Thursday, August 23, 2012

Invitation/Wells Says/Ten More That Could Play

Good Thursday to Everybody...8 Days...(7 til the bus leaves the Oklahoma Panhandle!)...

INVITATION



Please consider yourself officially invited to a brief "meet and greet and discussion of film" as The River Club kindly presents my "Second Annual(?) Guide to the 'Ride; Flow of the SHOW".  Refreshments, re-acquaintances, new acquaintances all at 5:00 pm at The River Club at 550 Depot in Telluride.  Should be fun.



WELLS SAYS...



I make no secret that I'm an amateur when it comes to this whole film blog universe and am not in the same league as a good number of other folks who really do play the game in a serious fashion.  One of those is Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere.  Mr. Wells will be attending Telluride and usually does and clearly he has sources...so when he drops some T-ride info...best pay attention.  And he did yesterday as I was kindly alerted by Film Blather's Eugene Novikov, Mr. Wells seems to nail down some of the Telluride lineup.  He says, cryptically, that we'll see Ben Affleck's "Argo", Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson", Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha", Ken Burns "Central Park Five" and Jacques Audiard's "Rust and Bone".  He implies we're also likely to see Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder".  And he mentions Robert Lorenz's "Trouble with the Curve" in such a way that I can't tell if he's debunking the thought that it will be there...or implying that it will obviously be there.  Mr. Novikov thinks it's likely the former...

Check the whole entry here:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2012/08/loose_talk_1.php

"Rust", "Hyde Park" and "Central Park Five" are on this week's "Ten Bets".  The rest have been or will be on this week's progressive "Thirty That Could Play" list that concludes with the final 10 today.  See below...

Frankly, the big surprise, to me anyway, would be the Malick...but it would be on my short list of films to catch at the festival if Wells is right.

Also, I have to admit that I had become pretty convinced that "Trouble with the Curve" was happening...but as I said, Wells sentence structure and emphasis make me uncertain as to what he's really saying...


TEN (OF THIRTY) THAT COULD PLAY

I've spent the week outlining 30 films in addition to this week's "Ten Bets" that could find their way onto screens in Telluride next week and assigning a percentage of chance to each one.  In all honesty, the Wells blurb yesterday has altered how I have written this final installment.  Here are 10 more that could play:


"The Impossible" trailer

"The Impossible" from Juan Antonio Bayona...the film focuses on the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia and the true story of one family.  Ewna MacGregor and Naomi Watts star and attention to it has risen very rapidly over the last 2-3 weeks.  Chances-50%



"To the Wonder" from Terrence Malick.  The master has turned around a film just months after "The Tree of Life" which for Malick is historically unprecedented.  It's reportedly a love story set in part in Europe and Oklahoma...and shot to some extent here in the Sooner State.  To be truthful, I have been low balling any chance that it would be in Telluride...until the Wells post yesterday (and credit where due, InContention/HitFix's Kris Tapley said he thought it was a "possible"..so...Chances-60%.



"Yellow" from Nick Cassavettes...also shot partly in Oklahoma, I've thought it might be Telluride material from the first moment I heard about it...still think it could be.  Chances-50%



"Frances Ha" from Noah Baumbach.  Baumbach has played Telluride before and though I recently put this film on my radar, still thought its chances were small...again, the Wells post makes me reconsider.  Chances-60%.


Trailer for "Quartet"

"Quartet" from first time director Dustin Hoffman...mostly on my radar as it's from The Weinstein Company...Hoffman directing an adaptation of a Roland Harwood play...Chances-25%



"At Any Price" from Ramin Bahrani and starring Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron and Heather Graham in an agricultural family drama.  Decent buzz and Tapley's inclusion as a "probable" makes it one to consider.  Chances-40%.



"Passion" from Brian DePalma.  A lot of people think this is going to make the cut and play at Telluride next week so I have to take it seriously, but I have to say I've been dubious about its chances all summer.  Chances-40%


Trailer for "The Sessions"

"The Sessions" from Ben Lewin starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt.  This Sundance hit is one of two films that really hit a nerve from that festival (the other being "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Beasts is in release).  I've been campaigning in my own tiny way for its inclusion at Telluride despite the fact that it preemed in Utah.  Its distributor, Fox Searchlight reportedly wanted it to play Telluride, so my hope is that sentiment (and a lean Fox Search cupboard) makes that a reality.  Chances-45%




"Great Expectations"  Mike Newell with the latest adaptation of the Dickens classic with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter.  Tapley says its a "maybe".  I'm not that optimistic.  Chances-30%



"Ernest and Celestine"  It's French...it's animated...I'll bet it plays.  Chances-55%
 

And beyond these 40 films there are still others that could (and will) play...for example: "The Company You Keep", "A Late Quartet", "Arthur Newman", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Caesar Must Die" (look out for this one), "Everybody Has a Plan", "The Gatekeepers" (also this), "In the Fog", "Laurence Anyways", "Love is All You Need", "Much Ado About Nothing", "The Place Beyond the Pines", "Populaire", "Post Tenebras Lux", "Room 237", "Seven Psychopaths" and "The We and the I".

THE SESSIONS



Hollywood News makes noise about the Sundance hit and my wish list #2 film for Telluride as it preps to go to Toronto. 
http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2012/08/22/the-sessions-gets-an-official-poster-toronto-2012/


BEYOND THE HILLS



Christian Munigu's follow up to his Cannes Palme D'or winning "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" is sitting at #10 on this week's "Ten Bets".  The writer/director recently talked to Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood about the Telluride possible film:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/cannes-interview-cristian-mungiu-talks-beyond-the-hills

More later...

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