Movie Passes Giveaway: Bernie Screening in Toronto

Bernie Poster Courtesy of Alliance Films

Looking for a Jack Black comedy to tickle your funny bone? Than I've got good news for you as I have passes to giveaway for an advance screening of Bernie starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey and is directed by Richard Linklater (Me and Orson Wells, A Scanner Darkly).

Toronto Screening Details:
Date: Tuesday May 15, 2012; Showtime: 7:00 PM (Doors 6PM)
Location: AMC Yonge & Dundas 24, 10 Dundas Street East in Toronto, ON M5B 2G9
Click here for Toronto Screening & Enter PIN of BERNIEWITHMOXIE

Synopsis: "In the tiny, rural town of Carthage, TX, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede was one of the town’s most beloved residents. He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Everyone loved and appreciated Bernie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent, an affluent widow who was as well known for her sour attitude as her fortune. Bernie frequently traveled with Marjorie and even managed her banking affairs. Marjorie quickly became fully dependant on Bernie and his generosity and Bernie struggled to meet her increasing demands. Bernie continued to handle her affairs, and the townspeople went months without seeing Marjorie. The people of Carthage were shocked when it was reported that Marjorie Nugent had been dead for some time, and Bernie Tiede was being charged with the murder."

There are a limited number of passes for the screenings, so act quick!

Missed your chance? See Bernie in theatres when it opens in wide release on May 18, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Want to increase your chances for next time? Sign up for any of the Movie Moxie Newsletters as subscribers get first chance at any contests or giveaways. You can sign up here.

Thank you to Alliance Films for the movie passes giveaway!

Bernie Trailer:

Film Fan Fridays for Friday May 11, 2012

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!


Stills from: China Heavyweight (Qi Moxiang by Sun Shaoguang), Big Boys Gone Bananas *, A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday May 11, 2012! It's our second week in a row of one whopping wide release and lots of awesome limited releases. What could they be? Let's have a look.

In limited release this week we have tons of films to choose from including a fair amount of Docs including A Place Called Los Pereyra plus right hot of the heels of Hot Docs we have both Big Boys Gone Bananas and the China Heavyweight which I'm really looking forward to. We also have the Canadian biopic Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster starring Scott Speedman and Kevin Durand, the South Korean mystery Helpless / Hoa-cha and cult-centred Sound of My Voice, and all of these are easily on my to see list. Also in limited release is A Bottle in the Gaza Sea / Une bouteille à la mer based on the novel by Valérie Zenatti, and stars Hiam Abbass and Salim Dau.

In wide release this week we have just one release for this weekend with the Tim Burton film Dark Shadows which is based on the 60-70's supernatural gothic soap opera of the same name and stars Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green.

That's it for this weeks release, but a few more films to keep in mind that crop up before next Friday include the mid-week release of The Dictator starring Sacha Baron Cohen which comes out on Wednesday May 16, 2012. And for the Toronto folk who love films that keep you on the very edge of your seat I highly recommend checking out The Loved Ones screening as a Rue Morgue Cinemacabre Night on Thursday May 17, 2012 at 9:30PM the Toronto Underground; it's an amazing Australian horror flick that is very twisted and absolutely outstanding. I'm thrilled to see it screen again in the city.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Festival Watch

Bootleg Film Festival
The Toronto Edition of the Travelling Film Festival
May 10 - 12, 2012 at the Tranzac Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TIFF Next Wave
A Film Festival for Young Movie Lovers
May 10 - 12, 2012 at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Celebrating it's 20th year!
Continues until May 13, 2012 at various locations in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Special Screening

The Loved Ones ~ Rue Morgue Cinemacabre Screening
Thursday May 17, 2012 at 9:30PM the Toronto Underground in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Friday May 11, 2012 Releases


Posters of: Dark Shadows & The Dictator

Big Boys Gone Bananas *
Dir: Fredrik Gertten (Bananas *)
Documentary
Sweden/Denmark/Germany/USA/UK
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea / Une bouteille à la mer
Dir: Thierry Binisti (The Over-Eater)
Cast: Hiam Abbass, Salim Dau, Agathe Bonitzer, Mahmud Shalaby
France/Israel/Canada
Limited Release
No Official Film Site Found, IMDb Page, Trailer

China Heavyweight
Dir: Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze/ 沿江⽽上)
Documentary
Canada/China
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Dark Shadows (2012)
Dir: Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland)
Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Eva Green, Chloe Moretz, Bella Heathcote, Thomas McDonell, Gulliver McGrath
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster
Writer/Dir: Nathan Morlando - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Scott Speedman, Kevin Durand, Kelly Reilly, Joseph Cross, William Mapother, Brendan Fletcher, Charlotte Sullivan, Brian Cox
Canada
Limited Release
No Official Film Site Found, IMDb Page, Trailer

Helpless / Hoa-cha
Dir: Young-Joo Byun (Flying Boys, Milae)
Cast: Seon-gyun Lee, Min-hie Kim, Seong-ha Jo, Byeol Kim, Duek-mun Choi
South Korea
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

A Place Called Los Pereyra
Dir: Andrés Livov-Macklin - feature film directorial debut
Documentary
Argentina/Canada
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Sound of My Voice
Dir: Zal Batmanglij - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Brit Marling, Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Wednesday May 16, 2012

The Dictator
Dir: Larry Charles (Brüno, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley)
USA
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of May 11, 2012**

Underworld Awakening (DVD Review)

DVD review of Underworld Awakening, starring Kate Beckinsale; the fourth film in the highly stylized Underworld universe which pits vampire vs werewolves.

Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
© 2012 Lakeshore Entertainment Group LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Dir: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein (Shelter - podcast review)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance
USA, 2012

Reason to see: Selene, the vampire death-dealer protagonist, is one of my all-time favourite film characters and it's on My Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Underworld Awakening technically follows Underworld: Evolution chronologically in the series but if you aren’t overly familiar or haven’t revisited the series recently they do help with a little memory jogger, which is the lead into the current world where humans were not only made aware of the vampire and lycans existence, but also defeated them in a ‘cleansing’ leaving the remaining numbers very small. I found that a bit of a challenge to buy into, that the humans would prevail, but that’s the world they create so you kind of have to go there to experience the film. In this near future world we travel with death dealer vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who awakens after the said ‘cleansing’.

A brief personal history of how I weight in on the Underworld series is that I absolutely adored the highly stylish full-tilt vampires vs lycans (werewolves) action film that was the original Underworld, but was completely dismayed by some random gender crap in the sequel Underworld: Evolution that made me hate the film, which is a statement I don’t make very often. And then I flipped back to enjoying the series with the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans which features Michael Sheen and was the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale. So, personally I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with the series but I can’t help but the gorgeous stylings, amazing action and cool vampire & werewolves throughout.

In terms of the action and art direction of how the film it looks and feels, I loved it. It’s a little dingier than the original film so you have to take that into account as it aligns with this whole living on the fringes with low resources which doesn’t really read ‘vampire’ to me, but it is something new. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the actors in the film including Theo James (‘Bedlam’), Charles Dance (Aliens 3) and Kris Holden-Reid (‘Lost Girl’) who I really think they could have had more in the film. Plus, to make sure it doesn’t go without saying, Kate Beckinsale was fantastic to see, I love her as Selene a fierce and beautiful death dealer who kicked a whole lot of butt in the film and makes no qualms about the fact that she is completely in charge.

I was pretty surprized to see that it was only 88 minutes with around 10 of those being credits, but I still felt like I got 1-films worth of enjoyment for the film. The story and world may not have been perfectly what I was looking forward but they stayed true to what they created and I respect that. In terms of the series I’d still say the first one is my favourite, and then Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then Underworld Awakening and finally Underworld: Evolution. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was excited and looking for a bit more than what we got here, but I certainly was entertained and engaged while watching.

In terms of the story, I took me for a bit of a surprized that I don’t think the themes will appeal to everyone; but it also feels like it’s one of many periods within this world and therefore we’ll have more to enjoy to come. However, for supernatural action fans this is a total fun ride with lots of action, and interesting story and continuing the journey through the cool world they have created so for that I do think it’s a success.

DVD Extras:

• Feature Commentary with Filmmakers: producer Richard S. Wright, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer & visual effects supervisor James McQuaide and directors Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein. I really enjoyed listening to this commentary, and 5-person commentaries can sometimes be a challenge but it's really clear they enjoyed working on the film and enjoy the Underworld universe so there is lots of notations about about it's fits in visually or story/character wise with the other films as well as great stories about working with the cast and crew plus also a great technical perspective in terms of the effects, 3D, what's CG vs practical/suits, the locations and editing. I loved hearing them talk about the editing and the choices made and different variations that they tired and why they went with that they went with, that was fascinating. The talk a lot about the 3D (and 3D films in general) and what was shot in 3D and what was 2D vs 3D in the film, and the challenges of the film including introducing new characters to the audience, keeping mystery of the story of the film, the shots they love in the film including favourite blood spatters which is hilarious. Also touch on examples of good hommages, the balance of using violence in film, the advantage of have Len Wiseman who directed the first two films as a producer on this film, the changes and development of the character of Selene in this film, the neo-goth look of the film, the moments and shots that were in the trailer and working with the cast especially Kate Beckinsale along with Charles Dance, Theo James & Michael Ealy.

Underworld Awakening is available on DVD, BluRay and 3D BluRay on May 8, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca (DVD, Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray) & Amazon.com (DVD, Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray)

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it repeatedly
I'd recommend it to fans of the series & vampire/action film fans

See also

• Spoiler-filled awesome discussion of Underworld Awakening over at Before the Dawn
• Spoiler-free review of Underworld Awakening on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012
Originally reviewed for Theatrical Release - February 12, 2012