by Shannonn Kelly
7:34PM, EST, August 18, 2010

Character actor Ernest Borgnine will be honored with the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2011.  Oscar winner Borgnine will be the 47th star to receive this SAG award.

A statement from SAG reads:

Whether portraying brutish villains, sympathetic everymen, complex leaders or hapless heroes, Ernest Borgnine has brought a boundless energy which, at 93, is still a hallmark of his remarkably busy life and career. It is with that same joyous spirit that we salute his impressive body of work and his steadfast generosity,” SAG president Ken Howard said. It is with that same joyous spirit that we salute his impressive body of work and his steadfast generosity.

Borgnine career has spanned nearly six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty. On television, he is best known for playing Quinton McHale in the 1962-66 series McHale’s Navy, costaring in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, and voicing the character Mermaid Man in the animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

Borgnine will receive his SAG Lifetime Achievement Award in a live telecast January 30, 2011.

by Shannonn Kelly
11:23AM, EST, August 17, 2010

Toronto International Film Festival brings heavyweight fare (and some of their old faves) to mark it’s 35th year . Old favorite 2002 cult comedy Fubar comes back to TIFF in a sequel. Canadian director, Michael Dowse and his comedy ‘Fubar II’ opens TIFF Midnight Madness 2010 with 6 films of the 10 nights coming from the USA.

The Butcher, The Chef And The Swordsman

Wu Ershan directs a story is about a butcher in a brothel who is in love with a courtesan. When he suffers a humiliating rejection, he decides to become a swordsman and wanders around the city of Jianghu bringing the hurt. Its a martial-arts comedy called, ‘The Butcher, The Chef and the Swordsman‘ and is the first film from mainland China to ever have a world premiere at TIFFs Midnight Madness.

Dante Lam brings his explosive urban action flick ‘Fire of Conscience‘ to close Midnight Madness. To purchase tickets online please click here.

Special Presentation and Galas at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is code for ‘high profile’ films. Among them are: Philip Seymour Hoffman with his first directorial effort the unconventional set in new York city romantic dramedy ‘Jack Goes Boating‘. Other special presentation premieres are:

Dan Rush’s ‘Everything Must Go’, starring Will Ferrell as a motivational speaker who turns a lawn sale into a new life strategy. Closing the London Film Festival on Thursday October 28 is Danny Boyle’s new movie, ‘127 Hours’ starring Golden Globe winner James Franco (Milk) as mountain climber Aron Ralston. Danny Boyle brought us hits ‘28 Weeks Later’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Ralson, an American mountain climber became famous in 2003, when he was forced to amputate his lower right arm with a dull knife in order to free himself after his arm became trapped by a boulder for 5 days with no help in sight.

Just announced to close the New York Film Festival is Clint Eastwood’s morality tale ‘Hereafter’ (Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Derek Jacobi) will also be at TIFF, as well as Matt Reeves’ ‘Let Me In’, based on the acclaimed Swedish novel and film ‘Let The Right One In’. Can any film match up to the Norwegian masterpiece by Tomas Alfredson and writer of both novel and screenplay John Ajvide Lindqvist’s original? I think it’s an impossible task. See the trailer here and tell me what you think.

Casey Affleck brings his much awaited doc ‘I’m Still Here‘, that follows actor Joaquin Phoenix in his pursuit of a hip-hop career. You do remember Joaquin’s Andy Kaufman-like David Letterman appearance don’t you…?

Also programmed is Benoit Jacquot’s 1865-set vagabond tale ‘Deep In The Woods’, Milcho Manchevski’s investigative chiller ‘Mothers’, Christ Kraus’ World War 1-era family drama ‘The Poll Diaries’ and 2008 GLBT voice of the year, Oscar winning screenwriter (Milk) Dustin Lance Black and his small-town psychological film ‘What’s Wrong With Virginia’.

The 35th International Toronto International Film Festival runs September 09-19, 2010. To purchase tickets online please click here.

by Shannonn Kelly
4:02PM, EST, July 26, 2010

Some 7000 rabid ‘Man Men’ fans got their long awaited fix in Times Square on Sunday at the Season 4 launch party hosted by January Jones and Elisabeth Moss.

A huge cake was wheeled out and January Jones (Betty Draper nee Francis) led the crowd in a surprise rendition of Happy Birthday for Elisabeth Moss who plays ‘Peggy Olson’.

Many fans dressed in Mad men’ period costume that were judged by a panel of fashionistas who looked for authenticity and ‘Mad-ittude’. Adding to the fun was a last man standing Mad Men trivia game and ‘cigarette girls‘ roaming the crowd with Lucky Strike’s (Don Draper’s brand) and nostalgic candy treats.

Read the rest of this entry …

By Shannonn Kelly
1:20AM, EST, Monday, June 28, 2010

As an early response to petty violence, preventative measures were taken to discontinue a large section of public transit Saturday in Toronto, Ontario’ due to the G20 Summit.

Toronto the Good...?

There was no choice but to walk home Saturday amidst helicopters, bike cops, riot police and smoke filled skies. It was a repulsive and unnerving experience.

I texted my fella to tell him what I was witnessing on my way home. Both of us put in our texts: “Stay in Contact”. Both of us forgot to sign off: “I Love You”. My Blackberry was low on battery power. I felt anxious.

Minutes later I got a text from my fella again who had been home sick for the last 5 days. I thought he wanted me to pick something up for him on the way home.

He explained there was a cooler left in front of the Royal Theater and that that there was a bomb squad directly across the street from our home.

Then suddenly, no more texts. As someone who’s had a long-time love affair with New York City, I’m one of those people that has not fully gotten over 9/11. I panicked and I almost broke my ankle busting into a run until I received another text. Read the rest of this entry …

by Shannonn Kelly
1:15PM, EST, May 11, 2010

With the political statement made by Mo’Nique at the Oscars during her acceptance speech, the story below about Gabourey Sidibe is not a huge surprise to me. We’re not saying the two ladies are the same, we’re saying there seems to be an attitude attached to certain stars of the film ‘Precious’.

Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart Article is below. Read on…(and thank you for writing it) Read the rest of this entry …

by Shannonn Kelly
04:14AM, Sunday May 09, 2010

The West-coast feed of SNL ended 10 minutes ago and I’m still chuckling. Betty White hosting ‘Saturday Night Live‘ was hands down worth the wait.

White got to SNL after David Mathews got 511,438 FaceBook fans to beg and plead to get her on after her saucy turn in a SuperBowl Snickers commercial with Abe Vigoda. White thanked Facebook during her opening monologue.

“When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host ‘Saturday Night Live,’ I didn’t know what Facebook was,” said White. “In our day we had a ‘PhoneBook’, but no one wasted an afternoon on it…”.

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