Michael's Telluride Film Blog : August 2016

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The Final TFF #43 Ten (Plus) Bets / La La Land Poster for Fests / Awards Circuit Looks at Festival Offerings / Rules Breaking to AFI / Notes for TFF #43

Welcome to Wednesday...Leaving for Telluride and heaven thus afternoon. I'll be on the ground in The Ride early Thursday afternoon and than it all takes flight on Friday...been waiting for a year!

THE FINAL TFF #43 TEN (PLUS) BETS

Here it is. Less than 24 hours until the lineup is officially announced and here's the last MTFB listing of the films I believe will be announced for the fest tomorrow. A reminder that this is not a complete list by any means. There will be many more films on the program in addition to these assuming I've gotten these right. I've annotated here and there.

20) Sully. The Clint Eastwood film crawls onto the list. Too many outlets this last week suggesting it could/will play to ignore.

19) A Journey Through French Cinema. Bertrand Tavernier's retrospective of French film seems too Telluride-y to not make the lineup.

18) Bright Lights; Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds. Indiewire says that this is happening. I'm hoping Carrie Fischer comes to the San Juans.

17) The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Gallery. The app map that dropped last week seems to guarantee this.

16) Into the Inferno. After missing the fest last year, I fully expect that Werner Herzog returns home.

15) Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer. Richard Gere's late breaking entrant signaled by the Toronto announcement that it will be an International Premiere there.

14) Graduation. You can't be shocked if Cristian Mungiu returns to T-ride after his success a few years back with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.

13) Wakefield. Another late entry to my TFF radar that TIFF announcements seems to have revealed. I'm beyond excited about any chance that Bryan Cranston could be in town.

12) Maudie. Sally Hawkins made a mark at Telluride a few years ago with Happy-Go-Lucky but couldn't attend the fest. Maybe she gets to make the trip this time with this film.

11) Una. All but confirmed by Mondays Screen Daily review slip up. Does last year's tribute recipient Rooney Mara make a return visit to Telluride?

10) Manchester by the Sea. All signs point to that rare exception for a film that played at Sundance and making the TFF lineup. Lots of buzz around performances by Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. Could they be in town?

9) Frantz. I'm intrigued that this is the one of the three films that looks like it's going to make the triple threat of Venice-Telluride and Toronto. The other two appear a bit higher on this final list but that distinction makes me think it will be on my list of possible films to catch.

8) Neruda. The Pablo Larrain film has long been thought to be a serious contender for a spot this weekend.

7) Fire at Sea. I've thought this was a likely TFF player since winning the big prize in Berlin back in February.

6) Things to Come. Same as for Fire at Sea. Its Berlin reception made me think we could see it over Labor Day

5) Moonlight. Lots of buzz and a perfect resume to make the lineup.

4) Bleed for This. Flying under the radar for most of the summer, its choice for Toronto signaled it as a film to take note of as a Telluride contender.

3) Toni Erdmann. Its Cannes reception made me believe that it would be a TFF #43 title.

2) La La Land. Venice and then Telluride.

1) Arrival. Venice and then Telluride.

LA LA LAND POSTER FOR FESTS

A number of outlets published the new poster for Damien Chazelle's La La Land that reportedly has been designed to go along with its festival appearances. Here's the new poster...It looks good...

Wouldn't mind seeing the poster this weekend. Bet we can see the film!

AWARDS CIRCUIT LOOKS AT FESTIVAL OFFERINGS

Clayton Davis posted a big, sprawling piece yesterday at Awards Circuit focusing on the Oscars and Telluride. If you take a look at it, you might notice that he references MTFB. That's nice. Davis has been good to MTFB this past couple of weeks as we get closer and closer to TFF #43.

At any rate, the post mentions specifically: Arrival, La La Land, Bleed for This, Moonlight, Toni Erdmann, Una and Maudie.

Davis article concludes with a link to the latest Oscar predictions from Awards Circuit. You can find the post here at Awards Circuit

RULES BREAKING TO AFI

As expected, at least here at MTFB, The American Film Institute announced yesterday that they will open the AFI Fest on Nov. 10 with the world premiere of Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply. There is also some word that the film may be screened in a small, private fashion at some point at and during the Venice Film Festival. I would have liked to have the film sneak at Telluride this weekend but always thought that wasn't probable.

Still, the AFI berth signals that there are some folks who feel that it's a a very good film and that should make everyone take notice as we move into awards season.

Here's the coverage of the AFI/Rules announcement:

Variety

Indiewire

ShowBiz411

NOTES FOR TFF #43

#1) Remember to rate the films you see and report them to me on a 1 to 5 scale for the 2016 edition of The People's Telluride. See contact info below.

#2) Come back tomorrow for the official announcement of the lineup for TFF #43. It'll be interesting to see who drops it first and when. Sometimes it's broken early. Despite the fact that I'll be on the road somewhere in southern Colorado when it breaks, I'll get it posted here to MTFB as fast as possible.

#3) Check in often at MTFB during the fest. I'll be posting reactions, choices and each day's TBAs and any Sneaks that may be added.

#4) Remember that even after the fest concludes, I'll still be posting. We've got The People's and Professionals' Telluride to collate and report and we'll shift our focus to how the awards season is going to play out and how the films of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival fare.

#5) SEE YOU IN TELLURIDE!!!

As always, you can contact me in any of these ways:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Goodbye Gene / Una Busted / Oscar and Fall Film Anticipation / Reminders

Welcome to a bleaker Tuesday because Gene Wilder is gone...

GOODBYE GENE

Gonna take a moment here that's Telluride unrelated but not really. If part of what the Telluride Film Fest is supposed to be a celebration of the greatness of cinema past, then it's altogether appropriate that we mark the passing great in this space.

We all learned yesterday that the great Gene Wilder had died from complications associated with Alzheimer's. Like millions (and that's no hyperbole) it broke my heart.

Wilder was at the center of two films that absolutely the form the core of what I think a comedic film can be: Blazing Saddles (which I have said before, I don't think anyone, even Mel Brooks could get made today) and Young Frankenstein, which for my money is the funniest film comedy made in my lifetime and which Wilder co-wrote.

He and other great roles as well, The Producers and Willy Wonka are the two that come most quickly to mind. And don't forget that half great half not-so-great partnership with Richard Pryor.

Huge, fun films that would be fundamentally different if some other actor played those roles (Remember that Wilder was not the originally cast Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles, that was supposed to have been Gig Young...really...try to imagine that).

And one of my favorite little nodules about Wilder...he was the original Billy Bibbitt in the 1963 Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest that starred Kirk Douglas as R.P. McMurphy, Ed Ames as Chief Bromden and William Daniels as Harding. The mind reels.

We lose famous and notable people every day. People that have entertained, educated and inspired us and it's easy to get inured to those losses. But Gene Wilder is in a different, more rarefied category. You could see it and feel it online when the news broke: an immense outpouring of loss and grief and remembrance.

I wonder if he knew how much he was loved. I'd like to think he did.

UNA BUSTED

Quite a bit of furor over the interwebs yesterday morning as Screen International/Screen Daily posted its thought-to-be-embargoed review for Una. The post was labeled a "Telluride Review".

The post/link disappeared fairly quickly but not until after it had caused a good deal of hubbub about the embargo breach.

Here's the original Tweet:

But very quickly, this is what you found at the end of that link:

The other ramification, of course, is that it confirms that Una is on the TFF #43 lineup that will be announced on Thursday.

Una is a drama based on David Harrower's play Blackbird that was recently revived on Broadway starring Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels. The film version features Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn.

OSCAR AND FALL FILM ANTICIPATION

Two big previews were published yesterday. Todd McCarthy's Hollywood Reporter piece about anticipated fall films that included mention of a number of expected Telluride titles and McCarthy signals expectations of a Telluride play for some of them. and Vulture.com makes some pre-fall fest Oscar predictions that may give us an insight into how substantial TFF #43 might be on the upcoming awards season. First the McCarthy/THR piece.

McCarthy singles out Damien Chazelle's La La Land and Denis Villenueve's Arrival as probable Telluride plays. He also says Sully is "heavily rumored" for Telluride. McCarthy also says Francois Ozon's Frantz "looks to be set at all the festivals" (which includes T-ride). He then runs off a list of films that I'm expecting to play TFF: Moonlight, Una (see above), The B-Side, Into the Inferno and Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall...

Also included in that list is the music doc I Called Him Morgan which leads me to think that McCarthy is signaling that it could be a Telluride play as well. I mentioned I Called Him Morgan as a Telluride possibility back a couple of weeks ago (Aug. 15) along with Beauties of the Night, Chasing Trane and American Anarchist. Morgan, Trane and Beauties were also mentioned here as possibilities on Aug. 10 in a post including TIFF announcement analysis that also suggested The Ivory Game, Water and Sugar and India in a Day. Could be that some of these make the Telluride program too.

McCarthy's THR piece is Here

Meanwhile, Kyle Buchanan at Vulture.com takes a stab at predicting six major Oscar categories. Here's the expected Telluride players in each:

Best Picture: Moonlight (which some predict gets a boost from the Nate Parker/Birth of a Nation rape controversy), Manchester by the Sea. He also mentions Sully, Bleed for This and La La Land.

Best Director: Eastwood/Sully, Chazelle/La La Land, Lonergan/Manchester, Jenkins/Moonlight all have a shot

Best Actor: Casey Affleck/Manchester, Tom Hanks/Sully, Ryan Gosling. La La Land, Miles Teller/Bleed for This

Best Actress: Amy Adams/Arrival, Emma Stone/La La Land, Isabelle Huppert/Things to Come

Best Supporting Actor: Aaron Eckhardt/Bleed for This

Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams/Manchester, Naomie Harris/Moonlight, Janelle Monae/Moonlight

Check out all of Buchanan's meditation at this link: Vulture

DON'T FORGET...

Rate films for The People's Telluride!

TOMORROW'S FINAL TEN (PLUS) BETS FOR 2016...

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Hints and Allegations / Tributes Anyone? / Sully Shots

Good Monday everyone. The 43rd Telluride Film Festival begins in 4 days!

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

I ran across a lot of revealing information over the weekend pointing to confirmations or near confirmations of a number of films that dot the latest Ten (Plus) Bets list from last Friday.

The most telling is the all but certainty now that Clint Eastwood's Sully is part of the fest this week.

Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere nudged up against declaring it to be a part of the lineup on Friday afternoon in this HE Post . Then Saturday evening Wells went all in saying that Sully "will premiere at next weekend's Telluride Film Festival." That post is Here .

So count Sully as an in...and more about some possible ramifications below...

Also buttressing the Sully claim was the latest Screen Talk podcast from Indiewire featuring Anne Thomson and Eric Kohn (both of whom will join in from Telluride this week as part of The Professionals who will rate films that they see for MTFB). The first part of the podcast deals with Telluride and its influence and though they go to great pains to stress that they "know nothing" they suggest a number of "possibilities". I suspect that they "know" more than they can admit.

They run out five titles including Sully. The other four currently are in the last Ten Bets list and they are: Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land and Bleed for This. So, though they can't tell us any more than that these titles are speculative, it is my belief that they are all but confirming them for this weekend.

That podcast is here: Indiewire Screen Talk: Telluride

Additionally, Pete Hammond writing for Deadline.com mentions in his review of the just opened Hands of Stone mentions the wave of boxing pics arriving at nearly the same time writing "Bleed for this which debuts next week at the Telluride Film Festival". That review is here: Deadline.com

And still there is more...

A number of sharp eyed individuals contacted MTFB in the past couple of days to give me a heads up with regard to this year's TFF app.

If you downloaded the app already, then you will have seen the tab to click for the map. If you do that or look at this screen grab:

You're going to see mention of The Eagle Huntress for the Abel Gance Outdoor Theater (letter B) and The Elsa Dorfman Gallery at The Courthouse (letter D).

These clues tell us that the documentary The Eagle Huntress (From Sony Pictures Classics) will be playing the festival in some capacity and that the Elsa Dorfman Gallery presence confirms that Errol Morris' The B-Side will be playing as well. A note about The Eagle Huntress: it played Sundance back in January and its presence along with the now-expected Manchester by the Sea will mark the first time that I'm aware that TFF has programmed two Sundance films in a single year.

So, taken altogether, we can add two more films to the "we're pretty sure" will play list: Sully and The Eagle Huntress and we believe that five others are all but confirmed: The B-Side, La La Land, Manchester, Arrival and Bleed for This.

And don't forget, we added Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds last Friday via Anne Thompson.

Remember the final Ten (Plus) Bets will be posted Wednesday morning.

TRIBUTES ANYONE?

I've touched on possible tributes a few times this summer and now, with so few days remaining, it seems like a good time to get really serious about assessing who might get Silver Medallions this weekend.

To start, let's look at the list of possible attendees I posted on Aug. 23:

From Things to Come: Isabelle Huppert

From La La Land: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (JK Simmons would be cool too)

From Arrival: Amy Adams, Forest Whitaker and Jeremy Renner

From Moonlight: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and Janelle Monae

From Bleed for This: Miles Teller, Katey Sagal and Aaron Eckhardt (Ted Levine would be cool too)

From Neruda: Gael Garcia Bernal

From Una: Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn

From Maudie: Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke

From: Manchester by the Sea: Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams (producer Matt Damon would be cool too)

From: Norman: The Moderate Rise... Richard Gere (Steve Buscemi and Hank Azaria would be cool too)

From: Wakefield: Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner

From other possibles and still outside shots:

From Sully: Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, Aaron Eckhardt and director Clint Eastwood

From: The Accountant: Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick (JK Simmons, John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor would also be cool)

From Live by Night: Ben Affleck, Scott Eastwood, Zoe Saldana and Elle Fanning (Chris Cooper, Chris Medina, Brendan Gleeson would also be cool)

From Eternity: Audrey Tautou, Berenice Bejo and Melanie Laurent

From The Founder: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern (Nick Offerman would be cool)

From The Circle:Tom Hanks and Emma Watson (Patton Oswalt would be cool)

From Gold: Matthew McConnaughey, Bryce Dallas Howard and Edgar Ramirez (Corey Stoll and Bill Camp would be very, very cool)

From Miss Sloane: Jessica Chastain (Mark Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg, John Lithgow and Sam Waterston would be cool)

From The Sense of an Ending: Emily Mortimer (Jim Broadbent would be cool)

From this list we can move Sully from the "other possibles and outside shots" to the "probable" category and see what we can discern.

Let's focus on the films listed here that seem "probable" now for T-ride.

First, we can dispel both Clint Eastwood and Isabelle Huppert from tribute consideration as each have already been feted by TFF (Huppert in 1986 and Eastwood in 1990). Rooney Mara was tributed last year, so mark her off. Lauara Linney was also a tributee (2004).

Of the actors in the probable list...I can see the possibility of wither Forest Whitaker or Amy Adams from Arrival getting a tribute. Whitaker's Best Actor Oscar in 2007 came from Last King of Scotland which made a big splash at the 2006 TFF.

Neruda offers Telluride regular Gael Garcia Bernal who could easily be set for a tribute for his now fairly lengthy career.

Maybe Ethan Hawke or for that matter Sally Hawkins both of whom are in Maudie.

From Manchester by the Sea, I could actually see producer Matt Damon getting a tribute.

Richard Gere would be a terrific tribute candidate and I expect that if Norman: The Rise and Fall plays, he could well be in town.

Wakefield's Bryan Cranston is red hot right now but as most of his experience has been in television up to the last few years, I suspect a tribute for him is farther down the road.

And, of course, if Sully is in play, Tom Hanks seems to scream for a tribute. But remember, I was all in for a Michael Keaton tribute last year. Was really certain that would happen and...um...I was wrong. So even what seems like an obvious choice might not be the actual choice.

Tributes at Telluride are rarely completely actor focused. Directors are also a big favorite for the honors but finding a director from the "probable" list that isn't relatively early in their career is a bit difficult (Chazelle, Hansen-Love, Villeneuve for examples). So, maybe TFF looks eleswhere for a tribute.

Or, I'd still like the fest to honor the film Taxi Driver on its 40th anniversary in much the same way that they did Apocalypse Now a couple of years ago.

Nevertheless, the above paragraphs could contain the names of each of the three recipients or none at all. TFF tributes are notoriously difficult to anticipate.

You have any ideas or guesses? Shoot me a line. My contact info is below.

SULLY SHOTS

Tom Hanks in Sully (via The Playlist)

Now that we're thinking that Sully is a probable lock to play the fest, it seems like The Playlist's post from yesterday with a ton of stills from the film might be fun for those of you looking forward to it, here's a link to that post. Sully Pics from The Playlist

One other note about Sully; I suspect that its inclusion means that we will not see Warners other two possible films that I have been keeping tabs on this summer: Live by Night and The Accountant.

REMINDER...

Don't forget to relay your film ratings for The People's Telluride this weekend. I'd suggest that you wait until we get through the whole of the fest and then contact me with your complete list of films and your ratings of them on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being poor and 5 being wonderful! Use any of the contact methods below:

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Ten (Plus) Bets #10 / Toni Erdmann News / Add an Doc to Your T-ride List / Oscar Watch Podcast

It's Friday...aren't you glad?

The 43rd Telluride Film Festival starts in 6 days!

TEN (PLUS) BETS #10

Here's the latest version of MTFB's Ten (Plus) Bets for films to appear at the Telluride Film Festival. It's the next to last Ten Bets for TFF #43. I'll post a final iteration on Wednesday morning just before I head west. If the past is an indicator, we should see the official list sometime on Thursday morning. We have some additions and adjustments due to news that I'll delve into in more detail below as well as the revelation this past week that The Red Turtle is billed by the Toronto International Film Festival as a North American premiere.

Here's last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

20) Journey Through French Cinema
19) Defying the Nazis
18) The B-Side
17) Into the Inferno
16) Wakefield
15) Graduation
14) Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
13) Manchester by the Sea
12) Maudie
11) Una
10) Frantz
9) The Red Turtle
8) Fire at Sea
7) Neruda
6) Bleed for This
5) Moonlight
4) Arrival
3) La La Land
2) Things to Come
1) Toni Erdmann

And now Ten (Plus) Bets #10:

20) Staying Vertical

19) Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds

18) A Journey Through French Cinema

17) Wakefield

16) Norman: The Rise and Fall...

15) Graduation

14) The B-Side

13) Into the Inferno

12) Manchester by the Sea

11) Maudie

10) Frantz

9) Una

8) Fire at Sea

7) Toni Erdmann

6) Neruda

5) Bleed for This

4) Moonlight

3) Things to Come

2) La La Land

1) Arrival

Continued possibilities: Defying the Nazis, Sully, Nocturnal Animals, Exile, The Sense of an Ending, Eternity,The Circle, The Founder, Gold, Miss Sloane, The Mercy, The Accountant

Again, look for a FINAL TEN (PLUS) BETS on Wednesday next week.

TONI ERDMANN NEWS

A couple of items about Cannes critical sensation Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann.

First, the film has been officially chosen as Germany's entrant for the Foreign Language Oscar. That news came yesterday and really wasn't surprising. The film was so warmly received that it would have been a stunner if it hadn't been selected.

I went on record yesterday as suggesting that it could even figure into the Best Picture race depending on its reception in Telluride.

That reception, however, seemed to be about to be rendered defunct yesterday when Jason Osiason alerted me to the fact that the film had been unveiled in the second wave of films for Fantastic Fest (Sept. 22-29). Fantastic Fest listed the film as a U.S. Premiere. Jason's point, and it was well taken, was that it couldn't very well be a U.S. Premiere if it had already screened at Telluride three weeks earlier.

However...

Toronto has it listed as a Canadian Premiere and would ONLY do that if it had screened somewhere on the North American continent prior to its Sept. 8 screening date in Canada which means to me that Toni plays T-ride.

Additionally, the Fantastic Fest premiere designations for some other films are a little shaky. For example, both Fantastic Fest and The New York Film Fest claim to be the U.S. Premiere of Paul Verhoeven's Elle. Obviously, both things can't be true. Another oddity: Fantastic Fest lists Andrea Arnold's American Honey as a "Texas" Premiere and yet I can't find any place the film is screening in the U.S. prior to its appearance at Fantastic. Under normal circumstances that might lead me to think that the film would make Telluride's lineup but its designation as a North American premiere at Toronto makes that improbable.

Meanwhile, I also got an email from MTFB friend Christopher Schiller who had noticed that in the second wave of film announcements for the Austin (TX) Film Festival that Garth Davis' Lion (which I thought was a probable Telluride film for a long time) was being listed as a "Texas" Premiere. He was curious about it for the same reason Jason had been curious about Toni Erdmann's FF designation and it does seem odd. Austin's Fest runs Oct. 13-20. Lion is labeled by TIFF as a World Premiere. So why doesn't Austin label it as a North American Premiere?

I wrote yesterday that there might be some uncertainty about "the veracity' of the "honest premiere policy" this year and today's Toni Erdmann and Lion news makes that seem even more plausible today.

Here are links to the relevant announcements from Fantastic Fest and the Austin Film Fest

ADD A DOC TO YOUR T-RIDE LIST

Image via IMDb

You can add another documentary to your list of films making the TFF #43 lineup as an Indiewire story yesterday from Anne Thompson reveals that Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds is set to play.

The doc is co-directed by Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom.

The revelation comes in an article Thompson writes about the Oscar prospects for a number of this year's docs.

Thompson also repeats the claim that emerged earlier this week that Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno will also make the lineup.

The complete post is here from Indiewire

OSCAR WATCH PODCAST

Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams of Awards Daily returned to podcasting last night and the cast includes a discussion of probable Telluride films (as well as the Nate Parker situation). A certain blog devoted to Telluride's Film Fest gets a mention! Listen to it here: OscarWatch Podcast

That's a wrap for this Friday. Stay tuned to this space as I may take the unusual step of posting special notices through the weekend if conditions warrant. Otherwise, MTFB is back on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

A Trailer for Manchester by the Sea / What's the Mystery Film? / Toronto Chiefs Name Contenders...They Sound Familiar

Good Thursday fellow film lovers. The 43rd Telluride Film Festival is now only 7 days away...

A TRAILER FOR MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Purportedly an Oscar contender since it bowed at The Sundance Film Festival last February, Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea is expected by many to be that rare "Sundance" exception for The SHOW. They don't come along very often.

For a good chunk of time I thought, and some others did as well, that Nate Parker's Birth of a Nation might be an exception too or instead but we're pretty sure that won't happen.

Manchester received great response from the Sundance crowd and is regarded by some as a strong contender for Oscar action. The film stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams both of whom could well be in the conversation for acting awards. The buzz on Affleck is particularly strong.

Those of us who didn't see the film in Park City now have a chance to look at some of it as Amazon/Roadside Attractions released a full trailer for it yesterday. Here it is via YouTube:

As you might expect, here's coverage of the release of the trailer yesterday from:

WHAT'S THE MYSTERY FILM?

Well, the Ol' Blog is chugging right along. It gets increasing attention the closer we get to the opening of each year's SHOW and this year has been no exception. Within the last couple of weeks MTFB has been mentioned or linked by Awards Daily, Awards Circuit, Awards Watch and maybe most intriguingly by Hollywood Elsewhere last Sunday evening.

The HE mention included a version of the last week;s Ten (Plus) Bets. What made it intriguing were a couple of phrases in the post to the effect that author Jeffrey Wells had run the list by "a guy who knows his stuff" and that said "guy" all but endorsed the "Ten Bets" but also apparently added that it did not include "one major American film that is definitely going".

Which piqued my interest.

So...what could that "major American film" be?

Seems to me that the description really gives us some clues and limits.

At this point, by reason of deduction, has be a film that is NOT playing Toronto or New York which have revealed (we think) all of the films for their lineups.

It could be a film that will play Venice as part of that festival occurs before Telluride begins and continues after T-ride is over.

It could also be a film that will play the AFI Fest, BFI (because we don't know their complete lineups yet) or isn't going to play any other Festival at all.

And it has to be a "major American" film.

So...

If you've been reading this space of late you know that one of the rumors that's swirling around is that Warners is going to screen Sully in Telluride. That would seem to fit the criteria listed above.

As a matter of fact, the three Warners' pictures we've been batting around for weeks would all probably fit the bill: Sully, The Accountant and Live By Night.

Next, I'm going to admit what a number of people have been guessing since last Friday that the buzz I've heard about a Venice film that could play despite its Toronto designation as a North American premiere is (as some of you have guessed) Nocturnal Animals.

If Nocturnal IS the film that our "guy" is referencing then that would raise a bunch of questions centered on the veracity of Toronto's so-called "honest premiere status" policy. I think you'd have to question any and all of Toronto's designations at that point.

Additionally, someone in some comment section or forum somewhere this last week, suggested that the term "major American film" implied a release from a major studio rather than a distributor like Focus Features which is distributing Nocturnal Animals.

That said, Nocturnal Animals could be in the TFF #43 lineup, if what I'm hearing is true.

Three other films seem, to me anyway, to fit the descriptive terms.

Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply (20th Century Fox, release 11/23)

Robert Zemeckis' Allied (Paramount, release 11/23)

David Frankel's Collateral Beauty (New Line Cinema, release 12/16)

Martin Scorsese's Silence and Denzel Washington's Fences seem out of reach for Telluride. Scorsese has been reported as saying Silence won't be ready until October and hasn't git a release date. Fences is also thought to be unready and isn't set for release until 12/25.

So, in order, it seems to me that the best guess is:

1) Sully
2) Nocturnal Animals
3) Allied
4) Rules Don't Apply
5) Collateral Beauty

But I wouldn't bet the kids college fund.

Last real quick blip...The Ron Howard Beatles doc Eight Days a Week; The Touring Years

Got other ideas or thoughts...comment!

The original Hollywood Elsewhere post is here:

Hollywood Elsewhere

TORONTO CHIEFS NAME CONTENDERS...AND THEY SOUND FAMILIAR

In a story in The Guardian on Wednesday, Toronto International Film Festival CEO Piers Handling and Artistic Director Cameron Bailey responded to inquiry about the films that they have programmed for TIFF 2016 focusing on their evaluation of awards prospects.

The gentlemen named three films: Damien Chazelle's La La Land, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and Denis Villenueve's Arrival. Those comments were music to my ears as all three are expected (by MTFB anyway) to make the lineup for the 2016 version of The SHOW.

Last week's Ten (Plus) Bets had La La Land at #3, Arrival at #4 and Moonlight at #5.

Here's the article from The Guardian

That's going to do have to do it for this Thursday. A new Ten (plus) Bets drops tomorrow!

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

La La Land Lands a New Trailer and Song / Toronto Surprise / Toni Erdmann Is a Winner

Good Wednesday Campers...

43rd Telluride Film Fest Liftoff in 9 days...

LA LA LAND LANDS A NEW TRAILER AND SONG

Damien Chazelle's La La Land...opening Venice on Aug. 31 and coming soon to a SHOW near you, if you happen to be in Telluride, CO. over Labor Day weekend...dropped a new trailer and a new song as well yesterday as it ramps up to its World Premiere in a week.

Here's the trailer via YouTube:

I like this trailer better than the first.

La La Land second trailer coverage is here:

Indiewire

TORONTO SURPRISE

Han Solo to Luke Skywalker:

Yes. I need to remember the above line from Star Wars. Every time I think, "Hey, you've gotten really good at this Telluride lineup game" something happens to remind me that I'm not as hot a shot as I think I am. To wit...

Yesterday's final Toronto International Film Festival announcement was notable not for the films that the new information suggests could play Telluride but wholly because of a couple of films that the new info suggests will NOT play in Telluride.

Both were listed as North American premieres and both are full length animated films. The least surprise of the two was My Life as a Courgette, an Annecy Animation winner that I thought had a reasonable chance of making the trip to southwest Colorado. Seems not.

The other was a stunning surprise, to me anyway, as Michael Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle was announced as an N.A. preem. That's a film that I had pegged as a Telluride-likely since it appeared at Cannes in May. I've had it in the Ten Bets list for nine straight weeks.

Looks like I was...um...wrong.

Great kid, don't get cocky...

Other than those two nodes of knowledge, I couldn't find any other news in the last TIFF that suggested that any other films are IN for T-ride nor any other films that I thought might play that are nixed.

Here's the coverage of yesterday's TIFF announcement from Indiewire

TONI ERDMANN IS A WINNER

Toni Erdmann did not win any official competition prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May, despite being generally regarded as the biggest critical success. It did, however, win the independent and not Cannes official FIPRESCI Prize. It also won the International Cinephile Award for Cannes (not an official Cannes award either).

Now, Maren Ade's film can add a further accolade to its arsenal. Toni Erdmann was named yesterday as the winner of the FIPREDSI Grand Prix as the Best Film of the year.

Toni Erdmann will almost certainly figure into the Foreign Language Oscar conversation this year and if it is as warmly received in Telluride in a few days as it was in Cannes, perhaps it sneaks into the this year's Best Picture conversation as well (remember, you read that here first, unless I'm wrong...then you can forget it).

I had Toni Erdmann listed as the #1 Bet on last week's Ten (Plus) Bets list. I'm pretty sure it's going to play. But remember what Han said to Luke. Your reminder is above.

Here's coverage of the Toni Erdmann FIPRESCI win:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

That's all for this Wednesday. More tomorrow, including a segment titled "What's the Mystery Film?"

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Goodbye Billy / Amy Adams Talks Arrival / Who Could Play? / Last Toronto News Today

Welcome to Tuesday. Telluride's 43rd Film Festival happens in 10 days!

GOODBYE BILLY

If you were holding onto the wish...hope...dream that Ang Lee's highly anticipated film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk might play The SHOW...you can stop ho;ding your breath and crossing your fingers. The New York Film Festival announced a massive coup yesterday as they will World Premiere the film on Oct. 14.

I have written here for a while that the film was an unlikely choice for Telluride as most industry types have been saying for some time that the film, because of its technical challenges, would probably not be ready for as early as fest as Telluride is. I had been laboring under the notion that Billy Lynn might forgo a festival slot altogether for that reason. Additionally, with NYFF already having announced its opener, centerpiece and closer, it seemed to me that Billy Lynn was off the table but NYFF has gotten the brass ring here.

It is quite the feather for NYFF as the film is expected, at least at the moment, to be a strong Oscar contender.

Finally, the announcement clearly bills the Oct. 14th screening as the film's World Premiere, which, if accurate, almost certainly closes the door on any play at Telluride.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is scheduled to open domestically on Nov. 11.

Here's the current trailer:

And here is a cross section of coverage of the NYFF announcement from yesterday:

http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2016/daily/ang-lee-billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-world-premiere/

http://variety.com/2016/film/markets-festivals/ang-lee-billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-1201842033/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ang-lees-billy-lynns-long-921452

https://thefilmstage.com/news/nyff-sets-world-premiere-of-ang-lees-billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk/

http://theplaylist.net/ang-lees-billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-get-high-tech-world-premiere-nyff-20160822/

AMY ADAMS TALKS ARRIVAL (AND OTHER ISSUES)

MTFB is relatively certain that Denis Villenueve's Arrival will be screening in Telluride after it has bowed at the Venice Film Fest. The buzz about the film has been intense for the past few weeks since a teaser was released back on Aug. 9. Since then, the appearance of two full length trailers has kept the interest in the film on a high level.

I have personally been trying very hard to avoid learning too much about the project, while still passing along information to readers of this space. It ain't easy...

And this segment of today's post is an example. I have linked a Vulture interview with Arrival star Amy Adams without actually reading the thing. I am aware that Adams talks about Arrival as well as other film work she's involved in and that's about the extent of it.

So, I hope that this is informative and well-written but you don't need to tell me what's in it. I might look after The SHOW concludes.

Here's the link...enjoy?

http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/amy-adams-arrival-nocturnal-animals-c-v-r.html

WHO COULD PLAY?

My latest Ten (Plus) Bets from last week has gotten batted around the web in various places over the past four days which is nice. As we get down to just days remaining before the 43rd SHOW, it's fun (at least I think it's fun) to think about the famous, near-famous and beautiful people that might attend films with us in the very near future. So using last week's Ten Bets as a guide plus throwing in a few from films that might still make an appearance at The SHOW, let's come up with a list of possible attendees.

Remember, here's the Ten (Plus) Bets from last Friday:

20) Journey Through French Cinema
19) Defying the Nazis
18) The B-Side
17) Into the Inferno
16) Wakefield
15) Graduation
14) Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
13) Manchester by the Sea
12) Maudie
11) Una
10) Frantz
9) The Red Turtle
8) Fire at Sea
7) Neruda
6) Bleed for This
5) Moonlight
4) Arrival
3) La La Land
2) Things to Come
1) Toni Erdmann