TORONTO - No one appreciates -- or makes -- a solid war movie like Americans, as we all know.

So what's the response from U.S. journalists to the Canuck-driven World War I epic Passchendaele?

The smattering of completely unscientific and off-the-cuff opinions I heard -- the fact is, some Los Angeles-based writers, affixed on Hollywood fare, hadn't even heard of the TIFF opener -- fell somewhere between okay-fine to ho-hum.

Still, while one writer ultimately thought it felt more like a "TV movie" than a feature film, he was admittedly taken aback by the level of battlefield bloodshed.

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