2007 TIFF Archives (5 posts)
Captain Mike Across America (2007)
Captain Mike Across America (2007) is director Michael Moore’s latest film that received a standing ovation at the Ryerson Theatre last Friday.
Republicans will see his latest work as a vanity/propaganda film and some Canadians (my father for instance) will call it a complete pile of rubbish. Democrats will love the film and see it as the truth that has been suppressed by the media. This Canadian found it very entertaining and loved it.
During the last American election, Moore travelled the country encouraging younger people to vote and more importantly, vote Democrat. His visits to colleges across America became known as the Slacker Uprising Tour.
He takes the usual cheap shots at Bush, shows a number of Bush bloopers and invites musical guests to entertain the slackers (Eddie Vedder, Joan Baez, Steve Earl, REM and others).
One of my favourite moments in the film comes when Moore holds a press conference. He points out that he had the courage to bring up the weapons of mass destruction lie, at the Oscars several years ago. He goes on to lambaste the reporters for being lazy and not doing their jobs — which is investigating the truth instead of being a propaganda machine for the White House.
He argues that Americans should be able to sit at home, eat a bag of Tostios and get the truth for free on the evening news. Instead, he argues that Americans had to shell out 10 dollars to get the truth in from his film Farenheit 9/11.
As Moore went across the southwest in 2004, it was amazing to see how Republicans tried to shut him down. One businessman offered $100,000 to a student body, not to invite Moore to their school to speak.
Moore failed in helping to get Kerry elected but he succeeded in getting younger voters out to the polls in record numbers. For Democrats, Moore describes the film as “a cure for the hangover that followed” the 2004 election.
When asked if Moore would do a follow up to the film he said “no”. Moore claims that his life was threatened a number of times. At one event a guy allegedly got up on stage and tried to attack Moore with a pipe. At another event, somebody pulled a knife and while in Fort Lauderdale a man tossed a cup of hot coffee on Moore.
Love him or hate him, his films are entertaining. The audience at Ryerson couldn’t get enough of his stories. The film will have a limited theatrical release in North America according to Harvey Weinstein who was in the audience. Following that will be a DVD release which will include a lot of extra footage and a show Moore did in London shortly after 9/11. My guess is that all of this will come out next year just before the election (depending on how the Democrats are doing in the poles).
Posted in 2007 TIFF at 12:56 PM | Comments (3)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The North American premiere of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) was at the Elgin Theatre on Saturday night. This was the Brad Pitt show.
This film was the closest I’ll get to a attending a Hollywood film premiere and perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve done this year. Yonge Street was closed off so that thousands of fans could gawk at Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They signed autographs, waved to the crowds and did interviews. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Eric Bana and Helen Hunt weren’t in the film but they came by to walk the red carpet and maybe watch the film. I wouldn’t blame them if they left early though.
The Assassination of Jesse James is a very mediocre film. It’s a great example of how the festival looks for anything with a big star, to sell tickets, draw crowds, create meaningless buzz and satisfy autograph hounds.
Tony Scott and Ridley Scott were executive producers and couldn’t save this film from being too long and at times, quite boring. Director Andrew Dominik could easily have cut 20-30 minutes but maybe the producer, Brad Pitt wouldn’t let him? Even the music score from Nick Cave sounded repetitive and lacking.
The great Roger Deakins was the cinematographer but I felt completely uninspired by his visual style. He does a nice job of making Alberta look like Missouri but that’s it.
On a positive note, the film is actually perfect for Brad Pitt who plays Jesse James. James was the biggest celebrity of his day, so casting Pitt in the lead role works quite well. Casey Afleck as Robert Ford plays a wonderful weasel — the best performance in the film.
There is a bit of violence in the film that startled a few audience members (people saying, “oh my” and ‘dear God” out loud). The crack of a pistol in one scene caused the woman in front of me to recoil in horror. I’ve never seen anyone snap their head back so fast. I really thought she was going to end up in the seat behind me. This gave me the best chuckle of the evening.
I don’t know. I think the direction and the screenplay by Andrew Dominik was the missing link to a great film. I had high hopes for this film and left disappointed. 
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in 2007 TIFF at 1:31 AM | Comments (2)
TIFF Update
I managed to make a few changes to my TIFF lineup yesterday afternoon. There are quite a few films still available if you’re looking to attend the Festival this year.
My new picks are:
Silent Light
Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient
I have 6 reviews coming for the films that I’ve seen. The best film so far has been Jason Reitman’s JunoThe weakest film in my lineup has been The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Why did I pick this? Oh well, lesson learned — don’t be a fanboy.
Posted in 2007 TIFF at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)
TIFF Tickets for sale
I have two tickets to the film L’ Ennemi intime that I am selling at face value. If you are interested then contact me.
Details below:
L’ Ennemi intime
SUN 09/09/2007 03:00pm — Cumberland 2
Posted in 2007 TIFF at 5:34 PM | Comments (3)
2007 TIFF Picks
It’s that time of year again. The Toronto International Film Festival goes into high gear this week. I’m seeing 9 films this year. Here they are:
Captain Mike Across America
FRI 09/07/2007 06:00pm — Ryerson
L’ Ennemi intime
FRI 09/07/2007 09:30pm — Scotiabank 4
Control
SAT 09/08/2007 09:00am — Scotiabank 2
Juno
SAT 09/08/2007 06:00pm — Ryerson
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
SAT 09/08/2007 09:00pm — Elgin
L’ Ennemi intime
SUN 09/09/2007 03:00pm — Cumberland 2
Margot at the Wedding
TUE 09/11/2007 06:00pm — Ryerson
Surfwise
TUE 09/11/2007 09:30pm — ROM
You’ll notice that I have L’ Ennemi intime down twice. It was an alternate selection and TIFF gave me another two tickets even though I have two.
If anyone is willing to trade or purchase these tickets, please contact me at jay@bombippy.com.
Posted in 2007 TIFF at 3:29 PM | Comments (1)
