Stories in Motion

Studios are deciding whether to campaign films like "Michael," "Obsession," and "Wildwood" as dramas or comedies, and the strategy could reshape the whole race. We dig into Sandra Hüller's double German film play for drama actress, Laika's unusual push for "Wildwood" to compete outside animation, and why Robert Pattinson might rack up noms across fou...

Sienna Miller and Dominic West play a billionaire couple locked in a scorched-earth divorce in HBO's new legal drama "War." We dig into why creator George Kay makes watching a marriage implode so entertaining, the scene-stealing lawyers who outshine the leads, and the one moment where the show nearly loses its nerve.

Florence Pugh and Hoon Lee anchor Zoe Kazan's ambitious Netflix adaptation of Steinbeck's "East of Eden." We talk about Pugh's chilling turn as the manipulative Cathy Ames, why giving Lee a fuller arc pays off where softening Cathy's menace doesn't, and whether this sprawling generational saga really needed all seven hours to land.

Nathan Fielder spends 174 minutes trying to figure out what actually makes Elizabeth Holmes tick, and then the documentary pulls a move nobody saw coming: it brings in Amanda Seyfried to sit and watch herself play Holmes on screen. We get into the pinprick fantasy, the Abbott and Costello test, and why this might be the strangest, most fascinating true crime documentary of the year.

Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway star in the fourth Colleen Hoover adaptation, and Hollywood still hasn't cracked the code. We talk about the bloodiest meet cute of the year, a masturbation scene in a rock carved bathtub, and why a movie built for scandal ends up with zero pulse.

Twenty years after Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" hit theaters, we're talking about the documentary her late mother Eleanor quietly built from 80 hours of behind the scenes footage. It's a film about Versailles gowns and edible gelatin feasts on the surface, but underneath it's a mother watching her daughter become an artist, and wondering out loud what she gave up to...

Tom Cruise plays a fossil fuel titan under mountains of jowly makeup, Alejandro G. Iñárritu wants to make his generation's "Dr. Strangelove," and somewhere in between the two, "Digger" forgets to be funny. We break down why a $125 million climate satire built for maximum importance ends up feeling like a lecture instead of a warning.

With "The Odyssey" leading the pack, we break down the shifting 2027 Oscar race - Julianne Moore's showstopping frontrunner turn, Sandra Hüller's chaotic multi-film campaign, and whether Netflix's "La Bola Negra" can pull off a Best Picture upset. Plus: which fall festival premieres could still shake up the field.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play fictionalized versions of themselves in Apple TV's "Brothers," investigating whether they might secretly be related. We talk about why their easy real-life chemistry can't paper over a show that's afraid to get messy, and what happens when star power stands in for actual substance.

Georgia Oakley takes on  Sense and Sensibility  with mud, moody light, and a whole lot of dogs. Is a more serious Austen still Austen? We talk about what works, what's missing, and why the villain steals the show.

Our full TIFF wrap-up - why Julianne Moore's community theater meltdown and Andrew Scott's dying Hamlet topped our rankings, how Chris Rock and Peter Farrelly won the room, and what went wrong at the festival's messy first film market.

Sharon Horgan's new HBO series "Youth" follows a fifty-something publisher and single mom whose empty-nest plans collapse when her son moves back in. We dig into the show's take on midlife reinvention, the pull between duty and desire, and why Horgan keeps returning to characters who suspect they've traded joy for obligation.

Our thirty seventh film at Toronto brings the Bad Lieutenant franchise to Tokyo under genre legend Takashi Miike, and the results are wildly uneven. We talk about the film's strong opening stretch as a gritty yakuza crime drama, why its pivot into gonzo violence loses steam fast, and how an ill fitting American subplot ends up dragging down an otherwise stylish, seedy crime story.

Our thirty sixth film at Toronto gives Helen Mirren one of her most delightfully vicious roles in years, playing a fictionalized, venomous version of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith. We talk about the film's clever blurring of fiction and reality through a shapeshifting Alden Ehrenreich performance, why the movie's ambitious structure doesn't quite pay off as tightly as it should, an...

Our thirty fifth film at Toronto follows a woman who disappears completely after devastating loss, and somehow makes her difficult, self isolating journey genuinely moving. We talk about Margaret Qualley's remarkable ability to find sympathy in an unsympathetic choice, Catherine Keener's brief but devastating supporting turn, and how director Rachel Morrison crafts an emotionally patient d...

Our thirty fourth film at Toronto finds Zack Snyder stepping way outside his comfort zone with a gritty revenge thriller set deep in Latin America. We talk about Stuart Martin's surprisingly grounded performance as a grieving, guilt ridden uncle, how the film echoes Apocalypse Now in its slow burn journey structure, and why this feels like a genuinely promising new direction for a director mos...

Our thirty third film at Toronto tackles the death penalty and generational trauma through a prison writing class romance that spirals into something much darker. We talk about Amanda Seyfried's layered performance, why the film's repeated, escalating violence pushes past thoughtful commentary into something closer to punishing, and whether a film this well made can still go too far.

Our thirty second film at Toronto flips the classic age gap romcom formula with real heart and genuine chemistry. We talk about Annie Murphy delivering both her signature comedic energy and real emotional depth, why Cooper Raiff shines brighter under someone else's direction, and how a story that starts as a sperm donor arrangement somehow becomes one of the sweetest romances of the festival.

Our thirty first film at Toronto opens like an instant queer classic before slowly losing its grip on its own story. We talk about Éanna Hardwicke's magnetic breakout performance, why the film's ambitious structure and dreamlike detours end up working against it, and how one devastating hospital scene shows exactly what this film could have been with a tighter focus.

Our thirtieth film at Toronto this year follows a forgotten housewife who accidentally discovers Method acting and completely unravels her old life in the process. We talk about Julianne Moore's fearless, transformative performance, how Jesse Eisenberg turns a cozy community theater comedy into something genuinely strange and thrilling, and why Paul Giamatti's frustrated director might be...

Our twenty ninth film at Toronto turns a Parkinson's diagnosis into an unexpectedly tender, funny love story between two strangers navigating the same fear. We talk about Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans delivering some of the festival's most quietly powerful performances, how screenwriter Paul Mayhew Archer's own experience with the disease shapes the film's honesty, and why a story ab...

Our twenty eighth film at Toronto adapts a celebrated stage play about sexual assault and the justice system, and struggles to translate its power to the screen. We talk about Cynthia Erivo's committed performance, the film's heavy handed visual choices that undercut its most powerful moments, and why a brief, quietly devastating police station scene shows exactly what this film could have...

Our twenty seventh film at Toronto tells the true story of the first successful Everest ascent, but somehow makes one of history's most dangerous climbs feel oddly low stakes. We talk about the film's beautiful reframing of Tenzing Norgay's relationship with the mountain itself, why Tom Hiddleston and Genden Phuntsok's chemistry can't quite make up for a script that resolves ev...

Our twenty sixth film at Toronto is a gloriously strange sci-fi comedy about biker gang aliens terrified of catching human emotions. We talk about how the Zellner brothers convinced this many A list actors to fully commit to total absurdity, why Chris Pine and Cate Blanchett steal every scene they're in, and how the film manages to sneak real melancholy underneath its chaos and toilet humor.

Our twenty fifth film at Toronto tells the true story of Ian Charleson, the Chariots of Fire star who took on Hamlet while secretly battling AIDS in 1989. We talk about Andrew Scott's extraordinary, layered performance, how the film captures the specific fear and secrecy gay actors faced during the height of the AIDS crisis, and why using Shakespeare's most famous role to confront death head on be...