Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Guardian Takes a Stab/Bergdahl Story and Duelling Films/10 Great TFF Films I Didn't See at TFF Part 3

Good Wednesday to All...


THE GUARDIAN TAKES A STAB


On the scene of "Unbroken"


Britain's The Guardian published/posted a fall festival speculation piece yesterday focused on the triumvirate of Telluride, Venice and Toronto.  Naturally, when a real big time journalistic outfit attempts to read those tea leaves attention must be paid.  So, before I start to parse their predictions, here's the link to the post:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/jun/17/venice-toronto-telluride-film-festival-2014-predictions

The Guardian predicts for Telluride:

Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken"...yes please...but I'm still very wary of the chances we'll have this play in T-ride.  Still, at least someone besides me thinks it's not an absolutely crazy notion that it could.

Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young".  I agree that if this film is ready, that there's a great chance that it plays on the TFF #41 program.

Todd Haynes "Carol".  My feeling is that this film could play Telluride but it's far from a certainty.

David Lipsky's "The End of the Tour".  Much like "Carol", I think this is possible, but it certainly isn't going to be on the first "Ten Bets" list next week.

Those are the only films that the piece marks as Telluride-likely.

Looking at their guesses for Venice, which usually shares three but last year shared six titles with Telluride...their picks all seem more likely to play Venice and skip Telluride...but you never know.  Among the films that The Guardian think will play Venice are Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice", Tim Burton's "Big Eyes" and Woody Allen's "Magic in the Moonlight".

Their Toronto picks have some real resonance in terms of Toronto's ultimatum to premiere there rather than T-ride or be programmed in the middle of the week or on the second weekend.  The Toronto picks include:
real Telluride possibles like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman", J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" and Morten Tyldem's "The Imitation Game".  Also included are less likely T-ride titles such as David Fincher's "Gone Girl" and Rob Marshall's "Into the Woods".

Not mentioned anywhere: Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher".

The whole post is really interesting.  Click the link above.

BERGDAHL STORY AND DUELLING FILMS

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Poster

The return of Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban has apparently sparked the interest of a a couple of major film makers hot to adapt the story.  Thompson on Hollywood reported yesterday that Kathryn Bigelow/Mark Boal of "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Hurt Locker" are interested as well as Todd Field and Fox Searchlight.  The field/Searchlight team would be a much more likely combo on a film that might ultimately make its way to T-ride.  Read the entire post here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/bigelow-and-boal-chase-ripped-from-headlines-bergdahl-movie-as-does-fox-searchlight-and-todd-field#


10 GREAT TFF FILMS I DIDN'T SEE AT TFF

I'm continuing my list of ten great films that have played as a part of Telluride's festival that I didn't see there but saw later.  So far I've listed: "Blue Velvet", "Ed Wood", "Sling Blade" and "The Straight Story".  Today's two additions are...

Amélie (2001) Poster

From 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie".  I'm not usually a sucker for the kind of whimsy that this film embraces, but, man, if you're going to utilize whimsy in the service of story and that seems grounded in character...this is the film that pulls it off.  Audrey Tautou...wonderful.  (Also, shout out to Eric Bialas who would, it seems, also put "Amelie" on his version of this list).

Brokeback Mountain (2005) Poster

And, of course, from 2005, Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain".  Heath Ledger is just brilliant. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway...look and sound like they're acting...but Ledger's performance, by itself, lifts the film up and up. Michelle Williams' performance is nothing to sneeze at either.

Tomorrow another film from 2005 and the first film that screened while I was at a Telluride Film Fest...that I saw later...


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