New 'Les Mis' poster.

'Promised Land' trailer

Matt rises above the cliches to make an Oscar Contender... check out the trailer below.

'Silver Linings Playbook' wins TIFF Audience Prize!

It won. Expect it to do well at the Oscars. Hell, it might be a two-horse race between 'Argo' and 'Silver Linings'.

'Lincoln' trailer

Bonafide Art Direction contender.

New image from 'To the Wonder'

First glimpse at Olga Kurylenko (or however you spell it,) Sorry for the low quality

'Cloud Atlas' trailers...

Cloud Atlas looks to be the next 2001, Close Encounters, Blade Runner... Hell, it might be the next Apocalypto!

'The Impossible' trailer.

TIFF brings out two films you can easily like... and one that you could (with difficulty,) love.

... I would like to know the context....

TIFF (That's Toronto International Film Festival) is underway, and has brought showings of The Master, which is getting love. Speaking of love...

-Amour is showing off to be more than a one-trick pony (Cannes). The frontrunner for Best Foreign film, shutting out Rust and Bone. But...
-Rust and Bone is a lock for Best Actress (Marion Cotillard). Her love in the Academy is only getting bigger, and her appearances in The Dark Knight Rises and Inception is helping.

Cloud Atlas premiered yesterday, and is seemingly as divisive as I guess, Dark City and The Tree of Life. Some critics call it bold and vivid, with amazing stories, while others say the opposite.

Probably the biggest surprise at TIFF was Silver Linings Playbook, with Bradley Cooper and J.Law (see what I did there? No?). Directed by the difficult David O'Russell, critics are calling it 'a true crowd-pleaser'. Weinstein's got a lot on his plate, and it's looking like Django Unchained might be the runt in the roster.

Argo screened again, and it's another crowd pleaser. Ben Affleck is no actor-director like Orson Welles, but the only thing I read in reviews is that "he's a master storyteller". Cannot wait for Argo.

That's the scoop... wait for gathered opinions on The Impossible sometime in the next month.

Pieta takes the Golden Lion out of Venice...

Complete winners here. The Master might be the true winner here, because its only getting more notice with these prizes and reviews.

Golden Lion: “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk

Silver Lion (Best Director): Ulrich Seidl, “Paradise: Faith”

Special Jury Prize: “The Master,” Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”

Best Actress: Hadas Yaron, “Fill the Void”

Best Screenplay: “Something in the Air,” Olivier Assayas

Masterpieces Classics: Annie Hall (1977)

Annie Hall: Small Portions
By Sean Wu

In the beginning of Woody Allen's Annie Hall, Woody's character Alvy Singer tells two jokes. One of them tells the tale of two old ladies at a bad restaurant. Apparently, one says "The food here is so bad!". The other says "… and such small portions."Alvy comments that that is how he feels about life: bad but too short. That's how I thought of Annie Hall upon first viewing: bad and too short.

Upon second thought, though, Annie Hall is much more. It is to the screwball comedy as is Chinatown is to the film-noir: a modern masterpiece.

'To the Wonder' divides audiences, and critics aren't singing their praises...

Old news, yes I know, but To the Wonder screened in Venice last Saturday. The film, like Malick's last, was booed by the audience among tepid applause. Critics praise to a limited extent. Most praise I have read goes to the imagery and cinematography, again by Emmanuel Lubezki.

You can read The Playlist's review here.