2008 Toronto Film Festival: Day 5

September 9, 2008 by Liam
Filed under: Movie News

A little disappointment today as I was turned away from the scheduled screening of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. But, I could kinda see it coming, so I guess I’m not too surprised.

It started yesterday when I considered trying to make my way to the movie after the interviews for Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The interviews were scheduled to be done at 5:00 and the movie was supposed to start at 6:00. Would I be able to make it? I checked online earlier in the day and there were still seats available. I considered possibly buying tickets, but at $40 each, the price tag was a little outside of my budget. When decision time came I checked back online and the movie was sold out. I gambled and lost.

I got to today’s 3:00 press screening screening early, but the lineup was still huge. I jumped in line, but by the time the movie started it was too late. There were no seats left and I walked away with my head hung in shame.

On the bright side, immediately after, I went online and bought tickets for a public screening of the movie on Saturday morning. And, we had another reviewer on site who managed to get in. Expect Erin’s thoughts on the film shortly.

Earlier in the day, I caught a screening of Management. The movie stars Jennifer Aniston as a corporate art salesperson who stays at a motel and becomes the object of obsession of Mike (Steve Zahn) who works at the motel which is owned by his parents. It was a nice little movie but I can’t see it having mass appeal. Expect my full review shortly.

Later in the day I caught a screening of 50 Dead Men Walking. The movie, based on a true story, stars Jim Sturgess as Martin McGartland who worked to pass IRA secrets to British security forces in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The movie also stars Ben Kingsley. The movie was actually pretty good — if you’re interested in the IRA and Irish/British history like myself. The interesting story here, of course, is that the movie almost didn’t make it to Toronto when McGartland opposed the release of the movie stating it misrepresented his life. The movie makes its premiere in Toronto on Tuesday.

After a somewhat long day, I was going to attend tonight’s press screening of Pride and Glory starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, but given my experience earlier in the day with The Wrestler, I didn’t want to wait in another line only to be turned away. But, Erin managed to catch the film and will be putting her review online later.

Tomorrow’s planned activities include the press conference for Pride and Glory, interviews for 50 Dead Men Walking and hopefully a screening of Slumdog Millionaire which has been generating buzz this week. If my luck works out, I might also catch an early evening screening of Religulous.

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