TIFF TUESDAY - 2015 Edition

First, guess who is still alive? Me!

Now that we've established that I'm still living, let's get into this blog post about my favourite time of the year....TIFF!  According to the countdown clock on the website there are 22 days until the festival begins.  So excited.

For those of you who have been following my blog (for more than a year), you may remember that I LOVE TIFF and that in preparation for the festival, every Tuesday I post two films that I'm hoping to see.  These are in no particular order:

The Lobster 

In his first English speaking film, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, tells us a tale  of a near dystopian future where single individuals are sent to "The Hotel" where they must find a mate within forty-five days.  If the individual is unable to find a mate within the designated time frame, he or she transforms into a beast and is sent off to live in "The Woods".

While it sounds absolutely bizarre, I'm a sucker for any sort of sci-fi movie especially when it's set in the future.  Also it stars Colin Farrell (love!), Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly (who I also love, particularly when he's trying to be serious.  Who are you kidding Dr. Steve Brule?).  

The film won a Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for a Palme d'Or so I have high expectations for this one.

Legend

This movie is based on the real life English gangsters Ronald and Reginald (Reggie) Kray, who terrorized London during the 1950s and 60s.

The Kray brothers are played by Tom Hardy. I've taken a look at the trailer for this movie and it looks like Tom Hardy has enough material to properly showcase his range as the twins seem to have very different personalities.  Reggie is portrayed as the level-headed, brains of the operation whereas Ronnie is portrayed as the aggressive, loose canon/muscle. I'm always intrigued when an actor takes on dual roles in a movie, particularly when they are playing the lead(s) because it can go one of two ways, success or failure. (I'm also intrigued because Tom Hardy is not hard on the eyes)  

The film also stars Emily Browning, David Thewlis, and Christopher Eccleston.

Next week I will be showcasing two more films that I'd like to see at this year's festival.  I had a bit of a late start this year in terms of blog posting so as the festival gets closer these posts may turn into "Three Tiff Tuesday".

Bye for now,

Alex & Arthur

Two Tiff Tuesday #3

If you follow my blog you'll already know what 'Two Tiff Tuesday' is all about but for those of you who are new, on Tuesday, up until the start of the film festival (it's only 16 days away!!) I'm posting two films I'd like to see this year.

This Tuesday is particularly exciting because the full film list and schedule was released today.  I'm hoping to score the schedule booklet today so I can plan my TIFF 2012.

The Deflowering of Eva van End

This film, Director Michiel ten Horn's first feature length, is a tragicomedy about a perfectly normal family: the Van Ends.  When ugly-duckling daughter Eva van End signs her family up to board a German foreign exchange student, their household gets turned upside-down.

I love a good tragicomedy.

A film that interests me is the ABCs of Death, which is 26 short films about alphabetically inspired ways to die.  Interesting concept however based on the images on the TIFF website, I fear that 'D' might be from dog.  I also know that 'T is for toilet'.  I really have to think about whether or not I want to introduce myself to the fear of everyday objects.  It's bad enough that I've seen the show 1000 Ways to Die.   So, for my second film I'm going with:

Lunarcy!

This film is about a group of individuals who are obessed with the moon and lunar colonization.  One of the individuals the documentary revolves around is Christopher Carson, see video below, who is determined to be the first person to live on the moon.




This reminds me of my grade 8 science project, where we had to create a diorama for our very own moon colony.  When I think about that project now I can't get over how ridiculous it was.  Society hasn't mastered the colonization of the moon yet, but maybe these eighth graders can take a stab at it.  Maybe I should get in touch with Mr. Carson to discuss my grade 8 ideas of centrifugal force and technology I saw in the film Moonraker.

In any event, I'm pretty excited to see Lunarcy!

Well, those are my two films this Tuesday.  I know I'm going to spend a good portion of tonight going over the TIFF schedule and trying to fit in everything I want to see.

Alex & Arthur