Congratulations to Sarah for her comment on the article “What You Were Unprepared For When Starting University”.  This past week, blogUT held a contest to ask readers what they were unprepared for when starting university.  Sarah won a Sucker Punch movie swagbag for her answer.  To see what Sarah and others were unprepared for when starting university, read the article here.

The transition from high school to university comes with a lot of “new” and with the “new” comes the unprepared: new school; new classes; new atmosphere; new friends; new experience.  Many students had to leave the comfort of their home and part from their family and friends.  The change requires adaptation and patience but it also requires optimism to learn how to do things on your own. Whether it was having to learn to do laundry for the first time, learning to cook on your own or figuring out how to decipher the University of Toronto map in order to find your classes, I’m sure there were many of you that found yourselves in a position of being unprepared.

We’re giving away a Sucker Punch movie swagbag that includes a pass for two to see an advance screening of the film on March 23rd. All you have to do is close your eyes and open your mind and tell blogUT what it was that you were unprepared for when you started university.

Comments will be accepted until March 19th 11:59pm. The winner will be announced shortly afterward. Only comments with a utoronto.ca email address will be considered.

Where: TIFF Bell Lightbox
When: Daily at 3:45PM, 6PM and 8:15PM (1:45PM on some days). Check the website for detailed schedules.
Tickets: At the TIFF website or in-person at the box office for the theatre. Be sure to show your TCard for a special student discount.
More Information: See the And Everything is Going Fine page on the TIFF site.

Back in May, BlogUT picked Steven Soderbergh’s documentary, And Everything is Going Fine as one of the must-see films at HotDocs. So I was delighted to find out that the TIFF Bell Lightbox programmers decided to release the film for a short run so that it can gain a bigger audience (and further promote the awesome prescience that BlogUT has been come to be known for). If you missed it during HotDocs, be sure to check it out now. Here’s the original review of the film from the HotDocs 2010 coverage at BlogUT.

Steven Soderbergh’s film, And Everything is Going Fine, is a continuation of Soderbergh’s obsession with the actor/performer Spaulding Gray. Soderbergh madeGray’s Anatomy in 1996, which was an eighty-minute film version of one of Gray’s monologues. And Everything is Gone Fine is essentially a mash-up of old recordings of Gray’s various monologue performances interspersed with the occasional personal interview (between, presumably, Soderbergh and Gray) and television interview. (more…)

Tomorrow is Hollywood’s most sacred holiday… the Oscars (or as they are trendily being called this year, just ‘Oscar’ – so suave). For all you keeners out there who are going to an Oscars party or just viewing with your friends, here is your one-stop guide to the best picture nominees, and some predictions from esteemed an film critic (me) who has triumphantly (although some might say pathetically) seen almost every movie nominated in almost every category this year. Your best bet to prove your brilliance in all things Oscar is to familiarize yourself with all ten best picture nominees, because these movies dominate the majority of the other categories. Consider this your Oscars Cheat Sheet, so that as you’re dipping your chips in guacamole during commercial breaks, you can impress all your friends with your pop culture savviness and thoughtful commentary.

2011 Oscars Guide to the Best Picture Nominations

Black Swan

Summary: A (seriously deranged) ballerina prepares to star in an upcoming performance of Swan Lake, attempting to embody the Black Swan as she is believed to be too innocent for this part of the role.
Pros: Natalie Portman, beautiful art direction, and brilliant camera work which creates a suspenseful atmosphere.
Cons: This film is trying very, very hard to be artsy and, as a result, can be pretty exhausting.
Will it win?: Natalie Portman is a clear winner for Best Actress, but this (over)dramatic film is unlikely to get best picture in light of competition which is stronger and much more enjoyable to watch.

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image from onlinemovieshut.com

Natalie, this is beneath you. It baffles me. You’re an actress that is in contention and probably the most likely to receive the Best Actress Academy Award this year for your spectacular performance in Black Swan yet you choose to star in a romantic comedy (why?!?!?!)! I honestly expected this film to be somewhat decent just because Natalie Portman was in it. Mind you I am completely aware of the formulaic, cheesiness and predictable narrative of all romantic comedies but No Strings Attached is by far one of the worst I have ever seen.

In attempt to bolster the star power and popularity of the film, several guest appearances were made by celebrities such as Ludacris, Kevin Kline, and even the director of the film himself, Ivan Reitman. Despite their appearances and the starring roles of Portman and Kutcher, the film just failed to deliver. Portman and Kutcher had no chemistry because it lacked that sort of ease and authenticity that let’s say Barrymore and Long had in their film Going the Distance (albeit they were actually a couple at the time).

The film was raunchy – expected, predictable and uber cheesy – also expected, but it was also incredibly uncomfortable to watch at times. For instance, the very first sex scene took way too long and just the timing of it felt so awkward – not to say the audience should have been forewarned but it was definitely bizarre. In fact the whole film was a bit bizarre at times where in certain scenes, the banter would be too forced or unnecessarily dragged on for too long.

I’d say the only redeeming part of the film was the character Lucy, a small role played by Lake Bell. She was hilarious! Her character was so awkward and eager to please Kutcher’s character Adam that it was impossible not to instantly fall in love with her.

Overall I’d give the film a 2.5/5 stars.

Journalists for Human Rights is a Toronto-based organization that works to spread and raise awareness of human rights violations, and to make people in marginalized communities aware of their rights. They work in post-conflict African countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mobilizing the local media and training local journalists in these countries to more effectively report on human rights issues. It also aims to educate people who may not know what their rights are, how to protect their rights and the rights of others.

The U of T chapter of jhr remains one of the smaller campus groups, but despite this, the organization works hard to raise human rights awareness in the U of T community. Last year, jhr’s U of T Chapter held a documentary festival (known as the Human Rights DocFest) to showcase local talent while educating community members about rights violations that occur both domestically and internationally.

This year, they will continue to spread human rights awareness be creating and distributing monthly newsletters and podcasts within U of T while working with other Toronto-based school chapters to create a documentary. Anybody is welcome to contribute to any of those projects, and in fact, the student group is looking for submissions of photography, writing, or any form of media.

This Thursday, November the 25th, from 5 to 7pm in the North Dining Room at Hart House, the U of T jhr Chapter will be hosting a movie night. War/Dance will be featured, a film which tells the story of three Ugandan refugee children as they compete in a music competition and talk about the atrocities they witnessed. The screening is free and is a great way to educate yourself about human rights violations while learning more about the organization!

To learn how you can get involved, please visit www.jhr.ca or check out their Facebook fanpage.

There are so many skillful aspects of The Social Network that are utterly wasted on this poorly directed misogynistic piece of “history”. The film opens on a feat of good writing, perhaps the only truly well-scripted and directed scene in the film: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (played by the excellent Jesse Eisenberg) is out on a date with his girlfriend and they are engaged in an exciting match of verbal sparring. Their conversation is fast-paced and tangential and keeping up with it is a fun game. Here Aaron Sorkin is amazing: he captures the syntax and diction of smart people the way David Auburn did so masterfully in Proof. And even director David Fincher manages to give this stationary scene a real feeling of immediacy and momentum.

Unfortunately, what is behind this scene is the revelation that Zuckerberg is a real conceited and condescending asshole that Fincher decides to misguidedly idolise because his existing celebrity status somehow merits lionization even before he achieved his great success: the facebook. The film glorifies the entitled Harvard cohort, and treats the audience as though we all just wish we were Harvard students. (more…)