films we’re excited to see at this yr’s pageant

Yearly, when protecting TIFF (Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant), I take the prepare from Montreal to Toronto as form of a pre-fest ritual. Certain, flying could be faster, however I prefer to spend the time on the prepare planning my protection of the fest. On the prepare this yr, one thing occurred to me – that is my 14th yr in a row protecting the pageant. Since 2009, I’ve been making my strategy to the pageant to cowl the entire finest fall films showcased, with 2020’s version being a little bit of a bummer because it was a stay-home model as a result of pandemic, whereas 2021’s was a hybrid (I used to be right here – but it surely simply wasn’t the identical).

This yr is being pegged because the fest’s grand return to the size it was at in pre-pandemic years, and certain sufficient, it’s boasting a killer line-up of awards contenders, curios and crowdpleasers. I plan on protecting most -if not all – of the massive titles, together with all of the hits and misses (sure – TIFF isn’t resistant to misses as final yr’s Pricey Evan Hansen confirmed us).

Right here’s a style of what we plan on protecting:

The Whale

When you’d assume a star-studded film like Glass Onion or The Fabelmans could be the toughest premiere ticket to get, it was truly Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale which is the one everybody’s jockeying to get. Everyone seems to be psyched to see Brendan Fraser’s huge comeback film, with him starring as a housebound, morbidly overweight English instructor making an attempt to reconnect along with his daughter. Whereas the discourse round that is already exhausting (since when did fats fits get so controversial?), Fraser will little doubt be good, and I hope that is the start of a correct comeback for this well-loved actor.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out was a giant success because the final correct TIFF again in 2019. Netflix, who will now distribute the movie (versus the unique’s Lionsgate), is hoping lightning strikes twice, with them shelling out for a giant Gala premiere. Not a lot is understood about the concept but, apart from that it follows Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc on one other thriller, this time transferring the setting to Greece and that includes one other star-studded ensemble.

The Fabelmans

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story is probably going the largest coup of the pageant season, with the good bearded one often opting to open his movies outdoors the pageant hall. In any case, what does he want when it comes to pageant publicity? Any movie fan will hear the title Spielberg and mechanically be in. The truth that he not solely introduced the movie to the pageant however can be showing for a Q&A proves that that is certainly a particular movie for him, and I’m curious to see how his ardour mission got here collectively. In any case, this was the movie he selected to make moderately than Indiana Jones 5!

The Banshees of Inisherin

In Bruges is one among my favorite films of all time. This marks the long-awaited big-screen reunion of author/director Martin McDonagh with stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell on this story of friendship gone awry. The thrill out of Venice is that this film will earn Colin Farrell his first (!) Academy Award nomination, which is loopy whenever you consider it. I imply, how was he not nominated for In Bruges? Or heck, even The Lobster or Killing of a Scared Deer? The time has come to offer this man some kudos.

Bizarre: The Al Yankovic Story

One of many issues everybody all the time mentions once they discuss Weird Al Yankovic is how clean-cut he’s. He doesn’t swear; he doesn’t drink or do medicine. There’s by no means been a whiff of controversy round him. As such, it’s becoming that when crafting a biopic, Bizarre Al determined to satirize his life mercilessly, as he’s executed with many, many songs. On this Roku movie, Daniel Radcliffe performs a smoking, ingesting, hardcore model of Bizarre Al in his rise to fame and fortune, together with a (completely pretend) dalliance with Madonna. This one is excessive on my checklist as a fan of Al’s.

In fact, there’s a great deal of different stuff enjoying, together with Apple TV’s The Best Beer Run Ever, starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe and Invoice Murray, and The Son starring Hugh Jackman, Sam Mendes’ Empire of Mild and lots of extra. Verify again right here day-after-day throughout the fest for information and opinions!