recap Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Earlier this summer I asked the Cinematical team to pick their favorite "movie summer," and also to make me a nice pitcher of iced tea. I got several excellent articles and a used tea bag tied to a rock. (Thanks, Goss.) So now that the summer season is well and truly over -- you can tell because Michael Myers showed up -- I thought it would be fun to look back over those features one more time. Plus it's a really slow news day and this site don't propogate itself. Enjoy!

Let's start with the easy one: The people. I know the phrase "Southern Hospitality" gets thrown around a lot, but experiencing it first-hand from the Oxford Film Festival team was just lovely. My colleagues and I were treated like VIPs all weekend, which is both weird (I'm low maintenance) and very flattering, from the opening party at the lovely Donna Ruth Robert's house to the final get-together at ... someone's house that had beer, I was greeted with open arms, open bottles, and lots of adorable women who were way too young for me but way too pretty to ignore. Celeb-wise, this might not be Sundance or Toronto, but I wouldn't trade my laid-back conversations with Jason Ritter or Giancarlo Esposito for a dozen Jennifer Connelly interviews. (Well, not really. I'm not insane.)

And a special mention is due to the dozens of organizers, programmers, and volunteers who sure ACTED like their local film festival was Sundance. I don't mean to sound condescending, but I was honestly surprised at how efficiently this little ship was run. I've been to several well-intentioned and entertaining regional festivals before, and this is easily one of the most organized, enthusiastic, and sincere I've ever seen. (The Oxford squad will probably chuckle when they read that, but it's true.) There's that indomitable "we're putting on a show!" spirit that comes with a festival like this one, and it's something I never get tired of seeing. Especially when good movies are afoot.

• Further proof that studios are crazy -- they've actually thought about a Watchmen sequel. Worst. Idea. EVER. (Meanwhile Alan Moore still hates the fact they even made one Watchmen movie.)
  
• Darren Aronofsky is going biblical!? Hopefully it will please more audiences than The Fountain.
  
• Is Eva Longoria an Avenger?
  
• Vin Diesel returns to XXX.
• Cinematical alum Patrick Walsh's first Sunny in Philadelphia ep. airs!
• Ye Olde Times gets a face lift and Christina Ricci is leading the new cast.
• Staring at goats attracts lots of male talent -- Clooney, McGregor, Spacey, Bridges...
• Is Dwayne Johnson heading for Tomorrowland as Disney turns every bit of their park into a movie?
  
• David Hasselhoff is taking on Beverley Hills Ninja 2, and giving us more reasons to mock him.
• Have you seen the new At the Movies? Do you hate it as much as many do?
  
• Check out horror guru Scott Weinberg's 2008 Halloween Shopping Guide.
• Discuss: Rose McGowan gets offensive, Nicole Kidman wants to be an action icon, and musicians becoming movie stars.
  
• Jeffrey M. Anderson takes on the daunting task of Keira Knightley's costume features.
• This week's reviews: Lakeview Terrace, Ghost Town, Battle in Seattle, Igor, My Best Friend's Girl and Elite Squad.

So the gags are all done, the skits are all finished, and the goofiest Movie Award ceremony this side of Razzie-town has drawn to a close for another year. Last night was the first time the MTV Movie Awards had been broadcast live, and general internet chatter seems to indicate that host Sarah Silverman did a fine job overall. We could sit here and talk about the funniest speeches, the ugliest dresses or the corniest comedy sketches, but let's just focus on the movies right now. Here's what MTV (and its viewers) considers the very best in cinema from the last twelve months:

Best Movie -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (over 300, Borat, Blades of Glory and Little Miss Sunshine) Better than Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men, too?

Best Villain -- Jack Nicholson in The Departed (over Bill Nighy in Pirates 2, Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Rodrigo Santoro in 300 and Tobin Bell in Saw 3) Yeah, no argument here.

Best Performance -- Johnny Depp in Pirates 2 (over Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, Gerard Butler in 300, Keira Knightley in Pirates 2 and Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles in Dreamgirls)

Breakthrough Performance -- Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (over Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine, Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada, Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog, Columbus Short in Stomp the Yard and Lena Headey in 300) I wonder how the kid got the gig in the first place...

Best Comedic Performance -- Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat (over Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory, Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum and Adam Sandler in Click) As if this award could have possibly gone to anyone else.

Best Kiss -- Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (over Marlon Wayans and Brittany Daniel in Little Man, Mark Wahlberg and Elizabeth Banks in Invincible, Columbus Short and Meagan Good in Stomp the Yard and Cameron Diaz and Jude Law in The Holiday) Funny pick, and certainly better than any of the alternatives.

Best Fight -- Gerard Butler vs. The Uber-Immortal in 300 (over Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian in Borat, Jack Black and Hector Jememez vs. Los Duendes in Nacho Libre, Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris in My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Will Ferrel vs. Jon Heder in Blades of Glory) And it's not even the best fight in the movie!

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet -- We'll just skip this one...

Well, the day has finally arrived and we here at Cinematical would like to wish you and yours a happy, healthy, film-inspired Merry Christmas. Should you be looking for something to read while the (turkey? ham? some other random meat?) is cooking in the oven, here's a recap of all the wonderful lists we've thrown together in honor of the holiday season. Enjoy! (Oh, and try not to eat too much.)

Cinematical's 12 Days of Cinematicalmas:

DVDs Your Kids Want, Even if They Don't Know It -- Says Kim: "Sure, there are a few gems here and there, but this Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/winter holiday of your choice, why not reach back a little into the past for some truly great children's films that your kids may not even know enough about to put on their wish list?"

The World's Most Obnoxious Xmas Comedies -- Says Scott: "So anyway, the Deck the Halls trailer reminded me -- hey, there's been a whole BUNCH of really rotten Christmas comedies over the past few decades! At least seven, anyway! Which brings us to the list; all naughty, no nice."

Documentary Box Sets to Add to Your Christmas List -- Says Christopher: "When it comes to movies, single-title DVDs just aren't going to cut it. Criterion editions are almost there, but not quite. No, for your present demands, you need something bigger, like a box set."

Essential Home Theater Gifts for the Film Buff -- Says Chris: "If you watch movies at home and want to maximize the "cinematic experience" of those movies, following are some essential tools that will help you get there."

Seven Things You Didn't Know About It's A Wonderful Life -- Says James: "Here are seven things you may not know about the Frank Capra / Jimmy Stewart classic, from where it began to its reverberations in the here and now."

Movies to Wrap Presents By -- Says Jette: "I'm very fond of putting on a movie in the background while I'm wrapping presents. The idea is that the movie should be something I've seen before, so I am not tempted to put down the scissors and ribbons and watch closely."

Non-Christmas Movies Set During the Holiday Season -- Says Jeffrey: "Sometimes a movie simply set during the holiday season can weave Christmas into its storyline without making an overt holiday statement, and these can evoke a warmth and nostalgia -- or sometimes the opposite -- of their own."

For the past week and a half, Cinematical has had a blast covering the Toronto International Film Festival. For those of you who may have missed some of the coolness, here's what we've covered so far:

Reviews

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Born and Bred
Brand Upon the Brain
Death of a President (D.O.A.P.)
Penelope
Rescue Dawn
Shortbus
Suburban Mayhem

Foreign Language

Beauty in Trouble
Born and Bred
The Bothersome Man
Chacun Sa Nuit
DarkBlueAlmostBlack
The Dog Pound
The Host
The Italian
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
Lights in the Dusk
The Lives of Others
Rain Dogs
The Way I Spend the End of the World

Documentary

Deliver Us From Evil -- Kim's Take
S&MAN

Interviews

Amy Berg, director of Deliver Us From Evil
Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host
Israel Adrian Caetano, director of Chronicle of an Escape
JT Petty, director of S&MAN
Scott Weinberg Chats Up The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne
On the Red Carpet for Black Sheep

Festival Deals

Deals for President and Nation
TWC Grabs Vince and Mandy
MGM Snags Rescue Dawn
Magnolia Loves Johnny To

Additional Coverage

The Rocchi Report: Before Toronto
Film Clips: From Telluride to Toronto
TIFF Photoblog: Around and About Toronto
Pan's Labyrinth Gets a Standing Ovation
Cinematical's Rountable #1 -- Pan's Labyrinth, Deliver Us From Evil and The Lives of Others
Film Clips: Toronto Brings Cheers for Zombie Flick, Bad News for Borat
Toronto's Midnight Report #1: Borat, Fido and The Host
Toronto's Midnight Report #2: Ashes, Sheep and Mandy Lane!
The Great Michael Moore Projector Conspiracy
Midnight Madness with All the Boys Love Mandy Lane