Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 14, 2007!

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 14, 2007! Awards season and best of's lists are upon us this week with the announcement of the 2007 Canada's Top Ten along with The Golden Globe Nominations.

Canada's Top Ten this year is sporting almost exclusively festival shown films, with only 2 of the titles having a regular theatre run in Toronto: Eastern Promises and The Tracey Fragments. Other high profile picks are: i and Fugitive Pieces. There is an opportunity to see the films, as they will be showing at Cinematheque from Jan 25-Feb 5/08.

The Golden Globe nominations are always fun to see and I was astonished to see seven films listed for Best Picture - Drama. One of my favourite things about the nominations this year is the inclusion of not one but two gender switch roles with Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There and John Travolta for Hairspray, both are up for supporting roles. With the fun also comes the freaky such as Casey Affleck being nominated for a supporting role in The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford? He wasn't the title character but if that movie wasn't all about him I must have been sitting in the wrong theatre. Another strange theme is the US entries for Best Foreign Language Film with The Kite Runner and The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (France/United States co-pro). Now the title of the award does dictate just the language of the film, not the country of origin, but it still seems a little off to me.

Full list of Canada's Top Ten and Golden Globe Nominations (films only) are listed after this week's releases. Speaking of releases.....

In limited release this week we have some of the nominated films including the festival darling Juno and The Kite Runner which is based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini. Rounded out the limited releases is the bizarre looking comedy Mama's Boy.

Our wide release this week are just 2 films including the part live action/part animated Alvin and the Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon... Theodore! Doo doo, do do do do!), and one film that I feel like I should be more excited about than I am: I Am Legend.

Have a great week!

Shannon

Friday December 14, 2007 Releases
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Dir: Tim Hill (Muppets from Space)
Cast: Jason Lee, David Cross, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney
USA

I Am Legend
Dir: Francis Lawrence (Constantine)
Cast: Will Smith
USA

Juno
Dir: Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking)
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney
USA
Limited Release

The Kite Runner
Dir: Marc Forster (Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball)
Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi
USA
Limited Release

Mama's Boy
Dir: Tim Hamilton - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Jon Heder, Anna Faris, Diane Keaton, Jeff Daniels
USA
Limited Release

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada December 14, 2007**
Canada's Top Ten 2007
www.topten.ca

L'âge des ténèbres / Days of Darkness
Director: Denys Arcand

Amal
Director: Richie Mehta

Continental, un film sans fusil / Continental, a Film Without Guns
Director: Stéphane Lafleur

Eastern Promises
Director: David Cronenberg

Fugitive Pieces
Director: Jeremy Podeswa

My Winnipeg
Director: Guy Maddin

A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman
Director: Peter Raymont

The Tracey Fragments
Director: Bruce McDonald

Up the Yangtze
Director: Yung Chang

Young People Fucking
Director: Martin Gero

Canadian Top Ten short films list:

Code 13
by Mathieu L. Denis

The Colony
by Jeff Barnaby

Dust Bowl Ha! Ha!
by Sebastien Pilote

Farmer's Requiem
by Ramses Madina

Les Grands
by Chloe Leriche

I Have Seen the Future
by Cam Christiansen

I Met the Walrus
by Josh Raskin

Madame Tutli-Putli
by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

Pool
by Chris Chong Chan Fui

Terminus
by Trevor Cawood

Golden Globe Nominations 2007 (films only) www.goldenglobes.org/nominations

Best Motion Picture – Drama
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Jodie Foster – The Brave One
Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley – Atonement

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy – Atonement
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington – American Gangster

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Across The Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams – Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky – Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter – Sweeney Todd
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page – Juno

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks – Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Savages
John C. Reilly – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
Julia Roberts – Charlie Wilson's War
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Casey Affleck – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta – Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature Film
Bee Movie
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

Best Foreign Languge Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days - Romania
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly - France/United States
The Kite Runner - United States
Lust, Caution - Taiwan
Persepolis - France

Best Director - Motion Picture
Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – No Country For Old Men
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Ridley Scott – American Gangster
Joe Wright – Atonement

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Atonement
Charlie Wilson's War
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Juno
No Country For Old Men

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Grace Is Gone - Composed by Clint Eastwood
The Kite Runner - Composed by Alberto Iglesias
Atonement - Composed by Dario Marianelli
Eastern Promises - Composed by Howard Shore
Into The Wild - Composed by Eddie Vedder

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Despedida" – Love In The Time Of Cholera
Music By: Shakira and Antonio Pinto
Lyrics By: Shakira

"Grace Is Gone" – Grace Is Gone
Music By: Clint Eastwood
Lyrics By: Carole Bayer Sager

"Guaranteed" – Into The Wild
Music & Lyrics By: Eddie Vedder

"That's How You Know" – Enchanted
Music & Lyrics By: Alan Menken

"Walk Hard" – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Music & Lyrics By: Judd Apatow, Kasdan, John C. Reilly and Marshall Crenshaw

Cecil B. DeMille Award - Steven Spielberg