This morning started out well with a 9 AM screening of Jason Reitman’s THANK YOU FOR SMOKING. Aaron Eckhart just keeps getting better and is great here as a spin doctor for big tobacco. The film attacks smoking by defending it, but on a deeper level it is about honesty and happiness, perception and reality. The powerhouse supporting cast includes Robert Duvall as an old school tobacco baron, Katie Holms as a crafty young journalist, Rob Lowe as the archetypal Hollywood agent and Adam Brody as his assistant. Brody got the loudest laughs, but the entire film is a gas.

Then the surrealism began with Terry Gilliam’s TIDELAND. Although I am a hit or miss admirer of Gilliam’s ( I adore Time Bandits), this film is truly self-indulgent and scattered. Fantasy is reality as usual, only it is completely barren of purpose or whimsy, even when that is its obvious goal. Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Tilly are the best part about the film and unfortunately they expire early on. It took a lot of effort to see the film through, only to find a disappointingly conventional ending.

After almost getting attacked by two 60 year-old volunteers for entering the Royal Ontario Museum theater with a soda in my hand (remember the FFF at Annie Russell?) I thoroughly enjoyed A CONVERSATION WITH BASQUIAT. Short docs are hard to find and this is one. How Tamra Davis came to direct Billy Madison, Half Baked, and Britney’s Crossroads, I’m not sure, but this simple one camera interview intercut with photos and his work, is an insightful portrait of an artist as a young man.

I went back to the Varsity excited to see Guy Ritchie’s latest REVOLVER. The films had a slightly different tone than his earlier work, retaining the same wit and style, but with a somehow different tone. By the end the film deteriorates into a psychological amusement park ride with no resolution. Based on my earlier screening, I couldn’t help but wonder how influenced Mr. Ritchie is by Mr. Gilliam. Peg will be happy to know Andre Benjamin turns in another respectable performance, Ray Liotta is as psycho as ever.

Finally I ducked into the ethereal SEVEN SWORDS in an attempt to find Matthew. I missed the first hour, but knew MC was in there so I stayed. I was entranced, despite my second row seat, and stayed until the end. The most interesting thing here was the Chinese-Korean dynamic.

MC was indeed inside and we went to dinner in Yorkville before running into a troop of programmers and acquisitions folks on the street heading to the Focus Films party. The party was fun and we met some neat folks, but as they headed to more beverages and fun around midnight, I threw in the towel and we headed back to the hotel.

Store name of the day: Grey Region Comics.

Shannon