An anonymous buyer (but a guy I know and trust) has some takes on various Toronto films:
(1) The Fall — Probably the best film so far at the festival. Visually stunning with fantastic performances by unknown actors, including the little girl. Don’t think it will be a huge film at the box-office but may well develop a strong cult following.
(2) Penelope — A serious misfire. The film`s goals are great but it doesn’t seem to reach its full potential. Typical directorial debut. Reese Witherspoon has a glorified cameo, but whoever it ends up with won`t be able to sell the film on her name alone.
(3) Black Sheep — Saw it with the audience at midnight madness and they went crazy, and yet it’s nothing more then Sheeps on a Plane. No way this makes a killing at the box-office because the NZ accents kill half the jokes and you get tired of the sheepish gore after 40 minutes. The last half-hour of this glorified B-Movie is a complete clusterfuck that includes sheep-human sex and someone having their manhood cut off by a sheep.
(4) Bonneville — What can I say? A strong performance from Kathy Bates. The movie has a
really slow start and the final act is repetitive. There`s an amazing scene in the third act that got the audience crying. This is a film for older women, which is one of the hardest demo for box-office numbers.
(5) The Pleasure of Your Company — Michael Ian Black`s film is either AMAZING or AWFUL depending on who you ask. The Gen-Y audience I saw it with absolutely adored it on Sunday night while the buyers were apparently walking out in droves on Monday. This is a movie for the twentysomething crowd. Unfortunately not everyone gets it. Fun script, strong cast, some good laughs. W
(6) Love and Other Disasters — The first 20 minutes are a disaster and because of that it will not be a
box-office success. Murphy’s accent is weird and the supporting cast steals the show but not enough to make it a good film.
Two more movies with a deafening buzz, or something close to that: El Cantante and The Hottest State.