Toronto Film Festival 2010: The Movies That Had Everyone Talking This Year

For those who get to attend the sprawling Toronto International Film Festival, with its 300 or so movies crammed into a little over a week, it's like summer camp for movie lovers, with countless star-spotting opportunities, fellow film buffs crowding the streets and the bars, and more good movies than you can possibly see. For the rest of us, however, the festival is a good predictor of which movies will be captivating us at awards season.

TIFF wrapped last night with 'The King's Speech,' the drama about King George VI (Colin Firth) steeling himself and Britain for World War II, winning the Cadillac People's Choice Award. Being named the audience favorite is a good omen, not just for the movie's commercial prospects, but for the Oscars as well; the last two movies to win that citation at TIFF were 'Precious' and 'Slumdog Millionaire.'

Moviefone and its partners have spent the last several days immersing readers in coverage of the festival, with celebrity interviews, reviews, deal reports and capturing the buzz from those Toronto selections most likely to wow you in theaters over the next few months and to grab for awards glory when Oscar season starts. Here's a quick rundown of the highlights of this year's TIFF.

10 Movies That Made Headlines:

•'Biutiful' (Release Date TBD): Crime drama from director Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Javier Bardem. Moviefone interviews Bardem | IndieWire interviews Iñárritu

•'Blue Valentine' (Dec. 31): Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in this sexually charged drama about a couple's courtship and disintegration. IndieWire interviews director Derek Cianfrance

•'Black Swan' (Dec. 1): Darren Aronofsky's much-anticipated follow-up to 'The Wrestler' stars Natalie Portman as a ballet dancer whose claws come out when competing with rival Mila Kunis. Choice quotes from the 'Black Swan' press conference | IndieWire interviews Aronofsky

•'The King's Speech' (Nov. 24): In this drama set on the eve of World War II, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are said to be Oscar shoo-ins for their roles as England's stammering King George VI and his Australian speech therapist. Moviefone interviews Firth

•'Rabbit Hole' (2010): One of the most acclaimed dramas of this year's TIFF stars Nicole Kidman (in a performance likely to garner year-end awards) and Aaron Eckhart as parents mourning the death of their toddler. Moviefone review | IndieWire interviews director John Cameron Mitchell

•'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger' (Sept. 22): Woody Allen's latest dramedy of love and betrayal includes such stars as Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, and Freida Pinto. Interview with Woody Allen

•'127 Hours' (Nov. 5): 'Slumdog Millionaire' director Danny Boyle's true-life drama stars James Franco as Aron Ralston, the mountaineer who was trapped for days beneath a fallen boulder until he summoned the wherewithal to cut off his own arm. As intense as it sounds, reportedly causing fainting and seizures in some viewers. IndieWire interviews Franco

•'Everything Must Go' (2011): Will Ferrell plays a rare dramatic role in this adaptation of a Raymond Carver story about a man who loses his job and his wife on the same day and winds up living on his front lawn. Moviefone review | Interview with Ferrell

•'Waiting for Superman' (Sept. 24): Director Davis Guggenheim's follow-up to 'An Inconvenient Truth' is a documentary that focuses on America's broken public education system and what some people, from Bill Gates to educator Geoffrey Canada, are doing about it. Gates, Canada, and others speak at the TIFF screening | IndieWire interviews Guggenheim

•'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' (2011): Werner Herzog's documentary about a never-before-photographed set of prehistoric cave paintings in France was a 3-D movie that even noted 3-D hater Roger Ebert could love. IFC will release the film in theaters next year before it goes to TV on the History Channel. Moviefone review

Other Buzz-worthy Movies:

•'Another Year' (Dec. 29): A family drama from master of kitchen-sink realism Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent. Moviefone review

•'Barney's Version' (Date TBD): An adaptation of Mordecai Richler's satiric novel about the life and loves of the abrasive Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti). Sony Pictures Classics bought this but hasn't announced a release date yet. Moviefone review

•'Super' (Date TBD): A dark superhero satire, à la 'Kick-Ass,' starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page. This became one of the first purchases at the festival when IFC Films picked this up Moviefone review | Clip

•'Dirty Girl' (2011): Teen drama set in the '80s; think 'Easy A' without the laughs. Got mixed reviews, but was the talk of the fest when the Weinstein Co. paid $3 million for it.

•'Meek's Cutoff' (first half of 2011): A western starring Michelle Williams and directed by Kelly Reichardt, who directed Williams in the acclaimed 'Wendy and Lucy' a couple years ago. Earned rave reviews from everyone. Reichardt talks about one character's unlikely inspiration.

Deals: Nicole Kidman Enters Oscar Race
TIFF isn't usually thought of as a deal-making festival; there are no jury-driven prizes to spur purchases, and many films come into the fest with distribution deals for fall release dates already in place. Still, this was reportedly one of the busiest dealmaking editions of TIFF ever. The cash-strapped Weinstein Co., perhaps aiming to return to Harvey Weinstein's glory days as an Oscar power broker, spent freely, buying 'Dirty Girl' for $3 million and also acquiring 'Sarah's Key' and 'Submarine.'

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions went in together on not one but two movies: Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination drama 'The Conspirator' and Will Ferrell drama 'Everything Must Go.' Lionsgate also bought what was perhaps the fest's most acclaimed film, the Nicole Kidman drama 'Rabbit Hole,' with the intent of releasing it before the end of the year so that it qualifies for Oscars. IFC Films bought two Rainn Wilson movies, 'Super' and 'Peep World.' It also bought Werner Herzog's 3-D documentary 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams,' after a bidding war broke out. When a bidding war breaks out for a movie by a director as uncompromising and uncommercial as Herzog, you know business is booming.

Who Was the Festival's "It" Girl?
Every festival needs an "It" girl. Nominees included Sally Hawkins and her frequent costar Andrea Riseborough, both of whom starred in several films at this year's TIFF. Or maybe it's Abigail Breslin. The 'Little Miss Sunshine' moppet, now 14, stars in TIFF movie 'Janie Jones' as a girl who discovers her dad is a famous rocker, and she proved her own vocal chops singing at the film's afterparty.

Abigail Breslin sings at the Toronto International Film Festival

Full TIFF Coverage: You can go back and read all of Moviefone's coverage of this year's TIFF at our Toronto Film Festival category page. Links to IndieWire's extensive coverage are all on this page.

•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.

View the original article here

Toronto Film Festival 2010 Complete Roundup

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival has come to an end, showcasing a slew of Hollywood's most anticipated fall films -- especially noteworthy after such a bleak summer -- and indie gems you'll have to hunt for over the next few years. 'The King's Speech,' 'Rabbit Hole,' and 'Black Swan' are just a few of the hot titles that drew buzz this year. We've already reported that 'The King's Speech' won the coveted People's Choice Award, but what about the rest?

First, attendees also got to vote on the best Midnight Madness flick and documentary. Jim Mickle's 'Stake Land' -- showcasing a post-apocalyptic America after a vampiric epidemic -- won the former, while Sturla Gunnarsson's environment-centric 'Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie' won the latter. Shawn Ku's 'Beautiful Boy' (a school shooting aftermath story starring Maria Bello and Michael Sheen) won the "Discovery" prize, while Pierre Thoretton's 'L'Amour Fou' (about Yves Saint Laurent) won the "Special Presentation's winner. And since this is a Canadian fest, maple leaf cinema earned some choice awards as well. Best Canadian Short went to Vincent Biron's 'Le Fleur de l'age,' Best Canadian First Feature went to Deborah Chow's 'The High Cost of Living,' and Best Canadian Feature Film went to Denis Villeneuve for 'Incendies.'

Are you struggling to keep them all straight? To suss out which one detailed a man with a stutter, which was a 'Groundhog Day' thriller, or which film Sarah Silverman is going nude for, hit the jump for a roundup of our features, interviews, and reviews from the stellar TIFF 2010 after the jump.

FEATURES
Where to Spot Celebrities at the Toronto Film Festival
2010 Toronto Film Festival Guide: 10 Movies We Can't Wait to See
Canadian Films to Watch for at TIFF
10 Must-See Toronto Fest Films That Probably Won't Escape Toronto
Toronto Film Festival Gifting Lounges Give Back This Year
'Waiting for Superman' the Ground-Shaker at TIFF
Girls on Film: TIFF's 'Trigger' is the 'Before Sunset' of Female Friendship
Toronto Film Festival 2010: The Movies That Had Everyone Talking This Year
'The King's Speech': Frontrunner for Best Picture Oscar? Here's What We Know About It

INTERVIEWS
Toronto Fest Programmer Colin Geddes on Midnight Movies ... and Madness
Jennifer Beals Talks 'A Night for Dying Tigers,' Family Love and Why She Has a Dagger in Her Skirt
Colin Firth Talks Playing Royalty in 'The King's Speech'
Javier Bardem on His Troubled Character in 'Biutiful'
Will Ferrell on Playing a Serious Man in 'Everything Must Go'
Woody Allen Talks 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,' and How Everything Is Really Hard
Penn Badgley Talks 'Easy A' and Working with Emma Stone
Sarah Silverman on 'Peep World,' Ugly Crying and Getting Naked for Her Next Film

REVIEWS
'The Town'
"Affleck proves he's no one-trick pony. It's just as smart and well-executed as Affleck's last, and with him back in front of the camera too, it delivers on all that promise of Affleck's earlier career as an actor." [Joe Utichi]

'Stone'
"Nearly suffering a mid-life crisis of its own midway through as it sulks itself deeper into material some may describe as Bresson-ian, it never has a crisis of faith and allows three very interesting performances to come shining through the center and plenty to ponder in the end." [Erik Childress]

'Never Let Me Go'
"A delicate film to discuss but a difficult one to spoil, 'Never Let Me Go' tells a concise and slippery story of resignation that attempts to bridge the gap between what we know of the human experience and the turbulence of actually enduring it. " [David Ehrlich]

'Easy A'
"Minus a distracting John Hughes tribute, a misplaced karaoke routine and a few storyline deficiencies, Easy A is a grade A comedy and one certainly worthy of multiple viewings. The pacing is impeccable, soundtrack wildly appropriate and upbeat and the dialogue snappy and packed with inventive humor." [Perri Nemiroff]

'It's Kind of a Funny Story'
"[It] is not a funny movie. Nor is it a sincere, compelling, or interesting one. That a pair of indie-favorite filmmakers would attempt a teenager's version of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' is not a big shock; that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, co-directors of the very fine films 'Half Nelson' and 'Sugar,' would turn in such a mawkish, cloying, and uncomfortable film absolutely is." [Scott Weinberg]

'Barney's Version'
"A number of writers tried to tackle famous Canadian novelist Mordechai Richler's 'Barney's Version' over the years -- including the author himself -- but it was TV writer Michael Konyves who knew how to whittle away at the dense, 417-page satire and come out with a crisp tale that loses some of the bitter edge, replaces it with humanity, and gives a talented stable of actors the chance to offer up some of their best work." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Daydream Nation'
"Unlike the creations it's similar to, Daydream Nation is a messy tale over-saturated with side plots, flat characters, and a bipolar tone." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Passion Play'
"Thus is the strength and weakness of 'Scrooged' scribe Mitch Glazer's directorial debut, 'Passion Play' – a film that adeptly conveys his passion for the material (twenty years in the making), yet fails to hit the audience in that same engaging way." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Super'
Broad slapstick satires generally don't cross the line into truly disturbing material, but James Gunn's 'Super' does -- and it does so with a good deal of vim, vigor, and uniquely twisted jokes." [Scott Weinberg]

'Last Night'
"Massy Tadjedin has quickly established herself as a notable and talented new filmmaker. Last Night is an impressive first feature, knowing when to savor a moment and linger, and knowing when to retreat and tease curiosity." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Hereafter'
"Those looking for questions would be better served making their own list and checking it twice for this film can barely muster up the time to send us home with anything to think about, other than how one of the world's most celebrated directors [Clint Eastwood] can team up with one of the most interesting writers [Peter Morgan] of recent years and produce such a unchallenging dullard." [Erik Childress]

'Cool It'
"If 'An Inconvenient Truth' is our ass-kicker designed to make us put down that bottle of water and rethink our environmental attitudes, Ondi Timoner's 'Cool It' is our level-headed documentary designed to make us think rather than just react." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Casino Jack'
"From [Jack] Abramoff's early exploits dallying in off-shore sweat shops and moving forward to his abuse of Native American casinos and his horribly bad decisions regarding a gaming cruise ship, the man's most infamous crimes are detailed in sly and juicy detail. " [Scott Weinberg]

'Another Year'
"Leigh presents all of this in his typical slice-of-life fashion, light on plot but heavy on characterization, full of effortlessly funny dialogue. 'Another Year' comes across like an exceedingly well-acted stage play. Each performance is richly detailed, even when the character appears in only a few scenes." [Eric D. Snider]

'Everything Must Go'
"[Will] Ferrell is never better than in those moments when he doesn't have to out-quirk himself, or find a way to be even more flamboyant on the big screen, and Rush lets Ferrell have a field day, finding those bits of dark humor that are always present on the darkest days." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Caves of Forgotten Dreams'
"It's a quiet, mellow, and mostly captivating documentary about a prehistoric cave in Southern France ... your narrative tour guide is Werner Herzog, and the resulting film will absolutely make for a very comfortable screening once The History Channel gets around to airing it." [Scott Weinberg]

'Repeaters'
"Though Bessai does maintain his pensive, character-focused style, he ups the ante to deliver a surprising and often kinetic look at what can happen if your days start repeating, a la 'Groundhog Day.'" [Monika Bartyzel]

'Rabbit Hole'
"What I ended up watching is, quite simply, one of the best films I've ever seen at a festival. I've always contended that there's no such thing as a 'flawless' film, but now I'm going to amend that phrase to read 'There's no such thing as a perfect film.' Because 'Rabbit Hole' is, as far as I can tell, pretty much flawless." [Scott Weinberg]

'Amigo'
"This isn't a polarizing and politically critical film in the vein of 'Silver City.' It's a character study that reveals what we see only rarely in big-screen war films -- the real people behind the conflict once the pomp and circumstance are washed away." [Monika Bartyzel]

'Janie Jones'
"Even with some stellar performances, 'Janie Jones' falls a bit flat of its potential. It plays out more like a road trip of dramatic pit stops rather than a fully fleshed out journey between father and daughter." [Monika Bartyzel]

View the original article here

10 Festival Favorites That Didn't Make It to Theaters in 2010

One of the pleasures of attending a film festival is discovering good movies that most people haven't had a chance to see yet, then raving about them to your friends. One of the frustrations, however, is when those good movies don't make it past the festival stage, and the people to whom you've been raving never get a chance to see them. (I'll go out on a limb and guess that this is more frustrating for the filmmakers than it is for me.)

It would be neither feasible nor advisable to see every movie at every festival, so this list is incomplete. But of the 80 or so festival movies I saw this year, here are 10 praiseworthy ones that have not yet been released in the United States. Keep your fingers crossed for 2011!

'American: The Bill Hicks Story' | This documentary about the subversive, dearly departed comedian got a theatrical run in the U.K. (where the filmmakers are based) but nothing yet in the United States, despite a warm reception at South By Southwest, HotDocs, Seattle, and elsewhere. You might be able to find it on a Region 2 DVD. Official website.

'Hesher'

| The title character in this bizarre (and strangely affecting) comedy-drama is a teenage dirtbag and agent of chaos who befriends a young boy after the boy's mother dies. He's played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I wish it had come out this year, as a companion piece to JGL's very different 'Inception' performance. Newmarket bought the film at Sundance and presumably still has plans to release it in 2011, but I wasn't able to track down an exact date. Official website.

'His & Hers'

| From Ireland comes this charming little documentary in which women from ages 4 to 90 talk about the men in their lives: their daddies, their boyfriends, their husbands, their sons. What emerges is a profound admiration for the fairer sex, if only for the way they put up with us dopey males. It played at Sundance and SXSW, among other fests, but so far has no theatrical run lined up. (A DVD is available for purchase, but they'll only ship to Ireland addresses.) Official website.

'I Saw the Devil'

| As you are probably aware, South Korea's chief export is bloody movies about revenge. This one, which played at Toronto and Fantastic Fest and will turn up at Sundance in a few weeks, is an admirably unsettling addition to the canon. Magnet (the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures) will release it stateside on March 4. Official website.

'The Loved Ones'

| This Australian shocker -- about a crazy teenage girl who goes to extreme measures to secure a prom date -- premiered at Toronto in 2009, then played SXSW this year, where it found a very appreciative audience. It's now one of those buzzy, you-gotta-see-this horror films, endorsed by no less an authority than Cinematical's Scott Weinberg (who reviewed it for those Weinberg-stealing fiends at Fearnet). But can you see it? It's in Australian theaters now, with no word yet on when (or whether) it will expand. Official website.

'Monogamy'

| 'Murderball' co-director Dana Adam Shapiro made his fiction debut with this engrossing character study about a voyeuristic photographer (Chris Messina) and his fiancee (Rashida Jones). It's nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, which is a good sign. Oscilloscope has distribution, release date TBD. Official website.

'Saturday Night'

| For fans of 'Saturday Night Live,' what could be better than a behind-the-scenes look at a typical production week? How about if it's directed by James Franco? And how about if SNL's guest the week in question was John Malkovich? SXSW and Tribeca fans got a kick out of this entertaining doc (read our review), which Oscilloscope plans to release in "early 2011."

'Tabloid'

| The latest from Errol Morris -- one of the best documentary filmmakers alive, you know -- is an outrageously entertaining look at a strange-but-true news story from the 1970s, in which a woman allegedly kidnapped a Mormon missionary in England and made him her sex slave. It gets nuttier from there. The only word we have on distribution so far is from Morris himself, just a couple days ago, via Twitter: "'Tabloid' will be in theaters next year. A deal will be announced in the very near future. (Thank goodness.)" So there you go. Official site.

'Tucker and Dale vs. Evil'

| You know those slasher movies about creepy backwoods guys who torture and kill innocent teens? This is a hilarious deconstruction of such films, from the point of view of the hillbillies -- played by Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine -- who it turns out are harmless and misunderstood. It was a hit at Sundance and SXSW. How does it not have distribution yet?? That's an atrocity. Maybe this is another job for Drafthouse Films...? Official site.

'Zonad'

| Oh, I don't really expect to ever see this in theaters. It's too goofy, too provincial, too weird. Sure made me laugh at Tribeca, though. Erik Davis observed that it's like a live-action 'Simpsons' episode, and that's exactly right. An alcoholic escapes from rehab and convinces the morons in a quaint Irish village that he's a space alien; hilarity ensues. It's gotten some play in the U.K. and Australia and is for sale on DVD in Ireland only. I could see this becoming a cult favorite once it gets some more home-video exposure. Official site.

View the original article here