Aaron Sorkin‘s THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 is one many of our most-anticipated lists. We get a new glimpse of this Drama with a brand-new Trailer!

Synopsis:

What was intended to be a peaceful protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention turned into a violent clash with police and the National Guard. The organizers of the protest—including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale—were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot and the trial that followed was one of the most notorious in history.

Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, Noah Robbins, Danny Flaherty, Ben Shenkman, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Caitlin Fitzgerald, Alice Kremelberg, John Doman, J.C. MacKenzie, Damien Young, Wayne Duvall, C.J. Wilson

See the Trailer:

Netflix this month is celebrating its 10th year in Canada. To ring-in the occasion. several Canadian stars have come together in this reel to commemorate the occasion.

Starting September 22, Netflix members will be able to access a collection which houses films and series spanning across different categories that have a Canadian connection – from categories such as animation, Canadian talent, filmed in Canada and so much more.

We still remember being among the first Media outlets invited to preview the first couple episodes of HOUSE OF CARDS!

Check-out the Reel here:

Stars include:

Ryan Reynolds (6 Underground)

Antoni Porowski (Queer Eye)

Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things)

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever)

Connor Jessup (Locke & Key)

Amanda Stephen (Orange is the New Black)

Momona Tamada (The Baby-Sitters Club)

Laysla De Oliveira (Locke & Key, In the Tall Grass)

Enuka Okuma (The Sleepover; Slasher)

Justin Chatwin (Shameless; Another Life; Summer Night)

Amir Bageria (Grand Army)

Malia Baker (The Baby-Sitters Club)

Anna Cathcart (To All the Boys I’ve Loved; To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love you)

Kris Pearn (The Willoughbys; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2; Arthur Christmas)

Guillaume Laurin (The Decline)

Ben Hollingsworth (Virgin River)

Cameron Britton (The Umbrella Academy, Mindhunter)

Florence Longpré (Can You Hear Me?)

Charlie Gillespie (Julie and the Phantoms)

(Photo/video credit: Netflix Canada)

AVA MAX exploded onto the Pop scene in the Summer of 2018 with Top 10 smash hit SWEET BY PSYCHO and after leaving such a mark, we were hungry for more. Finally, after some two years later comes her debut studio album HEAVEN & HELL and it proves well worth the wait.

The 15-track collection which she co-wrote with the help of Toronto’s Cirkut, is banger upon banger. She manages to infuse synthy nostalgia into her tunes, which draw focus not only to her stellar vocal range, but her songwriting talent. The Album at 44 minutes is a quick listen which we can loop multiple times over easily, culminating in her smash hit Sweet By Psycho saving the best for last on the sequence.

This is not to say this the only bright moment. Literally every Track start to finish is a cohesive fun Pop experience. Her melodies are reminiscent of infectious Euro-pop, but her production has a sonic sophistication to it. We hate drawing comparisons to another fashion-forward female Pop Icon, but HEAVEN AND HELL at times makes us feel the same way we did we first heard that one’s debut Disc.

The party begins with recent single, the gender-positive KINGS & QUEENS which samples Bonnie Tyler‘s If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man) .

NAKED is just about as seductive as it sounds, that hook crawling into our ears and sticking. Ava Max sings about really getting to know her soul and not just her body, “Well you can take off all my clothes and never see me naked/You don’t know how heart/You’re never gonna break it”. The Track is single-worthy. Gorgeous.

Charlie Puth sneaks-in a writing credit on the fun TATTOO which keeps the fun momentum going.

BORN TO THE NIGHT is pure authentic ’80s-inspired Synth-Pop. The type that transports you to a land of melancholic euphoria you never want to leave.

BELLADONNA takes us into darker territory, complete with gothic bells and really takes flight late, as she sings about being the type of dangerous woman a boy can get addicted to.

Our ears have only known such joy a few times in 2020 and this stellar debut counts among them.

Warner Music Canada release AVA MAX‘s HEAVEN & HELL.

Click here to buy a copy.

After its premiere at Sundance earlier this year, we soon will get to enjoy THE GLORIAS from Director Julie Taymor, at home!

Synopsis:

The story of feminist icon Gloria Steinem‘s (Julianne Moore) itinerant childhood’s influence on her life as a writer, activist and organizer for women’s rights worldwide.

See the Trailer:

levelFILM release THE GLORIAS on Digital and On-Demand Friday, October 4, 2020.

(Photo/video credit: levelFILM)

One of the the Canadian racing season’s biggest highlights is RICOH WOODBINE MILE weekend, featuring three Win and You’re In stakes races, which earn winners a berth at the sport’s championship weekend, the Breeders’ Cup. Betting on Mile Satuday tallied-in at a whopping $11.8 million.

Bringing it home for the locals this year was super-mare STARSHIP JUBLIEE who continues to be a dream claim for Trainer Kevin Attard, notching his first win in the $1-million Ricoh Woodbine Mile in his first ever attempt. The seven-year-old mare by Indy Wind was a $16,000 claim in Florida with the helpful eye of Attard‘s father Tino, back in 2017 and with her win in the Mile, took her lifetime earnings past the $2-million mark. In addition to beating her male counterparts, Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year solidified her case for another shot at the title at next year’s 46th edition of the Sovereign Awards, honouring Canada’s best in racing. Justin Stein was aboard for the win for Blue Heaven Farm, winning by a margin of one length over Mark Casse Trainee MARCH TO THE ARCH in a time of 1:32.06, less than a second off the track record set back in 2013 in the same race by Wise Dan.

Female talent were front-and-center on Mile Saturday. In addition to STARSHIP JUBILEE beating the boys, female Trainers Gail Cox and Breeda Hayes also nabbed stakes scores, in addition to Jockeys Sheena Ryan and Emma-Jayne Wilson.

Some snaps below of the joyous festivities.

MARCH TO THE ARCH ran a very credible second for Casse and Live Oak Plantation, under Patrick Husbands.

Favoured WAR OF WILL, winner of the 2019 Preakness Stakes and the 2020 Maker’s Mark Mile finishes a solid third for Casse and Owner Gary Barber.

Also on the card was the $125k Singspiel Stakes, taken by Sam-Son Farm‘s COUNT AGAIN. The five-year-old gelding scored in a 9-1 upset under Luis Contreras, for Trainer Gail Cox.

CREDIT RIVER scored a 41-1 upset in the $135k Ontario Racing Stakes for Trainer Breeda Hayes and Owner Hillsbrook Farms. Emma-Jayne Wilson piloted the sweeping score.

4-1 shot DIRTY DANGLE, a two-year-old daughter of Not This Time, won the $135k Woodbine Cares Stakes under Sheena Ryan for C. DeMizio & Mary Biamonte and Trainer Ralph Biamonte.

Stakes action continued Sunday with the Grade I Summer and Natalma Stakes. Winners from each race will be guaranteed a spot in the Breeders’ Cup.

Woodbine-based GRETZKY THE GREAT, a son of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and namesake of Canada’s great hockey icon, took the $300k Grade I Summer Stakes under Kazushi Kimura for Owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Gary Barber and Trainer Mark Casse.

Roger Attfield Trainee LADY SPEIGHTSPEARE was simply unstoppable under Emma-Jayne Wilson, who capped-off her fantastic weekend with a score in the $300k Grade I Natalma Stakes for Owner Charles Fipke.

Some additional Snaps!

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)

WANDAVISION is arriving on Disney+ later this year and here’s the brand-new Trailer unveiled during tonight’s Primetime Emmys!

Synopsis:

Marvel Studios’ captivating new series “WandaVision,” which premieres in late 2020 on Disney+, just unveiled its first trailer on ABC’s broadcast of the 72^nd Primetime Emmy® Awards. Starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, “WandaVision” marks the first series from Marvel Studios streaming exclusively on Disney+. The series is a blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. 

See the Trailer:

WANDAVISION arrives on Disney+ January 15, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

Female Filmmakers were front and center at TIFF ’20 as the Festival closes-out and this year’s Award winners are announced.

Here are the complete list of winners from this year’s Festival:

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD – NOMADLAND dir. Chloé Zhao. The first runner up is One Night in Miami… dir. Regina King.  The second runner up is  Beans dir. Tracey Deer.

TIFF 2020 People’s Choice Documentary Award winner is Inconvenient Indian dir. Michelle Latimer

TIFF 2020 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award winner is Shadow in the Cloud dir.  Roseanne Liang. 

Shawn Mendes Foundation 2020 Changemaker Award is awarded to Black Bodies, a short film by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall. 

CANADA GOOSE AMPLIFY VOICES AWARDS

Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Inconvenient Indian, dir. Michelle Latimer

Special Mention: Fauna, dir. Nicolás Pereda (Canadian Film)

Amplify Voices Award: The Disciple, dir. Chaitanya Tamhane

Amplify Voices Award: Night of the Kings, dir. Philippe Lacôte

Special Mention: Downstream to Kinshasa, dir. Dieudo Hamadi

IMDbPro SHORT CUTS AWARDS in partnership with SHARE HER JOURNEY

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Dustin, dir. Naïla Guiguet

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Benjamin, Benny, Ben, dir. Paul Shkordoff

IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award: Sing Me a Lullaby, dir. Tiffany Hsiung

Honourable mention: O Black Hole!, dir. Renee Zhan

(Photo credit: Searchlight Pictures)

I knew I’d be in for a treat being paired with the 2020 Acura ILX Tech A-Spec for the Toronto International Film Festival this year. And it never disappoints. The sleek and sporty ride in a stunning Apex Blue Pearl is pure power and style, but spacious enough and loaded with features to nail the marks in practicality.

The ILX Tech A-Spec is powered by a 2.4-litre, 16-valve, DOHC, i-VTEC^® 4-cylinder engine and 201 horsepower @ 6800 rpm. Premium Unleaded fuel is recommended.

There are several things which make the ILX sophisticated and elegant. Firstly, its red Ultrasuede™/leather-trimmed seating surfaces is an aesthetic we can get behind. Its leather-wrapped steering wheel add that touch of style that elevate the driving experience. Driver and Front Passenger have heated seating, a luxury as the temperatures drop these coming months. The former has 10-way adjustable seating and the latter gets 4-way adjustment. All this under a power moonroof which we enjoyed particularly this year in our Drive-In experiences at the Festival! Pure ambience.

Safety features are abundant in this offering from Acura, including 3-point seat belts with Automatic Tensioning System (front), Anti-lock Braking System* (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist, Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS^®), Blind Spot Information System, Cross-Traffic Monitoring System, Lane Departure/Keeping Assist Warning (LDW) system, Front side airbags and Side Curtain Airbags are reasons to drive assured knowing the ILX has your back always.

We can’t stress enough the importance of having Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA^®) with Traction Control especially when we drive into rural conditions and on the roads in the winter. It’s a game-changer and life-saver. A multi-angle rear-view camera makes parking and backing-out simple and this plus auto headlights mean we have one less thing to worry about so we can focus on our driving.

Did we mention the car is Proximity Entry? We loathe fumbling for keys and it always is a joy knowing we don’t have to stress about this!

We love a car with several charging options and under the Driver’s Armrest are a few options to stay connected always. It also comes equipped with the Acura Navigation System with Voice Recognition™ and 8″ display, plus a Multi-Information Colour Display for our audio entertainment. The audio system itself is an ELS Studio^® Premium Audio System with AM/FM/CD/SiriusXM™, 10 speakers and hard disk drive (HDD) media storage. It also has a CD player. We love it! Syncing via Bluetooth with our phone was a breeze. Where we did have connectivity issues was connection on the AM dial and songs would stop playing via Bluetooth occasionally via our phone. We’d notice long blank audio gaps occasionally but this is a small issue.

While we wish Acura would follow the lead of its sister company Honda and introduce an ECON mode as well, we can’t complain about the ILX‘s Fuel Economy especially with fuel prices dipping of late. It tallies-in at 9.9/7.0/8.6 L/100 km for city/highway/combined.

Some of our highlights at TIFF ’20, which we couldn’t have done with this beauty! While this Festival was very different from others, we are grateful still to have gotten to experience it and we’re grateful for the ILX being there for us.

In addition to this, the ILX Tech A-Spec got us to our interviews safe and efficient, which we appreciate more than ever especially during a Pandemic when we worry about the safety other means of transportation.

And did we mention we’re a Dad again? Our beanie was born during TIFF ’20 (how fitting!) and we had to rush to be by her side to welcome her into this world. We will be bringing her home end of October. So stoked!

As always, everything happens at once in our world, and we were thrilled to be only one of a few outlets granted access to North America’s most historic horse race, the Queen’s Plate – now in its 161st edition at Woodbine Racetrack.

It wouldn’t be TIFF without one of our lucky Readers winning our annual TIFF Survival Pack! Congrats, Calvin!

…and TIFF wouldn’t be complete without at least one Selfie!

Always make time for family. Happy anniversary, Mom x Dad!

And that’s a wrap! Thank you, Acura Canada for your support!

Thrilled to have you join our adventures!

Learn more about the 2020 Acura ILX Tech A-Spec here.

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)

By Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong

DISCLAIMER: Bruised is screening as a work-in-progress at TIFF ’20

Halle Berry makes her directorial debut with Bruised. It follows disgraced MMA fighter Jackie “Justice” (Halle Berry) who has been struggling to get by after losing an important match years ago. Since then, she’s been living with her Manager-Bboyfriend Desi (Adan Canto). One night, Desi tricks Jackie into an underground fight and her passion for the sport reignites. That same night, her six-year-old son whom she abandoned years ago, is left at her doorstep. This sends Jackie on a redemption path both to prove herself both in the ring, and as a mother to Manny.

Bruised follows the classic Athlete/Fighter redemption archetype, told through a new lens. While this has been explored before with a central female character, typically see these stories with men in the lead. Berry is well aware that a woman can pack a punch too. Early, she throws us right into the ring in Jackie’s enraged world. Her short-temper is shown in the opening scene where she attacks a teenager because he films her while she’s changing. Jackie’s brute force is shown also to us immediately. In the underground match, we see just how violent and ruthless she can be when faced with a worthy competitor.

At the center of everything is Berry’s performance. She does an excellent job channeling Jackie’s pent-up rage, but also showing her weaknesses. It’s clear in the First Act that Jackie is ready to fire after her previous match. Also, there is tenderness to her when she is paired with Manny. Those quiet moments between mother and son allow Berry to show her range. It’s also an honest depiction of the female personality, that a duality of tough and gentle can co-exist.

Berry has surrounded herself with strong talent. Toronto’s own, and TIFF ’19 Rising Star Shamier Anderson is great as Jackie’s newly-minted Manager with an agenda. Canto turns-in a strong performance as Jackie’s supportive, yet abusive Manager-Boyfriend. However, the most memorable performance from the Supporting Cast comes from TIFF ’20 Rising Star Sheila Atim. She commands the screen as Jackie’s ‘zen’ Trainer.

Berry sets her Film amidst the tough streets of Newark, New Jersey, taking us into Jackie‘s heart and soul. She shoots the training and fight scenes with passion and intensity. The Film’s blockbuster fight scenes are its brightest moments. While the story veers often to other competing plot lines surrounding her family and love, which ultimately fail to come to full fruition and get resolved, we wanted more training and fights and that always should have been the central focus.  A bit more judicious editing and a shorter run time would benefit this work-in-progress.

Bruised screens at TIFF ’20:

By David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

In the woods of the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, there are truffles buried in the Earth. The culinary delight is beloved by many, but few know how they reach our tables. The Truffle Hunters profiles a group of individuals who deal in the Truffle trade, from buying and selling, to the men and their dogs who find them.

The Truffle Hunters is a delight from start to finish. In a year that has literally been a dystopic nightmare for so many, it is genuinely refreshing to watch a wholesome, feel good movie primarily about men who look for truffles with their dogs. I was smiling and laughing throughout the Film, especially during the ridiculous sequences of back alley truffle dealing (yes, it is a thing and yes, it looks just as wild as you imagine it does). Somehow, these moments are not even the most outrageous and unbelievable scenes in the Movie. My experience with truffles is limited, but seeing them discussed at length here was both educational and enlightening. Directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw could have approached the Film and its topic as being inconsequential and silly, but they give these individuals a voice to share their passion of choice. And even though I am a cat person, it was absolutely wonderful watching these older men interacting with their dogs.

Speaking of dogs, there are two scenes that are shot from their point of view – and I am literally shrieking with joy just thinking about them. The camera is mounted on the dog’s head and we feel their joy as they get to run through the forest foraging for truffles. It is an intriguing Cinematography choice from Dweck and Kershaw that could have gone horribly wrong, but ends up working marvelously. When was the last time you can remember watching a film scene where a dog’s snout bounces in and out of the frame? Or when you last saw a camera shaking-off whatever was on it? I cannot recall a dog’s POV being utilized like this before, but it really complements the Film and literally makes the act of digging for truffles feel even more authentically-realized here. Now I just hope all dog-related productions learn from this Film and add in more POV footage from their angle.

THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS screens at TIFF ’20 as follows:

Fri, Sep 18
Online at Bell Digital Cinema
6:00pm