TIFF's 2023 Lineup Is Stacked & Here Are 10 Movies To Add To Your Toronto Film Festival List

Dumb Money

Remember when the whole world shut down due to a pandemic and a bunch of dummies threw their extra cash at viral stocks (stonks) like GameStop?

That’s the real-life fever-dream scenario that inspired Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money, a comedy staring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, America Ferrera and Canadian Seth Rogen. This will likely be one of the more crowd-pleasing comedies at TIFF this year, although it looks like this Big Short-style flick will eventually get a wider release for general audiences.

However, if you want to catch it first and get in before that stock rises, TIFF will be your chance to do it.

To the moon!

Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make-Believe

Pop open that Tickle Trunk and throw on your favourite costume, because this film is sure to deliver the Canadian nostalgia for people of a certain age who remember Mr. Dressup.

As a kid who grew up in the '90s, this CBC show was a big part of my TV diet along with the likes of Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The Friendly Giant. All three children's shows were in the tradition of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, with a friendly human lead surrounded by all sorts of puppets, although I'd argue Mr. Dressup was the best of the bunch.

This documentary takes a closer look at the life of Mr. Dressup himself, a.k.a. Ernie Coombs, who was actually friends with Fred Rogers. Coombs became a Canadian icon through this show, which ran on TV for about three decades and influenced many generations of Canadian kids.

If you've got fond memories of Mr. Dressup, you won't want to miss this doc. TIFF will be your first chance to see it, although you can expect it to hit Amazon's Prime Video streaming service if you miss it in Toronto.

Next Goal Wins

The festival’s opening film is Next Goal Wins, a comedic soccer flick from New Zealand-born director Taika Waititi.

Waititi has proven time after time that he knows how to blend drama and humour into a winning mix, whether he’s working with mainstream fare like Thor: Ragnarok, shooting for an Oscar with Jojo Rabbit or delivering lower-budget films like Hunt For The Wilderpeople. This film had me at “Taika” and I’m guessing that even if you can’t attend TIFF, you’ll soon see this movie in theatres.

Next Goal Wins looks to be a Mighty Ducks or Cool Runnings-style movie about American Somoa's absolutely brutal soccer team, which lost a FIFA match 31-0. The movie stars Michael Fassbender as the coach who takes over after that loss, while Canadian Will Arnett and Handmaid's Tale star Elisabeth Moss round out the cast.

Hate To Love: Nickelback

Nickelback inspires plenty of strong feelings in their home and native land. Canadians tend to have a love, hate or love-to-hate relationship with Chad Kroeger and his band, and this doc promises to lean into that ambivalence in the best way.

Personally, I'm not sure if I could handle 90 minutes of Nickelback without a bit of ripping on them, and so I think this doc might actually be the perfect way for me to appreciate their successes and their flaws in one big package.

Dicks: The Musical

"Cannot tell whether this will be an instant classic or absolutely insufferable, but I'll be there."

That's what the top comment says on the trailer for this movie, and that's probably the best way to describe it.

This flick looks like the dirtiest, most unhinged Broadway version of a Saturday Night Live skit turned into a feature-length film, with Megan Thee Stallion thrown in to make it even more absurd.

It's directed by former Seinfeld writer Larry Charles, who also directed several of Sasha Baron Cohen's movies (as much as one can direct that guy).

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll actually sit in a theatre to see this movie, but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a cult hit down the road. It also seems like the kind of movie that could randomly get an Oscar nomination for a song.

If you want to be part of this bizarre film's journey, I recommend you stop d*cking around and buy a ticket to see it at TIFF. Then you can tell me how it is in the comments.

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa

This movie makes my list thanks to the tagline alone.

"The first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest — now a single mom working at a Connecticut Whole Foods — heads back to Everest to make a better life for her two daughters."

How does a woman go from dragging rich Westerners up Everest to washing dishes at a grocery store in the U.S.? And then how does she go back?

Director Lucy Walker has already done a documentary about a Mount Everest climber called Blindsight, and it looks like she's found another incredible subject from that world with Lhakpa.

I can't wait to see this movie, not only because I love a good "one last ride" story featuring an older main cahracter, but also because I've seen far too many rich people brag about climbing Everest when the real heroes are the Sherpas who get them there. That's the side I want to see more of, and that's what I'm excited to see with this doc.

Boy Kills World

This action movie looks bonkers and I'm absolutely here for it.

Bill Skarsgaard (IT himself) stars in this over-the-top martial arts revenge fantasy that looks like The Hunger Games, Kill Bill and a bunch of Guy Ritchie movies all rolled into one.

The trailer features Skarsgaard doing a ridiculously intense voiceover as he explains how he's on a mission to murder everyone who wronged him as a child -- and that seems to include a lot of people such as Michelle Dockery and Brett Gelman (Stranger Things).

It's often tough for a movie to walk that meta line between cool and silly/cheesy, so hopefully this one can pull it off. Regardless of the overall tone, this movie appears to be martial arts extravaganza.

I'll also add an honourable mention here for KILL, a martial arts movie out of India that looks like it's in the same action vein. It's about two guys who must fight their way through a passenger train one car at a time after it's taken over by bandits. It sounds like a simple, brutal and fun combo of Snowpiercer, Train To Busan and The Raid.

In other words, if you'd rather watch a fight than a bunch of conversations, go see one of the movies with "kill" in the title!

Hell Of A Summer

Mike from Stranger Things made a movie?

Canadian Finn Wolfhard and his best buddy Billy Bryk will make their feature directing debut together with Hell Of A Summer, a Midnight Madness film at TIFF this year. The film promises a comedic take on the slasher genre made famous by films like Friday The 13th, with Wolfhard and Bryk also stepping in front of the camera to play the lead roles.

The 20-year-old Wolfhard might seem a bit young to direct, but don't sell him short. He's piled up a ton of movie and TV experience since he made his Stranger Things debut in 2016, with roles in movies like IT and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, along with several other gigs.

Wolfhard's been working hard in the movie and TV business for several years, and it'll be interesting to see what he's learned about the craft.

Wolfhard spoke to Entertainment Weekly earlier this year about how fun it was to make the film as "two kids" with a camera in Canada. "It was a small movie in the middle of nowhere in Canada, and it was incredible and hilarious," he said. "It was one of the best experiences of my whole life."

Poolman

Chris Pine writes, directs and stars in Poolman, a film about a pool man (not a guy named Poolman) who uncovers a water heist in drought-stricken L.A.

Pine is an underrated comedic actor and this looks to be the kind of mystery-comedy that will let him showcase those skills, especially opposite the likes of Danny DeVito. The film also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Annette Bening, who is in a bunch of TIFF films this year.

The Boy And The Heron

If you’ve got even a passing interest in anime, chances are you’ve heard of legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. He’s the man behind Studio Ghibli, the beloved and often Oscar-winning animation house that’s produced the likes of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle, to name a few. Miyazaki's films are cute, dark, imaginative and often environmentally-focused, so if that sounds like your thing, The Boy And The Heron might be right up your alley.

Miyazaki essentially walked away from his animation empire a decade ago, but he made a surprise return this year with The Boy And The Heron. He and Studio Ghibli released the film in Japan with zero promotion, opting instead to let people discover it on their own.

That’s confidence!

TIFF marks the film’s international debut, so this is the earliest you can see it without booking a flight to Tokyo.