The Toronto International Film Festival will include some fantastic films, but one film that heads to the top of the list is Rian Johnson’s third and newest film ‘Looper.’ ‘Looper’ features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as hitman Joseph Simmons, who kills people sent by the Mafia and gang members from the year 2077 to 2047. The advantage here is that no one will miss that individual in the year 2047, thus covering up the perfect crime. However, things take a turn for the weird when Joseph Simmons’ older self (Bruce Willis) is sent back for him to kill.

‘Looper’ is expected to be a fantastic film, since this is only the second time in history that a non-Canadian film started the film festival. According to Cameron Bailey, the Toronto International Film Festival Artistic Director, “with ‘Looper,’ Rian has taken his filmmaking to a new level, and we can’t wait to present it to the Toronto audience in the most prestigious platform we can offer.” According to Cinema Blend, ‘Looper’ was a huge hit at the San Diego International Comic-Con.

This is the second time that Johnson has showed one of his films at the Toronto Film Festival, the first being the world premiere of his second film ‘The Brothers Bloom.’ Rian Johnson’s first film ‘Brick,’ with a budget of only $500,000, won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Cameron Bailey was at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and witnessed the presentation of ‘Brick.’ “I saw Rian’s debut feature ‘Brick’ at the Sundance festival and was impressed by his ability to engage both the mind and the heart,” he said.

The ten day Festival begins September 6 and is considered the unofficial beginning to the Oscar season. The rest of the Toronto Film Festival will include more than sixty films, thirty-eight of which will be world premieres. Some writers/directors are returning to the silver screen while others are debuting their first works.

Ben Affleck will return again as a director and actor in “Argo,” a film based on a true story that happened during the Iranian hostage crisis. Robert Redford will also direct and star in ‘The Company You Keep.’ Other films that feature returning directors are ‘Hyde Park on Hudson,’ directed by Roger Mitchell and starring Bill Murray as Franklin Delano Roosevelt; ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ directed by David O. Russell and starring Bradley Cooper; and Billy Bob Thorton’s ‘Jayne Mansfield’s Car.’

At least three films will also be bringing literature to life this year with Director Joe Wright’s ‘Anna Karenina,’ ‘Cloud Atlas’ (which has an almost completely all-star cast, including Tom Hanks), and – surprisingly – Director Joss Whedon’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Stuart Blumberg (writer of ‘The Kids Are All Right’) will be making his directorial debut in the film ‘Thanks for Sharing,’ a romantic comedy starring Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow as friends recovering from sex addiction. Dustin Hoffman will also – finally – be making his directorial debut with ‘Quartet,’ a comedy about four retired English opera singers.

Some other films that have already started a buzz at other film festivals include Jacques Audiard’s ‘Rust and Bones’ at Cannes and ‘The Sessions’ at Sundance Film Festival.

Ultimately this year it looks like the Toronto International Film Festival is going to have some show-stealing productions. Unfortunately, the rest of us will have to wait until these films are released in theaters or on DVD/Blu-ray.

The article Toronto Film Festival Begins with Johnson’s ‘Looper’ appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A new report by 13 leading international and Congolese civil society groups asks the international community and Congolese government to urgently agree upon a new deal to reform the Congolese military. The report argues that the lack of political will to reform the security sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) risks not only billions of dollars of international aid but also the stability of the country.

“At the end of the day, many of Congo’s seemingly intractable conflict-related problems can be traced back to dysfunctional security services: the army, police and courts. The Congolese government has failed to take concrete action to reform these vital institutions,” said Emmanuel Kabengele, National Coordinator of the Congolese civil society Network for Security Sector Reform and Justice.

“Yet the international community has continued to sustain the government, investing money and effort with no actual return. It’s high time that donors demand that Congo engage in real army reform.”

The report, Taking a Stand on Security Sector Reform, was completed after extensive research and interviews in DRC and donor countries. It argues that the army not only fails to provide security but actively preys upon the population, being one of the major perpetrators of human rights violations in the country.

“An effective security sector – organized, resourced, trained and vetted – is essential to solving problems from recruitment of child soldiers, internal displacement and rape, to economic growth or the trade in conflict minerals,” says the report.

The report concludes that the main reason for the failure of army reform in DRC is a lack of political will from parts of the Congolese government – notably those elements which have benefited from endemic corruption.

“The very people in senior positions of the government and military who are responsible for effecting reform continue to profit from the current army, either in raking off salaries of servicemen, kickbacks, or involvement in illegal mining, trade or protection rackets” said Dismas Kitenge, President of the Congolese organization, Groupe Lotus and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

The paper underscores the critical role the international community must play. In just five years, the report documents that donor countries alone have invested more than $14 billion into the DRC.

Yet only 1%, or $140 million, was spent on security sector reform. International aid is now equivalent to nearly half of the DRC’s annual budget. As such, donors have considerable leverage over Congo. Yet despite this enormous investment, the DRC has actually gone backwards. The DRC is ranked last in the world on the UN’s main development index.

“The international community’s investment in DRC has yielded poor results. Numerous armed groups send thousands of child soldiers into battle, and women and children continue to bear the brunt of violence. Adequate health care and personal security remain the exception rather than the rule,” said Ben Affleck, Actor, Director and Founder of Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI).

“Donors must work to convince the Congolese government to undertake drastic military reform. Unless a new course of action is adopted, we run the risk of losing much of the investment that has already been made.”

The costs of accepting the status quo are high, for the Congolese people but also for the international community. In addition to the traditional donors – US, EU, UK, France and Belgium – key partners such as China, South Africa, and Angola all have a vested interest in the stability and long-term prosperity of the DRC.

“The new government must seize the opportunity to refocus attention on implementing sustainable and effective reform,” said Pascal Kambale from the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). “Now is the time for the international community and Congolese government to work together to reform the police and army so that Congo is capable of protecting its own civilians.”

The article Relaxed Political Will a Threat to Congo’s Stability appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

At the heart of Tower Heist is a ragtag group—a building manager with a score to settle, a desperate Wall Streeter on the verge of bankruptcy, a cash-strapped concierge whose wife is expecting their first child, a bellhop up for any adventure and a feisty maid hoping to stay in the country—looking to recoup their looted pensions.

Alongside a petty criminal looking for quick cash, they are ready to do what needs to be done to get the cash. The talented ensemble has a few aces up its sleeve as two names stand out in the roll call to elevate the material; the enigmatic Casey Affleck and veteran Matthew Broderick.

Casey Affleck, who portrays Charlie, Ben Stiller’s charachter Josh’s not-so-savvy (and broke) brother-in-law who works as The Tower’s concierge, cut his teeth on the heist genre as Virgil Malloy in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven series. Still, he knew the promise of working with Stiller, Eddie Murphy and director Brett Ratner was reason enough to revisit the genre.

Affleck notes “More than anything else, I just like Ben, Eddie and Brett, and it sounded like a fun film to do. I wanted to do a comedy, and I thought this was an opportunity to try and be funny.” With a wife on the verge of going into labor, Charlie is reluctant to join Josh’s crew of amateur thieves.

Producer Brian Grazer felt that Affleck, with his deadpan timing, was perfect for the part. “Casey continues to impress me with the fascinating choices he has made in his career,” offers the producer. “He is so droll, that with a slight vocal inflection or delivery of a minor tic, he can elicit a great number of laughs.

The fact that Casey has experience in the world of heist movies made him even more perfect for the job.” Matthew Broderick came aboard Tower Heist to portray Mr. Fitzhugh, a Wall Streeter who has suffered his own financial hardships and whose quarters in the ritzy building have been foreclosed.

Despite the dire circumstances, the self-professed squatter is a financier to the core and knows the tricks of his former trade. “Fitzhugh needs the money, and greed becomes his primary motivation,” explains Broderick. “That’s one thing I like about the caper movies from the 1970s like The Anderson Tapes. They really wanted the money or jewels or art. Fitzhugh’s mindset harkens back to that.”

For Ratner, the chance to work with the veteran actor was another reason to be excited about showing up for work every day.  He says: “When I was 12, Matthew Broderick was the biggest movie star next to Eddie Murphy, literally. I grew up on Matthew, and to have him play Fitzhugh was a great honor. I couldn’t believe that he was on my set sitting next to Eddie, Ben and all of these other great actors.”

Murphy shares his director’s assessment of the veteran stage and screen performer. He compliments, “Everybody in the cast is funny and likeable, and you want everybody in the cast to win. Matthew Broderick is one of my contemporaries. We came up around the same time. I’ve seen everything that he’s done, and it was great to be on a set with a master actor.”

You can watch Tower Heist in cinema on November 4.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyz/

The article Tower Heist Cast; Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick on Characters appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.