Toronto Film Festival Unleashes Must-See Films. Denzel Washington, Jennifer Aniston, Robert Downey Jr.

The Toronto Film Festival is a publicly held film festival held every September in Toronto, Ontario. The 14-day festival (Sept. 4-14) is known for showcasing buzzworthy Oscar contenders.

For the entertainment industry this is the kickoff to awards season as the studios platform their major flicks for the upcoming year. Movies like The Judge, St. Vincent, The Equalizer and The Theory of Everything and Cake are talks of the festival this year.

The Theory of Everything is a British biopic drama. It's the story of physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and the woman he fell in love with while studying at Cambridge in the '60s, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). While trying to uncover the wonders of the universe, Dr. Hawking is also battling a paralyzing motor disease.

St. Vincent, featuring Bill Murray, is a comedy-drama including actors Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd and Naomi Watts. Murray plays an alcoholic war vet whose neighbor (Melissa McCarthy) gets him to watch over her 12-year-old son Oliver. Murray relies on what he knows best to entertain the kid, strip clubs and racetracks.

The Judge is a film film staring Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall. Slick Chicago lawyer (Downey) must defend his estranged dad (Duvall) who is suspected for murder. Downey's character must fight to keep his dad out of harm's way as prosecutor Dwight Dickham is determined to put Joseph Palmer (Duvall) away for good.

Cake stars Jennifer Aniston playing a chronic pain patient (Claire Simmons) who develops a fascination by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group.

The Equalizer stars Denzel Washington and is directed by Antoine Fuqua who helped him win an Oscar for Training Day. The action thriller based on the TV series of the same name puts Robert McCall (Denzel) as an ex-special ops who must protect Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz) — a woman he befriends — from gangsters that try to kill her. He later learns that these gangsters are the Russian mob.