SAG Awards

Saw most of last night's SAG Awards. The Screen Actors Guild is always a strong predictor of Oscar results and last night's winners are making me reshuffle my own Oscar picks. No Country for Old Men won for Best Ensemble Cast and Julie Christie won for Best Female Actor in a Leading Role for Away From Her. Daniel Day Lewis's performance in There Will Be Blood was hailed as "the performance of the century". A bit extreme but he gave a nice speech and dedicated his award to Heath Ledger. Will definitely be tuning into the Oscars on February 24th with my scorecard in hand. Meanwhile, SuperBowl Sunday is coming to my new big screen TV this weekend! Go Patriots!

Oscar Nominations and more...

The Oscar nominations were announced live this morning sometime after 8:35am. I think the Academy did a good job recognizing the best work of the year with only a few surprises. Delighted for Ellen Page that she was nominated for Best Actress - quite an achievement for such a young woman. I think Best Supporting Actress will be Cate Blanchett but I think it should be Saoirse Ronan - she played evil so well in Atonement I hope she gets it. If both she and Ellen get the Oscars, they must break some combined youth record! I think they will honour Viggo Mortensen with Best Actor because Eastern Promises got no other major nomination. I think Juno will get Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay will go to either Joel and Ethan Coen or Sarah Polley for Away From Her - what an honour for her! PT Andersen annoys me (sorry Jan) so I am not pulling for him or Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Thrilled that Ratatouille got several nominations including Best Animated Feature - that was one of my favourite Christmas presents. Enchanted has 3 out of 5 Best Original Song nominations but I think it should go to Falling Slowly from the beautiful movie Once featuring Glen Hansard of the Frames with Marketa Irglova. Congratulations and Good Luck to all the Oscar nominees! Please send me your comments and predictions! (the printable list makes it easier to review and ponder before the February 24th show)

Funny to see the stars at Sundance in the cold raving about the chance to wear jeans and down parkas - it's getting colder here in Toronto so we could definitely set their fashion trends. Sam spent an icy weekend visiting us but we did buy a gorgeous 46" Samsung LCD HDTV on sale at BestBuy. SWEET!

This morning's telecast seemed disappointingly blurry - even on both HD TVs. No one else I talked to seemed as disturbed as me but the broadcast seemed more like web quality even though I was watching an HD channel. No matter - it's always an exciting 5 minutes.

Very sad and shocked to hear of Heath Ledger. So young and full of promise - a terrible loss.

haikugirl's new blog!

I finally got a YouTube account to upload and share my 2 short videos. Haven't uploaded Marathon Women yet so it can still be submitted to festivals. Check out my own growing director's reel at haikugirlmovies.blogspot.com

Speaking of festivals, haikugirl's friends at Profluence Productions had their short doc Blind Faith accepted as part of the Official Selection at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Congratulations Team - that's such amazing news! See you in Toronto after IDC again we hope.

Why I Missed Walmart Nation

Last night Pavlina and I were all set to head to Riverdale Collegiate on the streetcar in time for the 7pm screening of Walmart Nation, only to have our streetcar diverted at Gerrard and Broadview by a police barricade. We arrived on the scene around 6:30 - thank goodness we weren't there earlier. The police had closed Gerrard and wouldn't let people through. Normally we would have walked north and continued east on some side streets but good thing we didn't because one of the gunmen disappeared on foot north of Gerrard. If it was my movie screening, I would have been more determined to see it, but by this time, we were only motivated to go home. The northbound streetcar appeared on Broadview and we grabbed it.

I Hate Air Canada

Announcing the launch of IHateAirCanada.ca. So many of us are sick of flying Air Canada. This website is a way to let the airline know that they need to change their ways.

As the site says: Canada: Love the country. Hate the airline. I certainly agree - those bozos at Air Canada made our simple post-marathon trip home from DC an ordeal. However, I recognize that living in Toronto means we have a greater number of happier airline choices than people in other parts of the country.

Check out the website
Buy the cool merchandise - and
Fly WestJet instead

Samba Dende

My filmmaker friend Dana (who was on Team Profluence Productions (blog: Actualities) and did the Blind Faith video at last year's IDC Challenge) is in Brazil working on a doc with the band Samba Dende. Check out her blog: http://sambadende.blogspot.com/

I don't know portuguese but I can say it in spanish: Buena Suerte Dana! (Good Luck)

Golden Globes and Wii

R and I went to my friend Dori's house for dinner and we had an amazing Spanish stew and played Wii with her kids and father. Her son's feet must've hurt because he was kicking our a**, but we all had a wonderful time.

Checked into the Golden Globe results because there was no show, only live announcements. Atonement seemed to clean up (whatever) and I was particularly happy for David Duchovny and Jeremy Piven, both of whom are outstanding in their roles that are SO L.A. Longford (a British HBO mini-series) also had several wins (Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton) and the website trailer makes it look rather interesting.

Also checked out the Australian Open on TV before bedtime. Lovely to see the women players. Maybe someday we'll plan a trip to OZ in January and take advantage of the warm weather to attend the tennis. Plus, it's 11:00pm here and it's 3:00pm the next day there - how cool is that?

Awards and more...

Here's a shot of Rich with our friend's Emmy - Congratulations Frank! An amazing achievement.

Speaking of achievements, the Golden Globe champagne dinner and awards ceremony is cancelled on Sunday so they're just going to announce the winners in a telecast. The recent People's Choice Awards took a similar approach and did not hold my interest (even though Queen Latifah made a valiant effort as host - of nobody)

I wonder how long the writers' strike will continue - and what movie prospects we might have for the next TIFF.

For The Bible Tells Me So

Fans of haikugirl: profuse apologies for the massive delay in updating my blog. SO SORRY!! Please scroll down to see a few new posts and photos - Happy New Year and ENJOY!

Wednesday night my dear friend Keith joined me for the sold out screening of For The Bible Tells Me So at the old-timey Bloor Cinema, part of my Doc Soup series from hot docs. It focuses on 5 families who handle the realization that one of their children is gay and includes interviews with former presidential candidate Richard Gephart and the first openly gay Anglican bishop Gene Robinson. Very powerful and interesting film that premiered at Sundance and is shortlisted for an Academy Award. Keith and I were quite emotional by the end and so was Producer/Director Daniel Karslake who shared wonderful stories about the making of the film, including his trip to Toronto to film Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

After Q&A, we headed to the charming Toba Restaurant for a delicious angus beef risotto and delightful Australian shiraz/viognier Innocent Bystander which is anything but!

Here's to more movies and wine in 2008!

haikugirls' 2007 Movie Picks

My top movie list for 2007 has some notable exceptions. Since I opted out of violence and gore you won't see the big award contenders American Gangster, Eastern Promises, No Country for Old Men and Sweeney Todd on my list. I will see them eventually, but only when I'm ready to plug my ears and cover my eyes for long periods in my basement screening room.

2007
not the best year for movies
my list of top picks:

1 My favourite movie of 2007 was Marathon Women by me and Tamara (natch) but because it's not a feature I guess I might have to provide another pick... so:
1 In Bloom - my highlight of TIFF and the best entry in this year's Evan Rachel Wood filmfest (as opposed to the Don Cheadle filmfest in 2005) Haven't seen this haunting film get distribution yet (maybe because of the sensitive subject matter) but Gus Van Sant's Elephant made it to screens so we'll have to see.
2 In the Shadow of the Moon - interviews with the handful of men who've walked on or orbited the moon. with interesting behind-the-scenes stories of the space program and the personalities behind it (Neil Armstrong declined to appear) This film was beautiful and poetic way to begin the Hot Docs 2007 festival along with the opening night invitation-only GALA party at the Design Exchange (DX). I actually felt like a real director and schmoozer
3 Bourne Ultimatum - non-stop action + awesome locations + hot leading man = perfect recipe for a summer blockbuster. This was right around the time I recognized that Matt Damon is a highly bankable box office star which was exactly a week before the rest of Hollywood recognized it and crowned him with that honour.
4 Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, sweeping historial drama, girlpower movie, what more can I say?
5 Enchanted - another princess movie! Amy Adams RULES and this was totally charming! (Just saw her again in Junebug and in a recent GAP ad)
6 Charlie Wilson's War - Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman are all great in this true story about the covert war in Afghanistan. Funny, timely and with a great script by Aaron Sorkin. One of these people will get an award, mark my words.
7 Chacun son Cinema - 33 iconic directors pay hommage to the Cannes filmfest - my perfect ending to this year's TIFF
8 Superbad - Superbad was supergood. Saw it right before all the seriousness of TIFF. The anti-blockbuster blockbuster.
9 Music and Lyrics - okay I think this came out on Valentine's Day in 2007 but I didn't see it till Christmas on the Movie Network and it was totally charming! I am a sucker for both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and the POP Goes My Heart video is absolutely HILARIOUS (both at the opening but moreso over the closing credits when they add pop-up videos - GENIUS!)
10 Across the Universe - loved the talented cast of young actors and the reinvention of so many great Beatles songs (missed it at TIFF but caught it at Varsity)
Honorable Mentions:
-Lars and the Real Girl - definitely fun. Delightful to see with the stars at the fest.
-The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - haven't seen this much talking in a western since Unforgiven but I have to include this because it was shot in Winnipeg and my brother was an extra. I think Brad gave a great understated performance that was overlooked by the Golden Globes. Casey Affleck also does very well. It's long but held my interest. Worth seeing on a snowy afternoon if you've got 3 hours to spare.

WORST Movies of 2007

1 The Host (should be renamed The Worst). I know I should have had this on last year's list (cause it was at TIFF 2006) but I think it was only in theatres in summer 2007 and I only saw it on DVD this Christmas. Don't understand what all the tremendous hype was about. I couldn't stay awake until the end so I don't even know what happens. Too bad I actually bought the DVD.
2 Married Life - painful at this year's fest - the director was needlessly fawned over - lame
3 Atonement - BOHRING, BOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHRING, and Annoying, and then when Vanessa Redgrave shows up at the end INFURIATING with a capital IN. When people told me, "it's like The English Patient" I should have remembered that I was like Elaine in Seinfeld watching The English Patient (i.e. drove me crazy, squirmed and huffed and rolled my eyes a lot, kind of like my reaction to Lord of the Rings)
4 Oceans Thirteen - a sequel gone bad. I'm one of the few who likes Oceans Twelve more than Oceans Eleven but the third one was just lame. Maybe they stole part of the script from The Host?
5 National Treasure Book of Secrets - the first is compulsively watchable; the sequel has no soul. I was really looking forward to this but was disappointed. Awesome locations + contrived, predictable plot = missed opportunity

Runner Girl

Since the marathon I've only been running 5K every weekend. On Sunday, December 30th at 9:30am I ran the Running Room Toronto Resolution Run in the Distillery District and did my best time ever for 5K! (37 minutes) Participants got a free nylon jacket for registering but I prefer the pink Nike one I found at Winners so that's what I wore.

Back at Pilates in the new year (just a 3 minute walk from home at Pegasus Studios) and I felt a twinge in my knee :-( I think I'm developing an IT band injury because I haven't been stretching properly post-run. Must keep stretching and icing because I definitely want to keep running!!

haikugirl made trax!
speeding through Distillery
in new running gear