CELEBRITY SHORTS June 12, 7:30 pm, Cumberland 3 June 14, 8:30 pm, Cumberland 1. Rating: NNNNN
Nobody likes a chatty cathy at the movies, but leave it to Danish director Lars von Trier to hit the nail on the head when it comes to how we’d like to react – played out in formal wear, no less. His Occupations (Rating: NNN), with Willem Dafoe, punctuates the Celebrity Shorts program, which this year amounts to more than stars slumming and sundry wankage.
Bill Murray is not the most prolific actor, so seeing him in a short film is a bit of a rarity. That FCU: Fact Checkers Unit (Rating: NNNN) is genuinely funny makes it even more of a must-see. The premise is simple: in a parody of CSI-style crime shows, two magazine fact checkers need to confirm one simple fact – that Bill Murray likes to drink warm milk before bed. Hilarity ensues.
Sir Ian McKellen voices a jackdaw (that’s a kind of crow) in the claymation comedy For The Love Of God (Rating: NNN), a droll tale about a man and his mom, both of whom love the Almighty, but in very different ways.
The funny if somewhat predictable CTRL Z (Rating: NNN) stars Arrested Development’s Tony Hale as a Dilbertish office drone whose malfunctioning computer keyboard allows him to turn back the clock a few seconds at a time to correct all his mistakes.
Struck (Rating: NNNN) takes Cupid very seriously. Starring Ethan Suplee, Kelly Preston and Jenna Elfman, it’s a darkly sweet rom-com about a man trying to find love with an arrow literally piercing his heart.
Kate Hudson directs an all-star cast including Virginia Madsen, Dakota Fanning, Chevy Chase and Kurt Russell in the nostalgic piffle Cutlass (Rating: NN).
Ex-Boomtown Rat and Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof stars as himself in the hilarious I Am Bob (Rating: NNNN). The short sees the aging rocker/activist accidentally dumped from his limo at a roadside motel where a celebrity look-alike contest is being held. You can probably imagine most of the jokes, but it’s still pretty funny, especially when Geldof cops to the reason he once entered rehab.
WORLDWIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL runs Tuesday (June 10) to June 15, various times. $10-$20, passes available. For complete schedule and venues, see Indie & Rep Film, page 105. 416-967-1528, www.shorterisbetter.com.
