TIFF Movie Reviews: The Buzz on This Year's Huge Films

Matt Damon-on-Mars is the biggest crowd-pleaser of TIFF so far. Damon is funny and engaging as Mark Watney, the astronaut accidentally left behind on the inhospitable planet, and the movie switches back to the other characters concerned with his welfare often enough so you don't also feel trapped on Mars. The movie's greatest success is making all of the science and tech speak accessible, even if you're not a rocket scientist.

Emily Blunt's performance in this drug trafficking drama has had people buzzing about Oscar since the Cannes Festival, and it continues in Toronto. Blunt has a meaty lead role in a film about moral relativity, while costars Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin are sturdy supports. The direction also wins with Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) behind the camera, who unfolds the story with the tautest tension.

Tom Hiddleston sings beautifully as 1950s country legend Hank Williams, but the rest of the movie falls flat. Elizabeth Olsen is lovely but miscast as Hank's willful young wife Audrey, and worse, the events of Williams's life fail to keep you engaged. It's disappointing, given Hiddleston's talent and Williams's iconic status.

Ellen Page and Julianne Moore's portrayal of real-life couple Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree — who fought for the pension of dying Laurel to be given to partner Stacie — is important because their struggle is an important milestone in the fight for gay marriage. While important doesn't always make for an enjoyable film, in this case, the other elements add up to make this an emotionally satisfying film. Page and Moore's chemistry makes their relationship believable and thus heartbreaking. The performances all around are great, though the real standouts are Moore and Michael Shannon as her tough but supportive partner on the police force.

Bryan Cranston makes legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo a larger-than-life character full of warmth and eccentricities (he regularly writes and smokes in the bathtub), and the film itself illuminates a dark chapter in Hollywood — and American history. The miscarriage of justice in the blacklisting (and in some cases, imprisonment) of American citizens is appalling, but it's not just a history lesson. Trumbo is an entertaining 1950s period piece, complete with stars of today playing old Hollywood royalty like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas.

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a full-bodied 360-degree performance in this comedy-drama about his character, a man who's recently lost his wife. Grief is a big theme, but so is marriage and other intimate connections. The film's idiosyncratic tone couldn't be more engaging, and if you've ever had a crush on Gyllenhaal, this movie will bring it back in full force.

About Ray — in which Elle Fanning plays transgender teen Ray — has "Message Movie" written all over it, but filmmaker Gaby Dellal makes it about much more than Ray's transition. There's engrossing family drama (centered around the unit, which includes Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon) and lots of laughter from Sarandon and onscreen partner Linda Emond. It's unexpectedly lighthearted, and though it wouldn't have hurt to provide more insight into the transgender experience, it at least doesn't play out like an Afterschool Special.

Emma Donoghue's 2010 bestseller about a woman kidnapped and then trapped in a tiny shed with her 5-year-old son has been turned into a film that's unflinching in the disturbing world it draws but emotionally rich. Brie Larson is incredible as Ma, and the young actor playing her son, Jacob Tremblay, completely blows you away. This is one of the best films of the festival — and may be one of the best films all year.

Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart play people in a dystopian future where love is outlawed — and then proceed to break the most important rule. For such a deliberately sterile setting, Hoult and Stewart have steamy chemistry in a love story that's as tortured and compelling as director Drake Doremus's previous feature, Like Crazy.

Johnny Depp undergoes another onscreen transformation, this time playing real-life mobster Whitey Bulger. The film tackles the time in Bulger's life when he was working as an informant for the FBI while also trying to take down a rival mafia family in South Boston. The film isn't compelling enough to make Black Mass stand beside the greats like The Godfather and The Departed, but Depp delivers an engrossing performance that should earn him plenty of award season attention, and the rest of the star-studded cast (which includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, and Joel Edgerton) are excellent as well.

Director Tom Hooper (Les Misérables) reteams with star Eddie Redmayne for this beautiful film. Redmayne turns in another award-worthy performance in this true story about painter Einar Wegener and his wife, Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander), a married couple living in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 1920s. Their relationship is put to the test when Einar begins dressing as a woman named Lili and embracing his feelings that he's actually a woman. The film is gorgeously shot, the costumes are fantastic, and Redmayne and Vikander's onscreen chemistry is as lovely as it is heartbreaking.