the management of tone isn’t always an easy thing. One tonal misstep and the intentions behind that offensive joke, flattering compliment, sarcastic text, or constructive criticism get dramatically warped. At best you can find yourself frantically explaining away an awkward situation. At worst you can find yourself sitting in HR, the target of a verbal air strike, or just promptly rechristened a passive-aggressive jerk.

For movies, the management of tone is no less precarious. A well-intended historical drama portraying a tragic event can become insensitive or counter-productively sentimental. A black comedy can plunge too deep into moral grayness and become offensively nihilistic. What’s even more precarious than a movie intending to nail one tone, is a movie that intends to successfully juggle multiple. There aren’t many movies that attempt it, let alone can pull it off (though Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” comes to mind).

Unfortunately, Lorne Scafaria’s “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” isn’t one of them.

Admittedly, Scafaria didn’t exactly give herself an easy task by wanting to make an apocalyptic romantic comedy road trip movie (genre-mashing often goes hand-in-hand with tone-mixing). Credit for ambition, but while effort and inventiveness count for something, there still has to be a semblance of success. It’s not that “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” is a bad movie. It’s simply not a successful one as measured by its own intentions.

If you disassemble it into pieces, there are certainly things to like. It’s frequently charming (propelled by the strength of Knightley and Carrell’s performances) and undeniably cute. It’s remarkably poignant in its relatable representation of post-apocalyptic reactions, making it a welcome unique entry into the genre. You’re more likely to recognize your hypothetical behaviour here than you (hopefully) would in The Road or Melancholia.

The problem is that what “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” does well gets overpowered by everything else it’s doing. Its resonant center and unique take get overshadowed by its insistent juggling of a variety of genres, none of which it gets right. The rom-com is underdeveloped, the requisite road trip stops operate more as manic inconsequential sketches instead of cohesive additions to narrative/character arcs, and the comedy as a whole feels aimless. In fact, the way everything is thrown together feels aimless. The mish-mashing of genres never feels purposeful. That might be unfair, because there is a semblance of intention here; a desire to represent a variety of potential reactions to the apocalypse. The execution just isn’t there, nor is the amalgamation of the various genres into a tonally functioning whole.

Which is ultimately what left me most dissatisfied with the film, because tone matters if a movie wants to resonate. What’s more, tone needs to linger, it needs to settle in. The reason the death of Simon Pegg’s mother in “Shaun of the Dead” works so well in a film that had been a comedy until that point is because they linger on it for the moment and after. It lands and then reverberates. “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” rarely lets something actually land and settle. It either leaps and shifts tone from scene to scene or, worse, does it within the same scene (that William Peterson scene). It makes for jarring viewing. Sure, the schizophrenic tone of “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” might reflect the range of human reactions if we were faced with a two week deadline for our extinction, but it doesn’t necessarily make consistent, emotionally effective viewing.

SNAM Twitter Talkback: Who Is Your Favourite Horror Movie Villain?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 26 Oct 12 14:48:55 GMT

Inspired by the spirit of Halloween and the upcoming TIFF Bell Lightbox series "Birth of a Villain" (November 10th to Deceber 29th) curated by Twitch Film's Todd Brown, we decided to take to Twitter to ask:

Who is your favourite iconic Horror Movie Villain and why?

Film Samurai, @FilmSamurai:
The Creeper from Jeepers Creepers. He(it) is unstoppable. A truly terrifying monster with an artistic bent.

Dave H, @kino_dave:
Pinhead. Incredibly brutal, but refined in his speech and tastes. A poetic monster.

Mark Meeks, @carntankerous:
Michael Bay

Brian Lloyd, @BrianMLloyd:
Gotta be Jack Nicholson / Torrance in The Shining. Gleefully manic.

Summer Locklear, @brucephalus02:
Is Night of the Hunter considered horror? If so, Rev. Harry Powell is my favorite. :-D

Doug Tilley, @Doug_Tilley:
Leatherface. A twisted, sexually confused, hyper-violent chainsaw worshipper. Doesn’t get better than that.

Charlie Brigden, @sharksarecool:
David Kessler in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON – because he’s the villain and the victim.

Film Classics, @filmclassics:
"Albert DeSalvo" (tony curtis) in "The Boston Strangler" 68

Owen K Craig, @owenkcraig:
I always love Hannibal Lecter. There's nothing like a villain who's still scary behind glass.

Josh Morden, @joshmorden:
Jason Voorhees. 12 movies. No lines. No way to stop him. Terrifying as hell.’

Cultural Gutter, @CulturalGutter:
Right now, Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein. He's the perfect, fabulously fey mad scientist.

Maxwell Haddad, @MaxLHad:
Michael Myers. Chilling, determined, methodical - and not half dumb. He gets the job done and always makes it out alive.

Jon Abrams, @jonnyabomb:
Francis Dollarhyde from MANHUNTER. Total creep, but he helped that nice blind lady pet a tiger

Neil Mitchell, @nrm1972:
Leatherface – the suit and the saw.

Darrell SA, @ExBTplayer
Leatherface – because of his weapon of choice, his fashion sense, and he doesn’t crack dum jokes while TCB

ChasetheShade, @ChasetheShade:
Hannibal Lecter.

Image: Courtesy of Photofest

Saturday Features: "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "The Thing"

Thom Ernst — Thu, 25 Oct 12 12:22:08 GMT

I'm setting my paranoia free to run amok.

First stop, director Joseph Sargent's "Colossus: The Forbin Project": film number one (to be followed by director John Carpenter's horror-masterpiece, "The Thing") in our Halloween themed presentation of "The Decline of Humanity".

Both films play upon societies fear that we might not be as secure as we think, and our inevitable undoing could be of our own design.

Such an assumed paranoia seems most potent in "Colossus".

"Colossus" is a science-fiction thriller about a massive computer that, independent of any human interaction, plots to take over the world . It's a James Bond plot without the menacing flesh and blood villain. The film was made in 1970. Computers were confined to large rooms in universities and research centers. They were still a mystery to most with a few people voicing a nervous concern that developing any form of artificial intelligence is dangerously close to playing God.

The idea of mechanical bullying has been tackled before in film, notably in "2001: A Space Odyssey" and then again in "The Terminator" "Demon Seed", "Westworld" and "Blade Runner". What makes Sargent's film stand-out from the others is that, despite being 40 years old, it all seems so feasible. Today, not only does the film seem feasible, it's downright prophetic.

"Yes, the machines are, for all intents and purposes, alive." writes Basulto.

My paranoia doesn't rest after our first film. We have one more movie to go.

Yep...it's those pesky scientists again.

I just have to occasionally look towards Aldous Huxley and agree that it's "a brave new world". I just hope we all remain a part of it.

The discussion on-line in our Bonus Content teers away from paranoia and into some creepy details about "The Thing" from make-up artist Rob Bottin, actor Richard Dysart, and an amazing transformation, courtesy of Form & Dynamic's David Scott, of me from your dashing and handsome host to ...well, check it out for yourself.

The 10 Movies I Am Afraid to Watch

Alexander Huls — Wed, 24 Oct 12 09:25:35 GMT

Editor's Note: This list was actually published for Halloween 2011, but because it remains relevant a year later (fear has still kept me from seeing any of these) we're re-running it in honor of this year's Halloween. And in the hopes enough of you will peer pressure me into at least seeing some of these before Halloween 2013.

It’s that Halloween time of year again which means everyone starts thinking about scary movies. That of course means the internet gets littered with definitive lists of what the scariest movies of all time are. Which in turn means you can expect to see a lot of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist near the top. Which reminds me of how I still haven’t seen it. Why? Because maybe I’m just a little bit too scared to.

See, one of the downfalls to being an avid movie buff is even if you haven’t seen a movie, you learn its reputation with time. That’s especially the case with difficult or violent ones. Controversial movies require conversation, which means its most challenging parts get openly discussed. That means there are no end of movies that I know are supposed to be excellent, but where I also know most of the violent, disturbing, graphic things that happen in them. Throw in the power of the imagination, and it becomes that much more challenging to want to take them on.

In the spirit of my cowardice then I thought I`d do something different for a Halloween list. So, in alphabetical order, here are the Top 10 movies I am too afraid to watch.

Note: There are SERIOUS SPOILERS ALERT all over the place here, since in order to talk about why I am apprehensive about watching these movies, I need to talk about why.

Honorable Mention: Trainspotting, Pink Flamingos, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (sense a theme?), and Cannibal Holocaust

Antichrist
Up until Lars Van Trier became the King of Not Knowing When to Shut Up, the most controversial thing he had ever done was Antichrist. Feelings about the movie are contentious at best, which means like any good movie aficionado I want to see it and weigh in. I’ve been meaning to do that for two years now. As much I want to catch up, and as much as I look forward to the bizarre awesomeness of a fox proclaiming “Chaos Reigns” I just balk every time at the thought of having to witness the extreme and gruesome sexual mutilations I know I’ll see in Antichrist.

Audition
It didn’t hit me until now that all I know about Audition is that it features (and ends with) one of the most disturbing torture scenes ever put on film. In fact, that movie has become so identified with that scene, that I don’t even know if people think it’s actually any good. There’s no doubt I’m curious to find out how the movie’s plot plays out to get to a point where a woman dismembers a man with a wire saw. But the apprehensive anticipation of knowing with each passing minute I am closer to witnessing that, makes wanting to sit through all of Audition a daunting task.

The Exorcist
Deep down I know I have probably seen scarier and more violent movies than The Exorcist. Still, I think this is a clear case of the movie’s formidable reputation having built it up to the point where it seems incredibly intimidating to take it on. There’s also the fact that something about possessed women snarling in the voices of demons/Satan that creeps the crap out of me. To say nothing of voices talking about what someone’s mother is up to in hell. Oh, also I am extremely vomit-phobic, which sort of makes The Exorcist the epitome of my worst nightmare.

The Human Centipede
Speaking of vomit-phobic, just thinking about the concept at the center of this movie makes me instantly nauseous, so I can’t imagine how I would react if I actually saw it. Actualy, it would probably be pretty similar to what happens in The Exorcist (the vomit part, not the posession part). This is the only movie on this list that I will actually never bother to see.

Hunger
Strangely enough, it’s not just the supposed abundance of feces in Hunger that makes me squeamish. It’s largely the thought of seeing a rail thin Michael Fassbender. Something about seeing people reduced to skin and bones (like Christian Bale in The Machinist or actually in real life) really unsettles me. There are just too many heartbreaking and awful situations that lead to people being emaciated that seeing it in a movie evokes all of them for me.

Irreversible
Despite what this list may make you believe, there are not a lot of things I really struggle with seeing in a movie. But my top one is rape. So, given that Irreversible doesn’t just start with a rape scene, but one that lasts around ten minutes, it makes it hard to sit down and watch it knowing what I am going to get the moment the movies starts.

The Last House on the Left
By all accounts The Last House on the Left sounds like it’s an unrelenting succession of people being degraded, tortured, raped and murdered. I can easily watch horror movies where one victim after another is violently dispatched, but the things done in Wes Craven’s seem entirely too plausible and therefore that much more disturbing to watch for five minutes, let alone strung together to make an entire 84 minute experience.

Martyrs
I’ve seen High Tension. I’ve seen Inside. You think I would be at least somewhat well equipped for this entry in the French Horror New Wave. I’ve been assured I’m not. After being told someone gets flayed alive in Martyrs (one of many extreme acts of violence in the movie) I’m probably inclined to agree.

Straw Dogs
Basically the rape card is at play here again. But the fact that I have heard the victim also seems to have sympathy for her rapist is something I have a hard time imagining being comfortable with.

Teeth
It's probably pretty easy to guess why I'd be afraid to watch a movie about the "vagina dentate" myth – something that violently affects my genders’ most sensitive area in situations that leave it at its most exposed (well, if you’re not a nudist). If you have ever observed a bunch of men watch a guy get hit in his nether regions you’ll see them visibly react as if they had been nailed there too. Men just somehow instantly picture what it would feel like if it happened to them. Now, that’s uncomfortable enough when watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” football-to-groin scenarios. It would be more so seeing what goes down in Teeth.

Aside from the inevitable "MAN UP!" comments, how do you guys feel? Do you share my apprehension about seeing any of the above movies? Is there nothing that frightens you? Or are there movies you too are afraid to take on and watch because of what you have heard about them?

SNAM Twitter Talkback: Which Films Best Portray Grief?

Alexander Huls — Fri, 19 Oct 12 13:20:08 GMT

Which films have most poignantly or realistically portrayed the grieving process?

Marcelo J. Pico, @FramedPanda:
RABBIT HOLE comes to mind. Powerful movie about parents who have lost a child. Kidman's performance in it is great.

Matt Mansfield, @mattmansfield_:
The last 20 minutes of Toyko Story …[also] it's good for October: a great horror film about grief is DON'T LOOK NOW.

Jake Cole, @notjustmovies:
I actually think THE DESCENDANTS was a phenomenal movie about grief. Almost surprised something so honest got so much Oscar buzz.

Doug Tilley, @Doug_Tilley:
SOLARIS., Though I'd also choose Brad Silberling's MOONLIGHT MILE. Flawed, but captures something very potent about grief. A rather embarrassing confession. I started welling up during the TRAILER for MOONLIGHT MILE.

Brandi Sperry, @ouibrandi:
Great films that show how grief never really ends: The Station Agent; Rachel Getting Married

Daniel Aston, @DannyAston1:
Rabbit Hole. A real sense of sincerity about the grief in that movie.

Brendan Foley, @TheTrueBrendanF:
STAND BY ME captures the loss of a sibling better than any film I can imagine. And actually, all of STAND BY ME is a grief-induced recollection. The film is itself an artifact of grief.

Sandra E. Martin, @SandraEMartin:
Ordinary People; Moonlight Mile

Christopher Runyon, @CGRunyon:
THREE COLORS: BLUE. So good.

Mike McGranaghan, @aisleseat:
RABBIT HOLE

James McNally, @toscreenshots:
The Son's Room (Moretti), Truly Madly Deeply (Minghella)

Graeme Burk, @graemeburk:
Monsieur Lahzar. It's about facing tragedy and grief and living with it while the world keeps insists on pretending it's ok. Lovely

Dor Dotson, @dordoston:
RABBIT HOLE

Jason Whyte, @jasonwhyte:
Did anyone say Woody Allen's INTERIORS? Or PONETTE?

Alex Ramon, @BoycottTrends:
UNDER THE SAND, Francois Ozon.

David Eng, @davideng:
House of Sand and Fog, Rabbit Hole, anything by Alexander Payne, Up, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (last 2 for poignant)

jc™, @jdotdashed:
Harold and Maude (1971). It examined the stages using humour, love and respect, never forgetting we’re only here for a short time.

Lama, @LamaABarr:
Rabbit Hole

evinrude, @evanmorris76:
In the Bedroom comes to mind. Not a fan exactly, but it excels on that level.

Amber Wilkinson, @NinjaWorrier:
Secret Sunshine

Jon Abrams, @jonnyabomb:
THE CROW

Brooke Taylor, @betaylorr:
Burning Man

Matthew Price, @mattmovies:
Ordinary People

Richard Rowe, @Rikkiebags:
In The Bedroom. What a great film.

Saturday Features: "The Station Agent" and "Troubled Water"

Thom Ernst — Thu, 18 Oct 12 13:29:17 GMT

In a blog in 2010, filmmaker and activist Michael Moore called "Troubled Water" a "powerful gem. It’s absolutely the best movie I’ve seen in years!”

It’s quite a comment considering there’s not a politician or gun lobbyist in the film.

The other glowing testimony comes from Actor Alec Baldwin who says, “The performances are fantastic and the direction is without fault.”

Now, why does Film Movement, the company who distributes "Troubled Water," choose to quote these men on promotional material instead of the opinions of film critics or reviewers? After all, the critics have their own accolades to add.

Alex O’Cool (we don’t think it’s his real name either) writes on his Escape from Hollywood blog that "Troubled Water" is “…a clear triumph for humanist cinema; a true genre film that meets and exceeds the highest of expectations and is virtually guaranteed to move its audience like no other (film).”

O'Cool likes the film and he's banking that we'll like it too. But O'Cool is a cinephile and so we might expect him to appreciate this small, independent Norwegian film. His may be a strong, educated voice in cinema, but does the common filmgoer (someone who identifies themselves as a fan and not a cinephile) recognize his voice? If "Troubled Water" is to get noticed, it needs to tear down the wall that keeps general audiences from foreign films.

So, in comes Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin. If the film can appeal to Everyman-Moore and jokester-Baldwin then it’s bound to be of interest to more than just the art-house crowd.

"Troubled Water" tells the story of a young man whose brief but serious lapse of judgment resulted in the death of an infant child.

The film moves at a gentle, meditative pace but never lulls in suspense. It succeeds on the strength of its narrative highlighting the perspectives of both the released convict and the dead child's mother.

We pair this film with Thomas McCarthy's "The Station Agent," which is a story of three people who find an unlikely companionship with each other at an abandoned railway station. In "The Station Agent" Patricia Clarkson is Olivia Harris, a recently divorced woman woman deeply pained by the death of her child.

And check out the Bonus Content page where we've posted our interview with real-life parents Bob and Marilyn Rauth who share their heartbreaking story of loss and triumph after the unexpected loss of their son, Robb. Marilyn chronicles her personal journey in "Living, Loving, and Losing a Son; A Mother's Memoirs."

Top 10 Film Loving Tweeters Worth Following

Thom Ernst — Tue, 16 Oct 12 11:44:50 GMT

Uncover 10 amazing and under-looked Ontario-based film tweeters in the time it takes to read this blog.

The only drawback in choosing a top ten list of film-related tweeters worth following is leaving out the 1,000 tweeters who are equally good. And so criteria has been set.

1/ Tweets focus an express passion for film

2 /Tweeters are from Ontario

3/ Followers number under 2,000. (Which sadly excludes great tweeters like @ThatEricAlper, @ddsnorth, @zedsq except, of course, they're mentioned in this parenthesis)

4/ I really, really, really like their tweets/retweets.

The last point is not as arbitrary as it might seem given that the condition of me liking them is based on the tweeter's wit, knowledge and the general enthusiasm for film.

Here goes:

1/ Alex Huls @alxhuls. Sure he works for TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies but I'd be following regardless. Alex embraces all film and manages to convey succinct ideas that encourage some great conversations in the twitterverse. What's more, Alex is good to his followers by engaging them in conversation, debate and a show of mutual support. He created the Twitter Talk Back a weekly forum where he presents a questions to followers and then post the replies each Friday. But Alex tweets aren't just good, their New York Times magazine good. Recently Alex tweeted about the thrill of going to midnight screenings which nabbed the attention of the New York Times and within weeks that tweet turned into a two-full page piece in The New York Times weekend magazine.

2/ Kristal Cooper @moviegaltoronto. A seriously under followed tweeter. I'm suspicious that Cooper has a pseudonym under an alternate twitter account where she's racked up well over 2,000 plus followers. I know little about her writing other than what appears on The Toronto Film Scene web site which is her current affiliation although I seem to recall her name linked in the blogosphere a few years back - Reel Addict perhaps? What's exciting about Cooper is her dedication to film film festivals from TIFF to Planet in Focus. She also manages to give her tweets back story like when she reveals her 80s affection for The Lost Boys or her admits to a slow burn appreciation for Black Christmas - not easy things to convey in 140 characters.

3/ Jason Anderson jandersonesque. There's a lot to like about this guy. He's teaches a film criticism course, he's a festival film programmer, he has his own film blog The Andersonesque Film Blog, a contributor at The Grid TO and has graced the pages of Entertainment Weekly, Saturday Night ant the Globe and Mail. But most important, he has fun, insightful and great tweets. If social media is set up as a venue for an easy exchange of thoughts and ideas, than Anderson is one of its best conversationalists.

4/ MovieViewer-Man @MovieVigilante. I suspect MovieViewer-Man was raised near a drive-in theatre. He calls himself an amateur movie critic and adds a heroic claim to be the defender of B movies. True to his word, his latest quest is to search out a copy of "Psycho Pike" a long lost killer fish movie filmed in Wiarton, Ontario. So infectious is his pursuit, that he has me looking for a copy too. He also introduced me to Canuxploitation! a great site dedicated to Canadian B film, and for that I'm forever grateful.

5/ Cinefilles @cinefilles The twitter handle draws me in. Dubbed with the byline, Real Girls. Reel Reviews. They're cinefilles. You'll get it, if you haven't already. This is a group account unless there's one person coyly hiding behind a community tag. They're new to twitter and so coming in under 2,000 followers is merely a temporary lack of exposure rather than going unrecognized. The tweets are few (still under 1,000 as I write this) but promising. Topics lean towards horror, old and new, but that might be a seasonal focus. My personal favourite tweet: "The Exorcist III: A good movie for those who don't like exorcism movies".

6/ Paolo Miguel Kagaoan @paolocase I've been following Kagaoan's tweets for a long time. He's an independent film blogger who's found a way to nourish and support himself by watching movies. His tweets read like a ravished cinephile unable to get enough to watch. Who else screens "It's a Wonderful Life" out of season and then tweets about Capra's "...genuine depths of despair"? Some of his tweets are glimpses into a personal philosophy rather than film related but they work as companion pieces to his overall approach to cinema. It gives Kagaoan an online persona which in turn gives personal context to his film comments. His tweets read like an autobiography about the daily life of an avid film-goer.

7/ Brian McKechnie @bamcat A few weeks from now and McKechnie won't be eligible to be on this list as his number of followers almost reach my 2,000 watermark. Plus he's recently been quoted by Disney on a "Frankenweenie" ad, and there's nothing like poster space to attract a new audience. McKechnie's focus is on film reviews and interviews though his tweets run the gambit from concerts to camping (sorry to hear about the rain, Brian) and on to the occasional culinary attempts ("I wonder if I could pull off making this awesome "Frankieweenie" cake"). Follow him because McKechnie's goal seems to be accessibility rather than tweeting to a group of film insiders. More to his credit, his tweets lead to the online magazine, Criticize This! of which he's founder, editor and critic. Reading McKechnie's tweets is like going to the movies with a good friend.

8/ Doug Tilley @Doug_Tilley Talk about almost being ineligible to make this list, Tilley (he recently tweeted how he enjoys be called by his last name) is about 60 followers short of 2,000. It doesn't take long to figure out where Tilley's cinema heart is - just take a look at his blog Daily Grindhouse. Actually, you don't even need to look at the blog, you just need to read the title. Tilley, like MovieViewer-Man, finds the art in low budget films. His tweets (and indeed the blog) invites us to respect the tenacity of the film makers and savour the rough edged compromises that drive these
B movies from concept to screen. Though he, like most of us, eagerly follows the progress of Tarantino"Django Unchained" . Tilley is a must follow for fans of genre films.

9/ Karen Gordon @kagor Gordon is a great proponent of the retweet. Film is mostly her beat though her CBC journalistic instincts veer towards the occasional political observation. What I find most engaging about Gordon is she follows far more than those who follow her. Gordon must want it that way because Gordon, it seems to me, is anything but a follower. She's a self-reflecting philosopher who tweets, it seems, to come to a better understanding of the way she understands film. And she possesses a genuine interest in what others have to say and when they say it well, it inevitably appears on her twitter page. It's a clear indication as to why she's a great fill-in host for Mary Ito on CBC's weekend morning magazine show, Fresh Air.

10/ Sasha James @ThatSashaJames I don't know Sasha James. I've never met Sasha James. I not even sure if Sasha James is male or female (although I'll go with female based on the blade-wielding red-riding hood avatar accompanying the tweets). Either way, Sasha James makes me laugh. And so I read a Sasha James tweet with an enthusiasm that borders on eager. How is it that I anticipate the opinion of someone who I encounter only in the twitterverse? Why do I feel a twinge of sadness when she tweets of her initial disappointment in "Punch Drunk Love"? It's because James is that really cool friend you hope likes the same movies you do because when that happens you are, if only for the moment, just as cool.

And please, as a final addition, allow me to offer up my own twitter account for you to follow @ThomErnstTVO.

Reasons to Love âMoonrise Kingdomâ: The Cinematography

Alexander Huls — Mon, 15 Oct 12 16:04:02 GMT

If pressed to deliver one encapsulating adjective to describe Wes Anderson’s latest movie, I’d say above all else “Moonrise Kingdom” is a warm film. By that I certainly mean it’s warm-hearted in its tale of young love and its fundamental belief that there’s a place for everyone in this life. I also mean that the film’s interior warmth is equally mirrored on the exterior with its lush, vibrant cinematography (lovingly enriched by its 1080p HD presentation on Blu-Ray).

Watching “Moonrise Kingdom” is like seeing what would happen if early autumn palettes bled past the boundaries of leaves and bark and directly into every frame of a movie. It’s a gorgeous moving pastel landscape painting that evokes the comfortable heat and beauty of late September days, of forests and fields fragrant with the earthy smells of emerging fall. There’s a hazy warmth that envelops “Moonrise Kingdom” that creates a nurturing reassurance while watching. It’s both a landscape painting and the crackling cabin fireplace it’s hanging over.

The film’s warmth, however, is not solely the result of its color schemes. There’s also a fuzzy longing nostalgia that permeates the look of “Moonrise Kingdom.” It’s there in Wes Anderson’s evocation (and idolization) of the 1960s and its styles; the idyllic remoteness and simplicity of the New Penzance island community; and the purity of young love. It’s also very much there in Anderson’s and cinematographer Robert Yeoman’s use of grainy 16mm to lovingly recreate the cinematic spirit and look of the French New Wave and other cinema of the 60s.

The cinematography of “Moonrise Kingdom” is a classic example of how a film’s visual aesthetic can both aid and represents its core spirit. On its own merits, the warm colors of “Moonrise Kingdom” would be enough to wrap an audience in a blanket of visual comfort. But instead it’s accentuated by how it reflects both the core of the story, and the passionate infusions of its filmmakers. The film is a joy to watch because it’s perpetually infused with joy. It’s cinema of love, nature, color, warmth. It fills every frame with all of that until it spills over and can do nothing less than completely entrance its viewer.

Previous Entries:
Reasons to Love "Moonrise Kingdom": Young Love as Ideal Love
Reasons to Love "Moonrise Kingdom": Bob Balaban as the Narrator

Saturday Features: "Diary of a Mad Housewife" and "Repulsion"

Thom Ernst — Fri, 12 Oct 12 17:24:38 GMT

Director Frank Perry died young at the age of 65. The year was 1995.

In the span of his career Perry director 21 films including the controversial "Mommie Dearest" (1981), the reportedly non filmable John Cheever's short-story "The Swimmer" (1968) starring Burt Lancaster, the criminally under looked social thriller, "Ladybug, Ladybug" (1963), his first, and one that earned him an Academy Award for Best Director' "David & Lisa" (1962) and "Diary of a Mad Housewife" (1970) scheduled to air October 12 on Saturday Night at the Movies.

If Perry isn't immediately familiar to film goers today it might be because his films were small, intimate works of human drama. Occasionally he employed stars, like Lancaster in "The Swimmer" and Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest" . But he mostly cast young actors seemingly more intent on their craft then on stardom - Keir Dullea, years before Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", (1968), Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella, Carrie Snodgress and William Daniels.

By airing "Diary of a Mad Housewife" we are introducing many to one of Perry's best works. The film comes from Sue Kaufman's novel of the same name. (Kaufman too died young in 1977 at the age of 50.)

In "Diary" Carrie Snodgress is housewife, Tina Balser. Tina's life no longer seems her own and we see it in the silent bewilderment of her face every time she's on screen.

At a time when women's liberation was on the rise, "Diary" was a real eye-opener. It's not likely too many will think of "Diary" as a feminist film, given Tina's wandering bug-eyed acceptance of being mistreated by a bullying husband, played by Richard Benjamin. Still, through Snodgress's performance, Perry captures the cultivated and socially sanctioned abuse that many women endured. But the appeal of "Diary" is not how Tina rises above her situation but at just how ingrained these situations were in society.

This year, the movie turns 43. It hasn't aged.

Perry would do other films with equal approaches to social, economic and even political issues. And although he left a legacy of great cinema, for some he will be most known as pop-star Katie Perry's uncle.

We pair "Diary of a Mad Housewife" with "Repulsion" (1965).

We're calling the evening, Women on the Edge.

Saturday Night at the Movies Blog

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