Hollywood's film moguls know this: If you want a crack at an Oscar you've got to show at the Toronto International Film Festival. So which films have critics buzzing?
Moneyball
This comedy-drama from director Bennett Miller is based on the true story of Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Beane tried to create a competitive baseball team at a fraction of the cost of his larger counterparts. His first attempts were fruitless. But that changed after Beane (Brad Pitt) encountered a young statistics nerd named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill). Brand developed a radical system to evaluate baseball players – a system Beane dubbed "moneyball." Hill provides much of the laughs along the way. But ultimately this is Pitt's show. His Beane is wily and tough. And his eyes are always painfully aware of the risks he's taking.
The Ides of March
George Clooney proved he could work behind the camera in 2006 when his film "Good Night and Good Luck" earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. Now he's back doing triple duty in the political drama "The Ides of March." Based on the play "Farragut North," which was inspired by Howard Dean's 2004 Democratic primary campaign, "The Ides of March" is set in the days leading up to a fictional presidential primary. Clooney plays smooth-talking Governor Mike Morris, in the hunt for a presidential nomination, while Ryan Gosling plays his idealistic press secretary.
Drive
This lean, mean action thriller from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn won this year's prize for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. Oscar nods seem a certainty for the slick caper about a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Ryan Gosling stars as the cool wheelman who's the best in the biz. But his coolness fades once he learns that a contract has been put out on his life. Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman give great supporting turns as Hollywood mobsters, while Gosling is the very essence of a young Steve McQueen.
A Dangerous Method
This period drama from director David Cronenberg is set in Vienna on the eve of the First World War. There, in that fragile time, Cronenberg brings to life the turbulent relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). The two intellectual titans form a seemingly unshakeable bond. But that changes when a mentally ill Russian woman (Keira Knightley) arrives on the scene and they struggle to treat her. Jung's growing attraction to the woman makes him question Freud's methods, until suddenly friends become adversaries.
Melancholia
Denmark's notorious filmmaker Lars von Trier returns to TIFF with a gripping tale about the end of the world. But unlike his 2009 shocker "Antichrist," "Melancholia" isn't filled with slain bunnies, blood and violent sex. Instead, beautiful gardens and the music of Wagner give "Melancholia" a heady lushness. But beneath its beauty lies something disturbing. That becomes obvious when the heroine, Justine, arrives at her wedding dinner at a country estate. Kirsten Dunst (this year's Best Actress winner at Cannes) is the haunting personification of a woman crippled by depression.
