My 2008 Preliminary Film List

My preliminary film list for this year is below. We'll see by Monday which films I managed to get. Since I do have a few films with bigger names, it wouldn't surprise me if I didn't get all of the films in my list. My friend is going to drop this order off on Thursday, so I'll post the box number when I get it, so people can get an idea of how things are progressing this year.

$5 a Day: I think Christopher Walken could be really fun to watch in this. Saw Amanda Peet at the festival before in Griffin & Phoenix.

Achilles and the Tortoise: I saw both Takeshis' and Glory to the Filmmaker! at the festival in previous years, and as impenenetrable as Takeshi Kitano can be sometimes, his films are always interesting.

All Around Us

The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World

The Brothers Bloom

Un Conte de Noel: Saw Mathieum Amalric in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly last year at the fest, and Anne Consigny a few years back in L'Equipier. Plus, it has Catherine Deneuve.

Control Alt Delete: Have to see at least one funny Canadian film (last year was Young People F-ing, and Sonja Bennett from that film is in this one as well). Plus, having had to do Y2K conversion work myself, I figure this film will be that much funnier.

Detroit Metal City: Teen wants to become a pop singer but ends up fronting a death metal band? Plus it's in Japanese? Can't go wrong with that. Plus, it has Gene Simmons.

La Fille de Monaco

Food, Inc.: Figure this would be a good companion to the documentary I saw in 2005 at the festival, We Feed the World (http://tifftalk.blogspot.com/2005/09/we-feed-world.html)

L'Heure d'ete: It wouldn't be a festival if I didn't see a Juliette Binoche film. I saw Olivier Assayas at the festival back in 2004 with Clean, and Binoche in Quelques jours en septembre and Paris, je t'aime in 2006, and Le Voyage du ballon rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon) in 2007

The Hurt Locker

It Might Get Loud: sounds (no pun intended) like a really interesting documentary.

JCVD: I hear Jean-Claude Van Damme is pretty funny when he's being self-depricating.

New York, I Love You: I saw Paris, je t'aime back in 2006, plus I like New York, so figured why not.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: I saw Michael Cera last year with Juno (which went on to be a monster hit), and I remember Kat Dennings from the 40-Year Old Virgin.

Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies (Mavericks panel): Sounds like it could be a good discussion, and I saw Julian Schnabel last year at the fest with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It was at the Elgin (guess that's not going to happen this year!) and he spoke for a bit before the movie.

Radio Love

The Real Shaolin

The Sky Crawlers: I usually end up seeing one anime-type film each year. Last year was Vexille, Renaissance the year before that. Plus, I liked director Mamoru Oshii's work in Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, and Jin-Roh.

Synecdoche, New York: I figure with Charlie Kaufman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, how can you go wrong? (hopefully I don't end up eating those words :-)) Guess the last time I saw Hoffman and Keener together was in Capote.

Tulpan: needed to get at least one film that wasn't a documentary, or based in western Europe, North America, or Japan. Story sounded like it could be engaging.

White Night Wedding: have to see at least one Scandanavian film each year (Jar City in 2007, Jade Warrior and Falkenberg Farewell in 2006, Producing Adults in 2004).

The Wrestler: Seems like this role would be a good fit for Mickey Rourke. Picked but didn't get Aronofsky's The Fountain in 2006 (although it's probably debatable whether that was a good thing or not).

Zack and Miri Make a Porno: I like Seth Rogan (although he's a bit overexposed these days) and Elizabeth Banks (guess the 40-Year Old Virgin was the last time they were together in film), and I saw Banks in person last year at the premiere of Bill with Aaron Eckhart. What I'm really hoping for is a Q&A with director Kevin Smith. If you've never seen An Evening With Kevin Smith, which shows him speaking at college campuses, rattling off stories about his professional and personal life, you don't know what you're missing.

Tags: 2008,films