Valentine’s Day is coming up, and whether you’re miserable about being single or anxious about not pissing off your significant other with a bad display of affection, there are few better ways to spend the day than watching a film. And rather than go down the romantic route with our staff feature for the month, we decided to take a more cynical approach to Valentine’s Day. We asked our writers a simple question: “What’s the worst possible movie you could watch on Valentine’s Day?”

Below are our 14 picks, which range from legitimately bad attempts at romance to films so tragic and heartbreaking that watching them on a day dedicated to love makes it all the more painful. Let us know what you think of our selections, and be sure to tell us what you think people should steer clear of come the 14th.

14 Worst Films to Watch on Valentine’s Day

6 Years

Hannah Fidell’s 6 Years takes a much more realistic approach to the typical young love story. Set six years after a young couple started dating, the film chronicles Mel (Taissa Farmiga) and Dan’s (Ben Rosenfield) first significant rough patch when post-college opportunities begin to drag them in opposite directions. Naturalistic performances from Farmiga and Rosenfield make the characters of Mel and Dan come to life, and their trials and tribulations are even more tragically relatable as a result. As Mel and Dan take into account what they truly want out of life, it’s virtually impossible not to see the parallels in your own life. Even if your relationship is on the up and up, the film cuts excruciatingly deep; it’s the kind of film that will cause you to question your own relationship. Similarly, if you’re still playing the field, there are enough cute moments in 6 Years to remind you of just how single you are—and that your chance of finding “the one” is getting slimmer with every passing day. It’s a wonderful film, thick with emotion, but there are few surefire ways to ruin a Valentine’s Day than by giving this movie a spin. [Blair]

50 First Dates

This isn’t an obvious one to stay away from, what with it being a bonafide romantic comedy, so consider this a public service announcement to steer clear. The cute premise may make you think this is an acceptable option for Valentine’s Day: a womanizing veterinarian, Henry (played by Adam Sandler), meets Lucy (Drew Barrymore) in a diner. She agrees to see him again the next day in the same spot but come tomorrow she has no recollection of ever having met him. Turns out this cutie has short-term amnesia and her horrible family has been pretending it’s the same day for a year, making her none the wiser to her mental condition. Henry decides to date her anyway—weird—and eventually, her family loops her in on her mental condition. The film ends with Lucy waking up one morning to watch a video explaining that she and Henry are married and have a daughter. Where to begin? First, there’s the uncertain continuous consent in a relationship where one person has to simply accept the word of the other because they’re incapable of truly understanding what they have agreed to on a daily basis. Then, there’s the uber creepy prospect of a man who would be attracted to a woman who could never form a sincere bond with him or have shared memories. Talk about getting to play the ultimate puppeteer. In fact, almost this exact premise has been used in the psychological thriller Before I Go to Sleep with Nicole Kidman, who plays a woman with short-term memory loss who thinks her husband may be lying to her about their past. Putting aside that, as far as romantic comedies go, this one isn’t even entertaining, please have more respect for love and the sanctity of relationships this Valentine’s Day to even consider watching this truly disturbing film. [Ananda]

Away From Her

Sarah Polley has only directed three films to date, but she’s quickly established herself as a filmmaker interested in exploring how strong relationships can crack, crumble and transform into something entirely new, whether it’s a young married couple (Take This Waltz) or Polley herself (Stories We Tell). And while any one of Polley’s three films could easily fit on this list, it’s her directorial debut Away From Her that leaves the biggest emotional impact. Adapted from a short story by Alice Munro, the film follows a couple when the wife (Julie Christie) begins suffering from Alzheimer’s, leaving her husband (Gordon Pinsent) and checking herself into a nursing home so he won’t have to see her deteriorate. It’s a devastating set-up made even more heart-wrenching by what follows: Christie’s character, unable to remember her husband anymore, falls in love with another man, and her true love has no option but to go along with it. The fact that Pinsent and Christie’s relationship is so romantic is what gives the film a tragic edge over other stories portraying a dissolving marriage; the only foes here are time and genetics, and Polley’s graceful yet unflinching look at how they ravage one couple’s love means romantics should avoid this film come Valentine’s Day. [C.J.]

Blue Valentine

For every instance of poetic, genuine romance in Blue Valentine, there’s a moment of crushing heartbreak. What initially starts as a boy-meets-girl love story quickly devolves into a dual-timeline that juxtaposes the highs and lows of Dean Pereira’s (Ryan Gosling) and Cynthia “Cindy” Heller’s (Michelle Williams) marriage.

What makes Blue Valentine particularly unnerving for couples is the sincerity in its depictions of the lovely highs in a relationship. It isn’t a story about people who don’t have the ability to fall in love. In fact, it’s a statement of vulnerability, and the film depicts the two leads as romantics whose relationship falls apart despite them doing everything they can to save it. It’s a film to put away on Valentine’s Day due to its brutally honest depiction of falling in and out of love. Blue Valentine is an exercise on the fragility of love best reserved for a night alone rather than a date night. [Tanner]

Fifty Shades of Grey

Some holidays (St. Patrick’s Day, New Year’s Eve) give people the excuse to go a little crazy at the bar, while Valentine’s Day give people the excuse to go a little crazy in the bedroom. With some help from Cupid, February 14th becomes a day when otherwise conservative denizens of rural America remind each other you can’t spell Boardroom Dads and Soccer Moms without BD & SM. So what better mainstream film to kick off a night of chips, dips, chains, and whips than Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey, adapted from the E.L. James mommy-porn novel of the same name, right? Wrong. More than anything else—more than cards, chocolates, feathers, or fuzzy handcuffs—Valentine’s Day relies on the chemistry between its lovers, and Fifty Shades of Grey is so devoid of chemistry between its leads, it might do more marital harm than good. All of the secret room shenanigans aside, Dakota Johnson (as Anastasia Steele) and Jamie Dornan (as Christian Grey) have the chemistry of two people on a bad blind date, albeit one that lasts for weeks. Despite the film’s kinky trappings, there isn’t a moment when the couple displays any sense of anything more than sharing scenes and reciting lines for 125 wasted minutes that could be better spent on the most romantic night of the year. That which was meant to spark a fire instead drenches any sense of boudoir bawdiness in the cinematic equivalent of a cold shower. [Michael]

Force Majeure

Most men like to think that in a life threatening situation, they’ll be cool-headed and strong enough to deal with it. The truth is, instinct’s a funny thing, and you simply don’t know how you’ll behave in a crisis until it actually happens—most people will run away from an explosion, while others are compelled to run towards it. In Ruben Östlund’s provocative Force Majeure, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) flees when a controlled avalanche appears to be heading towards the hotel ski resort, leaving his wife and kids behind to fend for themselves. But the avalanche stops short of the hotel, and no-one is harmed. Tomas’s instinctive reaction has irreparable consequences on how he is perceived by his wife and children, and the rest of the movie forensically examines the fallout from his moment of cowardice.

Force Majeure is a tough takedown of masculinity. Glacial, discomforting, and insinuating, the film provokes uncomfortable questions of familial commitment and trite gender roles. Unless your relationship is on solid ground, avoid this film on Valentine’s Day. Or be sure to avoid champagne on ice, because you might end up with the bottle cracked over your head as a pre-emptive strike against future indiscretions. [Lee]

Like Crazy

The poster for this film does it a tremendous injustice, making the film seem like a sappy, romantic tale of young love. Yes, Like Crazy is driven by young love, but this love is stretched across the world and infuriatingly kept that way for most of the movie. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones) fall in love while British student Anna studies abroad in America, and she cannot resist ignoring her visa expiration for a few more months of blissful love. It’s hard to pick out exactly what it is, but this couple has an astounding quality that keeps you coming back to their side no matter what happens. But even as we are charmed by the disarming honesty of this film, we eventually realize that director Drake Doremus knows how to break our hearts as well as he knows how to make us fall in love. [Pavi]

Melancholia

Lars von Trier’s Melancholia is a great film, certainly one of the controversial filmmaker’s best and most accessible. Its accessibility is relative, though, as its bleak look at the end of the world is much more depressing than melancholic. The reason why it fits this list is the film’s first half, an extended wedding sequence between young lovers that falls apart in a swirl of depression, adultery and apocalypse. Melancholia opens their relationship with the couple having difficulty getting to the beautiful wedding location because their stretch limo can’t make the windy turns—it’s a scene that could be directly out of a silly rom-com and feels like it given the tone to come. Even without the bride’s crippling mental illness, the wedding sequence is full of wedding day nightmares, including cold and catty relatives and an overly active wedding planner. Kirsten Dunst and Alexander Skarsgård play the newlyweds fated to fail and both deliver fantastically awkward performances impossible for romance. If you haven’t seen Melancholia, you absolutely should; it’s a beautiful and dark film, but you might want to skip it with the one you love. [Aaron]

The One I Love

Looks can be deceptive. The One I Love might play like a mumblecore/Twilight Zone mash-up by way of Charlie Kaufman, but beneath its amusing, quirky surface and eccentric sci-fi twist lies a biting commentary on the fallacy of romantic idealism. Director Charlie McDowell’s debut finds a couple going through a rough patch. Punctuated by a recent incident, it’s apparent from the first scene that Sophie (Elizabeth Moss) and Ethan (Mark Duplass) are on the brink of separation. Their last-ditch solution? A getaway to a beautiful and remote location in the California countryside. The place puts a kind of spell on them at first, as they revert to the spontaneity and tenderness of their early dating days. But an unexpected turn of events forces each of them to confront the expectations they invest in one another. The fantasy of the “soul mate” or the “knight in shining armor” is approached with caution and the message ultimately concerns learning to accept your significant other, but The One I Love is hardly optimistic about the chances of that happening. For all its playfulness, the film maintains a thread of brutal honesty on the topics of trust, delusion, and disappointment that would surely spoil any date night. [Byron]

The Puffy Chair

Most rom-coms you’ll be watching this Valentine’s Day offer a neatly packaged love story between two impossibly beautiful lovers who end up falling madly in love and live happily ever after. But the Duplass’ brothers brilliant debut The Puffy Chair doesn’t play by those rules. This indie gem trades the fantasy romance stuff for a naturalistic, slice-of-life story that shows how actual relationships work (hint: most of the time they don’t). During a cross-country road trip, the relationship between Josh and Emily (played by real-life husband and wife Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton) gets put to the test. The result is a brutally honest display of the pressures of marriage, the frustrations of being under-appreciated, and the difficulties of growing apart from your partner. There’s also an excellent message in the film about how we should trust our own instincts rather than look for signs from the universe for advice. Few films offer such a genuine, unglamorous view of love and heartbreak like the one shown in The Puffy Chair. And because the finale will leave you in tears, Valentine’s Day is the only excusable day to pass on The Puffy Chair. [Dustin]

Shame

You might think that a movie about sex, starring Michael Fassbender and featuring Michael Fassbender’s penis, would be just the one for your Valentine’s date night. No one could really blame you for thinking this (regardless of whom you’re trying to woo), and for interpreting the title Shame as a sarcastic way to describe a crazy, sexy, adventure. But you’d be dead wrong (and very lonely by the end of the night). The very anti-sarcastic Steve McQueen directs Fassbender in an absolutely harrowing character study of a man dangerously addicted to sex and losing his humanity in the process. There is cinematic brilliance in terms of scene composition, performance, and story structure, but—no matter what the lead actor or the subject matter might suggest—very little actual romance.

In fact, this is the kind of movie that you watch in order to stop dating and re-evaluate your life choices when it comes to romance, sex, and/or your other half. It’s like McQueen took the dictionary definition of a dashing leading man from a generic rom-com and turned him into a complex, dark, psychological case study so as to depict the dangers of addiction. So, yeah. Happy Valentine’s! [Nik]

Sleepwalk With Me

Standup comic Mike Birbiglia’s ultra-charming debut Sleepwalk With Me may not appear to be a decidedly unromantic film from its synopsis—a semi-fictional biopic chronicling the comedian’s rise in the world of stand-up while struggling with rapid eye movement behavior disorder, a severe form of sleepwalking. At some point by the end of the story’s 2nd act, however, Sleepwalk With Me turns from a cute story about a non-committal boyfriend into an anti-romantic statement on the dangers of stasis. After moving in with his girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) of 8 years, the fictional Mike Pandamiglio finds that the pressure around him to get married has made his sleepwalking worse. Birbiglia’s story is smarter than other films about a “good person in the wrong relationship” because it frames Mike’s girlfriend Abby as a genuinely sweet character. She’s not some shrill busybody or a stifling presence. By pushing himself outside of comfort zones, Sleepwalk With Me’s Mike is able to achieve his comedy dreams and escape a comfortable but unsatisfying relationship. [Zach]

The Squid and the Whale

There aren’t many things less romantic than divorce. The idea of dissolving a sworn and eternal bond of love and companionship is a pretty horrifying prospect for anyone. Thus, it’s probably for the best that one not punish themselves by watching Noah Baumbach’s blackly comedic semi-autobiographical film, The Squid and the Whale, this Valentine’s Day. The film, set in 1986 Brooklyn, follows two boys, Walt (played by Jesse Eisenberg in a role presumably meant to represent Baumbach himself) and Frank Berkman (Owen Kline), as they come to terms with the separation of their parents, Joan (Laura Linney) and Bernard (Jeff Daniels), both deeply self-involved writers. The most disturbing aspect of Baumbach’s film is how scarily accurate its depiction of the dysfunctional family dynamic is. But beneath the melancholic surface level subject matter of parental separation, The Squid and the Whale tackles a multitude of unsettling topics such as pseudo-intellectualism, narcissism and the ways in which one generation can have an almost effortlessly negative effect on the next. It’s a comedy so dark that many might hesitate to deem it humorous, and quite possibly the quintessential film to avoid on February 14th. [Eli]

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Look—there’s a small chance that you and your Valentine’s Day date could, should you choose to watch it (despite my impassioned warning not to), be romantically inspired or even turned on by Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!. I’m not here to judge anybody (you naughty, naughty bastards). But if you consider a movie about a former porn star who falls in love with her violent, psychiatric-patient kidnapper (who’s headbutted, gagged and handcuffed her and lashed her to his bed) to be perfect V-Day viewing, I’m guessing you’ve had more than your fair share of bat-shit crazy date stories. Just a hunch. I happen to love the movie (it’s harbors one of Antonio Banderas’ best performances) and even think the ending is pretty sweet, but for Valentine’s day, the rapey vibes and Stockholm-syndrome mind fuckery make it way too intense for lovebirds looking to have a romantic stay-at-home movie night. Halloween, however, is another story… [Bernard]

After a lot of deliberating and discussing, we compiled this list of the Best 50 Movies that came out between 2010 and 2014. These are films we love, cherish, and suspect we will remember years and years from now. A lot has changed with film in the last 5 years, but the quality of the creative output only seems to keep getting better. Here’s to an amazing first half of the decade, and let’s hope the next five years lead to even bigger and better things.

Every day this week we will release ten films from our list, here is #40 through #31.

Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far
(#40 – #31)

Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers is a diabolically delicious assault of bleached-out colors, alcohol, and synthesized sounds. All of which makes for a ferociously dazzling watch. From its mesmerizing opening depicting hundreds of young adults participating in grossly outrageous spring break shenanigans,—while sounds of robotic vomiting (courtesy of dub-master Skrillex) discharge on the audio track—up until the final scene, a gun fight eruption (lit up with bright neon tints) at a South Floridian Oceanside manor, the film grabs hold tightly. So seldom are films released that are this audacious. The film follows four young college girls who will stop at nothing (and I mean nothing) to have the greatest spring break ever. The film is essentially a terrifying, unrelenting montage; we see the girls go from parties to robberies to gunfights and back again. James Franco owns every inch of the film while he’s on screen as cornrow-flowin’, gold teeth-showin’ drug lord/rapper Alien. He is on fire here in a career best performance that should’ve gotten him an Oscar nomination. While stars Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Rachel Greene are all excellent, the real star here is Harmony Korine, who has found a way to sell his weird, subverted look at humanity to the masses. Spring Breakers is an instant classic. [Blake]

All is Lost

A spellbinding exercise in visual storytelling, J.C. Chandor’s All is Lost is a tale of survival at sea and a fascinating study in male ego. Robert Redford stars as the nearly-wordless film’s unnamed subject, a man alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean whose will to survive is immovable. Despite the elements threatening to rip his precious vessel to shreds, he fights tooth and nail to keep the boat (and his spirits) afloat. While his dogged refusal to perish at first looks a lot like bravery, as it becomes clear his efforts are futile, heroism turns into stubbornness. At what point does giving up become a virtuous act? Redford has enough experience to keep his performance reality-based, maintaining a deadpan expression in moments where lesser actors would look to the heavens with a face that screams, “Why me!?” He’s simply behaving, letting his body do the talking rather than relying on high drama and facial flourishes. The film’s presentation is as stunning and engrossing as Gravity’s, a similar film that came out in 2013 as well. (I prefer All is Lost’s grit and realism to Gravity’s sometimes maudlin tendencies.) If you haven’t seen this one, find it and make sure you watch it on a big screen with a muscly sound system. [Bernard]

The Wolf of Wall Street

Even in his 70’s, Martin Scorsese proves he’s intrinsically capable of capturing the enticing aspects of capitalism within the context of a searing indictment of greedy stock brokers. The Wolf of Wall Street may feel like an ode to opulence and apathy for those Wall Street bankers who allegedly cheered for the film’s characters in their most despicable moments, but for those in the audience with an understanding for the real world implications of Wolf, Jordan Belfort & Co. look like the band that played while the Titanic sank. Worse, they feel like the band’s onlookers. Among the most telling anecdotes from the film is one in which Belfort reminisces in voiceover about a ménage à trois he and Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) shared with the future wife of their co-worker. Belfort recounts with glee the lurid aspects of their tryst only to end the anecdote by mentioning that his co-worker later slit his wrists in a bathtub, before Belfort sighs and moves on to his next deplorable indulgence. That juxtaposition allows Scorsese’s film to serve as a criticism without coming across as preaching. The Wolf of Wall Street creates an engaging experience without neglecting substance. [Zach]

Melancholia

Leave it to Lars Von Trier to make one of the best films ever made about depression. The titular planet at the center of Melancholia, which winds up annihilating Earth by smashing into it, isn’t exactly the most subtle allegory, but Von Trier makes it work. He understands how depression can be such a large, destructive, all-encompassing force, and by equating it with the end of existence he finds the perfect way to evoke the true power of despondency. With jaw-dropping visuals and sound (it’s hard to get tired of hearing Wagner), as well as two astounding performances from Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lars Von Trier wound up making one of his best works with Melancholia. [CJ]

Midnight in Paris

Not reading anything about Woody Allen’s fantastical and joyous comedy Midnight in Paris was the best choice I could have made. Admittedly, I didn’t do this on purpose; it was more by happenstance than anything. I say I didn’t know anything about the film, but actually knew that it stared Owen Wilson and it took place in Paris. If you’ve never been to Paris (like myself) the opening 5 minutes is a basically a montage of everything you’ve always dreamed about experiencing in the sprawling French capital. The food. The music. The people. The museums. If you have been to Paris, it’ll have you pining to go back. The film’s plot centers on Wilson (never better) as he peruses Paris and discovers a magical world that awakens at night, one that makes his wildest dreams come true. Allen’s film is a nostalgic fever dream aimed at those who wish to have lived and experienced an era unbeknownst to them. The Wilson character fantasizes about the wild nights in which Picasso, Hemingway and Fitzgerald drank alcohol and told old, grand stories about love lost. Allen has essentially made a film a year since the late ’60s; this is easily in his top five. Romantics and old souls will revel in Allen’s glorious world. [Blake]

Shame

Before Steve McQueen earned a Best Picture Oscar for 12 Years A Slave (which also made our list) and became a household name, he made a grueling, yet exquisite film about sex-addiction called Shame. Despite all the acclamation for Michael Fassbender’s flattering full-frontal scenes, the film itself offers little else to cheer for. McQueen presents a depressing look into the life of Brandon (Fassbender), a man who’s constantly in search of his next orgasm, though he never finds any kind of meaningful pleasure in them. He’s completely lost his ability to connect with people on an emotional level. The only emotions he experiences are dissatisfaction and shame (hence the title). As you’d probably expect, watching a man slip deeper and deeper into sexual addiction is emotionally exhausting, but Shame remains a profoundly powerful experience thanks to McQueen’s fearless filmmaking and brilliant vision. Shame is not an easy watch, but the discomfort is absolutely worth it. [Dustin]

The Place Beyond the Pines

A perfect example of the idea that a story isn’t nearly as important as how it’s told, The Place Beyond the Pines strives in its every moment to defy categorisation. Its three acts are entirely unlike one another in genre, and yet are harmoniously strung together in their aesthetic and thematic content. What begins as an honest insight into the lives of the working class ends as an introspective on the notion of how our lives eventually come to affect those of our children, in ways we don’t expect. What truly stands out about this film, however, is how bold every choice is, from the opening shot to a 15 year jump in the plot. Directed by Derek Cianfrance, who also co-wrote the script, the film allows its characters to develop as authentic people by providing foundations upon which the actors can build highly convincing emotions. Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes are all unforgettable in their own ways, and yet the film handles melodrama with the lightest touch, keeping emphasis firmly on the humanity behind its events. [Pavi]

Gravity

Gravity does two things extraordinarily well. In fact, it does one of those things so well it’s worth overlooking the film’s flaws. The out-of-this-world photography, aided by a partnership of special effects and star Sandra Bullock’s physicality, is the reason the film belongs on this list and will be remembered for a long, long time. There isn’t a film that looks like Gravity, and there honestly may never be another. Looks aside, the film’s ability to create intense emotional stakes is also remarkable. If our connection with astronaut Ryan Stone (Bullock) throughout her crazy journey was missing, it wouldn’t matter how amazing everything looked. But we do connect, thanks to Bullock, who gives a remarkable (I’d even argue underrated) performance, as well as the success of its excellent (though much-derided) script. Screenwriters Alfonso and Jonás Cuarón trade in big sci-fi mythology for a streamlined, simple approach, and it works. Not all of the dialogue plays well, but there is a beating heart at the center of Gravity that makes it more than just a pretty face. Additionally, the film’s achievements in 3D filmmaking are groundbreaking. Gravity wonderfully melds forward-thinking technological concepts in filmmaking with an old-fashioned, emotionally charged story—an uncommon balance pulled off extremely well. [Aaron]

13 Assassins

13 Assassins, despite being a remake of a different film, could easily be summed up as Seven Samurai for the 21st century, a leaner, meaner take on Akira Kurosawa’s classic. The film’s first hour briskly sets up the situation: a samurai gathers 12 other assassins to take out the Shogun’s tyrannical half-brother. Once all the pieces get put into place, 13 Assassins spends its second hour unleashing one of the great action sequences of this century, an epic battle between an army of hundreds and the small group of samurai. Takashi Miike, one of the most prolific and versatile directors working today, directs 13 Assassins with a level of classicism and efficiency that’s a complete breath of fresh air compared to today’s action films. 13 Assassins is near-flawless genre filmmaking of the highest order. [CJ]

Stories We Tell

There is a common misconception that documentaries must be concerned with the truth, and with facts. Stories We Tell is a documentary film that seems to be uncovering truth at its surface, but in reality is examining something much more human. Director Sarah Polley’s goal may at first seem to be uncovering the truth about her mother, but as the film progresses, we can see that it is specifically her family’s memories of her mother that she is actually interested in. This ties together the essence of family itself, highlighting the way in which her family continues to remain supportive of each other and place their relationships above all else. Taking an unusual but effective approach to her discoveries, Polley focuses not on creating an accurate narrative of her mother’s life, but on displaying the complexities inherently involved in storytelling. It is through this portrayal that a film about her family becomes much more universal, allowing us to partake in the shared memories even if only through our own nostalgia. After all, the past is only as significant as the story it tells. [Pavi]

See the rest of our Best Movies Of The Decade lists!

View Other Lists of this Feature:
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#20 – #11)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

Hollywood has long loved to peer into its crystal ball and imagine the many ways humanity may meet its end. Turns out grand scale destruction tends to be surprisingly cinematic, and morbidly entertaining. So in honor of the release of Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah, that most epic of apocalyptic tales and arguably the first due to its biblical origins, the Way Too Indie staff have compiled a list of our top 13 films depicting the end of the world as we know it.

12 Best Apocalyptic Films

#12 – Shaun of the Dead

When the end of the world comes in the form of a zombie apocalypse, leave it to the Brits to take it in stride and not make a fuss. Edgar Wright may not be the first to have noticed the absolute hilarity inherent in slow, dead people roaming the streets, but he certainly executes it best. Best friends and serial slackers Shaun and Ed find themselves in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Together they form a plan to win back Shaun’s put-out girlfriend, save his parents, and make their way to the Winchester, the neighborhood pub that seems about as good a place as any to ride out the end of the world. What makes this film a must-see is it’s ability to maintain placeholders on both comedy and horror “Best Of” lists, with both serious laughs and serious scares in abundance. [Ananda]

#11 – La Jetée

The pinnacle achievement of Chris Marker’s career, La Jetée (The Pier) glimpses a post-WWIII Paris in which we follow a man subjected to time travel experiments by underground mad doctors. After a harrowing testing period, he’s sent into the past where he meets the woman of his dreams. When the experiment concludes he’s given the opportunity to visit a new world by a future race of beings, but he passes it up to be with the woman. The film’s gut-wrenching ending haunts me to this day. Told entirely in still black and white photos (save for one revelatory sequence), the sci-fi experiment still stands as an unequaled landmark in the history of film. [Bernard]

#10 – Logan’s Run

Admittedly the line between apocalyptic and dystopian can get a bit blurry. And a world where what’s left of humanity are all beautiful young people scantily clad in bright colors and living pleasure-filled lives, including sex on-demand and orgy clubs, doesn’t sound half bad. So long as living past 30 isn’t a priority. This 1976 sci-fi film stars Michael York as Logan 5, a Sandman tasked with catching Runners, people who try to escape their fate of Carrousel, the ritual that involves allowing oneself to be vaporized at the age of 30 in the hope of Renewal. Logan 5 finds a strange symbol on a runner and begins asking questions of the city computer. He finds out that outside the city is a place called Sanctuary and he is asked to find Sanctuary and destroy it. Adding to his urgency, the hand crystal tracking his age begins blinking red, meaning his time has run up. So he and his new friend Jessica 6 decide to run, making the hunter the hunted. The score, with its digital bee-boo-bops, sounds like a computer synth gone haywire, and the miniature scale models of the city hardly seem worthy of the Visual Effects Oscar the film won, but it’s exactly those dated details that make Logan’s Run a fun look at the future of the past. [Ananda]

#9 – A.I. Artificial Intelligence

What could be considered a modern-day tale of Pinocchio, Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence centers on a futuristic robot that yearns to become a real boy so that his human caretaker (his mother) will love him again. Surrounding the film is an apocalypse caused by melting polar ice caps that flood major cities. While the film is a bit overlong and has a conclusion that will divide audiences, Artificial Intelligence creates an audacious fantasy world that only a collaboration between Stanley Kubrick and Spielberg could produce. This dazzling visual masterpiece includes such a deeply emotional story that you won’t leave with dry eyes. [Dustin]

#8 – The Stand

I’ll be the first to say I’m beyond excited this Stephen King tome is getting a remake soon (even if Ben Affleck is no longer helming, sigh). The mini-series, which originally aired on ABC in 1994, just didn’t have the budget to do the epic tale much justice. But the elements are all there, which is why this movie can still hold its own in the realm of the apocalyptic film. The near-end of the world comes in the form of a deadly disease accidentally released by the military, offing 99% of the population. Those who are immune begin to have visions calling them to either Denver to join a mysterious old woman named Mother Abigail, or to Las Vegas to join the sinister antichrist Randall Flagg. So they trek, finding one another as they go. It’s his characters that make Stephen King’s stories so intriguing and because of it’s 6 hour length, The Stand is able to foster quite a few of them. The added element of the supernatural takes this apocalyptic tale beyond simple survival into epic good vs. evil warfare. [Ananda]

#7 – This is the End

At first glance, this self-aware film featuring celebrities playing slightly exaggerated versions of themselves, partying at James Franco’s place before a giant sinkhole starts to swallow people, seems more like a guilty pleasure inclusion on the list. But This is the End is completely worth mentioning here because the film hits all the intended comedic notes due to never taking itself too seriously. This is the End features an ending that will make you laugh until your sides hurt, resulting in one of the funniest takes to date on an apocalyptic story. [Dustin]

#6 – Melancholia

Leave it to Lars Von Trier to look at the end of the world and feel relief. Split into two parts, Melancholia begins with a wedding that ends up being a small-scale version of what’s to come. Justine (Kirsten Dunst, in her best performance to date) is the bride, and her intense depression during the ceremony leads her down a self-destructive path. At this point the titular planet (which eventually smashes into Earth, as seen in the jaw-dropping prologue and finale) is a small blue dot in the sky. In the second half, when the planet’s collision is mere days away, Justine’s now crippling depression is cured. In fact it’s her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), seen in the first half as level-headed and happy with her life, who becomes overcome with grief as she faces the end of everything. Melancholia is Von Trier at his best, accurately showing the devastating effects of depression while focusing on some truly fascinating ideas. It’s hard to think of another film that makes the apocalypse look this beautiful. [CJ]

#5 – 28 Days Later

Never standing still, Danny Boyle is a filmmaker constantly on the move, exploring different genres with each film in his catalogue. 28 Days Later is Boyle at his most vicious. Starring Cillian Murphy in a great performance, the horror-thriller journey movie is in an England overrun with zombies (they’re technically not zombies, but come on now…) on steroids: they’re capable of sprinting, making the film more intensely terrifying than creepy. Murphy’s odyssey across dilapidated, empty city streets and blood-splattered fields gets startlingly twisted and upsetting (especially in the film’s finale, where Boyle ratchets up the intensity to insane levels), but the likable actors and scattered moments of levity keep your heart in the fight. [Bernard]

#4 – Children of Men

Alfonso Cuarón’s vision of a ruinous, infertile near-future in Children of Men is a world rich with cinematic opportunity, and he seizes every one. His hero’s (Clive Owen) journey to deliver the only pregnant woman on earth to the coast of a demolished, war-torn Britain is fraught with intense, high-stakes encounters, and Cuarón’s now-textbook one-shot car chase sequence signified the emergence of one of the most influential visual filmmakers of our generation. In a time where too many filmmakers use coverage and editing to hide their shortcomings, Cuarón is a beacon when it comes to actually moving a camera. Children of Men is one of the most convincing versions of the future put to screen in movie history because it looks and sounds just like the world we know, only slightly closer to the precipice of full collapse that threatens us all. [Bernard]

#3 – Wall-E

I remember watching Wall-E back in 2008 and, even at the age of 16, I recall lighting up like a kid at Christmas. The only way to describe this movie is: utterly and completely adorable. However, we are still talking about end of the world stuff here, and amidst the terrifying depressive apocalyptic films we’ve listed, Wall-E stands alone in its ability to capture the hearts of all. In the film, a small waste collecting robot, Wall-E, embarks upon a space adventure with his new friend EVE (a sleek, yet dangerous reconnaissance robot). Together they will ultimately decide the fate of humanity, which has now resigned itself to life in space. This journey demonstrates courage, determination, love and affection–all of which we could do with witnessing a little more of.

The fact that the earth has gone to hell is not the main focus of this story, and in the face of all that has happened and that these characters are surviving, there’s nothing broken about the hearts of these two life-affirming robots. To me, Wall-E is an apocalyptic tale for the entire family and how often can you say that? [Amy]

#2 – The Matrix

Not only did The Matrix boldly inject a heavy dose of philosophy into an action movie structure, the film made a huge impact on the world of cinematography and special effects with its excellent choreographed martial arts. Case in point, the unforgettable “bullet time” scene where time suddenly slows down as the camera pans around the bullet allowing Neo to dodge it.

The film is all about questioning the reality that we think we know and entertaining the idea that it’s just an advanced computer simulation used to harvest energy from the enslaved human race in hibernation. At the age of 15 when the film was released, The Matrix had a profound impact on me being the first film that made me question perceived reality. Not only did The Matrix introduce imaginative concepts, but the film also presented them in an astonishing way, making The Matrix one of the most influential works of post-apocalyptic science fiction. [Dustin]

#1 – Dr. Strangelove

For a topic as dour as the apocalypse, it is a bit surprising that the best apocalyptic film also happens to be one of the greatest comedies ever made. Stanley Kubrick, a director who mastered every genre he worked in, ruthlessly made fun of the absurdity of the Cold War. The end of the world is triggered by one loony general’s actions, and as the president and his staff frantically scramble to avoid the inevitable Kubrick, along with his incredible cast (Peter Sellers is terrific in his three roles, but George C. Scott steals the show as Buck Turgidson), let audiences laugh at their own mutually assured destruction. Dr. Strangelove walks a fine line between satire and camp, but the complete lack of self-awareness throughout is what elevates this into a masterpiece. It’s still the gold standard of satire, and to this day no one has made the end of the world look this funny. [CJ]

Blake and I list our top ten favorite films of 2011. Comparing films to one another is hard to do when they are often so different. Thus ranking other people’s artwork such as films is never easy but everyone likes a Top 10 list (which is the reason why I told Blake we should do a numbered list of 10 instead of just an alphabetical one). So without further ado, our list of Top 10 Films of 2011:

]]> http://waytooindie.com/features/top-10-films-of-2011/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-film-independent-spirit-award-nominations/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-film-independent-spirit-award-nominations/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=2169 The 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today by presenters Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale kicking off the award season. Of the total 277 total film submissions The Artist and Take Shelter raked in the most nominations this year with five in total. Close behind them with 4 nominations were films Martha Marcy […]]]>

The 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today by presenters Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale kicking off the award season. Of the total 277 total film submissions The Artist and Take Shelter raked in the most nominations this year with five in total. Close behind them with 4 nominations were films Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, and Drive. I would say the front-runner for awards this year is The Artist but all of the films above will have a shot of being represented here as well as at the Oscars.

Michelle Williams gets her second nomination Best Female Lead nomination in a row with her role in My Week With Marilyn (last year’s nomination was for Blue Valentine). She was not the one to get a repeat nomination for the second year in a row as John Hawkes also received a nomination for Martha Marcy May Marlene for Best Supporting Male (John Hawkes won the award last year for Winter’s Bone).

In order to qualify for Spirit Awards a film has to be made for under $20 million, which would explain the absence of Tree Of Life among the nominations, which is a little disappointing as it has been my favorite film of 2011 so far (I still have a fair amount to see still though). Although I have not seen them yet, I am a little disappointed that Alps and The Skin I Live In did not make the cut for a nomination in the Best Foreign Film category (need to have at least 1 U.S. producer to qualify for the other awards).

The winners will be announced at the 27th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 25th and the broadcast will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

50/50 – Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin
Beginners – Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Jay Van Hoy, Dean Vanech
Drive – Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter – Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Mike Mills – Beginners
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Another Earth – Directed by Mike Cahill; Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In The Family – Directed by Patrick Wang; Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call – Directed by J.C. Chandor; Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Directed by Sean Durkin; Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection – Directed by Robbie Pickering; Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson – Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Lauren Ambrose – Think Of Me
Rachel Harris – Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll – Midnight In Paris

Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Angelica Huston – 50/50
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana – Gun Hill Road
Shaileen Woodley – The Descendants

Bellflower – Written and directed by Evan Glodell; Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance – Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz; Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome – Written and directed and produced by Adam Reid
Lovers of Hate – Written and directed by Dee Rees; Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter – Writters: Matthew Gordon and Brad Ingelsby; Directed by Matthew Gordon; Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

An African Election – Jarreth J. Merz, Kevin Merz
Bill Cunningham New York – Richard Press
The Interrupters – Steve James
The Redemption of General Butt Naked – Daniele Anastasion, Eric Strauss
We Were Here – David Weissman, Bill Weber

A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Melancholia – Lars von Trier
Shame – Steve McQueen
The Kid With A Bike – Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine

Joel Hodge – Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight In Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter

Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanivicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills – Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants

Mike Cahill & Brit Marling – Another Earth
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Patreck DeWitt – Terri
Phil Johnston – Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser – 50/50

Margin Call
Director: J.C. Chandor
Ensemble Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore

Chad Burris – Mosquita y Mari
Sophia Lin – Take Shelter
Josh Mond – Martha Marcy May Marlene

Heather Courtney – Where Soldiers Come From
Danfung Dennis – Hell and Back Again
Alma Har’El – Bombay Beach

Simon Arthur – Silver Tongues
Mark Jackson – Without
Nicholas Ozeki – Mamitas

Lars von Trier, the Danish controversial out-spoken director, delivers his least controversial film of his career, Melancholia. The film centers around two sisters who are both psychologically ill and must deal with the tragedy that world will end when a rogue planet named Melancholia approaches Earth. It is one of the most captivating opening sequences of the year and will instantly get you hooked. But it is an art-house type of film that demands patience from the audience for most of it’s duration.

Melancholia is divided into two parts; the first part is called “Justine”. Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and her newly wedded husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) show up two hours late for their own wedding reception. As they are about to enter the reception, they notice an unusually bright red star in the sky and take the time to admire it despite already being so late. You can tell that something is bothering Justine, as she disappears throughout the reception to be by herself. Justine acts as if she is going to fall asleep on more than a couple occasions and at one point takes a bath instead of cutting the cake.

At the halfway point of the film, there is not a whole lot we know about Justine yet. The plot also does not advance a whole lot in the first hour. Still, the film does not lose your attention as you get a sense that it is building up to something. It feels like the film was almost shot in reverse as we are shown the characters in action before knowing anything about them, as it turns out that is what the second part is about.

The second part of the film called “Claire” and is in the point of view of Justine’s sister named, you guessed it, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Suddenly, the film starts giving us more background on the characters and the story. The red star they mentioned at the beginning is in fact the planet Melancholia, which is supposed to pass by Earth in 5 days. At least that is what the scientists are saying; Claire is worried that they might be wrong.

Unless you were not paying attention, the opening sequence gave away the film. The planet does collide with Earth and the end of life as we know it is looming. But knowing that does not take away from the film, knowing that only adds to it. There are many transformations in the film but the most obvious one is the characters themselves.

It turns out that Justine is extremely depressed to the point of barely functional without Claire. Claire battles with her own illness with anxiety about Melancholia. Justine does not help with the anxiety when she tells Claire that “Life on Earth is evil” and there will not be much time left on it. As the planet approaches Justine seems to become more relaxed and normal than ever while Claire is basically switching roles with Justine. It is as if Justine is represented as Melancholia and Claire is represented as Earth, it may be stretch but the paths of destruction links them together.

Beginning shots of slow motion were captured fantastically and had a perfect score to go along with it (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde). Showcasing people in their last moments before the plant Melancholia collided. We see lightning coming from Kristen Dunst’s finger tips and her laying in her wedding dress on water with her eyes closed. The beginning and ending scenes were phenomenally well shot and hard to forget.

Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her role of Justine. Dunst does an amazing job of playing an unhappy person who cannot deal with everyday normal activities but can deal with the world ending. Charlotte Gainsbourg (who worked with von Trier in Antichrist) does an equally impressive job with her supporting role as the supporting sister.

Melancholia is perhaps the best “end of the world” film as it does not try to sugarcoat anything or use a far-fetched sci-fi solution to magically resolve the impending doom. Instead, it shows us paths of destruction in multiple ways, psychologically through Justine’s character and physically with the planet Melancholia. While the beginning and ending scenes are brilliant, the middle section is so-so. At the very least, I think most people can agree it is an ambitious film that you can admire from a technical standpoint.

Day 2 of the Toronto International Film Festival I see The Artist which seems to be getting a lot of buzz right now. I also saw The Hunter starring Willem Dafoe, the North American Premiere of Melancholia which Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at Cannes. Lastly, I went to a Special presentation screening of Drive. Here are my first impressions and mini reviews of the films.

People are going to love this film. People who love film are going to LOVE this film. An ode to Hollywood of the yester years. Terrific performances, amazing black and white cinematography, laughter aplenty. This film is a blast. Telling the story of a silent film actor in Hollywood at the genesis of talkies. The main character George is full of too much pride to realize the change in technology. He soon begins to suffer as his love interest’s fame starts to sky rocket. Together him and his very well trained pooch try to figure out a way to stay in the pictures. It all comes together in a dazzling final 20 minutes. Audiences will chew this one up.

A slow burning Australian film about an American Mercenary (Willem Dafoe) hired by a mysterious European Bio Tech corporation to find the last of the Tasmanian Tigers. A brooding thriller that becomes more about protecting a widow and her children than the hunt itself. Dafoe turns in a good performance as always, the movie itself didn’t really speak to me. It was a little slow in parts and the plot of the film wasn’t that interesting to me. Of course I had Melancholia and Drive to follow, so my mind was kind of elsewhere.

I have only seen one Lars Von Trier film prior to this, his extremely tough to sit through Antichrist (which I actually quite liked). The opening sequence of Melancholia is utterly spectacular. Shots of Kirsten Dunst with electricity coming out of her hands and being stuck in tangled black webs coming from the earth are all shot in a very arty way by Trier. He finishes off the opening sequence with the planet Melancholia crushing Earth and it is as beautiful a shot from any science fiction film I’ve ever seen. If you can see this in a theater I would highly recommend it. The sound system of the Ryerson theater was spectacular. The movie concerns a woman just newly wed at her reception with her absolutely insane family. The second half the film is concentrated on her sister and how she deals with the depression and despair the planet Melancholia brings. The final 20 minutes are brilliant, scary and beautiful all at once. One of the best films I’ve seen so far.

I was looking forward to Drive probably the second most out of any film at TIFF this year. Nicolas Windig Refn got up before the movie and introduced the cast and talked a little about the movie. The dude is seriously funny as hell. Drive disappointed me. It’s a good movie, but it’s not a great one. It has so much going for it. An incredible style courtesy of Refn, a soundtrack that works very well with the material. Some terrific turns from Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. Also, the violence is extremely grisly and well executed. I’m not one to LOVE violence in movie, but when a movie has a good mean streak I to appreciate it. My problems with Drive are these. For starters, the movie starts out with a great story between a lonely shy man and his neighbor who he confides in while her husband is in prison. All of that is built well and all, but once the movie kicks into gear, it feels like the film ditches all those great emotions it created and just goes with pure brutality. And I like said earlier I don’t mind extreme violence but you gotta back that up with some feelings. I felt like Drive didn’t earn them. The second thing I didn’t like about the film was that it kinda wrapped itself up early. The movie could’ve easily added another 15 minutes and would’ve been perfect. Drive was going pretty well until it hit autopilot. It was like the movie realized it was ending soon and just wrapped up it’s plot. Terrific style, terrific score and performances. Just wish it didn’t ditch the heart it was building in the first half and ditch out on what could’ve been a great ending.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival is about to begin and I will representing Way Too Indie there. We previously posted the films we are most excited for but here is the list of films I will be seeing (some of which were on that list). Expect mini-reviews to follow as well as my general experience of the atmosphere in the city of Toronto.

Synopsis: Idiosyncratic, cheeky and uncategorizable, the films of Guy Maddin are testaments to the singular vision of a great contemporary cinema artist, and Keyhole may be his boldest film yet. A surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs, this hypnotic dreamlike journey bewilders and captivates.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A look at what happens when partners from different social backgrounds engage in in physical relationships.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: Not only is it black and white but it is a silent film.
Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Synopsis: Intimate interviews and life stories of several inmates condemned to death in a Texas prison.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by an mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.

Synopsis: Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Synopsis: A land baron tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

Synopsis: Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

Synopsis: Everyone knows what to do if one morning the sky would be absolutely full of UFOs: run as fast as you can. However, what would happen if the invasion started while you are in the flat of the girl of your dreams, the one you have just met?
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A further investigation into the arrest of three teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Arkansas and spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released because DNA evidence proved their innocence.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

Synopsis: A suicide survivor works for a nameless corporation, where he puts other employees through series of bizarre performance tests in this dystopian, Tarkovsky-esque sci-fi and surreal dark fantasy, with flashes of dark humour and deep emotion.

Synopsis: A group of cooks at an asylum for the criminally insane get locked in with the inmates during a massive thunderstorm.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The team behind “Baraka” reunites for another journey around the world, exploring themes of birth, death and rebirth through stunning visuals and music.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A drama centered on 30-something Brandon, his myriad sexual escapades, and what happens when his wayward younger sister moves in with him.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed.

The Toronto International Film Festival has started announcing titles of films that will be playing at it’s 36th annual festival held from September 8th – 18th 2011. Last year the TIFF had 246 films that were part of the festival, which included many world and international premieres. This year’s lineup looks to be very promising as it includes the works from; George Clooney, Francis Ford Coppola, Lars von Trier, Morgan Spurlock, Cameron Crowe and Jay & Mark Duplass. This year Way Too Indie’s very own Blake Ginithan will be attending TIFF and will be reporting back his thoughts on it so stay tuned.

There are too many films to list for one article so instead I will list some of the most exciting and big-named films coming to TIFF in 2011.

Why excited: It stars one of my favorite actors Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speaking of stars it is loaded with them; George Clooney (who also wrote and directed it), Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.
Synopsis: An idealistic staffer for a newbie presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Based on the play by Beau Willimon.

Why excited: Again, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill certainly do not hurt either.
Synopsis: The story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

Why excited: Not only is it black and white but it is a silent film.
Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Why excited: The film is going to be a big mind-fuck. Plus got to love John Hawkes.
Synopsis: Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

Why excited: 50/50 shot of being funny or lame but I enjoy Seth Rogen.
Synopsis: A comedic account of a 27-year-old guy’s cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Why excited: Any director that gets banned from Cannes is pretty badass. Plus Kirsten Dunst won Prix d’interpretation feminine at Cannes from her role in this film.
Synopsis: Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Why excited: Looks like it might be a decent action movie.
Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Why excited: Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, this foreign film looks incredible in an artsy kind of way.
Synopsis: A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Why excited: Sounds messed up, in a good way.
Synopsis: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Why excited: Jay and Mark Duplass are amazingly talented indie directors with their own style.
Synopsis: When he leaves his house on a banal errand for his mother, Jeff discovers that the universe might be sending him messages about his destiny.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: The synopsis sounds very intriguing. Seeing parts of the film upside down sounds brilliant.
Synopsis: Tul, a hitman, is shot in the head during an assignment. He wakes up after a three-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally. Then he meets a girl that turns his world even more upside down. Who was trying to kill him in the first place?
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: Why not?
Synopsis: Idiosyncratic, cheeky and uncategorizable, the films of Guy Maddin are testaments to the singular vision of a great contemporary cinema artist, and Keyhole may be his boldest film yet. A surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs, this hypnotic dreamlike journey bewilders and captivates.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Cannes Film Festival came to a close Sunday night and announced the winners of Palme d’Or, Grand Prix, Best Director and other high status awards. Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress in Lars von Trier’s film Melancholia and thanked the director after a very controversial comment he made about Nazi’s during a press conference that caused a lot of media attention last week. The top prize, Palme d’Or, went out to The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

See the full list of nominations.

The Tree of Life, (director Terrence Malick)

The Kid with a Bike, (directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, (director Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive

Joseph Cedar, Hearat Shulayim

Las Acacias, (director Pablo Gorgelli)

Polisse, (director Maiwenn)

Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

Jean Dujarin, The Artist

Cross Country, (director Marina Viroda)

Arirang, (director Kim Ki-Duk)
Stopped on Track, (director Andreas Dresen)

Elena, (director Andrey Zvyaginstev)

Cannes Film Festival is considered one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and today they announced their lineup for 2011. This year the festival will be held from May 11th through May 22nd with American actor Robert De Niro being The President of the Jury.

Midnight In Paris (director Woody Allen)

The Beaver (director Jodi Foster)
La Conquete (director Xavier Durringer)
The Artist (director Hazanavicius)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (director Rob Marshall)

The Skin I Live In (director Pedro Almodovar)
L’Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close (director Bertrand Bonello)
Hearat Shulayim (director Joseph Cedar)
Pater (director Alain Cavalier)
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) (director Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Le gamin au vélo (director Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Le Havre (director Aki Kaurismäki)
Hanezu no Tsuki (director Naomi Kawase)
Sleeping Beauty (director Julia Leigh)
Polisse (director Maïwenn)
The Tree of Life (director Terrence Malick)
La source des femmes (director Radu Mihaileanu)
Ishimei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) (director Takashi Miike)
Habemus Papam (director Nanni Moretti)
We Need to Talk about Kevin (director Lynne Ramsay)
Melancholia (director Lars Von Trier)
Drive (director Nicolas Winding Refn)

Restless (director Gus Van Sant)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (director Sean Durkin)
The Hunter (director Bakur Bakuradze)
Halt auf freier Strecke (director Andreas Dresen)
Hors Satan (director Bruno Dumont)
Les neiges du Kilimandjaro (director Robert Guédiguian)
Skoonheid (director Oliver Hermanus)
The Day He Arrives (director Hong Sangsoo)
Hong Sangsoo (director Cristián Jiménez)
Tatsumi (director Eric Khoo)
Arirang (director Kim Ki-duk)
Et maintenant on va où? (director Nadine Labaki)
Loverboy (director Catalin Mitulescu)
Yellow Sea (director Na Hong-jin)
Miss Bala (dir. Gerardo Naranjo)
Trabalhar cansa (Travailler Fatigue) (directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra)
L’exercice de l’Etat (director Pierre Schoeller)
Toomelah (director Ivan Sen)
Oslo, August 31st (director Joachim Trier)

Labrador (director Frederikke Aspöck)
Wu Xia (director Chan Peter Ho-Sun)
Days of Grace (director Everardo Gout)
Le Maitre Des Forges De L’Enfre (director. Rithy Panh)
Michael Petrucciani (director Michael Radford)
Tous Au Larzac (director Christian Rouaud)