Saturday, July 27, 2013

Best of the Week-Venice/Toronto

Good Saturday to You...

I'm done with debate camp and flying to California for the next week but I'll still be posting!

BEST OF THE WEEK

Here's a sample of the best material from his week's very busy MTFB:

TEN BETS #5

Here are this week's "Ten Bets" for Telluride:

1) Nebraska
2) The Invisible Woman
3) The Immigrant
4) The Past
5) Inside Llewyn Davis
6) Labor Day
7) The Unknown Known
8) The Story of Children and Film
9) Blue is the Warmest Color
10) The Lunchbox

Lurking just below these "Ten Bets": "Aguirre: The Wrath of God", All is Lost", "Captain Phillips", "12 Years a Slave", "Like Father Like Son", "Life Itself", "Quay d'Orsay", "Philomena", "Heli", "Only Lovers Left Alive", "The Good Lie".

VENICE ANNOUNCES

The Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning.  As always (and as they did last year) there's always the possibility that they could add to that lineup as time goes on.

At any rate, here's the lineup:

Venice Film Festival Lineup

In Competition:

The Rooftops
L’intrepido
Miss Violence
Tracks
Via Castellana Bandiera
Tom at the Farm
Child of God



Philomena
La Jalousie



The Zero Theorem
Ana Arabia
Under the Skin
Joe
The Police Officer’s Wife
Parkland
Kaze Tachinu



The Unknown Known
Sacro Gra
Stray Dogs

Out of Competition:

Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Gravity
Moebius
Locke
Unforgiven
Wolf Creek 2
Home from Home
Gondola
The Canyons
Che Strano Chiamarsi Federico Scola Racconta Fellini
Walesa: Man of Hope
  

And a couple of documentaries to notice from that portion of Venice’s program:

The Armstrong Lie
At Berkeley

Here’s my take.  As noted, Venice and Telluride usually share 3-4 titles.  From this morning’s announcement the most likely this year (at least from my perspective) are:

The Armstrong Lie
Philomena
The Unknown Known
The Zero Theorem
Gravity
Parkland

Still in the wind now after TIFF and Venice announcements: "Captain Phillips", "Saving Mr. Banks", "The Wolf of Wall Street", , "The Monuments Men", "The Counselor", "Grace of Monaco", "Diana", "Out of the Furnace"and "Foxcatcher".

Makes you wonder where or if any or all of these will land.  My bet right now is that New York gets "Wolf of Wall Street".  I've also been hearing that "Out of the Furnace" may forgo the festival scene entirely.  The "no fest" strategy could also be true for any of the films listed above, though there does seem to be some belief that "Captain Phillips" might well play in the San Juans.

Should be interesting over the next 5 weeks as we try to figure this out.

Here are some links to this morning's Venice coverage:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/venice-international-film-festival-line-up/

http://networkedblogs.com/Nvj08

https://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/venice-film-festival-lineup-includes-terry-gilliam-james-franco-lindsay-lohan-offerings-

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/venice-film-festival-lineup-announced-592893

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-films-from-terry-gilliam-hayao-miyazaki-david-gordon-green-jonathan-glazer-top-70th-venice-film-festival-line-up-20130725

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/venice-film-festival-lineup-unveiled

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/venice-lineup-features-new-films-from-gilliam-franco-morris-miyazaki-and-many-more

TORONTO ANNOUNCES (SOME OF ) ITS LINEUP



The Toronto International Film Festival announced about a fourth of its lineup this morning.  The Toronto lineup is always vast, usually over 300 titles in all after they're all announced.  As I have noted, the average overlap between Telluride and Toronto is about 70%.  Meaning that, in an average year, 70% of the Telluride lineup will go on to play later at Toronto.  So as a general rule, most of the films announced this morning are still "in play" as far as Telluride is concerned.  Another note is that Toronto's designation of "World Premiere" or North American Premiere" rarely is reflective of whether or not we might find that film at Telluride.

All that being said, here's the lineup of films that Toronto announced this morning (via IndieWire):


GALAS

American Dreams in China (NAP)
The Art of the Steal (WP)



August: Osage County (WP)
Cold Eyes (NAP)
The Fifth Estate (WP/Opener)
The Grand Seduction (WP)
Kill Your Darlings (IP)
Life of Crime (WP/Closer)
The Love Punch (WP)



The Lunchbox (NAP)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (WP)
Parkland (NAP)
The Railway Man (WP)
The Right Kind of Wrong (WP)
Rush (IP)
Shuddh Desi Romance (CP)
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (WP)

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:



12 Years a Slave (WP)
All is by my Side (WP)
Attila Marcel (WP)
Bad Words (WP)
Blue is the Warmest Color (NAP)
Burning Bush (NAP)
Can a Song Save Your Life (WP)
Cannibal (WP)



Dallas Buyers Club (WP)
Devil’s Knot (WP)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby His and Hers (?)
Dom Hemingway (WP)
Don Jon (CP)
The Double (WP)
Enough Said (WP)
Exit Marrakech (IP)
Felony (WP)
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (WP)
Gloria (NAP)
Going Away II (WP)



Gravity (NAP)
The Great Beauty (NAP)
Half of a Yellow Sun (WP)
Hateship Loveship (WP)
Ida (WP)
L’intrepido (NAP)



The Invisible Woman (WP)
Joe (NAP)
Labor Day (WP)
Like Father Like Son (NAP)
Man of Tai Chi (NAP)
Mary Queen of Scots (NAP)
Night Moves (NAP)
Omar (NAP)
One Chance (WP)
Only Lovers Left Alive (NAP)



The Past (NAP)
Philomena (NAP)
Pioneer (IP)
Prisoners (WP)
Quay d’Orsay (WP)
Real (NAP)
Starred Up (WP)
Third Person (WP)
Those Happy Years (WP)
Tracks (NAP)
Under the Skin (NAP)
Violette (WP)
Visitors (WP)
Walesa: Man of Hope (NAP)
We Are the Best (NAP)
Le Weekend (WP)
You Are Here (WP)
Young and Beautiful (NAP)



(WP) = World Premiere
(IP) = International Premiere
(NAP) = North American Premiere
(CP) = Canadian Premiere
(?) = No premiere information given

Notes:

With the exception of "The Fifth Estate" (because its Toronto's opening night film) the rest of these films still have Telluride potential and I'm still NOT going to completely write it off because of the Laura Linney/Telluride connection...but it is very unlikely now.

Films that intrigue me that are on Toronto's list in terms of Telluride potential:

"12 Years a Slave".  Listed as a Toronto World Premiere meaning no Venice showing and that actually makes it MORE likely to make the trip to Telluride.

also...


I'm a little surprised to see "August: Osage County" on Toronto's list.  I had all but considered it a non-fest film almost all the way...maybe New York.  Now, it may have some Telluride life after all.

A few other "Galas" intrigue me: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom", "The Lunchbox", "Parkland", "The Railway Man" and "Rush".  Of these, I still feel that "The Lunchbox" is the best T-ride bet.

Among the "Special Presentations" that still breathe the fumes of Telluride potential:
The aforementioned "12 Years a Slave" 
"Attila Marcel"
"Blue is the Warmest Color"
"Burning Bush"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby"
"Gloria"
"Gravity"
"The Great Beauty"
"The Invisible Woman"
"Labor Day"
"Like Father Like Son"
"Night Moves"
"Only Lovers Left Alive"
"The Past"
"Philomena"
"Prisoners"
"Quay d'Orsay"
"Under the Skin"
"Le Weekend"
"You Are Here"
"Young and Beautiful"

On my "Ten Bets" NOT announced this morning:
"Nebraska", "Life Itself", "Daughter of the Dawn", "The Unknown Known", "The Story of Children and Film", "The Immigrant" and "Aguirre:The Wrath of God".

Notable Films not in TIFF's announcement:

"Inside Llewyn Davis", "Captain Phillips", "Saving Mr. Banks", "The Wolf of Wall Street", "All is Lost", "The Monuments Men", "The Counselor", "Grace of Monaco", "Diana", "Out of the Furnace""The Zero Theorem", The Immigrant", "The Congress" and "Foxcatcher".

"Llewyn", "All is Lost", "The Immigrant" and "The Congress" all played Cannes and their exclusion today by the TIFF announcement lends some credence to the notion that they could play T-ride.

Keep in mind that Toronto still has a ton of titles to announce.

Here's is complete analysis of Toronto's announcement from
HitFix/InContention:

 and IndieWire:




DEADLINE TALKS TORONTO/TELLURIDE

Pete Hammond at Deadline.com posted his Toronto analysis piece yesterday and it includes almost as much about his suspicions about Telluride as it does about Toronto.

Hammond seems pretty confident about "Inside Llewyn Davis", "Nebraska" and "All is Lost".  Other films that he suggests have Telluride potential after reading the post-Toronto announcement tea leaves are:

"The Immigrant", "Labor Day" and "12 Years a Slave".  If you've been following this space for the past few months you know that I have all of these on my Telluride radar (and I'd be really pumped if they were all to pan out).  One film that Hammond also mentions that absolutly has NOT been on my T-ride screen is "The Good Lie" directed Philippe Falardeau and starring Reese Witherspoon and Corey Stoll.  Hammond says he's heard "rumblings" about this recently wrapped film.

Check his entire post here:
http://www.deadline.com/2013/07/tiff-what-toronto-film-fest-lineup-signals-for-oscar-race-analysis/

VIEWS OF ZERO

In honor of the expected announcement that Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem" will play at Venice I have attached some pics that emerged last weekend during Comic Con form the film:




The Playlist:

Thompson on Hollywood:

Collider:

I'm still holding onto some hope that "The Zero Theorem" plays in Telluride.



TAPLEY'S MUSINGS



Well, if you've never really thought that this blog was a particularly good informant regarding the Telluride lineup then there's good news for you.  Kris Tapley at HitFix/inContention posted his annual stab at what be in line for Telluride yesterday.  You can find that post here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/spitballing-possibilities-for-the-40th-annual-telluride-film-festival

And it should get you revved up big time.  Among the interesting thoughts:


He's pretty high on the notion that we'll see The Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis", Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" and Jason Reitman's "Labor Day".  "Nebraska" and "Labor Day" have been ensconced on my "Ten Bets" list all summer.  This last few days has put some real shine on the notion that "Inside Llewyn Davis" is a serious consideration for T-ride.  Between Jeff Wells blurb at Hollywood Elsewhere over the weekend and now Tapley's comment that he has "a pretty good feeling we can anticipate the Coen Brothers first-ever Telluride appearance" the signs are pointing to that as a reality and that, my friends would be sweet. Fair warning, the Coens in Telluride  could cause me to become a blithering idiot...well more of a blithering idiot than normal.

I can say it, after this post from Mr. Tapley, "Llewyn" will  be on Friday's "Ten Bets"

He also seems fairly comfortable about Ralph Fiennes "The Invisible Woman" which I reported on a few weeks ago when the Daily Mail in England reported that it would be making the trip.  The other large shoe he drops is the potential (and he seems to have some confidence here) that "Captain Phillips" starring Tom Hanks has a real shot at T-ride.  That film is directed by Paul Greengrass.  That's also a stunner if it comes to pass.

Taplay also intrigues as he drops the nugget that the " Warner Brothers teams on "Gravity" and "Prisoners" are making the pilgrimage..." suggesting that there is a possibility that one or both films might make a play at Telluride, "Prisoners seems a little more likely to me as Tapley reminds us that director Denis Villeneuve played Telluride back in 2010 with "Incendies"...though I'd really love it if "Gravity" opened Venice and then "sneaked" a day or two late at Telluride.

Other films that he thinks are possibles but about which he doesn't seem as confident are: "12 Years a Slave""The Past", "The Lunchbox", "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Like Father Like Son", "Child's Pose", "Gloria", "Philomena", "Life Itself" and "The Immigrant".  There's also a glancing mention that "All is Lost" could make the trip to the San Juans.

No mention, though, of "The Counselor", "Dallas Buyers Club", "The Fifth Estate", "Foxcatcher", "The Zero Theorem", "Rush", "The Monuments Men", "American Hustle", Mandela"Long Walk to Freedom" or "The Wolf of Wall Street".  Seems about right, although I'm going to hold out hope for "Fifth Estate", "Counselor", "Foxcatcher" and "Dallas Buyer's Club".


Tapley also puts in a request for Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" restoration...I'm high on its chances.

He, like me is more than dubious about our chances to "August: Osage County".

He also suggests a number of Tribute possibilities: The Coens, Bruce Dern, Judi Dench, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and/or Kate Winslet. Tapley also suggests the possibility (as he did on Twitter over the weekend) that Roger Ebert might be posthumously awarded a Special Medallion.  That wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Take a look at the whole post...it'll make you breathe hard.  And, I really hope he's right.


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Have a great weekend and maybe we'll see some of you in Cali this coming week...

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