Monday, December 16, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Critics Choice Awards Nominations / Precursor Roundup / New Nickel Boys Trailer / Interviews and Profiles: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Danielle Deadwyler and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE




Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture Direction, International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Dec. 2nd.  A film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE




1) Anora (1)
2) Conclave (2)
3) Wicked (6)
4) The Brutalist (3)
5) Emilia Perez (4)
6) Dune Part Two (5)
7) A Real Pain (7)
8) A Complete Unknown (-)
9) Sing Sing (10)
10) Nickel Boys (-)

Others: The Substance, September 5 and Gladiator II.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)
2) Sean Baker/Anora (1)
3) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)
4) Jacques Audiard/Emikia Perez (3)
5) RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys (-)

Others: Jon M. Chu/Wicked, Coralie Fargeat/The Substance and Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot (1)
2) Inside Out 2 (2)
3) Flow (5)
4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (4)
5) Memoir of a Snail (3)

Others: Moana 2, Piece by Piece and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.


BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE




1) Emilia Perez (1)
2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2)
3) I'm Still Here (3)
4) The Girl with the Needle (4)
5) Kneecap (-)

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomey and Flow.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) No Other Land (1)
2) Daughters (2)
3) Sugarcane (3)
4) Will & Harper (-)
5) Black Box Diaries (4)

Others: Dahomey, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story/




CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS NOMINATIONS




The Critics Choice Association announced its nominees for film excellence last Thursday.  TFF #51 Conclave tied with Wicked for most nominations at 11.  Emilia Perez was right behind at 10.  All togther, 14  TFF #51 films accounted for 48 nominations plus an additional nomination for TFF #50 film Janet Planet (Best Young Adult Performance).

Here are the CCA nominations for TFF #51 films:

Conclave (11): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costumes and Score.

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture, Foreign Language Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay, Song (El Mal), Song (Mi Camino) and Score.

Anora (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Ensemble, Original Screenplay and Editing.

Nickel Boys (5): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor), Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (3): Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay and Best Comedy.

Maria (2); Best Actress (Jolie) and Costumes.

Saturday Night (2): Best Comedy and Ensemble.

September 5 (2): Original screenplay and Editing.

The Piano Lesson (1): Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Better Man (1): Best Visual Effects.

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Foreign Language Film.

Will & Harper (1): Best Song (Harper and Will Go West).




PRECURSOR ROUND UP




I took a look at six prominent Oscar pre-cursor nominations/awards to get a feel for what films seem to be hot as we close in on one month before Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 17th.

Pre-cursors included were:
 
National Board of Review (NBR)
American Film Institute (AFI)
Golden Globes (GG) 
Critics Choice (CC)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA)
New York Film Critics Circle (NY)

Two films hit five of these:

Anora: NBR, AFI, GG, CC, LA (winner)
The Brutalist: AFI, GG, CC, NY (winner), LA (Runner-up)

Three films made four to the lists:

Wicked: NBR (winner), AFI, GG, CC
A Complete Unknown: NBR, AFI, GG, CC
Conclave: NBR, AFI, GG, CC

And five films were named by three of the pre-cursor organizations:

A Real Pain: NBR, AFI, GG
Sing Sing: NBR, AFI, CC
Emilia Perez: AFI, GG, CC
Nickel Boys: AFI, GG, CC
Dune Part Two: AFI, GG, CC

What's next are the Guilds.  Producers, Directors, Screen Actors and Writers being the primary ones to look at.

Dates for each of these nominee announcements are:

Jan. 8: Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild
Jan. 9: Writers Guild
Jan. 10: Producers Guild


NEW NICKEL BOYS TRAILER

Amazon/MGM released a new trailer for RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys on Friday.  Here it is from YouTube:






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Thursday, December 12, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / The MTFB Nomination Totals

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE




Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 28th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. In addition I have added first predictions for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave
2) Emilia Perez
3) Sing Sing
4) Nickel Boys
5) Dune Part Two

Others: A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door and Inside Out 2.


BEST  ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY




1) Anora
2) A Real Pain
3) The Brutalist
4) September 5
5) The Substance

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Saturday Night.


BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1) Wicked
2) Dune Part Two
3) Gladiator II
4) Maria
5) Nosfaratu

Others: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.


BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Dune Part Two
2) The Substance
3) Wicked
4) Nosferatu
5) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

Others: A Different Man, Emilia Perez and A Complete Unknown.


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two
2) Gladiator II
3) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
4) Wicked
5) Twisters

Others: Mufasa: The Lion King, Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga and Better Man.

THE MTFB NOMINATION TOTALS




And so for the first time in this 2024-25 Oscar race, MTFB has predictions for all 20 feature film categories.  Here's what MTFB is currently predicting for TFF #51 films in as far as Oscar nominations are concerned:

EMILIA PEREZ (11) Best Picture, International Feature,  Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (Mi Camino), Song (El Mal) and Sound.  The film could also end up with nominations for Selena Gomez for Supporting Actress, Cinematography and Production Design.

CONCLAVE (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score. Conclave could also possibly be nominated for Supporting Actor (Tucci), Cinematography and Production Design.

ANORA (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A REAL PAIN (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.  A Real Pain could also score a Best Actor nomination for Jesse Eisenberg.

MARIA (3): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.

SEPTEMBER 5 (2); Best Picture and Original Screenplay.  The film could aso snag nominations for Supporting Actor (Magaro) and Editing.

Single Nominees:

NICKEL BOYS: Best Adapted Screenplay.  Three other possible nominations: Direction, Cinematography and Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor).

PIECE BY PIECE: Best Song (Piece by Piece).  Also a possible additional nomination for Animated Feature.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG: Best International Feature.  "Seed" also could get nominated for Original Screenplay.

THE OUTRUN: Best Actress (Ronan).

THE PIANO LESSON: Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL: Best Animated Feature.

NO OTHER LAND: Best Documentary Feature.


Films that aren't currently predicted nominees but who could still get in:

WILL & HARPER: Best Documentary  Feature and Best Original Song (Harper and Will Go West).

SATURDAY NIGHT: Original Screenplay and Score.

THE APPRENTICE: Best Actor (Stan) and Best Supporting Actor (Strong).

BETTER MAN: Best Visual Effects.

In total, MTFB predicts 13 TFF #51 films earn 40 nominations including five for Best Picture.  In addition, 16 other possible nominations that could include an additional seven TFF #51 films. WOW!

I'll be updating Best Picture predictions on Monday.



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Monday, December 9, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / Golden Globe Nominations and TFF / Critics and Awards Groups from This Past Weekend / The Playlist 100 Most Anticipated for 2025 / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE




I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward.  The categories I am adding today are: Original Score, Original Song And Sound. The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 25th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)
2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (2)
3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (3)
4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (4)
5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Saoirse Ronan/Blitz and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)
2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)
3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)
4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)
5) Yura Borisov/Anora (-)

Others: Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown, Stanley Tucci/Conclave. Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Conclave
2) The Brutalist
3) Emilia Perez
4) The Wild Robot
5) The Room Next Door

Others: Blitz, Challengers and Saturday Night.


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez
2) El Mal/Emilia Perez
3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot
4) Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece
5) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight

Others: Winter Coat/Blitz, Beyond/Moana 2 and Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper.


BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two
2) Wicked
3) Gladiator II
4) A Complete Unknown
5) Emilia Perez

Others: Blitz, Maria and The Brutalist.


GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS AND TFF




Here are the TFF films That were nominated for Golden Globes this morning:

Twelve TFF Films earned 35 Golden Globe nominations early theis morning.  Emilia Perez led all films with 10 nominations.  Here are the results from the announcement:

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana and Gomez), Screenplay, Song (El Mal and Mi Camino) and Score.

Conclave (6): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor (Drama-Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Screenplay and Score.

Anora (5): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Moore), Supporting Actor (Burisov), and Screenplay.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Actor (Musical or Comedy-Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Screenplay.

All We Imagine as Light (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction.

The Apprentice (2): Best Actor (Drama-Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

September 5 (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Nickel Boys (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Film Not in the English Language.

Saturday Night (1): Best Actor (Musical or Comedy-LaBelle).

Maria (1): Best actress (Drama-Jolie).

The Golden Globes winners will be announced on January 5th, 2025.



CRITICS AND AWARDS GROUPS FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

***THE LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS AND TFF




The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named their "Best Of" yesterday.  Here's how films that played at TFF fared:

Best Picture: Anora
Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof/The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora
Lead Performance: Mikey Madison/Anora
Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov/Anora and Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain.
Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora
Cinematography: Nickel Boys.
Editing: Nickel Boys and September 5 (tied).
Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light.  Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Best Documentary: No Other land.



***EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS AND TFF




Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez dominated the European Film Awards which announced their recipients on Dec. 7th.

Emilai Perez won Best European Film, Direction for Audiard and Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascon.  Audiard was also awarded Best Screenwriter.  Additionally the film won Best Editing.  The other TFF winner was No Other Land as Best European Documentary.


***BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS AND TFF




The British Independent Film Association announced its winners on Sunday evening.  TFF films winning are as follows:

Best Screenplay: Santosh.
Best Supporting Performance: Frank Rogowski/Bird.
Breakthrough Producer: Santosh.
Best Independent Foreign Film: Anora.



THE PLAYLIST 100 MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025




Each year about this time The Playlist publishes a list of 100 films that they're most interested in for the following year.  The 2025 list was posted last week.  Also each year I spend some time culling the list for what feel like possible titles for TFF.  Normally I come up with a list of around 20 titles and on average 5-6 of those actually make it into The SHOW.  Last year was actually a low point for me as only four of the films I highlighted actually made it to Telluride: The End, Anora, Bird and Maria.  Nevertheless, here's my best shot at what might be in TFF #52 from this list of 100 films:

#85) Echo Valley
#73 The Actor (again)
#65) The Roses
#56) The Way of gthe Wind (again)
#52) The History of Sound
#50) Pressure
#47) Splitsville
#43) Deliver Me from Nowhere
#42) The Ballad of a Small Player
#37) Hamnet
#28) Anemone
#14) The Phoenician Scheme
#13) Untitled Noah Baunbach (Jay Kelly?)
#8) Frankenstein
#5) Untitled Alejandro Inarritu (Judy?)
#4) Bugonia
#2) Die My Love

Personally, I'm most excited for Anemone (Daniel Day Lewis unretires), Hamnet (Chole Zhao and Shakespeare) and Del Toro's Frankenstein.





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Thursday, December 5, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / New York Film Critics and TFF / Independent Spirit Awards and TFF / National Board of Review and TFF / Gotham Awards and TFF /

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE



I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward: Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 21st.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS




1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)
2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)
3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)
4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)
5) Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths (-)

Others: Nicole Kidman/Babygirl, Demi Moore/The Substance and Cynthia Erivo/Wicked.


BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)
2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)
3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)
4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)
5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/ A Real Pain.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY




1) Dune Part Two
2) The Brutalist
3) Maria
4) Nosferatu
5) Gladiator II

Others: Conclave, Emilia Perez and Nickel Boys.


BEST EDITING

1) The Brutalist
2) Anora
3) Emilia Perez
4) Dune Part Two
5) Conclave

Others: Gladiator II, September 5 and Wicked.


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN




1) Dune Part Two
2) Wicked
3) Gladiator II
4) The Brutalist
5) Blitz

Others: Conclave, Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown.


NEW YORK CRITICS AND TFF




TFF films had a good day Tuesday with a number awards from The New York Film Critics Circle.

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain
Best Screenplay: Sean Baker/Anora
Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light
Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys
Best Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land
Best First Film: Janet Planet (TFF #50)

The Brutalist was named Best Film of 2024.




INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF


Fully nine TFF films received at least Independent Spirit Award nomination yesterday.  The nine films totaled 20 nominations collectively led by Anora's five.  Here's the breakdown by film:

Anora (5): Best Feature, Direction, Performance (Madison), Supporting Performance (Burisov) and another Supporting Performance (Karagulian).

The Apprentice (3): Best Direction, Editing.

Janet Planet (from TFF #50) (3): Best First Feature, First Screenplay and Cinematography.

Nickel Boys (2): Best Feature and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (2): Best Screenplay and Supporting Performance (Culkin).

The Piano Lesson (2): Best First Feature and Supporting Performance (Deadwyler).

September 5 (1): Best Editing.

No Other Land (1): Best Documentary.

All We Imagine as Light (1); Best International Feature.





NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW AND TFF


The National Board of Review released its annual list of best films from the year yesterday. TFF films fared well. from their various categories:

Top Ten Films included Anora, Conclave and A Real Pain.
Top Five international Films included: All We Imagine as Light and Santosh.
Top Five Documentaries included: Will and Harper.
Top Ten Independent Films included: Bird.

Among acting awards Conclave was named Best Ensemble.  Kieran Culkin was named Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain and Mikey Madison was named Breakthrough Performance for Anora.

Other Special Awards for TFF films included anming The Seed of the Sacred Fig as Best International Film and NBR' Freedom of Expression Award went to No Other Land.

Wicked was named Best Film and its director, Jon M. Chu was named Best Director.



GOTHAM AWARDS AND TFF




The Gotham Awards were presented Monday and here's a look at what TFF films were winners:

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys
Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light
Best Documentary Feature: No Other Land
Breakthrough Performer: Brandon Wilson/Nickel Boys

Among Gotham Tributes were:

Performer Tribute to Angelina Jolie for Maria.







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Monday, December 2, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Trailer for September 5 / Interviews and Profiles: Gomez, Gascon and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE




Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards as well as first time predictions for International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 18th.  A film's or director's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE




1) Anora (1)
2) Conclave (2)
3) The Brutalist (4)
4) Emilia Perez (3)
5) Dune Part Two (5)
6) Wicked (6)
7) A Real Pain (9)
8) September 5 (-)
9) Gladiator II (7)
10) Sing Sing (8)

Others: A Complete Unknown, Blitz and The Room Next Door.


BEST DIRECTION

1) Sean Baker/Anora (1)
2) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)
3) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)
4) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)
5) Ridley Scott/Gladiator II (-)

Others: Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE




1) The Wild Robot
2) Inside Out 2
3) Memoir of a Snail
4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
5) Flow

Others: Piece by Piece, Moana 2 and Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.


BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez
2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig
3) I'm Still Here
4) The Girl with a Needle
5) Armand

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomaey and Kneecap.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE




1) No Other Land
2) Daughters
3) Sugarcane
4) Black Box Diaries
5) Dahomey

Others: Will and Harper, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Union.


TRAILER FOR SEPTEMBER 5

September 5 was one of my favorite films at TFF #51.  It opens in limited release on Dec. 13th followed by expanded release on Jan. 17th.  We now have a trailer for the film and here it is via YouTube:






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ce







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