The Toronto International Film Festival is set to pop next week, and I know Rock has tickets.  I'm sure that given the volume of films screening that there are many under my radar, but these are some of the ones that have caught my eye.

Daliland - Ben Kingsley playing Salvador Dali is pretty much all I need to know.  Ezra Miller playing "lil' Dali" isn't nearly enough of a reason to deter my interest.  Directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho).

Broker - New South Korean drama from Kore-eda (After Life, Shoplifters).

Causeway - A "psychological drama" with Jennifer Lawrence, giving me the "mother!" vibes (but probably not that psychological).

Decision To Leave - "Romanitic mystery" is Park Chan-wook's first film since Handmaiden.

Holy Spider - Iranian true-crime thriller.  When Zar Amir Ebrahimi won Best Actress at Cannes this year, the Iranian government condemned the film as "insulting", comparing it to Satanic Verses, and promising to punish any Iranians invoved in making the film.  I'm in.

The Lost King - Steve Coogan wrote and starred in this comedy from Stephen Frears (The Hit, Prick Up Your Ears, The Grifters - although those were a looong time ago).

Moonage Daydream - David Bowie documentary

Sidney - Sidney Poitier documentary.

No Bears - Speaking of Iran, this was shot in secret, evading the censors, and landed the director in jail with a 6 year sentence.

Sanctuary - Margeret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) plays a dominatrix.  Sue me.

Triangle of Sadness - "Dark comedy" from Ruben Ostlund (Force Majeure).

Wendell & Wild - Stop-motion animation and "dark fantasy comedy horror" featuring the voices of Key & Peeleas demons, directed by Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas).

The Whale - Darron Aronofsky's first since mother! directing Brendon Fraser as a big fat fuck (ala, his best Mickey Rourke impression).
 

I tried to get tickets for Decision to Leave, but it looked to be already sold out. Agantuk I have on DVD but haven't seen yet.

These are the ones I have tickets for:

Fixation
Sick
Holy Spider
Sanctuary
Venus
Hunt
The Hotel
Project Wolf Hunting

I'm also gonna try to get tickets to some of these once they open it up to the general public:

Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudovic Reels
Kacchey Limbu
The Origin of Evil
Nightalk
Pacifiction

See if we can get some trailers.



























 

I like that the trailer for the Weird Al biopic suggests it’ll be making fun of biopic cliches, but it also seems weirdly low rent? I guess Riki’s coffers aren’t as deep as the other streaming services.

I also wonder if the fact that Radcliffe is quite a bit shorter than Al Yankovic isn't a deliberate joke on someone's part.

Rock wrote:

Jinnistan wrote:

Rock wrote:

I like that the trailer for the Weird Al biopic suggests it’ll be making fun of biopic cliches, but it also seems weirdly low rent? I guess Riki’s coffers aren’t as deep as the other streaming services.

Roku?  I actually have a Roku device.  I got an email from them last month letting me know that since the device is now 8 years old, and I haven't upgraded to a newer device, that they would be ending any future software support for the device.  And I should also point out that Amazon Prime had already stopped functioning on the device last year, due to outdated compatibility (which I find dubious, since Netflix continues to operate without issue).  Basically, I suspect that they're mad at me for not paying them any more money for their merch, and I also suspect that this is exactly the kind of nickle-and-diming that indicates a company on the ropes.

Yeah, I meant Roku, autocorrect changed it to Riki for some reason.

I think a lot of productions since the pandemic have had a certain sense of depopulation, but it seems especially severe here. Everything in the trailer looks to be shot very obviously on sets or heavily greenscreened, and the number of extras seems nowhere near enough to be convincing. Which, who knows, could be an intentional storytelling choice. But given some of the talent involved, the blatant cheapness is jarring.

Definitely a sense of depopulation, that's it on the head. 

The trailer for the Yankovic flick leaves little doubt that it's a full–on mockumentary, not even remotely based on his life. I laughed at the burn accident scene in particular. It's so fitting that even Al's biopic would be a parody. This isn't the first Weird Al mockumentary, either; he himself starred in another one called The Compleat Al in 1985. That one is loosely based on his life, with a lot of fiction Gonzo'd in. But this new one appears to be going all the way into the land of compleat bologna.

One of the funniest things to me is the fact that he's not dead, since biopics are largely posthumous. I foresee a subset of the population on the horizon who will come to assume that he is. Then it will be time for the next phase of his diabolical plan.

God, won't it be hilarious if he actually dies in the movie. And how would they do it...

Rock wrote:

Also, I arrived for my first TIFF screening… and ended up being the first person in line lol

Expect lots more updates of this calibre.

Should have had some Plato Shrimp press badges sent out.

I'm officially designating Rock as our man on the scene, sweating and star-struck it seems.  Keep us posted.
 

This is already out, but I'm hearing good things.




 

Documentary about the relationship between David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz that includes segments directed by John Waters and Rodney Ascher (Room 237).



 

Tonight on Svengoolie:

William Castle's The Tingler