For the next 10 days, film fanatics who want to hear the latest on cinema’s most engaging offerings will turn their eyes and ears to Toronto. There, the Toronto International Film Festival promises to unveil an overwhelming slate of tantalizing movie offerings, programming Gala Screenings, Midnight Madness gore fests, and everything in between.
Toronto has become the launch pad for multiple Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning feature over the past few years. Last year’s fest, as an example, hosted Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity -- two powerhouses of the eventual Oscar race. That doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to awards contenders. World Cinema, independent fare, mainstream hits – TIFF fills its schedule from morning to night with gems that will have even casual movie audiences’ heads spinning.
I’m in Toronto once again, covering my eighth consecutive TIFF. It’s always a thrill to be at the center of the fest, but I know (from experience) how overwhelming it can be. So I jumped on a podcast with my great friend and colleague Erik Davis of Movies.com to preview the 10 films that we can not wait to see in Toronto. Consider this a cheat sheet to the movies you want to be reading about this week, and the films that you might want to put on your radar for when they open in a movie theater near you. Give the podcast a listen in the player below.
listen to ‘Everything You Need to Know About the 2014 Toronto Film Festival’ on Audioboo
Of the 10 movies discussed, I am most looking forward to Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, Reese Witherspoon’s Wild, and The Imitation Game, which roared out of Telluride last weekend with a ton of Oscar buzz. Will it hold up? Pay attention to our Toronto coverage all week. We promise not to steer you wrong.
