Burn After Reading

"Report back to me when, uh, I dunno... when it makes sense."
J.K. Simmons as CIA Superior

My love for the Coen Brothers' work is no secret. It seems impossible for them to let me down, so fair warning folks... I am biased. I consider "No Country For Old Men" a masterpiece. And even if I can't say I always understand what they're going for (like with "Barton Fink") I still give them the benefit of the doubt and admire the hell out of all their other films.

This is about the only film that I imagine could get me back in theaters so soon after the marathon of the Toronto Film Fest (which Burn After Reading was a featured gala in). In the past I haven't put my butt in a theater seat again until November.

The only potential danger with "Burn After Reading" is that many people will be looking at this as the new Brad Pitt & George Clooney movie and be perhaps expecting a different kind of movie. Not necessarily a farce of American sensibilities nor biting commentary on internet dating, divorce, self-improvement and paranoia.

Seems this one's intention is to keep your head spinning and make it impossible for you to see what's coming or know what to make of the mess that ensues, like the clueless CIA spooks in the film, but nevertheless, it's a fun ride from a masterful team. Can't wait for the next one, whatever it may be.

Watch the Red band trailer here.

CAKE at The Sound Academy in Toronto, September 25, 2008 ~ "Now accepting callers who would like to sing-along"

On Thursday, September 25, "Cake" came back to Toronto to perform at The Sound Academy with special guest "Paper Lions."

The Sound Academy has better acoustics than I expected. I hadn't been to a concert there before but went to the "Docks" plenty of times, so I kept a lo-fi approach in mind... but the sound was great. This was my fourth time seeing Cake live and they never disappoint. Previously saw them at Massey Hall in 2004, Danforth Music Hall in 1999 and at The Opera House in 1998.

How often will you see a rock band with a trumpet player? How often is singing along not only encouraged but actually happening with just about everyone? The average Cake fan is very familiar with the full catalogue and their songs often lend themselves to easily identifiable audience participation moments. Everything from yelling out "Dude!" in perfect timing during the frenetic "Comfort Eagle" to harmonizing for songs like show-opener "Frank Sinatra." It's amazing how long the entire crowd keeps up with the outro chorus on "Sheep Go To Heaven" but it's a joy to behold and I don't look forward to the day that the crowd isn't into it. When I saw them at The Danforth Music Hall, it was damn near a spiritual moment when the crowd took on the harmonizing of "Hem Of Your Garment" with almost no prompting whatsoever. The room itself felt alive.

I've done enough song name dropping that by now you might be asking, yeah, but who is "Cake"? Whether you realize it or not, you've probably heard their music even if you never listen to CFNY/The Edge (although that helps). Their music has been borrowed many times for many films of many disciplines and the distinct, almost speaking-style signing of John McCrea truly distinguishes them. The trumpet does too.

The stage was set quite simply with a large mountain canvas backdrop, a modest array of alternating colour lights and a disco ball. When you have a disco ball, you don't really need anything else, but they gave it a little something extra to warm up the place: they brought a small tree out on stage where it sat for the entire show.

Midway though the show, McCrea said with some degree of sincerity that "without a doubt, the saddest thing about the 20th Century ending was the disappearance of the 3-4 time signature," just before playing "Mexico" followed by one of their only instrumental numbers "Arco Arena" as if to say, and here's another song not meant for radio, but just for you... or them... or whatever.

Only when the set was over and they returned for an encore did lead singer John McCrea explain that the tree was to be given away to the person who would quietly, and calmly raise their hand and answer the question when addressed directly. The rules were simple, yet not simple enough. McCrea began to get frustrated by the people yelling out their guesses, and the scene bordered on ugly after five minutes or so after he playfully berated the crowd for yelling out their answers saying that he didn't care, we'd just stay here until someone gets the answer right, and they won't play more music until the tree was given away. 20 painfully wrong answers later, McCrea decided some hints were in order and it'd been narrowed down to a type of apple tree. Finally, someone named "Carl" guessed it was a Golden Delicious Apple tree and all was right in the world again.

The encore began with "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" which gave way to an orchestrated fight of "good versus evil" as the audience of the left side battled against the right in the power of the "Na Na Na Na Na Nas" all the while McCrea fueled the urge to win into each side. Stage left side dominated. It wasn't even close. Standing in the middle, not unlike Switzerland, I had no bias or allegiance, that's just how it was.

Then they played a song they said they'd never played live before, a new track off their forthcoming, self produced album which I can only guess will be called "I Wanna Hold You." Earlier in the night they explained that "Pressure Chief" was their last studio album, and from now on they were going it alone... so "prepare for us to disappear into obscurity entirely." The last song of the evening was "The Distance," one of their breakthrough, rousing hits off "Fashion Nugget."

Another terrific, masterful performance that could easily have included a dozen different swapped songs, as their catalogue is rife with crowd-pleasing numbers that the devout will always come on out for, if only to join the choir. Next time, I'll have my newly acquired t-shirt to wear. Gotta support the team.

Full set list:
Frank Sinatra, Ruby Sees All, Don't Take Your Love To Town, War Pigs, Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle, Love You Madly, Comfort Eagle, Stickshifts & Safetybelts, Wheels, Mexico, Arco Arena, Sheep Go To Heaven, Comanche, Never There - Encore: Short Skirt/Long Jacket, "I Wanna Hold You" ?, and The Distance.

TIFF '08 in review

Presented here for your consideration... a short review of the 21 films I saw during the 10 days of the 2008 Toronto International Film Fest. I feel it's worth noting that despite the added business of producing a short film during the festival, set to shoot on the Sunday immediately after, I STILL didn't miss any of the films I was scheduled for. Quite unusual.

Waltz With Bashir
An Israeli, animated, docudrama. Definitely an extraordinary film with an amazingly smooth narrative given the subject matter of blocked memory. But good luck finding it outside of the festival. The subject matter is grim, but a very fascinating film worth seeking out. Great way to start.

JCVD
Holee crap! Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself with startling brutal honesty. And he can act! And it was good! Really out of the ordinary stuff. Pretty cool.

Passchendaele
WW1 flick. Canadian. Very Canadian. Could’ve been a CBC movie of the week. The kind I would’ve watched for about 2 minutes before moving on. A painful a.m. screening experience to follow after a midnight screening. Good battle scenes at end do NOT make up for what you had to go through to get there. Weak. And definitely the worst title of a war flick in recent memory, regardless of historical significance. Sounds like a new Snapple flavour.

Rocknrolla
An obvious favourite of many. A triumphant return to form for Guy Ritchie. No let down here, but no “Lock, Stock” either. Those interested will dig it.

Vinyan
Stylish and initially compelling premise… eventually turns surreal and ultimately non-sense ensues. Potentially a parent’s worst nightmare if it stayed within a modicum of reality. Some cool visuals though.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Fun little film set in NYC after hours, great soundtrack, nothing wrong with story, but ultimately not extraordinary.

Ghost Town
Fans of Ricky Gervais will enjoy him in this as I did, but this one also walks a fine line between being fun in the moment but not being terribly special in afterthought.

A Film With Me In It
The most pleasant surprise for me at the festival. A simple premise, an excellent script for a dark screwball comedy. Answers the question: What if “Very Bad Things” was in fact a clever, better, Irish film? Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Religulous
The religiously fanatic are easy targets when in the sights of Bill Maher, but that doesn’t make it any less funny. What doesn’t work that well is after 85 minutes of laughing at the absurdities of life are the dire overtones we’re subjected at film’s end suggesting a true apocalypse is in fact nigh if we don’t put a stop to blind, fanatic faith. Would’ve stuck around for the Q&A if director Larry Charles decided to dress in his black suit WITHOUT the pink crocs. (WTF?!)

Witch Hunt
A documentary about wrongfully convicted people accused of child molestation. A nightmare scenario, a miscarriage of justice with 33 judgments overturned, but despite the gripping subject matter, this doc crawls its way along and felt a bit unprofessionally one-sided at times.

The Hurt Locker
If I hadn’t been at this, I wouldn’t have met one of my heroes, director Danny Boyle. That said, the film was slick, explosive, and very tense and pretty good but I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit predictable. Don’t want to spoil this for anyone, but for those in the know, the only thing missing here were the red Star Trek uniforms.

The Wrestler
Definitely an exceptional stand-out film for this year’s fest, great performance by Mickey Rourke (and Marisa Tomei) and a harrowing look at what could await virtually any entertainer in their later years. Excellent.

Flame & Citron
WWII Danish resistance assassins. Based on a true story. You had me at WWII, but this one delivers pretty well on many levels so it didn’t disappoint. Fascinating history, and as the director pointed out, a movie could be built around any one of the many real-life subjects.

Slumdog Millionaire
The People’s Choice Award Winner, and no surprise there. A real crowd pleaser and expertly done. Danny Boyle does it again, although this is by no means my favourite of his work, it would be a tall order to top his own stuff as some of it ranks among my all-time favourites.

Good
Sometimes you know what your about to see is going to be so-so, and this one seems to be missing “Not That…” in front of its title. Adapted from a play, and it sure feels like it. They can’t all be winners. This is where the weak streak began.

Fifty Dead Men Walking
Was the Irish brogue too thick or the audio too poor? The consensus seems to be on the latter. Not a waste of time, not all that engaging. Perhaps a victim of high expectations.

Uncertainty
The title of this flick also summed up how I felt about going to it. If I was going to skip one, this would’ve been it. A tale of a couple that flips a coin to decide how to spend their day. Through the magic of cinema, we’re able to see what would happen with both choices… problem is, we’d only care about one of their stories while the other would generously be called filler. Which one you’d like best is up to you, but it’s doubtful you’d be interested in both.

Flash Of Genius
A compelling true story where the honest little guy takes on the huge monster evil corporation. Greg Kinnear is always good and the tale is as much about determination as it is sacrifice, but perhaps this one moves a little too slowly to get where we all know it’s heading.

Pontypool
Arguably, my most anticipated flick and no let-down at all. My first thought: “Thank God it LOOKS good.” A new film shot with the Red Camera, and looks terrific. That gave way to a very well established mood, creepy stuff and theatre of the mind kind of approach. There’s an original and potentially troubling device for this not-quite-but-sort-of a zombie flick that will lose some and intrigue others. A small film not afraid to set itself defiantly in Northern Ontario. I definitely liked it a lot (despite the “what the-?” moment) and Stephen McHattie was terrific as radio personality Grant Mazzy. Nice one, Bruce!

L’Instinct De Mort, aka Public Enemy Number One, Part 1, aka Mesrine
The film with the biggest identity crisis described as the “French Scarface” had three names. The life of a violent sociopath with few redeeming qualities is profiled with a kind of dangerous Machaevellian approach that flirts with glorifying violence but it seems clear what kind of road this criminal is headed for, so it’s OK. I’m certainly interested in Part 2, just not sure when I’ll have the chance to see it.

The Ghost
Russian ailing spy novel writer sparks an unusual collaboration with a hitman who becomes his muse. Very compelling until the third act takes a very drastic left turn, leaving credibility behind in the dust. Can’t help but think a few loose ends tied might’ve saved it. Quite stylish, not entirely without redemption at the end but some strong suspension of disbelief required to take it all in.

Most desired film that I couldn’t get to: “Synecdoche, New York”

The ones that weren’t that great had at least worthwhile moments or some kind of element that made it watchable. Even Passchendaele had a cool battle scene at the end.

Cool TIFF moment # 43 - Danny Boyle

Sometimes cool things and brushes with famous people happen at the Toronto Film Fest. This one was not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it kinda is to me.

I saw "The Hurt Locker" at Ryerson tonight and spotted UK director Danny Boyle ("Shallow Grave," "Trainspotting," "28 Days Later," "Millions" "Sunshine" and this year's "Slumdog Millionaire", which I'll be seeing Wednesday) sitting in the row in front of me.

Normally, I'd be quite content to have a look and simply leave it at that but I felt compelled to meet him after the show. He was super nice, very gracious and I got his autograph too. As I explained to my buddy Peter who was there, I haven't asked for an autograph from ANYONE for over ten years... I'm NOT easily star struck. But in this case, I figured, one of these days I'll get to work for him and I'll be able to show him that I was a big fan all along... if nothing else, if I were him, I'd appreciate the occasional recognition and encouragement. So I gave it to him. I also jokingly offered to be his apprentice... but I will be calling his office when the festival's over.

P.S. On a completely side note, when Peter and I were walking down Yonge to the subway after a couple of pints, playing the part of a couple respectable, sober and TOTALLY harmless looking guys, some obviously deranged, but semi-normal looking woman took a look at us, waved her fingers towards us in the air, up & down then left to right then decreed, "bad guys... couple of bad guys."

Needless to say I'm firing my publicist in the morning.