Damon is Bourne

YOU KNOW HIS NAME - Jason Bourne aka Matt Damon

Sometimes you end up at the right place at the right time.  This doesn't happen all that often for me. I am mostly somewhere else and missing cool things.  Yesterday was different though.  I left my office and decided to grab a pizza instead of hopping on a packed subway train and having to stand all the way home.  Just as I left the building and was walking over to the Pizza place next door I heard someone call my name.  I stopped and turned around and it was one of my film festival friends who had just picked up tickets that she won for the new Bourne film.  She said she had an extra one if I wanted to go.  Heck Ya!  I was just going to go home and do laundry.  It was early so I still grabbed my pizza and headed over to meet her at the Scotiabank theatre.

The best part is that I didn't have time to think about it and see any trailers or anything.  But I am totally familiar with this franchise and have probably seen all the Bourne films so I knew what to expect.  I have to say that Matt Damon is one of my favourite people to attend TIFF,  he is very chill but when he has a movie in the festival it's pandemonium.  He really is that side of the Bourne character that can fly under the radar when he wants to.

But anyway, back to the actual film.  It's pretty much all action all the time.  I realized that Damon as Bourne is pretty much in motion for about 90% percent of the time, either walking, running, riding a motorcycle or driving.  The stunts are unbelievable and seem to get more over the top and how did they do that with each film.  Then there are the bad guys who are supposed to be the good guys.  It's hard not to hate Tommy Lee Jones' character and he gets what he deserves in this film.

It's nice to see Alicia Vikander in this one as a smart head of Intelligence who you aren't quite sure what her agenda is.  She plays it very smart and has great equality with Damon.

Bourne is a secret agent magician who is always one step ahead of the game and always tries to figure out the bad guys move and out manouever them.   He is there and then he is gone.  Seemlessly travelling through countries and through obstacles.   I want to be as smooth as him in my real life.

It's impressive that at 45, Damon is still able to do all of these action scenes and get buff for each one.  I don't know how long he will be able to do these films but I hope he stays on maybe in some other capacity because he is a really great actor and this role was tailor made for him.

I truly enjoyed this one and left feeling like I got lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get this preview ticket.  

Go see it and make sure you don't drink too much or you will miss lot's of action.



A DATE WITH MISS FORTUNE

A Date With Miss Fortune

Jeannette Sousa and Ryan Scott

I love to support Canadian Film because we as Canadians generally don't brag about the talents of our own people so our Arts and Culture and other achievements generally go un-noticed under the over abundance of the promotion of the things going on in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

So, when I was invited to attend a Red Carpet Premiere of a new Canadian Comedy I was very happy to attend.  This is an ALL Canadian Film which was written, directed and acted by Canadian talent.

Directed by John L'Ecuyer and Written by Ryan Scott & Jeannette Sousa who all have extensive work experience in Film and Television in Canada.

Ryan Scott and Jeannette Sousa wrote and are also the stars of the film.  They wrote the film together as somewhat of an autobiographical but exaggerated version of their own real life adventures as a couple.

Ryan plays Jack a man who has lost his job and is divorced and about to move to London to get a fresh start in the TV writing business, until he has a chance meeting with Jeannette (Maria) who has recently split up with her fiance.  They meet in a diner as Jack tries to hide from his Ex who is also at the diner and he uses Maria as his cover.  They spend the rest of the night talking about life and their beliefs and after a long night of sharing their lives Jack decides to skip his trip to London and take a chance on seeing if they can begin a relationship.

Things go well until Maria's quirks including frequent visits to a Fortune Teller who she bases her life decisions on and her crazy Portuguese Family get in the way.

The film is reminiscent of My Big Fat Greek Wedding minus the wedding but it has the same type of ethnic humour.

Maria has a big Portuguese family while Jack's has a hilarious single guy friend, and writing partner Wilson (Vik Sahay).  Jack is an athiest while Maria has symbols of the cross surrounding her.  They couldn't have more different lives but somehow they fall in love.

While there were a few technical things that I noticed that distracted me the movie was hilarious but I must admit a bit stereotypical of Insert _______ ethnic family.  They happen to be Portuguese but they could have been Greek, Italian or any European strong family.

The story could have been a bit stronger as it was a bit predictable for a Rom Com but it was a really cute film with hilarious moments.  Some great performances by the crazy Fortune Teller woman who also was a bit of a stereotype of what a Fortune Teller would look like but if you look past that she was important in this film.  The character of Wilson was an enthusiastic and also hilarious character who bridged a lot of the scenes.

Singer Nelly Furtado also appears in the film as Maria's cousin in a cameo short scene.  She wasn't integral to the story and I think they just added her for the Portuguese community and a little star power but it was still nice to see her in the film.

Maria's parents Jose (Joaquim de Almeida) and Anna Maria (Claudia Ferri) were the typical Portuguese parents.  Jose the overbearing father and Anna Maria the long suffering sweet dutiful mother who knows her daughter best.

The scene stealers were played by Bella the Dog who is only shown in the film a short time and I kind of found it odd that you only see the dog in a few scenes but the one scene with the family will crack you up.

And my boyfriend George Stroumboulopoulos appears as Paul, Maria's Ex who is a doctor and is shown in a very compromising position in one of his scenes.  Seems George is developing a bit of a resume of showing up in cameos of crazy scenes.

Bella (BoJangles) makes her Red Carpet Appearance at Yonge/Dundas Cineplex

This film was very enjoyable with Laugh Out Loud scenes so I suggest you suspend judgment and go and see it and be entertained and support Canadian Film so that we can see more of it.

A Date with Miss Fortune opens on February 5, 2016 in Canada.  

Get Tickets here:

http://www.cineplex.com/Movie/a-date-with-miss-fortune

#DateMissFortune  @Datemissfortune

It is important to go see Canadian Films in their First Weekend so that they can get extended runs.  This film in particular is a great Date Night Movie and they would like to have their run extended to past Valentine's Day so go see it next weekend.



*Disclaimer:  I was invited to see the film but the opinions in this post are my own.

Bradley Cooper tries hard not to get BURNT

BURNT Preview Screening Review

I got tickets to see Bradley Cooper's new film Burnt about a Chef who's career went up in flames because of his own self sabotaging behaviour.

I really wanted to like this movie because well it's a food movie and Bradley Cooper as (Adam Jones) is the lead in it.  

It also stars the fantastic Emma Thompson as his pseudo therapist and Sienna Miller as a tough cookie Helene a sous chef.  Both women were fantastic but I would have liked to see a little more of their characters developed in the story. Uma Thurman also makes an accent ladened appearance as a food critic.

Bradley Cooper plays kind of the stereotypical arrogant and Gordon Ramsey like tyrant of a boss who tries to achieve perfection in food but has a lot to master in his personal life.  

He was a 2 star Michelin Chef which is already a difficult feat to master but he has reached rock bottom after blowing his career because of his drug addicted lifestyle and the fact that he borrowed money from the wrong people and responsible for leaving a trail of destruction in his past because of his addictions.  Now clean for 2 years he returns to London and looks up some of his old contacts,  one is a rival chef who still has anger towards the things he did in the past and another played by Daniel Bruhl who is a gay Maitre D who is in love with Adam Jones but has been burned by him in the past.  Because he still cares about him he puts up with his insane behaviour and helps him to re launch his career with the help of some former good and bad chefs and Helene the strong and talented chef who is the only person he can connect with as he sees them as the same career obsessed people.  

Will he get his 3rd Michelin Star?  Well he needs to realize the worth of the people he is surrounded by to get there.

This film is filled with lots of food porn and beautiful people and amazing locations in London and Paris but there seems to be a missing ingredient in the mix.  As my friend put it there wasn't enough heart in the story.  There wasn't enough of the backstory and the heart of the lead character shown in the film until the very end so it was hard to connect to his story.  There are plenty of scenes that are just people cooking or eating food so if you aren't into food porn you might not be interested in this film.  

The thing that took me out of the film was a fight scene where he gets beat to a pulp and has a gash on his eye that was bleeding and can barely walk and then all of a sudden they find out that Michelin men have come to the restaurant and he magically recovers and starts the pass.  Firstly,  after just finishing my food handlers certificate there is no way anyone would allow him to cook with blood on his face and an open wound.  If he is a Michelin star chef he knows he could be shut down instantly if a food inspector walked in.  Then there was the makeup person in me that just kept getting my attention drawn to the continuity of the actual gash and the other injuries that seemed to magically change.   

The film was pretty predictable with the plate clearing scene and the yelling and the arrogance and abusive lifestyle.   You knew where this film was going.

For a film with more heart see A hundred Mile Journey with Helen Mirren or watch the documentary For Grace about Michelin Star chef Curtis Duffy who has loads of heart.  I have written a post on that film previously and have met and interviewed chef Duffy who is focused, humble and kind.   I suppose there isn't enough Hollywood drama in a character that is nice but bad behaviour in the kitchen is becoming passe.

If you love food or Bradley Cooper then go see this movie but if you are looking for a great story then I would say pass on this pass.

Sorry Bradley I wanted to love it but it was just a little burnt for me.

The movie release date was Oct. 23rd, 2015

TIFF Film Review - BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN

Director:

 John Crowley

Writers:

 Nick Hornby 

Starring:

 Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Zegen

A young woman in Ireland in the 1950's can't find work and her priest has arranged a job for her in New York.  She doesn't have any family in New York but stays in a female boarding house with a host of characters.  She tries to settle in and feel comfortable with her move to another country but doesn't feel like she fits in until she meets a handsome Italian plummer who is from Brooklyn. He shows her the beauty of New York and she starts to feel comfortable until a family tragedy sends her back to Ireland and she gains a new perspective on what her life may have been if she had stayed. She is now forced to make a choice between staying in her homeland or moving back to Brooklyn to be with the man she fell in love with.

I watched this film with a group of my film festival friends and one of them happened to be from the same town in Ireland and there were a lot of similarities in her own journey with the exception of the Italian man.  This film really got to her and there were a few of us in the group that went through a host of emotions while a couple of the guys just didn't understand as much.

This film was a nod to the old Hollywood romance films.   It isn't a face paced film but it's a beautifully told story about ones homeland and fitting into a foreign environment.

I would say 8 out of 10 of us really loved this film.   Art is subjective so I don't like to rate films but if the majority of a group of people like a film then you know you have something special.

Ricki and the Flash - Review

I got tickets to see RICKI AND THE FLASH from She Does the City and was really excited to go and see this films.  How can you not love Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline and bonus of Rick Springfield?  And it's about a Rockstar mom.  Right...

The film is about Ricki / Linda played by Meryl Streep who is an ageing singer songwriter in a house band in a bar.  She left her family to follow her dream of being a Rockstar and kind of lost a lot of things along the way. On the verge of bankruptcy she gets a call from her ex-husband to come to help their daughter who recently split from her husband and had a suicide attempt.  Ricki/Linda was estranged from the family for many years and her ex-husband's new wife stepped in an took care of the mom stuff.  Ricki/Linda arrives when the wife is out of town and she learns about the suicide attempt and does what she knows to try and get her daughter back from the brink.  Her daughter is played by her real life daughter Mammie Gummer.  Her ex husband is played by Kevin Kline who she has great chemistry with.

There are also 2 grown sons in the family and one is engaged which they neglected to tell Ricki/Linda about and didn't invite to their wedding for fear of embarrassment.  Ricki/Linda is hurt but starts to understand the trail she left because of her leaving the family.  Her other son is gay but she thought he was bi-sexual but just made the decision to be only with men.  The only one that seems to be on her side is her ex-husband.   While at the same time her bandmate Rick Springfield is in love with her and very supportive but she doesn't take their relationship seriously.  I love Rick Springfield and think he is the perfect person to play an ageing Rockstar because he is a Rockstar and he is also an actor but the only thing I had a problem with was the chemistry between Rick Springfield and Meryl Streep.  His character was a nice guy rockstar and she was a messed up broken woman but even though in real life there is only a 1 year difference in their age they seemed years apart in life for some reason.  They just didn't seem to have the great chemistry that she did with Kevin Kline.  The kissing scenes seemed awkward and forced.

The film was written by Diabalo Cody and directed by Jonathan Demme who has made some great films in the past.  This film was fun but there were a few things that seemed a little off.

Meryl Streep did a great job singing and I think her on screen persona was supposed to be something like Bonnie Raitt but I guess I know too many musicians and she just didn't come across as cool.   Very surprising for Meryl as she always seems to step effortlessly into any character.  What I can say is that when it came to the mom part she had that part down pat.  Meryl spent something like 6 months learning guitar and getting callouses from all the practice but once again I noticed something amiss when the guitar playing didn't match up too well with the music in the film.  That happens and musicians and movie geeks would notice it but I don't know if regular people will care.

I don't want to bash this film as I enjoyed a lot of it but I would have tweeked a couple of elements I think.   I guess we will have to see how it does at the box office.  I doubt this one will earn Meryl an Academy nomination but that's ok,  I am sure she enjoyed the role and learned some new things and at the same time got to spend time with her daughter.   It's all good in the end.

Go see it and decide for yourself.

Bikes vs Cars

I went to see this interesting documentary last night.  Bikes VS Cars is a documentary that looks at what seems to be the war on cars but really is more of a war for freedom of choice to drive or bike in large cities.

Directed by Fredrik Gertten he compares how bikes and cars co-exist in major large cities mostly from the cyclist point of view but it also shows a taxi cab drivers perspective in Denmark where bikes rule the roads and make his cab driving very difficult.

Even Toronto's own former Mayor Rob Ford appears in the documentary as one of the opponents of bike lanes and a major factor in Toronto's waste of money and moving backwards in the move to give Toronto riders safe bike lanes to get them around downtown.

The documentary follows a bike rider in Los Angeles where it used to be a bikng mecca but has since turned into one large traffic jam of people just sitting in their cars for hours going nowhere.

Sao Paulo is also focused in the film with their high number of cyclist deaths because of their poor city planning.  The Mayor instigates a radical decision to secretly pave bike lanes overnight without warning to prevent interference from local businesses and removes 400,00 parking spots in one fowl swoop.  

Urban planners need to start thinking about how to design cities that can co-exist with both cars and bikes because cars aren't going away anytime soon and bike riders will never be safe unless they figure out a way for them to both be an option for commuting in busy cities.

I had a car for most of my life and I love to drive but because of financial reasons I recently sold my car.  I don't have a bike because it isn't practical for where I live and I am too out of shape to be able to ride one very far anyway.  My new normal is to take transit most of the time,  walk when I can and get a rental car when I need to go somewhere that is difficult to get to by transit or if I need to haul things.  I think the car share service is a good alternative to everyone owning their own cars.  If you don't drive everyday it makes sense to share/rent a car when you need it.  
In Toronto the city is increasing the bike share share service available downtown so that people have the option to get around on bikes if they don't have one.   With the high number of bikes that are stolen each year this is also a good option for that.  I don't know what happens when a bike share bike goes missing but I am sure it would prevent a lot of actual thefts of bikes that are then re sold.

I like to drive but in the past 5 years in Toronto it has become impossible to get anywhere between the condo construction and the increased amount of cars on the road and accidents and other delays it is just crazy trying to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time anymore.
I am not a huge fan of the TTC for the fact that it isn't as reliable as it should be but it's the only way to move a lot of people around a congested city that isn't bike friendly.

i remember when I was a kid my mom worked from home and my dad who had a car took the subway to work downtown anyway because of parking.  I think his commute must have taken about 40 minutes.   Now the average commute can be 1-3 hours for some people.  If you add up all that time just trying to get somewhere it's time lost that could be used to spend with friends and family or more productive ways.   No wonder everyone is stressed out.  With commuting sucking a big chunk of your time there is less time to do what you actually need or want to do with your life.

I don't know if the mess large city planners have created can be reversed but small growing cities need to plan more carefully to create cities where there is space for people to live, people to work, people to drive, walk and bike to get around.  Options are the only way.   If I could find a job within walking distance of my house I would.  But it seems like there is nothing but condos for miles where I live so unless I want to clean condos or work for minimum wage in a restaurant there isn't much work available for me in my area.  All of the office jobs are all centred downtown so if I get a job downtown it's an average of about 2 hours a day in commute time.  That's 10 hrs a week just to go to a job and there are so many people that come from the 905 area to downtown and spend a lot more commute time.  It really doesn't make much sense in the long run.  People have to work downtown for the jobs but then they live on the outskirts to be able to afford a decent place to live.  If urban planners planned communities where a certain percentage was housing and a certain percentage was mixed commercial use and another percentage was recreation we might all have a choice to live a much healthier and more productive life.

It makes perfect sense but urban planners don't always operate from the place of common sense but more often because of political agenda unfortunately.  Maybe we need to change the face of politics and how it runs to be able to change our world.

BIKES VS CARS is playing at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto until Aug. 6.   Go see it.

Entourage Movie

Yes, I am a big fan of the Entourage TV show and would binge watch DVD's of the show in one weekend when they were released.  I didn't watch it on HBO but had to wait for the DVD's and watching the ENTOURAGE MOVIE kind of felt like my old binge watching days.

I realized how much I missed watching the shows and I also realized that this film might not have the same appeal to everyone as it did for me.  I realized that because I brought my gay friend who wasn't an Entourage watcher and his assessment after the movie was that it was just "I don't know, kind of as predicted" or something to that effect.

The room full of audience members howled at some of the situations Vinnie Chase and his boys got themselves into.  But my friend didn't laugh as hard as I did and I realized it was because he didn't have the history of each character and the time to develop a love of each of them.  And I suppose as a gay man he wasn't so impressed by the abundance of naked females.  I am probably the one that should have been offended by this but it's part of the character of the shows.  It's excess in every way.  And I guess the fact that I used to work with a bunch of guys that kind of lived in this excess world I could understand that while the fact that it's in Hollywood and with people that have endless bank accounts there are still people that try and live this way even if they aren't Hollywood celebrities.  I knew an 18 year old once that was a Vinnie Chase with an attitude and Daddy's money and I bet he can watch this film and relate to it.

I look past all the objectification of the women and look into the heart of this Entourage group.  Four guys from Queen's, New York trying to make it in Hollywood with the help of super agent Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven, who will do whatever it takes for his pal and client Vinnie Chase played by Adrien Grenier.

Ari Gold is one of the most interesting characters of this film.  He is trying to keep his ego, and anger in check to please his wife while trying to achieve his goals as a studio head and make put the Gold spin on Vinnie Chases movie.

This film is an extension of the series but a little more fuller with more complications and an Entourage baby is even introduced.   The next generation?  Hmmm...

This film has so many celebrity cameos that you can't even count them all.  Some of my favourites include Mark Wahlberg of course and Billy Bob Thornton plays the money guy with his sone being played by Haley Joel Osment, a character you would have never predicted you would see him be.

Then there are the returning Entourage guest appearances by people like Jessica Alba, Andrew Dice Clay, Gary Busey, David Spade, Bob Saget and so many more.

And of course Ari Gold's former gay assistant Lloyd appears again as a successful agent and he convinces Ari to give him away at his wedding and somehow talks Ari into having it at his home.

There are so many crazy things going on with the boys as usual but really at the heart of this movie it's really about the friendship and loyalty of the boys and what they will do for each other.

To me this is the male version of Sex in the City.   People seem to be divided on which team they are on.  I am on team Entourage for sure.   I can also relate because I am on Team Entourage during the Toronto International film festival although my Entourage team can't even come close to the lives of these boys but at least sometimes we get to see the real Mark Wahlberg in person and I can tell you that the guy is a class act in person.   Yes I am still an Entourage fan and I hope that you are too and as I always say go and see the movie and decide for yourself.

The MOVIE will be in theatres starting June 3rd.

Dinner and a Movie

When people ask me what I do I find it hard to say one thing because I always have multiple things that I have on the go at the same time.  Right now my main focus is Food Blogging while I am also trying to finish a documentary that I started many years ago.

I have a  Food Blog called Starving Foodie  and I also have a documentary in post production for my film production company Integrity Films.

My documentary is called You Know Harvey and it's about a Film Festival Volunteer that lives and breathes film festivals only.  He has volunteered at over 50 film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

The documentary was filmed sporadically over about 5 years and is currently in the first editing stages.

I started my food blog after I finished my day job contract and was at home cooking a lot and posting food photos onto facebook and my friends kept telling me to start a food blog so I did.  I already had a blog for random stuff and my film stuff so I created my food blog just to post my food experiments and other things about food that interested me.   It's been over 3 years and it has grown to include festivals,  restaurants, new products and cookbook launches and more.  I have become friends with a bunch of really great food bloggers in the process.

So if you want to find me in my happy place you might find me at the Hot Docs Film Festival watching a Food Documentary and eating some tasty treats.

Please comment below on what is your favourite Food Film that you have ever seen.  I have given you a list of a few of mine in a list on this blog.

And follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I have cooking up.