News

I was a little surprised over the weekend to receive two separate emails asking me whether or not I was going to post a "Worst Movies of 2013" list. I guess people sort of enjoy piling on at the end of the year, perhaps even more than sorting through what's arguably the best of the year. Speaking of which, if you missed my Top Ten of 2013 you can find it right here. As for the worst movies from the past year, I was fortunate not to see films such as Movie 43 and Scary Movie 5, a couple films, but the sound of it, were truly nightmarish cinematic scenarios. So, while you're looking over the lists below, if you notice a title that was considered truly horrendous not listed, I most likely didn't see it. Or, if you scroll through my Movie Review archives and notice a film that received a D+ or lower not listed,...

From the the scrolling text in The Terminator to the hacking methods in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one programmer is on a mission to crack movie codes

Ever wondered what those Matrix-style green holographic codes that flicker across computer screen in films actually mean? You know, those seemingly complex algorithms in The Fifth Estate and unbreakable cryptograms in Doctor Who? Well, programmer John Graham-Cumming has the answer.

"I was watching the film Elysium and some coding came up as the space station is rebooted, and I thought: 'This is really familiar', so I tracked it down," explains Graham-Cumming, who started coding at the age of 13 on his BBC Microcomputer and is now a well-known blogger and programmer. "It turns out that the code is actually taken directly from the Intel software developer's manual, which I found amusing. So I tweeted that and got hundreds of responses." Last Friday,...

Films such as Lincoln revitalised the genre by focusing on short periods, but are too many made, too soon?

For a genre that's been dismissed so many times, the biopic is in impertinently rude health. In the past six months in the UK – and only counting the ones about major public figures – we've had Behind the Candelabra, Renoir, Lovelace, Rush, Diana, Hannah Arendt, The Fifth Estate, One Chance, Saving Mr Banks, Kill Your Darlings, and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The next few weeks alone will grant us audiences with Solomon Northup (12 Years a Slave), Charles Dickens (The Invisible Woman) and Grace of Monaco.

Somewhere down the line, though, the biopic tightened up its act. The Mandela picture's cradle-to-the-grave trudge looks positively old-fashioned now; even 12 Years a Slave is a bit copperplate. The new-school, high-definition biopic goes for the essence, rather than a chronicle of events, focusing on a galvanising...

Throne of Blood (Criterion Collection) I posted my review of Criterion's Blu-ray upgrade of Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood just yesterday. It was the first time I'd watched the film since first seeing it six years ago and really enjoyed it more than I did that first time, but I think that's just how it goes when you try and dive head first into these classic films. They're classics for a reason and sometimes it will hit you immediately and other times it takes a second viewing and just more film watching experience. For me Throne of Blood fell into the latter category and I'm glad it did. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's always better to find love in something rather than any measure of disappointment. You can read my full review here.

The Act of Killing I never wrote a review of The Act of Killing,...

Last year Disney dealt with John Carter, this year it’s The Lone Ranger – it’s safe to say people were fired. Variety has published a list of the Biggest Bombs of 2013, and there are not a lot of surprises here if you keep up with the financial goings-on and box office results of the movies, everyone does that right? Harrison Ford was in two of them, so yes, he will sign on for more Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies thank you very much.

Ender’s Game: Estimated Budget: $115 million, Box Office: $87.9 million The Fifth Estate: Estimated Budget: $28 million, Box Office: $8.5 million Jack the Giant Slayer: Estimated Budget: $195 million, Box Office: $197.5 million Ripd: Estimated Budget: $130 million, Box Office: $78.3 million Oldboy: Estimated Budget: $30 million, Box Office: $4 million After Earth: Estimated Budget: $110 million, Box Office: $243.8 million The Incredible Burt Wonderstone: Estimated Budget: $30 million, Box Office: $22.5 million Bullet to the Head...

Digital Release Date: Jan. 14, 2014, Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 28, 2014

Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Director Ron Howard’s (The Dilemma) biography movie Rush scored plenty of acclaim but not as big a box-office take as it deserved.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Daniel Bruhl (The Fifth Estate) as rivaling Formula One racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, respectively. Rush follows the two drivers in their 1970s atttempts to be number one.

Olivia Wilde (The Words) and Alexandra Maria Lara (The Reader) also star in the movie, as the women behind the racers.

Rush was nominated for two Golden Globe awards: Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Bruhl and Best Motion Picture – Drama. It scored highly with critics and moviegoers, earning 89% and 92% approval, respectively, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the praise, however, the film grossed only $27 million in wide release in U.

The Academy’s documentary branch has revealed its list of the 15 films eligible for the Oscar this year, reducing from a total of 147 movies.

Among the semi-finalists is Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, about her quest to untangle her family history. The movie was a question mark for the short list since it includes some fictionalized elements and re-creations of events from the past. Ultimately, it made the cut, voted in by the 210 members of the doc branch.

Left off the list: One Direction: This Is Us, the documentary with the biggest box office tally of the year at $29 million.

London, November 28: 'The Fifth Estate' has been named the biggest film flop of 2013 by Forbes Magazine.

The biopic based on Julian Assange was condemned by the publication after it could cash in only 6 million dollars against its 28 million dollar budget, the BBC reported.

Forbes Magazine said that the Wikileaks drama could earn only 21 percent of what it had cost to make it.

Sylvester Stallone's 'Bullet to the Head' secured second position on the list, followed by Harrison Ford's 'Paranoia', while 'Parker' came in fourth and Mark Wahlberg's political drama 'Broken City' was ranked at the fifth position.

Forbe's.

The Time Lord has conquered the box office.

A special nationwide 3D screening of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary TV special “Day of the Doctor” grossed a stunning $4.8 million at the U.S. box office.

What makes this particularly impressive: That’s from one night. The 75-minute “Day of the Doctor” screened in 660 theaters as a one-night-only special event Monday and averaged $7,155 per location, with 320,000 tickets sold. Granted, the tix were $15 a pop, so that certainly helped.

In fact, the BBC’s cult favorite show was the No. 2 movie in America on Monday, behind only The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

What's in the news and on the site today, ahead of the Us release of the horror reboot this weekend

Coming up today

Striking firefighters (ie off work in a protest over pay, rather than unusually attractive) serenade Judi Dench at Philomena premiere

Anthony Hopkins writes fan letter to Bryan Cranston

Week in geek on whether Vin Diesel's role in Guardians of the Galaxy really is a tree with one line of dialogue

Peter Bradshaw reviews Rags and Tatters from the London film festival

We've a first look review of Carrie, out in the Us this Friday

An exclusive clip from behind the scenes on Made of Stone

And Henry Barnes tells us why we should see The Crash Reel this week

Plus, later today, all the content from tomorrow's Film&Music, including an interview with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Peter Bradshaw's take on Enough Said and all the week's releases,...

According to Screen Daily, Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production house is the front-runner to acquire the film rights to the story of fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency (Nsa) scandal. Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story for "The Guardian", is currently writing a book and confirmed to Screen there have been negotiations, but wouldn't name the company/companies as a deal has not yet been finalized. Greenwald's book is due for publication in March 2014 through Metropolitan Books, which has promised "new revelations exposing the extraordinary cooperation of private industry and the far-reaching consequences of the government's programme, both domestically and abroad." There is no information, however, as to the nature of the film. Would it focus on Snowden and the scandal or focus more on Greenwald. I would tend to lean toward the former, but I sincerely hope it's better than the trainwreck that is the upcoming WikiLeaks movie,...

The top stories of the week from Toh! Awards:Oscar Talk: "Gravity" and "12 Years a Slave" Top the Fall Fests So FarFeatures:Sundance Fave "Concussion" Is a Sexy, Sometimes Troubling Look at Sexuality and Self-WorthWhy "The Wizard of Oz" 3-D IMAX Conversion Is Worth ItYour Week in Streaming: Marcello and Sophia Interviews:Cannes-Winning Stars of "Blue Is the Warmest Color" Talk Controversy (Exclusive Video) Daniel Bruhl Talks Formula 1 Star Niki Lauda, "Rush" and "The Fifth Estate" (Exclusive Video)Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Dod Mantle Talks Ron Howard's "Rush" and "In the Heart of the Sea"John Ridley Talks Writing "12 Years a Slave" and Directing Hendrix Biopic "All Is By My Side"Sackler Talks Astonishing Tiff Doc "Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus"News:Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Part Ways After Almost Two DecadesJoe Dante's Long-Gestating Roger Corman Biopic Heads Toward Production--without TarantinoLionsgate Pacts with OddLot Entertainment on...

Metro Manila | Diana | The Call | Ripd | Kelly + Victor | Hawking | Cold Comes The Night | A Belfast Story | Harrigan | InRealLife | 9.79* | Mademoiselle C | Phata Poster Nikla Hero

Metro Manila (15)

(Sean Ellis, 2013, UK/Phi) Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla. 115 mins

Street-level social drama slyly develops into gripping crime thriller in this resourceful Anglo-Asian movie, a distinctive spin on the familiar theme of innocent country folk in the corrupting city. The squalor of modern-day Manila is vividly evoked, as our goodly, hard-up couple struggle to gain a foothold, but the opportunities they get only lead them into the moral shadows.

Diana (12A)

(Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2013, UK/Fra/Bel/Swe/Moz) Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews. 113 mins

History repeats itself as farce in this unintentionally laughable rendition of Diana's final years and her "secret" affair. It's no deeper or better informed than your average celebrity mag.

The Call (15)

(Brad Anderson, 2013, Us) Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Michael Eklund.

Hollywood has picked a peck of biopics. This awards season brings movies about Nelson Mandela, Grace Kelly and Princess Diana – as lesser known subjects Solomon Northrup (“12 Years a Slave”), Eugene Allen (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”) and Ron Woodruff (“Dallas Buyers Club”). Also see video: ‘What’s the Deal’: ‘Entourage’ Cast Holdouts Delay Film (Video) Of course, the term “biopic” has a loose definition — to some, there’s little differentiation from historical dramas such as “The Monuments Men,” “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “The Fifth Estate,” “Lone Survivor,” “Rush” and “Saving Mr. Banks,” all of which are based on true events.

It's another Friday episode of the RopeofSilicon podcast and it is a rather serious one as we received tons of questions and voicemails regarding the idea of what is the purpose of a movie if not for overall entertainment and on top of that, why have this year's movies been so dourc Additionally we discuss our thoughts on Prisoners, Thanks for Sharing and Laremy finally saw All is Lost. Also, if you are on Twitter, we have a new Twitter account dedicated to the podcast at @bnlpod. Give us a follow won'tchac I want to remind you that you can call in and leave us your comments, thoughts, questions, etc. directly on our Google Voice account, which you can call and leave a message for us at (925) 526-5763, which may be even easier to remember at (925) 5-bnl-pod. Just call, leave us a voice mail and we'll add those to the show and respond directly.

The timing couldn't have worked out better for directors Larry Weinstein and Drew Taylor. A year after "Argo" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on its way to Best Picture honours at the Oscars, their documentary "Our Man in Tehran" similarly premiered at Tiff, providing a fitting bookend with the previously under-told story of Canada's involvement in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

Far from being a reaction to Ben Affleck's film, the documentary was actually begun prior to "Argo," and simply aims to tell a fuller, more historically accurate version of the dramatic events in Tehran. This meant not only giving Canada and former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor their proper due, but also many others who had their stories tweaked for the necessity of dramatic tension -- even Tony Mendez himself.

In advance of the documentary's premiere at Tiff, Moviefone Canada spoke to Weinstein and Taylor about the difference...

Your daily movie bulletin bringing you the skinny on 20 September

Coming up today

The Guardian Film Show is coming your way this morning, with reviews of Diana and R.I.P.D, plus a recap of what the Venice and Toronto film festivals mean for the Oscars race.

Five best moments looks back over the career of Naomi Watts, pre Diana

We've a preview of key films at the London film festival

And Chris Michael mingles with the crowd at that other people's fest, Toronto

And in the news:

• WikiLeaks has leaked the script for The Fifth Estate and branded it 'irresponsible'

• Cate Blanchett to make directorial debut

You may have missed

• In the paper today, we've interviews with the director of Camp 14, about an escapee from North Korea's prison camp, with Biyi Bandele, who made Half of a Yellow Sun, the other Chiwetel Ejiofor film at Toronto, and with Josh Gad,...

This was probably inevitable. Wikileaks, the organization devoted to disseminating information and spreading it far and wide, has object to the existence of the movie The Fifth Estate since it went into production, and now they've retaliated in the only way they possibly could have: by leaking the film's script. Not only that, but they include a 4,000 "internal memo" picking apart details from the film, from accusing it of being one-sided to pointing out basic inaccuracies and fictionalizations. You can read both the script and the memo here, where Wikileaks assures readers, based on reports from those who were at the Toronto Film Festival premiere earlier this month, that the version of the script here is very similar to the final version of the film. Sean caught the Toronto premiere as well, and was nearly as unimpressed as Wikileaks themselves, without writing it off entirely: "Convoluted and a bit too...

Remember that adorable dough-faced Qt who played the loathsome Fredrick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds? Well that actor, Daniel Bruhl, is about to break out in a major way with his amazing performance as Formula One racer Niki Lauda in Ron Howard‘s latest, Rush. Brühl’s well-known in his native Germany (apparently Goodbye, Lenin! is a great film to start with if you’re looking to get your feet wet) but with Rush and The Fifth Estate coming out this fall he’s destined to follow in the footsteps of Christoph Waltz and Jean Dujardin, fellow European actors who have made it huge in Hollywood and snagged an award or two along the way. Just last week it was announced that Brühl signed with management firm Anonymous Content, which reps stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone. And while he told us at the Toronto Film Festival that he’s...

Walt Disney Pictures today announced some big new release dates and changes. The studio will now release DreamWorks Pictures' The Fifth Estate wide instead of in limited theaters on October 18, 2013. Disney is moving up the Angelina Jolie-starrer Maleficent from July 2, 2014 to May 30, 2014. The movie will be released in 3D. The studio has dated McFarland , starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, on November 21, 2014. Pixar's The Good Dinosaur has been moved back a year and a half from May 30, 2014 to November 25, 2015. This means that 2014 will be the first year without a Pixar film since 2005. Finding Dory , previously scheduled for November 25, 2015, will now open in theaters on June 17, 2016. You can check out the full release schedule for films all the...

Yes, film festivals are wonderful to attend (and this month’s just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most wonderful I’ve ever personally covered), but for those cinephiles who can’t get to Toronto or Park City or Cannes or Venice, it’s the ultimate question – which of these films will I actually get to see? Tiff is, of course a bit different than the vast majority of other festivals out there, simply because its biggest titles arrive with not only a large studio or production company footing the bill, but with set release dates we’ve known about months in advance. For a lot of the largest films at Tiff, the festival is simply a good place to have a premiere, get some buzz, and prep for the upcoming awards season – getting bought and distributed has already been taken care of. It’s no surprise that we’ll get to see films like...

The Toronto Film Festival came to a close last night with Steve McQueen's period slavery epic "12 Years a Slave" taking the top honor of the People's Choice Award.

Four of the past five winners of the award have gone on to be nominated for Best Picture, and two have won - "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The King's Speech".

It's no surprise then that "Slave" has jumped to the top of various Oscar pundits list following the Fall film festival circuit according to Gold Derby. 'Slave' was the film that scored the biggest jump in a poll of 18 experts in the awards prediction field over the past few weeks.

David O. Russell's "American Hustle" and Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" remain in second and third place (both have yet to screen), but jumping to fourth is Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" following rave reviews out of all three recent film festivals.

The conversation begins …

The Toronto International Film Festival unofficially kicks off the Oscar race each year as the best-of-the-best line up for their shot at awards glory – and the movie-fan attention (and ticket sales) that inevitably accompanies it.

Right now, we’re six months away from the March 2 Academy Awards, any film can still pull ahead or fall back. But as the Toronto festival draws to a close this weekend, it’s clear which films will rank among the fiercest competitors.

Blue Jasmine, The Butler, and Fruitvale Station opened this summer to their share of buzz, and some major players such as Saving Mr.

Listen to (and share) episode 41 of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Deadline’s awards columnist talks with host David Bloom about several terrific films coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival with strong awards momentum, including Rush, August: Osage County, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, The Fifth Estate, Dallas Buyers Club, Philomena and Parkland. Pete says a couple of smaller films debuting at Toronto may have a chance for Golden Globe recognition, including One Chance and Enough Said, where, at its Toronto screening, Julia Louis-Dreyfus took to the stage to remember her late co-star James Gandolfini. Just a couple of days ahead of this weekend’s Creative Emmys ceremony, Pete looks at the ultimate no-win situation for durable TV stars who can’t quite snag a statue, including Bill Maher, Bob Newhart and Angela Lansbury. Pete also looks at the weekend’s film debuts, including...

Obviously I'm in Toronto and what I'm seeing you can track right here, but for those that don't want to click the link so far I've seen Don Jon, Blue is the Warmest Color, The Fifth Estate, The Invisible Woman, Tom at the Farm, Prisoners ,Parkland, The Railway Man, Dallas Buyers Club and Gravity. I've been able to review several of them already and plenty more reviews are on the way with Prisoners and Dallas Buyers Club reviews coming later today... depending on when you're reading this. As for what I'm watching today, that would be The Double, Can a Song Save Your Lifec, Philomena and Dom Hemingway in my only day here in Toronto with five movies and finding time to write all the reviews has become the hardest part. Luckily, things will begin to free up a little next week and hopefully I'll be caught up sooner rather than later.

Exclusive: WestEnd launches sales in Toronto on the Italy-set thriller, which uses the Amanda Knox trial as a jumping off point.

Daniel Bruhl, here with The Fifth Estate and Rush, has joined the cast of Michael Winterbottom’s Italy-set psychological thriller Face of An Angel.

The cast also features model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina) and Valerio Mastandrea (The First Beautiful Thing).

WestEnd has boarded international sales and is introducing the project to buyers here.

The film starts shooting in November in Siena and Rome. Revolution’s Melissa Parmenter produces and partners and backers are Italian production company Cattleya, BBC Films, Hero Films, Lipsync Productions and the Tuscany Regional Film Fund.

The film is adapted form Barbie Latza Nadeua’s book of the same name about the Amanda Knox trial – but Winterbottom told Screen that the film isn’t really about the Knox trial and is more inspired by Dante. (More of Winterbottom talking about the project earlier...

It's been a hectic first couple of days at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, with several major films premiering one after the other. With only a few brief minutes to sit down and catch their breath, Erik Davis and Sean O'Connell bring word on four of the more talked-about movies here in Toronto during the fest's first 48 hours: Labor Day, Prisoners, The Fifth Estate and Blue Is the Warmest Color. You can listen to their conversation by using the player below, or download it for later. Listen to ‘Live from Toronto: First Reactions to 'Prisoners,' 'The Fifth Estate,' 'Labor Day' and 'Blue Is the Warmest Color'’ on Audioboo (function() { var po = document.createElement("script"); po.type...

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Participant Media is backing DreamWorks’ upcoming drama “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” starring Helen Mirren. The companies have previously partnered on a number of notable films, including “The Help,” “Lincoln” and the upcoming WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate.” Based on the best-selling book by Richard Morais, the film centers on an Indian family that moves to Southern France and opens a restaurant a hundred feet across the street from a Michelin starred French restaurant. Their incursion in the realm of haute cuisine stirs up an epic food stand-off. Also read: Toronto: Julian Assange, Roger Ebert Share Spotlight at Festival Opening “The Hundred-Foot Journey” co-stars Manish.

On this special episode of the Fancast, Erik Davis and Sean O'Connell report live from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival with reactions from the first two days of movies, including four films arriving in theaters over the next few months. Listen below to hear what the guys thought about Jason Reitman's Labor Day (Tbd, December), Prisoners (September 20), The Fifth Estate (October 18) and Blue Is the Warmest Color (October 25). As always thanks so much for listening, and let us know which of these movies you're most excited to see in the comments below. Listen below, or download for later. You can also subscribe to this podcast over on iTunes. Listen to ‘Live from Toronto: First Reactions to 'Prisoners,' 'The Fifth Estate,' 'Labor...

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French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has made an English language thriller both gripping and mysterious

• Read our review of The Fifth Estate

• Read our review of The Invisible Woman

In his first English language film, Quebeçois director Denis Villeneuve has produced a masterful thriller that is also an engrossing study of a smalltown America battered by recession, fear and the unrelenting elements.

A hulking Hugh Jackman leads a powerful ensemble cast as Keller Dover, a carpenter whose daughter goes missing on a stormy Thanksgiving afternoon. Suspicions immediately fall on local loner Alex Jones (Paul Dano) whose rusting Rv is spotted at the scene of the disappearance. Jones is detained but remains mute during questioning. When he is released, Dover seeks to take the law into his own hands.

Jackman's Dover is a study in intensity, his brow tightly furrowed throughout. He is a family man and patriot, but also a recovering...

If the ever-expanding range of movie-viewing options is enough to make your eyes water and your laptop billow smoke, spare a thought for the distributors having to compete with aggressively innovative video-on-demand channels. Vimeo, one of the newest players in the VOD space and an official Toronto Film Festival partner, is taking advantage of the festival to offer filmmakers the chance to skip the costly distribution process altogether. While Empire's man on the ground, Damon Wise, wires back from the festival with first-look reports of The Fifth Estate and other Toronto premieres, we quizzed Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor on his plans to take over the world - or at least part of it - by offering the 150 films premiering at Toronto $10,000 to distribute exclusively via Vimeo On Demand, as well as a 90/10 profit split in favour of the filmmaker."It's an option for filmmakers to go direct to their audiences,...

Last night, the Toronto Film Festival celebrated the fall of print journalism by opening its 2013 edition with the Julian Assange–deifying WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate. Wednesday night, though, was the provenance of the fourth estate, the bloggers and journalists stumbling off planes in rumpled khakis and fortifying themselves for the week ahead with free guacamole and margaritas at media welcome parties. The only star to be seen was great daughter of Canada, actress-director Sarah Polley, who was, curiously, not just mingling with the schlubby ink-stained masses at a Toronto Film Critics Association shindig, but also handing out homemade buttons.The buttons read #FreeTarekAndJohn and refer to two Canadians, award-winning filmmaker John Greyson and ER doctor and professor Tarek Loubani, who’ve been imprisoned in Egypt since August 16. They had stopped in Cairo on their way to the Gaza Strip, where Loubani (who’s of Palestinian origin and has been...

Hanif Kureishi and Roger Michell have combined to create a tender, insightful portrait of a stagnant marriage, and a film of considerable substance

• Read our review of The Fifth Estate

• Read our review of The Invisible Woman

Roger Michell's new film - in which Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan try to jumpstart their ailing marriage with a Paris mini-break - plays out like a British, middle-aged Before Midnight. It is brittle and bitter, petty and parochial – where Linklater's, which revisited lovers Jesse and Celine, on hols seven years having finally got together, was good-looking even when things got ugly. For much of its running time, Michell's is plain old cross.

And while Linklater's script was written with his returning stars, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, Le Week-End is Michell's latest collaboration with writer Hanif Kureishi, following The Buddha of Suburbia on TV, then The Mother (2006) and Venus (2008). This feels by far their most personal.

Toronto - The strongest, clearest expression of an idea in all of "The Fifth Estate" happens under the opening credits, as we watch the evolution of journalism from Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses to the death of print and the rise of the Internet, and while it's a compelling expression of the idea that how we share important news has changed over time, it also captures one of my issues with the film itself. I don't concur that print is dead and the Internet has replaced it, and I think it will take the perspective of time before we truly digest what...

Your daily movie bulletin bringing you the lowdown on 5 September

Coming up today

Catherine Shoard has made it to Toronto (and we're fairly sure Henry Barnes has blown into town too, but he's not actually made contact), and things are starting to gear up on the... Lightbox? Is that what we call it? Any suggestions welcome. Anyhoo, we'll have Catherine's verdict later today on the festival opener The Fifth Estate which - in the interests of full disclosure - has quite a bit about the Guardian in it. We'll also be getting a first look at the Jd Salinger documentary, something on The Big Chill reunion, and a bit of video too. Don't say we don't do you any favours.

It's not just about festival fever; elsewhere in the world of film other things are stirring:

• Jason Reitman is prepping his next project, an adaptation of sex drama Men, Women...

It's September, and the fall movie season is upon us! That means we're going to set aside all of those summer frivolities and explosions, turning an eye towards more serious fare instead.

Speaking of serious, the hunt for Oscar starts this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the buzz generated by this year's official selections will tell us plenty about where the race is headed. Let's break down the most anticipated films our northern neighbors have to offer.

1. '12 Years a Slave'

Noteworthy Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Quvenzhane Wallis, and directed by the extremely buzzy Steve McQueen ("Shame").

Tiff Synopsis: The incredible true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.

Going for Oscars?: You have to love its chances for a Best Picture nomination, and Chiwetel Ejiofor...

Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, 12 Years a Slave, Under the Skin among impressive line-up; 22 world premieres, 234 features.Click here for full line-up

This year’s London Film Festival (Oct 9-12) boasts an array of acclaimed and anticipated Us, international and UK features, many of which have already gone down a storm at other autumn festivals.

Among the big hitters newly announced today at the London launch are Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, 12 Years a Slave, Labor Day, The Invisible Woman, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Under the Skin and Night Moves.

A total of 13 films will compete in the official competition, including Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Richard Ayoade’s The Double, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Peter Landesman’s Parkland, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, David Mackenzie’s Starred Up and John Curran’s Tracks.

In Pictures: Galas, Competition titles

The documentary competition includes Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lie, Frederick Wiseman’s [link...

I'm currently piecing together what I hope will be my final schedule for the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, but who are we kiddingc Just today I learned the early screening of The Fifth Estate has been moved to late evening, which actually opens up room for me to see Don Jon, but is also a sign the schedule is hardly set in stone. Nevertheless, by tomorrow I'll have my list of most anticipated films I'll be seeing at the fest along with my proposed schedule. Speaking of which, on that schedule you'll probably see Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves, a thriller starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard and Alia Shawkat and today I have a clip from the film to show you, but first the synopsis: When do legitimate convictions demand illegal behaviorsc What happens to a person's idealism when they find their back against the wallc Night Moves is...

I can't ignore the fact the Telluride and Venice Film Festivals -- the latter of which is still underway -- have had an impact on the Oscar race, but at the same time I don't think it would be wise to begin updating my Oscar predictions based on the films that were seen considering I'll be seeing each and every one of them at the Toronto Film Festival beginning Thursday, September 5. That said, I felt it necessary to at least offer up some preliminary thoughts, especially with standouts such as 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, Philomena and Prisoners making rather large splashes so far and Cannes standouts Nebraska, All is Lost and Inside Llewyn Davis enjoying their second major peek-out. I should note, I didn't devour any of the reviews that were written as much as I skimmed headlines and caught snippets here and there on Twitter. So this analysis is merely fringe analysis.

You can practically smell the exhaust from here... Ron Howard has been tuning up his upcoming race world biopic "Rush", which premieres at Tiff later this week, and in case you're not going to be in Toronto here's enough footage to make you think you've already seen the movie. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl (who will also be in Canada stumping for "The Fifth Estate") and Olivia Wilde, the film tells the true story of the rivalry of drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, whose fuel-injected competitiveness followed them around the world on the race circuit, and had more than enough drama to make a cinematic re-telling worth shifting gears for. In the new clip below you can see the testy back and forth between the two racers, while a host featurettes will bring you up to speed on the history. After that are a brace of TV spots along...

Our series continues with Ron Howard's high-speed drama about rivalry between F1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda

• Oscar predictions 2014: Henry Barnes on Gravity

• Oscar predictions 2014: Henry Barnes on Her

• Oscar predictions 2014: Andrew Pulver on Blue Jasmine

• Oscar predictions 2014: Catherine Shoard on Foxcatcher

• Oscar predictions 2014: Xan Brookes on 12 Years a Slave

This year's …

Frost/Nixon. Both films are Peter Morgan-scripted, Ron Howard-directed tales of two sometime hotheads going round-for-round in a very public arena. Plus Days of Thunder for the roaringly good sound and visual effects.

What's it all about?

Rush is about the intense rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt – a foppish English partyboy with an aggressive need for speed, sex and booze – and Niki Lauda, an uptight Austrian interested in rationality, discipline, and tweaking microscopic time advantages out of the car. The pair raced each other throughout the late 70s.

Well the anticipation is certainly building now, as our email accounts starts to get swamped with invitations to conferences and interview opportunities begin to cascade the Toronto Film Festival is incrementally gaining traction. Having combed through the programme with a microscopic glee I’ve identified three lists representing different tiers of interest and excitement, culled from the almost 300 films which are on offer over the ten days of festivities. We begin with the top-tier, the dozen films which represent a combined mixture of genre and cult movie anticipation alongside the potential breakthrough award courting material – the Argo’s and Silver Lining Playbooks of the industry if you will – with a brisk sentence or two to outline my interest in the sake of brevity – hopefully the trailer will speak for itself. So let’s begin in no particular order with an obvious big-hitter;

Twelve Years A Slave – After the spare economies...

The final four months of the year are upon us and it would seem the studios have decided to save the absolute best for last. Boiling down the final four months of the year to a list of ten films I'm most anticipating was no easy chore, though it was made slightly easier as I've already seen All is Lost, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska at the Cannes Film Festival, three films that would have certainly been jockeying for position among these ten. Among my top ten there isn't really a single blockbuster though I am interested in seeing a few. I'm curious to see how Peter Jackson will approach The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug after the tedious slog that was the first film. Will The Hunger Games: Catching Fire prove more memorable than the first, which I was overly kind to in my review, but haven't thought of...

A new clip from Ron Howard's upcoming "Rush," a drama based on the real life 1970s rivalry of Formula 1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, has hit the web before the film's premiere at Tiff in September. International hunks Chris Hemsworth ("Thor") and Daniel Bruhl ("Good Bye, Lenin!" and Tiff entry "The Fifth Estate") play opposing drivers who face off in pursuit of the 1976 World Championship in Fuji, Japan. Olivia Wilde and Natalie Dormer round out the cast. The brief new clip shows a British-accented Hemsworth (who is Australian) and Wilde cozying up in a garage. The Oscar hopeful hits Us theaters on September 27 via Universal, just in time to kick off awards season following its Toronto debut. Watch the original trailer here.

The 2013 Toronto Film Festival Press and Industry schedule was just released and after a quick look I think I have my nine days on the ground mapped out. There were a lot of conflicts, some of which are forcing me to see the second screening of films such as Labor Day, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, but as of right now it looks like it will be a 25 film festival for me, beginning tiwth The Fifth Estate and ending with Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. The only films I couldn't really fit into the schedule were Xavier Dolan's Tom at the Farm, which conflicts with Rush and The Railway Man, which conflicts with the only screening of Parkland and if I was to see it the second time it shows it would mean missing both Joe and Under the Skin. Of course, this year I may try and...

Crimson Peak from Pacific Rim helmer Guillermo del Toro has lost Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberpatch, sources have told Variety. The actor who stars in upcoming The Fifth Estate as Julian Assange, has dropped out of the haunted house thriller from Legendary Pictures where he would have starred alongside Jessica Chastain, who worked with del Toro on Mama, as well as Pacific Rim star Charlie Hunnam and Emma Stone. Apparently he left over a scheduling conflict... Pacific Rim failed to deliver as much as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures had hoped for domestically, accumulating over $98.6 million from N. American venues, but shinning overseas with a big $286 million...

I just posted this on the RopeofSilicon Tumblr page, but figured it's late and why not just put it on the main site. I am anxiously awaiting tomorrow's release of the official press and industry screening schedule for the 2013 Toronto Film Festival and in the process took a look at the series of emails I've received so far and right now this is how my first day at the festival is looking in terms of screenings Thursday, September 5th The Fifth Estate - 11:30-1:30 (Bell Lightbox 1) Blue is the Warmest Color - 3:00-6:00 (Scotiabank 1) Blue Ruin - 9:30-11:00 Pm (Scotiabank 1) The only film not listed that I want to see but it conflicts with Blue is the Warmest Color is Kill Your Darlings which plays at 5:30 Pm (Scotiabank 2). The one film you may not recognize is Blue Ruin, a revenge thriller Radius-twc picked...

It was said Sundance Selects might go the unrated route with Cannes Palme d'Or winner Blue is the Warmest Color, but today it was made official the film, which is set to make the rounds on the festival circuit next month will hit theaters on October 25 with an Nc-17 rating. The drama is said to have an explicit sex scene that runs for nearly ten minutes, but I'm happy to see Sundance isn't shying from presenting the original vision in domestic theaters. Today's update contains a lot more than that however, including ratings for the troubled production of Keanu Reeves' 47 Ronin, a rating for Ain't Them Bodies Saints which started hitting theaters last weekend and a rating for James Franco's As I Lay Dying, which I saw at Cannes (read my review here) but has yet to land a domestic distributor unless Millennium Entertainment plans on handling it themselves.

Production kicks off this week on Olivier Assayas' "Sils Maria," and joining his already starry leads—Juliette Binoche, Chloe Moretz and Kristen Stewart—is an equally impressive supporting cast. So let's get right into it. Daniel Bruhl (the upcoming "Rush" and "The Fifth Estate"), veteran Bruno Ganz ("Downfall," "Wings Of Desire"), indie kid Brady Corbet ("Simon Killer") and U.K. thesp Tom Sturridge ("On The Road" reteam with KStew, Zomg!) have all come on aboard the movie. The movie will tell the story an older actress (Binoche) who gets obsessed-over by a younger thesp (Moretz) taking on a role the older actress made famous. Bruhl takes the role of a theater director, with Sturridge to play Moretz's boyfriend. No word yet on the parts for Ganz and Corbet.IFC—who have release the director's last three efforts stateside, "Summer Hours," "Carlos" and "Something In The Air"—has already snapped up the U.

Exclusive / Updated Aug 20: The annual stampede for Toronto acquisition titles is expected to return next month as programmers line up at least a dozen must-see premieres in the first weekend.

Lucky McKee’s Midnight Madness entry All Cheerleaders Die represented by Modernciné kicks off the avalanche at the Ryerson Theatre on Thursday Sept 5 after the 8pm world premiere of DreamWorks’ The Fifth Estate at Roy Thompson Hall.

Friday will offer the first viewing of Alex Aja’s fantasy horror Horns starring Daniel Radcliffe at 6pm at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. Wme touts Us rights, Vvs Films will release in Canada and financier Red Granite co-produced with Mandalay Pictures and handles international sales.

That same day brings world premieres for the Kristen Wiig-Guy Pearce drama Hateship Loveship shepherded by UTA and Evolution in the Us and sold internationally by The Weinstein Company. It premieres at 2.30pm at the Princess Of Wales, followed at 6.30pm...