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Film Friday: Red Skull
Yes, we’re being very obvious by leading with Iron Man this week, considering that it’s everywhere anyway as this year’s first big “summer” blockbuster. However, and we have a feeling we might have mentioned this before, we’re sold on any film that recognizes that a trademark way to make your hero look as awesome as possible is to have him walk towards the camera with his back to an explosion—like they don’t even care!
Iron Man does this in the trailer, he’s played by Robert Downey Jr., and the suit looks awesome—what’s not to like? The Star‘s Peter Howell even says, “The only thing wrong with Iron Man…is that it’s too short, even at 126 minutes.”
That sounds like crazy talk to us, but it’s exciting anyway!
We can’t be sure that it’s as exciting as the continuing Over The Top film festival though. Tonight includes a screening of the superb Pop Skull (9:00 p.m., Innis Town Hall)—you can read our glowing review in our festival preview—and tomorrow night includes a midnight screening of gonzo Japanese action flick The Machine Girl at the Royal. Not to forget a full day of films at the NFB (including Special People, which looks hilarious).
The festival scene did get crowded all of a sudden, though, with the Silver Screens film festival starting tonight (including a screening of The Bodybuilder and I tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.) and the Toronto Jewish Film Festival kicking off tomorrow, which sounds especially good this year—Eye‘s Adam Nayman points out some highlights, including Orthodox Stance, a boxing documentary, and Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.
But what else is on this week? We’ll, there’s Jeremy Podeswa’s adaptation of Fugitive Pieces, which has opened to mixed reviews, and Standard Operating Procedure, a look at the Abu Grahib scandal that played at Hot Docs. So did Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma, which starts at the Royal on Sunday, followed by screenings of the low-budget, Toronto-set Dakota at the theatre, starting Monday.
Oh, and there’s also Made of Honor, which has an enjoyably near-nonsensical title that makes us think it’s a WWII first-person shooter for Xbox rather than a film. The Sun‘s Liz Braun opens strong (“In movieland, ‘romantic comedy’ is generally a misnomer, as movies of the genre are often neither romantic nor comedic. They’re just stupid. The rom-com designation lives on, however, perhaps because ‘Moronic Piffle’ is not a term likely to attract viewers.”), making us think she’s going to kick it to pieces, but she liked it, unfortunately. Oh, well.