With Fall Festival season about to kick off, this week The Rocchi Review features James chatting with Cinematical's Film Festivals Editor Kim Voynar about the strange splendor of the Telluride Film Festival, what the most-anticipated movies will be at this year's Toronto Film Festival and much, much more. Will Zack and Miri Make a Porno make a splash? Will Rachel Getting Married get Anne Hathaway some respect? And does one of the most-anticipated films for Toronto really star Jean-Claude Van Damme? Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Above: Cinematical's Scott Weinberg with his celebrity stalker Jennifer Connelly.

Whenever there's an editorial change here at Cinematical headquarters, it's our tradition to announce it live on the site. That said (gets up on his tiny stool with a glass of sparkling apple cider), it is my pleasure to congratulate the new Managing Editor of Cinematical.com! You know him as "That guy who's always making fun of Jewish people", however his official birth certificate reads: Scary Spooky Spice Scott Weinberg (aka Scott Weinberg).

(Waits for loud roars from the crowd to subside ...)

Our former Managing Editor, Kim Voynar (whom we love, cherish, honor, adore, obsess over, crush on, etc ...) will remain with Cinematical, but segue into a Festival Editor role. That's right, our festival coverage kicks so much ass, we need someone with sharp skills and plenty of wit to run the entire show. In all seriousness, both Scott and Kim are tremendous assets to our team and have taken a huge part in our growth over the past three years. I'm ecstatic to be working with each so closely from here on out, and you should be happy because, with their help, this little movie site will become that much more enjoyable to read in the coming weeks and months.

We here at Cinematical wish you a wonderful, sun-drenched weekend, and, as always, we thank you for your continued support.

Cheers! Mazel Tov!

(Now who the hell brought the sparkling apple cider -- this stuff sucks!)

Odds and ends from Friday:

• The James Brown rumor mill is definitely heating up (and, personally, I'm on fire with anticipation) -- first came word that Usher was interested in the role, and now we're hearing Samuel L. Jackson's name passed around. Sam Jackson as James Brown? What's next, Spike Lee steps from behind the camera for a little diddy action? Hey, I love Jackson just as much as the next Star Wars prequel mega-fan, but you really expect me to believe the man has that many moves? Seriously now, how about we start throwing some real talent in this already rocky wave pool.
• Brad Pitt? His career in trouble? Say it ain't so, David Thompson. Oh, he says plenty: "But Pitt is utterly exposed. He hasn't had a release since Mr & Mrs Smith, and Babel in 10 weeks has earned about $20m (£10.2m) and is playing at 250 theatres across the nation. The way he's fading away at the age of 43, he could be an actress." Ouch. While Thompson does make some good points (Damon and DiCaprio are hitting their strides, while Pitt is too lost saving the world alongside his wife), I am of the opinion the man still has some juice left ... and if we have to wait another year (and for another David Fincher film) to witness the re-birth of Pitt 2.0, so be it.
• The LA Times recently asked a number of online film folks to give us the 411 on 2007 and -- whaddya know -- Cinematical's Kim Voynar and Erik Davis (wait, that's me!) managed to throw in our four cents on the new year and the Hollywood dreck that lies ahead. Nah, not all of it looks bad (we think, and hope) -- Kim said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has tremendous "flop potential," while I went ahead and gave Evan Almighty the award for "The Biggest Disappointment We Saw Coming From a Mile Away." Hey, but there's always another Pixar film to look forward to ...

[First two stories came via Hollywood Wiretapp]

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists is a new organization founded just this year, but it's not too young to join in the awards season fun. The group, which counts our own Kim Voynar in its membership, isn't like most critics circles when it comes to end of year honors. The AWFJ's awards, the EDAs (an acronym for "Excellent Dynamic Activism" and namesake of actress Eda Reiss Merin, mother of AWFJ co-founder Jennifer Merin), are primarily focused on women in film.

There are a few categories that aren't woman-specific, such as Best Film and Best Ensemble and, my favorite, Movies You Wanted to Love But Just Couldn't. But you'll notice that there are few awards given to men, as actors or directors or anything else. For a man to be recognized, he has to have made a film about women or played a part supporting a woman protagonist. Considering that outside of the actress categories of most awards women aren't well represented, the EDAs give us a nudge to pay attention to the wonderful contributions that women are making behind the camera. Oh, and they also have a category for Best Depiction of Nudity or Sexuality, which is stirring some debate.

So far the AWFJ has only announced the nominations for the EDAs; the winners will come later this month. Some of the final picks I'm looking forward to include the winners of the following categories: Actress Most in Need of a New Agent (it's important just to be nominated); Don't Stick Your Head in the Sand (I think it spotlights daunting films); and, of course, Movies You Wanted to Love But Just Couldn't (will it go to the movie you most wanted to love but really couldn't?).

Go to the AWFJ website to see all the nominations. I would write them all out here, but there's a lot, and it is more important for people to visit the organization's site anyway.