Over the past 10 years or so I have attended the Toronto International Film Festival, I had been lucky enough to have seen some wonderful films, however the last couple of years I have been either disappointed with the process, the films or the lack of people involved in films attending. This year was my deciding year if I was going to continue attending. Not happy with my selection time or process I was on the fence.

I have to say this year saved my from jumping ship. I either loved or enjoyed my 7 movies that I attended this year. So much so, that it was hard to come up with my ranking list. So hear are my reviews and impressions of the seven movies I was lucky enough to see.

1. La La Land
2. Mascots
3. Blue Jay
4. Lion
5. Before The Flood
6. Barry

A special mention for my 7th TIFF movie, Justin Timberlake & The Tennessee Kids
1) La La Land. Just announced as the TIFF Peoples Choice winner for 2016, I was so glad that I was able to see this movie before it opens in December. A last minute addition, I picked up this movie the day before as another screening due to demand was announced.
The movie stars Ryan Gosling as a jazz pianist and Emma Stone as an actress in Los Angeles. They have perfect chemistry together. It is directed by Damien Chazelle who also directed Whiplash.
After a couple of  chance meetings they begin a romance. La La Land is being called a modern day musical. Now it is a musical, but I don’t want this to turn people off of it (I personally love Musicals so I may seem a bit bias)
This is not your broadway type musical where the whole movie is one big song. No the this is more along the lines of a Hollywood musical from the 40’s.
I loved the story, the costumes , the entire style of the movie and of course the music. The entire movie I had a smile on my face even during the last scene which also brought out a few tears.
This is a movie that I will being going to see again when it comes out to a wide release in December.

2) Mascots. This is the movie that I wanted to see the most when the films were announced. It ended up being the last movie I saw on the final Saturday night. One of my favourite movies of all time is Best In Show. So I always always look forward to seeing anything that Christopher Guest and cast of great improv actors come up with. This one was no Best In Show, but it wasn’t A Mighty Wind either, so it was a quite enjoyable movie. It is the mockumentary about the World Mascot competition and who will get the Gold Fluffy Award. The usual cast is here. Jane Lynch,Jennifer Coolidge, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr, Chris O’Dowd, Parker Posey, and of course Fred Willard. They are all incredibly funny and I can’t wait to see this one again, for those subtle jokes that you miss the first time

This movie will be skipping any sort of theatrical release and going straight to Netflix in October. I highly recommend it

3) Blue Jay. Firstly this not a documentary about the Toronto Blue Jays like my friend originally thought, it is actually the furthest thing from it. Like Mascots this is another movie that is going straight to Netflix at the end of the year. This movie stars only two actors Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson and it is shot entirely in black and white. It is about two people who meet up unexpectedly in a grocery store and then spending the next 24 hours together. Well written and acted, this was a bit of a surprise for me how much I enjoyed it as well a twist scene in that last 20 minutes makes this film thought provoking about a misunderstanding and age can change the outcomes of your life.

Look for it on Netflix at the end of 2016

4) Lion. Lion was one of the most talked about movies at TIFF, and I was able to get an extra showing for it. I had heard that it was the tearjerker of the festival. Is it bad that I didn’t shed a tear, maybe but I blame it on the fact that I already knew the story. It stars Dev Patel ,Nicole Kidman and I think a forgetabble Rooney Mara. Patel plays Saroo Khan who at 5 years old becomes lost and homeless in a strange city, only later to be adopted by an Australian couple. The movie is based on a true story about how Saroo used the then new Goggle Earth to figure out what really happened to him. The movie of rm e was a little long, but I am sure this will be front and centre at the upcoming awards shows.

This movie is worth a look for sure.

5) Before the Flood. This the big Leo climate change save the world documentary. Also it was my first movie of TIFF.

I am pretty sure the main reason that Leo stars in this, is not that he is passionate about climate change (he is). It is to get people to watch it.  We get to see Leo travel the world in hope of finding answers to how we can help protect the world we live in. Over the 90+ minutes we are giving a stunning visuals of  the Alberta tar sands, how Miami Beach is going to be lost under water, to what is becoming the lack of forests being destroyed.

This documentary is definitely worth a watch, yet I have to say Leo is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

6) Barry

I put this movie last in my ranking. Not necessary because it was bad, mainly because it was just ok. There was nothing really wrong with it at all, but it’s not really that memorable.   Lately there have been a few movies based on some part of Barack Obama’s life. This one takes when a then 20 year old Barry moves to New York City. It offers an insight into is life as an university student. The mistakes he makes and trying to figure out what he should be doing.

The actor who plays “Barry” is Devon Terrell is spot on with his Obama impression. The rest of the movie is worth a watch on Netflix,  but I am not sure if I would pay money to see it a theater.

7) Justin Timberlake and The Tennessee Kids . I am not actually sure why this was at TIFF, but it was fine with me. I am giving this special mention, because it was more an event than a movie. The event would be his 20/20 Experience tour , which I was very lucky to have seen all three times is came to Toronto. This was his Jonathan Demme directed concert film. For those looking to see a Truth or Dare style concert documentary you will be disappointed. This is only his concert performed on the final 2 dates in Las Vegas. While this is third movie that I saw going straight to Netflix in October it seems the most obvious one to go that route.

This screening was showing in the Imax theatre. At that time we learned that originally it was to filmed and screened in Imax prior the Netflix deal. My audience would be the only audience in the world to see this concert as it was intended to viewed. Trust me I felt like I was back at the show, and at times I forgot I was in a theatre and almost started to sing along. This is a must watch for any Timberlake fan and I can’t wait to see it again next month.

So here it is, the 1st real award show of 2016. (sorry People Choice A list shows only)

Instead of bombarding my Facebook and twitter feed I thought that I would do a live blog post.

I was super excited for Ricky Gervais to host. Well he started off strong, the Sean Penn and Caitlyn Jenner joke were very funny, the rest of the monologue. meh. I have heard it before and the joke about putting a globe up his ass was a sad attempt to be edgy. You could have and have done way better Ricky.

Then something happened Jonah Hill for some reason feels that he is a comedian. I really don’t even understand why people think he is an actor, but whatever. He went on and on about the bear from his man crush Leo’s movie. He must have been sad that Leo didn’t pay anyone to put him in that movie, you know like all the past Leo movie’s that somehow Jonah Hill appears in.  Jane Fonda was having NONE OF IT. Like nothing.

Total side question why is Katy Perry there, and why is she in the front table?

Kate Winslet wins for a movie I didn’t even know she was in and no one even saw, Jobs. She even seemed surprised. Sorry the movie is called Steve Jobs see I had no idea

J. Lo and The Rock, probably the best looking pair to ever present an award    appear and really I don’t care who they give the award to, as they are too good looking to turn your eyes from.

Some women wins for a show I have never seen and sooooo annoying that I will now never watch the show that she has just won for.

Ricky is back and does make a good Ben Affleck joke at Matt Damon’s expense.

OMG Star wars wins an award. Oh wait actually its Oscar Isaac for something that I have never heard of.

Lady Gaga (looking surprisingly elegant )and Tom Ford present an award to Christian Slater.Now that is a sentence that I never thought I would write.

Jamie Foxx presents and has the best “Steve Harvey I made a mistake”impression ever about not having Straight out of Compton nominated. Quentin Tarantino’s composer wins for The Hateful Eight and seems not to impressed with the joke.

Now Amy Schumer and her overly reported new “BFF” Jennifer Lawerence. They were as annoying as I thought it would be. Amy repurposed the same jokes for 100th time, yes I get it, your awkward, you swear and want to sleep with lots of men ( my eyes are currently rolling back) Jennifer also attempts to be funny..next.

Matt Damon wins for Best Actor in a Comedy for The Martin. That really is the only thing comedic about the thing. I could go on a rest about how much of an insult that is to actually comedies and comedians, but i have decided to move on.

Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt present together. Proving my motto that  I only want to see  really good looking people on TV. Add to it how funny they were and they could have stayed up the rest of the show.

Now its time for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Movie and the winner is  Sylvester Stallone. For some reason this made me happy. I was glad to see finally someone win for creating a role that is iconic. It doesn’t matter if you like him or not. Way to go Rocky!

Some show called Mozart in the Jungle keeps winning in the comedy category. I have never heard of it and probably will never watch it.

So how crazy are the Golden Globes. They gave Lady Gaga an award for best actress in a drama. She rambled about how she wanted to act first not sing, but all anyone will remember is the Leo eye raise.

Sam Smith wins for a song from James Bond that I have never heard  or never will

Something called Mr. Robot wins for Drama.

Ricky is back to introduce Mel Gibson.

“I would rather have a drink in a hotel room with Mel Gibson than Bill Cosby” Well done Ricky, well done

“What the fuck does sugar tits  even mean?” and I have now become interested in this show again.

Denzel gets an lifetime achievement award blah blah Jennifer Lawrence wins another for Joy. I really have no idea why but she does blah blah blah some more awards that make no sense at all. The Martin winning best comedy or musical. Please.

At least Taraji P Henson won for a show that people actually watch!

The movie about the kid in a room wins and then what everyone was waiting for Leo for the WIN.

Now best Movie – not a surprise here,  it is for the bear almost killed Leo in the Canadian Wilderness movie – The Revenant. Everyone acts surprised, I go to bed.

Now I wait for the Oscar nominations this Thursday

The Golden Globes – 6/10

Ricky Gervais as host 7/10

Last week I was able to attend the NKOTB Main Event Tour. Now I have been very clear. I have an overall dislike for this band.
At 40 years old, apparently I should fit right into their fan base, but I don’t. I never at any point purchased, listened to, or remotely liked this band.

So it is to my surprise that for some reason I have seen this band 5 times (including when they opened for Tiffany back in 1988) How this has happened is hard to explain at this time.

So when I heard that I would attending “The Main Event” I was excited, only because one of my favorite bands from the 90’s was also on the tour –TLC. I was so looking forward to seeing them, minus the “L” (RIP Left Eye) as well as Nelly that having to watch NKOTB for one of the nights would be bearable. Watching them both night, not a chance.

For this post, I will only focus on the New Kid part of this show.

The whole theme of the was boxing, hence The Main Event. The stage was shaped like a ring at the centre of the stage and they entered like they were boxers entering the ring for the match.

They opened with a song called Block Party, at least that is what the set list said. I quickly realized that NKOTB use confetti like Beyoncé uses wind machines. At one point I wasn’t even sure a new kid was on stage. It was covered with confetti.

They crowed made up of about 95% women seemed to be enjoying themselves, so that was good. Joey and Donnie seemed to carrying the show vocally. I was just starting to think, even though I will never be a fan, I can see that they really play for the fans and everything seemed to be working. Until something happened. Something that left me speechless and slightly horrified.

The New Kid named Joey decided to do a rendition of the Eurythmics classic Sweet Dreams while all dressed in white, and dry humping the stage. It was horrible, possible one of the worst things I have seen in years on stage, and remember I have seen this band 5 times! I was slightly scared. Listen new kid, just because you can sing, it doesn’t mean the you should sing any song you want. Annie Lennox wherever you are, please never look this up on You Tube.

The New Kids went on to sing more, grind the stage more, thank Jesus more and blow extreme amounts of confetti out of the machines.

I left a few songs before the end but I got the feel for the show.

For some reason I am sure in my life I see this band for the 6th time.

3/5