By David Eng
Screenwriter William Goldman wrote about how making movies was often a crapshoot and that it took so long to make them that they could easily be passé by the time they’re released. Every once in a while though a film comes out that speaks to the moment with surprising resonance. TOKYO SONATA is such film. Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to directing legend Akira) departs from his more familiar J-horror genre (CURE, PULSE) to make a beautiful and relevant film that shows the human scale of economic troubles.
The story centers around Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa), a salary man who leads a content and routine family life but then gets fired from his middle management job because Chinese workers are cheaper. Too ashamed to break the news to his family, he continues to take the train every morning and give the appearance of working. He meets another out-of-work salary man at a soup kitchen who teaches him the finer points of feigning gainful employment - he programs his cell phone to ring regularly and speaks in corporate-speak to no one in particular.
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Having heard in advance that Duncan Jones’ MOON had a narrative twist to it, I went into the movie ready to scrutinize every little detail the story and images might reveal in order to potentially spy any clues that might reveal what would be coming down the line. MOON’s lingering paces and steady camera work was perfectly conducive to probing Sam Bell’s surroundings and behavior for hints.
Sure enough I noticed a prevalent trend in the movie that I thought was going to be a sure fire sign of things to come. As it turns out though, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to have anything at all to do with what actually proved to be the twist, or perhaps even the movie’s themes.
The trend that I noticed is that there is an abundance of biblical references - specifically names - throughout the movie. Sam is short of Samuel. His daughter’s name is Eve. All the harvesters have names that can be traced back to the good book and there’s a scene where Sam is at a computer console, and written in sharpie on it are a bunch of names that appeared to be those of Jesus’ disciples (including, curiously, Judas which is ominously stroked out) and/or the names from the books of the Bible.
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By Kristal Cooper
AUTOPSY
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a good horror movie set in a hospital. Aside from the occasional exception (1982’s VISITING HOURS comes to mind), most hospital horrors feature one or more of the following: a strangely deserted medical centre way out in the middle of nowhere; an insane doctor who likes to perform experiments; ghosts in hospital gowns wandering the halls spouting cryptic warnings; and most importantly, a group of stock character victims who are so dumb you don’t even mind when Dr. Crazy starts slicing off their body parts. AUTOPSY is a great timesaver because it features all of the above packed neatly into one movie!
It all starts with a montage showing our five soon-to-be victims partying it up in New Orleans and then cuts quickly to the aftermath of their car wreck on a stretch of deserted highway. They discover the barely alive body of a man in a hospital gown trapped under their car and almost immediately an ambulance shows up to cart him away. The attendants convince the group to come to the hospital to get checked out and once they’re deposited at Mercy Hospital, the fun really begins. The oddly retro ‘50s-style nurse (oh yeah, forgot another cliché: pointlessly quirky bad guys that would set off alarm bells in anyone not about to be murdered horribly), quickly separates the group and one-by-one they’re picked off in an increasingly gory manner by the resident creepy doctor (Robert Patrick) and his gang of flunkies.
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Here are everybody’s “Best of 2009 … So Far” lists in one convenient location for those of you who haven’t had the chance to read them yet, or for those of you who want to read them again and swoon or grumble about our choices.
The Best of 2009 … So Far: Souf’s List
The Best of 2009 … So Far: Kristal’s List
The Best of 2009 … So Far: David’s List
The Best of 2009 … So Far: Owen’s List
The Best of 2009 … So Far: theREELaddict’s List
By Kristal Cooper
There’s nothing worse than watching something that has the potential to be great slip right through your fingers. That’s true in love and relationships as it is for movie-lovers when it comes to adaptations from book to screen.
Full disclosure: I’ve read all of the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella. Now normally I don’t consider myself to be a very girly girl when it comes to entertainment, but occasionally I do like to dive into the world of chick lit as a bit of a brain vacation. Having been on board for all of Becky Bloomwood’s novelized adventures, I couldn’t help but be disappointed that Kinsella’s extremely funny and whip-smart books have been transformed into the theatrical version of candy corn.
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC follows New York journalist Becky Bloomwood (Isla Fisher), a fashionista who’s thousands of dollars in debt thanks to her love of labels. When her dream opportunity to work at fashion magazine Alette comes and goes, Becky takes a job at Successful Savings Magazine instead, hoping that being part of the same publishing family will eventually get her where she wants to be. As she dodges a pesky bill collector and continues to wrack up debt, Becky accidentally becomes a success as the writer of a financial column all while falling in love with her boss, the dashing Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy).
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INKHEART
Certainly any child who loved reading at some point in their youth desperately longed for the possibility that either they could enter the world they were reading of, or it could enter ours. There are certainly some adults who still wish for that. That’s why a movie (based on the best-selling book) about that very thing should be a fertile well of inspiration. INKHEART doesn’t quite live up to that. Even though I haven’t read the book, I doubt it’s the fault of the original source material. The movie very creates a general feeling where you can sense where contractions were made from the novel. As the events play themselves out, you always feel like there is something missing and that everything should be hitting home more than it actually does. You feel like you should be engulfed in wonder, when at times the only think you’ll be wondering is when the whole thing will play itself out. Still, it’s a great cast, and certainly great for weekend family viewing.
Rating: 
KNOWING
From the original review by Allan Tong: “I never felt a sense of the growing dread that KNOWING is supposed to impart. That may be because of the seeming familiarity of in the plot… What is truly missing is a theme. What is this film saying about foreknowledge? Is it a curse? A blessing? Though it offers some satisfying moments, KNOWING fails to cut beneath the surface.”
Rating: 
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By Allan Tong and theREELaddict
theREELaddict’s Note: Because Allan and I had such differing opinions about Duncan Jones’ MOON, instead of doing two separate reviews Allan came up with the great idea of combining both our opinions in the same review. So behold below what happens when opinions attack (each other)
Allan’s Take
At first I thought this sci-fi film was going to be a showdown between an astronaut and his computer, just like Keir Dullea and the HAL 9000 in Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In Duncan Jones’ debut feature, Sam Rockwell (playing Sam Bell) is alone on the moon harvesting from the moon’s dead surface Helium-3, a clean-burning substance that Earthlings in the near future use as their primary source of energy. Sam’s been there for three years and the friendly computer, GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), is the only thing Sam talks to. GERTY looks after the space station and monitors Sam’s general well-being in a dispassionate voice. I was waiting for the moment when GERTY turns on Sam, but alas it never happens.
In fact, no character turns on another in this ambitious, but leaden “one-man” show starring Rockwell. Rockwell is a fine actor who can be funny, self-loathing and seductive in the same scene, but no performer could have carried this film. Initially, Sam looks like he’s plunging into the abyss of outer space madness, but that doesn’t happen either. Pity, it would’ve been interesting. Without giving away the central premise or ending, MOON lacks a central conflict to generate excitement. At the preview I attended, viewers were either glued to the screen or looking at their watches. When does this outer space drama end?
Traditionally in film, space is portrayed as either a wondrous landscape to explore, or a cold abyss that invites insanity. MOON misses the opportunity to plunder either option and strands its viewers in…well, space. Sam ain’t going’ nowhere, and neither did I.
Rating:
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Sitting through Michael Bay’s latest mega-action flick, I couldn’t help but learn a few things along the way that I would like to share here. And because my mother taught me sharing is good, feel free to note any of your own observations in the comment section below.
1. Being a stationary satellite Transformer must be the equivalent of being assigned janitor duties at Pixar.
2. The Fallen is a really cool name, even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense. On that note, from now on I want to be known as The Harbinger. You know, just because it might come in handy in case I ever turn into a bad guy.
3. Apparently Transformers don’t age well, but they do age like human stereotypes about aging.
4. When Michael Bay surrounds himself with yes men, things like the offensive Twins, the annoyingly unfunny Old Transformer, and Transformer testicles get approved as good ideas.
5. Even though I know their design is unbelievably impressive and detailed, with so many bits and parts attached and shiny metal flashing everywhere, when the Transformers actually fight I have a hard time figuring out who the heck is doing what to what parts of their bodies.
6. That being said, I would watch Optimus Prime fight anything anytime. Even a kitten. Okay, maybe not a kitten.
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By Kristal Cooper
This marks the 15th year of North By Northeast, a music and film festival that takes over many of Toronto’s clubs for five days each June. The festival focuses mainly on live music but has a film component that seems to grow a little bit every year. This year there were 30 excellent films to choose from, below are the 4 that I saw:
JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON
This was the Canadian premiere of the much anticipated documentary by director Bestor Cram. Written by lauded Cash biographer Michael Streissguth the film remembers and looks at the impact of Johnny Cash’s famous concert at Folsom Prison in 1968. It does a good job of recreating the experience through interviews with former inmates and guards and in one of its more poignant sequences focuses on Cash’s friendship with a Folsom inmate named Glen Sherley who was a singer/songwriter that eventually toured with Cash before succumbing to the difficulty of life outside prison walls. The film is packed to the gills with content that’s interesting if you’re a Cash fan but it loses its focus sometime during the last half hour and poor Johnny almost gets lost in the mix.
Rating:
DEPECHE MODE: THE POSTERS CAME FROM THE WALLS
By far the most popular film at this year’s festival (it was the only film to screen twice), Nick Abraham’s look at what can only be described as “Depeche Mode superfans” is sentimental and strangely sweet yet still manages to take a serious look at the galvanizing effect that music can have during times of unrest, be it personal (as is the case of one fan in California who uses the music to come out of his shell) or political (fans from East Berlin describe a concert that Depeche Mode played pre-Berlin Wall collapse where thousands turned out just to stand outside on the street and listen). Abrahams travels the world talking to fans and although some of the stories are moving and provide a peek into what it would be like to live in a world of political turmoil (in Iran its illegal to even own a Depeche Mode cassette), ultimately most of the fans pretty much have the same stuff to say about their favourite band.
Rating:
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On the TV Addict:
We offered up a first look at the CW’s midseason series LIFE UNEXPECTED, revealed the Top 5 Guest Stars we’d like to see get their GLEE on, and wrote an open letter to the Big Five Networks with regards to their so-called summer programming.
On the REEL Addict:
We reviewed THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, MY SISTER’S KEEPER, FOOD INC, THE BABY FORMULA, SEVENTH MOON and WHATEVER WORKS.
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