This was one of my favourite TIFF films from last year. Here's the Now review (John Harkness gives it three stars).

Unfortunately, the only place it's screening is at the Kennedy Commons.

What a terrible place to screen a fine movie like that (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift should be playing on every screen there). Hopefully the Bloor or some similar venue picks up The War Within in the not-too-distant future.

Update:

Writing in The Globe and Mail, Jason Anderson gave it two stars. Susan Walker, a Toronto Star entertainment reporter, gave it three stars.

Here's RottenTomato.com's collection of reviews.

WASHINGTON, DC—A team of leading historians and psychiatrists issued a report Wednesday claiming that the United States was likely the victim of abuse by its founding fathers and motherland when it was a young colony.

The War of 1812, an example of early abuse by the motherland.

 "In its adulthood, the U.S. displays all the classic tendencies of a nation that was repeatedly mistreated in its infancy—difficulty forming lasting foreign relationships, viewing everyone as a potential enemy, and employing a pattern of assault and intimidation to assert its power," said Dr. Howard Drexel, the report's lead author. "Because of trust issues stemming from the abuse, America has become withdrawn, has not made an ally in years, and often resents the few nations that are willing to lend support—most countries outgrow this kind of behavior after 230 years."

 According to Drexel, nations that act out in selfish, self-destructive ways in statehood were usually granted too much independence at an early age, especially if the motherland had other newly annexed lands to care for.

According to Yale University psychology professor John Bauffman, while some rebellious behavior in a nation's adolescence is common, and sometimes healthy, America's historically stormy relationship with mother country Great Britain points to a deep need for acceptance.

From The Onion

Russia's President Vladimir Putin explains to the BBC why he kissed a young boy on the stomach the other day.

From the Beeb:

Mr Putin described the boy as "very sweet" Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his controversial kissing of a boy on the stomach was just a spontaneous gesture of affection. Mr Putin came across Nikita, five, in the Kremlin last week, lifted up his T-shirt and suddenly kissed him. "He seemed very independent and serious... I wanted to cuddle him like a kitten and it came out in this gesture. He seemed so nice," he said. The kiss - shown on Russian television - triggered huge public interest. "There is nothing behind it", Mr Putin told the BBC in a live webcast on Thursday, explaining that the encounter on 28 June was quite spontaneous. Nikita was among a group of tourists visiting the Kremlin.

I can only presume Mr. Putin is trying to soften the image he's built up as a cold-eyed, iron-willed authoritarian judo-meister who likes to use verbs like "crush" when referring to terrorists.

And what better way to do it that publicly licking a little boy's belly?

A snippet of an interview with Malian singer Salif Keita, playing at Harbourfront tonight:

Keita, 56, recalls listening to James Brown's 1962 Live at the Apollo album "over and over -- I didn't even try to understand the words, just the sounds," he says with the intermittent aid of a French translator, on the phone from a tour stop in Washington, D.C.

Asked if the roots of Brown's locomotive funk and pining ballads seemed African to African ears, Keita doesn't hesitate with his reply, in hearty English: "Of course!"

(Thanks, Don!)

Here's Tuesday's BBC headline: 'No request' for Afghan back-up

And here's today's: UK considers bigger Afghan force

An excerpt from the Thursday story:

The possibility of sending more UK troops to Afghanistan is being considered "as a matter of urgency", the defence secretary has said.

Des Browne said he had received advice on additional deployments and that he was discussing it with chiefs of staff.

The decision would be announced to the House of Commons as soon as possible, Mr Browne added.

The news comes a day after a UK soldier became the sixth in a month to die on duty in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Helmand is immediately west of Kandahar province, which is where Canadian efforts are centred. Sounds like the Brits are in a tougher spot than our guys. We haven't had a combat death since Capt. Nichola Goddard back on May 17.

There has unquestionably been an upsurge in violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan this year, and it seems to be reaching Kabul, the capital. Kabul used to be the oasis of stability. Hard to spin that as a good thing.

During the current frenzy of Bush administration invective against the NYT and other news organizations, journalist Mark Goodman asks how life might be different today had newspapers printed the truth about the First World War as it was happening.

A number of major broadcasters are ready to begin offering news programming in Arabic. But will it help, or make matters worse?

(DING! DING! DING! This is this blog's 3,000th post!!)