One of the ‘lost classics’ of the last 20 years, still firmly connects what is often considered (perhaps unfairly) the prime of both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie’s careers. Here they teamed up to become the double act that never truly was, another project alongside the production time of their other familiar classic work together, ‘Blackadder’, that brought them into the publics minds in a way which never allowed them to escape being perceived as an entity.

Numerous cries over the years for them to continue where they left off have led to no further work together of this kind, or of any similarity to ‘Blackadder’ (mid to late 1980’s), instead they opted for the Comedy-Drama hybrid that was ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ (1990 - 1993) that was more them featuring in someone else’s work and not entirely satisfactory from a fans perspective. Although ‘Jeeves & Wooster’ was popular, they’ve never matched the sheer oddness, creativity, individual (but grounded in comedy history) that was the utter, mind-blowing hilarity of the surreal sketch shows they did for ‘A Bit of Fry & Laurie’. Yes, even 10 to 20 years down the line, you see one on the screen, and however good you can’t help but recall how well they worked together.

For me, this is the sudden announcement of one of the ‘holy grails’ of comedy shows I watched as a teenager, something that deserves the wider audience and consideration of those willing to blind-buy something that is ideal for DVD. Very sophisticated, very adult, very silly, very very funny.

‘A Bit of Fry & Laurie’ at BBC Comedy Guide (includes several clips).
‘A Bit of Fry & Laurie’ Fansite of Script Archives.
‘A Bit of Fry & Laurie’ Review / Article at ‘Off the Telly’ by Ian Jones.

I’m not a fan of the North American title of the film which is just a bit gauche. I was however, a fan of the film. Here is my review of The Alzheimer Case.

Director Erik Van Looy can only be described as the Belgian Michael Mann. This glossy, slick thriller seems to be cut from similar cloth as Manhunter, Heat and Collateral.

(Potentially *mild spoilers* to follow, be warned)

Continue Reading "The Memory of a Killer (aka De Zaak Alzheimer)"...

As I came into this final day of the Toronto Film Festival I toyed with the idea of jamming three more screenings in, just to be sure that I’d taken maximum advantage of what the festival had to offer. In the end, though, OldBoy was rejected on the grounds that I already own it on DVD and have seen it several time and I passed on Trauma due to pure fatigue. The one film that I absolutely refused to miss out on, however, was Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Steamboy"...

This is my last report from the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Unfortunately, I was unable to stay in Toronto for the entire film festival, which meant that I missed a lot of anticipated films that played only during the last few days (“Steamboy”, “Vital”, “Zebraman”). However, I did manage to catch three films before returning to America’s heartland.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report - The Ninth Day, The World, Kontroll Reviews, and some closing thoughts"...

Well there we are. Another year has past and I am done. Yesterday was my last day and as it is when you see so many films in a week there are bound to be some highs and lows. After being starstruck by Ted Raimi I managed to get back on movie track and start my day with Im Kwon-taek’s Low Life…

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Low Life, Cafe Lumiere and Vital Reviews"...

The Toronto Film Festival is quickly coming to an end but there are still some quality films to be had. Case in point: Shinya Tsukamoto’s Vital. Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man is one of the most influential and extreme pieces of experimental film to come out of Japan - or just about anywhere, really - in past years but it was his Bullet Ballet that really convinced me this was a man to watch, someone with important things to say about humanity. Last year’s Snake of June is a flat out masterpiece that cemented Tsukamoto’s reputation as a master film maker, at least in my mind, so I was more than a little excited to hear that he had a new film coming starring Tadanobu Asano - one of my very favorite actors in the world. Tonight was my chance to see that film and I did not leave disappointed.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Vital"...

So the strategy has always been to look at the best bets e-mail each night and plan out the following day. Wake up at the butt crack of dawn and buy tickets at the box office. A sound strategy that has worked, with one exception. Today was no different except I had time to kill so I grabbed some breakfast and went underground in the ManuLife building to await my viewing of Low Life. When who should I see at the table next to me but Ted Raimi. Ted FREAKING Raimi!!!

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Andrew harasses Ted Raimi"...

The problem with doing a run of shows through to and past midnight to only have to do it all again four hours later is that you would much rather grab those precious few minutes of sleep rather than write reviews. But I am only one show away from ending my TIFF experience tonight so I better get cracking and get you the goods you’ve been waiting to read…

Continue Reading "TIFF report: Millions, Eros and Zebraman"...

It’s the last day of film viewing for me at this year’s festival which makes me a sad young gent but I’m ushering it out with a four film viewing day. I’m half way through it now, holed up in an internet cafe with a four hour lull between films and eating candy that will surely rot my teeth while singing the metal songs swimming in my head from last night’s Midnight Madness screening of “Zebraman”. Ok, but really, I should talk about the films. I had high hopes for Calvaire but, like my first time being intimate, tall hopes and pleasure were lost - quickly. Going into The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things having already read the novel by J.T. Leroy I was prepared for a tough subject material watch.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report - The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, Calvaire"...

Well, the Toronto Film Festival is winding down which, at this point, ranks as a pretty good thing in my book. I’ve done sixteen screenings so far, with tickets for two more in hand, and I’m starting to overload. That said, I did catch two solid screenings today and would have done three if this morning’s Kung Fu Hustle screening hadn’t been cancelled. Read on for word on the Eros anthology film and Takashi Miike’s Zebraman.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Eros, Zebraman"...

Gah!  I was lusting after this film!  All of us Twitch-ers were!  We all had tickets for this morning at nine, but they didn’t do us a whole lot of good ... apparently some time between the first screening and last night the Festival organizers released their print for a private screening.  Bad move.  The private screening people killed the third reel.  Killed it dead.  Thus, no second Kung Fu Hustle screening.  All you people who went to the first one:  I hate you.

One of the tricks to surviving a film festival the scale of Toronto’s is knowing how to pace yourself. I did not do this yesterday. Five screenings, with start times running from twelve noon till twelve midnight, is enough to sap the life out of anyone but luckily the films were good enough to keep me going through the day. The fatigue didn’t really set in until today, the morning after ... Anyway, on the slate were Todd Solondz’ Palindromes, Alexander Payne’s Sideways, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Cafe Lumiere, Alejandro Almenabar’s The Sea Inside and Nimrod Antal’s Kontroll.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: Palindromes, Sideways, Cafe Lumiere, The Sea Inside, Kontroll Reviews"...

Finally free of the shackles of necessary employment I made my way back into the circuit to make a strong finish to this year’s festival. Last night I made two stops on the festival gravy train: Alejandro Amenábar’s The Sea Inside and Nimród Antal’s Kontroll at Midnight Madness.

Continue Reading "TIFF Report: The Sea Inside and Kontroll"...

I was lamenting to some people earlier that, due to my constant running around to theatres and whatnot, I had yet to have a real “line experience”. You know, where you strike up a conversation with someone, start sharing films, etc. Well, I had my first line experience of the festival last night, while standing in the rush line for Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s “Niceland”. While talking to some acquaintances, a man came up to me out of nowhere and asked if I wanted a ticket to “Niceland”, and for only $10. Before the other people in line could react, I whipped out the billfold and - Score! - snagged my ticket (checking to make sure it was the right screening and that I wasn’t getting ripped off).

Continue Reading "TIFF Report - Niceland"...

Variety is reporting that a pair of excellent film - My Summer of Love and A Hole in My Heart, two of the best I’ve seen at this year’s festival - have been picked up for domestic distribution.  My Summer of Love will be coming through Focus Features which is a good fit for both film and company.  A Hole In My Heart will be distributed through Newmarket and while it’s an excellent film they’re going to have a hard time finding anybody willing to actually put it on their screens.  This is a guaranteed NC-17 film, and a pretty harsh one at that ...