Black Sheep TIFF Review: THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE

Pippa Lee is a people pleaser. I get that; I do it all the time too. Still, while there is nothing wrong with considering the feelings of others, it does open the door to prioritize those feelings more than you would your own. Writer/Director, Rebecca Miller, has decided though that it is high time that her heroine take center stage in her own life and reveal the complicated, the repressed and yes even, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE.


Robin Wright Penn plays the particularly enigmatic Pippa Lee and she does so with such a tender regard for her plight. Pippa is middle-aged but yet she finds herself calling a retirement village her new home so that the needs of her aging husband (Alan Arkin) can be met with more ease. She allows her daughter (Zoe Kazan) to treat her like garbage. She even lets her friends completely abuse her trust and compassion. For no obviously apparent reason, as seems to be the most common reason in cases like these, her mind can take her inadvertent abuse no more and a younger Pippa Lee (played in flashbacks by the surprisingly focused, Blake Lively) fights furiously to take back control of her life.


Miller, who last directed her husband, Daniel Day-Lewis, in THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE, has crafted a picture that is both poised and poignant. Thanks to her sensitive and delicate direction, the ensemble (rounded out by Keanu Reeves, Maria Bello, Winona Ryder and Julianne Moore) is able to create a circle around Wright Penn that is so strong and supportive, it allows for an actress who usually just fills out the circle to shine instead for a change. Subsequently, Pippa Lee gets the spotlight she has deserved all along.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: THE DAMNED UNITED

I am not a soccer fan. Therefore, I know nothing about its history or the name of anyone who might be considered historically important to the sport’s development. I am a fan of actor, Michael Sheen though – always so charming with his curled lip when he is trying to look smooth. I am also a fan of screenwriter, Peter Morgan, whose work on both THE QUEEN and FROST/NIXON was concise and cutting. And, after the monumental HBO miniseries, JOHN ADAMS, I am unquestionably a fan of series director, Tom Hooper. Put all of these things together and I think you will definitely join me in becoming a fan of THE DAMNED UNITED.


The United are a top ranking soccer team from Leeds, which of course means that there, they would be known as a football team. They are damned because of one man and his inability to see past his own ego and need to prove to the world that he is the best there is at what he does. Sheen is that one man, Brian Clough, who would coach and manage the Leeds United for a grand total of 44 days in 1974, after the previous coach and Clough’s arch nemesis, Don Revie (Colm Meaney) had played surrogate father to the team for a number of years prior. Clough’s rivalry with Revie is so consuming it nearly costs him the game and by the game, I mean his happiness.


Far from suffering the same fate as the Leeds United, THE DAMNED UNITED has a leader with his eye on the ball. Hooper emerges as a director with great strength and visual restraint and he leads his team to victory because, unlike his hero, he never forgets that it is not ever about him alone but rather always a team effort.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

Changing the name from “Push” to “Precious” was a smart thing for Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry to do after they signed on as executive producers on this one. If there is one thing that Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS does, it reminds you just how that word applies to life. No matter how bad you thought you might have it before you see this movie, you will think you’re living large by the time it is over. And the best thing about PRECIOUS is that it doesn’t ask us for our sympathy, it inspires it.


Newcomer, Gabby Sidibe, plays the title character. At 16 years old, she can barely read, she is seriously overweight and is pregnant with her second child. She lives with her mother (Mo’Nique), who sees her more as a means to get bigger welfare cheques and much less an actual daughter. She treats her with even less respect than that, if you can believe it. I am only scratching the surface here. Precious has problems that I cannot even imagine and the stark manner in which Daniels lets bomb after bomb drop on the Harlem circa 1987 setting not only shakes you out of your comfort with the film but also with yourself.


PRECIOUS boasts incredible performances from the entire cast – including smaller parts from The View’s Sheri Shephard and a completely stripped down Mariah Carey as a lowly cubicle social worker. (Diva even has a mustache!) It is the mother/daughter dueling between Mo’Nique and Sidibe that will be getting the most attention though and deservedly so. Their relationship is so strained but these two actors fill the wide space between them with complexities so deep that you are not comfortable being in the same room as both of them. Novice director, Daniels has guided some of the most unexpected and delicate performances of the year.


Ordinarily, modern human nature dictates that we should look away from such hardship – that matters like these are private ones and we have no business getting involved. Of course, this is just an excuse we tell ourselves so that we don’t actually have to get involved. PRECIOUS doesn’t allow you to look the other way though. More importantly, it reminds us that problems do not belong to one but to all and that everything is a gift of the universe.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: A SERIOUS MAN

A SERIOUS MAN is a serious film from the Coen brothers despite their clearly deliberate attempts to amuse themselves. In what is being described as the most personal work of their careers, the Coen’s take their audience to a Mid-Western, mostly Jewish, suburban community, not unlike the one where they grew up themselves. The Gopnick family, headed by the hapless and thankless, Larry Gopnick (relative unknown on the screen but a celebrated stage actor, Michael Stuhlbarg), is not unlike the household they grew up in. Realistically speaking, the film itself is not so much unlike their past work. Writing from experience though brings an unexpected relatable quality that is definitely unlike their usual fare.


Larry Gopnick is just trying to do right by himself, his God and his fellow man. He hardly proclaims to be perfect, nor does he strive to achieve it; he just takes it day by day and does the best he can. This is, he does this until his best is no longer good enough. The Coen’s, having based the character on an amalgamation of their parents and other people they knew from the neighborhood, seem to be taking great satisfaction in torturing their protagonist more and more. His wife wants to leave him; his son is doing drugs; his daughter is pilfering cash from his wallet to save up for a nose job and these are the least of his worries. The more that is put upon him, the more sympathetic Gopnick becomes and Stuhlbarg carries this mammoth burden in a constant awe that is hilarious, endearing and most importantly, unforgettable.

Gopnick’s struggles grow into a complete lack of understanding how he managed to fall so far from where he thought he was and whether God is actually behind it all. If by God, he means the Coen’s, then yes, they most certainly are behind every moment.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

I’m not sure what I was expecting considering the title. I can say that what I got from Grant Heslov’s new film, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, I could never have expected even if I tried. Heslov tells you right away that most of what you’re about to see is truer than you would think, which implies that at least some of what you’re about to see is a fat lie. What actually follows is so entirely ludicrous that it’s hard to imagine it as either made up or the truth. The other thing I wasn’t expecting before going in was laughing as hard and as often as I did.


Ewan McGregor is back in familiar territory as an earnest, likeable lead. He plays reporter and underachiever, Bob Wilton. His wife has just left him and he has, in turn, left the United States for Iraq. It is 2003 and he wants to prove to the world and himself that he is worth something by writing the best post-Iraq war feature ever written. He decides the best angle for his story is to be found with Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney). Cassidy, an army man himself, used to roll with the U.S. Army’s New Earth Division, a division based on the principal that peace is the only thing that can actually win a war and that takes from the paranormal studies to develop its weaponry and calls its top soldiers Jedi warriors. Cassidy himself is said to be able to stare at goats long enough to make their hearts stop. How the U.S. army could have funded any of this is beyond me but it was … or at least some of it was.


I’ll be honest; I am not sure whether Heslov is suggesting that this approach is just as nonsensical as the military methods that we’re familiar with now or that war makes no sense no matter what your plan of attack is. All I know is that when McGregor asks Clooney what a Jedi warrior is, the theatre erupts in laughter. Now, that’s using the force.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: AGORA

In 391 A.D., people still believed that the Earth was not only flat but that it was also the center of the universe and that the sun, along with the other wanderers, known to the Pagan Greeks of the time as the other planets, revolved around the Earth. How could one not have an ego with beliefs like that? It has been over 1600 years since then and it’s strange to see that AGORA director, Alejandro Amenabar, still has a bit of that same ego driving his filmmaking.


Generally considered to be the first female authority of mathematics and astronomy, Greek philosopher, Hypatia (played by a bold but overly confident Rachel Weisz), has always tried to teach her pupils that all humans are brothers; that between three people, if two of them are are of the same mind, then so is the third as this is what bonds them as brothers. Increasing shifts in religious beliefs shatter her faith as she must be subjected to watch the quickly growing Christianity crush her Paganism and move on past that to Judaism in Egypt, one of the last thriving places in the Roman Empire. The story is both huge in scope and vision but it is dragged down by focusing on the the petty problems of the people and the often poor acting performances afforded to these plotlines.


One automatically sees the correlation between religion being a serious driving force in keeping man divided, often violently, both then and now. Amenabar tells his story with such grandiose gusto though that it seems his ego is just too big to see that his point is monumental only to him and not only obvious to the rest of us but wearing thin as well.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: BROKEN EMBRACES

Pedro Almodovar is arguably the most celebrated Spanish film director of all time and it is easy to see why with his latest, BROKEN EMBRACES. It opens on actors being prepared for a shoot while a camera frames them and watches them candidly before cutting directly to an extreme close up of an actual eye. The act of watching and the subsequent act of being watched will go on to shape the entire film and under Almodovar’s delicate and respectful eye, the shape it creates proves that his vision is only getting better with age.


While Almodovar may be directing the picture, it is Harry Caine (Lluis Homar) who is the director on screen. Only this director has lost his sight in an accident and now only writes, as if that is some lesser function. He plays narrator to the film we are watching and, like the man who invented him on page, he is one heck of a storyteller. BROKEN EMBRACES is a twisted thriller that ties a torrid love affair, a tormenting husband and a tortured son together and places it all behind the scenes of a film set. To further blur the lines between art and reality, Almodovar casts longtime muse, Penelope Cruz, as Caine’s source of inspiration. Like the man who propelled her into the international spotlight, Cruz is only getting better and more beautiful with time.


With BROKEN EMBRACES, Almodovar has created a richly layered work that requires a steady hand to be done right and, while his command is controlled and impressive, he comes off as playful and cool. Heightened by first time collaborator, Rodrigo Pietro’s deliberate and stunning cinematography, Almodovar has made another contemporary classic that will certainly earn him many more accolades and admirers by honouring his roots and the fans that have gotten him this far to begin with.

Black Sheep TIFF Review: CREATION

Oh, how timely to throw together a biopic about Charles Darwin now. It seems to me that, while Darwin’s theories about evolution have been angering religious types since before they were committed to paper, they seem to have been an even hotter topic in recent years with creationists. It would almost seem as though the creators of CREATION may have specifically intended to capitalize on that controversy to get people to see their movie. They may succeed in getting people into the theatres but their incredibly bland picture will ensure that whatever conversation they hoped to inspire will stop there.


CREATION – the movie, that is, not the finite starting point of existence – begins with Mr. Darwin (a frail, pale but mostly able Paul Bettany) telling his eerily smiley daughter (Martha West) a story. I would think that director, Jon Amiel, is telling his story because he sides with Darwin so I’m not clear why he wanted to portray him as an elaborate story-teller right from the start. If this is the man whose mind would manifest the argumental means to theoretically “kill” God, there should be no seed of doubt planted behind him if he is to be taken seriously.


While Darwin grapples with the death of his favorite daughter, he must resolve his faith and his science in order to complete his years of research. The whole process drags him into madness and Bettany's real-life wife, Jennifer Connelly is alongside for the descent as his wife and first cousin, essentially reprising her role from A BEAUTIFUL MIND, except this time with an English accent. Her religious devotion is at distinct odds with her husband’s scientific methods but Amiel doesn’t allow this complex divide between them to open any serious debate; oddly, he has them not speak instead. This missed opportunity is what makes CREATION trite when it could have been contentious.

Black Sheep @ TIFF 2009!

I'm just about to get to my first official festival screening but before that, I wanted to give you last minute ticket scroungers a sampling of what I have already seen and what I think you should try to get your hands on. I will begin with one of the most buzzed about pictures of the year, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE. It may not have a great title but it does have the backing of two incredible entertainment powerhouses - Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey bought distribution rights after the Lee Daniels film won both the critics and the audience award at this year's Sundance film festival. The last time Oprah threw her name behind someone, he became president so you should expect big things for PRECIOUS and rightfully so. This is a bleak story that is fearless in its portrayal of suffering without asking the audience for sympathy and best left undefined so as to enhance the experience.


I am a big Pedro Almodovar fan and his latest certainly does not disappoint. In fact, BROKEN EMBRACES is, in my humble opinion, his best work since ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. This twisted romantic thriller is all about vision. You've got a film director who loses his sight in a car accident, a wealthy producer who spies on his girlfriend by having his bizarre son follow and videotape her, a manager who watches the man she loves from the sidelines and, at the center of it all, the beautiful vision that is Academy Award winner, Penelope Cruz. Almodovar is feeling playful and continues to grow as a filmmaker and Cruz only seems to be getting more beautiful and her acting only more impressive with age.


This year, I had the pleasure of seeing Tom Hooper's mini-series, JOHN ADAMS, and being completely blown away by the incredible command of this director I had never heard of over such dense material. Hooper jumps from HBO to the big screen with his biopic of British soccer coach, Brian Clough, a man who allowed his ego to almost bring down one of the best teams in the league. Written by Peter Morgan, THE DAMNED UNITED stars Michael Sheen as Clough, in what may finally get Sheen the awards season accolades he has been campaigning so hard for these last few years. Though the film is about ego, there is none behind the scenes to drag it down. It is just a great time and a title that might get missed amongst the higher profile selections when it should certainly not be.


THE BOYS ARE BACK and THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE are solid choices too that are made better by excellent performances by Clive Owen and Robin Wright Penn, respectively. I would avoid AGORA though; even the beautiful Rachel Weisz couldn't save that one for me.

Tickets and showtimes to all these films and more are available at the TIFF website. Full reviews of all the above mentioned films will appear on Black Sheep as the festival goes on so be sure to check back often. Have a great festival!

Black Sheep @ TIFF 2009!

This is it .. This is the main reason I put everything I owned in a truck and moved to Toronto. Today is the first day of the 34th Toronto International Film Festival. Aside from Oscar season, this is my favorite time of the year.

Sure, TIFF didn't accredit me for the second year in a row. I'm not bitter. I just found a way around it. The Movie Network and Movie Entertainment are treating me to some films in exchange for writing about my experiences a few times. And Exclaim! just got me rush tickets to eight press screenings. Not to mention, I've already seen six TIFF films in pre-festival screenings and I am working one last angle to maybe get into two or three more films. As it stands right now, I have seen six; I will see four more; and there is a potential for another eight already, making for a total of 18 films. That's more than I've ever seen at TIFF in my past two years coming to the festival combined and they're all free!

I've just come from exchanging my vouchers at the TIFF press office, where I was aided by the lovely Sandra Couet, conveniently right around the corner from my apartment, at the Sutton Place hotel. Here is my tentative TIFF screening list:

AGORA
Directed by Alejandro Amenabar
Starring Rachel Weisz

THE BOYS ARE BACK
Directed by Scott Hicks
Starring Clive Owen

BROKEN EMBRACES
Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Starring Penelope Cruz

CREATION
Directed by Jon Amiel
Starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly

THE DAMNED UNITED
Directed by Tom Hooper
Starring Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall

THE INFORMANT!
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Matt Damon

LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS
Directed by Don Roos
Starring Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
Directed by Grant Heslov
Starring George Clooney and Ewan MacGregor

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
Directed by Lee Daniels
Starring Gabby Sidibe and Mo'Nique

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE
Directed by Rebecca Miller
Starring Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves

LE REFUGE
Directed by Francois Ozon
Starring Melvil Poupaud

A SERIOUS MAN
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Michael Stuhlbarg

A SINGLE MAN
Directed by Tom Ford
Starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore

THE UNLOVED
Directed by Samantha Morton
Starring Robert Carlyle

UP IN THE AIR
Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring George Clooney and Jason Bateman

WHIP IT
Directed by Drew Barrymore
Starring Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig

THE YOUNG VICTORIA
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee
Starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Fiend

YOUTH IN REVOLT
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Starring Michael Cera and Michael Cera


Be sure to check Black Sheep often for updates and reviews, beginning with a run down of what I've already seen later to help last minute ticket buyers see if what they're scrounging for is worth the hassle. That will be followed by Black Sheep's look at the opening film of the festival, CREATION ... if I get in to the screening that is. Wish me luck!

And if you are not following Black Sheep Reviews on Twitter, now is the time. I will be Tweeting on TIFF as often as I can figure out how to.

Finally, for those of you lucky enough to be in Toronto, have a fantastic festival!

9

Written by Pamela Pettler
Directed by Shane Acker
Voices: Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and Jennifer Connelly


Scientist: We had such potential, such promise.

The number 9 in the title of director Shane Acker’s feature length adaptation of his Oscar nominated short of the same name, refers to the name of one small creature of sorts left on Earth after humanity has wiped itself out in the pursuit of technology. It also refers to what seems like the total number of these creatures in existence. When I say creature, I mean tiny burlap versions of ourselves that are no larger than soup cans and have bi-focal lenses for eyes. It isn’t clear what gives these tiny fighters life but then again, Acker doesn’t do much to clarify why we should care they’re alive either.


There is no denying that, like the promotion for 9 boldly claims, Acker is a visionary. The post-apocalyptic world of 9 is not only devastating to behold but it is all the more bleak from the perspective of these tiny creatures. It is mammoth and overwhelming and the details in the animation are as striking as they are heartbreaking. The trouble is that the bleakness of the imagery is matched only by the meandering hollowness of the story. Nine of these little guys are left on Earth with no idea why they’re there. Subsequently, we sit there feeling just as lost as they do until they figure out their purpose. Considering how long it takes to get there and how weak the explanation is when you hear it, you’re left wondering even harder why you made the journey with them to begin with.


Visually, 9 is distinctly adult. This is not to say that it is overtly violent or sexual in nature; it is just darker than what would typically appeal to an infant. Animation should never be limited to one particular audience as it is a means of communicating an idea like any other. But while 9 directs itself to an adult audience, it does so with basic good and evil themes and easily identifiable good guys and bad guys. Adults will find it too simple and children will find it too dark and so, Acker’s 9 will remain lost, unseen and unappreciated in its empty but beautiful abyss.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Summer 2009!

It is Labour Day today - a day in which no one actually labours too hard, likely because they already went too hard doing something else last night. And as we sit here and recover from our evenings, we are really recovering from the summer as a whole. It all starts back tomorrow, school and sweater weather, that is. The summer blockbusters will make way for pensive Academy fare and before we all put on out glasses and thinking caps, let us raise a glass one last time to the summer of 2009.

(Click on any of the highlighted titles to read the Black Sheep review.)


I wouldn't go so far as to say there is a clear winner at the box office for the summer of 2009 but it can be definitely narrowed down to three. To look at the Top 10 worldwide grosses above, the Top 3 easily outrank the rest of the Top 10 and for different reasons. TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, was the clear North American winner, pulling in just under $400 million during its summer run, from both regular and more expensive IMAX screens. The surprising international winner was the third installment of the ICE AGE series, pulling in over $640 million outside of North America. Despite these individual successes, one film did better combined and that was the sixth film in the HARRY POTTER series, proving that the franchise is nowhere near losing its magical touch and will likely ride it out through the remaining two installments. Fans were desperate for some Potter love as it had been over two years since the last film and the final book were released. Harry was due and he got his dues in return.


ANGELS AND DEMONS, the sequel to the infinitely more successful DA VINCI CODE, managed a surprise fourth place finish overall. This is the perfect example of how one film's disappointing domestic bow can be easily salvaged by international interest. International interest also saved TERMINATOR SALVATION and the second NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM even pulled in about $50 million overseas more than its domestic total. Contrarily, there are some films that perform significantly better domestically than elsewhere. The most notable example is STAR TREK. J.J. Abrams managed to successfully reboot the ancient franchise for North American audiences but did not drum nearly as much interest around the globe. It was still one of my favorite flicks this summer.


Men behaving badly left its usual mark on the summer box office, most notably with, the runaway success, THE HANGOVER, which performed well both domestically and internationally and the sequel is already in development. I'm not sure how many times we can watch these dopes get plastered and recreate their evenings but I wasn't sure anyone would care this time either so what do I know? Testosterone also fueled hits like Michael Mann's PUBLIC ENEMIES ($97 million in N.A.) and the summer kick starter, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. Meanwhile, the women continued to prove that summer time is just as much their time as it is the boys'. The Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy, THE PROPOSAL did exceptionally well, with a grand domestic total of $161 million, making the it the 9th biggest domestic summer title out there. And the ladies also enjoyed THE UGLY TRUTH ($87.6 million) JULIE & JULIA ($80.6 Million) and THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE ($55.8 million). Granted those three films combined still come nowhere near what THE HANGOVER made, it is a strong showing nonetheless.


3D added a new dimension to the box office this summer. With a higher ticket price, late summer entry THE FINAL DESTINATION was able to open bigger than any of the previous films in the franchise and G-FORCE was able to cross the $100 million mark for Disney. There was no bigger 3D success this summer though than Pixar's first 3D effort, UP!. UP! pulled in over $290 million domestically, making it the third biggest film of the year so far and the second biggest Pixar film in their history, behind FINDING NEMO, the highest grossing animated film of all time. Pixar will be re-releasing their first hits TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 in 3D as a double bill for a limited run in October to whet our appetite for their next 3D entry, 2010's TOY STORY 3.


There were no major bombs this summer but there were a number of disappointments. The biggest was certainly BRUNO, which grossed more than $60 million less than Sasha Baron Cohen's breakout, BORAT did and it fell fast, proving that Twitter and texting can kill you dead and it can kill you quick. Other disappointments include Judd Apatow's return to directing, FUNNY PEOPLE ($51 million), the Apatow produced, YEAR ONE ($43 million) and the Sam Raimi directed, DRAG ME TO HELL ($42 million). Incidentally, that last one was actually really good so don't let it slip past you when it is released to rent and own this October.


The summer is also a time for little art movies to rise past the big explosions and make miniature waves of their own. Sam Mendes's AWAY WE GO charmed adult audiences at the beginning of the summer, finishing with a total gross of $9.5 million. Oscar contender, THE HURT LOCKER beat the war movie curse by taking in $11.7 million in limited release. No film crossed over better though that the modern romantic comedy, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, which allowed the whole world to fall in love with Zooey Deschanel right alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to the tune of $28.4 million.


The final days of summer wound down with the reasonable launch of a new franchise based on a toy, G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA. The film pulled in about $141 million domestically and just about the same internationally. They aren't TRANSFORMERS size numbers but they will do for at least one sequel. Quentin Tarantino released what will go on to be the most successful film of his career with INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. The domestic total currently stands at $95 million and it will surely surpass the $107 million domestic gross of the Oscar winning, PULP FICTION. And then there was that phenomenal film about alien occupation on earth that many critics and moviegoers considered to be the best release of the summer, DISTRICT 9. The Neill Bloomkamp directed film has already taken in $103 million and Sony has greenlit not one but two sequels.


Overall, the 2009 worldwide summer box office took in over $10 billion, allowing it to surpass the records established two years ago. Apparently, the summer box office dollar is alive, well and in three dimensions.

Black Sheep's regular box office report will return next week.

Sources: Variety
Box Office Mojo

Black Sheep Previews: The Fall 2009

At the moment that I am writing this, I am taking a break from trying to desperately unscramble my Toronto International Film Festival screening schedule. Many of the films that I am most excited for this fall will be screening at the festival – from Steven Soderbergh’s THE INFORMANT to Joel and Ethan Coen’s A SERIOUS MAN to Pedro Almodovar’s BROKEN EMBRACES. Depending on how I play my cards though, I may be fortunate enough to catch these during the festival. And as I will be dedicating most of September’s coverage to the film festival, I wanted my Top 5 picks for the fall to be made up of films that will not be seeing any love while the film world stops to focus on Toronto. And so, here are five other films from the fall that I cannot wait to see and share how I felt about them with you.

FAME
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen
Release: September 25

Anyone who knows me would think that I would ordinarily scoff at this remake of the 1980 film of the same name. It is clearly being repurposed to excite the current pop generation that has grown up on television shows like, “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance”. Up until last year, I hadn’t bothered with either of these programs but now, anyone who knows me knows that I obsessed with “So You Think You Can Dance”. The latest season featured heavy FAME promotion in its finale and despite the fact that it will most likely make me groan when I see it, I can’t get enough of talented people dancing on screen. I may avoid the teen crowd certain to overpower the theatres opening night and opt for a quiet afternoon matinee but I will be there, dancing shoes and all.



WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Directed by Spike Jonze
Release: October 16

It has been some time since I read Maurice Sendak’s timeless children’s book about young Max (Max Records), a boy who feels misunderstood in his home and escapes every chance he gets to a world of wonder that exists only in his head. First off, I am a huge Spike Jonze fan. Not only did he make great music videos earlier in his career but also his two previous feature films, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION are two of my favorite films of all time. Who better to direct a film about the imagination then someone whose name is synonymously associated with the imagination? And this year, as is evident by the remarkable images in the trailer and the vast emotions they evoke, Jonze and this film will be serious contenders come Oscar time. This is certainly no simple feat for a family film but you’ve got to dream big to make it there.



THIS IS IT
Directed by Kenny Ortega
Release: October 28

I am not a Michael Jackson fan. I am not a hater but you won’t find even one of his songs on my iPod. It’s not that I don’t think they’re great; obviously a good number of Jackson’s singles are classics without question. They don’t call him the King of Pop for nothing, even if his camp was the only one still calling him that before his death last month. That said, I still want to see what director, Kenny Ortega is able to do with the rehearsal footage of what was supposed to be Jackson’s retirement tour. Sony has decided to release THIS IS IT as a limited two-week run in theatres and I can only imagine how quickly this will sell out. If there is no press screening for this film, I don’t even know if I will get in. Naturally, Sony is not going to release something that makes Jackson look bad after his death so I’m sure THIS IS IT will not disappoint fans but hopefully the title will triumphantly assert what the world is missing rather than leave people asking if that was it.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Directed by Wes Anderson
Release: November 13

Now this is a mind boggler for me. Wes Anderson, the man behind RUSHMORE and THE DARJEELING LIMITED, arguably a director who consistently polarizes audience opinions of his work, has assembled some of his regulars, like Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson, along with some new faces, like George Clooney and Meryl Streep, and made an animated film. This stop-motion animation film tells the tale of a war between a farmer and the foxes over the farmer’s chickens and seems on the surface to be distinctly aimed at children. With Anderson at the helm though, it is highly doubtful that his obscure characterizations will not turn these foxes into compelling figures that are bound to be a lot more human than one would expect a fox to be. The trailer is charming and I’ve no doubt the film will be too. I’m just happy to see the director push himself hard.



NINE
Directed by Rob Marshall
Release November 25

Whereas I do commend directors for braving new styles of filmmaking, I am overjoyed to see Rob Marshall, the director of CHICAGO, return to musical with NINE. I am not familiar with the musical itself, other than to say the premise is based on Federico Fellini’s 8½, but the combination of a director who has proven he can master and modernize the movie musical and this unbelievable cast is too good to be true. NINE features a famous director who must resolve his career and the women in his life. The women here will be played by Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Fergie and Sophia Loren. The director (originally supposed to be Javier Bardem until he pulled out for a break from filmmaking) is to be played by a singing and dancing Daniel Day-Lewis. And now we wait to see if Marshall can repeat his CHICAGO success and maybe even net himself an Oscar for direction this time.



What about you? What are you looking forward to? Enjoy the fall.

EXTRACT

Written and Directed by Mike Judge
Starring Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons and Ben Affleck


Joel: Hot girls need jobs too, right?
Dean: Do they really?

If you don’t know the name, Mike Judge, you will surely still know the work. Judge’s work is the work of the people, the little guy. From OFFICE SPACE to TV’s “King of the Hill”, Judge has always voiced those who seemingly have none and he has always done it with a simplicity that is far too base level for some but just the right note for others. With his latest ensemble comedy, EXTRACT, Judge has, uh, extracted himself from one side of the labor force and taken to the other. You might ask, how can the man who championed for the faceless cubicle schmo suddenly flip sides and give more power to the man? Judge knows though that while he may be the man, he is still a man nonetheless, and that work can be just as funny from the other side.


Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner of an extract production company – that would be extract in the vanilla or the almond variety, in case that wasn’t clear. He has built the company from the ground up and it has afforded him a lovely house, which he shares with his equally lovely wife, played by the always hilarious, Kristen Wiig. His company is on the verge of being bought for a handsome price when the very shaky ground he has been standing on for years finally falls out from underneath him. Regardless of his own personal collapse, Joel must keep his assembly line running even though the people working it are barely working with a full set. The disenfranchised may have been given their day in OFFICE SPACE but in EXTRACT, they are the butt of all of Judge’s jokes.


Judge does not judge though. He may be laughing at these hapless folks but his hero is hardly escaping the very same finger pointing. The cast of EXTRACT – rounded out by Ben Affleck as Joel’s drug-doin’ buddy and Mila Kunis as the hot girl who gets away with being bad because she’s beautiful – are in on Judge’s jokes the whole time and you will laugh right along with them. You will laugh but Judge will also get you thinking, even if just a little, about why we work. Whether you do it hard or whether you do it barely at all, Judge wants us to ask why we do it period. He isn’t saying that we shouldn’t work, just that we should know what we’re working for. And for that, EXTRACT works just fine.

Black Sheep Previews: EXTRACT

Black Sheep reviews Mike Judge's latest comedy, EXTRACT, tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy this preview as presented by the characters that brought Mike Judge to fame to begin with, Beavis and Butthead ...



EXTRACT opens in theatres tomorrow.

DVD Review: SIN NOMBRE

Written and Directed by Cary Fukunaga
Starring Paulina Gaiton and Edgar M. Flores


I have a name and it has come to embody a meaning after so many years and so many experiences. I have never given much thought to its meaning but then again, I have never been forced to leave it behind. SIN NOMBRE translates roughly to not having a name and Cary Fukunaga’s debut feature film is an intricately detailed rallying of intersecting stories about people with no choice other than to leave their names and everything they mean behind them to start again. It is told by this promising newcomer with such respect and delicate ease that it breaks your heart at the same time as it opens it.


El Casper (Edgar M. Flores) is a member of a Mexican gang called the Mara Salvatrucha in a town called Tapachula. He is no older than 20 but from the number of tattoos he sports, you know that he has been a part of this gang for some time now. He has taken an even younger boy under his wing as his protégé but there are signs that there may be bigger interests for Casper outside of the gang life; he has a girlfriend now and he is even willing to shirk gang responsibilities to be with her. The gang has no intentions of letting him walk away though.


Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is also no more than 20 years old. She has lived in Honduras her whole life while her father has been in New Jersey making a better life with a new family in hopes that one day he can bring over his daughter and give her the chances he never had. Before he could, he was deported and he now plans to cross over again but this time he will not be leaving Sayra behind. The trouble is, having not known her father and having never truly had the desire to leave Honduras, Sayra cannot figure why she is making the journey while she is making it.


Casper and Sayra meet on a train. He saves her life and simultaneously condemns his own. After that, they are forever connected. Fukunaga, an American born filmmaker, spent two years researching SIN NOMBRE. He spent time with hopeful border crossers riding the tops of trains through an impoverished but beautiful Mexico; and he spent just as much time with gangs to understand their rituals and their reasoning. The care with which he crafted this beautiful picture gave birth to two fully fleshed out characters, rather than the clichéd shells they could have been, thus allowing their stories to come together and shape the journey.


SIN NOMBRE is simply revelatory. Every turn is unexpected and every nuance makes each of these turns make perfect sense. The journey itself is never easy and the destination is never guaranteed but Fukunaga holds our hands with one of his while he asserts his immense talent with the other. Casper and Sayra may have to leave their names and their selves behind them to start their new lives but telling their story with such incredible promise makes Fukunaga’s name one that will surely be closely followed from here on in.