Parting thoughts from Toronto

By Barbara Vancheri / Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 

TORONTO -- It's time to load up the car with notebooks, digital recorders, press kits and a festival program book that's the size of a small phone book and make my way home.

This is my fourth festival and while the star wattage may be bigger every year, with the likes of Brad Pitt, Ben Kingsley (bottom left), Queen Latifah, Jessica Biel, Alicia Keys, Rachel Weisz (left), Adrien Brody, Derek Luke, Benicio Del Toro and Mark Ruffalo (just a tiny  fraction of the names), the movies weren't as strong as previous years. Last year's complaint was they were too unrelentingly dark but that batch also nestled "Atonement," "Juno,"  "No Country for Old Men," "Michael Clayton," "Into the Wild" and that improbable charmer, "Lars and the Real Girl."

Michael Cera is back but "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is no "Juno," and the Coens' "Burn After Reading" is not intended to be "No Country." Since I did not have 262 minutes -- yes, four hours and change - to see "Che," I can't say if it belongs in the pantheon of great movies either as a single film or two-parter but I guess I'll find out in a few months when the serious season arrives.

Post-Gazette movie editor Barbara Vancheri can be reached at bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632. More from Toronto at post-gazette.com/ae.