New Toronto Priorities
I'm in a slightly more aware place since posting my Toronto Film Festival priority list nine days ago. Picks have risen and fallen. Marc Abraham's Flash of Genius, panned yesterday by Variety's Todd McCarthy, has all but dropped off the list while Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, the hit of the just-wrapped Telluride Flm Festival, and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, boosted by a recent Peter Howell rave, have risen to the very top.
The new priorities are as follows: (1) Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading (bad reviews be damned -- l love me my Coens), (2) Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, (3) Ed Harris 's Appaloosa, (4) Guillermo Arriaga's The Burning Plain, (5) Steven Soderbergh's Che, (6) Kathryn Bigelow's Hurt Locker, (7) Matteo Garrone's Gomorra, (8) Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, (9) David Koepp's Ghost Town, and (10) Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla.
Followed by (11) Darren Aronofsky's Wrestler, (12) Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, (13) Kari Skogland's Fifty Dead Men Walking, (14) Michael McGowan's One Week, (15) Richard Eyre's The Other Man, (16) Jean-Francois Richet's Public Enemy Number One, (17) Gina Prince-Bythewood's Secret Life of Bees, (18) Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir, (19) Phillipe Claudet's I've Loved You So Long, and (20) Laurent Cantet's Entre Les Murs.
The next ten are (21) Rian Johnson's Brothers Bloom, (22) Barbet Schroeder's Inju, (23) James Stern and Adam Del Deo's Every Little Step, (24) strong>Stephan Elliotts Easy Virtue, (25) Bruno Barreto's Last Stop 174, (26) Stephen Belber's Management, (27) Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, (28) Peter Sollett's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, (29) Matt Tyrnauer's Valentino, and (30) Daniel Burman's Empty Nest.
The final group is made up of (31) Max Farberbock's Woman in Berlin, (32) Jerzy Skolimowski's Four Nights with Anna (which I missed in Cannes), (33) Olivier Assayas' Heure de Ete, (34) Nigel Cole's $5 A Day, (35) Anthony Fabian's Skin, (36) Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige's I Want To See, (37) Scott McHehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty, (38) Cyrus Nowratesh's Stoning of Soraya M., (39) Brian Goodman's What Doesn't Kill You and (40) Kevin Rafferty's Harvard Beats Yale....even if it played at Manhattan's Film Forum last fall.
I probably won't be re-viewing anything I've already seen here or anything I saw last May in Cannes -- Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys, Neil Burger's Lucky Ones, Rod Lurie's Nothing But The Truth, Bill Maher and Larry Charles' Religulous, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky, Gavin O'Connor's Pride and Glory, etc.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM
comment #1
YRG
says ...
Thanks for the list. Looking forward to reviews.
Posted by YRG
at September 2, 2008 11:35 AM
comment #2
pchu
says ...
I thought Laurent Cantet's films isn't showing in Toronto.
I will be seeing Slumdog Millionaire, Hurt Locker, and the Spike Lee movie myself among others.
Posted by pchu
at September 2, 2008 12:07 PM
comment #3
BurmaShave
says ...
http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=9976&count=0
RIP, Don LaFontaine
Posted by BurmaShave
at September 2, 2008 12:14 PM
comment #4
Dan Revill
says ...
Thanks for the list Jeff. Last night I was doing some research on some of the films you mentioned, since some will be playing at the Vancouver Fest at the beginning of October. See that there was some crossover in my list already. Looking forward to Gomorra and Waltz with Bashir. Others I'm gonna make an effort to see in Van are Heaven on Earth, Il Divo and Let the Right One In. Those stood out in the VIFF early rundown.
Also Three Monkeys is on my list thanks to your recommendation last May. Don't know how many I'll get to, but gonna try for around 15. Doubt I can afford many more than that.
Posted by Dan Revill
at September 2, 2008 1:00 PM
comment #5
huntermdaniels
says ...
Waltz With Bashir needs to be much higher on your list. I just saw that at Telluride and it's magnificent. Moving, funny, and intelligent. The best story of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict than I have ever seen on film.
Posted by huntermdaniels
at September 2, 2008 1:18 PM
comment #6
huntermdaniels
says ...
RE:Aladdin Sane
Make sure you see LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. It's a truly terrific vampire film. It's scary and moody and gets the mythology right, and it also strikes that aching mood of being 12 and right on the edge of manhood. Not just a good genre film, a great film of any type.
ON AN UNRELATED NOTE
Slumdog Millionaire is splendid. I didn't like too many of this year's Telluride films, but there were some gems.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MYSELF
A PRIVATE CENTURY
these were the worthwhile features. (Even if the last one is a short film collection).
Posted by huntermdaniels
at September 2, 2008 1:23 PM
comment #7
guylodge
says ...
So much good stuff here, though I'm still surprised you find no room for Disgrace - with that source material, it should, at the very least, be an interesting picture.
And RocknRolla really is dismal - the UK press reviews trickling in so far aren't much kinder than mine for InContention.
Posted by guylodge
at September 3, 2008 3:28 AM