Earlier this week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came to town to discuss climate change and stem cell research with some of the big guns running our country. Inevitably, at some point, the discussion veered into movies. Now I'm not sure whether or not Stephen Harper is much of a film buff, but the guy pretty much cut to the chase with that "camcording" issue. According to sources, Prime Minister Harper brought it up in his office during Arnie's visit on Wednesday, stating that he was looking into making an amendment to the Criminal Code, which would ban the act of videotaping inside movie theatres.

That's great news, I guess. It's one step forward towards "stopping those ugly, cheap cam-movies from getting made", which sort of echoes what one American official said regarding the proposal.

Well, in some related news, I found a copy of one of those one dollar Spider-Man 3 DVDs from China lying around in my house. The family member responsible for this appalling crime got a serious two day reprimand in the form of teasing and humiliation. The individual vowed to never do it again... yeah, right.

Opening this Week:

Knocked Up (listen to last week's MovieTO podcast for Andrea's review)
Severance
Mr. Brooks
Ten Canoes
Rise: Blood Hunter

(Photo: "Arnold visits LCBO 3" by blogTO Flickr pooler fermata.daily)

This review and all associated links are NSFW. But relax, it's just porn.

Destricted is an anthology film that comprises of seven shorts, all on the topic of sex and pornography, made by some of the most recognized names in media arts and world cinema. The roster includes: Marina Abramović, Matthew Barney, Marco Brambilla, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noé, Richard Prince, and Sam Taylor Wood.

As a collective piece, the film is dark, explicit and perverse; that it treats the theme of sex in a frank and often unflinching manner, may deter those who are expecting nothing more than a bit of casual titillation. There's nothing casual or truly titillating here. Despite some humourously odd moments, the film is mostly joyless; it presents a nihilistic view of sexuality that neither arouses nor fascinates. Anything more misanthropic might be a collaboration between Catherine Breillat and Lars von Trier.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

With the principal cast and director Gore Verbinski back at the helm, what's new and intriguing about the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Chow Yun-Fat -- The Killer himself makes his first appearance as the villainous Pirate Lord of the South China Sea, Sao Feng. What I would do to see Chow wield two guns or two swords in each hand again. Also, of course, there's Keith Richards dropping in for a much hyped cameo as Jack Sparrow's father. The swashbuckling adventure (which is getting similar mixed reviews as Dead Man's Chest) will likely conquer the box office this weekend; putting Shrek the Third on the plank where it belongs.

If you're not up for another Shrek movie this week, there are couple of arthouse pics worth checking it out, both of which made their Toronto premiere at last year's TIFF.

2:37

This prodigious debut has been endlessly compared to Gus Van Sant's Elephant for its lyrical investigation of high school ennui; with each incidental moment crescendoing into inevitable tragedy. It's an astonishing fact that its young Australian director, Murali K. Thalluri, without any formal training made this film when he was 19, and took it all the way to Cannes where it received a standing ovation. Check out the official website and trailer.

Paris Je T'Aime

An anthology film made up of 22 shorts by household names like: The Coen Brothers, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, Christopher Doyle, Alexander Payne, Walter Salles, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant, and many more. Stories of love, strangers on a train, chance encounters, all taking place in the most cinematically dreamy locale in the world.

Also opening this week:

Shrek The Third
Close to Home
Georgia Rule
Infest Wisely

(Photos: M2 Entertainment, First Look Studios)

Happy Together
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai
(Tuesday May 22 - 5:15pm @ The ROM)

As the world awaits Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights (which opens Cannes this week), the 17th annual Inside Out Film & Video Festival is celebrating with the retrospective screening of Happy Together. It's a chance to revisit that beloved, vintage Wong style in all its wild kaleidoscopic glory, before it got tamed down slightly in the follow-ups, In the Mood for Love and 2046.

Happy Together is one of the best films of the 90s, and certainly the most mature and linear of the Hong Kong auteur's pre-millennium works. It's hard to forget the haunting performances of Tony Leung and the late Leslie Cheung as two tortured lovers drifting in the tango bars of Argentina. Cheung's performance is arguably his greatest before his tragic suicide in 2003.

Hard to believe the film is already ten years old; regardless, it's always a good opportunity to see a Wong Kar-Wai movie in celluloid -- it's so much prettier that way.

The folks at Sony Pictures may still be hung-over. Not only did their "silly" Spider-Man 3 movie pull in over $150 million last weekend (breaking an all-time record previously set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), they also managed to thwart those Chinese bootleggers from sapping away their mega investment.

On the home front, such crackdown efforts were felt at a preview screening here in Toronto a few weeks ago where fans were scanned with metal detectors, and had their cell phones confiscated before being allowed into the theatre. Going too far? Apparently not, according to Hollywood studios. With Canada placing high on their threat list, our seemingly benign and friendly country is believed to be a "major haven for piracy". Evidence shows that Canadians are contributing significantly to the global underground market that's reportedly robbing $6 billion from the industry each year.

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. took the initiative and imposed an embargo on all preview screenings of their upcoming movies here. As the first studio to do this: "[Warners] is reacting to the failure of the Canadian government to introduce legislation to make camcording of films for trafficking around the world illegal and a punishable offense," as reported in The Hollywood Reporter.