Eric Lavallée

Unlike the folks at the Academy, Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days hit us like a ton of bricks and 2009's barely noticed Tales from the Golden Age was a welcome side project (five Romania filmmakers contributed). Mungiu's third feature film (his debut was 2002's Occident) should be up our alley.

For film snobs such as myself, you'd need a really valid reason to want to see a film with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey toplining. Arkansas born Jeff Nichols is that reason. From the day in 2007 where I decided to pull out Shotgun Stories from my pile of screeners to the blissful satisfaction I received approximately one year ago when taking in Take Shelter on premiere night in Park City, in just two feature films, this gifted auteur has proven his worth as one of the most talented filmmaking voices in American Independent cinema. Worth noting: Michael Shannon is in this film too.

Coens' working on a musical biopic? We're in. In the mean time, we'll be checking out van Ronk's career (listen here) and watching companion film, I'm Not There.

Yet another QT signed revenge coming to us with the usual bells and whistles: scenes with instant re-watch value, classic characters (Waltz has the funnest character of them all), well-written spoken dialogue, an homage riddled score and a casting job that will pay out in spades. Should be a blast - but will this top Basterds or the Kill Bills?

Coming off her career best in Meek's Cutoff (which was one of our top films of the year regardless if you think of the title as a 2011 or 2010 release -- as we saw this in Toronto the year before), we hope that Reichardt has a long-lasting wind in her sails. Her she tacks the rarely explored subject matter of eco-terrorism and would be joined by actors (Dano for a second time in a row) in touch with their indie roots. Watch the doc If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front to get prepped for this work.