The TIFF started in 1976 and now draws close to 300,000 attendees. With the following list of movies, this year’s TIFF shames Sundance, SXSW, Berlin, Tribeca, and any other film festival out there, so if you are in the Toronto area go ahead and get your tickets.

The Brothers Bloom, Rian Johnson
The brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo) are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they’ve decided to take on one last con – showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz) the time of her life with a romantic adventure that carries them around the world. The Brothers Bloom also features Rinko Kikuchi, Maximilian Schell and Robbie Coltrane.

Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle
From acclaimed director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) comes a story about a kid with nothing, who has everything to lose. Jamal Malik, an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s Who Wants to be A Millionaire? Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the amazing tale of his life on the streets, and of the girl he loved and lost. But what is a kid with no interest in money doing on the show? And how does he know all the answers?

Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Kevin Smith
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks star in this bawdy tale of love and friendship from Kevin Smith. Lifelong friends and roommates Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) are facing hard times and a mountain of debt. When the electricity and plumbing get cut off, the two seize upon the idea of making a homegrown porno movie for some quick cash, enlisting the help of their friends. The two vow that having sex will not ruin their friendship; but as everyone starts “doing” everyone, what started out as a friendly business proposition turns into something much more.

Che: Part One, Stephen Soderbergh
On November 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sails to Cuba with eighty rebels. One of those rebels is Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentine doctor who shares a common goal with Fidel Castro – to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che proves indispensable as a fighter, and quickly grasps the art of guerrilla warfare. As he throws himself into the struggle, Che is embraced by his comrades and the Cuban people. Che: Part One tracks Che’s rise in the Cuban Revolution, from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero.

Che: Part Two, Stephen Soderbergh
After the Cuban Revolution, Che is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. The story of the Bolivian campaign is a tale of tenacity, sacrifice and idealism, and of guerrilla warfare that ultimately fails, bringing Che to his death. Che: Part Two explores how Che remains a symbol of idealism and heroism that lives in the hearts of people around the world.

Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman
Worried about the transience of his life, theatre director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) leaves his home behind and sets out to construct a massive artistic enterprise. Gathering an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, he hopes to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece but the textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden’s own deteriorating reality. Synecdoche also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Dianne Wiest, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson and Hope Davis.

The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky
Back in the late ’80s, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, twenty years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of die-hard wrestling fans in high-school gyms and community centres. Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans; but when he suffers a heart attack after a match, he is forced into retirement. He begins to evaluate the state of his life but the allure of the spotlight and the passion for his sport threatens to pull him back inside the ring. Directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, TIFF 2006), The Wrestler also stars Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Judah Friedlander and the Necro Butcher.

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Now don’t get me wrong. The trailer in question is crude at best. And yes the MPAA does rule over all things movie related, hence the nice little green screen warning prior to trailers and feature films. The only difference in Smith’s case is that his trailer was on his own website, did not feature any footage used in the actual film, and is a pure case of good old fashioned viral marketing.

“The MPAA called and said we had to take it down.

We’re now officially submitting the teaser to the MPAA for rating. If they approve it, we’ll put it back up.”

Now this may not seem like a big deal to some. After all, Smith and his crew are professional filmmakers, and on paper did in fact break the rules. But, maybe we should reconsider the idea of censorship in the first place. This trailer was on a website for a filmmaker who is known for raunchy movies, and the movie in question has itself a raunchy title. This trailer was not distributed to other movie websites nor was it shown prior to a feature film. Anyone who navigated to the page with the trailer was clearly aware of what lay in wait for them.This is the nature of the internet. No one was deceived, and I am pretty sure that those waiting by their computers for any glimpse of this movie were quite pleased with what they saw.

I have not read the mission statement of the MPAA, nor do I want to, but I am pretty sure its main focus is to protect innocent eyes and ears from what they do not want to, and should not watch. Oh that and outing communists. So do your job MPAA. Start banning Will Ferrell movies and lay off the public’s freedom to choice what is appropriate for themselves.

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Those of you not willing to stay up late for fifteen seconds of spliced content from a ninety-minute film, can come to this site tomorrow, where I will do my best to have the trailer posted.

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Being from a city founded on war time steel production, blood and guts style football, and an atmosphere which rotates between ten shades of gray, I as well as any Pittsburgher, will use each and every opportunity to flaunt whatever culture descends upon our great hometown. It just so happens that the city in question has had an overload of film production as of late.

You may be asking yourself how does Pittsburgh do it. The city cannot provide the luxuries and refinement that Hollywood stars rely on, it doesn’t have the talent to field a big picture, and there is no way it has the weather conducive to filming or even standing outside for extended periods of time. And while these may all be true statements, it may be this glowing assessment of the city that has attracted so many large movies.

Something must have impressed Sarah Jessica Parker when she visited in 1993 to star in the Bruce Willis boat chase movie “Striking Distance”. It only took her fifteen years to make a return visit in order to film the recent critical hit “Smart People”. Or how about Kevin Smith who must have been so enthralled by his time in Pittsburgh filming “Dogma” that he not only filmed, but set his new movie “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” in the Steel City. I guess its not even worth mentioning that the Michael Chabon adaptation “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”, his second Pittsburgh based novel/major motion picture after “Wonder Boys”, was filmed in ……Pittsburgh. Even first timers like Viggo Mortenson who traveled to Pittsburgh to star in his most recent film, was surely not expecting architectural landmarks or dramatic sweeping landscapes to act as impressive backdrops to his acting, but rather an ashy post-apocalyptic world for Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”.

So please go support these movies in hopes of repeat and threepeat Pittsburgh performances from the big stars.

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