This year, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, also known as TIFF. The hotly anticipated titles range from award-season darlings like to incoming streaming-service phenomena like I caught about 20 movies on the ground at this year’s festival, which ran Sept. 5-15, and though I have terrible regrets for missing People’s Choice Award winner and the Pamela Anderson vehicle I’m sure I and the rest of the world will have a chance to see them soon.
I assigned superlatives to nine of the best movies I saw, along with some honorable mentions. Get your watch lists ready — I’ll walk you through them. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as a couple whose is jolted by a cancer diagnosis and feels like it’s constantly running out of time.
Though I knew I’d leave the theater with my heart shredded to pieces, it was worth it to watch these actors put some of life’s biggest and most intimate moments on display. And yes, that makes it into the movie. It’s in theaters Oct.
11. stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi as in-laws reckoning with their sexualties and their penchant for gambling. The film follows a genius artist (Adam Driver) who clashes with the mayor of New Rome (Giancarlo Esposito) in his quest to build a utopia, but you’ve probably heard more about the surrounding the movie.
Honestly, don’t even worry about the plot — just brace yourself for the futuristic and dazzling imagery that Francis Ford Coppola of his own money on. It shows! It’s in theaters Sept. 27.
A suburban dad (Tim Robinson) obsesses over his relationship with his neighbor, a quirky weatherman (Paul Rudd). Chaos and absurdity linger in every corner. I caught a screening with a rambunctious crowd that cackled throughout the film’s run time.
It’s a hilarious indulgence in cringe comedy that feels like an extended . A24 after the festival, but has not yet announced a release date. Based on a William S.
Burroughs novel of the same name, the film follows an expat (Daniel Craig) who flees the U.S. for Mexico after a drug bust.
He chases , becoming obsessively infatuated with a younger man (Drew Starkey). Don’t get me wrong — I don’t want to vacation this movie, it just makes me want to on vacation. Anything director Luca Guadagnino touches, from to , is visually stunning, and this is no different — but there’s something about how much corruption and pain is depicted in this film that makes me think, “Wow, I need to go somewhere gorgeous like Mexico City or the South American jungle and have a much better time than these characters.
” A24 has not yet announced a release date, but it will likely be in theaters Amy Adams stars as a woman who abandons her career as an artist to focus on raising her toddler son. She also suspects that she is . I loved the Rachel Yoder novel of the same name that the movie is based on, but I was skeptical that the whole dog transformation arc could be adapted to the screen in a way that wasn’t corny.
It manages to be a poignant — sweet and sometimes heartbreaking — meditation on parenthood. It’s in theaters Dec. 6.
features Elisabeth Moss as a struggling actress who tries to advance her career with an experimental treatment. If you think it sounds a lot like you’re right, but there’s a I would never spoil for you. A lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) helps a cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) fake her death and start anew without her wife (Selena Gomez) and kids.
A higher calling and family entanglements complicate the plan. Simply trying to describe the film’s genre is a challenge: It’s a . If you come expecting amazing performances, you’ll leave with whispers of its plot, themes and originality echoing in your head for days.
It’s in select theaters on Nov. 1 and begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 13.
Nicole Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who risks her career and family to have an affair with an intern (Harris Dickinson). Kidman seems like one of the right now, but from what I’ve seen from her this year, this is her . What might seem salacious on the surface becomes complicated, tense and hilarious.
I could only catch the screening that coincided with the last presidential debate, and to be honest, it was great counter-programming. It’s in theaters Dec. 25.
Based on the August Wilson play of the same name and set in the shadow of the Great Depression, the film follows siblings (John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler) duking it out over whether they should sell a precious family heirloom. At times literally haunting, the film reckons with the burden of inherited trauma, racial tension and what defines a family. I’ll be for a while.
It’s in select theaters Nov. 8 and begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 22.
A former criminal’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected family reunion. Beloved actors like Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Pete Davidson and Bill Murray round out the cast of this comedy, delivering the you’d expect from them. Still, it was newcomer Miles J.
Harvey, who plays the well-meaning stepson at the heart of the story, who captivated me the most. Plans for distribution have not yet been announced. is a based on the true story of a group of people who turn their backs on society and settle on an island.
It stars Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law and Daniel Brühl..
