Read the TIFF guide and you get the impression that every entry is a potential Oscar winner. Me, I check for reliable directors, good casts and subjects that move me.

Picking films at TIFF is harder than selecting a major at school. When in doubt, I go with the names I trust… a little.

The great thing about a film festival is that there are more movies than any one person can possibly see. The bad thing is that you never have time to see everything you want. Here are the five films I refuse to miss at TIFF 2010 – and I’m also planning to carve out time for Shawn Ku’s dark drama, Beautiful Boy; Darren Aronofsky’s ballet thriller, Black Swan; Kim Jee-woon’s serial-killer study, I Saw The Devil; Danny Boyle’s survival thriller, 127 Hours; and Werner Herzog’s 3-D documentary, Cave Of Forgotten Dreams.

Jack Layton’s reluctance to discipline 12 MPs flirting with voting down the long-gun registry is leaving a trail of political bullet holes.

Serious Money, Caryl Churchill’s big, gloriously explosive look at the world trading markets of the 80s, has just as much relevance today.

With Labour Day, a holiday badly in need of an event to celebrate, just a few days away, I’d like to offer up a historic labour agreement signed just last week.

In the freelance economy, cafés double as offices.