Now that he’s picked up best supporting actor wins at both the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild ceremonies for Beginners, Toronto-born actor Christopher Plummer seems fast-tracked to also snare an Oscar for his work as a elderly man finally coming to terms with his sexuality and with cancer.

Calling Nicolas Cage peerless is kind of like calling Martin Scorsese talented: technically, it’s accurate but it doesn’t come close to capturing the incomparable dossier of performances - some good, some great, some wretched, all pretty much unhinged – that Cage has let loose over the years.

All of which makes the arrival of a new, late-night series at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Bangkok Dangerous: The Cinema of Nicolas Cage, worth noting. Starting January 28 and running at 10 pm over consecutive Saturdays until April 7, highlights of Cage’s cinematic career grab the spotlight.

Is it possible to eagerly anticipate a movie and dread it at the same time? Apparently, the answer is yes, and that movie is the forthcoming Darling Companion.

Tyrannosaur opens with Joseph (Peter Mullan) beating his dog to death, setting the tone for a bleak and fascinating look into the lives of two very different, very lost souls. Joseph’s hateful outbursts are almost always followed by a remorse that makes him quite pitiful to behold. But Hannah (Olivia Colman), a Christian charity shop worker,  seems poised to help Joseph find—if not the light—some light in his life...until her studied air of bourgeois repression begins to crack, revealing secrets as dark and brutal as Joseph’s.

I caught up with actor-turned-director Paddy Considine when he was in Toronto for TIFF. We met at the Intercontinental Hotel—a world away from the stark council houses in Leeds, where most of his debut film takes place.

Here’s what he had to say….

On killing the dog:

In actual fact, [Joseph’s] violence has led him to kill his last companion. And the reason a dog is because, you know, dogs are just so loyal…And it’s a very brutal act and I know it’s very shocking, but I think it has to be, because it’s the moment that he realizes that he can’t go on the way he is.

A hugely rare, 92-year-old film documenting life in Canada’s far north that had been thought lost has been found, restored and screened for the first time since 1920. And this remarkable bit of Canadiana may be coming soon to a theatre near you.

Check out a clip below.

Coriolanus may not be among Shakespeare’s best-known plays but it is one of the Bard’s most tragic, violent and thematically fraught… ideal fodder for intense British actor Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter, Shindler’s List, The English Patient) to adapt for contemporary audiences.

I hate myself for liking this as much as I do – especially since it’s basically a commercial for an upcoming commercial. But darn it all, who can resist cute pooches doing silly things? In what’s billed as “The Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser,” a so-called canine chorus barks a familiar tune, the Imperial March theme from Star Wars. Check it out below.

The Sundance Festival kicks off today in Park City, Utah and, typically, a number of films set to premiere are already creating big buzz in the webiverse and beyond.

What’s notable this year at Sundance - which still claims to be the premier showcase for independent film despite consistently attracting marquee names and big-budget films – is the sheer number of movies grabbing proverbial ink in advance of screening.

Canuck-born actor Jim Carrey turns 50 today and it’s probably safe to say that as film careers go, his will go down as one of the brightest and most eclectic in Hollywood history. How bright is Carrey? Well, as with anything in film, that’s completely subjective but we’re willing to give it the old college try.

Tomorrow sees the announcement of nominees for this year’s Genie Awards, sometimes referred to as Canada’s Oscars… if you can actually say that with a straight face. And they arrive, somewhat ignobly, on the heels of the much-ballyhooed Golden Globe Awards which, for better or worse, invariably ratchet up the ratings.

The occasion begs the question: do average Canadians care about the Genies? More significantly, will they tune in to watch the ceremony when it airs on CBC March 8?