All posts by Raymond Tomlin

About Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.

Ah, The Holiday Season is Nearly Upon Us, plus JB Shayne

Playing, perhaps, the most unsympathetic character to be found on screen this year, Charlize Theron remains in the Oscar sweepstakes for a Best Actress nomination. Not that most moviegoers will be rushing out to their local multiplex to catch a screening of this anti-holiday cheer Christmas film from director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) and Diablo Cody (Juno).

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And in cinema items of note, VanRamblings offers you the following …

  • The Washington DC film critics have weighed in with their choices for best in film in 2011, and as was the case with the New York Film Critics, awarded The Artist a Best Picture designation.
  • The Top 10 film lists from individual film critics of note have come to be published, commencing with The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw and his top 10 films of 2011, then moving on to NPR / New York Magazine’s David Edelstein, here. Amidst controversy (see below), The New Yorker’s David Denby lists his 2011 Top 10. Rest assured, there’s more to come.
  • So much controversy. Seems that New Yorker film critic David Denby has published his review of David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo today, despite an embargo from Sony preventing such publishing. Sony’s Scott Rudin has banned Denby from future screenings of his films. Gawd, there’s politics everywhere these days.
  • Paddy Considine’s directorial début, Tyrannosaur, won the top prize at the British Independent Film awards Sunday evening, with the film’s lead Olivia Colman picking up the Best Actress award. Best Actor went to Michael Fassbender for his role in Shame.

Well, that’s it for cinema news for today. Now stayed tune below for …

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And, finally for today, apropos of nothing, a video of the inimitable Mr. J. B. Shayne and John Tanner, circa 1980, interviewed by Terry David Mulligan.

Tomboy: Nuanced Tale Explores Pre-Adolescent Gender Identity


Midway through the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, while surfing through VanRamblings’ twitter account, we ran across a rave from Hitfix film contributor Guy Lodge, for Céline Sciamma’s award-winning Tomboy, a reportedly unassuming, delightful and nuanced gem of a tale of ten-year-old Laure (Zoé Héran) who moves to a new neighbourhood over the summer holidays, and impetuously decides to introduce herself to the local kids as Mikael, a boy. Tomboy opens this Friday at the VanCity.
Here’s what some of the critics have to say about Tomboy

Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Scharzbaum writes, “The startling power of Tomboy, a beautiful, matter-of-fact French drama about a young girl who wants to be a boy — and for one singular summer around her 10th birthday passes as one — begins with the one-of-a-kind natural performance by Zoé Héran as Laure. Taking her family’s move to a new neighborhood as a chance for reinvention, she introduces herself as Mikael, happily playing sports with the guys and even attracting a romance-minded girl (Jeanne Disson). Equally admirable in Céline Sciamma’s hopeful drama: Laure’s empathetic parents. Grade: A-

The Los Angeles Time’s Robert Abele writes, “Quiet and naturalistic in the best way, the French film Tomboy rolls out a tale of malleable pre-adolescent identity with a marked absence of sensationalism … Anchored by Héran’s bravely nuanced turn and the impish cuteness of Malonn Lévana — whose giddy joy at briefly inheriting a protective older brother is thoroughly charming — Tomboy stands out as an especially affecting delicacy about the thrills and pitfalls of exploring who one is.

Critical response gathered at the Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE) are almost all as equally as laudatory concerning Tomboy, providing every good reason to plunk down your hard-earned dollars this Friday evening at 6:30 pm, or over the next week on Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Tuesday, November 29th: Cinema Award Announcements Galore

The Artist

The news you’ve all been waiting for, the first out of the box major awards announcement in this early Oscar season, the New York Film Critics’ Circle award winners, announced ‘over’ Twitter. While Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells seems to be in the midst of an apoplectic meltdown over the NYFCC’s choice for Best Picture, the rest of the Oscar prediction crowd tweets a more sanguine reaction to this morning’s awards announcement.

New York Film Critics Circle

Here, then, without further ado, the New York Film Critics awards …
Best Picture: The Artist
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)
Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball)
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Best Foreign-Language Film: A Separation
Best Actor: Brad Pitt (Moneyball, The Tree of Life)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, The Help and Take Shelter)
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks (Drive)
Best Nonfiction Film: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Best First Feature: Margin Call

Continue reading Tuesday, November 29th: Cinema Award Announcements Galore

Who Will Win the New York Film Critics’ Circle Awards?

Gold Derby editors Tom O’Neil and Adam Waldowski explore the likely winners of the New York Film Critics’ Circle awards, which will be decided tomorrow morning, Tuesday, November 29th. Above, they swap their predictions plus dish the forecasts of 11 experts surveyed by Gold Derby.
And while we’re on the subject of New York Film critics, and potential forthcoming Oscar winners, the New York Times’ Melina Ryzik is back on the Oscar watch scene with the Times’ foray into all things Oscar, The Carpetbagger. Here’s her first video of the season where she and fellow Bagger Jeremy Beiler have a look at this year’s potential Academy Award contenders, asking opinionated New Yorkers about all things Oscar.

And, IndieWire’s Peter Knegt weighs in on who the folks at IndieWire believe will win the various New York Film Critics’ Circle awards, provides insight into the Gotham Independent Film Awards (and his prediction as to today’s Gotham winners), the Independent Spirit Awards (also set for announcement, tomorrow, Nov. 29), Wednesday’s National Board of Review projected winners, and next Sunday’s British Independent Film Awards.
In case you were wondering: yes, the awards season is just beginning.