Iron Man 3 Release Date: May 3rd, 2013 News: Ben Kingsley joins the cast as the evil villain, The Mandarin and Tony Stark\Iron Man (played of course by Robert Downey Jr.) must head to China to battle him. Guy Pierce plays Aldrich Killian. Don Cheadle and Gwenyth Paltrow reprise their roles. Getting a new director (Shane Black) could shake things up pleasantly after the unoriginal Iron Man 2. The plot sounds exactly the same as the first two (Iron Man must fight a villain and terrorists) but as with the others hilarious lines and a bit of depth may transcend a generic storyline. The movie will open the summer movie season on the first week of May, the way Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Avengers have. The film will probably make more money than Iron Man and Iron Man 2 but not as much as The Avengers. I will definitely see this one. After Iron Man 2 was criticized for being stuffed with The Avengers references, Keven Feige  has said Iron Man 3 is to be very different than The Avengers. There will still probably be an end credits sequence and cameos.

Thor 2 Release Date: November 15th, 2013 Keneth Branagah who directed the first one is leaving the series and Alan Taylor (director of such TV shows as Game of Thrones and The Sopranos) is taking over the directing credits. Almost all the actors are returning so that means you’ll get to see Tom Hiddelston, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, and of course  Chris Hemsworth as Thor himself. The film starts filming in August this year. The film will probably make more money than Thor but being sandwiched in the middle of possible November blockbusters Ender’s Game and Catching Fire certainly won’t help. There will also be a new main villain (ie not Loki though he will still be in the movie). Tom Hiddelston and Chris Hemsworth have also stated that sometime in the Thor series that they would like Thor and Loki to be friends. If they can combine awesome, amazing action with an emotional storyline, then Thor 2 will be great.

Captain America 2 Release Date: April 4, 2014 The new Captain America film tells the story of the superhero in the present. His only friends are Nick Fury and SHIELD. Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, has said Captain America will learn about his World War II friends while he was frozen for about 70 years. I don’t think the movie will be unique because the story sounds similar to Thor where a super hero gets put into modern times. So far only Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson are signed on as actors. Vulture.com says, the three possible directors are F. Gary Gray, George Nolfi, and Anthony and Joseph Russo. I think they should get Steven Spielberg to do a WW 2 sequel to the first one that is set in the 1940′s but he probably wouldn’t want to do it because he’s so busy. Also it seems like Marvel is trying to make this film fail. They are releasing it in April, one of the worst months for movies (both critically and commercially). I am still nonetheless very excited to see how this film turns out.

Other Marvel Projects: Marvel has announced that they will be releasing a new movie on May 16th, 2014. Why not May 2nd, the first week of summer movies like they normally do? Because they want to give Captain America 2 some time to make some money and Sony is ridiculously planning to release The Amazing Spider Man 2 on May 2nd. The movie that will probably be released then is probably going to be The Avengers 2, because of The Avengers box office success (it’s already the 6th highest grossing movie of all time). Meanwhile Guardians Of The Galaxy, Inhumans, Dr. Strange, and Ant-Man directed by Edgar Wright are all non Avengers related movies that might be released sometime in the future. They might not do as great at the box office or maybe even with critics but they will still will likely be much, much more original because they are not leading up to a big crossover team up blockbuster movie like The Avengers. I would also not be surprised if there were movies solely about Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, which there probably will be. Also a new Hulk film starring Mark Ruffalo might happen because Ruffalo said that he wanted to and Marvel would love to make some more money.

I am looking forward to all these films. I’m least excited to see the original films and Captain America: The First Avenger 2 sounds bad. I can not wait, however to see Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and The Avengers 2.

One of the great things about the film is that it shows the sushi. We see the sushi (in focus)get placed on a plate. The background (out of focus) is the kitchen. David Gleb, the director of the movie watered my mouth, fulfilled my curiosity, and filmed it all with intensity that is leagues ahead from your average modern action movie. For anybody hoping to watch an intoxicatingly gripping documentary, this is for you. The interviews reveal much about Jiro: his childhood, his love of sushi, his sons, and how to massage an octopus for forty minutes.The music is dramatic and gives life to Jiro and his apprentices.The one criticism I have is that towards the end, the film got repetitive and I almost felt as if I was about to watch what I had already watched. But fortunately, Gleb serves us a delicious ending… And it’s right out of the oven.

My favorite character is Jiro because of his expansive knowledge of sushi.

My favorite scene is the end because it wraps everythting up and saves the film from being repetitive.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is rated PG but there is just about nothing inappropriate. The film is however, slow and younger kids may get bored easily.

A wonderful documentary; full of interesting facts and dramatic music. Best of all is Jiro is there in the center of it all.

After being recruited, Agent J joins Agent K to protect the world from alien invaders.

Men in Black is the kind of movie you would think you watch and then it’s over and  then you don’t really think about it… But it’s not. The film achieves something better. It manages to be lot’s of fun with all of the chills and thrills you expect from a sci-fi film starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, and yet after watching it, it wasn’t swiped from my memory. I can still remember it very clearly. That’s good.

Smith and Jones have excellent chemistry in this film; if Smith throws a line at Jones, Jones will quip right back. That’s the essence of the movie, these two central performances. The entire film is witty; it’s as if your average a-couple-of-guys-go-save-the-world-from-aliens-movie was wittified (if that’s even a word). The action blends perfectly with the wit. After all, watch Smith and Jones battle aliens would be nowhere near as fun without the pair yelling comical lines at each other or vice versa.But, wit and aliens can only carry a film so far. In other words, Men in Black could have used a bit more heft. Somewhere in the middle of the film it gets lost, though fortunately, not for long. The doctor character, Laurel is halfway between a romantic interest for Jay and a damsel in distress: it’s too bad that she’s not good at being either one. But come on! Are damsels in distress and ten minutes of a storyline gong wrong, enough to spoil the fun in Men in Black? Even if you’re zapped with Jones’ “flashy red thing”, the answer is no.

My favorite character is Agent J because he proves his worth and Smith executes his lines hilariously.

My favorite scene is when J gets his MIB outfit on because Danny Elfman’s score is creepy (as always) and Smith gets to deliver the best line in the movie.

Men in Black is a lot of fun. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are wonderful, Danny Elfman livens things up with his heart-racing score, and Barry Sonnenfield brings it all together with his direction. Modern sci-fi films could learn a lesson here: invest us in your characters and then use your gazillion $ effects. It’s just too bad that the difference between Men in Black and Transformers, etc. is that MIB makes sci-fi look good.

Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye to stop Thor’s brother Loki from destroying the world with the Tesseract .

The wait is over. But was the four years of watching Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor worth it? Let’s just say I was hoping for a little more. There’s action galore in The Avengers, Joss Whedon’s new film. Whedon himself has described the film as having a three act structure. I completely agree, but that’s the problem with the film: it’s too structured.The first act (the worst of the three) could have lost twenty minutes and nothing important would have been lost. Nothing of course, except Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor beating each other up while spitting hasty one liners at each other.

The second act of the film is a lot better; the Avengers are finally united and they battle Loki, Thor’s evil brother (played with a Shakespearean fizz by the up and coming Tom Hiddelston who you might recognize from The Deep Blue Sea, Thor, War Horse or Midnight in Paris). My description of the second act sounds very been there, done that, but it’s not. Whedon manages to pull it off and hurtle the action onto the screen with great skill.

The third and final act is the best. Anybody who’s ever wanted to watch seven different superheros go head to head with a villian played by one of the great modern British actors (it’s a lot of fun watching Robert Downey Jr. and Hiddelston spar with each other while battling) and an army of aliens will get their money’s worth. The action goes on and on and on, but it never loses it’s comic vibe or how-did-they-do-that CG.But even if the second and third acts are enjoyable, you have to admit as with any superhero movie (except Richard Donner’s Superman and maybe one or two others) there’s not a lot to think about. Actually there’s nothing to think about except for one liners, crazy action scenes, and evil gods. The story is slim, no matter which way you look at it: superheros come together to save the world. Sometimes they clash their egos, sometimes they yell at each other, sometimes they punch bad guys, but never ever do they sit down for a quiet moment to just think about what’s happened (except for after alllllll the credits).

There’s really only one redeeming factor about this movie and in my opinion it’s why anybody even bothers to go to these crazy movies: the action. Whedon let’s it kick in full throttle especially in the third act, which is a lot of fun. The action is THRILLING. THRILLING. It’s absolutely amazing but if that’s all you’ve got for me, Whedon, Marvel, superheros then I’m… done.

My favorite character is Iron Man because he’s played with charisma by the charming Robert Downey Jr. and he’s by far the funniest character in the movie.

My favorite scene is the climax because the 3-D came right up in your face only at key moments (it did the same throughout the whole film) and the Avengers finally worked as a team.

The Avengers is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference and I agree.

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is a lot of fun, but in terms of story it’s underwhelming. However the effects are spectacularly overwhelming (and the 3-D is wonderful).

May 4th: Walt Disney has made only a little over $200 million so far this year (that’s about $300 million off from the the highest amount from a studio so far which is $500 million). Luckily they’ve made a deal with Marvel Studios and are producing The Avengers. The film was released on April 27th in the rest of the world (Marvel’s foreign high was Iron Man 2‘s $316 million and this will likely surpass that number this weekend). This will definitely be the second highest grossing movie of the summer. Marvel’s largest opening weekend was Iron Man 2‘s $128 million and the lowest was The Incredible Hulk‘s $55 million. Here are some other stats: Domestic Money: Iron Man‘s $318 million is the most but The Incredible Hulk‘s $134 million is the least. International Total: The lowest was The Incredible Hulk‘s $128 million. However this film will likely do a lot better than all of those movies, not least because all the characters are being combined.Why? Fan anticipation, a recognizable previous franchise, added 3-D money, and a current 92% on Rotten Tomatoes will help this movie avenge at the box office. The will also likely beat The Hunger Games as the third highest opening weekend ever. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will likely get a weak $1 million US opening.Meanwhile this will also be a weekend where past weekend releases The Hunger Games (now 4th spot: $5 million), The Lucky One (3rd spot: $8 million), and Think Like A Man (2nd spot: $10 million) will die down. The Avengers OWG: $157 million DTG: $500 million ITG: $1 billion The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: OWG: $1 million OWG: $15 million ITG: $75 million

May 11th: This will be one of the closest weekends of the summer. If Dark Shadows didn’t open the weekend after The Avengers then it might make more money but it will be top spot (The Avengers is safe with a $60 million second weekend, dwindling a little over 50%, similar to The Hunger Games although The Hunger Games would have done worse if it opened during the summer). Alice in Wonderland‘s $116 million opening is way out of reach but Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street‘s $9 million is also a lot lower goal. This will be in the middle of Johnny Depp\Tim Burton collaborations, which is not bad for an adaption of a 1960′s soap opera TV show. Meanwhile April releases and The Hunger Games will basically stop making money. Dark Shadows: OWG: $65 million DTG: $200 million ITG: $300 million

May 16th\18th: Another close weekend. Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie The Dictator will easily get $25 million, which is not terrible for an R rated political spoof comedy. Cohen’s comedies have done okay in the past and this should do just a bit worse (there are a lot of comedies being released this summer). Dark Shadows will probably have about$26 million and The Avengers is a good bet for $40 million. Meanwhile the big new opener is Battleship which will wind up close to the first Transformers movie (in tone, style, critics reviews, and box office money). The film itself looks bad, but then so does Transformers. Meanwhile, What To Expect When You’re Expecting is a star studded romantic comedy that should open fairly high, due to it’s prestigious cast lineup. The Dictator: OWG: $24 million DTG: $75 million ITG: $175 million Battleship: OWG: $70 million DTG: $210 million ITG: $310 million What To Expect When You’re Expecting: OWG: $25 million DTG: $100 million ITG: $200 million

May 25th: The Avengers will be massive but to a lesser extent I’m predicting Men In Black 3 will too. The two previous Men In Black films (from 1997 and 2002) mad $51 million and $52 million on their opening weekends, $250 million and $190 domestically, and $589 million and $441 million, respectively. Of course adjusted for inflation these movies made a lot more, though the second film is widely considered to be one of the most disappointing sequels in movie history. However the first is said to be a comedy classic. The latest film should be a comeback movie and after the fun, funny trailers it should open to $55 million at the least. Also the movie is in 3-D which could boost it’s box office haul. Will Smith has not been in a blockbuster since Hancock (2008 so people will have an oppurtunity to see him in an action movie again. Tommy Lee Jones is back and Josh Brolin joins as Lee’s character in the 1960′s. Meanwhile that very same weekend Moonrise Kingdom gets a limited release and the movie it should open closest to is Midnight In Paris (OWG: $5 million DTG: $56 million ITG: $148 million). Both are star studded summer romantic comedies that open Cannes. Men In Black 3: OWG: $85 million DTG: $20o million ITG: $500 million Moonrise Kingdom OWG: $5 million DTG: $60 ITG: $145 million

May will have a massive blockbuster (The Avengers), a small art house flick (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) a surprise success (Dark Shadows), a profitable comedy (The Dictator),a big, bad blockbuster (Battleship), a comedy success ( a comeback hit (Men In Black 3), and an indie hit (Moonrise Kingdom).  I can’t wait to see The Avengers and Men In Black 3, I hope to see Moonrise Kingdom, and wish I could see Dark Shadows. Bye- Bye!!!!!

Movies I’m Most Anticipating:

The Avengers This 2 hour 22 minute super hero epic movie looks very entertaining. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor will assemble, along with Black Widow, the Hulk, Nick Fury, and newcomer Hawkeye to battle Loki, Thor’s brother. If Robert Downey Jr. has great chemistry with all the other actors, then this will be hilarious. I think it would have been a good idea to have John Favareau direct it, but Joss Whedon might be a good choice, but I haven’t seen his other movies. I don’t think the story will be excellent, because all of the super heroes together might be a bit too much. But it should be overall entertaining. Reel prediction: 4 stars Release Date: May 4th

Men in Black 3 I have not seen the first 2 MIB films, but I have heard that they are entertaining. Some people say the second one was not as good as the first, so the third might not be either. I think this could follow the path of Indiana Jones, can Josh Brolin be as great as Sean Connery? The trailer looks pretty funny, especially Will Smith’s description of Tommy Lee Jones’ smile. Reel prediction: 3 stars Release Date: May 25th

Brave Pixar’s latest film is a departure from their previous work, but after the mediocre Cars 2 we’re also hoping that it’s a return to form. The latest trailer looks promising but not they’re best. Rude humor and an annoying song are some of the detractors. Meanwhile the brilliant animation, big castle battle, and stunning archery tournament all look amazing. Of course with any trailer there are also some intriguingly mysterious elements. In this case 2 shots in which Merida, the heroine, is caught between two black bears. I don’t think this movie will be as bad as Cars 2, but not as good as the Toy Story trilogy, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc., or any of the other Pixar classics. Reel Prediction: 4 stars Release Date: June 22nd

The Amazing Spider-Man I am looking forward to this film a great deal. The actors all seem great, the trailer has loads of exciting action, and the director Marc Webb has been calling this more personal than most superhero movies. The only bad thing in it is the part in the first trailer when he’s flying and it looks too much like a video game. In the second trailer they didn’t put that part in: Could they secretly be hiding a huge mistake? Reel Prediction: 4 1/2 stars Release Date: July 3rd

Paranorman This looks like the must see August movie of the year. Last year August, a usually lackluster month for summer movies, (because they can’t play all summer long) brought us two surprise hits: The Oscar winning The Help and the massive blockbuster prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Can this be the surprise hit of August? I am sure hoping so!!!!! Reel Prediction: 4 stars Release Date: August 17th

Family Films That Look Just Okay:

The Odd Life Of Timothy Green Peter Hedges, the Oscar winning writer/director of Dan In Real Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape presents a new Disney movie that (based on the short trailer, there will probably be another one soon) promises to be a sappy, formulaic, yet intriguing and fun, kids movie. Sounds way different than Academy Award winning indie pictures but no matter how this film turns out I am excited to see what it’s like. Go watch the trailer. Flick calls it “The Tree of Life for kids.” I’d call it “a realistic Peter Pan“. Reel Prediction: 3 stars Release Date: August 15

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted I am not particularly excited to see this film but the trailer looks okay and it’s playing out of competition at Cannes. I haven’t seen any of the others in this series because the annoying theme song and rude humor seemed unappealing. Still, potty joke seeking kids will definitely enjoy this summer movie. Add in a catchy new circus song, it’s festival schedule, and a trailer with great 3-D and no rude humor parents and critics may enjoy the film as well. Reel Prediction: 2 stars Release Date: June 8th

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift I know many people around the world will see this film. The previous installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs made $886 million worldwide (and the highest foreign box office ever for an animated movie:surprising but true). The rest of the series was not terrible but this is not top of my must see summer movie list. However, if you liked the other ones then you’ll probably like this one. Reel Prediction: 2 1/2 stars Release Date: July 13th

Other Movies That I Would Like To See, But Probably Can’t:

The Dark Knight Rises This is the most anticipated movie of the summer and quite possibly of the year. It’s a superhero threequel that continues the story line of The Dark Knight (4 years ago, in 2008) which followed the story of Batman Begins (7 years ago, from 2005). The newest trailer is awesome. After The Dark Knight became the highest grossing superhero movie ever made (a little over $1 billion worldwide) and won 2 Oscars (including Best Supporting Actor for the late Heath Ledger) a sequel became inevitable. Adding Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon Levvit, and Marion Cotillard has added to fan’s anticipation. Will this new film get good as good reviews as the first ones (85% and 94%, respectively)? Will there be superb special effects and awesome action, as well? Find out this summer when this last in the trilogy movie is released. In the trailer Catwoman says “You don’t owe these people anymore”. Batman responds “Not everything. Not Yet.” Empire Magazine said that Batman’s answer could be applied to Christopher Nolan. Reel Prediction: 4 stars Release Date: July 20th

Moonrise Kingdom A shot in R.I. Wes Anderson film with a star studded cast including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartznam, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, and newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward: sounds like an Oscar hopeful and quite possibly an opening night Cannes summer smash hit. As for the plot, it’s a romantic comedy with a bit of adventure and drama, as it tells the story of two teenagers in love who run away from their families and then get looked for by their parents, the police, and a pack of cub scouts. Reel Prediction: 4 stars Release Date: May 25th

Dark Shadows Johnny Depp and Tim Burton team up to make an adaption of the TV soap opera series of the same name. Romance, fantastical humor, Burton weirdness, vampire violence, and a cast including previous Burton stars (Depp, Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter, Christopher Lee, and Michelle Pfeiffer) and newbies (Jackie Early Haley, Eva Green, and Chloe Grace Mortez). Many people disliked the first trailer but I thought it was very funny. Don’t forget to check out a special featurette on Apple Trailers about the film. It has new clips from the movie and behind the scenes insights from Burton and Depp. Reel Prediction: 4 stars Release Date: May 11th

And now last and least, the summer movies that seem to be all action, no story:

Battleship Transformers on water? Maybe. Robots, things blowing up, big battles, massive explosions, and possible aliens. Sounds a bit far from the board game. Reel Prediction: 2 stars Release Date: May 18th

G.I. Joe Retaliation Bringing in Dwaye Johnson and especially Bruce Willis will boost box office power but keeping Taylor Kitsch in the series was probably a bad move (after Battleship and John Carter but not Savages). The film looks like it has a smudge of fun action to it but not looking like a something that will become an all time classic at all ever. Reel Prediction: 2 1/2 Release Date: June 29th

Piranha 3DD Looks bad except for the title of course.Reel Prediction: 1 star Release Date: June 1st

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Lincoln will probably be a lot better. Reel prediction: 2 stars Release Date: June 22nd

Other summer movies being released that I will not do Reel Predictions for (they are not ones that I necessarily want to see a lot) include:

Dramas: Lawless (with an all star cast), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (with another all star cast), Savages (with a bigger all star cast than the two movies that I just mentioned), and To Rome With Love (with Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, and more)

Fantasy: Snow White and the Huntsman (with Kirsten Stewart as Snow White)

Musical: Rock of Ages (starring Tom Cruise) and Sparkle (with Whitney Huston)

Action Movies: The Bourne Legacy (a prequel to the previous trilogy of Bourne movies) Preminum Rush (an N.Y.C. bicycle action movie), and The Expendables 2 (with Sylvester Stallone and other famous action heroes)

Comedies: The Campaign (a political comedy with Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakas), The Dictator (a political spoof starring Sacha Baron Cohen), What To Expect When You’re Expecting (starring Cameron Diaz), That’s My Boy (starring Adam Sandler), Ted (with Mark Wahlberg and a teddy bear), Neighborhood Watch (with Jonah Hill and Ben Stiller and maybe some aliens), and Hope Springs (staring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and Steve Carrell)

Sci- Fi: Total Recall (a remake of the 1992 Arnold Schwarsenegger but now starring Colin Farrell) and Prometheus (a Ridely Scott sci-fi horror movie with a tough Noomi Rapace, a flat Charlize Theron, and a scared Idris Elba)

Documentaries: ReGENERATION (from the 2010 PCFF) and First Position (from TIFF kids)

Thank you for following me on my epic journey of a trilogy of summer movie madness!! Thank you as well to my family for helping me and movie websites for increasing my movie knowledge (IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Box Office Mojo, Lights Camera Jackson, EW, and The New York Times). Please don’t forget to COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also you should watch the trailers of the films I talked about about (on Apple Trailers) so you might have a little idea of what I have been talking about over the past three articles. During the summer movie season look for articles, reviews, news and maybe some videos and podcasts from Flick and I (in other words not a break from May 31st to August 21st like last summer, hopefully). And last try to go to the movies in the summer and COMMENT and COMMENT some more. You should make your own summer movie schedule of what you want to see for fun!!!!!!!! See you later!!!!!!

The following videos display Flack and my critiques of all the films we saw while at the fest. I hope the videos are interesting, critical (but not rude), and enjoyable. And now… dim the lights, sit back and enjoy our pure film festival analysis. Click on the link to view all of our videos on Vimeo.

This year’s festival has films from 41 different countries. “It’s our biggest festival yet,” says Muskala. That’s easy to see. This year marks the 15th anniversary for the fest and the digiPlaySpace was introduced this year. This digital playground for kids is an outstanding, fun place to learn through technology.  For example in one of the sections, kids can play with engaging apps that also teach them something.  In one of the apps, you build a robot with quadrilaterals. I had two favorite sections. The first was one involves you driving a digital car with a video game controller, while avoiding real household objects. The second favorite was a table full of animals and a tree (mostly) sculpted out of clay which were easy to bend making for a great stop motion film which I participated in making. I glanced over at the computer screen that shows the pictures that are taken, and saw that over 750 pictures had been shot while I was there.This year’s selection of films ranged from Chimpanzee (the Disneynature opening night film) to Sky Force 3-D (an animated film geared to younger kids from Hong Kong, dubbed in English). Muskala says “Chimpanzee was such a natural selection.” Earth Day falls on April 22nd and there’s an environmental theme running through all our programming this year.  ”Chimpanzee hit all the boxes.” On Sky Force she says, “Because opening night is good for ages 8-9 plus, we wanted closing night to be good for younger audiences (5 plus).” Note: While Chimpanzee and Sky Force are both big budget this year’s TIFF Kids also features many fascinating foreign and independent films.

I learned many things from interviewing Muskala, but the most interesting would be that she thinks people should have a good time, but also equally be enriched at TIFF Kids. I completely agree.

To get selected as jurors, children write a movie review online and submit it (for some it was part of a school project). Nine kids are picked. The jurors we interviewed, reviewed Captain America: The First Avenger, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Hugo, Bridge to Terabithia, and WALL•E (reviewed by 2 kids). The kids are only allowed to be picked as juror’s once, but they can enter more times just for fun.

While watching TIFF films, they look for good acted, well done feature films and shorts with a great story.  Films and shorts they juried included: Stay!, The Blue Tiger, Gattu, Alfie the Little Werewolf, Famous Five, Magic Piano 3-D, The Gruffalo’s Child, and Mouse For Sale. They watch each film only once with a regular audience or sometimes in a private theater. Then they agree on their favorite movies or shorts to award the Golden Sprocket.

It was interesting to hear how their jurying process is different from the Providence Children’s Film Festival‘s (PCFF) process. (awarding already picked TIFF Kid movies vs. selecting the movies to be in the PCFF)  It was fun talking to people who love movies as much as we do and hearing what their favorite movies are. The jurors’ favorite non-TIFF movies include: The Hunger Games, WALL•E, Hugo, The Sting, Nancy Drew, The Harry Potter movies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, John Hughes’ movies, and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. We definitely enjoyed interviewing the Young People’s Juries, and it was loads of fun.

At a ceremony held April 22, 2012 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, the award winners for the 15th annual TIFF Kids International Film Festival were announced. In addition to Audience Choice Awards, three Young People’s Juries weighed in on the recipients of the coveted Golden Sprocket Awards. Winners of the Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase were also announced, as determined by a jury of film industry professionals.

AND THE TIFF KIDS AWARDS GO TO…..

TIFF KIDS AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS
TIFF Kids Audience Choice Awards are voted on by Festival-goers who attended public screening weekends (April 14 to 15 and April 21 to 22).

TIFF Kids Audience Choice Award — Best Feature Film
Cool Kids Don’t Cry (Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet), director: Dennis Bots, The Netherlands
Grade eight student Akkie has only two concerns: going to high school with her best friends and winning the soccer championship.
Tough-girl Akkie never backs down from a challenge or lets the class bully Joep target her friends. Her whole class is shocked when Akkie is diagnosed with leukemia, yet she faces the disease with unwavering courage. While on her class graduation trip she must rely on Joep, the one classmate who didn’t visit her in the hospital, to help her with a dilemma. Is this is the beginning of a new friendship? Akkie fears she won’t have time to find out. Based on the best-selling Benelux novel by Jacques Vriens, this film adaptation will leave viewers inspired by Akkie’s spirit and resolve in the face of adversity.

TIFF Kids Audience Choice Award — Best Short Film
Joanna Makes a Friend, director: Jeremy Lutter, Canada
Joanna likes to wear dark clothes and sketch spooky illustrations. As a result, the kids in Joanna’s class don’t like her, and she doesn’t much enjoy their company either. So, when her father tells her to “make a friend,” Joanna takes it a little too literally.

GOLDEN SPROCKET AWARDS
Two film juries representing different age groups — ages 8 to 10 and ages 11 to 13 — each selected a winning feature film. Another jury comprised of children aged 9 to 13 determined a winning short film.

Golden Sprocket Award — Feature Film
Jury 1 (Ages 8 to 10)
Famous Five, director: Mike Marzuk , Germany
Three siblings, their cousin and a canine companion become summertime sleuths in this adaptation of the famed Enid Blyton novels.
On choosing this film, the jury said, “Famous Five is a great mystery that keeps you guessing and makes you feel like part of the adventure.”

Golden Sprocket Award — Feature Film
Jury 2 (Ages 11 to 13)
Nicostrados, the Pelican, director: Olivier Horlait, France/Belgium/Greece
Fourteen-year-old Yannis enjoys a simple life with his widowed fisherman father on the Greek island of Zora. That is, until he trades his mother’s golden cross for Nicostratos, a neglected white pelican. This charismatic, mischievous and gigantic bird becomes Yannis’ best friend, but he also becomes a major tourist attraction.

The Young People’s Jury explained their decision, “We are in awe of how this movie took us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions in such a beautiful setting, which was exquisitely captured in the film’s photography.”

Honourable mentions go to Cool Kids Don’t Cry, The Netherlands and Havanastation, Cuba.

Golden Sprocket Award — Short Film
Jury (Ages 9 to 13)
The Little Team, directors: Roger Gomez and Daniel Resines, Spain
In this sweet and charming documentary, the fourteen little kids that make up the Margatania FC go over an unsolved football mystery, and they end up teaching an unexpected life lesson to grown-ups.

Said the Young People’s Jury of their unanimous decision, “We admire that this movie conveys messages of perseverance and inspiration that we can all learn from. And it is told from a great point of view.”

Photos Courtesy of TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival