TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival

[agoofykindasuperman]

Didn't see/couldn't find a thread on this one yet, so I thought I'd start one, half way through it's run

I was at the festival yesterday and thought I'd offer up some brief reviews of the movies I seen there.

Started the day of with George Clooney's new one, The Men Who Stare At Goats... I'm not a huge fan of Clooney, or "dark comedies" but this one really surprised me and I was glad I went to see it. It was funny, and different. Not what I was expecting when seeing the trailer. Ewen McGregor makes this movie, in how he deals with George's weird antics. I was impressed, and would have to recommend it.
It's about a journalist who follows around a "psychic" spy who's part of a group of specialy trained soldiers who "developed" super powers, and is "loosely" based on true events.

2nd movie I seen was the highly-anticipated The Road, based on the critically acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name (part of Oprah's book club) and was a very stunning movie. It's about a father and son trying to survive in a dying world, while dealing with groups of cannibalistic survivors and death and destruction all around them. The father tries to prepare his 11 year old son to survive on his own should he ever perish. Very well acted movie and highly recommended. Should get Oscar nods for sure. The stars were in attendance for this one including the little boy actor who came dressed in a suit and tie, complete with bright blue basketball sneakers! lol Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall also made their appearance for the audience. I sat 2nd row, so seen them from quite close.

Third and final film I seen for the day was Capitalism: A Love Story, directed by who else, Michael Moore. He of course was in attendance for the world premier of this film and I must say I loved every minute of it, give or take a few towards the end of the film. A real eye-opener as to what is going on in the United States with greedy bankers, business owners, and the government. Again, highly recommended. Moore gave an insightful Q&A afterwards which I'm sure will wind up on Youtube in the next few days if not already.

One tip for those thinking of going. RUSH lines definitely pay off. Waited in one for The Road since buying tickets was IMPOSSIBLE (it being so popular and all). And by doing so, I managed to score myself a free 1-year subscription to TMN: The Movie Network, AND a free ticket to the movie itself! Some PR lady came out and handed out the free tickets to the first people in line! Pretty sweet deal.

[king_patrick_7]

Thanks for the tips... was downtown all weekend but didn't have a chance to watch anything. Saw Howie Mandel walking around the walk of fame, and Drew Barrymore was at MUCH when I walked past... other than that you're right huge lineups everywhere for the movies!

[mikejet]

You guys have a REAL film festival. Stupid Sundance is crap now.

I want to go one year

[Mike53421]

Going to see Under Great White Northern Lights on Friday (essentially the White Stripes 2007 Canadian Tour documentary) and the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasus on Saturday. Was in Yorkville all Saturday afternoon and it was a freakin' zoo.

[Al Bundy]

Hopefully I get some free time to head down to downtown to enjoy TIFF this year.

[agoofykindasuperman]

Originally Posted by Timhortons

Hopefully I get some free time to head down to downtown to enjoy TIFF this year.

Definitely do so... and if you don't feel like buying tickets and have time to kill, definitely try the RUSH line. Get there early enough to be one of the first and you'll either get people trying to sell off their tickets they can't use, or even free ones.

The ladies that were waiting infront of us in the RUSH line for The Road bought individual tickets from 3 separate people who came round trying to get rid of their 1 extra ticket... some sell at face value, others sold at half price. Some though try to sell at double value like a scalper, but I did see some give theirs away at no cost at all.. just depends who you get coming up to you with extra tickets I suppose...

And I should also note that lineups are VERY long.. of course if you're in the ticket holders line you're pretty much guaranteed to get in, but the RUSH line for The Road was just as long as the ticket holders line! Don't know how people managed to think they'd get in twice as many people as they sold tickets for....