And the Nominees Are...

AND THE NOMINEES ARE...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 91st Academy Awards this morning and here they are:

BEST PICTURE

1) Roma

2) Green Book

3) A Star Is Born

4) BlacKkKlansman

5) Black Panther

6) Vice

7) Bohemian Rhapsody

8) The Favourite

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma

2) Pawel Pawlikowski/Cold War

3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman

4) Adam McKay/Vice

5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite

BEST ACTRESS

1) Glenn Close/The Wife

2) Olivia Colman/The Favourite

3) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born

4) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me?

5) Yalitza Aparicio/Roma

BEST ACTOR

1) Christian Bale/Vice

2) Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody

3) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born

4) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book

5) Willem Dafoe/At Eternity's Gate

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Regina King/If Beale Street Could Talk

2) Rachel Weisz/The Favourite

3) Emma Stone/The Favourite

4) Amy Adams/Vice

5) Marina De Tavira/Roma

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Mahershala Ali/Green Book

2) Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me?

3) Sam Elliott/A Star Is Born

4) Adam Driver/BlacKkKlansman

5) Sam Rockwell/Vice

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Green Book

2) The Favourite

3) Roma

4) Vice

5) First Reformed

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) BlacKkKlansman

2) If Beale Street Could Talk

3) Can You Ever Forgive Me?

4) A Star Is Born

5) The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

2) Incredibles 2

3) Isle of Dogs

4) Marai

5) Ralph Breaks the Internet

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Hale County This Morning-This Evening

2) RBG

3) Free Solo

4) Minding the Gap

5) Of Fathers and Sons

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1) Roma

2) Cold War

3) Capernaum

4) Shoplifters

5) Never Look Away

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Roma

2) A Star Is Born

3) Never Look Away

4) Cold War

5) The Favourite

COSTUMES

1) The Favourite

2) Mary Poppins Returns

3) Black Panther

4) Mary Queen of Scots

5) The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

FILM EDITING

1) Green Book

2) Bohemian Rhapsody

3) Vice

4) BlacKkKlansman

5) The Favourite

Maybe: Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther

MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Vice

2) Border

3) Mary Queen of Scots

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) If Beale Street Could Talk

2) BlacKkKlansman

3) Mary Poppins Returns

4) Isle of Dogs

5) Black Panther

ORIGINAL SONG

1) Shallow/A Star Is Born

2) All the Stars/Black Panther

3) I'll Fight/RBG

4) When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings/The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

5) Where Lost Things Go/Mary Poppins Return

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) The Favourite

2) Mary Poppins Returns

3) First Man

4) Black Panther

5) Roma

SOUND EDITING

1) First Man

2) A Quiet Place

3) Black Panther

4) Roma

5) Bohemian Rhapsody

SOUND MIXING

1) A Star Is Born

2) First Man

3) Bohemian Rhapsody

4) Roma

5) Black Panther

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) First Man

2) Christopher Robin

3) Ready Player One

4) Avengers: Infinity War

5) Solo: A Star Wars Story

ANIMATED SHORT

1) Bao

2) One Small Step

3) Weekends

4) Late Afternoon

5) Animal Behavior

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1) Period. End of Sentence

2) End Game

3)A Night at the Garden

4) Lifeboat

5) Black Sheep

LIVE ACTION SHORT

1) Mother

2) Skin

3) Detainment

4) Fauve

5) Marguerite

Telluride films that were nominated were:

Roma (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Aparicio), Supporting Actress (De Tavira), Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing

The Favourite (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costumes

Roma and The Favourite were tied with the most nominations and the only films in double digit nominations.

First Man (4): Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects (Man, how could have been so off about First Man in every possible way.  I thought it was headed for at least eight nominations this morning...and, of course, still thought it could stretch into the Best Picture race...)

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3): Actress (McCarthy), Supporting Actor (Grant), Adapted Screenplay

Cold War (3): Foreign Language Film, Direction, Cinematography

Free Solo (1): Best Documentary

Shoplifters (1): Foreign Language Film

Border (1): Makeup/Hair

Fauve (1): Live Action Short

Total nominations for TFF #45 films-34 which exceeds the average of 27-28 since I started tracking TFF Oscar nominations.

Plus one from TFF #44...the Original Screenplay nomination for Paul Schrader for First Reformed.

For the record I finished the morning at 78% accuracy...which is right at my normal average.

For Best Pic I was 8 of 8 (because I had 10 picked).

Other perfect categories for me this year: Best Actress, Animated Feature, Foreign Language Film and Production Design.  My worst category this year-Film Editing where I was a measly 2 of 5.  Overall I was 95/122 for the 78%.  In eight categories the film I had pegged as the #6 film ended up in the nominees...so, you know, close.

Biggest shockers to me...

No Bradley Cooper for Directing A Star Is Born.  
No Won't You Be My Neighbor for Documentary.  
No Score nomination for First Man.  
Marina de Tavira getting in Supporting Actress for Roma.  
The love for Buster Scruggs which I'm not sure anyone saw coming. 
No Film Editing noms for Roma, Star or First Man

I'll have more on Thursday...

Big Critics Groups and Oscar in 2018 / Cold War Dominates the EFA / Oscar Short Lists Land Today

It is a Monday!  Time for some MTFB...


BIG CRITICS GROUPS AND OSCAR IN 2018

I did this last year at the same time.  That is to say that I collated results about where films stand in critical eyes as we approach the end of the year.

I look at what we've been told by nominations or awards from The Golden Globes (GG), Critics Choice Awards (BFCA), National Board of Review (NBR), American Film Institute (AFI), New York Film Critics Circle (NY) and Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Last year the list looked like this:

10) The Disaster Artist (NBR, GG)
7) The Florida Project (NBR, BFCA, AFI)
7) The Big Sick (BFCA, AFI, SAG)
7) The Shape of Water (BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) The Post (NBR, BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) Dunkirk (NBR, BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)
2) Call Me By Your Name (NBR, LA, BFCA, GG, AFI)
2) Get Out (NBR, BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)
1) Lady Bird (NBR, NY, BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)

So it included TFF #44 films Lady Bird, and The Shape of Water.  It also included eventual Oscar Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. and nominees Lady Bird, Three Billboards, Dunkirk, The Post, Get Out, Call Me By Your Name and Dunkirk.  So, the top seven got in with the additions, of TFF #44 film Darkest Hour and also Phantom Thread.

With that in mind, here's what the data from the same seven groups tells us in 2018:

9) Six films tied here with two mentions each: Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Rich Asians, Eighth Grade, First Reformed, A Quiet Place and Vice.

7) Mary Poppins Returns (3): NBR, AFI, BFCA
7) The Favourite (3): GG, AFI, BFCA
4) If Beale Street Could Talk (4): NBR, GG, AFI, BFCA
4) Green Book (4): NBR (best picture), GG, AFI, BFCA
4) BlacKkKlansman (4): GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA
1) A Star Is Born (5): NBR, GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA
1) Roma (5): NBR, NY, LA, AFI (special citation), BFCA
1) Black Panther (5): NBR, GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA

With single mentions: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and First Man.

Based on last year, if you're film is sitting at #7 or above, it's got a great chance to be Oscar nominated for Best Picture on the morning of Jan. 22nd.


COLD WAR DOMINATES THE EFA

The European Film Awards were passed out Saturday and TFF #45 film Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War dominated the field picking up five wins including Best European Film.  The film's female lead, Joanna Kulig, was named Best Actress and Pawlikowski won for Best Direction and Screenwriting.  The film also won for Best Editing. 

In other TFF #45 EFA news, Matteo Garrone's Dogman did well too with wins for Best Actor (Marcello Fonte), Costume Design and Hair/Makeup.

Lukas Dhont's Girl was named winner for European Discovery and Ali Abassi's Border won the award for visual effects.

Linked here is the press release from the EFA.


SHORT LISTS LAND TODAY

Steve Pond of The Wrap reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces all of their short lists for a variety of categories today.

That's a departure from the past when the categories that include the "short list" process have traditionally parcelled those announcements over a period of weeks but that won't be the process this year.

Pond tells us that will mean nine different categories will be trimmed to definitive lists by this afternoon. 

Here are those categories and the number that they will be trimmed to:

Foreign Language Film (9)
Documentary Feature (15)
Original Song (15)
Original Score (15)
Makeup/Hair (7...probably)
Visual Effects (10)
Documentary Short (10)
Animated Short (10)
Live Action Short (10)

Pond also takes a look at what he thinks are the most likely inclusions and exclusions in his article which you can find linked here.

I'll have a look at how the short lists all shake out vis-a-vis Telluride in Thursday's regularly scheduled post.


That's the Monday MTFB.  I'll be back with more on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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Shoplifters Arrives / Destroyer Clip / Deadline Interviews: Grant and Jackman / The Wrap Talks with Ali Abbasi

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...grateful to have you along for a look at what's in MTFB today.


SHOPLIFTERS ARRIVES

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters opens in the U.S. this holiday weekend.  The TFF #45 entrant has been a critical smash and has become one of the few films thought to be able to challenge for the foreign language Oscar against Alfonso Cuaron's Roma Pawel Pawlikowki's Cold War.

As you might expect, with its U.S. release, there has been, over the past few days, a glut of news and interviews surrounding the film.

Included in that is this David Ehrlich interview for Indiewire.

Awards Daily also provided the route to a new clip released for the film which is here from YouTube:

DESTROYER CLIP

Nicole Kidman makes a play for inclusion as Best Actress with her turn as a detective seeking redemption in Karyn Kusama's Destroyer.  The film is set to open on Dec. 25th.  Annapurna pictures previewed a new clip from the film this week via Indiewire.

The link to that story from Zach Sharf and clip is here.

Destroyer's official trailer is here from YouTube:

DEADLINE INTERVIEWS: GRANT AND JACKMAN

Deadline.com has a couple of interviews of recent vintage that focus on participants from TFF #45.

Joe Utichi talks to Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?  That's linked here.

And Utichi also filed this interview with Hugh Jackman who plays Sen. Gary Hart in The Front Runner.  You can find that here.

AND THE WRAP TALKS WITH ALI ABBASI

Continuing the string of interviews with TFF #45 personal, here's an interview from this week conducted by Steve Pond of The Wrap with Ali Abbasi, the director and co-writer of Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Border.

That interview is accessed here.

That's your Turkey Day MTFB.  Have a great holiday and I'll have more on Monday including some new Oscar predictions/updates.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

New Oscar Predix: Foreign Language and Docs /The Front Runner's International Trailer / Interviews: Hugh Jackman (The Front Runner), Josh Singer (First Man) and Eva Melander (Border)

Welcome back from the weekend and Happy Impending Halloween to all who Trick or Treat...


NEW OSCAR PREDICTIONS: FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND DOCUMENTARIES

Almost every year there is a least one Oscar category that seems like every nominee might have played Telluride.  This year the Foreign Language category could go that way.

Honestly, Best Supporting Actress could as well but it's a bit more of a stretch in that category than Foreign Language.

So, here for the first time this Oscar season on MTFB is my set of opening prognostications for Best Foreign Language Film.  As is usual here the films that played TFF #45 are Bold.

1) Roma
2) Cold War
3) Capernaum
4) Shoplifters
5) Burning

As you can see, at the moment I am predicting three of the five will have played TFF #45: Roma, Cold War and Shoplifters.  There are a few other films that are just off this top five that could supplant some of these:  Girl, Never Look Away, Birds of Passage, Border and Sunset.


Meanwhile, in the wild Feature Documentary category, these are the films that I am guessing make the top five...at least for the time being:

1) The Notorious RBG
2) Won't You Be My Neighbor
3) The Identical Strangers
4) Free Solo
5) McQueen

Others: Minding the Gap, Dark Money, The Sentence, Reversing Roe, Filmworker, Quincy, Science Fair, Whitney.

And if you missed it last week, there are new predictions up at Movie City News' Gurus of Gold for Best Picture, Actress and Supporting Actress.  And, not to beat the proverbial dead horse, I'm acting as a "Guru" this year. 

I am thrilled to be included with friends: Sasha Stone/Awards Daily, Tomris Laffly/RogerEbert.com, and Mark Johnson/AwardsCircuit.  I'm also pleased to see Peter Howell of The Toronto Star (Peter and I have exchanged tweets and messages in the past few years about items related to the Toronto Film Fest) and Dave Karger who, among other things, appears from time to time on Turner Classic Movies, are also Gurus this year.

Go check them out by clicking here.


THE FRONT RUNNER'S INTERNATIONAL TRAILER

As we edge closer to its domestic release (Nov. 21), Sony/Columbia released an international version of the trailer for Jason Reitman's The Front Runner.

The film stars Hugh Jackman as U.S. Senator Gary Hart and follows the flame out of his 1988 Presidential bid.

Here's the new international trailer from YouTube:

The Front Runner is set to open in Sweden on Nov. 21.



INTERVIEWS: HUGH JACKMAN (THE FRONT RUNNER), JOSH SINGER (FIRST MAN) AND EVA MELANDER (BORDER)

Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman (for Les Miserables) could earn his second nomination for his work as Gary Hart in Jason Reitman's The Front Runner.  Jackman was profiled over the weekend by The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that was conducted by Katie Kilkenny.  That interview is linked here.

Oscar winner Josh Singer, who won the Oscar for co-writing Spotlight, and is the script writer for Damien Chazelle's First Man sat down with SlashFilm's Jack Giroux recently.  SlashFilm posted the interview on Thursday and you can catch it here.


First Man is in theaters now.

Meanwhile, Eva Melander who stars in the weird and(at least at Telluride) somewhat divisive foreign film Border shared about her experiences with that film this past week wit Erik Anderson of Awards Watch.

That interview is here.

Border is the official submission from Sweden for this year's Foreign Language Oscar.  The film opened this past weekend here in the United States.



That's your Monday MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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First Oscar Predictions for 2018 / Continued Oscar Insight / Focus on The Other Side / Border Makes Some Noise

Good Monday everyone... I've got a full edition of MTFB today.



FIRST OSCAR PREDICTIONS FOR 2018

First up today is my first Oscar predictions for 2018.  As regular readers know, I shift gears after each year's SHOW is completed (as well as Venice and Toronto) and, until Oscar night, the focus of this space becomes focused on the awards twists and turns that TFF films are a part of.

Consequently, I also endeavor to provide predictions about the Oscar race including my own set of prognostications.  Over the next few months I'll also pay attention to some of the larger critic's top ten and  "best of" lists as well as many of the film guild awards.  All of which lead up to Oscar nomination announcement morning (Jan. 22) and the 91st Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24.

Additionally, this year, as I reported a few days back, this year my predictions will also be included as part of The Gurus of Gold at Movie City News. 

It's an exciting time.

So here you are.  My first set of predix for the four most major of major categories: Picture, Direction, Actress and Actor.


BEST PICTURE

1) First Man
2) A Star Is Born
3) Roma
4) Green Book
5) The Favourite
6) BlacKkKlansman
7) If Beale Street Could Talk
8) Black Panther
9) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
10) Boy Erased

Others: Eighth Grade, Widows, The Front Runner, Vice

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born
3) Damien Chazelle/First Man
4) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite

Others: Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk, Ryan Coogler/Black Panther, Peter Farrelly/Green Book, Steve McQueen/Widows, Adam McKay/Vice

BEST ACTRESS

1) Glenn Close/The Wife
2) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born
3) Melissa McCarthy/ Can You Ever Forgive Me?
4) Olivia Colman/The Favourite
5) Julia Roberts/Ben Is Back

Others: Nicole Kidman/Destroyer, Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Viola Davis/Widows, Toni Collette/Heredity

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born
2) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book
3) Ryan Gosling/First Man
4) Lucas Hedges/Boy Erased
5) Willem Dafoe/At Eternity's Gate

Others: John David Washington/BlacKkKlansman, Christian Bale/Vice, Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner, Ethan Hawke/First Reformed


TFF #45 Breakdown if these predictions were 100% accurate (I'm picking nine nominees for Best Picture):

First Man (3): Best Picture, Direction, Actor
The Favourite (3): Best Picture, Direction, Actress
Roma (2) Best Picture, Direction
Can You ever Forgive Me? (2): Best Picture, Actress
Boy Erased (1) Best Actor

Additional Possibilities:

The Front Runner (2): Best Picture, Actor
Boy Erased (1): Best Picture
Roma (1): Best Actress
Destroyer (1): Best Actress

And from TFF #44...

First Reformed (1): Best Actor


CONTINUED OSCAR INSIGHT

Both Sasha Stone at Awards Daily and Erik Anderson of Awards Watch post updates for the Oscar season each Friday.  Sasha's is titled Predictions Friday while Erik's is Frontrunner Friday.  Clayton Davis of Awards Circuit updates weekly on Mondays. I'll try to make sure to provide those links each week.  I'll also be adding Scott Feinberg's Feinberg Forecast (The Hollywood Reporter) , Kristopher Tapley (Variety) and others as the season really gets rolling.

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch

Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit


FOCUS ON THE OTHER SIDE

I saw two big pieces appear this weekend that delved into the back story of the efforts to finish Orson Welles final film The Other Side of the Wind. Both Chris O'Falt for Indiewire and Alex Ross for The New Yorker put up extensive stories about how the film was rescued and finished.

I have linked both of them.

Indiewire

The New Yorker


BORDER MAKES SOME NOISE

Ali Abbasi's TFF #45 selection and Cannes'  Un Certain Regard winner Border made a splash this weekend as it was named winner of the World Fiction prize at The Los Angeles Film Festival as well as having a U.S. trailer release.

The film was one of the more divisive offerings at this year's SHOW as evidenced by the disparate reactions from my collection of ratings from both the attendees of the fest, who had it at the #16 spot in their ratings and the Professionals for whom it ended up at their #8 spot.

Here's the U.S. trailer from YouTube:

Also linked here is coverage of the trailer release from The Film Stage and The Playlist.

Additionally, here's the coverage of the awards announcement from the L.A. Film Fest from The Los Angeles Times.


That's today's MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Ten (Plus) Bets #6 for TFF #45 / L.A. Fest Reveals Another Possible Film / Girl Has a Trailer /And Speaking of Trailers

It's the first Friday in August!  In four weeks the 45th Telluride Film Festival will begin.

TEN (PLUS) BETS #6 FOR TFF #45

Not much changing among the top ten bets but I am expanding this week to 15 titles plus films that are still potential players.

Last week's Ten Bets:

1) Roma
2) First Man
3) The Old Man and the Gun
4) Cold War
5) The Front Runner
6) Dogman
7) Shoplifters
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
9) Non Fiction
10) The Favourite


This week's Ten (Plus) Bets

1) First Man
2) Roma
3) The Old Man and the Gun
4) The Front Runner
5) Cold War
6) Dogman
7) Shoplifters
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
9) Non Fiction
10) The Favourite
11) Peterloo
12) White Boy Rick
13) The Other Side of the Wind
14) Border
15) Girl



The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, On the Basis of Sex, Happy as Lazzaro,  He Dreams of Giants, Cheney (Backseat), Nothing Like a Dame, Mid 90s, Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased, American Dharma, 22 July

We definitely should gain more insight next week with additional announcements from Toronto plus New York's lineup and a schedule from Venice.



L.A. FILM FEST REVEALS ANOTHER POSSIBLE FILM

Within the last week we had announcements from the Los Angeles Film Fest, which has a new date as well as the first wave announcement from Fantastic Fest.  I can't divine any real addition or elimination from the FF announcement but it appears that Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Border is probable for Telluride.

The LAFF list tells us that Border will be a "California" Premiere leading me to believe that it will have played somewhere in the U.S. prior to its screening in L.A. 2-3 weeks after T-ride.  Thusly, Telluride seems like a good bet to screen the film from director Ali Abassi.  Neon is distributing the film in the U.S.  Neon distributed Errol Morris' The B Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography in 2016 which played TFF #43.

Here's coverage of the Los Angeles announcement from Deadline and Variety.


GIRL HAS A TRAILER

Netflix has released the first international trailer for Lukas Dhont's Girl.  The film was very well received as a part of Cannes' Un Certain Regard section and won a series of awards related to that screening including UCR Best Actor for lead Victor Polster.

Here's the video from YouTube:

Netflix hasn't announced a date for release in the U.S. as yet.

I have linked coverage of  the trailer release from FirstShowing.


AND SPEAKING OF TRAILERS


I know.  I know.  Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk is destined to screen for the first time in Toronto but when I saw this tweet this morning:

Well, I just had to take a look and if you're so inclined as well...

Trailer via YouTube

Makes me sad all over again that TFF #45 won't be screening this.

That's your wrap on MTFB for this week.  I'll have more on Monday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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