Have you signed up for Hollywood Suite yet? You get several movie channels with hundreds of titles hand-picked by picky industry experts, all in Hi-Def and uncut. Plus the service is all-Canadian and cheaper than Netflix!
Which is my way of saying thanks to Hollywood Suite boss David Kines for inviting me for the second year in a row to the Toronto Film Critics Awards. Their annual critics and cocktails deal was held Tuesday night at the Carlu in downtown Toronto.
Have to admit I feel like a TV spy among this movie crowd. There were some very long speeches and way too many dick jokes, although nobody made the obvious crack that they were going to “stick it out for another year.”
There are around 40 Toronto film critics who vote on this thing. That’s like an entire NFL football roster, plus subs. Last year they saluted a really bad Coen brothers film , the one where the guy with the guitar chased after a cat and the more interesting story was right over here.
This year, “Boyhood” was the top pick. I haven’t seen “Boyhood,” but I lived it and I really enjoyed it.
The runner up was this horrible film my daughter tricked me into seeing over Christmas, “Inherent Vice.” It is being projected in Toronto the old fashioned way, on 70mm film. Coincidentally, I got about 70 min. of shut eye during this two-and-a-half hour bore.
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Again, the Toronto Film Critics missed the obvious Best Picture choice: “Birdman.” Michael Keaton has really let himself go but he’s still the one edgy guy you’d want to sit next to on an airplane.
Very few winners actually show up to accept TFC awards but several sent half-assed video thank yous. J.K. Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for “Whiplash” and sent a greeting. Richard Linklater Skyped thanks after winning Best Director for “Boyhood.” Moat point out it is just way too cold to come to Toronto in January.
A couple of young filmmakers, Albert Shin and Eui Yong Zong, picked up cheques and encouragement as Best Emerging Artist and Best Student Film.
A $100,000 cheque goes with the Best Canadian Film award. It went to Denis Villeneuve for “Enemy.” He then promptly promised to split it with the two runners-up: Michael Dowse (“The F Word”) and Xavier Dolan (“Mommy”). With Enemy’s like that, who needs friends?
