Probably the first one is to remember that there are a lot of French-language movies on this site (Canada's a bilingual country). Most are cross-referenced under their English titles. However, when looking for a French movie, please remember that le, la, les, un, une, etc. are articles, just like the and a. You wouldn't look for The Bridge on the River Kwai under T, would you? So don't look for Le decline de l'empire Americain under L. I know, pretty obvious right? But I've come across reference books -- Canadian as well as not -- that do precisely that!
When I first started compiling this,
I'm not sure the "web" even existed, and I had geared it, understandably,
toward a Canadian readership. Well, since putting this on the internet,
I actually seem to be getting more responses from people outside
of Canada. As such, I realize some references and comments might seem obscure,
or cryptic, or just plain non-sensical to non-Canadians. As I notice things
that might be a bit parochial, I'll try and rephrase them to make it easier
for people with no specific Canadian knowledge. Other things I'll try and
explain here, such as...
Tip Number Two:
Etrogs and Genies are awards given to Canadian films released to the theatres,
like the American Oscars, the French Ceasars, etc. Etrogs were originally
given out but the name was changed to Genies. The Golden Reel Award is
given to the Canadian film with the highest domestic (that is, in Canada)
box office gross in a given year. Geminis (and their predecessors the Actras)
are given to TV productions, like the American Emmies.
Because an obvious thing to do while watching a Canadian movie is notice a familiar actor and say "hey, I didn't know he was Canadian!", I often try to identify when actors are imports. Ultimately, that's an almost impossible task, given how many so-called Canadian movies feature (usually) American actors brought up to star -- sometimes two or three such imports in a single film. It would get ridiculous to have to say American, American, American for everyone. So although I still do try, it's not always consistent. As well, in some cases I don't know and I don't want to erroneously identify someone as non-Canadian when they are Canadian...or, at least, are a Canadian resident (I mean, Stuart Margolin has just as legitimate claim to being Canadian as an actor actually born here -- considerably moreso than a lot of them, in fact).
Most of the information listed on this site was gathered at the time of the film's release/broadcast, occasionally added to as I learn something new. Even I just have to take my word for things contained in older entries. Some of the info might be out of date...like a movie might be available on video now that wasn't when I first made the entry. Obviously, if and when I learn of such errors, I'll rectify them as quickly as possible...and I apologise for any misinformation.
I'll add more things as they come to mind.