I've liked Hammer since I saw him on Reaper years ago. Sounds like going for artistically fulfilling indies rather than trying to be a mainstream leading man might be the better career path for him.

My list above was just what I've seen since the end of September

Aha! Somehow I totally missed that part. Thanks for linking to your older film reviews, Megan. I'm mulling over you said re. Lady MacBeth in particular. You're right in how the film implicates the viewer over the course of the movie. (Very vague spoilery reaction under white font): What comes later in the film feels almost like a personal betrayal. But it's also the thing I admire the most about the film -- how uncompromising it is. How it turns us from sympathetic to horrified on a dime. You are with Katherine until you can't be, but then it's too late to get off. I thought the incredible formal austerity of the film was a such a great complement to its spiritual pitilessness. Certainly one of the most memorable film-going experience I had this year.

I'm still mulling over what I think of Blade Runner 2049. Ultimately, I don't think the film held together as a whole for me, but it had some of the most indelible scenes/images I've seen this year for sure. I need to rewatch it, but goddammit the thing is so fucking long and I have so many other things to watch.

Lady Bird is SO GREAT y'all. I think it's opening semi-widely this week, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Saoirse Ronan is incredible, but so is every single supporting character around her. It will make you happy and sad and nostalgic and full of emotions and also make you want to call your mother immediately.

I was not a fan of Blade Runner 2029, but I probably wasn't the right audience for it to begin with.

Ditto here, I'm even willing to put up with Michael Shannon's constant pop-eyed yelling for it. (People keep telling me he's a good actor, and I keep failing to see any evidence of it.)

I personally love Michael Shannon but cannot deny the truth behind the description of "constant pop-eyed yelling" (hahaha PERFECT). I mean, the dude just seems perpetually angry. Interestingly, my favourite Shannon performances are the few in which he is more restrained although no less intense. He was by far the best thing about Nocturnal Animals, a film I despised for its ugly misogynistic streak not-so-hidden inside its glossy meta narrative wrapping, but Shannon manages to be complicated and genuine in the film despite everything else. I also loved him a lot in Jeff Nichol's Midnight Special as a quietly devoted father willing to do anything for his young son, who is being hunted by the government for (spoiler-y) reasons. I don't think he yelled even a single time in that movie, even though the circumstances more than called for it.

One of the films I saw in Toronto was The Current War, which Harvey Weinstein was working on when the sexual abuse story broke. Because of that, I don't even know if the movie will even see the light of the day. The film is a lavish if stodgy biopic and nothing special, but Michael Shannon is cast against type in it as a George Westinghouse, portrayed as a thoroughly decent and unassuming man in contrast to Benedict Cumberbatch's flashy Thomas Edison (Cumberbatch is basically playing Edison as Sherlock, so all in all, pretty boring). I really liked Shannon in it, especially his relationship with his wife, portrayed with wit and style by Katherine Waterstone (displaying A LOT more charisma than was evident in her anemic turn in Fantastic Beasts).

Oh, and if you have never seen Michael Shannon channel a bitchy sorority sister, you are in for a treat: [link]

I wouldn't bother. I usually love Stephen Frears but found this subpar and to be frank, offensive. It struck me as pap colonialist apologia and despite the title, Abdul's character remains a cipher and is mostly there to prop up Victoria's late-life crisis. Judy Dench is predictably excellent in it and the movie is pretty to look at, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. One of the few real disappointments among the films I saw in TIFF.

It was such a terrible movie and then when I found out Frears directed it, I was really angry, because it was so terrible and offensive and he's usually so nuanced and wonderful.

Well, what do people think about this? Am I wrong to really love it?

I think if you enjoy that character's humor (and I do), you'll enjoy that teaser.

Well, what do people think about this? Am I wrong to really love it?

I liked the Ted E. Ruxpin credit!

Chief Engineer: Geordi LaForge

It was such a terrible movie and then when I found out Frears directed it, I was really angry, because it was so terrible and offensive and he's usually so nuanced and wonderful.

Actually, Frears has a reputation for being something of a journeyman director. If a film of his turns out well it usually has more to do with the actors than with him.

The prize for the most overrated director working today has to go to Ridley Scott, though.