It seems that I am having tremendous TIFF Luck this year, because besides one film, I got everything I put on my schedule.

In addition, everyone who’s attending films with me also got their tickets. Lucky, lucky. I was pretty sure that it would be fail whale all over the place, considering all the screenings that were apparently ‘off-sale’ he day before.

So, I am happy to announce my schedule, and details of the movies I’ll definitely be seeing.

So let me do a brief run-down of the 23 Movies (TWENTY THREE!) I’ll be seeing over 10 days.

DAYDREAM NATION
Why I’m Seeing It: I think it looks like a nice, easy film to start the ‘fest. I really like Kat Dennings.
Funny Story: This is the ticket I accidentally screwed myself out of during the Advance Order process, because apparently I don’t know that 6:00pm is after 5:01pm, so it is the sole reason I spent over two hours fighting with the online box office. I hope it’s worth it.

SUPER
Why I’m Seeing It: Besides having a tonne of actors I like (Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Nathan Fillion…) Its the one Midnight Madness flick that Allison (My #1 Film Festival Buddy) said she’s see with me. I absolutely have to see at least one Midnight Madness flick at Midnight or it doesn’t count!

THE KING’S SPEECH
Why I’m Seeing It: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce. (Also I just found out that this director did the Elizabeth I miniseries with Helen Mirren, which was really quite good!)

MADE IN DAGENHAM
Why I’m Seeing It: Suggested by Allison, though I probably would have picked it out myself. British Comedy about women’s rights. Awesome. Plus, Calendar Girls was pretty good, and this is the same director.

DEEP IN THE WOODS
Why I’m Seeing It: I’ll be honest, this was one of the last films I picked and it was the only interesting looking one during this time slot. This will be one of those hit-or-miss movies for me, I hope it turns out OK.

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE
Why I’m Seeing It: You really can’t go wrong with an Australian Rom-Com with a dose of Super Hero, starring Jason from True Blood. Or can you? I don’t want to make this year all about Super Hero Comedies, but it seems like I couldn’t avoid it.

OUR DAY WILL COME
Why I’m Seeing It: I bought tickets on Allison’s suggestion, simply based on the face that it has Vincent Cassel (and I’ve seen every movie of his that’s been at the festival since I started going). It’s basically a feature length movie based on the same concept as MIA’s Born Free Music Video (same Director), which sounds amazing. Drama about Redheads being hunted by the Military.. oh those poor Gingers.

JUCY
Why I’m Seeing It: Seriously co-dependent platonic Female/Female relationship, check. This simply looked like a fun film, and I have to mix it up and get some fluff in my schedule, so I chose an Australian Film that will likely never see the light of day for a North American release.

BLACK SWAN
Why I’m Seeing It: First off, I really like both Darren Aronofsky and Vincent Cassel, so I’d probably see this film in regular theatres once it’s released (which I believe is soon), but I thought I’d try my luck at scoring a ticket at tiff since it’s one of the most anticipated films. I got lucky.

LET ME IN
Why I’m Seeing It: Let The Right One In is such a brilliant film, I’m really hoping that this remake (ahem, I mean, interpretation of the source material) doesn’t cock it up. I think the casting is brilliant, we’ll just have to see if they pull it off. I’m hoping yes.

IN A BETTER WORLD
Why I’m Seeing It: Obligatory Danish Film, as chosen by Allison. Happy to tag along, as the Danish make pretty suburb films, usually.

HOW TO START YOUR OWN COUNTRY
Why I’m Seeing It: Confidently, just a few months ago I spent entirely too much time looking up information about Sealand, and when I needed to fill a spot in my schedule, this popped up. Also, I’m quickly becoming a fan of Funny Documentaries. (Besides, I might gather some much-needed pointers for when I start the country of ‘New Duxbury’).

WOMB
Why I’m Seeing It: The idea behind this film sounds fascinating, a lovelorn woman bears the clone of her dead flame. To Incest, or not to Incest? While I’m actually much more interested in the dramatic and emotional story here, it doesn’t hurt that it stars The Eleventh Doctor. It seems that in addition to Super Heros another theme of my film festival these year is clones (you’ll see why further down).

PEEP WORLD
Why I’m Seeing It: My replacement for Mamma Gogo, I chose it because a) it fit into my schedule b) Michael C. Hall & Sarah Silverman are in it and c) The description on the TIFF website compared it to The Royal Tenenbaums. We’ll see.

INSIDIOUS
Why I’m Seeing It: From the writer and director of the first Saw movie, which was the hands-down best of the ongoing series, this flick also stars Patrick Wilson, who (after Phantom, Little Children, Hard Candy and Watchmen) is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.

PROMISES WRITTEN IN WATER
Why I’m Seeing It: Vincent Gallo. Suggested by Allison, I’m just hoping I understand any of it. I think this is a quintessential Film Festival movie, art house, independent, whatever you want to call it.

SARAH’S KEY
Why I’m Seeing It: Obligatory Holocaust film, I chose this more based on my schedule than my interest, however I do think that Kristin Scott Thomas is a brilliant actress and the story sounds both touching and moving.

BUNRAKU
Why I’m Seeing It: This Midnight Madness flick has been getting quite a bit of press. I really love the new styles of imagery that are available to film makers nowadays, and this one certainly runs with it. While the story seems *meh* I’m going to see it for the visuals, seriously, it looks like a Stage Play mixed with Comic Book. Plus, y’know, Samurai are cool.

NORWEGIAN WOOD
Why I’m Seeing It: One of the last films I chose, I picked it because Haruki Murakami is a household name around these parts, and since I’m not a big reader, I’m interested in seeing his stories on screen.

NEVER LET ME GO
Why I’m Seeing It: Keira Knightly is a film festival MUST for me and Allison. Simply put, this movie seemed more interesting than her other one at tiff this year. Romantic Drama about (what I assume are) Organ Harvesting Clones? Yes, please. Between this and Womb, I’m going Clone Crazy!

THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA
Why I’m Seeing It: I found this one while reading through the entire film list and it popped out at me as possibly awesome. From the TIFF Description: Issac is a young photographer who falls in love with the recently deceased Angelica. When he looks at her through his viewfinder though, she becomes animated, moving and smiling at him. The phenomenon continues when he develops the images and he becomes haunted by an irrational love. So my ‘Supernatural’ streak continues.

THE DEBT
Why I’m Seeing It: I’m pretty sure this is going to have a wide release, but I’m happy to see it at the festival, it looks interesting and important. Plus, Helen Mirren, am I right?

THE TRIP
Why I’m Seeing It: While I didn’t see the movie for which this is the Sequel (I’ll get around to it), when Allison suggested it, I was really pleased. Steve Coogan is hilarious, and anything British is all right by me. I’m glad that I get to end my Film Festival on this film, instead of something too serious, or too depressing.

Well, that’s it.
That’s my film list.
How I managed to fit nearly all my first-choices into a mere 10 days is beyond me (scheduling magic!). The only film that I’m outright disappointed that I couldn’t fit in is Tamara Drewe, but I’ll keep an eye out for when it gets released (hopefully) or, goes to DVD.

Less than a week until I throw myself into this Madness!

This year my 15-Movie Day Pack and my 10-Ticket Evening Pack (which worked out to be 7 movies, since I’m going with my friend Ahli to some) was in box #18. They drew box #9 to begin and so I was the 9th box processed, which is actually quite good as there were 39 Boxes in total.

As it turns out I only got denied for 1 of my films due to it being sold out, sadly the sole Icelandic film at the ‘fest this year. Well, if they don’t want me to see it, that’s just fine. Although it did sound cool, I’m OK with avoiding a 9am screening anyways. I did also get denied for another film, but that was entirely my fault as I apparently requested an evening film with my Day Pass. *facepalm*

So, while it’s not set it stone, My TIFF Schedule is about 95% compete. Tomorrow I head off to the Box Office first thing in the morning to try and redeem the two vouchers they provided me with for other day films. The scheduling fun isn’t done then, though. I still need to go on to the online box office Friday morning to try and get Angelina tickets to a couple shows she wants to see. I’m also going to try and outright Buy the ticket I had FUBAR’d myself out of. Allison is going to grab her tickets to some of the movies that she picked out, and a ticket for me to a Premium Screening. Hopefully by the weekend my schedule will be set in stone. At which time I’ll go over each of the films I’m going to see with wonderful detail for everyone!

Until then.

My FanExpo experience started much as everybody’s does – with an Epic line-up. It only took us about 1.5hrs to get through the approx 0.5Km long line up, and then we were in! First thing we did was set out to find how/when/where we could see/meet/grope Tahmoh Penikett. We were rewarded with a short line up. Angelina bought an autograph (To: Angelina + Chantelle, because she is the most thoughtful and wonderful person in the world to get me included on that), and this lovely pic:

That was pretty much the end of the first day.

Saturday we arrived at about 11am, and I abandoned all hope of meeting James Marsters as the line up was at least an hour long. So instead I wandered around the Dealers area, which took longer than expected given that there were about a frillion people there. I did however score this pretty awesome P-Chan Hat, as seen on the left.

On Saturday we also managed to see a Real Life Dalek. This thing was a genuine as you could possibly get, it moved, spoke and even shot mist from its laser-gun. I gatta say, they really are quite terrifying in-person after all.

I found this video on YouTube of it moving and talking, with special guest star: Me! I show up about 0:30 in the clip, hiding behind a sign, on my iPhone, and when it starts talking I look AMAZED.

However I wasn’t giving up on James Marsters completely, as he was quickly becoming my Great White Buffalo, on account of the fact that I once missed the chance of meeting him at a previous attempt at attending FanExpo approximately 10 years ago. Unfortunately not only did not not end up going to the Con – at the time I also hadn’t watched any Buffy and had no idea who he was. This time, instead of missing out (Great White Buffalo), I waited in line for his Q&A from about 1:40pm. It started at 3:30.

Absolutely, 100%, Worth It. First off, the line was in a hallway, so I got to sit and listed to my Podcasts for the most of the time. Secondly, we ended up getting amazing seats. About fifth row, and on the side Isle, with a clear-as-day view of the stage. Also, at one point James moved over even more to our side. While my photos are crap, it was great. Also, the man is good at this he’s got the exact right mix of funny, heartwarming and interesting for Q&A stories. Of course, he’s been doing this for at least ten years. The absolute highlight though was when he sang us a tune:

That was pretty much all I could do on Saturday, given that I had to get home to complete my TIFF Selections, and had only gotten about 4hrs of sleep the night before. Luckily, however, I made it to sleep by midnight, and headed back in Sunday for one last day of super-geekdom.

We first met up with some friends for Breakfast, and then decided we’d spend our time shopping around Artists Ally. There was some really neat stuff, and I got a few buttons and suchlike. I also picked up an eBook called The App, because, well, obviously I can’t resist that. Once I read it full review will be on iPhoneAppGirl.com.

That is my experience at my first FanExpo, and I know for certain it won’t be my last. If you’re interested in seeing all my photos from the weekend, head over to my Flickr Set here. Feel free to share your FanExpo experiences too!

Here are the films on offer this year:

I’ve got to say that of these, only Stake Land really appeals to me to want to go and see during the ‘fest. Super looks alright too, but I know it’ll be in regular theaters soon. Same with Bunraku. Here is the teaser trailer for Stake Land:

I’m also a little disappointed in the international selections this year at MM. They’re so obviously geared to USA and Asian film, there’s no other European films – France, in particular. Or England, I was really hoping for another classic British Horror/Comedy, oh well. Maybe this is good news, maybe this means that I won’t be out to 3am each night of the ‘fest. I would be happy with that!

While I’ve blogged in the past about this fantastic event, I’ve never managed to really stay on top of it. (See uncompleted: 2007, and 2006). However this year is to be my grand return to TIFF Blogging, and with it a brand new page, as well as a new agenda.

Not coincidentally, I have the entire month of September off of work. I’ve planned it thusly, so that I can attend Each and Every Day of the festival this year.

The ticket packages went on sale on July 5th, and I purchased my packages then. Lucky, too, since one of the packages I chose sold out later that same week. This is what I currently have:

15-FILM DAYTIME PACK

* Maximum 1 ticket per screening to any regular public screening of your choice, before 5:01pm.
and

10-TICKET FLEX PACK

* Valid for any regular public screening of your choice and can be shared with friends and family.
* Maximum 4 tickets per screening, per account.

I also plan on picking up one or two Gala Screenings, and one or two Midnight Madness Screenings, based on my schedule availability.

Scheduling films at TIFF is always a chore. Especially with the Advance Order Procedure. While the official schedule announcement is not made until the last week of August, they do announce most of the films in advance.

Choosing the films I’ll see at TIFF is sometimes hard, because there are so many. However, this being my 5th year, I’ve discovered a fail proof system. I rarely go see a film because a certain actor is in it (while I do have my Film Festival Favorites, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightly), so I basically search this way. 1) Director 2) Writer 3) Country 4) Depend on my friend Ahli, who makes the best Film Festival choices, every time.

While the complete list is obviously not out yet, these are the films that have piqued my interest so far:

Black Swan
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Winona Ryder, Sebastian Stan
A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company. Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect.

Why I’ll Probably See It: Vincent Cassel is a TIFF Favorite of mine, and I’ll see anything at the fest that he’s in. (Example: Sheitan). Plus, it helps that I like Darren Aronofsky, when he’s doing things right. Also: Natalie Portman is brilliant sometimes. This is high-priority for me.

In A Better World (aka Hævnen, Civilization)
Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Toke Lars Bjarke, Trice Angie Christiansen, Trine Dyrholm, Camilla Gottlieb, Ditte Gråbøl, Bodil Jørgensen, Satu Helena Mikkelinen, Mikael Persbrandt, Ulrich Thomsen
A drama about a Holocaust survivor who meets his twin sister he thought died in the in the concentration camps.

Why I’ll Probably See It: Ahli takes me to see Danish Films. I go because, for the most part they are fantastic. This movie is co-written by this guy (Anders Thomas Jensen) who pretty much writes every Danish film (and The Duchess?), and I’ve seen a couple and liked them. I have no doubt that I’ll be seeing this one to.

Tamara Drewe
Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: Roger Allam, Gemma Arterton, Jessica Barden, Bill Camp, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Tamsin Greig, Josie Taylor
A young newspaper writer returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepped for sale.

Why I’ll Probably See It: Against my better judgment I love ‘fish-out-of-water small-town-England Romantic-Comedies’ (see: The Baker), I fear I will not be able to resist this one.

Jack Goes Boating
Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Cast: Ricky Garcia, Lola Glaudini, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Ortiz, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Amy Ryan, Harry L. Seddon
A limo driver’s blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples. ‘Phillip Seymour Hoffman’ reprises the role he originated on stage.

Why I’ll Probably See It: I don’t particularly fall for when actors-turn-directors (For example, I’m not going to race to see The Town, The Way or Trust), but this one looks particularly good. I think that it helps a little that I consider Phillip Seymour Hoffman to be an insane person. Brilliant, certainly, but also insane.

Biutiful
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast: Maricel Álvarez, Javier Bardem, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella
A man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman.

Wow, that description couldn’t be more vague, so I’ll give you a link to the trailer.

Why I’ll Probably See It: I love Javier Bardem. Love.

Never Let Me Go
Director: Mark Romanek
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sally Hawkins, Keira Knightley, Izzy Meikle-Small, Carey Mulligan, Oliver Parsons, Ella Purnell, Charlotte Rampling, Charlie Rowe
As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

Why I’ll Probably See It: Keira is a must, plus I’m pretty sure this movie is about clones. What’s not to like? While this is coming out in regular theatres, I’ll probably try and catch the Red Carpet, *crosses fingers*.

Insidious (aka The Further)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson
A young family discover that the body of their comatose boy attracts evil entities, while the boy’s mind is trapped in a dark realm known as The Further.

Why I’ll Probably See It: Writer Director of Saw with Patrick Wilson. Yes, please. Plus it’s a Midnight Madness flick, which is always a good time. This one is high priority for me as well.

I don’t think I could be more upset at the fact that Viggo Mortensen doesn’t have a flim at this years festival. I have seen his last five movies at the fest (four of which I’ve seen with him there!), this will break my streak and be my first Viggo-Less year since I started going to TIFF. Sad.

Dispute the fact that I’m pretty sure no one cares nor will read this blog, I am very much looking forward to updating it regularly, and hopefully staying organized. I have an iPad now, I have no excuse not to blog!

Vuvuzelas!

‘How much do I love them?’ you may be wondering. Surely, not, rather that I think they are annoying and bothersome, when our attentions could better be directed toward the important Football matches at hand.

To that, I simply reply:
BBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Angelina had the great fortune of finding a local merchant who sold her one. I however, had to resort to buying one on eBay, and am still awaiting its arrival.

In the meantime, I’m filling my Vuvuzela needs with the following App:

Finally I’d like to share with you an expression of my love, as can only be conveyed in the form of art, a painting I did, depicting my true feelings for this wonderful instrument:

I will be sad once this Soccer Tournament is over, as I will not have the excuse to burst into long-winded bouts of BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ at my leisure. Hopefully, as just one can trust that the seasons for World Cups come and go, the Vuvuzela will remain – ever constant – ever BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzing. I pray.

Since obviously nothing noteworthy has happened in the last near-year (or at least nothing I wish to share with the anonymous depths of the internet), I’ll tell you what will be happening in the next week or so.

Tomorrow marks the date that everyone is 99% sure will be the announcement of the Fourth Generation iPhone. Since I’m still using my 1st Gen, and because I’ve actually found the motivation to begin iPhone Blogging (or more specifically iPhone App Blogging) again, I’ve decided to get definitely get one. I’m looking forward to having a new phone, and getting back into being able to do Product Reviews for iPhoneinCanada.ca again. Also, they recently launched a podcast which has been hovering in the Canadian Top 10 since launch that I’m looking forward to taking part in.

Despite my aversion to the idea originally, I’m totally getting an iPad. I’ve heard nothing but good things, so hopefully it’ll be worth it. I’ll keep interested parties informed when that happens.

In other non-Apple related news, I’ve recently applied for my 5 Year Anniversary Sabbatical (which is a pretty awesome benefit to working where I work) and am hoping to be able to take the majority of the month of September off, to properly enjoy TIFF. Coincidentally this will mark my 5th year attending the fest, and I’m hoping to go overboard, hopefully seeing about 2 movies/day. Hopefully I wont wimp out and will actually Blog about it, unlike my complete lack of doing so last year.

I guess that’s it for now. Toodles.

PS: Angelina has made me watch Avatar (the Last Airbender, not the Jungle Cats) it’s pretty much awesome, you should check it out if you haven’t already.

Originally started in Spring 2009, went on Hiatus and due to technical difficulties reinstalling WordPress had to be completely relaunched with new content Spring 2010. Currently I write a couple articles a week, with a mix of App reviews, news and opinion pieces. Completely casual, opinionated and chock full of wit, it’s become one of my favorite projects.

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Link:: http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/author/chantellejoy & http://www.ipadincanada.ca/author/chantellejoy