CRITICALMASSCAST

Actress Catherine Deneuve on the set of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"

With the summer season well underway here in Toronto, Canada and all the blockbusters trickling their way into the local cineplex in a steady stream week to week, we here at CMC are wondering what else might be out there to quench a film lovers thirst during the dog days of summer.  Ryan McNeil, of The Matinee Web blog and podcast joins CMC host Greg Ashman in an exercise of podcast verite to answer this vital question.

Luckily, TIFF ‘s summer 2012 programme is offering an exciting selection of new releases (Camera d’Or winner, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, plus a 4K digital restorration of the original summer blockbuster, 1975′s “Jaws”), the Summer in France lineup (including “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Weekend”, including standards and rare gems from master directors the likes of Truffaut, Renoir, Pialat, and Ophuls, to name a few).  Greg talks up his excitement for the Merchant Ivory retrospective which kicks off June 19th, while both hosts gush about the coming retrospectives: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Blonde in Fifties Hollywood Cinema as well as Schwartzenegger/Stallone: The Rise of Beefcake Cinema which will bring action classics like Terminator 2: Judgement Day and First Blood back to the big screen in all their blood splattery 1980′s glory.

If you live in/near Toronto or plan on visiting the city during the summer, be sure to check out Ryan’s excellent run down of Free Movie Screenings happening around the the city.  TIFF IN THE PARK will be offering up such screwball comedy classics from Raising Arizona to 1934′s “It Happened One Night”.  It is going to be a great time!!  Thanks again to Ryan for co-hosting this episode, and be sure to check out his site and podcast which both can be found at www.thematinee.ca

DOWNLOAD LINK

Intro Music- “Two Girls From Little Rock “-  from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Closing Clip- Theatrical Trailer- “The Bride Wore Black” (1967)

Total Run Time: 51:51

File Size: 47.2MB

Hey Everyone!!  Welcome back to another episode of CriticalMassCast!!  This week’s bag brings reviews of the new Wes Anderson nostalgia piece, “Moonrise Kingdom” which is enjoying a fairly successful limited release. Corey gives his low down on the new actioneer “Snow White and the Huntsman” and Greg got a chance to get caught up on a screening of “Indie Game: The Movie” which Corey reviewed on the last show.  But first…. we start our episode with a review of a much loved kiddie classic, “The Goonies” which we saw right before recording this episode for you at a nearby Starbucks.  Now…. do the TRUFFLE SHUFFLE!!! DO IT!!!

DOWNLOAD LINK

Intro Music- “Le Temps de l’amour”- Francoise Hardy (Moonrise Kingdom OST)

Closing Music- “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough”- Cyndi Lauper ( The Goonies OST)

Total Run Tme: 30:48

File Size: 28.2MB

With film festival season clearly in full swing here in Toronto, the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival now enters the fray: presented by Telus and running from June 1-6, the festival promises to bring an amazing slate of short films, which includes three programs of recent shorts from Poland, and Shorts for Shorties- the ever-popular family-friendly programming, now with an animation workshop post-screening, courtesy of guest animator, Jon Izen.  Women also take center stage with a special screening of the Swedish omnibus program DORIS, and a special screening of the 2009 Lunafest touring program.

The opening gala will feature award winners from around the world at the Bloor Theatre, Tuesday, June 1 at 7:00pm and will include the amazing animation of Cordell Barker’s Runaway.  A prize winner at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and 2010 Genie winner for Best Animation Film, Runaway sees the world as a driverless train thundering recklessly over bumpy tracks. The film’s hilarious plunge toward chaos is enhanced by music from composer Benoît Charest (The Triplets of Belleville).  The film festival will also feature other animations from the NFB: Making its world premiere is Theodore Ushev’s Lipsett’s Diaries, an animated journey into the tormented life of the brilliant filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, from the loneliness of his childhood to his suicide at age 49. The Man Who Slept (Sacrebleu Productions/Unité Centrale/NFB) by Inés Sedan follows a young woman who shares her life with a sleeping ghost. She lives in denial of a loss that has left her all alone. This vibrantly textured animated film is a work about resilience: a journey to night’s end that culminates in an awakening.

As part of the Special Program, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, creators of the Oscar-nominated short Madame Tutli-Putli, return with the live-action/animated adaptation of Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life ((NFB in association with Warner Home Video) based on the book by Maurice Sendak. Produced by Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay and Marcy Page, and featuring the voices of Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker.  Andrea Dorfman’s Flawed, her intimate tribute to inner beauty and emergent relationships will also be featured as part of the festival.

So stay tuned, CriticalMassCast will be there to cover the best of what the festival has to offer in the world of short film!!  If you will be in the Toronto area during the event, be sure to check out the online schedule- the programming this year looks fresh and innovative…. there is definitely something there for everyone!

This week, we review and discuss seven films currently in theatres. We also introduce an alt-country artist on the rise, and reveal the Toronto Hot Docs festival lineup and April schedule at the Bloor Cinema.

Apologies for this week’s intermittent audio problems. We’re in a battle with GarageBand, and it seems to be winning.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: M4A Enhanced Podcast

… And it’s all over for another year! This week, we recap our favourite (and not-so-favourite) moments at the 82nd annual Academy Awards: the winners, the losers (i’m looking at you, miley!), the surprises, the fashion, and of course… the ‘Lady Kanye’ moment seen ’round the world. We also review Secrets and Lies, Ordinary People, 2001:A Space Odyssey, short films from Canada’s NFB, and Oscar winner The Hurt Locker. Plus, we reveal the March line-up at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: M4A Enhanced Podcast