The Return Of Whit Stillman, ‘Twixt,’ Brad Pitt’s ‘Moneyball’ & More: Midway Check-In With TIFF 2011

Running from September 8-18, we’re essentially at the midway check-in point of the Toronto International Film Festival. Keeping up with all of the reviews is nuts, hell keeping up with our own reviews is taxing.

While we have yet to see them, two big hits appear to be the Midnight Madness picture “The Raid” which was actually bought by Sony International at Cannes earlier this year and the crowd-pleasing “Salmon Fishing In The Yemen” starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt. What is a big hit that we’ve seen is Bennett Miller‘s “Moneyball” staring Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt. And while it remains to be seen if it’s got the legs for an Oscar run, the possibility appears to be part of that narrative as of right now.

The horror “You’re Next” seems to be generating good buzz, by all accounts, “Pearl Jam 20” has gone over like gangbusters and while hit with mixed reviews “Friends With Kids” sounds like it could sell soon. We’ll have some of those reviews shortly, but meanwhile, we’ve got reviews from the new Whit Stillman, Francis Ford Coppola, Sarah Polley, Ralph Fiennes‘ directorial reviews and new films featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Emily Blunt, Elle Fanning and many, many more. That’s really just a small random taste. Everything we’ve seen since TIFF kicked off on September 8th below.

And you can expect reviews to likely keep hitting all the way to the 18th.

Bennett Miller‘s “Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Marc Forster’s “Machine Gun Preacher” starring Gerard Butler, Micheal Shannon and Michelle Monaghan.
Whit Stillman‘s long-belated return with “Damsels In Distress” starring Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody and Analeigh Tipton.
Sarah Polley‘s “Take This Waltz” starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.
Jonathan Levine‘s “50/50” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard and Angelica Huston.
Francis Ford Coppola‘s “Twixt” starring Elle Fanning, Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Ben Chaplin and Alden Ehrenreich.
Oren Moverman‘s “Rampart” starring Woody Harrelson, Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Foster, Robin Wright and Ice Cube.
Ralph Fiennes‘ “Coriolanus” starring Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave.
Lynn Shelton‘s “Your Sister’s Sister” starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass.
The Sundance-hit “Pariah“
The indie “The Oranges” starring Adam Brody, Hugh Laurie, Alia Shawkat, Catherine Keener and Leighton Meester.
Guy Maddin‘s “Keyhole” starring Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini and Udo Kier.
“Albert Nobbs” starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson.
The U2 documentary about Achtung Baby, “From The Sky Down“
The Iranian drama, “A Separation.”

For our full TIFF coverage included related interviews, go here.

Below is a list of reviews of films at TIFF we saw earlier in the year at other film festivals.

Lars von Trier‘s “Melancholia” starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt and Alexander Skarsgård.
Pedro Almodóvar‘s “The Skin I Live In” which reunites him with star Antonio Banderas.
“Take Shelter” starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.
“Drive” starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac and Ron Perlman.
Gus Van Sant‘s “Restless” starring Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hopper, Ryo Kase and Schuyler Fisk.
Lynne Ramsay‘s “We Need To Talk About Kevin” featuring Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller.
The much discussed “Snowtown.”
Sundance hit “Martha Marcy May Marlene” starring the breakout turn for Elizabeth Olsen, plus Sarah Paulson and John Hawkes.
The highly-praised Sundance indie pic “Like Crazy” featuring Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.
William Friedkin‘s surprisingly good “Killer Joe” starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church and Gina Gershon.
George Clooney‘s “The Ides of March” starring Ryan Gosling.
Madonna‘s “W.E.” starring Abbie Cornish, James D’Arcy, Oscar Isaac and Andrea Riseborough.
David Cronenberg‘s “A Dangerous Method” starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender.
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Alps,” the highly anticipated follow-up to his breakthrough film, “Dogtooth.”
British director Steve McQueen‘s “Shame” starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender.
Todd Solondz‘s “Dark Horse” starring Mia Farrow, Jordan Gelber, Justin Bartha, Selma Blair and Christopher Walken.
Andrea Arnold‘s highly anticipated adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.”
Alexander Payne‘s “The Descendants” starring George Clooney.
“Butter” starring Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman and Olivia Wilde.