Wednesday, June 15, 2016

What About the Big Dogs? / A Look at Daniel Blake

Good Wednesday to everyone...

Again, my apologies for not getting a post out yesterday.


WHAT ABOUT THE BIG DOGS?


There are films every year that get scheduled for fall and holiday seasons that are expected to resonate with film goers and the awards community and a constant mystery and guessing game is where and when they might land festival-wise or if they will land at a fest at all.

Our central question/speculation focuses on Telluride and so, let's take a look at that type of film and assess if the various BIG films coming soon might have the stuff to make an appearance at Telluride in September.

The candidates:



Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk-dir: Ang Lee.  Pro (making a Telluride play) Ang Lee has been around T-ride before: Brokeback, Crouching Tiger.  Con: Distrib is Sony and Tri Star which doesn't bode well.

Silence-dir: Martin Scorsese.  Pro: Scorsese was a Telluride player long ago and has continued to be a "presence" there in recent years as a producer of documentaries: Living in the Material World, The 50 Year Argument, Letter to Elia.  Also, Bill Pohlad's River Road is one of the producers.  Con: Paramount is distributing.


Allied still from Variety.com


Allied-dir- Robert Zemeckis.  Pro: Film stars Telluride sweetheart Marion Cotillard.  Con: Paramount again and the lack of history between  Zemeckis or the film's producers with T-ride.

Sully- dir- Clint Eastwood.  Pro: Eastwood has some history with Telluride; White Hunter, Black Heart.  It's from Warner Brothers which has a had a serious Telluride profile recently (Gravity, Black Mass).  Con: Eastwood has been content to avoid fall fests for a good long while.

Passengers-dir-Morten Tyldum.  Pro; Tyldum's last effort, The Imitation Game. played Telluride. Con: Sony distributes...no Telluride history beyond specialty arm Sony Pictures Classics.

War Machine-dir-David Michod.  Pro: Netflix distributes (Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire) and Brad Pitt's Plan B aids in producing (12 Years a Slave).  Con: Netflix may be eclipsed by Amazon as the streaming service with the profile at Telluride this year.

For other films expected to land as popular, critical or awards players check this post from Indiewire:

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/2017-oscar-predictions-best-picture-1201687971/


A LOOK AT DANIEL BLAKE



Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake was a surprise winner of this year's Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or. That makes it a serious possibility for Telluride.  Added to that, Ken Loach has played Telluride before as a tribute recipient in 1993.

Additionally, the film is being released in the U.S. through by Sundance Selects which has a significant T-ride profile.  Also, Telluride hasn't scheduled a Palme winner since 2013's Blue is the Warmest Color and history suggests that we're due for a Palme winner in the San Juans.

All of that to tell you that we have our first look at a trailer for the award winning film via YouTube:


I, Daniel Blake is still unscheduled for U.S. release.

The Playlist has coverage of the trailer release:

http://theplaylist.net/first-trailer-ken-loachs-palme-dor-winner-daniel-blake-takes-tender-look-good-people-20160615/

That's it for Wednesday...

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mpgort@gmail.com

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