Haven't had much time to chime in with comments from TIFF the past several days as I've been too busy theater hopping, trying to stay dry and not completely ignore my fantasy football teams... but I do have some brief comments to share (in order of when I screened them).
Our Brand Is Crisis: Better than its current Tomatometer and Metacritic scores would indicate. Snappy (albeit cynical) script from Peter Straughan. Sandra Bullock is a delight. Treat it as more of a comedy instead of something serious (watch the documentary for that) and you'll be fine.
Green Room: Jeremy Saulnier has this thing where all of the characters in his movies must speak in an almost monotone expression-less demeanor... all while doing heinous things to one another. I think I enjoyed Blue Ruin more... and I didn't much care for Blue Ruin. This felt more like a bad Ti West flick that wastes Patrick Stewart's considerable talents... and everyone else's. Nice gore, though.
Youth: Far and away the best thing I've seen during the festival and the only film I would consider a legitimate Best Picture nominee. And I didn't much care for The Great Beauty apart from the direction and cinematography which is arguably better here. Michael Caine shines in a role worthy of a Best Actor nom. Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz and Jane Fonda all steal scenes at one point or another and the rest of a strong ensemble all shine. Yeah, that even includes Diego Maradona. Hell, the Kinect even gets exposure in this film. It hits theaters in limited release in early December.
Trumbo: Bryan Cranston chews the scenery. Louis C.K. continues his strong run in serious cinema from Blue Jasmine and American Hustle. Helen Mirren wears some colorful hats. That said, this is a film you've seen countless times before... and, while, this is clearly a story that needed to be told and probably couldn't have been dressed up much better, it's a little hard to feel too sorry for Trumbo when his trials are that he has to live in a smaller house with his family and watch other people accept Oscars on his behalf.
The Danish Girl: Eddie Redmayne makes for a very pretty girl. The real treat of a performance in this film, though, is Alicia Vikander (who has had one hell of a year). If you wanted to know how hot Ava from Ex Machina could look if she was all flesh and no circuits, wonder no more. That said, I would have liked to have seen this film play things a little less safe and focus more on Einar Wegener / Lili Elbe's internal strife during gender transition and a little less on flaunting love triangles that never seem genuine. This film likely stands a better chance of getting a Best Picture nom than Youth does but I don't see a Best Actor repeat for Redmayne here (although he will be nominated).
Brooklyn: Fact... if you watch the trailer for this movie, you've more or less seen the movie. That said, this film is more about the experience than the destination. I haven't found a Nick Hornby script I haven't enjoyed (although Wild came awfully close). Saoirse Ronan is a treat in what is probably her best role to date. Speaking of dates, this makes for one fine date flick.
Freeheld: Apparently I picked the wrong Julianne Moore flick to screen at TIFF and should have gone to watch Maggie's Plan instead. Didn't I just watch her progressively weaken and die to an illness less than a year ago? Except this time we get some "hey, I'm the gayest jew you've ever seen" nonsense from Steve Carell, whose comedy clashes with the rest of the serious tone of the movie. Michael Shannon was probably the only good thing about this film... which is a shame as it actually focuses on a social cause with a great deal of substance.
High-Rise: High-Rise made me want to seek out J.G. Ballard's novelization of High-Rise. It also made me want to give David Cronenberg's Crash another chance. As for this film, it was pretty much just nonsense. A lot of vividly shot nonsense... but nonsense just the same.
Later this week... Spotlight, 45 Years, The Witch, Black Mass, The Devil's Candy, The Program, Anomalisa, Beasts of No Nation, The Final Girls, The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, The Boy and the Beast and Where To Invade Next.
