Both Chin and Honnold stayed on for a Q&A at the end.

Spoiler alert!

I saw a documentary a few years ago about a tightrope walker who went across the Grand Canyon with no safety gear. It was riveting and terrifying. I enjoyed it, so I'd probably enjoy the Honnold documentary. Wish I could remember that guy's name; he's a famous tightrope walker.

Wish I could remember that guy's name; he's a famous tightrope walker.

One of the Wallendas, probably?

eta link - [link]

Yep, Nik Wallenda! Thanks!

So many members of the Wallenda family have died after falling from the wire. It's hard to understand why they keep on doing the highwire acts.

um ... not TIFF, but there are Aquaman posters out

Spoiler alert!

Somewhere in multiverse, there is another version of this film in which Honnold didn't make it. A big morbid part of me can't help but wonder.

Sitting in that same IMAX theater right now, waiting for First Man to start. The festival is two third way through, and I feel like I saw a higher number of ambitious misfires than usual. Or possibly, challenging films that did not quite work for me (Vox Lux, High Life, Sunset.) In some ways, these were more interesting than well made conventional films that did nothing unexpected (Beautiful Boy, Colette.)

Vonnie, there's a great bit in the New Yorker this week where Honnold frees an apartment building in Newark...

Was that the one in which he scaled half the length of a hotel and had to wait in a balcony until a security guy took out a window or something? That was fab.

Honnold makes for a great documentary subject. He has almost no filter and is bracingly, often tactlessly honest. The relationship between him and his girlfriend as depicted in the film is quite something alright.

As for First Man, I liked it a great deal -- it's much more of a muted character study than a spectacle, although the moon landing section is incredible (you should really see this in a proper IMAX theater if at all possible). Neil Armstrong as Gosling plays him is the clammest clam that ever clammed and I can tell you hear and now that not everyone is going to grok watching 2+ hours of a dude in a state of almost pathological emotional repression. But hey, it worked for me.

First film after being back from TIFF -- A Simple Favor, which is loads of fun. It's like a campy version of Gone Girl, hilarious and twisted and bonkers. It kinda goes off the rails at the end but in a super-entertaining way.

I've never had much time for Blake Lively but she is AMAZEBALLS in this film. A spot-on, very witty performance. I feel like her outfits -- mostly gorgeous suits, splendidly fitted -- should have their own separate acting credit.

Just got back from a screening of THE OATH. A bit like Vonnie's assessment of A SIMPLE FAVOR, it is

hilarious and twisted and bonkers

Truly a film for our time.

I'm seen a ridiculous number of movies in the last two weeks. I think my enjoyment/quality ranking would be something like: A STAR IS BORN, THE OATH, A SIMPLE FAVOR, THE BROTHERS SISTERS, and THE HATE U GIVE.

I really liked A STAR IS BORN more than I thought I would. And THE BROTHERS SISTERS was about what I expected. As with the book, I liked it but I just wanted there to be more to it. Probably the only one I'm meh on is THE HATE U GIVE. Too long and too didactic. Very much a YA movie. I'm glad it's out there in the world, but I have a feeling I would like the book much better.