Birdman or Boyhood?/Imitation Game and Wild Tales Notes/More on Mr. Holmes and Berlin

Good Thursday People...


BIRDMAN OR BOYHOOD?

Oscar pundits have re-evaluated their thinking in light of the Guild success of "Birdman" (PGA, DGA, SAG Ensemble) and the BAFTAs  which preferred "Boyhood" for Picture and Director.  The Gurus of Gold at Movie City News say...still a "Boyhood" Best Picture win, but the margin has definitely tightened.  Take a look at the latest Gurus BP chart as well as a look at what the Gurus think might be some surprises that happen on Oscar night here:

http://moviecitynews.com/2015/02/gurus-o-gold-6-days-of-voting-left/

I'll update the eight major categories for Oscar on Monday followed by The FINAL FAC a week from today with the call on all 24 Oscar categories.

IMITATION GAME AND WILD TALES

As Oscar voting continues materials for "The Imitation Game" continue to pop up in a number of media outlets.  A new trailer showed up this week and was featured at The Wrap:

http://www.thewrap.com/watch-new-imitation-game-trailer-exclusive/


Bill Desowitz writing for Thompson on Hollywood profiles the actual methods used by Turing and the British code breakers that are the heart of the film.  Check that story here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/how-they-did-it-breaking-the-enigma-code-in-the-imitation-game-video-20150211



Meanwhile Damian Szifron's Oscar nominated Foreign Language film "Wild Tales" got some attention these past few days as well.  Szifron's multi-storied look at revenge and its effects were the focus of this Gold Derby post:

http://www.goldderby.com/news/8441/damian-szifron-interview-wild-tales-oscars-foreign-film-entertainment-13579086-story.html


MR. HOLMES AND BERLIN

The Berlin International Film Festival has made the turn into its final stretch and awards speculation has begun.  At this point, a number of possible Telluride #42 titles have played.  The strongest positive reactions to films that were high on my T-ride list have been Pablo Larrain's "The Club" which could well be in the conversation for the Golden Bear among the Darren Aronofsky-led jury and Bill Condon's "Mr. Holmes" which played out of competition.  Both films have received laudatory critical response.  A couple of other T-ride possibles have not fared as well critically: Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert" and Wim Wenders "Every Thing Will Be Fine" both had some serious negative critical response .  I'm certainly not saying that the Herzog nor the Wenders films are definitively off the Telluride menu as a result but my expectations for their appearance have been tempered.  Honestly, had the response to "Queen" been largely positive, it likely would have begun June as the top Telluride prospect.

Variety, this week, put up a story about "Mr. Holmes" that focuses on director Bill Condon and star Sir Ian McKellen.  It's here:

http://variety.com/2015/film/features/mckellen-condon-reunite-to-examine-later-years-of-sleuth-mr-holmes-1201430280/

Calling it now..."Mr. Holmes" plays Telluride with Sir Ian as the recipient of a tribute...