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El Chivo From TIFF: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, THE HURT LOCKER, NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU, And UNCERTAINTY!!
Merrick here...
The article title pretty much speaks for itself. Here's El Chivo...
Greetings all! El Chivo here. The big headlines from the first half the Toronto may be dying down, but there are still a lot of good films out there to be seen.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Danny Boyle film, based on the novel "Q&A" about an orphan ("slumdog") in Mumbai who ends up on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It doesn't sound like a good idea for a film, but it all works thanks to the tight script by Simon Beaufoy (FULL MONTY). Add in Boyle's visual sense, merciless editing, the million colors of India and a strobing, danceable score by A.R. Rahman and you have a damn fine film. Yes, they're poor, but the slums are teeming with life and the story of Jamal turns out to be one of the most substantial crowd-pleasers I have seen ever seen. The film doesn't flinch away from the horror of life for a street kid in India as it followers Jamal's life for a period of about ten years. Jamal's friendship with Latika provides some of the strongest moments in the film and I was surprised to learn from Boyle afterwards that her character was a creation of Beaufoy, not present in the novel. Boyle does a masterful, kinetic job of giving insight into a side of the world far different from our own and having a roaring, emotionally-rich good time in the process. As a side note, the M.I.A. song "Paper Planes" from the PINEAPPLE EXPRESS trailer is put to great use in a playful train sequence. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 4 out of 4.
THE HURT LOCKER
A new film from the director of POINT BREAK and STRANGE DAYS? Hell, yes! Kathryn Bigelow finally returns to aggressive filmmaking with this story about a explosives unit of the US Army in Bagdad. The film may be based in Iraq, but it really could've been any combat zone because the meat of the story is about guys defusing bombs. Some defuse and some blow up, and it's all gripping. Bigelow really knows how to wind up the tension in an action sequence before releasing with shockwaves of violent, dramatic visuals. Shockwaves tear up the ground in TREMORS-like fashion and even stripping the rust off old vehicles. Visually beautiful stuff. Stars Jeremy Renner, doing a decent job as the man who's defused nearly 1000 bombs already. The ending falls off a bit, but see it for the visuals and the tension. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 3 out of 4.
NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU
Producers Emmanuel Benbihy and Marina Grasic were on hand to introduce this work-in-progress follow-up to PARIS, JE T'AIME. This is the second in the so-called "Cities of Love" anthologies of short films. They said Shanghai is next, and maybe Jerusalem after that. How're the films? On average I would say they were better than PARIS, JE T'AIME. No more mimes or vampires or horseback ghosts; NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU is firmly routed in the real world. Two segments elicited the loudest, most positive response from the audience: a midway funny short by Brett Ratner and the final segment starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as an old couple taking a walk. Yes, you read that right, people loved the Ratner segment. About a young man attending the prom with a wheelchair-bound girl, it certainly packed the biggest punch line and the audience loved it. I liked it too, but there was a lot more heart to be found in other segments. Also, in its current form, this film is considerably more risqué than its predecessor. Of note was a wildly filthy, hilarious attempt by Ethan Hawke to pick up a woman outside a bar. Scarlett Johansson directed an odd segment with Kevin Bacon. It was the only segment tinted is sort of a duotone sepia and not much happened other than Bacon walking around and eating a hot dog. It was nice as an art piece, but the credits reveal a character named "Rap Artist" who didn't make this cut and I wonder if this particular segment is still being worked on. Natalie Portman directs a segment as well as staring in another. Portman's directed segment is a sweet, solid piece that starts out being about a father taking his young daughter to Central Park. Perhaps because it is more immediately relatable to us English-speakers, I liked this better than PARIS, JE T'AIME. My only problem in its current state is the weird Zalman-King-meets-Rent closing montage set to lame jazz/porn music. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 3 out of 4.
UNCERTAINTY
Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins as young, pregnant couple who have only being going out for 10 months. The movie begins with then on the Brooklyn bridge and follows two different paths their day might have taken from there. I don't have the heart to beat up such a small, ambitious film by what seem to be a couple of decent guys. That said, however, the inevitable comparisons to the much better SLIDING DOORS really sank this for me. Acting was very solid. TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 2 out of 4.
Greetings all! El Chivo here. The big headlines from the first half the Toronto may be dying down, but there are still a lot of good films out there to be seen.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Danny Boyle film, based on the novel "Q&A" about an orphan ("slumdog") in Mumbai who ends up on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It doesn't sound like a good idea for a film, but it all works thanks to the tight script by Simon Beaufoy (FULL MONTY). Add in Boyle's visual sense, merciless editing, the million colors of India and a strobing, danceable score by A.R. Rahman and you have a damn fine film. Yes, they're poor, but the slums are teeming with life and the story of Jamal turns out to be one of the most substantial crowd-pleasers I have seen ever seen. The film doesn't flinch away from the horror of life for a street kid in India as it followers Jamal's life for a period of about ten years. Jamal's friendship with Latika provides some of the strongest moments in the film and I was surprised to learn from Boyle afterwards that her character was a creation of Beaufoy, not present in the novel. Boyle does a masterful, kinetic job of giving insight into a side of the world far different from our own and having a roaring, emotionally-rich good time in the process. As a side note, the M.I.A. song "Paper Planes" from the PINEAPPLE EXPRESS trailer is put to great use in a playful train sequence. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 4 out of 4.
THE HURT LOCKER
A new film from the director of POINT BREAK and STRANGE DAYS? Hell, yes! Kathryn Bigelow finally returns to aggressive filmmaking with this story about a explosives unit of the US Army in Bagdad. The film may be based in Iraq, but it really could've been any combat zone because the meat of the story is about guys defusing bombs. Some defuse and some blow up, and it's all gripping. Bigelow really knows how to wind up the tension in an action sequence before releasing with shockwaves of violent, dramatic visuals. Shockwaves tear up the ground in TREMORS-like fashion and even stripping the rust off old vehicles. Visually beautiful stuff. Stars Jeremy Renner, doing a decent job as the man who's defused nearly 1000 bombs already. The ending falls off a bit, but see it for the visuals and the tension. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 3 out of 4.
NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU
Producers Emmanuel Benbihy and Marina Grasic were on hand to introduce this work-in-progress follow-up to PARIS, JE T'AIME. This is the second in the so-called "Cities of Love" anthologies of short films. They said Shanghai is next, and maybe Jerusalem after that. How're the films? On average I would say they were better than PARIS, JE T'AIME. No more mimes or vampires or horseback ghosts; NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU is firmly routed in the real world. Two segments elicited the loudest, most positive response from the audience: a midway funny short by Brett Ratner and the final segment starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as an old couple taking a walk. Yes, you read that right, people loved the Ratner segment. About a young man attending the prom with a wheelchair-bound girl, it certainly packed the biggest punch line and the audience loved it. I liked it too, but there was a lot more heart to be found in other segments. Also, in its current form, this film is considerably more risqué than its predecessor. Of note was a wildly filthy, hilarious attempt by Ethan Hawke to pick up a woman outside a bar. Scarlett Johansson directed an odd segment with Kevin Bacon. It was the only segment tinted is sort of a duotone sepia and not much happened other than Bacon walking around and eating a hot dog. It was nice as an art piece, but the credits reveal a character named "Rap Artist" who didn't make this cut and I wonder if this particular segment is still being worked on. Natalie Portman directs a segment as well as staring in another. Portman's directed segment is a sweet, solid piece that starts out being about a father taking his young daughter to Central Park. Perhaps because it is more immediately relatable to us English-speakers, I liked this better than PARIS, JE T'AIME. My only problem in its current state is the weird Zalman-King-meets-Rent closing montage set to lame jazz/porn music. My TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 3 out of 4.
UNCERTAINTY
Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins as young, pregnant couple who have only being going out for 10 months. The movie begins with then on the Brooklyn bridge and follows two different paths their day might have taken from there. I don't have the heart to beat up such a small, ambitious film by what seem to be a couple of decent guys. That said, however, the inevitable comparisons to the much better SLIDING DOORS really sank this for me. Acting was very solid. TIFF People's Choice Ballot: 2 out of 4.
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The fact that the directors once did Suture gave me hope. But it really really sucked.
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Is this the High School Musical 3 talkback?
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I'm supposed to see this tonight.
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That's the one I'm suppposed to see tonight....
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Including a Tim Horton's donut. Seriously, it's that bad.
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And my wife had to restrain me from shaking him down for $40. Just like she had to keep me from asking the directors during Q&A, "Who are you and what have you done with the guys who did Suture and The Deep End"?
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You've been gone too long. Michael Bay and your talentless cronies move aside, there's a real action director back on the scene.
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Wow, you really didn't like Uncertainty. Seems like we've been on a similiar path these last couple of years at TIFF. I remember you and I going back and forth with a few other talkbackers who couldn't believe De Palma's REDACTED was as bad as we made it out to be last year. Other than THE WRESTLER, what have you enjoyed this year?
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My reviews should be up next week. Overall, I was pretty underwhelmed this year. I liked Sugar, Pontypool, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker and The Brothers Bloom, but didn't love any of them. For me, the love story at the heart of Slumdog Millionaire really didn't work. The Hurt Locker was a bunch of really cool set pieces with nothing to connect them. Sugar was at least 20 minutes too long. I was lukewarm on Me and Orson Welles, too.
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We're talking about the same movie right?
This is without exaggeration, but I was so angry and pissed off watching this movie I began to feel nauseous and had to close my eyes every 15-20 minutes and conciously slow my breathing just to get through it.
It's terrible. The script is a f'king joke, the dialog is even worse and that female lead has just about the worst line delivery I can think of. This is easily the worst movie of the 20 I've seen so far at TIFF this year, and was almost the first movie I ever walked out on.. and I've seen crap like Morvern Callar which is the cinematical equivalent to the Mona Lisa compared to this piece of crap.
The Hurt Locker was quite good though. I think Bigelow's best work frankly. I hope it does well, but the masses will assume it to be some preachy political war movie and probably pass it by. Hopefully word of mouth is strong enough. -
and joined a friend on a patio for beer. I know that's a choice I will never regret as the movie will be around later but those beer had to be drank right then.
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to drink from a toilet instead.
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