Rants and raves about burning topics that have caught my attention midweek, be it greedy corporate shenanigans, frustration or joy in regards to the Philly sports teams, a movie or DVD that has fired up my imagination, an intriguing personality, or my on-going battle to lose weight in our fast food world. — Lori Hoffman, Associate Editor, Atlantic City Weekly

With only five weeks to go before the start of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Sept. 10-19, announcements are coming daily about the big-ticket movies that will be playing in the Great White North.
I’m thrilled that I will get a chance to see the North American premiere of Michael Moore’s new documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story. On the 20-year anniversary of his groundbreaking masterpiece Roger & Me (which played at TIFF), his latest cautionary tale confronts an issue he’s been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).
Also on tap in Toronto is the newest film from the Coen brothers, A Serious Man, starring Adam Arkin and Richard Kind. The film explores questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality and Judaism.
From Jason Reitman, the Oscar-nominated director of Juno, comes Up in the Air, a comedy starring George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.

Ellen Page in 'Whip It.'

Drew Barrymore presents the world premiere of her directorial debut, Whip-It, starring Ellen Page (Juno) as Bliss, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small-town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller-derby. Marcia Gay Harden plays Bliss’s disapproving mother, while Barrymore, Kristen Wiig and Juliette Lewis play roller-derby stars. The film also stars Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawkat, Ari Graynor, Andrew Wilson, Zoe Bell and singer-songwriter Landon Pigg.

On the international front is the film Women Without Men, based on a magic-realist novel written by Iranian author Sharnush Parsipur. The narrative interweaves the lives of four Iranian women during the summer of 1953, a pivotal moment in Iranian history when an American led coup d’état brought down the democratically elected prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh and reinstalled the Shah to power. The film chronicles each woman’s quest for change and their mysterious encounter in a magical orchard.
Happiness director Todd Solondz returns with another unsettling dark comedy, Life During Wartime, about sexual obsession between friends, family and lovers struggling to find love, forgiveness and meaning in a war-torn world. Allison Janney and Ciarán Hinds star.
In the documentary division, music fans should dig The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, an intimate look inside The White Stripes’ cross-Canada tour, as Jack and Meg White touch down in remote northern communities and surprising city venues.

Cleanflix is about a Mormon community where several Utah-based entrepreneurs started offering “clean” versions of Hollywood movies at specialty DVD stores. But the thriving industry runs into legal problems and its own sex scandal.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers is about Ellsberg, a valued strategist inside the American government until he leaked the Pentagon Papers and exposed the lies of the Vietnam War. This documentary chronicles this chapter in history and how Richard Nixon’s obsession over the case brought down his own government.

Tags: Movies, Toronto Film Festival

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Film, Hump Day Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.