Monica Bellucci

Both better than expected and not as clever as it ought to be, the sitcom level comedy Mafia Mamma is a throwback to a bygone era.

Throughout the forty years of the Toronto International Film Festival, the developing and fostering and incubating of Canadian films and Canadian cinematic talent has always been an important priority, and because of that this year’s terrific line-up of Canadian films can be seen as a direct pay off of all those past efforts and the need to keep TIFF a Canadian film festival–one that celebrates international films and film culture probably better than just about any other festival in the world, while remaining still a Canadian film festival.

Coming out this week on DVD and Blu-ray: Jay Baruchel and Nicolas Cage star in Disney’s live-action remake of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are on the run in Knight And Day; plus a look at Going The Distance, and the Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

New this week at a theatre near you: Leonardo DiCaprio walks the dreamscape in Christopher Nolan’s daring thriller, Inception; and Jay Baruchel plays the wizard in training for Jon Turteltaub‘s live-action adaptation of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

This week’s new arrivals on DVD and Blu-ray include Roland Emmerich‘s epic disaster, 2012; Spike Jonze‘s adaptation of the children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are; plus a look at The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and Ponyo.