Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best Telluride predictor I know."
-Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
Good Thursday to all of you TFFers and film fans...
FOREIGN LANGUAGE CONTENDERS WITH BIGGER DREAMS
Anne Thompson penned a piece at Indiewire this week assessing the Oscar prospects of two films that are expected to be major players in the Best Foreign Language Film category. She's talking about Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War both of which played TFF #45.
The two films seem locks for nominations in that category but Anne suggests they're both after bigger things as both Netflix with Roma and Amazon with Cold War are hoping that their respective films could be players for other nominations including Best Picture.
Roma already seems very likely to make the Oscar parade for Best Picture and probably direction, cinematography and editing as well. It could well factor in the Best Original Screenplay category and perhaps even acting nominations for actress and supporting actress could be accessible. I'm basing that assessment largely on the critical reception that Curaon's passion project has received as it has moved through Venice, where it won the Golden Lion, Telluride and Toronto.
Cold War seems like a longer stretch to me. At this point I think it ends up with the single nomination for Best Foreign Film.
Both films have some baggage that may impede Oscar voters embracing them past the Foreign Language category. The first thing, of course, is that they're not in English. They're both black and white and both are from outlets that are viewed primarily as streaming services by many in the Academy and that, to some, is pejorative.
Many of you saw They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, the companion documentary for The Other Side of the Wind at the fest a few weeks ago. This week Netflix dropped a trailer for the Morgan Neville directed film as well as the above poster.
Here, from YouTube, is the trailer:
I've also linked a couple of stories that came out this week about the documentary from:
So, during this year's festival, I was asked if I might be interested in participating in a small project. I said "maybe" and ultimately this was the result.
The folks that dreamed this up wanted to create a Hitler Downfall parody about TFF. I didn't even really know what that was but I do now.
For the uninitiated, there is a program that allows people to create their own script for the titanic Hitler rant in Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2004 Oscar nominated (Best Foreign Film) Downfall.
The "film" was completed this week and here it is with a couple of notes.
1) It pokes fun at TFF but it's all done with love. Believe me, the folks who put this together love the fest.
2) There's a tad bit of language that would likely earn it a PG-13 rating so if that's an issue, maybe don't watch.
3) I am to credit the film to "An Anonymous TFF Fan".
As a teaser, here's a screenshot of one of the captions:
Good Monday to everyone and all the ships at sea...
REDFORD'S RETIREMENT?
Robert Redford has been clear and upfront over the past couple of months that The Old Man and the Gun would be his last acting job in film but this past weekend, with the public premiere of the film occurring, the Oscar winning director was singing a slightly different tune.
Elizabeth Wagmeister writing for Variety, reports that Redford has backed off the definitive claim about the conclusion of his acting career. The 82 year old star is quoted in the story as responding to questions about his retirement with "I should never have said that". The story goes on to reveal that Redford feels that all the reaction to his announcement has detracted from the film itself. To that end, he has dialed back on the "last film" rhetoric.
On the other hand, he certainly doesn't sound like he's got acting plans in his immediate future.
I checked in to Sasha Stone's updated Oscar predictions which she which she posts each week as a "Predictions Friday" column. This week, Sasha predicts many more categories than she has up to now.
Here are some Telluride-centric takeaways from her crystal ball:
She currently has Damien Chazelle's First Man leading the way for TFF films with 11 predicted nominations. It also appears that, if Sasha were 100% correct, First Man would likely lead all nominees (she has Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born with between 8-10).
First Man nominations according to Stone: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Original Score. She also says that it could have a shot with Jason Clarke for Supporting Actor (listed in her "Contender" section for that category. Frankly, that's a potential nomination that I'll probably be cheering on.
The Favourite has between 7-9 nominations largely depending on which actresses get categorized where and then how many of the triumvirate of Colman, Stone and Weisz make the final Oscar lineup. Stone is currently listing Colman as a "Contender" for Best Actress rather than a predicted nominee. In addition to the women, Stone suggests noms for Best Picture, Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Production Design and Costumes. Stone also lists director Yorgos Lanthimos in the "Contender" section.
Roma lands six nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Original Screenplay and Production Design. It also is listed as contending for Best Actress and Supporting Actress.
Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me? is listed for four nominations: Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay. Heller is also listed as contending for Direction.
Four films would receive a single nomination: Boy Erased for Supporting Actress and three feature documentaries: Free Solo, Watergate and Reversing Roe.
Also noted, a predicted nomination for TFF#44 film First Reformed for Best Original Screenplay.
Among other films Stone lists among her "Contenders", the leader of the "outside looking in" club is Jason Reitman's The Front Runner which Stone lists with no nominations but as a contender for six: Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Direction, Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay.
Boy Erased is listed as a contender for Actor, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay.
The Old Man and the Gun contends for Best Actor.
White Boy Rick contends for Best Actor.
Destroyer contends for Best Actress.
And TFF #44 First Reformed also contends for Best Picture and Best Actor.
Yeah, yeah...I know. If Beale Street Could Talk didn't play The SHOW but I can't help myself, Barry Jenkins will always be a part of my Telluride-view. So, here's the new trailer from Beale Street via YouTube and Movieclips:
That's a wrap for this Monday. More to come on Thursday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Here it is for TFF #45. The composite mash-up of ratings from both the People and the Professionals. The Composite Telluride combines the ratings for films that came from both sets of Telluride attendees that I canvas immediately after the fest.
I began doing The Composite in 2013 and in each year the film that has finished at the top has gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Here's a quick look at the top five Composite films for each year since I started:
In 2013 the top five composite films were:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25)
2) Tim's Vermeer (8.97)
3) Gravity (8.75)
4) Nebraska (8.38)
5) All is Lost (8.26)
In 2014 the top five were:
1) Birdman (9.18)
2) Foxcatcher (8.83)
3) The Imitation Game (8.79)
4) Wild Tales (8.43)
5) '71 (8.15)
In 2015 the top five were:
1) Spotlight (8.86)
2) Son of Saul (8.74)
3) Beasts of No Nation (8.62)
4) Steve Jobs (8.17)
5) Carol (8.13)
In 2016 the top five were:
1) Moonlight (9.19)
2) La La Land (8.91)
3) Manchester by the Sea (8.13)
4) Arrival (8.01)
5) Maudie (7.89)
In 2017 the top five were:
1) The Shape of Water (8.72)
2) Lady Bird (8.58)
3) Faces Places (7.96)
4) Darkest Hour (7.90)
5) Hostiles (7.78)
Finally, heading into 2018 the top ten films for the duration of the existence of the Composite Telluride have been:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013
2) Moonlight (9.19) 2016
3) Birdman (9.18) 2014
4) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
5) La La Land (8.91) 2016
6) Spotlight (8.86) 2015
7) Foxcatcher (8.83) 2014
8) The Imitation Game (8.79) 2014
9) Gravity (8.75) 2013
10) Son of Saul (8.74) 2015
Only 12 films of the 33 featured films had enough responses collectively between the two polls to create the Composite Telluride ratings. Here's where they landed on the 2018 Composite Telluride ratings (combined ratings in parentheses and the film's positions for both The People's Telluride ratings and The Professionals):
1) Roma (9.20) 1-1
2) First Man (8.51) 2-2
3) Free Solo (8.33) 5-3
4) Cold War (8.16) 6-3
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (7.91) 8-5
6) The Favourite (7.66) 9-6
7) Boy Erased (7.43) 4-10
8) White Boy Rick (6.94) 7-11
9) The Front Runner (6.74) 10-13
10) Destroyer (6.69) 12-9
11) Border (6.57) 16-8
12) The Old Man and the Gun (6.56) 14-10
As you can see, the largest disconnect between The Pros and the People was with Ali Abassi's Border with The People rating it at #16 while The pros had it at #8. Another large disagreement was on Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased with the People ranking it as the #4 film of the fest while The Pros have it at #10.
It will be interesting if Roma or First Man should win Oscar for Best Picture as either film would continue a TFF ratings trend. A Roma win would continue the streak of Telluride films that have placed at the top of the Composite ratings in each year I've done them. A First Man win would continue the almost uninterrupted trend of #2 films from The People's Telluride to win Best Picture. That's been true every year of The People's T-ride save for 2016 when Telluride favorite Barry Jenkin's Moonlight won over Damien Chazelle's La La Land. Had La La Land won (which most pundits expected) that #2 trend would still be unbroken.
Something's got to give this year. And, of course, there's always the possibility that The Telluride streak gets busted this year (eight straight BP winners and nine of the last ten played Telluride). Maybe A Star Is Born wins (many are predicting that to happen) and that ends the streak.
Finally, Roma moves to the #2 spot on the all time Composite list which bumps Laszlo Nemes' Son of Saul to #11.
The new all time Composite list:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013
2) Roma (9.20) 2018
3) Moonlight (9.19) 2016
4) Birdman (9.18) 2014
5) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
6) La La Land (8.91) 2016
7) Spotlight (8.86) 2015
8) Foxcatcher (8.83) 2014
9) The Imitation Game (8.79) 2014
10) Gravity (8.75) 2013
CONTINUED OSCAR ASSESSMENTS
Various Oscar prognosticators continue to weigh in with their perspectives on the season as Telluride/Venice/Toronto festival gauntlet has come to an end (New York's fest is just underway) and here's a look at the highlights of more of those as MTFB continues to pivot to its secondary mission to follow the awards season fortunes of the films that screened as a part of TFF #45.
Variety's Kristopher Tapley has a Best Picture piece posted. Tapley names ten films that seem to have the edge for Best Picture at this time. Included among them are T-ride selections Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Favourite, First Man and Roma. Among "Other Films to Consider" Tapley includes The Front Runner and Cold War.
Tapley is on record as having said that he won't get to large scale predictions in multiple categories for Variety until December.
Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson goes with early takes for the six major Oscar categories: Picture, Direction, Actress, Actor and Supporting Actress and Actor.
By category, here's what T-ride films/performances he sees in the race at this point:
Best Picture: Roma, First Man (Lawson becomes the first journalist who echoes my opinion-voiced on the gondola in Telluride-that First Man shares some stylistic attributes with last year's multi-nominated Dunkirk). Lawson also suggests The Favourite is "still in play" and that the BP fortunes of The Front Runner and Boy Erased "dimmed" in Toronto.
Best Actress: Lawson says Olivia Colman/The Favourite and Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? are probable. He also opines that both Yalitza Aparicio/Roma and Nicole Kidman/Destroyer could make the race as well.
Best Actor: Lawson, like many, think Robert Redford has a real shot at a nomination for The Old Man and the Gun owning in some measure to the fact that Redford has said it's his last acting gig. Ryan Gosling/First Man is also mentioned and Lawson says we shouldn't count out Hugh Jackman in The Front Runner.
Best Supporting Actress: As many do, Lawson suggests both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz could earn nominations for The Favourite. Also on his radar is Claire Foy from First Man.
Best Supporting Actor: Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me? is the TFF most likely Supporting Actor nominee according to Lawson. He also suggests that Russell Crowe might be possible from Boy Erased.
Best Direction: Lawson suggests that the five directors nominated could include Alfonso Cuaron/Roma, Damien Chazelle/First Man and Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite.
The Guardian also put together a post-festival Oscar analysis that isn't as focused as those above. It does, however, conclude with what it says are Ten Safe Nominee Bets which include TFFers:
Alfonso Cuaron/Roma/Direction
Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me?/Supporting Actor
Olivia Colman/The Favourite/Actress
Robert Redford/The Old Man and the Gun/Actor
Many outlets posted/published lists of the critical reaction to films that played at all three just concluded festivals. Here are a couple of takes:
Metacritic
The critical aggregating outfit had an extensive article posted Sunday with a breakdown of films into four categories: Award Winners, Other Highlights, Minor Disappointments and The Duds. Here's where TFF #45 ended up with their Metacritic composite score:
Award Winners:
Roma (Golden Lion/Venice) 96
The Favourite (Grand Jury Prize/Venice) 92
Other Highlights (alphabetical):
The Biggest Little Farm 74
Can You Ever Forgive Me? 83
First Man 83
Fistful of Dirt 71
Free Solo 79
Non-Fiction 83
The Old Man and the Gun 84
The Other Side of the Wind 82
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead 81
Minor Disappointments:
Boy Erased 68
Destroyer 62
The Front Runner 67
The Great Buster 69
Peterloo 69
And finally, Indiewire published "The 12 Best Movies of the Fall Festivals" on Sunday which included The Favourite and Roma. Find out the other ten films in the complete article here.
TFF HISTORY PROJECT
For those who enjoy re-visiting Telluride's past film fests, the Selected History Page has been updated for both 2017 and 2018. Additionally, I have added the link for the TFF #45 program to the Extended History 1996-Present page. I'm still planning to expand the Extended History with the information available for the fests beginning with 2006 right up to 2018 over the next few months.
FINAL TRAILER FOR FIRST MAN
Three weeks before its release, Universal has revealed a new and final trailer for Damien Chazelle's First Man. Here it is from YouTube:
First Man starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong opens on Oct. 12th.
That's your MTFB for this Thursday. I'll have more on Monday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
It's Monday and I hope your weekend was outstanding!
THE PROFESSIONALS' TELLURIDE
Here's is your 2018 installment of The Professionals view of the films that played the 44th Telluride Film Festival. 14 industry journalists participated this year by rating each film they saw on a 1-5 scale. They were:
Peter DeBruge/Variety
David Ehrlich/Indiwire
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Galloway/The Hollywood Reporter
Gary Kramer/Salon
Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit
Tomris Laffly/RogerEbert.com
Kenny Miles/We Live Entertainment
Eugene Novikov/Film Blather
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Anonymous
Last year The Pros had The Shape of Water out front with a 4.50 average followed by two films which tied for the second spot; Faces Places and Loveless which both averaged 4.25.
In 2016 , Moonlight was on top with a 4.87 average followed by La La Land at 4.58.
In 2015, the top film was Son of Saul at 4.44 with Anomalisa second with a 4.42.
In 2014, number one was Birdman at 4.72 and second was Foxcatcher at 4.63.
2013: 12 Years a Slave 4.70 and Blue is the Warmest Color 4.40
2012: Central Park Five 4.7 and Argo 4.5
The top ten rated films in by the Professionals since I began them in 2012:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Birdman (4.72) (14)
3) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
3) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
5) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
6) La La Land (4.58) (16)
7) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
7) The Shape of Water (4.50) (17)
9) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
10) Anomalisa (4.42) (15)
13 of the 33 fetaures for the 45th edition of The SHOW were evaluated by enough of the Pros to merit averaging their ratings. Here are those results:
1) Roma (4.73)
2) First Man (4.17)
3) Cold War (4.14-tie)
3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)
6) The Favourite (3.90)
7) Watergate (3.60)
8) Border (3.50)
9) Destroyer (3.25)
10) Boy Erased (3.20)
11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)
12) White Boy Rick (3.06)
13) The Front Runner (3.05)
That also means that Roma moves onto the Top Ten form the Pros since 2012. Roma moves to #2 ahead of Birdman by 1/100th of a point and bumps Anomalisa from the list.
Here's the new Pros Top Ten:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Roma (4.73) (18)
3) Birdman (4.72) (14)
4) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
4) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
6) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
7) La La Land (4.58) (16)
8) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
8) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
Coming on Monday: THE COMPOSITE TELLURIDE...the combination of The People and The Professionals.
THE EARLY OSCAR LANDSCAPE
I did a quick inventory of Sasha Stone's (Awards Daily), Scott Feinberg's (The Hollywood Reporter) and Clayton Davis' (Awards Circuit) early, early mostly post-fest (TFF, Venice, Toronto) takes on their views with regard to the Oscar races. They took their first stabs at the six major categories (Picture, Director and the acting categories at the end of the week last week with Sasha's first Forecast Friday, Scott's first Feinberg Forecast and Clayton's weekly updated predictions.
Focusing on films that played TFF #45 here's what the two Oscar pundits are saying:
Stone:
First Man leads the field with five nominations according to Stone: Best Picture, Direction, Actor Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor (Jason Clarke-who is going to to be one of the peeps that I am personally rooting for).
Boy Erased is next with three: Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor (Crowe) Fienberg doesn't have Boy Erased listed at the front runner level in any category.
Four films are at two nominations according to Stone in the six major categories:
Roma: Best Picture, Direction
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Best Picture, Actress
The Old Man and the Gun: Actor and Supporting Actress
The Favourite: Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (Stone)
Feinberg has four films bunched with four nominations from among the films that played TFF #45:
First Man: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress
Roma: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actress
The Favourite: Best Picture, Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (both Stone and Weisz)
Feinberg also has Cold War listed as a Best Picture front runner but not as a probable short lister for Best Foreign Language Film.
Feinberg also has Hugh Jackman as a front runner for Best Actor for The Front Runner and Melissa McCarthy for Best Actress for Can You Ever Forgive Me?
For Davis' part the lay of the land looks like this for Telluride films in the major six categories:
First Man tops the list with four: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress
Next are The Favourite and Can You Ever Forgive Me? with three each
The Favourite: Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Colman) - no nominations in Supporting Actress for either Stone or Weisz)
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Best Picture, Actress and Supporting Actor
Three films for TFF #45 get two nominations in the major six categories according to Davis:
Roma: Best Picture, Direction
Boy Erased: Best Picture, Supporting Actress
The Old Man and the Gun: Actor, Supporting Actress
Complete predictions from each expert are linked below
The Grolsch Audience Award for favorite film at the Toronto International Film Festival ended up being a surprise as Peter Farrelly's Green Book took the top spot. Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk was the first runner-up and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma was second runner-up.
Many, including myself, were surprised that Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born didn't land the award or even crack the top three.
One other TFF #45 title made waves as Free Solo was named Best Documentary.
After a week and a half of voting and rating, here is the 2018 edition of The People's Telluride. This year's TPT had 60+ respondents. That's the largest response to my call for film ratings from the attendees of the Telluride Film Festival since I started the exercise back in 2012.
As a note for clarification, I have only included films that earned ratings from at least 20% of film goers that provided me ratings so as to provide a representative sample for reasonable purposes of comparison. 16 films had enough responses to earn a spot in this year's ratings.
The People's Telluride has been a solid barometer of success for films as we enter the awards season melee. For many years, the film that was named #2 by the TPT poll won the Oscar for Best Picture. Barry Jenkins Moonlight ended that string a couple of years ago by snagging the top spot. Things returned to form last year as Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water finished #2 to Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird among the People.
Here are the top rated films from the People for each year since I started doing the poll:
2012:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80)
2) Argo (4.75)
3) The Attack (4.70)
2013:
1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)
2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)
3) Gravity (4.40)
2014:
1) The Imitation Game (4.73)
2) Birdman (4.46)
3) Wild Tales (4.23)
2015:
1) Room (4.47)
2) Spotlight (4.45)
3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.37)
2) La La Land (4.33)
3) Maudie (4.29)
2017:
1) Lady Bird (4.38)
2) The Shape of Water (4.22)
3) Darkest Hour (4.04)
Going into this year's festival, these have been the top ten People's choices overall since 2012:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14)
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13)
7) Room (4.47) (15)
8) Birdman (4.46) (14)
9) Spotlight (4.45) (15)
10) Gravity (4.40) (13)
Sooo...drumroll please...here are this year's results (with the average rating following in parentheses:
1) Roma (4.47)
2) First Man (4.34)
3) Shoplifters (4.29)
4) Boy Erased (4.23)
5) Free Solo (4.19)
6) Cold War (4.02)
7) White Boy Rick (3.88)
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)
9) The Favourite (3.76)
10) The Front Runner (3.69)
11) Meeting Gorbachev (3.68)
12) Destroyer (3.44)
13) Trial By Fire (3.43)
14) The Old Man and the Gun (3.39)
15) Non-Fiction (Double Lives) (3.14)
16) Border (3.07)
That means that Alfonso Cuaron's Roma will join the top ten of The People's Telluride ratings tied with Lenny Abrahamson's Room from 2015.
Another tidbit for those of you who obsess over this stuff as I do...Here are what appeared to be the most watched films from TFF #45 (based on the percentage of my respondents that reported having seen the film at TFF:
1) The Favourite (78% of respondents say that they saw this film)
2) The Front Runner (70%)
3) Boy Erased (65%)
4) Roma (63%)
5) First Man (58%-tie)
5) Destroyer (58%-tie)
7) Cold War (55%)
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (53%)
9) White Boy Rick (50%)
10) The Old Man and the Gun (40%)
I'll have The Professionals' Telluride ratings up in Monday's post and The Composite Telluride a week from today.
BREAKING DOWN TFF #45
Now that TFF 2018 is in the books, I took a little time to inventory some of the information that helps me to come to some decisions every year. It's sort of my post-action assessment to learn lessons and trends and then apply that to the process of predicting the TFF lineup for the following year.
So, if you're interested...
33 films were announced as a part of TFF #45's main SHOW.
Film Fest Crossover:
As best as I can tell, this is the count of films that crossed over between Telluride and various other film festivals-
Toronto-17
London-10
Venice-9
Cannes-8
New York-7
Karlovy Vary-4
Berlin-1
Distributors that had films play-
Netflix-6
Fox Searchlight-3
Amazon-2
Magnolia-2
Sony/Columbia-2
And one each from: The Orchard, Neon, Focus Features, Annapurna, Universal, NatGeo, A+E, Sundance Selects, Cohen Media and Sony Pictures Classics.
Notes on the unusual from distributors-
Only one SPC film and that was late breaking acquisition The White Crow.
No A24 films after some great success in recent years at TFF.
Big showing from Netflix fueled by Roma and the excitement about Orson Welles The Other Side of the Wind.
A larger than normal presence of big studios with 3 films from Sony/Columbia and Universal.
The Usual Suspects-
The list of people that are or seem to have become "TFF Usual Suspects" for 2018 includes Damien Chazelle, Pawel Pawlikowski, Matteo Garrone, Rithy Panh, Werner Herzog, Olivier Assasyas, Mike Leigh , Alfonso Cuaron, Jason Reitman, Peter Bogdanovich, Ralph Fiennes, Charles ferguson and Yann Demange.
NEW U.K. TRAILER FOR FIRST MAN
Anton Volkov's Trailer Track website reports that Universal has released a new trailer for Damien Chazelle's First Man for the United Kingdom. Here that is from YouTube:
I GOT A NEW GIG
Though I am a little intimidated, I'm also pleased to announce that I have been invited to participate this Oscar season as one of Movie City News' Gurus of Gold.
The invitation came as a result of a recommendation made by my friend Sasha Stone who runs Awards Daily and is herself a Guru.
Here's my first chart (that's me on the far right, which will make my friends that know my political proclivities laugh really, really hard):
Thanks to Sasha for the recommendation and to Davis Poland and Ray Pride at Movie City News for giving me this opportunity. I'll try not to screw this up.
That's your MTFB for this Thursday. More on Monday including The Professionals' Telluride.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Films that played TFF #45 were well represented among the films that won major prizes at this weekend's conclusion of the Venice Film Festival with Alfonso Cuaron's Roma winning the biggest of the prizes as it was named winner of the Golden Lion.
The Favourite also scored winning the Grand Jury prize (largely regarded as the runner-up prize to the Golden Lion) as well as Best Actress for Olivia Colman's performance as Queen Anne.
Additionally, the Dareen Aronofsky produced Virtual Reality presentation: Spheres was named Best VR. Spheres played at TFF #45 last week.
Complete winners from Venice are here from Variety and also from Indiewire.
THE FIRST GURUS
With the Toronto International Film Festival in full swing and both Telluride and Venice in the books for 2018, The Gurus of Gold have cast their first ballots attempting to discern this year's top candidates fro Best Picture.
Among the top ten vote-getters from "festival films" are Telluride '18 films: First Man, Boy Erased, Roma, The Front Runner and The Favourite. Also mentioned are The Old Man and the Gun and Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Jason Reitman's The Front Runner starring Hugh Jackman as former Senator (and Presidential candidate) Gary Hart will make history as it will be the first major motion picture to released on national election day, Nov. 6.
Indiewire's Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn are in Toronto but talking largely about what went down last week in Telluride with particular focus on Roma, The Favourite and First Man in the latest installment of ScrenTalk.
PODCASTS: VARIETY'S PODCAST FEATURES NICOLE KIDMAN
Kris Tapley's latest podcast was recorded at Telluride with Nicole Kidman who talks about both films that she had playing at TFF #45: Destroyer and Boy Erased. Kidman is getting some buzzy talk about possible Oscar nominations for both roles. Lead for Destroyer and Supporting for Boy Erased.
And finally, here's the link to Sasha Stone's (Awards Daily) wrap-up from the Telluride Film Fest. The podcast features Mark Johnson of Awards Circuit, Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere and some other guy that may have accidentally stumbled into the same films they were seeing (yea, it's me).
We're coming down to the wire friends. If you want your reactions to films at TFF #45 to count, the deadline is Wednesday at 5:00pm EDT. Send the 1-5 ratings to me at any of the contact methods below:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Good Thursday friends...still catching my breath after the exhilaration of last week's festival...
QUICK NOTE: Beginning with today's post MTFB goes back to its normal and less frenetic non-summer publication schedule of twice per week on Mondays and Thursdays.
TWO NEW TRAILERS FOR TELLURIDE HITS
Damien Chazelle's First Man from Universal has a new international trailer that I have linked here from YouTube:
And there is also a new trailer fro Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite also from YouTube:
INDIEWIRE'S T-RIDE BREAKDOWNS
Indiewire critics Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich evaluate their perceptions of a number of films from TFF #45 including Roma, First Man and The Favourite.
Other films that played TFF that get a mention include Border, Birds of Passage, The Front Runner, Boy Erased, The Other Side of the Wind, The Old Man and the Gun, Free Solo, Meeting Gorbachev, Trial By Fire and Watergate.
Meanwhile, if you prefer your Telluride analysis delivered aurally, you can catch Anne Thompson and Kohn's early T-ride podcast here. One assumes an updated podcast with a fuller look at Telluride is probable in the next couple of days.
OSCAR ANALYSTS AFTER TELLURIDE AND BEFORE TORONTO
Long time readers of this blog know that it undergoes a transformation now that TFF #45 is in the books.
My particular focus is how the films that we saw last weekend play during Oscar season. To that end I have linked a number of posts/pieces from some of the best Oscar prognosticators in the land as a way to get you started thinking about what may happen over the next few months.
Anne lists possible nominations for a number of TFF #45 films:
First Man- 13-including Picture, actor and director
Roma- 9 - including Picture and director
The Favourite- 9- including Picture, director and actress
Can You Ever Forgive Me?- 3- including best actress...though I think we could "Lady Bird" this into maybe a couple of more nominations.
The initial response has been fantastic with a faster and larger response than any year thus far...BUT...keep them coming. If you haven't sent me your film ratings...get in on the fun. Rate the films you saw at TFF last weekend on a 1-5 (1 = BAD, 5 = GREAT) scale and contact me in any of the ways below.
The cutoff Wednesday, Sept. 12th at 5:00pm PDT
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Indiewire's Eric Kohn compiled reactions from over two dozen film critics that attended this year's Telluride Film Festival and those results were published yesterday.
Highlights were:
Best Screenplay: The Favourite, Runner-up-Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron/Roma, RU- Damien Chazelle/First Man
Best Film: Roma, RU- First Man
I have already received a good number of responses from MTFB readers with their ratings of the films that they saw at TFF #45. I've started to put them into my database with an eye toward posting them next week. If you haven't sent yours to me...please do. The poll will stay open until Sept. 12.
Remember to rate them on a 1 to 5 scale with being"not so good" and 5 being "phenomenal".
Send then to me in any of the following methods:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Here's a brief post from the road as I return from Film Heaven to the real world.
Final film tally: 10 (in no specific order)
The Old Man and the Gun
First Man
Destroyer
Boy Erased
The Favourite
The Front Runner
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Roma
Cold War
White Boy Rick
For me it's a fest that ends up in the middle of the pack as far as the 13 I have attended (2007 still sets the bar). Personal favorites from the weekend were First Man, Boy Erased, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and The Front Runner.
Highlights included talking with Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant about their marvelous performances in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Comforting Laura Dern after Boy Erased (yes, that really happened). Getting the chance to congratulate Jason Reitman and co-screen writer Jay Carson for their work on The Front Runner. Walking out of The Zog next to the luminous Nicole Kidman and meeting or re-acquainting with so many fine folks that seem to take the time to read the space.
Sincerely, I am stunned when I meet readers and they are so kind.
Got to see/hear Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton, Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Matthew McConaughey, Alfonso Cuaron, Jason Reitman, Karyn Kusama and Yann Demange talk about their films.
Also caught sight of Ralph Fiennes, Damien Chazelle, Kathleen Kennedy, Jay Carson, Matt Bai, David Grann, Jimmy Chin, Ken Burns and, of course, Werner Herzog
I say it every year...this doesn't happen anywhere else on the planet.
Telluride Film Festival...I love you!
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE REMINDER- IT IS TIME!
For the seventh consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride. All you have to do is report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".
Send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Jason Reitman and Hugh Jackman at The Front Runner Q and A
Started the day with Jason Reitman's The Front Runner which moves to the #2 spot for the weekend. I loved it. Hits all my politics geek buttons and history and film making. Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart, Vera Farmiga as his wife Lee and J.K. Simmons as campaign manager Bill Dixon are all in fine form. Reitman is back, my friends!
Then did the Netflix Doc brunch which was lovely and also allowed me to grab Front Runner co-screen-writer Jay Carson as well as Reitman and express my enthusiasm for their film.
Then Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased. SUbtle and understated with a subject (gay conversion therapy) that could easily have provided any number of histrionics. Praise to Edgerton and his cast of Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Edgerton himself. Beautifully realized and emotionally honest.
Matthew McConnaughey during The White Boy Rick Q and A
The day ended with White Boy Rick which is an entertaining film featuring nice work from Matthew McConaughey and non-actor Richie Merritt...who is fantastic as WBR. McConnaughey in greta form in the Q and A that followed.
MONDAY TBAs
Palm
7:00 PM, FREE SOLO, Program 23, Cinephile
Galaxy
9:00 AM, COLD WAR, 35, Cinephile
3:00 PM, NON FICTION, 6, Cinephile
Herzog 7:00 PM, THE FAVOURITE, 7a, Cinephile
Sheridan Opera House
3:30 PM, SHOPLIFTERS, 32, Cinephile
8:00 PM, DOGMAN, 36, Cinephile
Nugget
1:00 PM, GHOST FLEET, 29, Cinephile
7:00 PM, THE WHITE CROW, 30, Cinephile
Masons
1:00 PM, THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD, 12, Cinephile
3:15 PM, FISTFUL OF DIRT, 17, Cinephile
5:30 PM, THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS, B, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
7:45 PM, GIRL, 25, Cinephile
Le Pierre
2:30 PM, HUGH HEFNER’S AFTER DARK: SPEAKING OUT IN AMERICA, D, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
4:45 PM, THE TARNISHED ANGELS, 39, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
7:00 PM, BORDER, 14, Cinephile
Backlot (all programs always free)
9:00 AM, IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY, E
1:15 PM, WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL, F
3:30 PM, HAL, C
6:15 PM, IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY, E
Noon Seminar, Town Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
How do filmmakers find a formal distance when dramatizing family stories?
With Joel Edgerton, Markus Imhoof, Alfonso Cuaron.
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE
For the seventh consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride. All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".
When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Jason Reitman and Hugh Jackman at The Front Runner Q and A
Started the day with Jason Reitman's The Front Runner which moves to the #2 spot for the weekend. I loved it. Hits all my politics geek buttons and history and film making. Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart, Vera Farmiga as his wife Lee and J.K. Simmons as campaign manager Bill Dixon are all in fine form. Reitman is back, my friends!
Then did the Netflix Doc brunch which was lovely and also allowed me to grab Front Runner co-screen-writer Jay Carson as well as Reitman and express my enthusiasm for their film.
Then Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased. SUbtle and understated with a subject (gay conversion therapy) that could easily have provided any number of histrionics. Praise to Edgerton and his cast of Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Edgerton himself. Beautifully realized and emotionally honest.
Matthew McConnaughey during The White Boy Rick Q and A
The day ended with White Boy Rick which is an entertaining film featuring nice work from Matthew McConaughey and non-actor Richie Merritt...who is fantastic as WBR. McConnaughey in greta form in the Q and A that followed.
MONDAY TBAs
Palm
7:00 PM, FREE SOLO, Program 23, Cinephile
Galaxy
9:00 AM, COLD WAR, 35, Cinephile
3:00 PM, NON FICTION, 6, Cinephile
Herzog 7:00 PM, THE FAVOURITE, 7a, Cinephile
Sheridan Opera House
3:30 PM, SHOPLIFTERS, 32, Cinephile
8:00 PM, DOGMAN, 36, Cinephile
Nugget
1:00 PM, GHOST FLEET, 29, Cinephile
7:00 PM, THE WHITE CROW, 30, Cinephile
Masons
1:00 PM, THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD, 12, Cinephile
3:15 PM, FISTFUL OF DIRT, 17, Cinephile
5:30 PM, THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS, B, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
7:45 PM, GIRL, 25, Cinephile
Le Pierre
2:30 PM, HUGH HEFNER’S AFTER DARK: SPEAKING OUT IN AMERICA, D, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
4:45 PM, THE TARNISHED ANGELS, 39, Cinephile (This is not a free show.)
7:00 PM, BORDER, 14, Cinephile
Backlot (all programs always free)
9:00 AM, IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY, E
1:15 PM, WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL, F
3:30 PM, HAL, C
6:15 PM, IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY, E
Noon Seminar, Town Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
How do filmmakers find a formal distance when dramatizing family stories?
With Joel Edgerton, Markus Imhoof, Alfonso Cuaron.
MONDAY IS LABOR DAY AND A PICNIC
Not sure what Monday is going to hold... Current thought is to start the day with either Cold War or some V.R. experience(s) at the Opera House. After that...it's an open question. We will do the picnic but might head home after that... or not...
