Author Archive
 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: Madonna’s “W.E.”

> One of the enduring questions of Madonna’s illustrious quarter-century career is how someone so brilliant in managing every other facet of her persona has consistently made such terrible decisions when it comes to movie...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Your Sister’s Sister”

> Lynn Shelton’s Humpday in 2009 was one of the most engaging pictures to come out of the mumblecore movement (“mumblecore,” for the uninitiated = ultra-low-budget, small scale film with dialogue mostly improv...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: TUESDAYS This Fall

>TUESDAYS this fall officially start the night of September 20, but we get a sneak peak at the night tonight with the early premieres of three shows:  Parenthood on NBC and 90210 and Ringer on The CW.  Click “re...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Rampart”

> Oren Moverman’s first film as a director, The Messenger, was a beautifully contained, emotionally detailed story about soldiers assigned to deliver tragic news to the families of the deceased.  In his new film RAMP...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Ten Year”

> TEN YEAR, which premiered tonight at the Toronto Film Festival, is one of the few festival movies that has the feel of a potential hit.  This is because, apart from its hugely engaging cast and, to be sure, some effectiv...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Albert Nobbs”

> Rodrigo Garcia’s film ALBERT NOBBS (he shares auteurship with Glenn Close, who served as screenwriter with John Banville and Gabriella Prekop and as a producer as well as star) caters to what used to be called the James...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Shame”

> Although Fox Searchlight didn’t actually acquire Steve McQueen’s film Shame until last Saturday, in a sense the marketing campaign for the film began when the producers made it clear that the film would not be edi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: MONDAYS This Fall

>In one week, the curtain goes up on the new television season.  To get you ready for the madness of Premiere Week on broadcast television, we have summarized the ShowBuzzDaily ratings estimates for MONDAYS this Fall. ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Hick”

> Derick Martini’s HICK is like a Sundance movie that took the wrong indie-film exit and wound up in Toronto.  For whatever reason, Toronto’s film festival tends to find itself with fewer stories of young peopl...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: New Fall Show On-Air Promotion — Update through Sep 11

>With network on-air promotion activity tracked in hit summer shows (those near or above a 2.0 Adult 18-49 rating) for about seven weeks since mid-July, the networks’ promotional priorities are summarized below....
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: Summer Broadcast Ratings Sep 5-11

>The NFL season kicked off Thursday, and NBC was the prime beneficiary this week.  The Peacock carried the season opener on Thursday night and the premiere of Sunday Night Football, with both games delivering about a ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: Francis Ford Coppola’s “Twixt”

> It’s anyone’s guess why Francis Ford Coppola, at the age of 72, with some enduring cinema classics to his name, would decide to make a movie that’s a cross between a David Lynch retread, an old horror cheapi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Salmon Fishing In the Yemen”

> The first substantial buy of the Toronto Film Festival (Shame had sold first, but for art film prices) turned out to be Salmon Fishing In the Yemen, a modestly engaging romantic comedy from Lasse Hallstrom.  Hallstrom ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

COMING TODAY — Television Updates

>Coming today: THE SKED: Summer Broadcast Ratings Update.  NBC will win the week of Sep 5-11 handily thanks to two NFL regular season games, the season opener on Thursday and the Sunday night premiere (which prelimina...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: “Drive”

> DRIVE is a self-conscious genre movie, and those are tricky propositions.  On the one hand, you need to make your existential or other textual statement with all the artistry at your command; on the other, you still have...
by Mitch Salem