Monday, December 8, 2025
MTFB Oscar Take: Best Picture, Direction and Lead Acting / More of the Deluge: Golden Globes, L.A. Film Critics, Critic's Choice and The American Film Institute / La Grazia Trailer
Thursday, January 28, 2021
NBR, AFI, Spirit Noms and More / Oscar Updates: Animated Feature, Production Design, Score and Song / The Gurus are Back
NBR, AFI, SPIRIT NOMS AND MORE
If you are a fan of Oscar precursors, you have to have been giddy with delight this week as a cascade of high profile organizations revealed their choices for the best films of this pandemic marred year. Herewith a breakdown of the major awards news of the week with emphasis, of course on films that were selected to play at the Telluride Film Festival.
NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW
The NBR list named Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods as film of the year. TFF #47's Nomadland was touted as having the Best Cinematography for the year. Nomadland also was named as one of the top ten films of the year in addition to TFF #46's First Cow. Other TFF #47 films making the NBR grade:
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Who Has What / TIFF Honors Mirror Telluride / AFI Goes Virtual
WHO HAS WHAT
Perhaps it's because Telluride announced its slate of intended films earlier than it normally does. Maybe it's because the Cannes fest didn't happen. It could be a matter of a diminished number of films available or the uncertainty over when and how those films might be released. It might be because of distributor's decisions to hold back several titles because of the date changes for the Academy Awards. And then there is the absence of any Netflix titles due to their decision to skip all of the festivals. It's possibly a combination of these factors. Or it might be something else entirely but the number of films among the 29 titles on TFF's list for its 47th edition that do not yet have domestic distribution is significant.
As I write this post this morning I can point to eight films with distributors for the U.S. lined up:
Sony Pictures Classics: The Father, The Truffle Hunters
Searchlight: Nomadland
Focus Features: The Way I See It
Amazon: All In: The Fight for Democracy
Neon: Ammonite
Kino Lorber: There Is No Evil
Apple+: Fireball
That's a smallish eight of 29 titles. You have to expect that will change over the next couple of months, but still...the weirdness of 2020 continues.
All of the above with the exception of Apple+ have been common players at Telluride (it's Apple+'s first time with a film that would have been part of TFF's lineup).
No A24 (which in recent years has been at T-ride a bunch). No Roadside Attractions. No Lionsgate. No Bleecker Street or Cohen Media. No IFC/Sundance Selects. And, as you can see above, a limited presence of the distributors that are represented on the TFF #47 list with SPC being the only house with more than a single film among the 29.
Stay tuned. I'll try to keep up with acquisitions as they occur.
TI FF HONORS MIRROR TELLURIDE
When Telluride organizers announced what would have been the lineup for the 47th edition of the festival they included the news that the three tributes would have been for Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet and Chloe Zhao.
We found out just in the last few days that the Toronto International Film Fest will recognize both Hopkins (the TIFF Tribute Actor Award), and Zhao (the Ebert Director Award). They join Winslet who had previously been announced as the recipient of a TIFF Tribute Actor Award. Joining the threesome who would have been feted in the San Juans is an award from TIFF to director Mira Nair. She will receive the Jeff Skoll Award in Media Impact.
Details are here in this story from Variety.
AFI FEST GOES VIRTUAL
The American Film Institute has announced that their 34th iteration on Oct. 15-22 will be an all virtual affair. The AFI Fest is usually the last large U.S. film fest in the calendar year with bearing on the Oscar race. AFI organizers, however, moved their event to an earlier date for this year. Normally the fest is a November affair.
AFI will likely be smaller than its normal size this year according to reporting from Variety. That story is linked here.
Thursday, December 5, 2019
NBR and Telluride / AFI and Telluride / Gotham Award Winners: Marriage Story Wins Big / NY Critics and Telluride / And It's Never Too Early... / Updated Oscar Predictions: International, Documentary, Animated Features
The National Board of Review released its choices for the best films in 2019 on Tuesday. Martin Scorsese's The Irishman was named best film of the year. NBR also includes superlatives in a number of lists and categories. TFF #46 standout Parasite was named Best Foreign Language Film.
Among their Ten Best films of the year were these TFF #46 entrants:
Ford v Ferrari
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Waves
From the NBR list of the five Best Foreign Language Films:
Pain and Glory
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
And from their list of the Ten Best Independent Films:
A Hidden Life
Judy
Other individual awards from NBR for TFF #46 films/performances included:
Adam Sandler-Best Actor-Uncut Gems
Renee Zellweger-Best Actress-Judy
Uncut Gems-Best Original Screenplay
The complete rundown of the NBR's awards is linked here from Indiewire.
AFI AND TELLURIDE
In addition to the NBR announcement on Tuesday we also saw revealed the "Best of 2019" list from the American Film Institute.
In as far as far as TFF films are concerned, only Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story made the AFI Top Ten list. AFI did name Bong Joon-ho's Parasite as a special award winner.
Here's the complete lowdown of AFI's lists from The Wrap.
GOTHAM AWARD WINNERS: MARRIAGE STORY WINS BIG
The Gotham Awards were passed out earlier this week and Noah Baumbach's TFF #46 film Marriage Story did very, very well. It was named Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Adam Driver was named Best Actor. The film was also named winner of the Gotham's Audience Award.
The other TFF #46 awarded film came for Taylor Russell as Breakthrough Performer for Waves.
The complete Gothams award list is linked here from Indiewire.
NEW YORK CRITICS AND TELLURIDE
The New York Film Critics Circle also announced their " Best of" for 2019 yesterday and the list of winners included these TFF #46 entrants:
Best Director: The Safdie Brothers/Uncut Gems
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern/Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite
and Randy Newman was awarded a "Special Award" One has to think that, in part, he was being recognized for his work on the score for Marriage Story
The NYFCC named Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as the Best Film of the year.
You can see the entire list of NYFCC award winners from Indiewire by clicking here.
AND IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY...
The first big list of most anticipated films for 2020 is out from The Playlist. That outlet posted its 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2020 on Tuesday and I have culled it for the dozen films that seem the most TFF #47 friendly...at least on the surface.
Largely these 12 films make my cut based on TFF history. Here they are (in reverse order of their position on The Playlist list):
83) The White Tiger (d. Ramin Bahrani)
66) Mainstream (d. Gia Coppola)
64) Good Night Midnight (d. George Clooney)
59) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (d. George C. Wolfe)
55) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (d. Aaron Sorkin)
48) Stillwater (d. Tom McCarthy)
27) Nomadland (d. Chloe Zhao)
17) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (d. Charlie Kaufman)
16) Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Love)
13) Nightmare Alley (d. Guillermo Del Toro)
9) Mank (d. David Fincher)
4) Dune (d. Denis Villnueve)
The Playlist's top anticipated film is Christopher Nolan's Tenet.
The complete list of 100 films plus some honorable mentions is linked here.
UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: INTERNATIONAL, DOCS, ANIMATED FEATURE
I'm updating my predictions today for three categories: International, Documentary and Animated Features. Their last predicted position is indicated in parentheses; TFF #46 films are Bold.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
1) Parasite (1)
2) Pain and Glory (2)
3) Les Miserables (3)
4) Atlantics (4)
5) This Invisible Life (-)
6) Corpus Christi (-)
Other possibles: And Then They Danced, Monos, Beanpole
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1) American Factory (1)
2) Apollo 11 (2)
3) One Child Nation (3)
4) For Sama (-)
5) Honeyland (-)
6) The Biggest Little Farm (-) (TFF #45)
Other possibles: Sea of Shadows, Edge of Democracy, The Cave, The Kingmaker
ANIMATED FEATURE
1) Toy Story 4 (1)
2) Frozen II (2)
3) I Lost My Body (4)
4) The Missing Link (3)
5) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (5)
6) Klaus (-)
Other possibles: Abominable, Funan
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Golden Globe Nominations Land / AFI Names Ten Best (Plus One) / The Playlist 100 for 2019
GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS LAND
Best Picture/Drama
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born
Best Picture/Musical-Comedy
Crazy Rich Asians
*The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice
Best Actor/Drama
Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe/At Eternity's Gate
*Lucas Hedges/Boy Erased
Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody
John David Washington/BalcKkKlansman
Best Actress/Drama
Glenn Close/The Wife
Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born
*Nicole Kidman/Destroyer
*Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Rosamund Pike/A Private War
Best Actor/Musical-Comedy
Christian Bale/Vice
Lin Manuel Miranda/Mary Poppins Returns
Viggo Mortensen/Green Book
*Robert Redford/The Old Man and the Gun
John C. Reilly/Stan and Ollie
Best Actress Musical-Comedy
Emily Blunt/Mary Poppins Returns
*Olivia Colman/The Favourite
Elise Fisher/Eighth Grade
Carlize Theron/Tully
Constance Wu/Crazy Rich Asians
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali/Green Book
Timothee Chalamet/Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver/BlacKkKlansman
*Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell/Vice
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams/Vice
*Claire Foy/First Man
Regina King/If Beale Street Could Talk
*Emma Stone/The Favourite
*Rachel Weisz/The Favourite
Best Direction
Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born
*Alfonso Cuaron/Roma
Peter Farrelly/Green Book
Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay/Vice
Best Screenplay
*Roma
*The Favourite
If Beale Street Could Talk
Vice
Green Book
Best Score
A Quiet Place
Isle of Dogs
Black Panther
*First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Best Song
Black Panther
Dumplin'
A Private War
*Boy Erased
A Star Is Born
Best Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Isle of Dogs
Marai
Best Foreign Language Film
Capernaum
*Girl
Never Look Away
*Roma
*Shoplifters
TFF #45 nominees by film:
The Favourite: Best Film-Musical or Comedy, Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Screenplay
Roma: Foreign Language, Direction, Screenplay
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Grant)
Boy Erased: Best Actor-Drama (Hedges), Best Song
Destroyer: Best Actress-Drama (Kidman)
First Man: Best Supporting Actress (Foy), Best Score
The Old Man and the Gun: Best Actor-Musical or Comedy (Redford)
Girl: Best Foreign Language Film
Shoplifters: Best Foreign Language Film
TFF #45 films earn 18 Globe nominations.
AFI NAMES TEN BEST (PLUS ONE)
The American Film Institute named their ten best films for 2018 on Tuesday:
TFF #45 earned one spot on the list for Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite. TFF #45 entrant Roma was named as the recipient of a special award as it was not eligible for the top ten list per AFI rules. TFF #44 film First Reformed was also named to the AFI Top Ten list. That could bode well for Roma as the last time the AFI named a film for a special award was in 2011 for eventual Oscar Best Picture winner The Artist.
First Man and Can You Ever Forgive Me? both missed out.
The complete list:
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Eighth Grade
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Favourite
First Reformed
Green Room
Mary Poppins Returns
A Quiet Place
A Star Is Born
Special Award: Roma
Here's coverage from Indiewire.
THE PLAYLIST 100
The annual review of their 100 most anticipated films for the new year came down for The Playlist earlier this week and, as you might expect, I have culled the list for films that seem like they should be on our radar for TFF #46.
The staff specifically mentions Telluride as a possible destination for only three films:
#39: Pale Blue Dot (now titled: Lucy in the Sky)
#26: The untitled Noah Baumbach project
#11: The Last Thing He Wanted
Among the other 97 films listed, the following are the ones that seem to me to be most likely:
#100: The Glorias: A Life on the Road
#91: Resistance
#79: My Zoe
#66: Mainstream
#64: Against All Enemies
#63: The Woman in the Window
#59: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (not likely as production has been delayed)
#52: Motherless Brooklyn
#40: The Goldfinch
#34: You Are My Friend (Now titled: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
#33: Antlers
#30: Ema
#29: Waiting for the Barbarians
#24: The King
#20: Radegund
#19: Bergman Island
#17: The Truth
#15: The Laundromat
#13: Triple Frontier (off the list, release dated for Mar. 13th)
#7: Little Women
#2: The Irishman
The complete list of 100 films (plus some honorable mentions) from The Playlist is linked here.
That's all she wrote for this Golden Globes Thursday...more on Monday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Thursday, December 8, 2016
The FAC Updates Picture and Director / An Early Peek at TFF #44 Possibilities / AFI Best Films List
THE FAC UPDATES BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR OSCAR CANDIDATES
Our last look at the Best Picture and Director categories for The Film Awards Clearinghouse came on Nov. 3 and the intervening month has seen some changes. Here's a look at where those two categories stand as we end the first week of December.
I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
TFF #43 films are in Bold. The film's previous position follows its title in parentheses.
AN EARLY PEEK AT TFF#44 POSSIBILITIES
Each year any number of film outlets lay out their "most anticipated" lists for the following year. Normally those get published at the beginning of January and provide the first glimpse of what films lie ahead and, as a result give some clues about films that might make The SHOW.
This year, for whatever reason, The Playlist has jumped on the topic early.., a month early. They posted their 100 Most Anticipated 2017 films on Tuesday. It caught me a bit off guard and I thought that I might just pin the article and come back to it in a month or so I thought, "Why not?".
Consequently, I prepped my commentary Tuesday and Wednesday. One of the things that I did was to look back at the past three years of the very same lists to see how much it corresponds to what actually happened over Labor Day weekend. I wasn't very good at picking films from last year's list but was better in 2015 and 2014. Here's what I mean:
Last year, from the 100 films that The Playlist mentioned, seven made the TFF lineup: Neruda, Una, Things to Come, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land and Arrival (which was titled The Story of Your Life at the time). The only film among them that I named: Neruda. Just for hoots, I went back and discovered that I first mentioned both La La Land and Moonlight for the first time in March. Manchester had already been on the MTFB radar the year before.
In 2015 the list included: Carol, Beasts of No Nation, Black Mass, Suffragette and Spotlight which I included on my Telluride-possibles as well as Room, 45 Years and Steve Jobs which I did not list.
In 2014 the list included: The Lunchbox, Mommy, Tracks and Wild that I didn't name for TFF but did include three films that I did pick: Birdman, Foxcatcher and Mr. Turner.
So, the conclusion is that somewhere on the list for 2017 are probably 7-8 titles that make the TFF #44 program and I'll get about three of them right out of the list of 20 guesses I have below. Not the best odds, but I'm shooting in the dark here.
Here are the films listed by their position on The Playlist's list:
98- Redoubtable-Michel Hazanavicius' take of the life of film legend Jean-Luc Godard.
92- A Fantastic Woman- from Sebastian Lelio who brought his Gloria to T-ride in 2013.
90-The Lovers- from A24
85- Battle of the Sexes- Billy Jean King versus Bobby Riggs with Emma Stone and Steve Carell. Produced by Danny Boyle
76- Lady Bird- The Playlist suggests Telluride as a possibility.
64- Wind River-from The Weinstein Company, because I think they'll be back at TFF.
62-Tully- Could Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody return?
57- Mektoub is Mektoub- Abdellatif Kechiche's follow up to Blue is the Warmest Color.
55- The Current War- Weinsteins
51-The Other Side of Hope- Maybe Aki Kauismaki (Le Harve/TFF 2011) returns.
41- Molly's Game-Could Aaron Sorkin return to T-ride with his directing debut? It might depend on how he felt about the reception for Steve Jobs. Maybe this gets Jessica Chastain into town.
33- Mudbound- Playlist mentions it as a possibility for Telluride.
28- Lean on Pete Andrews-Andrew Haigh could return after the success he had at T-ride with 45 Years.
25- Downsizing- Alexander Payne with Matt Damon starring. Will likely start next summer's first "Ten Bets" list at the number one spot.
24- Loveless- Andrey Zvyagintsev had a great Telluride bow with his Leviathan in 2014. Could portend a return.
21- Suburbicon- George Clooney directing. I've always thought that Clooney was a good bet to come back to TFF. He seemed to have such a good time there when he received a tribute in 2009 (Up in the Air). This could be the ticket.
17-The Shape of Water- I've thought since Alfonso Cuaron made the trip with Gravity in 2013 that we'd probably see Guillermo Del Toro someday. Del Toro is the third of the three amigos, Alejandro Inarritu being the other and Inarritu has practically been a Telluride citizen over the years (Babel, Biutiful, Birdman). The Shape of Water seems like the kind of smaller Del Toro that could crack the TFF lineup.
16- Mother- Darren Aronofsky directs. His success with Black Swan in 2010 makes a return a possibility.
15- You Were Never Really Here- Will Lynne Ramsay return after her success in 2011 with We Need to Talk about Kevin?
9- Wonderstruck-Todd Haynes. Past Telluride's : I'm Not There (2007) and Carol (2015). Please return and bring Julianne Moore with you.
5- Happy End- Michael Haneke- Cache, The White Ribbon and Amour have all played T-ride so this seems likely.
The complete ;list of 100 films plus some bonus titles is here from The Playlist.
Although, I feel like I've detected a trend last couple of years toward shying away from this kind of obviousness in the program's curation. Maybe it's just me, but no Audiard/Dheepan in 2015, for example.
One other note...The Playlist's #1 most anticipated is the announced Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Day Lewis collaboration on a film set in the fashion world of 1950's New York. Yes, it will be my most anticipated as well but I'll actually be surprised if it's ready in time for a 2017 date. My guess would be a Cannes 2018 play with perhaps a NYFF screening and maybe an AFI screening as well. I want to be wrong on all counts and see it in Telluride in 9 months.
AFI NAMES 2016'S BEST FILMS
Announced this afternoon are the American Film Institutes's Best Films of 2016:
Arrival Fences Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water La La Land Manchester Moonlight Silence Sully Zootopia
It's an impressive showing for Telluride as five of the ten films played this year's fest: Arrival, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight and Sully.
You can find more about the AFI list here from Indiewire.
Otherwise, back here on Monday...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)
FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page
COMMENT to the blog.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Updated FAC for Oscars Four Major Categories / American Film Institute's Top Ten Films for 2015 / The Latest Gurus of Gold
As promised, here is your update of four major Oscar categories:
THE UPDATED FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE/MAJOR FOUR CATEGORIES
Many of the professionals listed below will often write that precursors like the Golden Globes and SAG nominations as well as critical top tens don't really move the needle as far as Oscar voters go. And yet...as you look at these categories that are updated from their last post from about three weeks ago...the number crunching of their thinking tells a different story.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Trumbo's" Bryan Cranston have jumped into serious contention precisely because of the announcement of year end accolades from the various precursors. "Joy" has dropped like a stone after spending the past several months comfortably regarded as a serious contender in a number of categories.
"The Martian" continues to be regarded well but I have serious concerns that the main categories will accommodate it and "Mad Max".
For the purpose of The FAC I gather data from the publicly posted predictions of the following:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Peter Knegt/Indiewire
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
TFF #42 films are in Bold.
The positions that these possible nominees had in our last look at these categories is indicated in parenthesis.
BEST PICTURE
1) Spotlight (1)
2) The Martian (3)
3) The Revenant (2)
4) Room (4)
5) Brooklyn (6)
6) Carol (10)
7) Mad Max: Fury Road (NR)
8) The Big Short (12)
9) Bridge of Spies (5)
10) Inside Out (9)
11) Steve Jobs (8)
12) The Hateful Eight (11)
Hot: Carol, Mad Max:Fury Road, The Big Short
Not: Bridge of Spies, Steve Jobs, Joy
Comment: "Fury Road" is red hot and "Joy" is dead as can be as it dropped completely off the chart. Not one of these experts thinks it will get a Best Picture nomination. It's fall from grace makes me a little dizzy. "Spotlight" nailed a perfect score from these Oscarologists.
BEST DIRECTOR
1) Tom McCarthy/Spotlight (1)
2) Ridley Scott/The Martian (3)
3) Alejandro Inarritu/The Revenant (2)
4) George Miller/Mad Max:Fury Road (7)
5) Todd Haynes/Carol (8)
6) Steven Spielberg/Bridge of Spies (4)
7) Lenny Abrahamson/Room (5)
8) Quentin Tarantino/The Hateful Eight (10)
9) John Crowley/Brooklyn (NR)
10) Adam McKay/The Big Short (NR)
Hot: Miller, Haynes, Tarantino, Crowley, McKay
Not: Spielberg, Abrahamson, Boyle, Russell
Comment: The upward trajectory for Haynes and Miller reveal that they are thought to be serious Best Picture contenders as well.
BEST ACTRESS
1) Brie Larson/Room (1)
2) Saorise Ronan/Brooklyn (3)
3) Cate Blanchett/Carol (4)
4) Charlotte Rampling/45 Years (5)
5) Jennifer Lawrence/Joy (2)
6) Rooney Mara/Carol (NR)
7) Carey Mulligan/Suffragette (6)
8) Lily Tomlin/Grandma (8)
9) Helen Mirren/Woman in Gold (NR)
10) Sarah Silverman/I Smile Back (NR)
Hot: Mara, Mirren, Silverman
Not: Lawrence, Danner, Smith, Blanchett (Truth)
Comment: Nothing better illustrates the fall of "Joy" than Jennifer Lawrence's drop to the #5 spot and fighting to stay on as a likely nominee. She's still way out front of Rooney Mara (whose presence here indicates a potential rejection of the decision to campaign her in the Supporting category) but the drop over the last three weeks has been precipitous.
BEST ACTOR
1) Leonardo DiCaprio/The Revenant (1)
2) Michael Fassbender/Steve Jobs (2)
3) Eddie Redmayne/The Danish Girl (3)
4) Matt Damon/The Martian (5)
5) Bryan Cranston/Trumbo (NR)
6) Johnny Depp/Black Mass (4)
7) Will Smith/Concussion (7)
8) Ian McKellen/Mr. Holmes (9)
9) Michael Caine/Youth (6)
10) Steve Carell/The Big Short (10)
Hot: Cranston
Not: Depp, Caine, Hanks
Comment: Bryan Cranston's jump into contention has been stratospheric. I still have serious reservations about Damon making the top five.
If these predictions are 100% accurate, then films/performers from Telluride will earn nine nominations in these four categories with an additional five possibilities.
I'll update the Supporting Acting and Screenplay Oscar predictions in Monday's edition of MTFB/FAC.
AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTES'S TOP TEN FILMS
The AFI announced their list of the Ten Best films of 2015 yesterday and three Telluride Film Fest films made the grade: "Carol", "Room" and "Spotlight". Other films making the AFI Top Ten included:
"The Big Short"
"Bridge of Spies"
"Inside Out"
"Mad Max:Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"
"Straight Outta Compton"
Left out: "The Revenant", "Joy", "Creed", "Steve Jobs", "Black Mass" and "The Hateful Eight".
Last year the AFI list included 11 films:
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"Boyhood"
"Foxcatcher"
"The Imitation Game"
"Interstellar"
"Into the Woods"
"Nightcrawler"
"Selma"
"Unbroken"
"Whiplash"
I've included links to this coverage of the AFI announcement:
https://variety.com/2015/film/in-contention/afi-awards-honorees-star-wars-mr-robot-1201662848/
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2015/12/16/avi-top-ten-2015/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-force-awakens-lands-849517
THE LATEST GURUS OF GOLD
Movie City News was up yesterday with an updated posting for the Gurus of Gold. Their list of Best Picture cumulative predictions has TFF films as follows:
"Spotlight" #1
"Carol" #3
"Room" #8
"Steve Jobs" #11
"Beasts of No Nation" #17
The complete Gurus update is here:
http://moviecitynews.com/2015/12/gurus-o-gold-what-underdogs-are-still-barking/
Additionally, Sasha Stone at Awards Daily broke down the implications of the latest from the Gurus in this post yesterday:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2015/12/16/at-last-a-consensus-emerges-in-the-best-picture-race/#
That'll do for now. I'll post anew on Monday...
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Thursday, November 27, 2014
Independent Spirit Nominations/Predictions for NBR, AFI and NYFCC/Gurus of Gold
Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone and welcome to this truncated version of MTFB/FAC. The FAC is taking the day off and will return with an updated assessment of the Oscar race next Thursday. Have a lovely holiday everyone!
(Award given to the producer. Executive producers are not awarded.)
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole
“Boyhood”
Producers: Richard Linklater, Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss, Cathleen Sutherland
“Love Is Strange”
Producers: Lucas Joaquin, Lars Knudsen, Ira Sachs, Jayne Baron Sherman, Jay Van Hoy
“Selma”
Producers: Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Oprah Winfrey
“Whiplash”
Producers: Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook, David Lancaster, Michael Litvak
Damien Chazelle
“Whiplash”
Ava DuVernay
“Selma”
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Richard Linklater
“Boyhood”
David Zellner
“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
“Big Eyes”
J.C. Chandor
“A Most Violent Year”
Dan Gilroy
“Nightcrawler”
Jim Jarmusch
“Only Lovers Left Alive”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias
“Love Is Strange”
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Producers: Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah
“Dear White People”
Director-producer: Justin Simien
Producers: Effie T. Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe
“Nightcrawler”
Director: Dan Gilroy
Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak
“Obvious Child”
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Producer: Elisabeth Holm
“She’s Lost Control”
Director-producer: Anja Marquardt
Producers: Mollye Asher, Kiara C. Jones
Desiree Akhavan
“Appropriate Behavior”
Sara Colangelo
“Little Accidents”
Justin Lader
“The One I Love”
Anja Marquardt
“She’s Lost Control”
Justin Simien
“Dear White People”
“Blue Ruin”
Writer-director: Jeremy Saulnier
Producers: Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
“It Felt Like Love”
Writer-director-producer: Eliza Hittman
Producers: Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner
“Land Ho!”
Writers-directors: Aaron Katz & Martha Stephens
Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy
“Man From Reno”
Writer-director: Dave Boyle
Writers: Joel Clark, Michael Lerman
Producer: Ko Mori
“Test”
Writer-director-producer: Chris Mason Johnson
Producer: Chris Martin
Marion Cotillard
“The Immigrant”
Rinko Kikuchi
“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”
Julianne Moore
“Still Alice”
Jenny Slate
“Obvious Child”
Tilda Swinton
“Only Lovers Left Alive”
André Benjamin
“Jimi: All Is by My Side”
Jake Gyllenhaal
“Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
John Lithgow
“Love Is Strange”
David Oyelowo
“Selma”
Patricia Arquette
“Boyhood”
CIO, CTO & Developer Resources
Jessica Chastain
“A Most Violent Year”
Carmen Ejogo
“Selma”
Andrea Suarez Paz
“Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”
Emma Stone
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Riz Ahmed
“Nightcrawler”
Ethan Hawke
Boyhood
Alfred Molina
“Love Is Strange”
Edward Norton
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
J.K. Simmons
Whiplash
Darius Khondji
“The Immigrant”
Emmanuel Lubezki
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
Sean Porter
“It Felt Like Love”
Lyle Vincent
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Bradford Young
“Selma”
Sandra Adair
“Boyhood”
Tom Cross
“Whiplash”
John Gilroy
“Nightcrawler”
Ron Patane
“A Most Violent Year”
Adam Wingard
“The Guest”
“20,000 Days on Earth”
Directors: Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Producers: Dan Bowen, James Wilson
“CitizenFour”
Director-producer: Laura Poitras
Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky
“Stray Dog”
Director: Debra Granik
Producer: Anne Rosellini
“The Salt of the Earth”
Directors: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders
Producer: David Rosier
“Virunga”
Director-producer: Orlando von Einsiedel
Producer: Joanna Natasegara
“Force Majeure”
(Sweden)
Director: Ruben Östlund
“Ida”
(Poland)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
“Leviathan
(Russia)
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Mommy
(Canada)
Director: Xavier Dolan
Norte, the End of History
(Philippines)
Director: Lav Diaz
Under the Skin
(United Kingdom)
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis
Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon
Foxcatcher
Director/Producer: Bennett Miller
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik
Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
H.
Directors: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia
The Retrieval
Director: Chris Eska
Approaching the Elephant
Director: Amanda Rose Wilder
Evolution of a Criminal
Director: Darius Clark Monroe
The Kill Team
Director: Dan Krauss
The Last Season
Director: Sara Dosa
A big day for TFF #41 film "Birdman" which led all films with six nominations. The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the nominations here:
Awards Daily's Sasha Stone takes a look at the first wave of year-end superlatives list of films from The National Board of Review, American Film Institute and the New York Film Critics that will be announced in the next few days and makes some predictions about what we might see when those are announced:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2014/11/predicting-afi-producers-guild
http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2014/11/predicting-new-york-film-critics-national-board-of-review-and-los-angeles-film-critics/
Here's the latest update from The Movie City News Gurus of Gold predictions for Best Picture:



































