Movies we’re excited for after a whirlwind TIFF visit

Plus: Rebel Ridge, scary James McAvoy and a favorite comedy on streaming

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when the VMAs continued to be the VMAs. It was the week when Jon Bon Jovi was a mensch. And it was the week when Taylor Swift made her choice. Let's get to it. Binging movies at the Toronto International Film Festival This week, Aisha Harris shares her thoughts from a recent trip to TIFF: This time of year almost always feels like being shot out of a canon if you're a film critic. One minute we're in the quiet doldrums of instantly forgettable August releases; the next, we're practically drowning in high-profile, uber-buzzy new features coming out every week through to the end of the year. Many of those films will have splashy premieres and screenings at major festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival, which I attended in-person last weekend. It wraps on Sunday. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door Sony Pictures Classics This was my first time back at TIFF since 2015, and I managed to see a total of 20 movies over four and a half days. Quite a few of them are ones I'd recommend keeping on your radar in the coming months, and are likely to be discussed in depth on future episodes of Pop Culture Happy Hour. For now I can share some first impressions and common themes that emerged, starting with a few movies about characters who find themselves thrust into caregiving roles in the wake of a tragedy. Pedro Almodóvar's first English-language film The Room Next Door was one of my favorites at the fest, with unsurprisingly dynamic performances from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. They play old friends who reconnect when Moore's character Ingrid learns Swinton's Martha is ill; Martha, wishing to halt treatment and die on her own terms, asks Ingrid to be her emotional support as she plans the final weeks of her life. Like all of Almódovar's work, it's high-key melodrama, with an overwhelming musical score that may remind you of Todd Haynes' May December; it's also darkly comedic when it needs to be. It's set for a theatrical release in the U.S. starting in December and rolling out over a series of weeks. I also enjoyed The Friend, which stars Naomi Watts as a writer whose former professor and mentor (Bill Murray) dies by suicide and designates her as his Great Dane's new owner. She's more of a cat person, and her rent-controlled New York City apartment doesn't allow dogs, but that, of course, is where the dramatic tension lies – along with mourning the unexpected loss of her friend. Interestingly enough, this and Room Next Door are both based on novels by Sigrid Nunez. She's having a very good year! (Though as I write this, The Friend doesn't yet have a distributor.) While those films interrogate grief and emotional burdens, I was less enthused by TIFF's opening night film Nutcrackers. David Gordon Green's latest reunites him with Ben Stiller playing an archaic 90s Hollywood archetype: a workaholic corporate guy who's too busy climbing the ranks to care about family. (In this case, he's a hotshot Chicago real estate developer.) The character begrudgingly takes on temporary guardianship of his four rowdy nephews when his sister dies, and I don't even have to finish this sentence for you to know exactly where this twee family dramedy ultimately ends up. Nutcrackers has reportedly struck a deal with Hulu and is set for a Christmas-timed release. Elsewhere, I really enjoyed a few movies dealing with motherhood and the overwhelming societal expectations that come with it. Marielle Heller's fun Nightbitch is almost as provocative as its title and features a great, wholly committed performance from Amy Adams. She plays an exhausted and frustrated stay-at-home mom who suddenly begins transforming into a dog. (The theatrical release is set for Dec. 6.) On the more serious front, there's We Live In Time, a tearjerker that's also surprisingly funny at times – there's an extended bit that feels plucked out of the Apatow universe. It stars Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield as a couple whose pivotal relationship moments, from meet-cute to parenthood to cancer diagnosis, are presented non-chronologically. This won't be everyone's cup of tea, and I'm not sure the movie is quite as profound as its unconventional format suggests, but Pugh and Garfield are really, really good here. As of now, A24 says it'll be coming to theaters in the U.S. on Oct. 11. Then there's Gia Coppola's moody The Last Showgirl. It stars Pamela Anderson – yes, that Pamela Anderson – as a modern-day Norma Desmond-type, clinging desperately to the memory of her glory days as a Las Vegas dancer while attempting to reconnect with her estranged daughter. This is the kind of showcase built to demonstrate how its inhabitant has been grossly underestimated as a performer – think Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler – and Anderson is more than up to the challenge. It's currently seeking distribution. One last recurring theme: Unstoppable (select theaters, Dec. 6) and The Fire Inside (theaters, Dec. 25) are biopics about extraordinary athletes emerging from challenging circumstances. Both have strong performances at their center – in Unstoppable, Moonlight's Jharrel Jerome plays wrestling champion Anthony Robles; in The Fire Inside, Star's Ryan Destiny is pro-boxer and Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields – but The Fire Inside is the more interesting and less conventional of the two. It's the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther), and sheds light on the discrimination and devaluation women athletes often face. And a few more highlights I really dug: the great Raoul Peck's latest documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, which uses the late South African photographer's own words and recently recovered photo negatives to recount his expatriation in response to Apartheid; Dahomey, Mati Diop's inventive and piercing documentary wrestling with France's return of plundered artifacts to Benin; Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's thrilling drama about an online reseller who faces dire real-life consequences for his scams (it's Japan's selection for next year's Academy Awards international feature category); and The Luckiest Man in America, an exciting and well-paced comedy about the 1984 scandal on the quiz show Press Your Luck, with a great cast that includes Paul Walter Hauser, David Strathairn, and Walton Goggins. There are a few big films I sadly didn't have a chance to catch before I left TIFF – like Sean Baker's Anora and the star-studded adaptation of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, both of which are worth watching out for over the coming months. Nevertheless, what I did see – even the mids and the duds – has me officially stoked for all the fall season has to offer this year. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend This is your reminder that The Fall Guy, an absolutely terrific action we liked a lot earlier this summer, is now streaming on Peacock. If you missed it back then, I absolutely recommend that you check it out now. Treat yourself! I talked about it a bit on the show this week, but while Lisa Taddeo's Starz adaptation of her book Three Women doesn't entirely work, Betty Gilpin's performance as an unloved married woman is a marvel. With the Emmys coming up on Sunday night, here's your final encouragement to check out the frontrunner Shōgun on Hulu. It's a historical epic of the type they genuinely don't make like they used to (most of the time). Listen to the Podcast Sponsor-Free Support your favorite pop culture junkies AND listen without sponsor interruptions with a subscription to Pop Culture Happy Hour+! Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org/happy. Learn More What We Did This Week What to watch this fall: Here are the TV shows we're looking forward to Ian Watson/Hulu, Brooke Palmer/CBS, PBS, Prashant Gupta/FX, Sandy Morris/HBO Aisha and I had a chat about Netflix's The Perfect Couple, which is gorgeous and silly. Jordan Crucchiola and I both really enjoyed the horror (?) comedy (?) The Front Room, which surprised us both by containing a fully Oscar-worthy performance. Aisha, Glen, Eric Deggans and I put together a preview of the TV shows we're looking forward to checking out this fall. Glen, Marc Rivers and Chris Klimek talked about the Netflix action movie Rebel Ridge. I saw it too, after I listened to them recommend it, and I heartily agree that it's well worth your time. Aisha wrote a review of the film My Old Ass, which she likes a whole lot. (I accidentally referred to this movie in a recent team meeting as This Old Ass, leading to a discussion of how that would obviously be a rear-end-improvement show.) Glen is very enthusiastic about HBO's The Penguin, the latest Batman spin-off that won him over with the lead performance from Colin Farrell. Reanna Cruz, Jordan Morris, Bedatri D. Choudhury and I talked about creepy James McAvoy and the scary thriller Speak No Evil. Aisha talked about some more favorites from the Toronto International Film Festival and movies of the fall for Morning Edition. Stephen talked about the pop charts and Sabrina Carpenter for All Things Considered. He also wrote a piece about the same topic, with an expansion into continuing song-of-the-summer coverage, and talked about it on Morning Edition. If you need to know about what's happening on the charts, suffice it to say Stephen is your guy. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: Reanna Cruz: Empire on Tubi Bedatri D. Choudhury: Girls Will Be Girls Jordan Morris: Family Style Linda Holmes: Three Women Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. 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