Cinematical

The Toronto International Film Festival is an incredible bombardment of movies from every conceivable nook of the world, and while some of the festival's 300 selections will go on to Oscar glory, many of them will never see theatrical distribution beyond their home countries. TIFF often proves to be the only chance to catch films of the latter type on the big screen, and because distributors have a nasty habit of picking titles based on their commercial value and not their quality, these films tend to be some of the vast line-up's true gems.

So I've culled through the TIFF 2010 roster and - based on the descriptions provided and whatever else I might happen to know about these movies - I've selected 10 especially enticing films that I almost guarantee will never play in an American movie theater. Because you'll be able to see Black Swan anytime you like come December, but that Radiohead-obsessed Japanese flick about a teacher who seeks vengeance on her students by infecting them with HIV is probably not coming to a theater near you.

There's an old saying that all film journalists are just frustrated filmmakers who couldn't break into the business. And while I certainly think directing a film would be an awesome experience, to be totally honest, I'd rather have Colin Geddes' job. If you're a horror nut like me, and love Midnight Movies and the Toronto International Film Festival, Geddes is the guy you're going to want to get acquainted with. Having held the job for over a decade, Geddes has helped bring films like Martyrs and Hostel to appreciative festival audiences. As he prepares for yet another TIFF (you can keep up to speed with the event by checking out the official Midnight Madness blog -- where you'll find interviews, details about the films, and more ... ), Mr. Geddes was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to chat with us about what it's like to program for one of the greatest film festivals in the world.

Why is it so weird for an actor to make a career change and decide to be a rapper? The idea works in reverse. Hip-hop stars transition successfully to TV and movies all the time, and though few if any abandon their first profession completely, a lot of them end up more focused on the new course they've taken. We may be reminded of this imbalance while watching the new documentary I'm Still Here, in which actor-turned-rapper Joaquin Phoenix meets with rapper-turned-actor Sean "Diddy" Combs to discuss the former's interest in recording a hip hop album. Combs gets rather annoyed at "JP" (Phoenix's new rapper name) for seemingly treating rap as an easy thing to do. There's a definite level of irony to the pairing of these two figures here. As there is with another candid moment between Phoenix and a genuinely stunned Mos Def.

Phoenix's mistake could be that he retired from acting suddenly and outright, or it might be that his talent for rapping is undeniably thin. Or, frankly, that he's white. Yet the fact is, regardless of his skin color or how he went about it and whether or not he was good at his chosen music genre, there is a plain and simple factor that movie stars can't overcome, and that is the fame game. Even when well-received critically or commercially, like an Eddie Murphy or a Kevin Bacon, the world will never be able to separate the music or the act from the celebrity attached to it. People listening to or seeing a live performance by Dogstar or 30 Odd Foot Grunts primarily sees Keanu Reeves or Russell Crowe in their respective band. We saw that mess with Billy Bob Thornton last year. And it's an interesting matter to, um, explore in a, uh...

Hold on, I'm going off in a direction unsuited to this film and, I presume, unsuited to your interest in it. Let me address the real issue after the jump.

On any slow news day, you can count on some major publication busting out a "death of Hollywood" story. This week, it's the Guardian, whose Jeremy Kay has a piece entitled "Hollywood Must Plot a New Course to Win Back its Audience." The gist: Hollywood is on the decline and has to come up with some game-changing plan to forestall its downfall.

Of course, this doomsaying comes at the end of the highest-revenue summer in movie history. Not discouraged, Kay nonetheless claims that the American movie industry is in trouble -- why? As best I can tell, a couple of reasons. First: the movies this summer were bad. Well, yeah, by and large they weren't great. (Curiously, he cites the exceedingly not-great Iron Man 2as a counter-example.) On the other hand, Inception, one of the summer's biggest hits, was maybe the most ambitious and challenging tentpole blockbuster ever. Toy Story 3 was a near-masterpiece that busted all demographic barriers. Was there more than the usual number of stinkers? Slightly, probably. Was there a glut of franchise flicks and sequels? Yes, as has been the case for years. Does this suggest a systemic problem, or a new one? I don't see how.

Second: attendance is down -- 552 million tickets sold, the lowest since 1997 (540 million). (Here is the source for this.) First, this is a blip; by way of comparison, 563 million tickets were sold in 2005. Nothing to write home about during a by-all-accounts weak movie summer, especially since revenues increased. Second, weekly movie attendance has been declining in this country since 1930. Let's not sound the alarms now.

Hardcore Milla Jovovich fans can already guess where I'm going to pinpoint the greatest role in the Ukraine-born beauty's long and eclectic career, a career that's taken her into the worlds of fashion, music, and film, into tropical paradise and 15th century France and zombie-infested worlds and beyond. Really, it only takes one perfect little word to explain, delivered with just the right inflection.

Say it with me, folks.

"Mul-TI-pass!"

A lot has been said about Danny Trejo's face (Current TV's Brett Erlich memorably said that "Trejo's face looks like it's wearing another face"), and not just because its leathery crags and valleys make it seem less like human skin and more like something it takes Greg Nicotero two hours to apply every morning. Danny Trejo's face is such a focal point because until Machete it's all that Danny Trejo has ever been to most people. But when I was 11, I thought of him as my favorite babysitter. From Heat to Desperado to From Dusk Till Dawn his grizzled mug would show up in just about everything I would pull from the local video store, and when my parents went out to dinner or worked late, it was often Trejo who was left to tuck me in. So despite usually playing criminals, killers, and rapists (Johnny 23!), he's always remained a warm and weirdly sentimental presence for me - a guy whose face wore the weight of a life I couldn't imagine, but who had since rededicated himself to entertaining people (and with Spy Kids, children too). And now with Machete providing Trejo his first major starring role, I'm thrilled that the guy is getting the chance to become more than just a face to a lot of other people.

Sifting through Trejo's entire oeuvre definitely makes for an impressive good time (I still marvel at how he single-handedly makes Bubble Boy watchable, and his brief, head-strong appearance in Breaking Bad is more memorable than most entire TV series), but the best way to get to know this unique Hollywood character might be to check out Joe Eckardt's Champion, an award-winning documentary that chronicles Trejo's journey from convict to movie star. And thanks to a heads up from Buzzfeed, it's my pleasure to report that you can see the film for yourself on Instant Netflix. Check out the trailer after the jump, and let us know your favorite Danny Trejo role.

Is any pot comedy a must-see? I say yes. Not because I'm a pothead, although unlike Clinton, I have inhaled, but because potheads are hilarious! It's been a while since we've had a good stoner comedy. Smiley Face was actually kind of frustrating in the way that stoners occasionally are. There's Leaves of Grass, starring Edward Norton twins, but it will only be in theaters for a very limited run in September with a DVD release in October, and it's not really a pothead comedy per se, anyway. Hopefully, this dry spell will soon be over with New Line's We're the Millers (no relation).

The L.A. Times has the exclusive details about the plot, which is about "a veteran pot dealer [who] decides to create a fake family (the eponymous Millers) to move a large shipment of marijuana across the U.S. border from Mexico." Will wacky hijinks ensue? Will he forget where he put his keys? Will he start giggling at the border crossing? Who knows! I can't wait to find out.

So far, the directors in the running are Charlie St. Cloud's Burr Steers, or Sean Anders and John Morris, the guys who wrote Hot Tub Time Machine and Sex Drive. Anders also directed Sex Drive. You can guess who I'm rooting for to take the reins, right? Not the one who directed the Zac Efron weepy.

The script was originally written by the guys behind Wedding Crashers, Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, and is now getting a polish from Rich Rinaldi and Dan Fybel. Rinaldi and Fybel wrote a few eps of The Sarah Silverman Show, including "High, It's Sarah," which indicates that they're rather familiar with the topic. Watch a clip of "High, It's Sarah" on Amazon
and YouTube. Apparently, Steve Buscemi was originally going to star, but there's no more news on that front for now. Do it, Steve! Do it!

I was very, very skeptical when Akiva Goldsman, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard announced that they would be taking over the reigns as the latest troop attempting to bring Stephen King's mammoth dark fantasy series The Dark Tower to the big screen. I love the series so much that I'd have been skeptical no matter who was attached to the project, but there was just something about their collective careers that does not scream epic fantasy to me. Today's news has completely changed my opinion of them, however.

I can't imagine how hard it was to convince a studio as big as Universal to make the sprawling, multi-year commitment they've just signed up for. There's really no industry precedent for the scale of what they're about to attempt. And I wouldn't have it any other way when it comes to The Dark Tower.

Now that he seems to have filmed all there is to document in the deep sea, particularly regarding the wreckage of the Titanic, James Cameron apparently has a new obsession: indigenous tribes of the Amazon. Recently he spoke about the Achuar people, who'd seen Avatar and responded in a way that made him alter his plot ideas for the film's sequel. Now he's talking about making a 3D documentary on Brazil's Xikrin-Kayapo tribe. He has already filmed a short piece about their opposition to a major dam project in their area (the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant), which will be included as a bonus feature on the next Avatar DVD release out this Christmas. The feature will be more on the tribe's life and culture.

Cameron, who likened the plot of Avatar to the tribe's issue with the dam construction, could learn a few things from other recent documentaries about Amazon peoples. There's Joe Berlinger's Crude, which also involves tribal life disturbed by modern industry, though it's more of a legal doc than an ethnographic work. And Jose Padilha's anthropology expose Secrets of the Tribe, which details what not to do when studying and documenting indigenous groups. Such as allowing them to be experimented on or turned into personal concubines. I'm sure Cameron has higher ethics than that, but there's always the argument that merely bringing cameras into these societies is bad for them.

Did you like Tim Burton's re-conflagrated 3-D Alice in Wonderland? Yes? No? Either way, you have to admit one thing -- it looked amazing. And it'll look even more amazing on Blu-ray.

As reported by Nikki Finke's Deadline blog, Walt Disney Studios has partnered with Sony to market their 3-D products, starting with Blu-ray releases of Disney's Alice and the animated comedy Bolt for the holiday season.

In flawless press-release speak, Disney's Lori MacPherson said, "We are excited to partner with Sony on 3D offerings and to offer consumers their first chance to experience one of 2010's top 3D films and the amazing spectacle of Wonderland in their very own homes."

Their innovative, comprehensive marketing concept is this -- if you buy a new 3D Bravia HDTV (retail price: $2,900-$4,699). you'll receive a copy of either Bolt or Alice in 3D (retail price: Somewhere aroung $50).

I suppose if you were planning to spend around $3,000 for a television anyway, it's a nice bonus to get a movie for free. Of course, if you have that kind of money to drop on a TV, there's something wrong with you if that's where you decide to save a few bucks.

So what do you think? Would a free Blu-ray disc tip you towards Sony's 3D television? Have you tried out the new 3D TVs and are they cool? Is starting your 3D library with a Disney film likely to make you think warm thoughts about the rest of their catalog? How effective a marketing ploy is this, anyway?