The Hot Blog

Was wondering where it went.

The action is with Constant Gardener.

The action is in my pants.

After watching some of Mutiny City it is apparent you have no action. Or any forth coming.

As a regular moviegoer who has been to a Festival screening exactly once, it's really hard to be interested in a discussion of movies that won't be released for months, if at all.

Tough to get excited when DP is ripping all these movies to shreds. They seem to be really bad.

As a person who's been attending festivals for close to 10 years (Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, Mill Valley, Sonoma Valley and a few others) I have to say, the quality of films has DRASTICALLY slipped. There may be a gem here and there, but it seems like most fests are either films TRYING to be edgy (yes, there's a difference between trying to be and actually BEING edgy) or vanity projects for actors or directors.

I realize I'm being extremely vague and general....but the festival system has been co-opted and corrupted. Alot of films get in based on an actor, producer or director that simply SUCK. This takes away slots from truly innovative and interesting films.

For my money, SXSW is the best thing going today both in terms of quality of films and the festival experience itself. I saw more great films at this years SXSW than I saw at the last 2 Sundances combined.

Programmers need to be bolder and smarter. Toronto looks like a BLAST and there's a ton of movies by directors I really like. However, these films seem to be getting in based on their pedigree instead of their showmanship.

It was always better back in the day and we all walked ten miles to school, in the rain, with all our books, and soda pops cost 10 cents.

I am not sure, PetalumaFilms, what the main problem is, but things have changed compared when I first started going to festivals. Maybe it's a number of little things adding up to Less Quality experience.

--programmes have gotten too big/expanded too much and thus thousands of entries--many fests only have a few people screening the entries. The screening process should also be blind where Est directors don't automatically get a pass.

--too much starf*cking by companies who want to flog their wares and many stars who go to festivals aren't there to support/promote a movie as they should be, but are there ripping swag off the backs of the min wage gift bag hander-outers!

I was at a festival earlier in the summer where they had a couple thousand entries and they admittedthat they didn;t have time for at least 2 members of scr committee staff to fully view entries, whereby they really should have refunded a number of entrants' money.

It's gotten to the point where the shorts seem to be the most innovative and the feature films (probably tthe time--they are better evaluated before selection process maybe).

Alot can be improved by cutting the number of selected films, and making sure that the actual film to be shown at Fest is finished enough to be shown and the sound etc isn;t third rate.

Having said that, The worst movie I ever saw to win a prize at Cannes was actually long ago, not recently, so there is no accounting for a person's or committee's taste at any time. There will still be plenty of movies at Festivals that are bloody awful or win becasue of some sort of emotional vote or payback to a director for previous films passed over (a la Oscar).

Also, there weren't 20 thousand festivals a year like there used to be. And nowadays they're all trying to get the big Oscary movies so that they become to new "you saw it here first" festival.

...

David didn't rip 'Goodnight, And Good Luck' to shreds. He actually really liked it!

I'm still waiting for word on Brokeback Mountain though.

Good Night, And Good Luck looks fantastic. Can't wait to see it.

film festivals now are not about the films. its about creating a buzz, getting ur photo taken, and drinking. heavily.

Clooney was just so so on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. I realize it was his first effort but it was a pretty ambitious first time project. It is a shame we didn't get the good version of that with David Fincher and Johnny Depp, who were signed on for the movie. Seems like we got the B squad with Clooney and Rockwell.

I'm sure Brokeback Mountain is just another gay-cowboys-eating-pudding movie.
As the oft-quoted Eric Cartman said, "independent films are those black and white hippie movies. They’re always about gay cowboys eating pudding."
I understand Brokeback Mountain isn't black and white though, so he's wrong on that point.

Ang Lee made The Hulk boring.

The Hulk! You have to try and do that.

Gay cowboys eating pudding in black and white is usually what these festivals are all about. You're lucky if you get two good movies at these events.

Two good movies at what events? At any given moment on any give day during the Toronto fest, there are probably at least two good movies playing. Every time I have gone, I have seen far more than two good movies. And I have never seen one that is about gay cowboys eating pudding in black and white. I do like Cartman though. Funny little shit that one.

Sundance? Telluride? Tribeca? Even Cannes is stinker heaven. Not to mention all the little festivals out there.

But Toronto is a nice exception as there slate looks pretty good and has been for the past few years.

"After watching some of Mutiny City it is apparent you have no action. Or any forth coming."

Why do you think I spend so much time online...

If I was a filmmaker with dreams of getting my voice heard I wouldn't be worried about what others thought. I would use the opportunity that MCN has given me to make what I want to make.

the constant gardener was incredible. simply fucking masterful.

It has to be one of the best movies of the year so far. Easily in a top 5 list. It has a real shot to grab some year end awards if it makes some kind of box office.

A pretty solid beginning to Meirelles' career in the US.

It will only be Ralph Fiennes second best performance of the year. Another literary character has dibs on number one. Lord Voldemort will the tops.

If Harry Potter is going to be better than Constant Gardener it will have to be really good. Oscar worthy.

Just saw Constant Gardener. Liked it. Don't see it cracking award season but you never know. The rest of the seasons output will have a lot of say in that respect. It could sneak in. But a good effort and a good follow up to "City of God".

It has a shot if the momentum carries. And it doesn't get lost in the shuffle being released at the end of August. Tough for small films who struggle to do business to be remembered come voting time.

"Gay cowboys eating pudding in black and white is usually what these festivals are all about. You're lucky if you get two good movies at these events."

It's people like you who make places like this depressing. If you can only find two good movies at the biggest festivals in the world (which, OBVIOUSLY, you are attending and seeing all of the films on show, RIGHT) then I feel really sorry for you.

There's a russian impressionist movie about turtle doves screening somewhere, I'm sure you'd enjoy that one.

Camel you're about a week late on every discussion. It's annoying.

Harry Potter will not be 'better' than COnstant gardener in terms of how good of a story it is. The leads have become way too self-conscious in HP. I can see CG getting a lot of noms.

HP will make more money that's a given, but that has little to do with quality and more to do with tent-pole Franchise "what if" that HP readers are tempted to continue seeing it.

I am looking real forward to Potter. I think the books get better and better.

So where do we have the First Annual Hot Blog Beer Blast during the festival? (Sorry, Dave: We can surely find some malt liquor for you as well.)

Colt 45 is sponsoring the event.

BTW: I really did go out and buy Kanye West CDs the other night. I've been playing them a lot, much to the amusement of my son -- and the amazement of his friends when they drop by. I'm pleasantly surprised to see there hasn't been a major backlash against West because of his anti-Bush remarks. I wonder if that's an indication that people on all sides of the political divide -- right and left, Democrat and Republican -- are down on the Prez right now?
Sometimes, it's more a matter of competence than ideology.

OK, enough politics: Who's joining me in Toronto to toast the festival?

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