Time to bust out that 13-year-old Trinidad James classic “All Gold Everything,” because that’s a great descriptor of what it’s like walking around Toronto right now. It’s the golden anniversary of what was known as the Festival of Festivals back in its early days, then the Toronto Film Festival, then the Toronto International Film Festival, and now, simply, TIFF.
Actually, we should cue up “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” instead — there’s always something special about visiting The 6 during early September, when the weather’s just right for walking and all the movie folk are in town to wreak havoc on locals’ commutes. That’s just the price you pay when you’re Canada’s answer to New York City, and, like a Canadian Kit-Kat bar, it’s just automatically better than the American version.
There are dozens and dozens of movies that we’re looking forward to checking out this year, but for the sake of brevity — there are peameal sandwiches to eat and graffiti-covered garages to see — we’ve chosen five that we’re particularly excited to see. TIFF50 runs from September 4 to 14, so check back throughout the next few weeks for our continued coverage. Now, on to the picks:
Christy
Alright, time to do some visualization: You’re America’s latest “It Girl,” and you’re looking to do something adventurous that’s not even one iota related to a Ron Howard project or the Sony Spider-Verse. What do you do? Well, if you’re Sydney Sweeney, you look for your own I, Tonya, and take the starring role in David Michod’s biopic about Christy Martin, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” who tore up the Women’s Boxing world back in the ’90s. It’s not just about her time in the ring, either — there’s plenty of space devoted to Martin’s struggle with her sexuality and her relationship with her coach-turned-husband (Ben Foster), who’d later try (and fail) to murder her in the ’10s. We love a sports drama, we loved The King, and we can’t wait to see what Michod and Sweeney have cooked up here.
Motor City
Dialogue’s overrated. Cinema’s a visual medium, and one honestly doesn’t have to rely on spoken exposition as much as they might think. So, when we heard “nearly-silent action thriller starring Thad from Blue Mountain State, stuffed with Detroit muscle, and having a soundtrack curated — not composed, curated — by Jack White,” well, we got our curiosity piqued. Director Potsy Ponciroli takes us back to the ’70s for a revenge tale about a wrongfully convicted auto worker (Alan Ritchson) who emerges from prison ready to kick some ass. Specifically, Ben Foster’s ass. Weird that it was a one-two-punch of Foster here, but hey, when you need a good on-screen psychopath, he’s almost always at the top of the list.
No Other Choice
We don’t need to toss anymore laurels at Park Chan-Wook, as the dude is a well-certified master of the art form (Decision to Leave being one of the best features of the decade so far), so our interest in this Korean crime thriller should be roughly self-evident. But add a little Donald E. Westlake into the mixture, and you get something truly special — Westlake wrote dozens of classic crime novels, including the Parker series under the pseudonym “Richard Stark.” This one’s about a paper salesman (Lee Byung-Hun) who, after decades of service to his company, gets laid off and hatches a plan to get even with his rivals in a properly bloody fashion: Invent a fake company, lure them all there, and let revenge take its course. That’s a hell of an idea, and when you put a fantastic filmmaker like Park and an actor like Lee with a plot like this, you get magic, kids. We can’t wait.
Roofman
Channing Tatum’s the man, so we’re always down to check out whatever he’s got in store for us, even if he’s mauling up a Cajun accent for yuks near Ryan Reynolds. So, this story about an Iraq War vet who committed a string of robberies by climbing inside of McDonalds’ and later took up residence inside of a Toys ‘R Us to avoid the law for months — is the kind of project we always love to see Tatum tackle. Director Derek Cianfrance has assembled an all-star cast for this one behind Tatum, with Kirsten Dunst, Lakeith Stanfield, Ben Mendelsohn, and Peter Dinklage, among others, here to steal our hearts away.
The Smashing Machine
The first volley in the Great Safdie War of ’25 (you’ll have to wait until December to see Josh’s Marty Supreme) is this MMA biopic from Edward Teller himself, Benny Safdie. Based on the documentary of the same name, The Smashing Machine is about the rough and tumble life of Mark Kerr (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), an MMA fighter struggling with family, addiction, and the fight game as he makes his way to the top of the UFC roster. Word out of Venice is that Safdie’s cooked up something special with Rock and co-star Emily Blunt, and we can’t wait to check it out, even if the guy’s make-up still looks a little goofy. It’ll be cool to see the Rock give us all the three-count after Red One last year and remind us that he’s still the king of the ring when it comes to taking big swings at prestige acting jobs. Your move, Batista.