Earlier today, I kicked off the last of my TIFFing at a reception announcing this year's jury and people's choice picks. While my festival favourites (Fish Tank, The Time That Remains, Life During Wartime) were overlooked at the Awards, a surprising new list of must-see titles emerged.

The Toronto International Film Festival wraps up today. Here's what we've seen since our last set of reviews.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The Road
Watching this is everything I imagined post-apocalyptic North America to be. Based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, The Road is haunting and chilling, partly because of Viggo Mortensen and Australian child star Kodi Smit-McPhee, who translate the story well, but mostly because visually, it's just damn epic. Forget DVDs or Internet streaming -- check this one out in a proper theatre for full effect. (Connie)

While this site doesn't employ our own paparrazi to track down the likes of Clooney, Penelope and Oprah, we've enjoyed checking out photos of TIFF that have been submitted over the past week to our Flickr pool. Here are some of our favourites.

We're just past the halfway mark at this year's TIFF. Here are the films we've seen since our last batch of reviews.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Harry Brown
A pitch-perfect genre picture, Harry Brown sees Michael Caine hitting a career high performance as a kindly pensioner - and former IRA-fighting Marine, naturally - who becomes a vigilante when his neighbourhood is overrun by street gangs. Immaculately crafted in every detail, this is a masterpiece of script and execution. (Matt)

Here are the films we've seen in our last set of TIFF reviews.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A Prophet
This film won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and had no trouble winning over audiences at the Visa Screening Room last night who gave director Jacques Audiard and a couple of cast members a standing ovation. The film is set in a French prison and chronicles the six years spent there by a young, illiterate North African inmate who is forced to navigate the rival Corsican and Arab gangs. (Tim)

Meanwhile, on Craigslist, a healthy after-market is surfacing for tickets to the most sought-after films. The second George Clooney flick, Up in the Air (see review here), which screens at the Ryerson tonight at 6pm is seeing bids of more than $100 a ticket - a 500% premium over the box office price. It's a reminder that TIFF isn't just about seeing good films from around the world, it's big (or at least a healthy) business for pro or one-off scalpers.

In fact, it's enough to make me seriously consider whether I should be selling my pair of tickets above to subsidize my entire 10 ticket package, if not a nice trip somewhere.

Now that we're two days into TIFF we've actually been able to get into regular screenings and watch films with our fellow festival-going public. Here's what we've seen since our last set of reviews.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold is proving to be a powerhouse of a filmmaker. Fish Tank follows her acclaimed first feature Red Road - and packs just as much punch. The film's juicy bit is a budding relationship between a 15 year old and her mother's boyfriend, but it's the startlingly real characters that drive the story. This is the set up: Mia is a tough delinquent type and her young mom is a hot party chick. In a volatile and alcoholic household, the arrival of a seemingly solid paternal figure, Connor (played by Michael Fassbender from Hunger), intensifies the rift between the two women. This is not your not your run-of-the-mill teen angst movie. (Chandra)

Looking for TIFF related videos? There's no shortage of them now that the annual film festival has begun. Both local and international media are obsessed with covering TIFF - many of them chasing the same photos, the same sound bytes and the same moving images. It's enough to drive a media pundit crazy. With so many worthy stories not being covered by both traditional and online outlets, why dedicate precious resources to publish the same stuff that can be widely read or viewed elsewhere?

While stalking celebrities is a cheap way to kill time between screenings, as luck would have it, there are plenty of other free (and worthwhile!) TIFF events scheduled throughout this year's fest.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Hipsters
Okay. Let me preface this by saying if you hate musical theatre, you may not like this one. But despite my very own pre-existing disinterest in the genre, everything about this flick -- the colours, the music, the fake saxophone playing, the costuming, and the dramatic love story -- kept me hostage. I credit it to the Moscow setting, which definitely eased the cheese factor of similar theatrical productions based in North America. Communist Russia meets Swing Kids meets Footloose. Chalk this under well-filmed Guilty Pleasure. (Connie)

Short Cuts is like a fest within The Fest, running five full programmes and pairing some odds and ends (each under 50 minutes in length) with screenings of Canadian features. Thrillers, dark comedies, and the latest from animation guru Cordell Barker top my list of standouts in this year's set.

Although I wasn't able to find any details about the film on TIFF's official website, from the Programme Book it looks like Covered was originally scheduled to run in the Short Cuts Canada Programme 5 on September 15th and 16th. Greyson has decided host his own screening by making the film available on Vimeo (embedded above) until the end of the festival.

While Greyson makes it clear he has no beef with the films or filmmakers participating at TIFF, he rejects the spotlight's perceived (but unofficial) affiliation with the Brand Israel campaign that has targeted Toronto since this time last year.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Antichrist
Is it really that provocative? Yep, I can confirm that Antichrist is in fact bold, disturbing, and cringe-worthy. Lars Von Trier imagines a couple grieving after the loss of their child. She is inconsolable, he comes up with a treatment plan (he's a therapist) that involves spending time in an isolated cottage. Of course, this is just the beginning. Willem Dafoe and gutsy Charlotte Gainsbourg then get violent with each other. And the rest, not for the squeamish and not quite what I expected, is sure to become the subject of many theses. (Chandra)

J'ai tué ma mère
Xavier Dolan's directorial debut suffocates you with your worst family memory, shoves it down your throat, and tops the experience with a slight twist of your balls. If intense family melodrama isn't your bag, cross this off the list; the rest of us can sit back and let this 20-year-old's Cannes-celebrated piece leave an impression. Scathing accusations and vicious scream fests may be frustrating for some moviegoers, but it's this very uneasiness that kept me focused throughout. With great casting pieced together with art-school-esque/self-indulgent montages, this makes for a pretty engaging watch. (Connie)