‘Drive,’ ‘Restless,’ ‘Melancholia,’ ‘Skin I Live In’: Over 20 Films From TIFF2011 We’ve Already Seen


If you’re at all into film and read movie blogs you know it’s all about the Toronto International Film Festival for the next nine days (the festival started yesterday, September 8). Arguably the biggest film festival in the world aside from Cannes (who are probably more prestigious, but not quite as big), no other festival can boast the amount of stars and number of films that Toronto can. So there are several hundreds of flicks rolling out this week that cinephiles are eagerly anticipating.

But like we mentioned with our Venice Film Festival recap yesterday, we’ve already seen a good bulk of these movies. So possibly you’re waiting to hear thoughts from films by Pedro Almodóvar, Lars von Trier, George Clooney, Gus Van Sant, Lynne Ramsay and Madonna starring folks like Tilda Swinton, Abbie Cornish, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgård, Antonio Banderas and more (for just a random smattering of examples)? Well wait no longer (or something like that). Below is a list of all the films playing at TIFF ’11 that we’ve already watched.

Reviews from TIFF films we’ve already seen:

Lars von Trier‘s “Melancholia” starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt and Alexander Skarsgård.
Pedro Almodóvar‘s “The Skin I Live In” which reunites him with star Antonio Banderas.
Drive” starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac and Ron Perlman.
Gus Van Sant‘s “Restless” starring Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryo Kase and Schuyler Fisk.
Lynne Ramsay‘s “We Need To Talk About Kevin” featuring Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller.
The much discussed “Snowtown.”
Sundance hit “Martha Marcy May Marlene” starring the breakout turn for Elizabeth Olsen, plus Sarah Paulson and John Hawkes.
The highly-praised Sundance indie pic “Like Crazy” featuring Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.
William Friedkin‘s surprisingly good “Killer Joe” starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon.
George Clooney‘s “The Ides of March” starring Ryan Gosling.
Madonna‘s “W.E.” starring Abbie Cornish, James D’Arcy, Oscar Isaac and Andrea Riseborough.
David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method” starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender.
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Alps,” the highly anticipated follow-up to his breakthrough film, “Dogtooth.”
British director Steve McQueen‘s “Shame” starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender.
Todd Solondz‘s “Dark Horse” starring Mia Farrow, Jordan Gelber, Justin Bartha, Selma Blair and Christopher Walken.
Andrea Arnold‘s highly anticipated adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.”

And many, many more. You can see all our Venice coverage here by following this link.
You can see all our Cannes Film Festival coverage, by going here. You can see all our Sundance coverage here.

While we’re at it we were also in Telluride this weekend and saw:
Alexander Payne‘s “The Descendants” starring George Clooney.
Butter” starring Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman and Olivia Wilde.
And lastly, “Albert Nobbs” starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson.

And that’s not all. We’ll be giving you plenty more from TIFF this week and next — hopefully around 20-some reviews. Godspeed and check in over the weekend as there’ll be lots of reviews arriving then as well.

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