Toronto, Here I come!

So thanks to lots of prodding and encouragement from Ryan over at the Matinee, I have got myself tickets to the Toronto International Film Festival.  This is something I should have made work years ago given that I live less than 4 hours away.  But similar to our weekly movie releases, I thought I'd give you a heads up as to what I hope to see.  I can only go for 3 nights and 3 days, so my options were a bit limited.  I will probably not review them all, or wait until they come out for everyone - if there's one you'd particularly like a review of, let me know. But here it is:

Friday

Three Kids - Three young boys try to raise themselves on the streets of Haiti after the Earthquake.  There aren't trailers for everything coming to TIFF, but there was for this, and the three boys are really charming.  Yes, it'll be a sad documentary, I'm sure, but hopefully I'll learn something too.

Men at Lunch - Not sure how I ended up with two documentaries to start my weekend, but this one I couldn't resist.  You know the photo of the men eating lunch on a high I-beam way above the city?  This is the story of that photo.



Saturday

Argo - This is Ben Affleck's newest movie that will be released widely almost as soon as I get home from Toronto.  I wanted to see Anna Karenina in this spot, but it wasn't available by the time I picked.  So I went with something else that looked really interesting.  Affleck plays a CIA agent who basically tries to make a movie in a country he's trying to rescue hostages in.  And, no, it's not really a comedy.  Affleck directed, so I'm in.
Jackie - Okay, this one might bite me in the ass because Holly Hunter is pretty hit or miss.  But I like her, and the trailer for this intrigued me because most of it is in Dutch. Two sisters travel to the US to meet the mother they've never known, and they go on a road trip together.  Who knows?

The Secret Disco Revolution - This one just looked too fun to pass up.  I've never been a huge fan of disco, but the trailer for this documentary just made me giggle right away.  My little secret moment of fun (I hope!).



Sunday

Silver Linings Playbook - This was a last minute replacement, but I'm really excited.  Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro (did you ever think Cooper would get billing over DeNiro!), Julia Styles and Jennifer Lawrence.  Directed by David O. Russell, it might be awesome, or really dull.  We'll see.

The Sessions - This is the one I planned everything else around.  Helen Hunt plays a sexual surrogate for John Hawkes, a polio survivor who really wants to lose his virginity.  John Hawkes looks amazing in the trailer.  So excited to see if this plays.

Painless - This is my attempt to get outside my comfort zone quite a  bit  A horror/thriller set in the Spanish Civil War in an asylum.  I may have to walk out, but I'm giving it a shot.




Monday

The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
Ed Burns returns to the family drama concept again.  It also stars Connie Britton so I was sold.  Yay!

Then the long drive home and back to teaching.