By Mr. Will Wong

Following on the Canadian Screen Award-winning success of its first season, Webseries TOKENS‘ now in its second season, delivers even more belly laughs!

The Series centering on Sammie Pang (Connie Wang), a Chinese-Canadian woman looking to find her breakout meaningful role as an Actor, leaving her agency On Call Casting and booking a role in a remake of a Martial a\Arts flick, “The Phoenix”. Things definitely looked better on-paper and the nonsensical tone-deafness of the industry continues to rear its head on Sammie and her colleagues. But what does it look like for her to take a stand on the shallowness of “Diversity Casting”? And how ever will she be able to make her true authentic voice be heard when those in power don’t care to nurture her voice, even though they present on a superficial level the illusion that they care?

Joining the Cast this season are talents including Sarena Parmar, Cindy Sampson, Indy Saluja and Tara Strong. In less capable hands, some of the searing satirre and humour Comedy of TOKENS by Director/Writer Winnifred Jong might be a bit iffy. Jong manages to strike that fine balance perfectly poking fun at stereotypes, “white ignorance” and how the cycle is gate-kept. It’s all silly, but silly with a purpose.

The Ensemble work wonderfully together, led by Wang who slowly but surely is finding her voice and purpose after navigating some real absurdity in the business. I find it actually quite comical Sammie with a background talent agency similar to one I worked with years ago, so I can definitely relate! Parmar is fun as Nandita, bringing energy to the mix and Fuad Ahmed as Vasant is comical in his self-absorbedness as a recognizable Bollywood name trying reclaim a little fame. Shelley Thompson as Sammie‘s meddling former agent Betty is a delight.

Defintely worth a watch, especially as these quick little hits start and finish before you even know it! You can now stream the second season of TOKENS on iTunes.

Brandon Cronenberg is back with INIFINITY POOL. Here’s a first glimpse of the official Trailer.

Synopsis:

While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. A tragic accident leaves them facing a zero-tolerance policy for crime: either you’ll be executed, or, if you’re rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.

Elevation Pictures release INIFITY POOL January 27, 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

TIFF is delighted to announce its Canada’s Top Ten list of both features and short films for 2022. Selected by TIFF’s programmers in consultation with industry panelists, including filmmakers and festival programmers from across Canada, this year’s list represents a diverse range of new voices in fiction and documentary. It celebrates some of our most storied and award-winning filmmakers offering audiences a variety of perspectives, insights, and experiences from coast to coast.

TIFF would also like to recognize the privilege we have to celebrate these filmmakers on the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Wendat, and the Haudenosaunee. Today, the meeting place of Toronto (also known as Tkaronto) is home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to work on this land and to be able to screen works of Indigenous filmmakers at TIFF Bell Lightbox for audiences. 

“Bold and unapologetic, this year’s Canada’s Top Ten reflects one of the most diverse editions to date and heralds an exciting new wave of Canadian storytelling,” stated Anita Lee, TIFF, Chief Programming Officer. “I am so thrilled to present this stellar selection of films in my first year as TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer.”

Canada’s Top Ten Official Selections of 2022
Features
Black Ice | dir. Hubert Davis 
Brother | dir. Clement Virgo
Cette Maison | dir. Miryam Charles
Crimes of the Future | dir. David Cronenberg
I Like Movies | dir. Chandler Levack
Something You Said Last Night | dir. Luis De Filippis
To Kill a Tiger | dir. Nisha Pahuja
Riceboy Sleeps | dir. Anthony Shim
ROSIE | dir. Gail Maurice
Viking | dir. Stéphane Lafleur

Shorts 
Belle River | dir. Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau, Yannick Nolin
Bill Reid Remembers | dir. Alanis Obomsawin
The Flying Sailor | dir. Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis
Lay Me by the Shore | dir. David Findlay
Municipal Relaxation Module | dir. Matthew Rankin
Nanitic | dir. Carol Nguyen
No Ghost in the Morgue | dir. Marilyn Cooke
Same Old | dir. Lloyd Lee Choi
Simo | dir. Aziz Zoromba
Violet Gave Willingly | dir. Claire Sanford

Canada’s Top Ten selections will screen January 26–29 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. More details to come in 2023. 

On January 26, the Canada’s Top Ten programme will feature a multi-session Industry Conversations featuring special guests and TIFF Talent alumni, as well as an opening reception to celebrate this year’s selections. 

Canada’s Top Ten Industry Forum – January 26, 2023

Addressing Systemic Racism in Canada’s Media Sector Part 2: Where Are We Now?
Time: 12pm–1:30pm
Guests confirmed to date: 
Chanda Chevannes, Executive Producer, National Film Board of Canada
Marcia Douglas, Director, English Content, International and Export, Canada Media Fund
Joan Jenkinson, Executive Director, Black Screen Office
Gosia Kamela, Head of CBC Films
Mehernaz Lentin, National Director of Feature Film, Telefilm Canada
Kerry Swanson, Executive Director, Indigenous Screen Office
Moderator: Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF

SPOTLIGHT: New Canadian Talent
Time: 2:30pm–3:30pm
Guest details to come
Moderator: Jason Anderson, Programmer, Short Cuts, TIFF

PERSPECTIVES: The Future of Canadian Content
Time: 4:30pm–5:30pm
Guests confirmed to date: 
Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, Canada Media Fund
Noah Segal, Co-President, Elevation Pictures
Moderator: Barry Hertz, Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor, The Globe and Mail 

Ticket holders for the Canada’s Top Ten Industry Forum receive access to all three sessions in addition to a catered lunch and an invitation to the Canada’s Top Ten Opening Cocktail Reception on the evening of January 26. Tickets on sale December 14. For more information, and additional guest details to come, visit tiff.net/ctt.

A special selection of titles will be available on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox, celebrating previous Canada’s Top Ten breakouts. More information coming soon to http://digital.tiff.net/. 

(Photo credit: Elevation Pictures)

Just having wrapped production in Toronto, Sofia Coppola‘s upcoming PRISCILLA centers on Priscilla Presley and her marriage to Elvis and time living at Graceland. Coppola writes, directs and products. To be distributed by A24, the Film is based on the Memoir Elvis and Me, and stars Cailee Spainey (Mare of Eastown) and also Jacob Elordi (Euphoria). PRISCILLA began filming in Toronto late October, wrapping this past week before continuing prodution in Los Angeles. Just based on A24 being such a force at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, we’re wondering if they might have their sights on the Festival Circuit too with this one!

You already know how much we love HBO‘s Mare of Eastown and Euphoria so it should come as no surprise how excited we were to meet both Spainey and Elordi. We’re so lucky to have hosted this production in our City with filming spanning all parts of the City including Mississauga to downtown! We loved Baz Luhrmann‘s ELVIS and cannot wait to see Coppola explore Priscilla Presley‘s (who happens to be producing this also) perspective and experience next.

Elordi was just so amazing, and we spotted him with his Golden Retriever named Layla, who was on her best behaviour. How cool is it that he was sporting a PRISCILLA sweatshirt with a print of the Script cover? And Spainey was just absolutely sweet and surprised even to be recognized, donning a Supreme Beanie. The emerging star actually has been here before, having filmed 2020’s The Craft: Legacy here in Toronto. Her plate is rather full and coming-up for her, is Alex Garland‘s upcoming Civil War, alo starring Kirsten Dunst and Wagner Moura filmed partly in the U.S. and U.K.

Just earlier this week another Euphoria star was in Toronto. More here.

See some Snaps:

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Apple TV+ today unveiled the premiere date and a first look at “Hello Tomorrow!,” the new 10-episode dramedy starring and executive produced by Emmy and Critics Choice Award winner Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”). The highly anticipated half-hour series is set to make its global debut on Friday, February 17, 2023 with the first three episodes, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday through April 7, 2023 on Apple TV+.

Set in a retro-future world, “Hello Tomorrow!” centres around a group of traveling salesmen hawking lunar timeshares. Crudup stars as Jack, a salesman of great talent and ambition, whose unshakeable faith in a brighter tomorrow inspires his coworkers, revitalizes his desperate customers, but threatens to leave him dangerously lost in the very dream that sustains him.

The ensemble cast starring alongside Crudup includes Haneefah Wood (“Truth Be Told,” “One Day at a Time”), Alison Pill (“Them,” “The Newsroom”), Nicholas Podany (“Harry Potter And The Cursed Child”), Dewshane Williams (“The Umbrella Academy,” “In the Dark”), Emmy Award winner Hank Azaria (“Brockmire,” “Ray Donovan”), Matthew Maher (“Our Flag Means Death”), and Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver (“Silver Linings Playbook,” “Animal Kingdom”).

“Hello Tomorrow!,” produced by MRC Television, is co-created by Amit Bhalla and Lucas Jansen. Stephen Falk (“You’re the Worst”), Jonathan Entwistle (“The End of the F***ing World”), Bhalla and Jansen serve as executive producers alongside Crudup. Blake Griffin, Ryan Kalil and Noah Weinstein serve as executive producers for Mortal Media.

(Photo credit: Apple TV+)

Christian Bale is back in THE PALE BLUE EYE, arriving January only on Netflix. We have an official Trailer for your viewing pleasure!

Synopsis:
West Point, 1830. In the early hours of a gray winter morning, a cadet is found dead. But after the body arrives at the morgue, tragedy becomes savagery when it’s discovered that the young man’s heart has been skillfully removed. Fearing irreparable damage to the fledgling military academy, its leaders turn to a local detective, Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), to solve the murder. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, Landor enlists the help of one of their own to pursue the case, an eccentric cadet with a disdain for the rigors of the military and a penchant for poetry—a young man named Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling).

Cast:
Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Hadley Robinson, Timothy Spall, Joey Brooks, Brennan Cook, Gideon Glick, Fred Hechinger, Matt Helm, Jack Irving, Steven Maier, Charlie Tahan and Robert Duvall.

THE PALE BLUE EYE arrives January 6, 2023 on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

Universal Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Screening Passes to see PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH.

Advance screenings will be held Monday, December 19^th in:

• Toronto: Scotiabank Theatre at 7:00 pm
• Montreal (EN): Scotiabank Theatre at 7:00 pm  
• Montreal (FR): StarCité Montreal at 7:00 pm
• Vancouver: International Village at 7:00 pm

Synopsis:

For the first time in more than a decade, DreamWorks Animation presents a new adventure in the Shrek universe as daring outlaw Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll. Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives, though he lost count along the way. Getting those lives back will send Puss in Boots on his grandest quest yet.

Academy Award® nominee Antonio Banderas returns as the voice of the notorious PiB as he embarks on an epic journey into the Black Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star and restore his lost lives. But with only one life left, Puss will have to humble himself and ask for help from his former partner and nemesis: the captivating Kitty Soft Paws (Oscar® nominee Salma Hayek). 

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. In the comments there, please indicate your City.

Rules and regulations here.

Universal Pictures Canada release PUSS IN BOOTS December 21, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures Canada)

Universal Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Screening Passes to see M3GAN.

Advance screenings will be held Wednesday January 4^th in:

• Toronto: Scotiabank Theatre at 7:00 pm
• Montreal: Scotiabank Theatre at 7:00 pm  

Synopsis:

From the most prolific minds in horror—James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man—comes a fresh new face in terror. M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to.

When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.

Produced by Jason Blum and James Wan, M3GAN is directed by award-winning filmmaker Gerard Johnstone (Housebound), from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant, The Nun 2) based on a story by Akela Cooper and James Wan.

The film also stars Ronny Chieng (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will & Grace), Jen Van Epps (Cowboy Bebop), Lori Dungey (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, extended edition) and Stephane Garneau-Monten (Straight Forward). 

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. In the comments there, please indicate your City.

Rules and regulations here.

Universal Pictures Canada release M3GAN January 6, 2023.

(Photo/video credit: Universal Pictures Canada)

Today, Disney+ released the trailer and key art for season 2 of acclaimed animated series “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.” When the new season opens, months have passed since the events on Kamino, and the Bad Batch continue their journey navigating the Empire after the fall of the Republic. They will cross paths with friends and foes, both new and familiar, as they take on a variety of thrilling mercenary missions that will take them to unexpected and dangerous new places. “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” season 2 stars Emmy Award® nominee Dee Bradley Baker (“American Dad!”) as the voice of the Bad Batch and Emmy Award® nominee Michelle Ang (“Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462”) as the voice of Omega. Emmy Award® winner Rhea Perlman (“The Mindy Project,” “Cheers”) returns to guest star as Cid, Noshir Dalal (“It’s Pony,” “The Owl House”) returns to guest star as Vice Admiral Rampart and Emmy Award® winner Wanda Sykes (“The Upshaws,” “Black-ish”) makes her guest starring debut in the series as as Phee Genoa.

“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” is executive produced by Dave Filoni (“The Mandalorian,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”), Athena Portillo (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars Rebels”), Brad Rau (“Star Wars Rebels,” “Star Wars Resistance”), Jennifer Corbett (“Star Wars Resistance,” “NCIS”) and Carrie Beck (“The Mandalorian,” “Star Wars Rebels”) with Josh Rimes (“Star Wars Resistance,” “Star Wars: Visions”) and Alex Spotswood (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars Rebels”) as producers. Rau is also serving as supervising director with Corbett as head writer and Matt Michnovetz as story editor.

(Photo/video credit: Disney+)

Singer/Songwriter Dominic Fike gained popularity uploading songs on Soundcloud, leading eventually to a record deal with Sony Music and hits like “3 Nights” and “Phone Numbers”. It was a prominent role as Elliot on the second season of HBO‘s acclaimed series EUPHORIA that put him on the map internationally and while we wait for that third season, he is focusing on new music, with his Out of Order Tour.

Following a show at Montreal’s L’Olympia last night, he played a packed house at History in Toronto. Fike has been amazingly-kind to stop to meet fans outside the venues on this Tour and did just that following his show, stop to chat, sign autographs and snap Selfies in the cold!

We adore Euphoria so much and can’t wait to see where his story line with Rue and Jules takes him this next season. Fike was so nice to stop for a Selfie with beanie and I. She even gave him a kiss which he loved! Thrilled also to get me Seasons One and Two Blu-ray signed. Something to cherish.

Fike has been spotted with his Co-Star and partner Hunter Schafer on this Tour, and she has been very careful to avoid the attention, allowing Fike his moment to shine with his many admirers. He heads next to Detroit and the tour ends in Arizona mid-December.

See our Snaps:

(Photo/video credit: Sony Music Entertainment/Mr. Will Wong)