Toronto International Film Festival

I am back at TIFF for another dose of movie madness!!

This year is packed with must see movies including 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity and many many many more!

Hopefully the next week will be full of amazing movies, a few games of spot the celebrity and maybe a popcorn dinner or two.

I'm pretty excited!

MIFF: Frances Ha

Last year during the Toronto International Film Festival I decided to skip Fances Ha because it looked like a movie that would make me mad. These madness inducing movies usually include a 20-something hipster/pixie dream girl who is down on her luck but miraculously gets her shit together in 2 hours of screen time. If you watch the trailer this is what Frances Ha looks like and to make it worse it's in black and white (pretentious much??)

I hear you asking 'why did go and see it?'

The reason for my change of heart is partly so I won't be left out of all the Frances Ha talk that is bound to start any day now and partly because I was wrong and this is one hell of a movie!

Director Noah Baumbach is known for making films where his characters stumble through life in painful and humourous ways. Frances Ha is no exception. Frances (Greta Gerwig) is approaching 30, struggling to make it as a dancer and more often than not struggling with life.

The film is funny, beautiful, painful and touching. Although the plot could be seen as simple, the film is really exploring the time in ones life when we just want to know where we belong.

With each new disaster Frances has the courage to pick herself up and start again, each time getting a little closer to finding her place in this crazy world.

I really didn't think I would like this movie but alas, I loved it!

MIFF: Prince Avalanche

When I saw there was a new movie starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch screening at MIFF I was very intrigued. When I noticed it was a buddy movie set in the 80's it was a done deal.

Prince Avalanche tells the tale of two men spending the summer of 1988 isolated, repainting yellow road lines after a savage brushfire destroyed the area. The men are ying and yang, Alvin (Rudd) is serious and driven whilst his girlfriends brother, Lance (Hirsch) is dopey and aimless.

The film is driven by the interaction between the two characters, with dialog that is both vulgar and poignant in equal measure. The characters slowly reveal themselves to the audience and to each other  as it becomes clear neither character has their life in order.

MIFF: The Spectacular Now

The Melbourne Film Festival is back for another year. Yay! My first pick was a hit at Sundance and from the preview a sure to be hit in my heart.

The Spectacular Now reads like any other coming of age film. Bad boys meets good girl. Against the odds they fall in love. Will he ruin her life or will she save him?

What make this movie different is the subtlety with which it's told. The characters aren't glorified for popularity and there is no makeover for the plain Jane.

Miles Teller (from Footloose remake fame) is brilliant as Sutter Keely. A boy on the verge of manhood and alcoholism, who appears to be the life of every party but whos empty smile would suggest otherwise. When the good hearted Aimee (Shailene Woodley) comes into Sutter's life I felt equally hopeful and fearful of where this would take him.

Not often does a American highschool drama make you care so much for the characters. The Spectacular Now makes you care for these people, about their well being and about their future.

Although the film plays to some high school stereotypes I couldn't help but love it, zits and all!

MIFF 2013

The MIFF program has finally been announced and I now find myself trying to pick the best of the best, the crème de la crème, the “OMFG did you see” movies to watch.

Having read and reread the program all weekend I think I have found my Top 5 Must See MIFF Movies! 

They are:
1. The Spectacular Now
2. Fruitvale Station
3. Prince Avalanche
4. Ain’t them Bodies Saints
5. Frances Ha

The Spectacular Now is a coming of age story, starring Shailene Woodley (of The Descendents fame) and Miles Teller (who danced into our hearts in the Footloose remake)  I think the preview says it all.



Fruitvale Station is this year’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, after being ‘discovered’ at Sundance this film is expected to be one of the big hitters come awards season. I feel I need to see it to be included…




Prince Avalanche had me at Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints also premiered at Sundance this January and since then has had nothing but good things said about it. Casey Affleck is in it too, just in case it had you sitting on the fence!

Frances Ha premiered last year at TIFF and I missed it, so I won’t miss it this time! Although it does look like the type of movie I want to hate but can't, pretty much like every Sofia Coppola movie. In other words it looks self-indulgent.

There are so so so many other films to take your fancy, I can't be bothered naming them so look at the MIFF website instead!