Blog: Big Thoughts From A Small Mind

The Academy Award nominees have been announced! Here are my initial thoughts: 1. Nine Best Picture nominees! I had predicted it would be seven films. 2. I was hoping Sailcloth would get nominated in the Short Film (Live Action) category but no such luck. Very curious to check out the films that made the cut this year. 3. Did not expect to see J.C. Chandor get nominated in the Original Screenplay category for Margin Call . Super excited about this nomination. 4. I [...]

It is rather peculiar that a film of Haywire 's quality would be released so early in the year. January has been notoriously known as the dumping ground for many studios. It is usually time of year when films that the studios have very little faith in are released in order to make a few quick bucks. In 2012 studios really seem to be going after fans of the action and horror genres with the release of films like The Devil Inside , Contraband , Underworld: Awakening , and the aforementioned Haywire [...]

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I hate when real-life changes the film going experience. To clarify I do not mean that I dislike films that deal with real issues or real people. What I am talking about is when events in my own life alter the magical illusion that film creates. Normally it works the other way around. Even if the disturbance is only temporary, it ultimately keeps me away from watching particular films I usually enjoy. Such is currently the case with films that feature memorable car crashes. Toward the end of December, a day before New Year's [...]

Kristin Scott Thomas 10 sample films: The English Patient Gosford Park I've Loved You So Long Richard III The Horse Whisperer Nowhere Boy The Other Boleyn Girl Mission: Impossible Easy Virtue Bitter Moon or Juliette Binoche 10 sample films: Chocolat [...]

Awards season is well underway. With the People's Choice Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, and several other awards' events already in the bag, there've been no shortage of red carpets and acceptance speeches, and there's still more to come. I know people who despise this time in film because award shows dominate the airwaves at the start of the year, and can become redundant, predictable and boring. Some, like the People's Choice Awards, are viewed [...]

The 32nd annual Genie Awards nominations were announced today. The Genie Awards are the Canadian equivalent of the Academy Awards. I am really happy to see both Beauty Day and Wiebo's War received nominations in the Best Feature Length Documentary category. The awards will be handed out on Thursday, March 8, 2012. Here is the full list of nominations: Best Motion Picture A Dangerous Method – Martin Katz, Marco Mehlitz, Jeremy Thomas Café De Flore – Pierre Even, Marie-Claude Poulin, Jean-Marc [...]

Patton Patton is a film that I somehow avoided for many years despite seeing its iconic opening scene spoofed in numerous ways over the years. I had always heard that despite being a great film, the length of the film less than desirable. While I admit the film does feel even longer than it 170 minute running time, I was glad that I finally got around to seeing it. I loved the way George C. Scott portrays General Patton as both a brilliant strategist and as a man who may be slightly [...]

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Wondering what bloggers have been chatting about this week? Here is Your Reading and Listening Schedule for Today : 9 am : Episode 241 of the Cinecast podcast offers up an extensive look at some of the upcoming films of 2012 . 10 am : Over at Lee and Dan's Midnight Movie Club , the guys end their epic look at the entire Star Trek franchise with J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot . [...]

Conan the Barbarian (1982) Okay, so I watched the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian recently and found myself reaching for the 1982 version in my DVD collection to cleanse my palate and feel better. I don't want to sound like I'm slagging off remakes, but if Hollywood is going to produce one it should equal or exceed the original. In fact, there are a few films that succeeded; Ocean's Eleven (2001) and The Departed (2006) are two good examples. Then [...]

Michael Fassbender 10 sample films: Shame Fish Tank Jane Eyre Jonah Hex Hunger A Dangerous Method 300 Inglourious Basterds Centurion X-Men: First Class or Christian Bale 10 sample films: The Fighter The Prestige Reign of Fire American Psycho [...]

Seventeen minutes can seem like an eternity for some and not enough time to others. In the world of film it can come and go in a blink. This is one of the reasons why director Elfar Adalsteins' film Sailcloth is such a treat. Adalsteins not only use the brief time to tell a charming story, but also manages to do it with no dialogue whatsoever. An elderly widower (John Hurt) decides to set in motion a series of events to disguise his escape from a local nursing home. Free for the [...]

There are many things in life that are tough to deal with. As a parent one of those things is the potential to outlive your child. Director Jordan Bayne explores this, and how illness in general can both tear a family apart and unite them, in her film The Sea is All I Know . Against the doctor's advice of treating her terminally ill daughter Angelina (Kelly Hutchinson) in a hospital, Sara (Melissa Leo) decides to bring Angelina home to care for her there. Angelina's arrival at home leads to the reemergence of her father, [...]

The Company Men (2011) Okay, I got the economy on the brain; subconsciously I've been selecting films that deal with our current situation and only just realized it. I also watched Margin Call recently and loved it, so yes, the economy is on my mind. Not that it's a bad thing, but I will make an effort to vary the themes in the next one, Dear Readers. I kinda feel like a CEO promising shareholders the stock price will get better in the [...]

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Wondering what bloggers have been chatting about this week? Here is Your Reading and Listening Schedule for Today : 9 am : In the latest episode of the Mamo! podcast, several Toronto film bloggers get together to discusses the results of the 2nd annual CAST awards . 10 am : Can't Stop the Podcast , comment on what they think are the best films of 2011 . 11 am : Dave [...]

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Robert Downey Jr. 10 sample films: Chaplin Iron Man Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Zodiac Wonder Boys Hearts and Souls Sherlock Holmes Short Cuts Natural Born Killers Tropic Thunder or Leonardo DiCaprio 10 sample films: J. Edgar Catch Me If [...]