Today the sad, sad news broke that it’s confirmed: Jon Favreau will not be directing The Avengers movie. Why? I’m not sure. But there’s one thing I am sure of and that this: I’m sad.

Jon Favreau is, without question, one of my favorite directors. I’ll see something just because he directed it – which is how I saw Zathura. You remember Zathura, don’t you? It’s that Jumanji style movie about a couple of kids who play the game and end up in space. You didn’t see it, but I’m sure you heard enough about it to pass it by. You were wrong to pass it up but that’s okay, there’s still time.

You see, the thing I love about Favreau is his pacing, his style, his unwavering respect for a story and knowing that really, the story is why you bought the ticket, and all the explosions and flashy 3-second cut scenes won’t replace that. It’s why Iron Man succeeded. Favreau went back and took from hundreds of comics the most accessible story for the audience he knew he had today – not the audience from 20 years ago and not the audience in 20 years, but today. He didn’t go too heavy on the terror stuff, but made it relevant and appropriate to the audience watching his movie now. He handled many of Tony’s issues with a delicate hand and then made it entertaining.

This was what I hoped he would bring to The Avengers – a sense of story, propriety and style that you rarely find in someone who directs comic book stories. And what’s better? He seems to have the balls to stand up to the juggernaut that is Marvel studios (no pun intended) and say no to some of the crazy stuff that I’m sure they demand. The week after Iron Man opened to a roaring success, kicking off a truly blockbuster summer, Marvel Studios announced that the release date for Iron Man 2 would be May of 2009. Favreau said, ‘Woah. Wait a minute. It took two years to write the script for this one, you think you’re going to be able to put another one together in a year? No way.’

Now there’s a man with balls, Zack Snyder.

So I had hoped that we would have the same, respectful, fun, steady hand that gave us the original Iron Man movie (one of my favorites). But it is not to be. Here’s hoping they don’t ruin it by pawning it off on Michael Bay.

Hey there folks. It’s no secret that I haven’t been posting as much as in previous months and no one is missing my posts more than me. But there is a good reason for why I’ve been slacking on the post front.

In January I began working on a large scale Toronto blogging project hat I feel fills a void in the overall coverage and information on film specific to Toronto. It’s called Toronto Film Scene and it is now stumbling towards being the first wave of what I hope that it will be someday, which is a hub for film info and fans in Toronto. With coverage of film festivals, theatre and movie listings (sadly not live just yet, but soon – very, very soon), news, reviews and a place for community.

The site is what I would consider to be the technical definition of a labour of love and is still growing, albeit slowly. Check it out at www.theTFS.ca and, if you live in Toronto and are interested, drop me a line about writing for the site. I’m definitely looking for Torontonians who love film.

I’m not abandoning my wonderful readers over here at 10 Movies – in fact this is the place I get to just be my nerdy self – but I may not always have the mental capacity to post at both places. Can you forgive me?

UPDATE: Shannon the Movie Moxie emailed me today to let me know my link up there to the new site was broken. Oops. Sorry about that. Hope you’ll visit.

Also, it’s worth noting that Shannon has been integral in making Toronto Film Scene what it is. Without her enthusiasm and support for the site, it may never have got out of my head and onto the screen. Thanks Shannon! You’re awesome! And while I’m on it, I’d like to say that Bob Turnbull, Kurt Halfyard, Sarah Gopaul, James McNally, Chris Magee and Rob Harding are truly inspirational Toronto bloggers without whom I would never have even thought to create a site like this. You guys rock. All of you.

The Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) is coming up and 10 Movies has a contest for you! As a quick refresher, TUFF is the one-minute silent film festival that happens from September 11 – 20 on the One Stop Network on the TTC, Toronto’s public transit subway system. This is one of my favorite festivals of the year since it has a required format – a one minute silent film – that I believe stretches filmmakers to make something new and interesting.Guest judge Don McKellar and a number of fantastic prizes make this year’s TUFF even more interesting to me.

Recently announced are the Heineken Film Zones located on the North and South platform of Bloor station. The Film Zones will feature a vinyl wrapped kiosk and will run the over 75 films that will run continuously during the festival. So if you don’t catch them on your commute you can stop by Bloor and catch a few. The shorts are awesome and it’ll only take a couple of minutes. (Really.)

But I said something about a contest, didn’t I? 10 Movies has 4 one-week transferable TTC passes to give away. The passes are good for unlimited travel from September 14-20 and are valued at $32.50.

So what do you have to do to enter? Send an email to trista@10moviestosee.com with the subject line TUFF Contest and include your favorite movie that features transit. It can be one scene or it can be the whole movie, but it must be included to be a qualified entry. Please send all entries by 12 noon on Friday, September 4. The winner will be randomly selected.

Blackheads is part of the Toronto After Dark Canadian Short Film Showcase. It played before Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl.

Spoilers ahead, because I can’t talk about this short without really talking about it. You were warned.

This short film starts with a guy shoving his girlfriend’s face into a puddle of spilt milk on the floor and saying abusive things like, “I work all day and this is what I come home to?!?” Then he throws her up against the fridge and starts to rape her, but stops short and goes away to the computer disgruntled saying, “This isn’t working.”

It turns out that they’re actually playing sex games and she likes to be choked, even if he doesn’t like doing it. After sleeping on the couch that night he wakes up with a *monstrous* blackhead in the middle of his back. He goes to the doctor who explains that sometimes this happens and cleans it out in one of the more disgusting displays of medical intervention I’ve ever seen on screen. (Seriously, f*cking gross. Pardon my language.) He leaves the doctor with the instructions to leave it be and keep it clean and the assurance that everything will be fine.

That night while the couple is making out again (but this time no choking) his girlfriend passes her hands over the overly large pore in his back that is now empty. He likes it, but she won’t touch it again. He decides to go for a walk. While he’s out he find a hobo and asks him to come to a hotel with him. There he gets the hobo to have sex with the pore in his back. Yep. He gets a HOBO to have SEX with the extremely large pore in his BACK. Oh. My. Gods. That. Is. Gross.

The next day the pore is understandably irritated and he goes back to the doctor and has the very uncomfortable task of explaining why there was sperm in his back.

Please don’t get me wrong, I LOVED this short. I mean I really, really loved it. In fact I hate myself a little bit for loving it so much. It was extremely gross, but hilarious and new, and I like it! I was left with only one question though: If you were going to get a HOBO to have sex with your back, wouldn’t you use a condom!?!?! I mean, a hobo!?!?! Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Zero is a minimalist short film done in the style of Japanese calligraphy. The characters fade in and out of the cream coloured, paper-like background to tell the story of a man seeking revenge for the death of his father.

This style of animation was beautiful and fascinating, as you can never predict when or where the next image will come from. It was a particularly arresting style for a fight sequence as it created its own tension simply by the style it used. Beautiful.

So something good did come out of G.I. Joke: This awesome mask made by this really awesome guy called Ugo Serrano. This mas kwas made under a different production name, so he wasn’tsure what he was making, but apparently this is the mask of Destro’s ancestor. Or some crap. Doesn’t matter because it’s freaking cool and so is everything else this guy makes. Check out his website here. Of note, he also made helmets for Serenity, the Witchblade for the short-lived television show of the same name, and the Necromonger helmets from The Chornicle of Riddick. Why yes, he IS made of pure, unprocessed awesome. I also strongly suggest that you read his bio, since this is one extremely fascinating guy.

Oh yeah. He built this with his *hands* (and some tools, but mostly with his *hands*). Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

So over the weekend while I was chained to my computer by the rain pouring down outside (I lie. I loved it. And I got so much done.) I found this trailer. It interests me because it’s by the guy who did Donnie Darko, which is to this day one of my favorite movies. Unfortunately, Richard Kelly seems to get mired in his own genius and his subsequent projects have met with, well, apprehension to say the least. Southland Tales was… a clusterf*ck. Although a clusterf*ck I was perfectly willing to watch, even if it made absolutely no sense at all.

And so, now we have The Box, the story of a couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who are presented with a tempting offer: press the big red button in this box and someone in the world – that you don’t know – dies. For this you get 1-million dollars. I dunno. Seems like a no-brainer to me (hypothetically, obviously) but then, if they just pressed it, there would be no movie. Also, simply based on the trailer, it doesn’t seem like they actually have a choice since when they waiver about pressing it all manner of crazy-ass Richard Kelly-esque distorted reality stuff starts to happen to them.

Just push the button and go buy yourself something fun. *eye roll*

P.S.: Did you know that Frank Langella was Skeletor in the 1980s Masters of the Universe movie?

So is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Johnny Depp has lost his edge by selling out to Disney? I know, I know. It is blasphemy to speak against The Depp, but seriously. The man has no bite since he signed a multi-film contract with them. Also, does anyone else tire of watching Helena Bonham Carter just look weird? Long gone are the days when she was a brilliant actress who embodied characters like no other.

Anyway, Alice in Wonderland does look pretty good, but also pretty classic Burton crazy. Nothing new to see here, but I do prefer it when they appropriately match the insanity of a director to the looniness of a project. See: Guillermo Del Toro and Hellboy.