Cannes Has Begun / Four Films on the Edge: Blue Moon, Anemone, Bucking Fastard and Welcome to Lynchland

CANNES HAS BEGUN

The 78th Cannes Film Festival opened last Tuesday and will run though May 24th.  TFF watchers know that it's likely that anywhere from 6-10 films screening there the next few days will probably end up in Telluride over Labor Day.  That's been the trend for some time.  One of the things I'll be doing over the next few posts is checking to see how critics respond.  Several film outlets will be posting composite critical responses and I traditionally keep track some of those and report them but the Big Daddy of all Cannes compilations comes from cannes-ratings.org.  

So this week I took a moment to try to calibrate what that compilation has told us over the years.  What I did was to look for the lowest rated film that played at Cannes that also played Telluride.  My thought was that perhaps by doing that we might establish some critical baseline for where the cutoff is below which it's unlikely a film will be selected for Telluride inclusion.

Thus here are the lowest rated films from Cannes for each year (going back to 2011) that made it to TFF.  Cannes-ratings uses a 1-10 scale.

2024-Santosh-5.97

2023-Strange way of Life-5.58

2022-Tori and Lokita-6.11

2021-Unclenching the Fist-6.08

2019-Family Romance LLC-5.68

2018-The Eyes of Orson Welles-6.11

2017-An Inconvenient Sequel-5.75

2016-Neruda-6.58

2015-Rams-5.10

2014-Wild Tales-5.41

2013-Jororowsky's Dune-5.55

2012-Paradise:Love-5.03

2011-Bonsai-5.00

As you can see, the outliers are Neruda at the top and Bonsai and Paradise: Love at the bottom.  The average rating to claim the last Cannes to T-ride spot is at 5.69.  So, if you want to check what the critical reception at Cannes, that might be a spot to think that anything below that has a lesser chance to get to Telluride.

One other point, since it's still so early in the Cannes fest most of the films only have a very few reviews as yet. As Cannes rolls on those films will gather more and more critical responses and you can get a better idea for where a film may end up.  For example, the film at the top of the list right now is Love Me Tender with a 9.12 cumulative rating but it's only been reviewed by four critics...so grain of salt.

Monday's MTFB will have my first real look.

FOUR FILMS ON THE EDGE:

Four films on the periphery of my analysis of what goes to Telluride had moments this week that, at the very least, didn't hurt their chances of playing Telluride.

Richard Linklater's Blue Moon- The film's release dates were announced this week.  It will have a limited release on Oct. 17th followed by a wider release on Oct. 24th.  Linklater has never been to TFF as far as I can discern which works against the notion that it will play Telluride.  However, it does have some things working in its favor.  These release dates for one.  Also, a good critical response from Berlin where it also picked up for Andrew Scott for Best Supporting Performance. It's from Sony Pictures Classics and it stars Ethan Hawke who is often a TFF attendee.

Ronan Day-Lewis's Anemone- Like Blue Moon, Anemone's release dates were also announced this week and leave open the possibility for T-ride.  Anemone will open limited on Oct. 3rd and wide on Oct. 10th.  The film stars past TFF tribute recipient Daniel Day-Lewis who also co-wrote the screenplay.  Day-Lewis first attended TFF in 1989 with My Left Foot and returned for his tribute in 2007 with some scenes from There Will Be Blood.  He won Best Actor Oscars for both of those performances.  Another factor working in favor of a TFF play is that the distributor is Focus Features which has been a reliable Telluride player for years.

Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard-  Herzog has possibly been the most screened director at Telluride over the years and The Playlist reports:

"Production took place in Ireland (hence the “Irish landscape”) and Slovenia, having wrapped filming last month, as the film is now heading to the Cannes Film Market with the aim of sharing footage with potential buyers."

So it may be ready for a San Juan screening.

Stephane Ghez's Welcome to Lynchland-Played Yesterday at the Cannes Fest with David Lynch's son, Riley introducing it.  The documentary about Lynch's career and films feels like it could be right down TFF's alley given Lynch's stature and his early participation with TFF.

More on Monday.

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Telluride Re-wind: TFF #16 / The FAC: Updating the Screenplay Categories / More from Gerwig and the Lady Bird Crew

Good Thursday everyone.

TELLURIDE RE-WIND: TFF #16

My Telluride Film Festival history project continues today with a look at the 16th Fest that occurred on Sept. 1-4, 1989.

Guest Director: Errol Morris

Tributes: Dennis Potter, Peter Greenaway, Shohei Imamura

Shows:

The Big Bang
Black Rain
Blue Remembered Hills
Born to Kill
China My Sorrow
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
The Entertainer
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Herdsmen of the Sun
I Went to the Dance
The Icicle Thief
La Salle de Bain
Land of Liberty
My 20th Century
My Left Foot

Mystery Train
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
Penn and Teller Get Killed
Pennies from Heaven
Roger and Me
Solovki Power
Strapless
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren
Testament
There's Always Tomorrow
The Trip to Tilsit
Trop Belle Pour Toi
Twin Peaks
Water and Power
When the Clouds Roll By
The Yellow Curse

Guests:

Mark Frost
David Hare
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Werner Herzog
Jim Jarmusch
Penn Jillette
Chuck Jones
Daniel Day Lewis
John McNaughton
Michael Moore
Michael Ontkean
Arthur Penn
Michael Rooker
Teller



THE FAC: UPDATING THE SCREENPLAY CATEGORIES


The last Adapted Screenplay predictions from Oct. 19th:

1) Call Me By Your Name
2) Mudbound
3) Molly's Game
4) Last Flag Flying
5) Wonderstruck

Others in contention: Stronger, The Disaster Artist, First They Killed My Father

Here's the latest FAC assessment of the category:

1) Call Me By Your Name
2) Mudbound
3) Molly's Game
4) The Disaster Artist
5) Last Flag Flying

Others: Wonderstruck, Stronger, Wonder Woman



The last Original Screenplay predictions:


1) Three Billboards
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Get Out
5) Lady Bird


Other in contention: The Post, The Big Sick, I Tonya

Here are your updated Original Screenplay predictions:

1) Three Billboards
2) The Shape of Water
3) Get Out
4) Lady Bird
5) Darkest Hour

Others: The Post. The Big Sick, I, Tonya


MORE FROM GRETA GERWIG AND THE LADY BIRD CREW

Esther Zuckerman posted for The Rolling Stone this week about Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird which is tearing it up on the specialty circuit.

I said earlier this week in a Twitter conversation that it could be the sleeper in this year's Best Picture Oscar race:

I'm not the only one out there that is beginning to think it could happen as well. Here and there are Oscar experts who are beginning to think that it's a real possibility.

I think that it's going to benefit from a preferential ballot.  I can see it rounding up a bunch of #1 votes but also being on a lot of Academy member's ballots in a #2 or #3 spot.

At any rate, here's the story from The Rolling Stone in which Zuckerman talks to Gerwig as well as actors Saoirse Ronan and Tracy Letts.


 And that's the MTFB for this Thursday.  Have a good weekend and I'll have more on Monday.


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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Distributors: Focus Features / First Portrait (Trailer) for Final Portrait

Happy Independence Day to all...


THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOCUS FEATURES

To say that there has been only a slight relationship over the past few years between Focus Features and the Telluride Film Festival would be accurate.  Since 2006 Focus has been repped at Telluride all of three times:

2006- Catch a Fire
2012- Hyde Park on Hudson
2015- Suffragette

In all three cases the directors involved had appeared with a film at TFF before.  Phil Noyce who directed Catch a Fire had Rabbit Proof Fence there in 2002.  Roger Michell who was the director of Hyde Park on Hudson had Venus in 2006 and Persuasion in 1995 and Suffragette was directed by Sarah Gavron who had been represented at Telluride in 2007 with Brick Lane, Losing Touch in 2000 and This Little Life in 2003.  So, if you're looking to see if Focus might be back with a film in 2017, that could be a factor to look at and Focus has some films that might be on anyone's wish list.


Starting with the latest from Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day Lewis, who suggests that he will retire from acting after this film.  The film is currently called Phantom Thread and is scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

PTA and DDL were in Telluride in 2007 for a tribute to Day Lewis but I fully expect that the film won't be finished in time for Labor Day.  Chances: 0%.

Darkest Hour with what is said to be a star turn and Oscar play for Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill.  Darkest Hour is directed by Jow Wright of Atonement fame.  Wright has no T-ride connection that I can track down so despite a Nov. 22nd release date...Chances: 10%.

Victoria and Abdul starring Judi Dench as the British monarch and directed by Stephen Frears probably has the best shot as Frears has been at Telluride in the past with a tribute to him in 1987 that included Sammy and Rosie Get Laid as well as Walter and June and in 2010 with Tamara Drewe.  Victoria and Abdul opens on Sept. 22nd.  Chances: 35%.



FIRST PORTRAIT (TRAILER) FOR FIRST PORTRAIT

Outside contender for Telluride inclusion, Stanley Tucci's Final Portrait dropped a trailer yesterday. Here it is from YouTube:

Final Portrait stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.  It played Berlin back in February and is in Sony Pictures Classics stable.  It currently has no U.S. release date.

I have also linked coverage of the trailer's release here from The Playlist.

That's all for July 4.  More on Thursday.

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

Aquarius Acquired by Netflix / Following Up: Anderson and Haneke

Welcome to Wednesday...


AQUARIUS ACQUIRED BY NETFLIX...

Various outlest reported yesterday that Cannes favorite Aquarius had been acquired for U.S. distribution by Netflix.  The streaming service also picked up Divines, a thriller that also played Cannes in the Directors Fortnight.  Aquarius earned strong reviews and a very solid combined 7.22 rating on the Reini Urban critics' collection.

The film also earned strong notices for its star Sonia Braga who, many Cannes observers thought, might well have been the best actress winner.  That didn't happen but there has been some talk of Braga being a potential Oscar candidate this year for her work in the film.

The Netflix play may make Aquarius a serious Telluride consideration.  Netflix had a substantail presence there last year with both Beasts of No Nation and Winter on Fire making the 2015 lineup. Up until this acquisition, I'm not really sure that Netflix had a truly strong candidate for T-ride.  Maybe War Machine...maybe...

In as far as Divines is concerned, it could be a possible consideration, but it was substantially less well received critically than Aquarius.  I'm not thinking that it's high on the list for T-ride.

Here's the coverage of the announcement from yesterday:

http://variety.com/2016/film/global/netflix-snaps-up-camera-dor-winner-divines-cannes-competing-aquarius-exclusive-1201780205/

https://thefilmstage.com/reviews/cannes-review-aquarius/



FOLLOWING UP: ANDERSON AND HANEKE

Updating a couple of stories that I covered within the last week.  First, the news that Paul Thomas Anderson may be on the way to making a new film with Daniel Day Lewis set in the fashion industry in  New York in the 1950's.  Vulture.com published an interesting speculative piece about a possible fashion icon upon whose life and career the film might be based.

Check that here:

http://www.vulture.com/2016/06/paul-thomas-anderson-movie-charles-james.html

 And we learned additional news about upcoming Michael Haneke project, Happy End, starring Isabelle Huppert.

The Film Stage reports:


https://thefilmstage.com/news/casting-updates-for-michael-hanekes-happy-end-and-steven-spielbergs-ready-player-one/


That's a wrap for Wednesday...

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

OR leave a comment in the comment section.

New York Reverie: Shuffle Along / Anderson and Day Lewis: TogetherAgain?

Hello Friday!

Late start to the day in NYC after a huge night.  Enjoyed watching Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation and All That Followed with Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter.  The show has 10 Tony nominations including acting noms for Brandon Victor Dixon for Featured Male Performance as Eubie Blake and Adrienne Warren for Featured Female in the duel role of Gertrude Sanders and Florence Mills,  The show is also nominated for Best New Musical and choreography from Savion Glover.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular performance and were then fortunate enough through the efforts of Richard Riaz Yoder (who is in the cast and is marvelous), former teacher Rose Mary Baker and her former student Erin McCracken to get backstage after the show.

As a result we met and/or spoke with cast members including Brain Stokes Mitchell who introduced himself as "Stokes".  I said later Mitchell was cooler in that introduction than I will be my whole life.  Here's me and Kristy meeting the Broadway legend:

We also had the good fortune to meet someone who was in the audience watching the show along with us (actually one row back and about half a dozen seats to my right).  I told Kristy that I thought it was very likely that our fellow audience member was likely to go backstage after the show as well and he did.  Consequently we also got to meet and speak with another Broadway legend: Mr. Tommy Tune:

Both gentlemen were gracious and kind.  We exchanged words with Mitchell about our profession as teachers which lead him to reveal that an incredible number of his family are teachers as well, Tommy Tune and I talked about Oklahoma.  His mother was born in a small, small town about 35 miles from were I grew up.

Kristy and I were dizzy.  She also spoke briefly with Billy Porter and I got to rub elbows briefly with Audra McDonald who regular readers may remember that I have a crush on and have had for years. You might recall that I met her here in NYC two years ago:

Finally, here's a shot of our host last night who is phenom in the show and was so generous to bring a couple of small town teachers behind the scenes for one of the most moving and thrilling experiences of their lives.  Thank you again a million times over Richard Riaz Yoder:

Admittedly, it's not Telluride related but it was very, very cool.

ANDERSON AND DAY LEWIS: TOGETHER AGAIN?

PTA and DDL via Indiewire/Shutterstock

Now to Telluride-y stuff.  The interweb went crazy yesterday as news seeped out that Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day Lewis who collaborated so brilliantly together in 2007 on There Will Be Blood may be getting ready to work together again.

Details from multiple sources suggest that the two are working on a film that would be set in the New York fashion world of 1950.  Word also is that Megan Ellison's Annapurna Films will be producing.  

The film, if it comes to fruition, would certainly be in high demand for any big name festival.  Anderson and Day Lewis were in Telluride in 2007 for a tribute to Lewis that included a preview for TWBB.

Would they return to Telluride?  That's unclear.  Day Lewis has been a couple of times at least.  2007 as mentioned above and also 1989.  Anderson has been rumored not have been enamored of his 2007 experience but who knows?

It would be a great "get" and I'll watch anything PTA does.  we'll be keeping track of the buzz as the film goes forward...assuming that it does.

Here's coverage of the story from yesterday:

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/paul-thomas-anderson-new-movie-1201683996/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/paul-thomas-anderson-and-daniel-day-lewis-plan-second-collaboration/

http://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/2016/06/new-pta-project-with-daniel-day-lewis.html

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/daniel-day-lewis-paul-thomas-anderson-fashion-movie-1201768423/

That's a wrap for Friday.  MTFB returns Monday.  Have a great weekend!

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 

Looking at Lincoln/Clint's Trailer/Another On the Road

Good Wednesday from San Francisco...headed to Yosemite today!

LOOKING AT LINCOLN


The Playlist posts the first real look at Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in Spielberg's "Lincoln" here:

That post/story is here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-real-look-daniel-day-lewis-in-steven-spielbergs-lincoln-20120807


CLINT'S TRAILER

Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake star in Robert Lorenz's "Trouble with the Curve"  The first trailer is out and linked below from YouTube:

Check the story at The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-its-gran-torino-meets-moneyball-in-trailer-for-trouble-with-the-curve-20120807


MORE ON THE ROAD

Walter Salles "On the Road" still is a real Telluride possibility and has released a second trailer.  Linked here form YouTube:

Find more information here from Awards Daily:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2012/08/06/kristen-stewart-garrett-hedlund-on-the-road-trailer-2/


More later...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2.

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50 Films for Fall/Major Analysis/Coming Attractions

Good Friday All!

50 FILMS FOR THE FALL

The fine people at IndieWire posted a "wish list"/prediction piece yesterday about what they hope and expect will play as part of the fall festival lineups (i.e. Telluride, Toronto and Venice.)  It's fun to look at and drool over.

They specify Telluride in the case of these films:
"A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III" from Roman Coppola and...
"The Place Beyond the Pines" from Derek Cianfrance (and this becomes the second time in a week that someone has tried to connect "Pines" to T-ride...

Among the 48 other films listed that have the most Telluride "potential" (in my view):

[Trailer from "Hyde Park on Hudson"]

"Anna Karenina" (d. Joe Wright)
"Argo" (d. Ben Affleck)
"Gambit" (d. Michael Hoffman)
"Hyde Park on Hudson" (d. Roger Michell)
"Life of Pi" (d. Ang Lee)
"Love is All You Need" (d. Susanne Bier)
"The Master" (d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
"Quartet" (d. Dustin Hoffman)
"The Silver Linings Playbook" (d. David O. Russell)
"Something in the Air" (d. Olivier Assayas)
"Song for Marion" (d. Paul Andrew Williams)

I think that 3 of the above are really solid guesses...check back on Monday for my first "Ten Bets" of the season to see which 3.

Check the entire IndieWire post here:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/fall-festival-wishlist-50-films-we-hope-to-see-in-venice-toronto-and-or-telluride


MAJOR ANALYSIS

All week long I have been trying to parse the meaning of Pete Hammond's post at Deadline.com from last week in which he describes at least one :major" studio plying Telluride film programmers with their "wares" trying to entice T-ride into a programming choice.  That original Hammond post is here:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/la-film-festival-los-angeles-woody-allen-opens-2012-laff-telluride/

This week I have looked at Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox and what films they are either producing and/or distributing that look like they're also positioned for an Oscar run.


Re-capping...
Universal is distributing has "Les Miserables" and "Zero Dark Thirty" (This with Columbia).
Paramount: "Flight"
Fox: "Life of Pi", "Won't Back Down" and "Lincoln" (with Dreamworks and Amblin, obviously)
Warners: "Argo", "Cloud Atlas", "The Great Gatsby", "Trouble with the Curve" and "Gangster Squad".

["Argo" trailer]

Going to go BOLD here...

I lean toward Warners or Fox and here's why...

Warners...If I'm the Eastwood people and I really want Clint to be in play for a Best Actor Oscar I can't ignore the recent past concerning that trophy and Telluride.

2011: Jean Dujardin/The Artist (and a near miss for George Clooney for "The Descendants")
2010: Colin Firth/The King's Speech
2009: Another near miss by Geroge Clooney for "Up in the Air"
2007: Daniel Day Lewis for "There Will Be Blood"
2006:Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland"
2005: Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote" (also near miss for Heath Ledger for "Brokeback Mountain").

I don't think it's a coincidence...

So if you're looking at what is likely Clint's last shot at Best Actor...don't you play in Telluride?

And there is some Eastwood/Telluride history.  He's been there before...and I always default to believing that almost everyone that comes once wouldn't mind coming back.

Fox... same logic applied to Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Best Picture.  Again, look at the last few year's of BP winners from Telluride:

2011: "The Artist"
2010: "The King's Speech"
2008: "Slumdog Millionaire"
2007: No winner but "Juno" and There Will Be Blood" nominated
2006: "Babel" nominated
2005: "Brokeback" and "Capote" nominated

3 of the last 4 BPs got a huge boost from Telluride.

If you're he Spielberg people aren't you tired of the near miss status of the last few years? "War Horse", "Munich", "Saving Private Ryan".  Plus the films that didn't even get a nomination for BP.  And then there is the Marshall/Kennedy connection to Telluride.

So there you are...

As always, I could be totally, completely, 100% wrong...and probably am.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

[Darren Aronofsky via movieline.com]

Where I feature a film in production that could be a Telluride palyer in 2013 or even 2014.  Today: Darren Aronofsky's "Noah"

Aronofsky brought "Black Swan" in 2010 and ended up with multiple Oscar nominations and a win for Natalie Portman as Best Actress.  So could he bring this epic about the Great Flood to the San Juans?
Here are a variety of links concerning casting and filming of the project...we believe it's scheduled to begin rolling next month.


The Playlist:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/russell-crowe-liam-neeson-circle-darren-aronofskys-noah-biblical-epic

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/darren-aronofskys-noah-greenlit-with-july-start-date-russell-crowe-locked-in-to-star

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/douglas-booth-logan-lerman-set-sail-with-darren-aronofskys-noah-20120604

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/emma-watson-gets-biblical-with-darren-aronofskys-noah-20120607

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/an-evil-cloud-ray-winstone-looking-to-take-villain-role-in-darren-aronofskys-noah-20120611

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/jennifer-connelly-officially-in-talks-for-darren-aronofskys-noah-20120618

Get the Big Picture:
http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2011/12/1/darren-aronofsky-wants-michael-fassbender-for-noah.html


More later...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

More Ralph/More Busy Peeps/Ten Bets/The Perfect Storm

The weekend has come and gone...Carmageddon, we hardly knew ye...

MORE RALPH

Ralph Fiennes directs himself in Coriolanus

One of the films that I have been tracking sporadically and that has appeared on my "Ten Bets" list for Telluride is Ralph Fiennes film directing debut as he translates one of the Bard's lesser known works to the screen. 

"Coriolanus" is schedule to roll out this fall and has already been glimpsed at the Berlin Film Festival to good reviews especially for Vanessa Redgrave.  Already some Supporting Actress Oscar buzz swirling around her performance in the film.

Now comes word that Fiennes has picked up his second directing assignment.  The Playlist at Indiewire reports this morning that Fiennes will direct a Charles Dickens biopic entitled "The Invisible Woman."  It's based on the book by Claire Tomalin and scripted by Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, Shame...both on this year's Telluride watch list). 

Past Telluride attendee Carey Mulligan (An Education, Never Let Me Go) is said to be on Fiennes list of possible actresses for the title role.  Also said to be on his list is Abbie Cornish (Bright Star). 

Two names mentioned as possibles for Dickens: Ben Whishaw (Bright Star) and Daniel Day-Lewis (2007 Tributee/There Will Be Blood).

Fiennes has a number of obligations to attend to before he will be able to get to this job, so put down "The Invisible Woman" as a potential film for Telluride in 2013.

The Playlist story is here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/ralph_fiennes_directing_charles_dickens_biopic_the_invisible_woman/#.TiRF4gHVPvQ.email

MORE BUSY PEEPS

We started a list a couple of weeks ago of actors that were potentially going to be very busy this fall between the festival circuit and awards season.  Add three more names to the earlier list:

Philip Seymour Hoffman; The Ides of March, Moneyball

Jude Law: Contagion, Hugo

Matt Damon: Contagion, We Bought a Zoo

TEN BETS FOR THIS WEEK

Last week's "Ten Bets" list for this year's Telluride Film Festival looked like this:

1) The Descendants
2) A Trip to the Moon
3) Young Adult
4) Gazing Into the Abyss
5) The Artist
6) Dark Horse
7) The Kid with a Bike
8) Shame
9) Le Havre
10) Coriolanus

This week's list is as follows:

1) The Descendants
2) A Trip to The Moon
3) Gazing Into the Abyss
4) Young Adult
5) The Artist
6) Dark Horse
7) Shame
8) The Kid with a Bike
9) Coriolanus
10) Le Havre

THE PERFECT STORM

I started last week to put together a list of the "dream Team" of people that I think it would be fun to have a conversation with that at least have some minuscule chance of being at this year's festival.  The list wasn't completed last week, but as I have been mulling it over, I was reminded this weekend that I had contemplated a "Perfect Storm" of possibilities back in the spring.  And "Perfect Storm" is a pretty good filmic place to begin the discussion because George Clooney is one of the possibles that helps to connect a lot of this.  Clooney with Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" is a possible attendee. 
His "Ides of March" opens the Venice Festival  on Aug. 31...so he could make an appearance on Colorado Ave.  And, if he does, that opens the door to some of that cast...like Philip Seymour Hoffman. 
And maybe it becomes an "Oceans 11-12-13"  reunion and Clooney's buddy and Hoffman's Moneyball co-star Brad Pitt comes to town with "Moneyball." 
Since Brad's decided to make the trip, maybe his significant other, Angelina Jolie comes to town as well with her directorial debut "In the Land of Blood and Honey." 
Since we've decided the Ocean's gang is meeting up for Labor Day hi-jinks in the San Juans...why not Matt Damon in support of "Contagion."  It makes some sense since "Contagion" is directed by Stephen Soderbergh who is often a producing partner with Clooney. 
And if "Contagion's" playing...why not bring co-star Kate Winslet along...she can double dip as she can also be there in support of "Carnage" with Jodie Foster in tow as well.

And since Matt's there...how about double dipping as well with Cameron Crowe's "We Bought a Zoo"?

So lets' see, that means we see the following films: The Descendants, The Ides of March, Moneyball, In the Land of Blood and Honey, Contagion, Carnage and We Bought a Zoo.

And in person: Clooney, Hoffman, Pitt, Jolie, Damon, Winslet, Foster.

Yes, please.