TEN STAR-STUDDED GALA MOVIES THAT SHOULD BE ON YOUR RADAR FOR TIFF 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival’s film roster boasts over 300 films covering all genres including indie gems and mainstream Hollywood heavy hitters. You don’t want to miss it!

Having covered TIFF for over 10 years, it’s always a fun and exciting experience to see films not only before they open, but also with crowds of film lovers. Of course, it’s always great to talk to the stars, who, while in Toronto, are always open and enthusiastic about their movies.

This year is no different in terms of the number of Hollywood A-Listers that will be coming to the city. Here are 10 top gala films coming to TIFF that should be on your radar. Some are even creating Oscar buzz.

The film festival runs from September 6th to the 16^th.

 

1. Looper  -  Rian Johnson

In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. Also starring Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Jeff Daniels.

TIDBITS: Joe G-L wears prosthetics in the film to make him look like a young Bruce Willis. It’s also the opening night film at TIFF.

 

2. Argo  - Ben Affleck

When militants storm the U.S. embassy in 1979 Tehran, six Americans manage to slip away. Knowing it’s only a matter of time before they are found, a CIA so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Kyle Chandler.

TIDBITS: This film is based on a true story that until 1996, was classified information. The film is also cementing Affleck’s cred as a director, and as an actor. It’s also produced by George Clooney.

 

3. Silver Linings Playbook  - David O. Russell

An intense, loving, emotional and funny family story from The Fighter director, David O. Russell. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves partners in a secret arrangement to rebuild their broken lives. Robert De Niro yearns to get closer to his son (Cooper), as he tries to keep the family afloat with his compulsive bookmaking.

Also stars Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) and Chris Tucker co-star.

TIDBITS: Jennifer Lawrence literally had two weeks between filming this movie and The Hunger Games. Lawrence and her co-star Cooper got on so well on this movie that they’re reuniting in another movie, Serena, due next year.

 

4. Cloud Atlas  – Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski

The powerful, inspiring epic Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. Starring Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant.                                                                                                 

TIDBITS: Hanks, Berry and Grant portray up to six different roles a piece to echo David Mitchell’s 2004 novel’s interweaving stories.

 

5. Anna Karenina  – Joe Wright

The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with acclaimed director Joe Wright, is a bold, theatrical new vision of the epic love story, adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love). The story powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart. As Anna (Knightley) questions her happiness and marriage, change comes to surround her. Also starring Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

TIDBITS: This movie is generating Oscar buzz. Before filming, Knightley was stunned that most of the scenes would be filmed inside a theatre.

 

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a modern classic that captures the dizzying highs and crushing lows of growing up. The film is a moving tale of love, loss, fear, hope and the unforgettable friends who help us through life.

Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Nina Dobrev, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd and Dylan McDermott.

TIDBITS: And….here we go…as we follow Emma Watson start her acting career post Potter. Watson lost lots of sleep over the fact that she had to master an American accent. She said she worked with a voice coach to nail it.

 

7. The Place Beyond the Pines  – Derek Cianfrance

Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son. But when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper), their violent confrontation spirals into a tense generational feud. The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich dramatic thriller, tracing the intersecting lives of fathers and sons, cops and robbers, heroes and villains.

Also starring Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta and Eva Mendes.

TIDBITS: You’ll get to see the film in which Gosling and Mendes fell in love.

 

8. The Company You Keep – Robert Redford

Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a civil rights lawyer and single father, must go on the run when a brash young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) exposes his true identity as a former 1970s radical fugitive wanted for murder. Sparking a nationwide manhunt, Grant sets off on a cross-country journey to clear his name. Also starring Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Nick Nolte.

TIDBITS: Redford steps out from the directing chair to also star in his film but admitted recently that playing both roles is something he finds hard to do.

 

9. The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mira Nair

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting international political thriller that follows the story of a young Pakistani man chasing corporate success on Wall Street, who ultimately finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American dream, a hostage crisis and the enduring call of his family’s homeland.Starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber.

 

TIDBITS: Based on the best-selling novel of the same title, that was translated into 25 languages.

 

10. To The Wonder  – Terrence Malick

After visiting Mont Saint-Michel — once known in France as the Wonder — at the height of their love, Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Neil (Ben Affleck) come to Oklahoma, where problems soon arise. Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Javier Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane (Rachel McAdams).

TIDBITS: Will this movie have audiences in a dream-like state? Maybe, but for sure Malick will make us think. It was recently revealed that this movie will focus on themes involving the economic crisis, which is having devastating social effects, but also the crisis of values and the political crisis.

 

 

 

—Toni-Marie Ippolito