MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / Oscar Thoughts / New Trailer for All the Beauty... / Visitations: Blanchett, Polley, Dhont and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here's the next to last predictions for both screenplay categories as well as Score, Song, Cinematography and Editing.  My final predictions will go up in a special post on Sunday, Mar.12th. a film's previous rank is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF films are indicated in Bold.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Women Talking (1)

2) All Quiet on the Western Front (2)

3) Living (4)

4) Glass Onion (3)

5) Top Gun: Maverick (5)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

2) The Banshees of Inisherin (1)

3) TAR (3)

4) The Fabelmans (4)

5) Triangle of Sadness (5)

SCORE

1) Babylon (1)

2) All Quiet on the Western Front (3)

3) The Fabelmans (2)

4) The Banshees of Inisherin (4)

5) Everything Everywhere All at Once (5)

SONG

1) Naatu Naatu/RRR (1)

2) Hold My Hand/Top Gun: Maverick (2)

3) Lift Me Up/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (3)

4) This Is a Life/Everything Everywhere (4)

5) Applause/Tell It Like a Woman (5)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) All Quiet on the Western Front (1)

2) Elvis (2)

3) TAR (3)

4) Empire of Light (4)

5) Bardo (5)

EDITING

1) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

2) Top Gun: Maverick (1)

3) Elvis (3)

4) The Banshees of Inisherin (4)

5)TAR (5)

OSCAR THOUGHTS

Of today's six categories, four of them are real toss-ups at this point: both Screenplay categories as well as Score and Editing.

Original Screenplay might be the tightest between Banshees and EEAAO.  As a matter of fact, it's the closest of any of the 23 categories at this point.  

Then, in order of what feels like the next tightest races:

Editing  (Between EEAAO and Maverick)

Score (Between Babylon and All Quiet)

Adapted Screenplay (Between Women Talking and All Quiet)

 NEW TRAILER FOR ALL THE BEAUTY

Ahead of its March 19th unveiling on HBO we have a new trailer and poster (above) for Laura Poitras' Oscar nominated Doc All the Beauty and the Bloodshed which screened at TFF #49 once on the last day of the fest.  Here's the trailer via YouTube:

VISITATIONS

TAR: Cate Blanchett with The Los Angeles Times.

Women Talking: Sarah Polley with Deadline and Kate Hallett with The Hollywood Reporter.

Close: Director Lukas Dhont with Awards Watch and also with A.Frame.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Oscar Thoughts / Extended Trailer for Salvatore / Visitations: Women Talking, Bardo and Sr.

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here's the last update for these major categories prior to final predictions that will post on the Sunday morning of the Oscars (March 12th).  A film's previous ranking from two weeks ago is indicated to the right in parentheses. TFF films are indicated in Bold.

 BEST PICTURE

1) Everything Everywhere All at Once (1)

2) The Banshees of Inisherin (3)

3) The Fabelmans (2)

4) Top Gun: Maverick (5)

5) All Quiet on the Western Front (7)

6) TAR (5)

7) Elvis (6)

8) Triangle of Sadness (8)

9) Avatar: The Way of Water (9)

10) Women Talking (10)

BEST DIRECTION

1) Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert/Everything Everywhere All at Once (1)

2) Steven Spielberg/The Fabelmans (2)

3) Todd Field/TAR (3)

4) Martin McDonagh/The Bnashees of Inisherin (4)

5) Ruben Ostlund/Triangle of Sadness (5)

BEST ACTRESS

1) Cate Blanchett/TAR (1)

2) Michelle Yeoh/Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) Andrea Riseborough/To Leslie (5)

4) Michelle Williams/The Fabelmans (3)

5) Ana de Armas/Blonde (4)

BEST ACTOR

1) Austin Butler/Elvis (2)

2) Brendan Fraser/The Whale (1)

3) Colin Farrell/The Banshees of Inisherin (3)

4) Bill Nighy/Living (4)

5) Paul Mescal/Aftersun (5)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Kerry Condon/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

2) Jamie Lee Curtis/Everything Everywhere All at Once (3)

3) Angela Bassett/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (1)

4) Stephanie Hsu/Everything Everywhere All at Once (4)

5) Hong Chau/The Whale (5)

BEST SUPPORTNG ACTOR

1) Ke Huy Quan/Everything Everywhere All at Once (1)

2) Brendan Gleeson/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

3) Barry Koeghan/The Banshees of Inisherin (4)

4) Judd Hirsch/The Fabelmans (3)

5) Bryan Tyree Henry/Causeway (5)

OSCAR THOUGHTS

The BAFTA win for Austin Butler seemed to have lifted him over Brendan Fraser in the Best Actor race and BAFTA also seemed to solidify Cate Blanchett's position over Michelle Yeoh, then the SGA's happened last night and it's all back up in the air again.  

DGA, PGA  and SAG Ensemble wins for Everything Everywhere All at Once have solidified its position for Best Picture and Best Direction. 

PGA- TFF nominees were wiped out across the board.  TAR, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Retrograde were the only TFF films nominated and none won.  You could make a bit of a case for Navalny's PGA win for Documentary being TFF-adjacent as it screened prior to the fest's start at Elk Park.  Also, TFF touches just a bit on Everything Everywhere All at Once with the special screening of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the appearance at the fest of Michelle Yeoh.

SAG- Everything Everywhere won everything everywhere.  Ensemble, Actress (Yeoh), Supporting Actress (Curtis) and Supporting Actor (Quan).  Brendan Fraser gained back some ground with his SAG win over Austin Butler.  That goes back to being a tight race.  Yeoh's win did the same in Best Actress with Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis's win throws Supporting Actress into a real tizzy.  

Quan's win means he is locked and the Ensemble prize seems to lock Everything Everywhere for Best Picture.  EEAAO could end up with six Oscars in two weeks time.

this next two weeks are going to be crazy.

EXTENDED TRAILER FOR SALVATORE

Sony Pictures Classics released an extended trailer this week for Luca Guadagnino's documentary Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams.  The film has already been released.

VISITATIONS

Women Talking: Sarah Polley with Indiewire and Ben Whishaw with The Standard.

Sr. : Chris Smith with The National Board of Review.

Bardo: Alejandro Inarritu and Darius Khondji with Indiewire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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Tom Luddy 1943-2023 / MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / Detective Work / Visitations: Claire Foy of Women Talking

TOM LUDDY 1943-2023

(photo via Indiewire)

As we found out on Valentine's Day, Telluride Film Festival co-founder Tom Luddy died on Feb. 13th  in California.  I posted the Fest's press release on Tuesday in a special MTFB post.  You can see that here. 

Luddy's passing was duly noted by many film industry outlets:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

Indiewire

The Wrap

The Los Angeles Times

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE:SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here's the first update of my current predictions for what will win Oscars in the Screenplay categories as well as Score, Song, Cinematography and Editing.  Previous rank for each film is in parentheses to the right and TFF films are in Bold.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Women Talking (1)

2) All Quiet on the Western Front (2)

3) Glass Onion (4)

4) Living (3)

5) Top Gun: Maverick (5)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

2) Everything Everywhere All at Once (1)

3) TAR (4)

4) The Fabelmans (3)

5) Triangle of Sadness (5)

SCORE

1) Babylon (1)

2) The Fabelmans (2)

3) All Quiet on the Western Front (3)

4) The Banshees of Inisherin (4)

5) Everything Everywhere All at Once (5)

SONG

1) Naatu Naatu/RRR (1)

2) Hold My Hand/Top Gun: Maverick (2)

3) Lift Me Up/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (3)

4) This Is a Life/Everything Everywhere (4)

5) Applause/Tell It Like a Woman (5)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) All Quiet on the Western Front (2)

2) Elvis (1)

3) TAR (3)

4) Empire of Light (4)

5) Bardo (5)

EDITING

1) Top Gun: Maverick (1)

2) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) Elvis (3)

4) The Banshees of Inisherin (4)

5)TAR (5)

Comment:

In a couple of close races I have shuffled the top two.  In Original Screenplay I have moved Banshees ahead of Everything Everywhere and in Cinematography I have moved All Quiet ahead of Elvis.  In both instances the race is tight and fluid.  I could change back tomorrow.  As an extra side note, I could see TAR crashing the party in both of these categories as well.

I'll be updating predictions for Animated, International and Documentary features as well as Production Design, Costumes and Makeup/Hair in next Monday's post.

DETECTIVE WORK

Last year I was really a believer early on that Living would make the trip to Telluride despite having played at Sundance seven months earlier.  Some of that was a hunch but some if it was also based on recent TFF history.  

Prior to TFF #49, there had been two other recent instances where high profile awards contenders screened at Sundance originally and then moved to Telluride.  In 2016 Casey Affleck's Oscar winning turn in Manchester by the Sea bowed at Sundance and then Affleck was a tribute recipient at TFF #43.  Then in 2019 Adam Driver followed the same route with The Report at Sundance followed by a tribute and Telluride slot for the film plus Marriage Story.

In 2020, The Father was on the released list of films that would have screened at TFF #47 had it happened.  Anthony Hopkins was said to have been a tribute recipient.  Of course, Hopkins would win the Oscar for Best Actor.

In each of these cases the films also shared the distinction of being distributed by outfits that have had good ties to TFF.  In the cases of Manchester and The Report it was Amazon Studios and for The Father and Living it was Sony Pictures Classics.

All of that is to get to this which is the late January news that SPC bought distribution rights to Sundance film A Little Prayer from writer/director Angus MacLachlan (Junebug and Abundant Acreage Available) .  And what really got to me look at this was a post from Gold Derby this week mentioning 2024 Oscar buzz (yes, already) for David Strathairn's performance. 

A little bell started dinging in my head.  It fits the recent profile.  So, maybe for TFF #50, A Little Prayer from SPC starring Strathairn and a possible tribute for the longtime actor.  Don't be surprised if that is on the first "Ten Bets: for TFF #50 in June.

David Strathairn's IMDb page.

Angus MacLachan's IMDb page.

VISITATIONS

WOMEN TALKING:  Claire Foy for Harpers's Bazaar.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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MTFB Oscar Update: Winners Predictions Part 2 / The Unofficial TFF Oscar Page Update

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: WINNERS PREDICTIONS PART TWO

Today we take a first pass at predicting what films will win for Adapted and Original Screenplay as well as Score. Song, Cinematography and Editing.  TFF films are indicated in Bold.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Women Talking

2) All Quiet on the Western front

3) Living

4) Glass Onion

5) Top Gun: Maverick

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Everything Everywhere All at Once

2) The Banshees of Inisherin

3) The Fabelmans

4) TAR

5) Triangle of Sadness

SCORE

1) Babylon

2) The Fabelmans

3) All Quiet on the Western Front

4) The Banshees of Inisherin

5) Everything Everywhere All at Once

SONG

1) Naatu Naatu/RRR

2) Hold My Hand/Top Gun: Maverick

3) Lift Me Up/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

4) This Is a Life/Everything Everywhere

5) Applause/Tell It Like aWoman

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Elvis

2) All Quiet on the Western Front

3) TAR

4) Empire of Light

5) Bardo

EDITING

1) Top Gun: Maverick

2) Everything Everywhere

3) Elvis

4) The Banshees of Inisherin

5)TAR

Through 12 categories of predicting, including the first six categories from last Monday's post, Everything Everywhere All at Once is the only film with more than a single predicted nomination.  I have it winning three: Picture, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay(barely edging Banshees-so that could evolve over the next few weeks).

Through these first 12 categories I have TFF films winning two Oscars, Blanchett for Best Actress for TAR and Sarah Polley for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking.

Next Monday, predictions for International Feature, Documentary Feature, Animated Feature, Production Design, Makeup/Hair and Costumes.

THE UNOFFICIAL OSCAR PAGE UPDATE

MTFB's Unofficial TFF Oscar History Page has been updated to reflect the most recent set of nominations involving TFF films.  The Oscar History page is divided into to four sections:

TFF Oscar Nominations by Year

TFF Oscar Nominations and Wins by Category and Year

TFF Nominations for Each Category from Most to Least

TFF Films with Six or More Nominations

Here's a quick jump to that page and, of course you can always access it and all of the other MTFB Bonus Pages by clicking on the links at the top of each post.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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SPECIAL POST: OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

TFF Films in Bold.

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Elvis”

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

“The Fabelmans”

“TÁR”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

“Triangle of Sadness”

“Women Talking”

Best Director

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)

Todd Field (“TÁR”)

Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett (“TÁR”)

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”)

Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Actor

Austin Butler (“Elvis”)

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)

Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)

Bill Nighy (“Living”)

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)

Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)

Hong Chau (“The Whale”)

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best International Feature Film

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Edward Berger, Germany)

“Argentina, 1985” (Santiago Mitre, Argentina)

“Close” (Lukas Dhont, Belgium)

“EO” (Poland)

“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)

Best Cinematography

James Friend (“All Quiet on the Western Front”)

Darius Khondji (“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”)

Mandy Walker (“Elvis”)

Roger Deakins (“Empire of Light”)

Florian Hoffmeister (“Tár”)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Edward Berger, Ian Stokell, and Lesley Paterson (“All Quiet on the Western Front”)

Rian Johnson (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)

Kazuo Ishiguro (“Living”)

Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie, and Eric Warren Singer (“Top Gun: Maverick”)

Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”)

Best Original Screenplay

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Todd Field (“TÁR”)

Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Best Animated Feature

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (ShadowMachine/Netflix)

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” (A24)

“Turning Red” (Pixar/Disney)

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks/Universal)

“The Sea Beast” (Netflix)

Best Visual Effects

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century/Disney)

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)

“The Batman” (Warner Bros.)

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Disney/Marvel)

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount)

Best Editing

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount)

“TÁR” (Focus Features)

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures)

Best Production Design

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios/Disney)

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)

“Babylon” (Paramount)

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)

“The Fabelmans” (Universal)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)

“The Batman” (Warner Bros.)

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel/Disney)

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)

“The Whale” (A24)

Best Costume Design

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel/Disney)

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)

“Babylon” (Paramount)

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Focus Features)

Best Sound

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount)

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century/Disney)

Contenders

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Netflix)

“The Batman” (Warner Bros.)

Best Documentary Feature

“All That Breathes”

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”

“Fire of Love”

“A House Made of Splinters”

“Navalny”

Best Documentary Short Subject

“The Elephant Whisperers”

“Haulout”

“How Do You Measure a Year?”

“The Martha Mitchell Effect”

“Stranger at the Gate”

Best Live Action Short

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Ivalu”

“Le Pupille”

“Night Ride”

“The Red Suitcase”

Best Animated Short

“The Flying Sailor”

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

“Ice Merchants”

“My Year of Dicks”

“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It”

Best Original Song

“Hold My Hand” — Lady Gaga (“Top Gun: Maverick”)

“Lift Me Up”— Rihanna (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)

“Naatu Naatu”— Kaala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj (“RRR”)

“Applause”— Diane Warren (“Tell It Like a Woman”)

“This Is a Life”— David Byrne, Ryan Lott, and Mitski (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Original Score

Justin Hurwitz (“Babylon”)

John Williams (“The Fabelmans”)

Volker Bertelmann (“All Quiet on the Western Front”)

Carter Burwell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)

Son Lux (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

TFF films earn 17 nominations.  16 from TFF #49 and one from TFF #48.

TAR leads the Telluride crew with six: Best Picture, Actress, Direction, Original Screenplay, Editing and Cinematography.

Women Calling and Living each got two nominations.  Women Calling for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay.  Living for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay.

Single nominations for:

Aftersun: Best Actor

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed: Best Doc

Close: Best International Feature

Empire of Light: Cinematography

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Best Animated Film (TFF #48)

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths: Cinematography

Le Pupille: Best Live Action Short

Everything everywhere All at Once had the most nominations with 11.  Followed by The Banshees of Inisherin and All Quiet on the Western Front with nine each.

I'm pleased that Nighy is Oscar nominated and that Women Talking made the field for Best Picture.

I go 93 out of 120 for a 77.5% rate.

My best categories were Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects where I was 5 of 5.  My categories were Cinematography and Doc Short where I went 2 of 5.

My  point of pride: Picking All Quiet on the Western Front to get nine nominations which it did.  Although I had Edward Berger getting a Best Director nomination which did not happen.  However All Quiet picked up a nom for Best Score that I did not predict.

More on Thursday!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / The Critics Choice and TFF / Visitations: Buckley, Foy, Inarritu and More

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATING LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I am updating predictions in the categories of Best Actress, Best Actor, Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These were last predicted on Jan. 2nd.  Past ranking is to the right of the performer in parentheses.  Performances from TFF #49 are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Michelle Yeoh/Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

2) Cate Blanchett/TAR (1)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/Till (4)

4) Michelle Williams/The Fabelmans (3)

5) Viola Davis/The Woman King (5)

6) Anna de Armas/Blonde (New)

7) Margot Robbie/Babylon (6)

Out: Olivia Colman/Empire of Light

BEST ACTOR

1) Brendan Fraser/The Whale (1)

2) Austin Butler/Elvis (3)

3) Colin Ferrell/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

4) Bill Nighy/Living (4)

5) Paul Mescal/Aftersun (6)

6) Tom Cruise/Top Gun: Maverick (5)

7) Adam Sandler/Hustle (New)

Out: Hugh Jackman/The Son

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Top Gun: Maverick (1)

2) Avatar: The Way of Water (2)

3) The Fabelmans (3)

4) Empire of Light (6)

5) All Quiet on the Western Front (5)

6) Babylon (4)

7) TAR (7)

BEST FILM EDITING

1) Top Gun: Maverick (1)

2) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) The Fabelmans (3)

4) Elvis (5)

5) Avatar: The Way of Water (4)

6) The Banshees of Inisherin (6)

7) TAR (7)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Elvis (3)

2) Avatar: The Way of Water (1)

3) Babylon (2)

4) The Fabelmans (4)

5) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (5)

6) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (7)

7) Everything Everywhere All at Once (6)

THE CRITICS CHOICE AND TFF

The Critics' Choice Awards were handed out last night and the film side was dominated by Everything Everywhere All at Once with five wins including Best Picture and Best Direction.   

Nine TFF films had been nominated with a combined 23 nominations.  At the end of the evening TFF films had landed with three wins.  TAR had two of those for Best Actress-Cate Blanchett and Best Score.  Sarah Polley won Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking.

The complete list of winners can be found here.

VISITATIONS

WOMEN TALKING- Jesse Buckley with Deadline.com. and Claire Foy with Wmagazine.com.

TAR- Nina Hoss with Variety.

BARDO- Alejandro G. Inarritu with Deadline.com.

AFTERSUN- Charlotte Wells with The Hollywood Reporter.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB Oscar Take: Updating Lead Acting and More / The Film Stage's Top 50 for 2023 and TFF / Visitations: Nighy and Polley

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATING LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I am updating predictions in the categories of Best Actress, Best Actor, Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These were last predicted on Dec. 19th.  Past ranking is to the right of the performer in parentheses.  Performances from TFF #49 are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Cate Blanchett/TAR (1)

2) Michelle Yeoh/Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) Michelle Williams/The Fabelmans (3)

4) Danielle Deadwyler/Till (4)

5) Viola Davis/The Woman King (6)

6) Margot Robbie/Babylon (5)

7) Olivia Colman/Empire of Light (7)

BEST ACTOR

1) Brendan Fraser/The Whale (1)

2) Colin Ferrell/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

3) Austin Butler/Elvis (3)

4) Bill Nighy/Living (4)

5) Tom Cruise/Top Gun: Maverick (5)

6) Paul Mescal/Aftersun (6)

7) Hugh Jackman/The Son (7)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Top Gun: Maverick (2)

2) Avatar: The Way of Water (1)

3) The Fabelmans (3)

4) Babylon (4)

5) All Quiet on the Western Front (6)

6) Empire of Light (5)

7) TAR (New)

Out: Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

BEST FILM EDITING

1) Top Gun: Maverick (1)

2) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2)

3) The Fabelmans (3)

4) Avatar: The Way of Water (4)

5) Elvis (5)

6) The Banshees of Inisherin (6)

7) TAR (7)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Avatar: The Way of Water (4)

2) Babylon (2)

3) Elvis (1)

4) The Fabelmans (3)

5) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (5)

6) Everything Everywhere All at Once (7)

7) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

THE FILM STAGE'S TOP 50 FOR 2022 AND TFF

The Film Stage published its list of the 50 best films of 2022 and TFF films landed in nine spots:

48) Living

43) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (TFF #48)

33) Bones and All

17) One Fine Morning

14) Armageddon Time

13) Women Talking

5) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

3) TAR

1) Aftersun

The complete Film Stage list is linked here.

VISITATIONS

LIVING

Bill Nighy from Indiewire.

WOMEN TALKING

Sarah Polley from NPR.

Sarah Polley from The Boston Globe.

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Bill Pence 1940-2022 / MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture, Direction and More

BILL PENCE 1940-2022

Bill and Stella Pence at the 33rd telluride Film Festival

(Photo by Eugene Hernandez/Indiewire)

Sad news to report as Telluride Film Festival co-founder Bill Pence has died.  The news came over about a 24 hour period triggered by a chance viewing of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) year end TCM Remembers video that is posted to YouTube.  Mr. Pence's inclusion comes at the 2:03 mark:

What was puzzling was that I couldn't immediately find corroboration but over the course of the last day or so I have been able to confirm the news.  One piece of corroboration came last night via The Telluride Daily Planet's online edition which published a tribute from long time TFF staffer Jim Bedford.  You can find that linked here.

Another came with the discovery of an undated post from The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth.  That post is undated and is linked here.

From Bedford's Telluride Daily Planet article:

"Bill Pence died on Dec. 6, 2022, after a long illness. He is survived by wife Stella, daughters Zazie and Lara, four grandchildren, and many others whose lives he influenced with his work, direction, and love. Bill's fire burned so very brightly and touched so many. Those who worked for him did it as much to not disappoint him as to carry on his vision. No one wanted to be the one who screwed up the Telluride Film Festival."

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE, DIRECTION AND MORE

In today's post I am updating Oscar predictions for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Animated, Documentary and International features which were last posted on Dec. 15th.  TFF #49 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Everything Everywhere All at Once (3)

2) The Fabelmans (1)

3) The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

4) Top Gun: Maverick (5)

5) Avatar: The Way of Water (8)

6) TAR (6)

7) Elvis (7)

8) Women Talking (4)

9) Babylon (9)

10) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (10)

11) All Quiet on the Western Front (New)

12) Triangle of Sadness  (12)

Out: The Woman King

BEST DIRECTION

1) Steven Spielberg/The Fabelmans (1)

2) The Daniels/Everything Everywhere All at Once (5)

3) Martin McDonagh/The Banshees of Inisherin (3)

4) James Cameron/Avatar: The Way of Water (7)

5) Todd Field/TAR (4)

6) Sarah Polley/Women Talking (2)

7) Baz Luhrman/Elvis (New)

Out: Damien Chazelle/Babylon

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) GDT's Pinocchio (1)

2) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2)

3) Turning Red (3)

4) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (4)

5) Wendall and Wild (5)

6) Inu-Oh (New)

7) Strange World

Out: Lightyear

BEST DOUMENATRY FEATURE

1) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (3)

2) Fire of Love (2)

3) All That Breathes (4)

4) Navalny (5)

5) Descendant (6)

6) The Territory (7)

7) Retrograde (New)

BEST  INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) All Quiet on the Western Front (2)

2) Close (1)

3) Decision to Leave (3)

4) Argentina 1985 (5)

5) Holy Spider (4)

6) Saint Omer (6)

7) Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (7)

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Oscar Narrows the Field/ MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / London Critics and TFF #49

OSCAR NARROWS THE FIELD

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released shortlists for 10 of its 23 categories yesterday.  That means that the ultimate five nominees and Oscar winner in each of these categories must come from the lists announced Wednesday.  Here's how Telluride films fared within those categories:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Women Talking.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey A Song***, Last Flight Home, Retrograde (and Navalny if you count the Elk Park screening prior to the Fest starting).

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: Close, Holy Spider, Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Anastasia, Angola Do You Hear Us: Voices from a Plantation Prison.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Le Pupille, Sideral***

***Denotes TFF #48 films.

No Telluride films made the shortlists for Original Song, Makeup/Hair, Visual Effects, Sound or Animated Short.

The complete shortlists are linked here from The academy website.

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I am updating predictions in the categories of Best  Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor.  These were last predicted on Dec. 8th. Additionally, here are my first predictions in th categories of Best Original Score, Original Song and Sound. Past ranking is to the right of the performer in parentheses.  Performances from TFF #49 are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Kerry Condon/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

2) Jesse Buckley/Women Talking (1)

3) Angela Bassett/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (7)

4) Jamie Lee Curtis/Everything Everywhere All at Once (3)

5) Janelle Monae/Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (New)

6) Dolly DeLeon/Triangle of Sadness (New)

7) Carrie Mulligan/She Said (6)

Out: Clare Foy/Women Talking and Hong Chau/The Whale

Comment: This is such a dynamic and shifting category this season.  Despite dropping out of my top seven both Foy and Chau are still very serious contenders as is Stepahnie Hsu from Everything Everywhere All at Once.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Ke Huy Quan/Everything Everywhere All at Once (1)

2) Brendan Gleeson/The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

3) Barry Keoghan/The Banshees of Inisherin (6)

4) Judd Hirsch/The Fabelmans (3)

5) Paul Dano/The Fabelmans (4)

6) Brad Pitt/Babylon (New)

7) Ben Whishaw/Women Talking (5)

Out: Bryan Tyree Henry/Causeway 

Comment: Don't discount Henry sneaking in or, Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse) or Anthony Hopkins (Armageddon Time) either.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) The Fabelmans

2) Women Talking

3) Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

4) Babylon

5) The Banshees of Inisherin

6) The Woman King

7) She Said

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Lift Me Up/Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

2) Naatu Naatu/RRR

3) Hold My Hand/Top Gun: Maverick

4) Ciao Papa/Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

5) Carolina/Where the Crawdads Sing

6) Applause/Tell It Like a Woman

7) New Body Rhumba/White Noise

BEST SOUND

1) Top Gun: Maverick

2) Avatar: The Way of Water

3) Elvis

4) Babylon

5) The Batman

6) Everything Everywhere All at Once

7) All Quiet on the Western Front and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

LONDON CRITICS AND TFF #49

The London Film Critics Circle announced their nominees for film excellence yesterday.  Sven films that played at TFF #49 were included with a combined 27 nominations.  Charlotte Well's Aftersun led all Telluride films with a total of eight nominations.   Here's the breakdown by film:

Aftersun (8): Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Britsh/Irish Film of the Year, Actor of the Year (Mescal), Screenplay of the Year, British/Irish Actor if the Year (Mescal), British/Irish Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year (Wells), Young British/Irish Performer of the Year (Corio).

TAR (6): Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Actress of the Year (Blanchett), Supporting Actress of the Year (Hoss), Screenplay of the Year, Technical Achievement: Sound Design.

The Wonder (5): British/Irish Film of the Year, Actress of the Year (Pugh), British/Irish Actress of the Year (Pugh), Young British/Irish Performer of the Year (Cassidy), Technical Achievement: Casting.

Living (4): Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of the Year, Actor of the Year (Nighy), British/Irish Actor of the Year (Nighy).

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2): Film of the Year, Documentary of the Year.

Women Talking (1): British/Irish Actress of the Year (Buckley).

Empire of Light (1): British /Irish Actress of the Year (Colman).

The complete list of nominees from The LFCC is linked here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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