Adam Nayman on
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World 2023
Radu Jude's TIFF find, per Nayman "crazy and funny and political." Probably the only movie at the festival with jokes about both Andrew Tate and Ceaușescu.
The Big Picture · Interview · Discussion
The 20 Most Intriguing Movies of the Fall and the Best of the Toronto International Film Festival
September 15, 2023/ 89 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda run down twenty movies they haven't seen yet, with Toronto correspondent Adam Nayman reporting on a TIFF slate everyone agrees was a little thin this year.
32 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Report from TorontoTIFF dispatch
Adam Nayman on
Hit Man 2024
Richard Linklater's Glen Powell assassin comedy. Nayman caught it at Venice; neither host has seen it yet, but it's already high on both their lists.
Adam Nayman on
Aggro Dr1ft 2024
Harmony Korine's infrared concert-adjacent film with Travis Scott. Nayman: "Love is too strong a word," but he liked thinking and writing about it more than watching it.
Adam Nayman on
Seven Veils 2025
Atom Egoyan's TIFF premiere, which Nayman wrote about for Cinema Scope as a return to his 90s form.
Adam Nayman on
The Zone of Interest 2023
Jonathan Glazer's Cannes Grand Prix winner. Nayman calls it a major piece of work.
Adam Nayman on
The Holdovers 2023
Alexander Payne's dramedy. Nayman: "Beaten to death with a Cat Stevens album," and notes the reviews just replicated the press kit's Hal Ashby comparisons.
Adam Nayman on
Poolman 2023
Chris Pine's directorial debut. Word on the street, per Nayman, is that it's unwatchable, which only made him want to see it more.
Adam Nayman on
Knox Goes Away 2023
Michael Keaton plays a hitman with accelerating dementia. Nayman was surprised by the warm reception; to him it still "feels like a fake movie."
Adam Nayman on
Hell of a Summer 2025
The Finn Wolfhard/Billy Bryk co-directed slasher. Nayman's verdict: "Just not very good."
Adam Nayman on
When Evil Lurks 2023
Argentinian horror pickup Nayman calls the best of the Midnight Madness slate.
Adam Nayman on
Evil Does Not Exist 2023
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Venice prizewinner. Nayman's favorite of the festival, a change of pace from all the big-swing Hollywood premieres.
Adam Nayman on
American Fiction 2023
Cord Jefferson's directorial debut. Both hosts' pick to win the TIFF Audience Award, and Nayman thinks Jeffrey Wright deserves an Oscar nomination for it.
The 20 most intriguing movies of the fallthe ranking system got abandoned mid-taping
Dream Scenario 2023
Nicolas Cage as a schlub who starts appearing in everyone's dreams. Amanda ranks it below The Exorcist: Believer, not because it sounds bad, but because it feels like something she's seen before.
The Exorcist: Believer 2023
David Gordon Green's fourth entry in the franchise. Kicked off a long digression on whether the devil is real (Sean: no; Amanda's producer Bobby: yes).
Pain Hustlers 2023
David Yates directs Chris Evans and Emily Blunt on the opioid crisis. TIFF reviews were bad, and neither host was expecting a searing exposé.
Next Goal Wins 2023
Taika Waititi's American Samoa soccer comedy, shot in 2019 and reshot to cut Armie Hammer, with Michael Fassbender starring instead. Reception at TIFF was split.
Origin 2023
Ava DuVernay adapts Isabel Wilkerson's Caste by dramatizing Wilkerson's own life, with Aunjanue Ellis in the lead. Mixed reviews out of Venice give Amanda pause.
Wonka 2023
Paul King directs Timothée Chalamet in a Roald Dahl prequel that's secretly a musical, which the marketing hasn't shown. Part of why the CinemaCon trailer spooked people.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire 2023
Zack Snyder's answer to not getting hired to make Star Wars, for Netflix.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour 2023
Swift negotiated directly with theater chains and skipped a studio entirely, clearing the October 13th release date around it. Sean is dreading the 10-minute version of "All Too Well"; Amanda is planning her outfit.
Stop Making Sense 1984
A24's 4K remaster of the Talking Heads concert film, timed for the same season and now getting a bit overshadowed by the Swift film.
The Creator 2023
Gareth Edwards' original sci-fi with John David Washington. Sean wants to support an original big-budget studio film even without knowing yet if it's good.
Leave the World Behind 2023
Sam Esmail's second feature, adapting the Rumaan Alam novel with Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke. Both hosts are avoiding details before its December 8 Netflix release.
May December 2023
Todd Haynes directs Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in a story loosely inspired by Mary Kay Letourneau, played as arch melodrama.
Dumb Money 2023
Craig Gillespie's GameStop-saga movie with Paul Dano and Seth Rogen. Amanda's seeing it that Saturday.
Anyone But You 2023
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney rom-com whose alleged off-screen chemistry is doing a lot of the promotional lifting. A December release may hinge on the strike ending in time for press.
The Color Purple 2023
Blitz Bazawule's musical adaptation, with Fantasia Barrino in her biggest role since American Idol alongside Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, and Halle Bailey.
The Iron Claw 2023
Sean Durkin's Von Erich wrestling-family drama with Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White; Amanda drafted it in the show's movie auction.
Freud's Last Session 2023
Anthony Hopkins as Freud opposite Matthew Goode. Barely on either host's radar going in.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 2023
A brief honorable mention. DC's in a rough patch right now.
The Marvels 2023
Also just an honorable mention alongside Aquaman.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Already seen, left off the ranking Killers of the Flower MoonPriscillaFerrariMaestroThe KillerAll of Us StrangersSaltburnPoor ThingsThe BikeridersAnatomy of a Fall
In passing You've Got MailWorking GirlMr. & Mrs. SmithDon't Worry DarlingFour Weddings and a FuneralBeetlejuiceWilly Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryPaddingtonPaddington 2Jojo RabbitKing RichardA Wrinkle in TimeThe FabelmansGuillermo del Toro's PinocchioDownton Abbey: A New EraBarbieMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Up next week A Haunting in Venice
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