American Beauty Dredd West of Memphis

Thursday was the first day of TIFF and I went to two events -- two extremely different events that just so happened to be in the same theatre and had Kristen Stewart thrown in between.

After work I headed over to the Ryerson Theatre to see Jason Reitman's live table script reading of the film American Beauty.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I'm glad I got to witness. 

Everyone, aside from Cranston and Driver, played minor roles this is the list of who played the major roles in the film (with Reitman reading the directions):

• George Stroumboulopoulos as Jim Olymeyer (Scott Bakula)
• Sarah Gadon as Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari)
• Paul Scheer as Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher)
• Adam Driver as Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley)
• Nick Kroll as Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) - did a great job impersonating Cooper
• Mae Whitman as Jane Burnham (Thora Birch)
• Christina Hendricks as Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening)
• The role of Lester (Kevin Spacey) was played by, to quote Jason Reitman, "Bryan Fucking Cranston"

Stand out performances: Bryan Cranston, Adam Driver and Mae Whitman.  

Adam Driver was amazing, he now owns Ricky Fitts' "there's so much beauty in the world" monologue (and my heart).  Mae Whitman's interaction with Adam was wonderful and Bryan Cranston was too perfect for words.

Left to right: Side of George Strombolopolous, Nick Kroll, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Mae Whitman, Adam Driver and Sarah Gadon

Mae Whitman, Adam Driver, Sarah Gadon, and Jason Reitman

As we were leaving the Ryerson theatre Kristen Stewart was making her entrance to promote her film On The Road.  Would have taken a photo of Garrett Hedlund but I was took busy trying to avoid being trampled by the Kristen Stewart pandomonium. 

 It was back to the Ryerson Theatre for the Dredd 3D premiere, which was scheduled to start at 11:59 but I think started around 1AM so I had fun at work the next day.

While waiting in line, two men dressed as Judges were riding up and down the street.  It was a definite welcome as some form of entertainment was needed after spending an additional hour in the already 1.5 hour lineup.   


Also, as we were waiting the On The Road audience exited the theatre.  A few passerbys said the film wasn't very good but hey, that's just a couple of opinions.

Should you see Dredd 3D? If you want to see someone's head explode in slow motion, then yes, this is the movie for you.  If you're looking for a story/plot then not so much.

I did appreciate the visual effects and although uber violent the slo-mo scenes were beautiful and at no point in the film was I bored.  I also appreciated seeing the handsome man below (Karl Urban), who I don't think I've ever heard speak with his native New Zealander accent.

On Saturday I headed back to the Ryerson Theatre to see Amy Berg's documentary West of Memphis.  If you're not familiar with this, it's about the West Memphis Three, three teenagers who were (wrongfully?) convicted of the murder of three young boys. 

The film was produced by Peter Jackson, who couldn't attend the festival but recorded a video message that was recorded prior to the film.  I didn't realize how large a role Peter Jackson played in the story of the West Memphis Three, he and partner Fran Walsh help to fund a lot of the private investigation that went into discovering DNA evidence.

While I'm always weary of taking films like these at face value, the film certainly does expose the very evident corruption of the Arkansas legal system.   

I enjoyed the discussion after the film, especially when Johnny Depp ambled onto the stage in a very Jack Sparrow-esque manor.

A fan dressed as Jack Sparrow. Cheap pirate costume aside, his resemblance was uncanny

Left to right: Lorri Davis, Damien Echols, Johnny Depp, Natalie Maines, Piers Handling, and Amy Berg

I'm looking forward to seeing more films this week.  I saw Berberian Sound Studio last night and enjoyed it but I'll write a little more about it during my next recap.

Alex & Arthur