Actor and filmmaker Sofia Banzhaf — whom you may know from Closet Monster, Bitten, Carter and Black Conflux, and whose short film I Am In The World As Free And Slender As A Deer On A Plain screens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this Sunday, January 26th, at 4 pm in the Canada’s Top Ten shorts program — is here to make sure The Canyons, Paul Schrader’s 2013 Hollywood scenester drama starring Lindsay Lohan and James Deen, gets the love it deserves. Your genial host Norm Wilner is not entirely sure he accepts this premise.

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Actor Dan Beirne (Great Great Great, Workin’ Moms, White Lie) just won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle award for his performance as William Lyon Mackenzie King in Matthew Rankin’s absurdist history The Twentieth Century. He’s here to talk about Monrovia, Indiana and the observational documentary cinema of Frederick Wiseman. Your genial host Norm Wilner is keen to see how that goes.

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Actors Vladimir Jon Cubrt (Hannibal, Stockholm) and Nicole Maroon (Meet the Family, The Boys) are partners in both life and work, and their new film Luba — which Vlad wrote and produced, and which stars Nicole as a young mother trying to get her life on an even keel while dealing with her disintegrating ex — opens in Calgary and Toronto this Friday, January 10th. (It’ll also be available for purchase on HighballTV.com.) They wanted to talk about A Fish Called Wanda, the 1988 comedy in which John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin chase each other around London over some stolen jewels. Your genial host Norm Wilner was awfully curious to see how these things are connected.

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Krysty Wilson-Cairns, co-writer of Edgar Wright’s upcoming Last Night in Soho and Sam Mendes’ WWI drama 1917, takes a break from a marathon press tour to share her pure and lasting love for Shallow Grave, the scrappy little thriller that put Danny Boyle, John Hodge and Andrew Macdonald on the cinematic map 25 years ago. Your genial host Norm Wilner wishes everyone a happy holiday, and really hopes Krysty pitches that sequel sometime.

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On this week’s episode, Cameron Maitland — the co-host of the Royal Canadian Movie Podcast and a film and content specialist for Hollywood Suite — drops by to talk about the deep-dive retrospective series he’s written for the service, A Year in Film, and one movie in particular: Reginald Hudlin’s Boomerang, the 1992 romantic comedy that gave Eddie Murphy a chance to do something radically different with his persona … and which became a blockbuster most people remember as a failure. Your genial host Norm Wilner would like to remind you that Hollywood Suite’s free preview is on until January 5, 2020. Go watch something!

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Her new project Things I Do For Money just had its world premiere at Whistler, so now we can release producer (and actor, and podcaster) Jen Pogue‘s very fun episode on Michael Dowse’s The F Word — the delightful 2013 romantic comedy (released in the US as What If) where Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan try to be friends despite an obvious attraction. Your genial host Norm Wilner is just happy to be celebrating a movie where Toronto plays itself.

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Writer, activist and actor Audra Williams drops by to share her love and admiration for Judy Holliday’s Oscar-winning performance in George Cukor’s Born Yesterday — and to discuss how the ethical awakening of Billie Dawn worked as an anchor in her own life. Your genial host Norm Wilner is always up for a comedy with a philosophical core.

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Writer, producer and director Erin Berry — whose second feature Majic just had its Canadian premiere at the Blood in the Snow festival in Toronto — celebrates the 35th anniversary of Dune, the David Lynch epic that was supposed to be Universal’s big Christmas event picture of 1984, and decidedly was not. Your genial host Norm Wilner double-checked the correct pronunciation of “Arrakis” for this.

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Filmmaker Matt Gallagher — whose award-winning documentary Prey makes its network and streaming premiere on TVOntario and TVO.org tonight, Tuesday November 19th, at 9 pm — chooses Bennett Miller’s 2011 sports drama Moneyball, the one where Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill reinvent baseball with statistics. Your genial host Norm Wilner is not a sports guy, which may explain the preceding synopsis.

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Journalist turned writer (Seinfeld‘s “The Fusilli Jerry”), producer (First Round Down) and distributor (Unobstructed View) Jonathan Gross drops in to discuss his very personal connection to Garry Marshall’s 1984 dramedy The Flamingo Kid, the one where Matt Dillon is a Brooklyn kid who takes a summer job as a Long Island cabana boy. Your genial host Norm Wilner is willing to hear the spiel.

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