Checking in at the Toronto International Film Festival

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Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”

The Toronto International Film Festival is underway, with hundreds of films vying for attention.

David Rooney, film reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter, is there, and joined KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis with his top picks, among them “The Master” and “The Silver Linings Playbook.”

“It’s not a perfect movie,” Rooney said about “The Master,” from Oscar-nominated writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, “but it’s the kind of film making you just never see, and there’s a real scope to it, breadth to it, and visual inventiveness to it that’s just fascinating to watch.”

As for “The Silver Linings Playbook” from director David O. Russell, Rooney said he loved the chemistry between stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. “She’s a genius in the movie, and their scenes together are remarkable,” he said.