My criteria is to not necessarily see all the Ivory Tower favorites, but zoom in on the best of those that have at least a slight chance of attracting an audience.

I'm just going to go from category to category and highlight the hardcore's (have to see it, come hell or high water) and highly interested's (want to see it, ought to see it, might miss it).

It goes without saying that everyone reading this should probably try to see all 71 between now and year's end, whether they plan on being in Toronto next month or not. A fair-sized portion of the 31 hardcore's will probably wind up on '03 ten-best lists, or nominated for this or that award, etc. I would suggest that readers copy these and paste them into a must-see file in Microsoft Word, and then tape the list to their refrigerators.

ESSENTIAL, HARDCORE, NO EXCUSES (31):

Viacom Galas (7): THE COMPANY (Dir: Robert Altman, cast: Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell -- not quite a NASHVILLE-type portrait of the Joffrey Ballet, but Campbell and especially McDowell reportedly quite good); GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (Dir: Peter Webber, cast: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson -- period piece about painter Vermeer and model); THE HUMAN STAIN (Dir: Robert Benton; cast: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman -- perhaps a touch "on the nose," perhaps not...but obviously high pedigree); IN THE CUT (Dir: Jane Campion; cast: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo); LES INVASIONS BARBARES (Dir: Denys Arcand -- surprise hit at Cannes); MATCHSTICK MEN (Dir: Sir Ridley Scott -- cast: Nicolas Cage, Alison Lohman, Sam Rockwell -- "good," a friend says); OUT OF TIME (Dir: Carl Franklin; cast: Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Dean Cain).

Special Presentations (4): 21 GRAMS (Dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu. Cast: Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts -- great script); LOST IN TRANSLATION (Dir: Sofia Coppola -- cast: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson -- one of year's best & Murray's latest shot at Best Actor Oscar); SHATTERED GLASS (Dir: Billy Ray, cast: Hayden Christensen, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Greg Kinnear, Peter Sarsgaard -- if only because of the recentness of the Jayson Blair episode at the NEW YORK TIMES, but also to see if Christensen has begun to rescue his career from the clutches of STAR WARS creator George Lucas and the residual fallout effect of Irwin Winkler's clumsy LIFE AS A HOUSE); LOVE ACTUALLY (Dir: Richard Curtis; cast: Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant -- said to be quite nifty and charming, and I don't know what Universal's review policy is any more, although they may be more liberal about it than they were last year about 8 MILE).

World Cinema (5): BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (Dir/writer: Stephen Fry; cast: Emily Mortimer, Stephen Campbell Moore, Peter O'Toole, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent, Simon Callow, Stockard Channing, Richard E Grant -- 1920s lost generation piece, meant to reflect upon present); INTERMISSION (dir: John Crowley, cast: Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney, Cillian Murphy, Kelly McDonald -- an Irish GO interweaving stories of several characters at loose ends -- winner of audience award for Best First Feature at July's Galway Film Festival); SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING (dir: Kim Ki-duk -- presumed winner of Locarno's Golden Leopard award that ultimately didn't take it, but well reviewed by trades); WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF (dir: Lone Scherfig, whose previous ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS marks this as a must-see); WONDERLAND (dir: James Cox; cast: Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Eric Bogosian, Dylan McDermott, Lisa Kudrow -- may have slight problems but worth a tumble regardless).

Discovery (1) : DALLAS 362 (Dir: Scott Caan. Cast: Scott Caan, Jeff Goldblum, Shawn Hatosy, Selma Blair, Kelly Lynch -- well-received contender at last summer's Las Vegas Film Festival, said to be pretty darn okay and not just for a first feature).

Masters (2): ELEPHANT (Dir: Gus Van Sant -- fell for it in Cannes, seeing it again in L.A before Toronto-- absolutely vital); I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD (Dir: Mike Hodges; Cast: Clive Owen, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Charlotte Rampling, Malcolm McDowell -- reportedly not as good as CROUPIER, but has to be worth a sit).

Midnight Madness (2): UNDERWORLD (Dir: Len Wiseman; Cast: Kate Beckinsdale, Scott Speedman. A vampire warrior named Selene (Beckinsdale), caught up in a war between the vampire and "Lycans" (werewolves), falls for a cute hottie wolfman (Speedman) who's sick of all the howling and bloodsucking; END OF THE CENTURY: THE STORY OF THE RAMONES (Dirs: Jim Fields, Michael Gramaglia -- obvious reasons).

National Cinema (1): BUS 174 (Dir: José Padilha -- a doc about a Brazilian terrorist hostage-taking incident).

Real to Reel (Documentaries) (6): AILEEN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER (Dir: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill -- if for no other reason than to prepare for the upcoming Charlize Theron feature about Wournos, the Florida serial-killer lesbian, from writer-director Patty Jenkins -- even if Broomfield's docs are almost always worth watching on their own); JESUS, YOU KNOW (Dir: Ulrich Seidl -- don't know anything yet, but someone told me it's good); MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP (Dir: George Hickenlooper -- doc about Rodney Bingenheimer); LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF (Dir: Thom Andersen); THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED (Dirs: Kim Bartley, Donnacha O'Brien -- said to be stellar); S21: LA MACHINE DU MORT, KHYMER ROUGE (Dir: Rithy Panh).

Visions (3): THE BROWN BUNNY (Dir: Vincent Gallo; cast: Gallo, Chloe Sevigny -- I'm seeing this thing no matter what people said about it in Cannes; besides, it's been recut); GREENDALE (Dir/writer: Neil Young -- if for nothing else than out of respect for Young's music and his legend -- newly composed album of songs are lip-synched by actors in this thing);THE TESSERACT (Dir: Oxide Pang, written by Alex Garland; cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers (VELVET GOLDMINE), Saskia Reeves (BUTTERFLY KISS) -- set in Bangkok's underworld, it's been vaguely described as a story about "four strangers [whose] lives are about to change...forever" -- sounds like horsehit, but I hear film is pretty good.

HIGHLY INTERESTED'S (40): Viacom Galas (5): THE BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE (Dir: John Irvin -- this Irish-shot film apparently used to be called THE GREAT CELI WAR, which is what it's still called on the IMDB); CODE 46 (Dir: Michael Winterbottom; cast: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton -- a "futuristic BRIEF ENCOUNTER that turns on a matter of genetic incompatability," per the IMDB....later); NATHALIE (Dir: Anne Fontaine; cast: Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen); THE SCHOOL OF ROCK (Dir: Richard Linklater, cast: Jack Black); VERONICA GUERIN (Dir: Joel Schumacher; cast: Cate Blanchett).

World Cinema (11): YOUNG ADAM (dir: David McKenzie; Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Emily Mortimer, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan -- saw it at Cannes; partly commendable, interesting sex scenes); REMEMBER ME (dir: Gabrielle Muccino, director of LAST KISS -- moralistic drama about affluent Italian family, w/ Monica Belluci); FREE RADICALS (dir: Barbara Albert); GOOD BYE, LENIN! (dir: Wolfgang Becker -- highly popular in England, Europe...but I don't feel urgent need to catch up with it right away); NOI ALBINOI (Dir: Dagur Kari); MILWAUKEE, MINNESOTA (Dir: Allan Mindell); THE MOTHER (Dir: Roger Michell, screenwriter: Hanif Kureishi -- saw it at Cannes, gave it a B plus; well acted by Anne Reid, Peter Vaughan); PREY FOR ROCK & ROLL (Dir: Alex Steyermark -- said to be "terrible," but what does this guy know?); THE PRINCIPLES OF LUST (Dir: Penny Woolcock -- a British FIGHT CLUB, but less sytlistically high falutin'); PROSTI (Dir: Erik Matti -- Eurasian beauty Audrey Miles as student moonlighting as a pro); WHO KILLED BAMBI? (dir: Gilles Marchand).

Dialogues: Talking With Pictures (1): ALIEN (Dir: Ridley Scott -- director's cut is said to have footage no one' s ever seen. Does that include those who've seen all the deleted scenes/footage on the last ALIEN DVD? It'll be cool to catch it again, but not in Toronto.

Midnight Madness (2) : UNDEAD (Dirs: Peter and Michael Spierig); GOZU (Dir: Takashi Miike).

National Cinema (1) : GOD IS A BRAZILIAN (Dir: Carlos Diegues -- recommended by friend during Cannes, but never saw it).

Real to Reel (Documentaries) (7) : THE AGRONOMIST (Dir: Jonathan Demme); FESTIVAL EXPRESS (Dir: Bob Smeaton (portrait of rock band tour of Canada in '70...yikes!); THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS (Dirs: Lars von Trier, Jørgen Leth); BRIGHT LEAVES (Dir: Ross McElwee -- supposed to be okay, missed it in Cannes, don't mind waiting a bit longer); GAME OVER: KASPAROV AND THE MACHINE (Dir: Vikram Jayanti -- haven't a clue, Jayanti's work always warrants attention, but I don't feel cranked at this stage); TOM DOWD & THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC (Dir: Mark Moormann -- Jeff "the Dude" Dowd would beat me up if I didn't put in this doc about this creator of classic '50s sounds on the list, but I can't say I'm dying to catch it...although I do want to see it); THE YES MEN (Dirs: Dan Ollman, Sarah Price, Chris Smith).

Special Presentations (10): CHEEKY (Dir: David Thewlis -- always be wary of archly-mannered actors taking a shot behind the camera); COFFEE & CIGARETTES (Dir: Jim Jarmusch -- essentially a talking-head doc,and perhaps not an essential sit); THE COOLER (Dir: Wayne Kramer -- hot Sundance title but excitement has registered and cooled since then); DOGVILLE (Dir: Lars von Trier; cast: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, James Caan -- this is just my perspective because I saw it in Cannes and saw it again at a regular theatre in Paris -- the uninitiated should definitely fit it into their schedules); THE FOG OF WAR (Dir: Erroll Morris -- brilliant, first-rate doc about Robert MacNamara's career in business and government...except he doesn't offer any tearful Vietnam mea culpa's); THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (Dir: Phillip Saville -- life-of-Christ tale is obviously topical in wake of anti-Semitic controversy over Mel Gibson's PASSION, but Saville's pic said to clock in at three hours...whoops); L'HISTOIRE DE MARIE ET JULIEN (Dir: Jacques Rivette -- probably good but I'm off the Rivette boat...sorry); THE SNOW WALKER (Dir: Charles Martin Smith -- don't care for that title); THE STATION AGENT (Dir: Tom McCarthy -- assured, unusual relationship film about low-key, Shane-like dwarf who comes to small New Jersey town, but it benefitted from mountain-air syndrome at Sundance); TOUCHING THE VOID (Dir: Kevin Macdonald -- mountain-climbing!).

Visions (3): IN THIS WORLD (Dir:, Michael Winterbottom); DES PLUMES DANS LA TETE (Dir: Thomas de Thier; TWENTYNINE PALMS (Dir: Bruno Dumont).

Too Hip for the Room?

If I had a Coen brothers movie opening on October 10, as Universal does with INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, I'd sure as shit be taking it to the Toronto Film Festival. Even if it's a mezzo-mezzo effort, I'd take it there because the press generally loves the Coen's and the buzz and excitement the film would accrue would more than justify the costs and the headaches. Toronto is the sort of venue that's tailor-made for promoting an arch, offbeat, battle-of-the-sexes film of this type.

For me, the fact that this dark comedy with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones isn't going to Toronto raises red flags in and of itself. Plus the trailer makes it look awfully broad and mainstream-y for a Coen bros. film. There's also this guy who occasionally gives me good stuff saying that some "radical last-minute tinkering centering on the second act" has been going on recently.

A Universal spokesperson says "not taking INTOLERABLE to Toronto doesn't signify anything except the impossibility of being in two places at pretty much the same time -- we're showing the film at the Venice Festival in two weeks with George and Catherine in attendance. And there hasn't been any radical re-working of anything -- who's got the time? The Coens are making LADYKILLERS with every minute they've got right now.

"INTOLERABLE plays flat-out great," the spokesperson claims. "The Coens maintain their idiosyncratic style but intentionally made a film with an accessible, mainstream appeal that's more associated with Brian Grazer, who produced it. It's a witty throwback to some of the Sturges, Cukor or Hawks romantic comedies that relied on sexual chemistry and verbal repartee, and George, Catherine, Billy Bob and the whole cast are more than up to stepping up to that. You're going to love it."

Clooney plays Miles, a slippery divorce attorney who crosses swords with Zeta Jones' Marylin. (Is there any other actress besides Madonna and Jennifer Lopez who's more closely identified in the public mind with opportunistic money-grubbing that CZJ? She's really got the greed market cornered.) Cedric the Entertainer plays a slithery shamus; Billy Bob Thornton portrays one of Marylin's ex-hubbies.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's "Fall Preview" issue calls CRUELTY the Coen's "first foray into what is seemingly a mass-market comedy, replete with a producer who knows how to milk mass-market comedy for millions -- Imagine's Brian Grazer. 'They wanted to work with me for the mainstream part of it,' says Grazer, 'and I wanted to work with them for their quirky and artistic nature.'"

CRUELTY started as a script by John Romano ("Monk," "Hill Street Blues"). His script was substantially re-written by Robert Ramsay and Matthew Stone (LIFE, BIG TROUBLE), but the verdict came down that their version was "funny but not good enough," according to a producer who was around at the time. This activity happened maybe six or seven years ago. Then Alphaville's Jim Jacks, one of the film's listed producers, brought in Joel and Ethan Coen to rewrite CRUELTY "for money," the source says.

Then Grazer's Imagine Entertainment worked its way into things. Grazer declared at one stage in the game that Ron Howard would direct, but that never happened. In any event, once Imagine was in "they never left," says the producer. And then later "other directors and producers came and went" before the Coens were lured back to direct. The script "was always funny ...oops but arch," the source recalls. "It pretended to have an emotional core, but mostly that felt tossed off in favor of glib tricks."

The source agrees "that the trailer looks awful. I heard that testing has been mediocre. Kinda too hip for the room is my guess."

Movies on Drugs

I was talking about PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN with a friend the other day, and I said apart from Johnny Depp's performance (I don't remember reading any observations that his pirate is half-gay in a dated sense -- the affectations, the heavy coal around the eyes, etc.), I started to lose my mind about halfway through. I had to go outside and take brief walks around Montparnasse. I couldn't just sit there and submit to it. I had to rebel and be free.

It was Jack Davenport's "Norrington" character that tore it. For me, his line readings redefined the term" boring movie villain," but this is entirely the fault of director Gore Verbinsky, who, I'm willing to bet, told Davenport to play his part precisely in the same vein -- effete, bloodless, one-note. If not for this element I think I may have been able to at least sit through PIRATES, although real enjoyment would still be a little tough.

In any event, the friend said this reaction told him I had no sense of humor, and that I've never enjoyed "romps," which he obviosuly considers PIRATES to be. He was wrong. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is not a true "romp" -- it's a broadly produced, dumbed-down, when-in-doubt-fire-off-another-cannon-or-throw-in-another-sword fight genre wank. Depp romps his way through it, but that's all.

Romps, you see, are about mood, attitude, and having fun inside your head. (The characters heads, I mean, but I guess this eventually transfers itself to the mental state of the audience.) Romps are movies in which the characters seem to be on drugs, or more precisely on mescaline or marijuana or sometimes just booze. Or, in some cases, that stuff called "joie de vivre." Either you get a solid contact high off these films, or you don't.

The next time you're watching John Huston's BEAT THE DEVIL, imagine that Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Peter Lorre, Robert Morley and Gina Lollabrigida are tripping. It takes on a whole new life. Jones' character is the most zonked of all of them, but the freighter's first mate runs a close second. (When Jones' British husband complains about the ship not leaving port by saying, "Look here -- this boat is scheduled, most definitely scheduled to leave at midnight," the first mate replies, "Scheduled, sir, but not, I fear, destined to do so.") Bogart is the least drugged-out -- he's the sardonic, grounded realist of the bunch.

A romp is a movie in which the druggy mood thing is so spellbinding that the movie seems to just follow the whims of the characters, and what flows from this is the plot. I'm not saying plot threads aren't as carefully worked out in a "romp" as they are in any other kind of film -- the art is making it all seem as if the action is just happening for the sheer oddness or subversiveness of it.

WONDER BOYS is a cannabis romp. It's not just Michael Douglas -- everyone except Frances McDormand and Phillip Bosco acts as if they're faintly stoned. (I haven't turned on since the late '70s, but the stuff I was toking back then wasn't as potent as today's pot, and I used to get only slightly ripped as a result. Does this happen with anyone these days?)

Peter Yates' THE HOT ROCK is a romp. Alfonso Cuaron's Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN feels like a romp, although it glooms down toward the end. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is a romp. Ditto TOM JONES, M.A.S.H., THE LADY EVE, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. I'm only scratching the surface here. Any suggestions, thoughts, etc.?

Movies that play better when you watch them stoned are a whole 'nother thing. I can say without hesitation that the effects of LSD sometimes do wonders for the apparent profundity of this or that film. (And I'm not suggesting anyone out there try this -- I'm just admitting to an indiscretion.) I remember how much I laughed -- how I couldn't stop laughing, in fact -- when I first saw WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY? on late-night TV, ripped, sometime in the mid '70s. Sydney Pollack's CASTLE KEEP, a talky WWII movie with Burt Lancaster and Patrick O'Neal, is a major mind-bender with the right viewing additives.

Blanchett's Mark

I don't know if Cate Blanchett's VERNONICA GUERIN performance would have a chance of winning a Best Actress Oscar, but she's deserves more to be on your list of contenders than Jamie Lee Curtis, who is amusing enough in FREAK FRIDAY but c'mon, will never get near a nomination. Blanchett, however, carries GUERIN from start to finish and, as always, is a joy to watch. Her multilayered portrait of a strong-headed, not altogether sympathetic character who lived and died for what she believed in and in doing so became a modern day heroine is something to see. GUERIN may not be the best movie of the year, but it's a powerful dramatic thriller with a turn by Blanchett that is fully deserving of recognition." -- Oene Kummer, Amsterdam.

"VERONICA GUERIN won't get anywhere near an Oscar. The film is a deeply conventional and horribly one-dimensional look at a really fascinating character. There's a great movie in Guerin's life, and an endlessly fascinating character portrait, but the film fails. Blanchett is excellent in the role, but it doesn't give her a great deal to portray. She never has a moment which screams 'Oscar!' Treat it as a fictional fil, and it isn't a bad night out. But it's hopeless as a biopic, and features one of the most insulting voice-overs I have ever had to sit through." -- Ian O'Sullivan

Hud's Comin'

"You may already know this, but Martin Ritt's HUD is coming to DVD in December, although official specs are have not yet been released. Amazon has put up a date of 12.2.03, but that's not official." -- Pete Luna, New York, NY.

Bus 174

"Whatever you do at Toronto, do not miss BUS 174. When I saw it, it affected me so much that I wasn't able to leave the theater because I couldn't stop crying. The usher had to tell me I had to leave, because the theater was closing (it was the last presentation of the day).

"I saw the kidnapping on TV, live, when it actually happened. All the major Brazilian networks were showing it all day long, and when it finished that tragically way, I was shocked. I condemned the police, I condemned the kidnapper, but I didn't think about it all that deeply. But BUS 174's director José Padilha made me think it all over again. It wasn't just a personal tragedy, but a Brazilian social tragedy. And the last shots (which I will not reveal) are so touching, so... man, just remembering it I feel the urge of crying again. Don't miss it, Jeff -- seriously." -- Pablo Villaca, Brazil.