This Week in Film rounds up noteworthy new releases in theatres, rep cinema and avant-garde screenings, festivals, and other special cinema-related events happening in Toronto.

NEW RELEASES

Prisoners (Varsity, Scotiabank)

Half of the great Denis Villeneuve one-two punch of 2013, this one - starring Jake Gyllenhaal and High Jackman - is a thriller about an investigation over the disappearance of two young girls, and was one of the Top 50 films of TIFF13, according to our twitter poll. Prisoners isn't as great Enemy, which is Villeneuve's best film by a wide margin, but if you wisely held off on seeing this during the festival, here it is to hold you over until that one gets released later this Fall.

The Wizard of Oz: An IMAX 3D Experience (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)

If you missed it at TIFF, now is your chance to see one of the great film musicals - and one of the first color films - in this new conversion into 3D. Much like the recent re-releases of Titanic and Jurassic Park, The Wizard of Oz was meticulously processed to allow for a new, "in-depth" immersion into its world. How a film shot with only camera can be made to appear as if it were shot with two (which is how 3D films are made) I may never fully grasp; that's fine, just as long as the flying monkeys don't come out of the screen at me.

Also opening in theatres this week:

• The Art of the Steal (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
• Austenland (Varsity)
• Battle of the Year (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
• Cutie and the Boxer (TIFF Bell Lightbox)
• Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (TIFF Bell Lightbox)
• Generation Iron (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
• Good Ol' Freda (Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)
• My Lucky Star (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
• Our Man in Tehran (TIFF Bell Lightbox)
• Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (Cineplex Yonge & Dundas)
• Salinger (Varsity)
• The Short Game (Carlton)
• A Single Shot (Carlton)
• Unclaimed (Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)

REP CINEMA

CINSSU Free Friday Films: Brutal Grace - A Tribute to Lau Kar-Leung (Friday, September 20 at 6PM; Innis Town Hall)

For those who were too busy with TIFF, this will be your official kick-off to the new season of U of T's Cinema Studies Student Union's popular and extremely free film series, Free Friday Films. A double-bill that doubles over as a panel discussion, this jam-packed evening features a talk by Colin Geddes, Noah Cowan, and Bart Testa on the work of Hong Kong filmmaker, actor, choreographer and martial artist Lau Kar Leung.

"One of the true pioneers of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, developing an idiosyncratic action style in the late seventies and early eighties that combined authentic traditional martial arts with an impeccable slapstick comic sensibility." Screening after the 90-minute panel are Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, followed by Dirty Ho. This is a free event.

Lead still from The Wizard of Oz 3D.