#FIRSTLOOK: HOLLYWOOD SUITE PRESENT “O CANADA SPOTLIGHT”

Beginning July 1, 2020, Hollywood Suite kick-off their spotlight on Canada’s finest with round-the-clock offerings including:

·       The Red Violin (1998) 12:40 pm on HS90 – This drama, directed by François Girard and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Oh, Don McKellar and Greta Scacchi spans four centuries and five countries as it tells the story of a mysterious red-coloured violin and its many owners.

·       The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) 3:35 pm on HS70 – Based on Mordecai Richler’s novel, Richard Dreyfus stars as Duddy, a poor boy raised in Montreal, driven by power, money and owning land as he dreams of becoming the next rag-to-riches story.

·       Meatballs (1979) 9:00 pm on HS70 – Ivan Reitman’s ode to summer camp features Bill Murray in his first starring role as Tripper, head counsellor at the cut-rate Camp North Star. Shot in Haliburton, Ontario, the film is full of high jinks and pranks as Camp North Star competes in annual games against Camp Mohawk, a more elite camp. Meatballs gave rise to the careers of Murray and Reitman along with the chant “It Just Doesn’t Matter.”

·       Canadian Bacon (1995) 9:00 pm on HS90 – Michael Moore directed this US-Canada co-pro about a US president who tries to boost his sagging approval rating by starting a war with Canada. Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman and Kevin Pollack lead the charge with John Candy in his final movie role.                                                                        

·       Strange Brew (1983) 10:40 pm on HS80 – Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis take their goofy SCTV characters Bob and Doug Mackenzie on a big-screen adventure. Max von Sydow plays an evil brewmeister who plans to take over the world by placing a mind-control drug in Elsinore beer. Little does he know the power of the hoser, eh?

·       Eastern Promises (2007) at 11:20 pm on HS00 – Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Vincent Cassel, this gritty crime drama centres around a Russian teenager living in London who dies during childbirth. Clues in her journal lead a midwife to the girl’s ties with a violent Russian mob family.

As announced previously their THE BEST OF THE BEST Spotlight also is ongoing featuring Films which have either won Oscars, BAFTAs or Independent Spirit Awards beginning July 2, 2020.

Schedule below:

July 2–July 5                 Oscar Best Director

·       The Graduate (1967) Thursday, July 2 at 9:00 pm on HS70 – Mike Nichols’ Academy Award-winning romantic comedy tells the story of recently-graduated college student Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), who is seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a bored housewife. Things get complicated when he falls in love with her daughter.

·       Traffic (2000) Friday, July 3 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Steven Soderbergh’s crime drama follows four intersecting story lines revolving around the drug trade in America. Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Brolin, Albert Finney, Amy Irving, Benjamin Bratt, Topher Grace and Erika Christensen lead an all-star cast.

·       Saving Private Ryan (1998) Saturday,  July 4 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi and Tom Sizemore headline in Steven Spielberg’s epic war drama that follows the Normandy Landings and a group of US soldiers’ quest to go behind enemy lines to rescue a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

·       Cabaret (1972) Sunday, July 5 at 9:00 pm on HS70 – Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome to Cabaret where Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York electrify in this celebrated musical set in decadent 1930s Berlin during Hitler’s rise to power. The film chronicles Cambridge student Brian Roberts’ friendship with the high-spirited Sally Bowles, a singer at the sleazy Kit Kat nightclub.

July 6–12                      Oscar Best Picture

·       Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) Monday, July 6 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Michael Keaton made his cinematic comeback as a faded Hollywood actor best known for playing the superhero “Birdman,” as he struggles to mount a Broadway play.  

·       Chariots of Fire (1981) Tuesday, July 7 at 9:00 pm on HS80 – The movie, with Vangelis’s unforgettable theme song, is based on the true story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell who race for the gold in the 1924 Olympics. While one runs for his faith, the other participates to leave prejudice behind.

·       The Artist (2011) Wednesday, July 8 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Two silent film stars fall in love, but their romance becomes complicated when one of their careers takes off and the other goes downhill with the introduction of talkies.

·       Casablanca (1942) July 9 9:00 pm on HS70 – During WWII, Rick (Humphrey Bogart), a nightclub owner in Casablanca, agrees to help his former lover Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and her fugitive husband. 

·       Silence of the Lambs (1991) July 10 9:00 pm on HS90 – Have a nice chianti and some fava beans to savour alongside this psychological thriller about a young FBI cadet (Jodie Foster) who must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer (Anthony Hopkins) to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

·       The King’s Speech (2010) July 11 9:00 pm on HS00 – Colin Firth plays King George VI who tries to overcome his stammering problem with the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue, portrayed by Geoffrey Rush, and makes himself worthy enough to lead his country through World War II.

·       Annie Hall (1977) July 12 9:00 pm on HS70 – It’s the most fun you’ll have without laughing. Follow the on-again, off-again romance between Annie and Alvy who break all the rules of a romcom, and the fourth wall.

July 12–19                    Film Independent Spirit Awards Best Film

·       Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Monday, July 13 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Ang Lee’s visual masterpiece tells the story of a warrior, the woman he loves, a daring outlaw and a princess with dreams of becoming a fighter. The film is a revelation for its mix of amazing choreographed martial arts battles, breathtaking scenery and poetic drama.

·       Sideways (2004) Tuesday, July 14 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Jack (Thomas Haden Church) and Miles (Paul Giamatti) confront middle age on a road trip through Santa Barbara County wine country to celebrate Jack’s final days as a bachelor.

·       The Wrestler (2008) Wednesday, July 15 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Mickey Rourke gained recognition and awards in Darren Aronofsky’s drama for his portrayal of ageing wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson who struggles to keep up with life as he is too old to continue his wrestling career.

·       Juno (2007) Thursday, July 16 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Diablo Cody’s coming-of-age comedy drama showcases Ellen Page as a 16-year-old dealing with things way beyond her maturity level when an unplanned pregnancy makes her grow up faster than she wanted.

·       Lost in Translation (2003) Friday, July 17 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – For relaxing times, make it Suntory time. Bill Murray brings intensity to Sofia Coppola’s drama about a fading movie star who forms an unlikely friendship with a young woman he meets in Tokyo.

·       The Player (1992) Saturday, July 18 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – Robert Altman’s satire features Tim Robbins as a Hollywood studio exec with a sketchy moral compass who gets embroiled in a murder.

·       Pulp Fiction (1994) Sunday, July 19 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption. Quentin Tarantino’s neo-noir crime film is filled with a memorable bestselling soundtrack and unforgettable performances by Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer.

July 20–26                   Oscar Best Supporting Actor

·       Django Unchained (2012) Monday, July 20 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist western, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, deserves both your curiosity and your attention. With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

·       Good Will Hunting (1997) Tuesday, July 21 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – Gus Van Sant directs this touching drama from virtually unknown screenwriters and young actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The movie tells the story of Will Hunting, a young MIT janitor who is a headstrong, working-class genius failing at life. Robin Williams won an Academy Award for his performance as a sensitive therapist who may be the only one to reach Will. How do you like them apples?

·       Inglourious Basterds (2009) Wednesday, July 22 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – This Tarantino ensemble cast includes Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mike Myers, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender and Mélanie Laurent. In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish US soldiers coincides with a theatre owner’s vengeful plans for the same.

·       Little Miss Sunshine (2006) Thursday, July 23 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano and Toni Collette take their family dysfunction cross-country in a VW bus to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant.

·       Julia (1977) Friday, July 24 at 9:00 pm on HS70 – Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Fonda are Julia and Lillian, two childhood friends whose relationship is challenged when Julia asks Lillian to smuggle large sums of money into pre-war Germany to buy the freedom of Jewish prisoners.

·       Jerry Maguire (1996) Saturday, July 25 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Rod Tidwell, an arrogant football player who becomes super-sports agent Jerry Maguire’s sole client after Jerry is fired for having a moral epiphany. Show me the Money! Show him the Oscar!

·       Whiplash (2014) Sunday, July 26 at 9:00 pm on HS00 – A promising young drummer (Miles Teller) enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor (J.K. Simmons) who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.

July 27–31                   BAFTAs Best Actress

·       Secrets and Lies (1996) Monday, July 27 at 9:00 pm on HS90 – A successful Black optometrist discovers that her birth mother is an underprivileged white woman who had kept her teenage pregnancy a secret. Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s performances as the reunited mother and daughter won critical acclaim and award recognition.

·       Charade (1963) Tuesday, July 28 at 9:00 pm on HS70 – Billed as a suspenseful romantic comedy, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant try to escape several men who are searching for the missing, stolen fortune of her dead husband.

·       The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981) Wednesday, July 29 at 9:00 pm on HS80 – The romantic drama film intercuts the stories of two romantic affairs: one, a Victorian period drama involving a gentleman palaeontologist, Charles Smithson, and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as “the French lieutenant’s woman.” The other affair is between the actors Mike and Anna, playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep play the lead roles.

·       A Taste of Honey (1961) Thursday, July 30 at 9:00 pm on HS70 – In this kitchen-sink drama, British teen Jo (Rita Tushingham) struggles to find love in her bleak day-to-day life, which is dominated by her alcoholic mother, Helen (Dora Bryan). Jo’s pregnancy further obscures their relationship.

·       Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) Friday, July 31 at 9:00 pm on HS70 ­– After her husband dies, Alice (Ellen Burstyn) and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make it as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.

More on Hollywood Suite‘s Website here.

(Photo credit: Hollywood Suite)