Movies

Alfred Hitchcock's Cameo Appearances
Published February 4, 2010 @ 21:32 in Movies

Alfred Hitchcock made a cameo appearance in 39 of his 52 major films. Here are most of them.

Oscar Best Pictures Nominees
Published February 2, 2010 @ 08:50 in Movies

oscars The 2010 Oscar nominations have been revealed. They are:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Of the ten films up for the Academy Award, I've only seen Avatar, Up and Up in the Air. I'm very pleased to see Up nominated, it's absolutely worthy.

In my review of Up, I wrote "I smell a best picture nomination". Elvis asked me to clarify if I meant best animated feature or best movie overall. My reply on May 28?

Best Picture overall. You read it here first, folks... unless you read it somewhere else. I haven't read any Up reviews yet.

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Movies I Hated in 2009
Published January 11, 2010 @ 13:18 in Lists, Movies

movies On the weekend, I wrote about movies I loved in 2009. As promised, here are movies I gave 5 or less out of 10 a.k.a. movies I hated in 2009.

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Movies I Liked in 2009
Published January 8, 2010 @ 19:03 in Movies

movies I review every movie I see, giving them a score out of ten. You can read every one of my reviews at http://www.torontomike.com/reviews/.

Here are movies I saw in 2009 that earned 8 out of 10 or greater.

Tomorrow I'll look at movies that earned less than 5.

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I Love Dirty Work and I Don't Care Who Knows It
Published January 7, 2010 @ 21:42 in Movies

movies You know that movie you really, really like that everybody else hates? We all have one. For me, that movie is Dirty Work.

I've always liked Norm MacDonald, so when I learnt Norm was filming a Bob Saget film right in my own backyard, I was pretty psyched. There are scenes filmed all over Toronto, from U of T to the office at Jane and Annette. There's also a fantastic Chris Farley cameo on Annette.

I'm thinking about the hilarious Dirty Work today because Artie Lange is in the hospital recovering from a suicide attempt. I first got to know Artie Lange from Dirty Work, but then got to truly appreciate his talent as co-host of The Howard Stern Show. Artie was always brutally honest about his demons, demons that would lead him to stab himself nine times this past week. According to this morning's Stern show, he's alive and physically out of danger now. Here's hoping he pulls through and find some good in life.

If you want to see Artie Lange and his buddy Norm MacDonald at the height of their powers, watch Dirty Work. I love it and I don't care who knows it.

I friggin' love that fish scene.

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Kids in the Hall's Death Comes to Town Trailer
Published December 7, 2009 @ 20:56 in Humour, Movies

KITH A long time ago, I listed my ten favourite television shows of all-time. Number 8 was "Kids in the Hall", a show that was guaranteed to leave me in stitched when I watched it weekly on CBC from 1988 to 1994. I just found Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson to be hilarious.

Here's the trailer for the Kids in the Hall's new 8-part limited series that will air on CBC early next year. "When Death gets off the Greyhound bus in small town Shuckton, Ontario, everyone in town is implicated when one of its most distinguished citizens is found murdered".

Is it too early to set my PVR?

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The 10 Best Christmas Movies / Specials
Published December 6, 2009 @ 13:08 in Lists, Movies

xmas Here are my ten favourite Christmas movies and specials. Feel free to add your favourites in the comments.

10. The Nightmare Before Christmas

9. It's A Wonderful Life

8. Love Actually

7. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

6. A Charlie Brown Christmas

5. The Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

4. Bad Santa

3. The Polar Express

2. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

1. A Christmas Story

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Anticipating Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Published November 14, 2009 @ 14:55 in Movies

movies I love me a good documentary, and as a fan of music and Canadiana, I simply can't wait to see "Anvil! The Story of Anvil".

I watch the bulk of my movies on The Movie Network, and generally you wait almost a full year from the time a film hits theatres to the time it debuts on TMN. "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" debuted at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2008 but hasn't yet aired on TMN.

When the hell is "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" debuting on TMN? I don't think I can wait much longer...

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Hugh Dillon's Hard Core Logo
Published November 12, 2009 @ 20:36 in Movies

film I just watched a show called "Ink: Alter Egos Exposed" on IFC Canada. It's a cool series about comics and graphic novels that I stumbled upon. It's hosted by Headstones lead singer Hugh Dillon.

Is it me or is Hugh Dillon everywhere these days? Between the promos for Flashpoint and Durham County, he's the hardest working guy in Canadian showbiz this side of Humble Howard.

Speaking of Humble, he and Fred told some fantastic Hugh Dillon stories during their Christmas podcast back in 2006. If you haven't heard it, listen to it now! Dillon, don't ya know, was quite the.... nah... I won't ruin the surprise. But my favourite Hugh Dillon memory is being blown away by his performance in Bruce McDonald's Hard Core Logo back in 1996.

I was 22 when I first saw it, and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. It was a road movie, it featured great music and it was totally and completely Canadian. It remains one of the finest Canadian movies I've ever seen.

I heard there will be a sequel. I wish they'd leave it alone. You just know they're going to ruin it.

Here's the original trailer.

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Hoop Dreams Fifteen Years Later
Published November 5, 2009 @ 19:29 in Movies

basketball Hoop Dreams is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I first saw it fifteen years ago after seeing it reviewed on Siskel & Ebert.

Here's the review that got me to invest 3 hours in Hoop Dreams, one of the best investments I've made.

Roger Ebert looks back upon Hoop Dreams on his blog. Here's an amazing detail I did not know until today. I still can't believe it.

The way seemed clear for an Academy Award as best documentary. Then a shameful thing happened. It wasn't even nominated by the Academy's documentary committee. We learned, through very reliable sources, that the members of the committee had a system. They carried little flashlights. When one gave up on a film, he waved a light on the screen. When a majority of flashlights had voted, the film was switched off. "Hoop Dreams" was stopped after 15 minutes.

If you've never seen Hoop Dreams, do yourself a favour and get a copy. Like Roger said, you owe it to yourself.

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