Random Places

First Impression: No idea this exist until we went to Ellen’s house one day.

Afterthoughts: It’s hard to support indie films, when they’re the same cliche tripe produced in Hollywood, except with a crappier budget. I’m sure back in the 50s white people were really as mentally ugly (racist) and retarded (about environment) as portrayed but geez can the pilot be any more clueless about flying and survival? Even without Ellen’s expert opinion, everybody in the room knew you never leave the scene of the crash! And the pilot fought in WWII, so there’s no reason for him to be so stupid throughout the movie just to play on our sympathy for the Inuit. The location was beautiful sure, but if there’s all there is to it I might as well have watched a documentary. Ha, I just checked IMDB and it turns out Michael Buble was in it, and I didn’t even know. Gah, and I was also digging my brains where I’ve seen the pilot’s boss before…he was played by Jack Bauer’s father!

First Impression: The only reason why I went to this particular First Weekend Club screening is because there would be a cast Q&A afterward. I decided to drag Abha into this as well because there was nothing good in the Norm theatre.

Afterthoughts: This was a fairly pointless story that felt more like a showcase for the cast’s talent. The dialogue was riddled with cliches and the plot highly predictable and contrived. I do agree with the 24hrs/Metro reviews that the cast did a great job despite the material they were given. The soundtrack was really good as well, and along with the last Canadian film I saw (Walk All Over Me), it seems Canadian film makers knows their music. We (well not me) got to ask Karen LeBlanc (lead actress) some questions at the end, and she mentioned this is her first feature film, which was a pleasant surprise. She’ll go far in her acting career, if she knows how to choose her films correctly…

First Impression: I was just browsing the Festival Cinema website one day to see what indie movies are worth watching and came upon a special Vancouver Sun hosted Sunday Morning screening for this movie. Free breakfast was a nice incentive too.

Afterthoughts: I think this is the first movie I’ve ever seen where most of the people in theatre ended up in tears and sniffles. The story of the boy, son of a Nazi officer, and his new friend, a Jewish boy living in concentration camp was certainly both endearing and tragic. I’m no expert in history so I don’t know how accurate the movie was (it was based on a fictional novel). I was fairly surprised at how lively and carefree (and ignorant) life was for the non-Jews in Germany, at least how it was portrayed in the beginning of the movie before the boy’s family had to move right smack next to a Jewish camp. I loved how the minor characters in the movie were well fleshed out, like the violent but probably secretly Jewish Nazi Jr. officer and the doctor-turned-potato peeling servant, which made the situation ever more conflicting. There were some reviews that said the movie proposed such an impossible premise that they couldn’t enjoy the film at all. However, I’m glad I was able to hear otherwise from other audiences who actually knew of people that lived through the dark period. The exact scenario was certainly a little far-fetched, but it was a great supposition with heartbreaking performance from the ensemble cast.

First Impression: Well this is going to be long. You may want to skip right to the Afterthoughts for the review.

I read about this movie in The Province one day, but didn’t really notice what it’s about. Abha then emailed me about the screening at Granville, which is the very latest 10pm screening of the entire VIFF 08. My parents were fairly worried about me riding the skytrain after midnight, but I assured them it would be fine.
Before the movie, we went for dinner at Milestones, which was OK considering the price. We got to the theatre around 8-ish to ask the staff what time people usually line up for rush tickets (as oppose to advanced tickets bought before) and was told at 9pm. The staff then mentioned the movie would start late because the previous screening was late. Well that’s great, 1hr30min of lineup, awesome. We walked back to the theatre at 9 and noticed people already lining up. There were 2 lines, one for advanced ticket and then other for rush; there were approx. 10 ppl in front of us in the rush line. With increasing boredom, watching people’s cars get towed away became mildly amusing.
As time went on, more people came, and when they heard about the late start, some decided to hawk their tickets to the rush line. At first, we didn’t pay attention because the price was $6 above the ticket price, but after awhile Abha and I started doubting ourselves, especially when some people peddled AT the ticket price. We learned that the advanced line up has gone around the block, and the rush line up had slowly dwindled to about 5 people, with us behind two. Everybody who bought the hawker tickets had to go to the other huge line up. Would we have to go to the other lineup too after buying off the counter? At that point I thought “There’s no point in buying hawk tickets then since we wouldn’t get a good spot anyway.”
At 22:20 or so, an Asian girl came up to us and ask to see if we wanted her 2 tickets. I was about to refuse, but she kept shoving them into my hand. Then I noticed the word “Complimentary”. “Free?” I asked the girl, and she confirmed. The staff also confirmed the tickets were usable for this movie. Well crappy seats or not, at least the movie would be free. Finally, it was time to head in. We handed the complimentary tickets to the counter and was ushered into the theatre immediately. I was SO glad we didn’t buy tickets off other people. When we both came back from the bathroom, the advanced ticket holders still haven’t finish filing in. We couldn’t believe our luck, free movie AND great seats.

Afterthoughts: I had no expectation whatsoever, and I also vowed to never watch more than 2 VIFF movies each year what with the long lineups, but this movie made me question my resolve. It was chaotic, fast, and felt completely real. The movie is about a high school class in France with students of diversed ethnic background. I’ve read that France is one of the most xenophobic countries out of Europe, so I was immediately attracted to the premise. Throughout the film, we follow the struggle of one particular French teacher and how he makes enemy and friends of students in this class. I really loved the “behind-the-scene” look at the teacher’s lounge and their meetings. The students dialogue were exceptionally well written as well. The students were smart-ass but not to the point of annoyance (the teacher would disagree on this). I think I would have had lots of fun in high school if everyone argued this much. The way they dealt with the trouble-causing teen made me think back to my own middle school class. I remember this kid got expelled because he was hitting other students and swore at/flipped off the teacher. Did he deserve another chance? I don’t really know. The movie is highly recommended.

On a side note, my mom kept calling me when the movie was around 2/3 in. I of course had the phone on silent, but I didn’t want to turn it off because I knew she would have assumed the worst otherwise. All in all, I had like 10 missed calls until the end of the movie. Suffice to say, my mom was pissed I didn’t call at 12, which is when I originally thought the movie would’ve ended. When we went onto the skytrain station at Granville, there were these Skytrain police cleaning up this red blood like stain on the ground, but the skytrain itself was fucking packed so the ride to Lougheed was pretty safe. That was my first time being on the very last skytrain of the day.

First Impression: My dad rented this because of a nice DVD cover.

Afterthoughts: Wow, I’ve NEVER watched a movie as boring as this. This is probably the lowest budget film ever. 80% of the movie is next to a fucking door for christ’s sake. Yes, I know it’s terrifying to be in the middle of a biological terrorist warfare, but couldn’t they at least make it a little bit more entertaining? The couple were so annoying, and that anti-climatic (actually that would be the wrong word because there WAS NO CLIMAX) twist at the end…*SPOILER* served her right, it was her incessant whining that killed her own husband. And that’s not even the most maddening thing about this film, it was the fact my dad didn’t even let me watch the movie I rented (Hot Fuzz) because he thought both of these were 2 days instead of 7 days, and he said Hot Fuzz was so funny. Gods….