My Last Oscar Predix for 2018 / Looking at Feinberg's Forecast / Directors' Takes

Welcome to the last day of 2018 and Happy New Year!

MY LAST OSCAR PREDIX FOR 2018

I'm closing out 2018 with a look at up-to-the-minute Oscar Predictions for the four most major categories: Picture, Direction, Actress and Actor.

Actual voting begins in a week and the nomination announcement is just three weeks away (Jan. 22).

My last publication in this space for these categories was back on Dec. 10th.

Each film's past position is listed in parentheses and TFF #45 films are Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) A Star Is Born (1)
2) Roma (2)
3) BlacKkKlansman (6)
4) Green Book (3)
5) Black Panther (5)
6) The Favourite (4)
7) Vice (8)
8) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
9) Bohemian Rhapsody (-)
10) First Man (-)

Other possibles: First Reformed, Mary Poppins Returns, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (3)
4) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)
5) Peter Farrelly/Green Book (-)

Other possibles: Ryan Coogler/Black Panther, Adam McKay/Vice, Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk, Damien Chazelle/First Man

BEST ACTRESS

1) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born (2)
2) Glenn Close/The Wife (1)
3) Olivia Colman/The Favourite (3)
4) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (4)
5) Emily Blunt/Mary Poppins Returns (5)

Other possibles: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Nicole Kidman/Destroyer, Toni Collette/Hereditary

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
2) Christian Bale/Vice (1)
3) Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody (5)
4) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book (3)
5) Ethan Hawke/First Reformed (4)

Other possibles: John David Washington/BlacKkKlansman, Willem Dafoe/At Eternity's Gate, Ryan Gosling/First Man


LOOKING AT FEINBERG'S FORECAST

Scott Feinberg, who is the awards genius at The Hollywood Reporter recently posted his end-of-the-year take on the Oscar season for all 24 Oscar categories.  Here's how Scott assesses the Oscar fates of TFF #45 films assuming 10 Best Picture nominees:

First Man (8): Best Picture, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects.

Roma (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Aparicio), Original Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Cinematography, Production Design

The Favourite (7): Best Picture, Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Original Screenplay, Costumes, Production Design

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

Cold War (2): Foreign Language Film, Cinematography

Single nominations for:
Boy Erased- Supporting Actress (Kidman)
Shoplifters-Foreign Language Film
Free Solo-Documentary Feature
Border-Makeup/Hair
Caroline-Live Action Short
Fauve-Live Action Short

That's a total of 33 predicted nominations for TFF #45.

The complete set of Feinberg's Forecast at The Hollywood Reporter is linked here.


DIRECTORS' TAKES

Continuing my recent trend of linking interviews and profiles of artists from TFF #45 films that are being spotlighted this awards season...

Cold War's Pawel Pawlikowski from Indiewire

Destroyer's Karyn Kusama from Deadline



That's your last MTFB for 2018.  More to come in 2019.

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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Updated Oscar Predictions: Best Actress and Actor / Can You Ever Forgive Me? Emerges / Destroyer Has a Trailer / The Favourite Categorized

Good Thursday Film Friends...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST ACTRESS AND BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest thoughts for the Lead Acting categories.  Each individual's position in my last predictions is in parentheses.  Those from TFF #45 films are Bold.


BEST ACTRESS

1) Glenn Close/The Wife (1)
2) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3)
4) Olivia Colman/The Favourite (4)
5) Viola Davis/Widows (-)

Others: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Julia Roberts/Ben Is Back, Toni Collette/Hereditary, Nicole Kidman/Destroyer


BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (1)
2) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book (2)
3) Ryan Gosling/First Man (3)
4) Christian Bale/Vice (-)
5) Lucas Hedges/Boy Erased (4)

Others: Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner, Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody, Ethan Hawke/First Reformed***, Lucas Hedges/Ben Is Back, John David Washington/BlacKkKlansman

***Played TFF #44

And, by the by, you might look for the a new Gurus of Gold at Movie City News tomorrow.  It will be my second contribution as a "Guru".


CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? EMERGES

The fantastic Can You Ever Forgive Me? gets its U.S. release tomorrow.  The film was well received at TFF #45 finishing as the #5 film in The Composite Ratings for MTFB.  It was #5 among the Pros and #8 in The People's Telluride.

With the film's release, as you'd expect, has been a focus in media circles this week on it and its star Melissa McCarthy.

I have linked a couple of the profiles that have her appeared about her this week from:

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

I am currently predicting McCarthy to earn her second Oscar nomination for her work in the film as real life forger Lee Daniels.  I also think the film will be nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Richard E. Grant getting a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Here's the trailer for it from YouTube:

DESTROYER HAS A TRAILER

Annapurna Pictures has released a trailer for Karyn Kusama's gritty detective drama Destroyer starring a nearly unrecognizable Nicole Kidman who is likely to be a part of the Best Actress conversation for the role.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Destroyer is currently slated to open domestically on Dec. 25th.

THE FAVOURITE CATEGORIZED

 After a good deal of consternation and speculation Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter tells us this week that the acting categorization for Awards consideration for the three ladies of Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite have been determined.

Feinberg reports that Olivia Colman, who plays England's Queen Anne in the film, will be the lone consideration for the Lead Actress category with both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz competing in the Best Supporting Actress Category.

Feinberg also reports on a number of other categorization decisions that have been made as we get ready to swing into the full awards season melee.

Feinberg's article can be found here.


That's MTFB for this Thursday.  I'll have another post on Monday in which I will update Oscar predictions for the supporting acting categories.  And don't forget to take a peek at Movie City News and the new Gurus of Gold post tomorrow.


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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Early Notes

EARLY NOTES

My view this morning:

Plan for Friday--

Grab pass and lanyard

Stop at Brigadoon

Food

Press meet up

Patron screening

Din Din

Evening Films...leaning to Roma and the Cuaron tribute...maybe Destroyer...

More later

TFF #45 Lineup Announced / Useful Info for Some of the Films Announced Today / Who's # 1?

TFF #45 LINEUP ANNOUNCED

45th Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films to play in its main program:

·       ANGELS ARE MADE OF LIGHT (d. James Longley, U.S.-Denmark-Norway, 2018)

·       BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (d. Pamela E. Green, U.S., 2018)

·       BIRDS OF PASSAGE (d. Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego, Colombia-Denmark-Mexico, 2018)

·       BORDER (d. Ali Abbasi, Sweden, 2018)

·       BOY ERASED (d. Joel Edgerton, U.S., 2018)

·       CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (d. Marielle Heller, U.S., 2018)

·       COLD WAR (d. Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland-France-U.K., 2018)

·       DESTROYER (d. Karyn Kusama, U.S., 2018)

·       DOGMAN (d. Matteo Garrone, Italy-France, 2018)

·       DOVLATOV (d. Aleksei German, Russia-Poland-Serbia, 2018)

·       FIRST MAN (d. Damien Chazelle, U.S., 2018)

·       FISTFUL OF DIRT (d. Sebastián Silva, U.S., 2018)

·       FREE SOLO (d. Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, U.S., 2018)

·       GHOST FLEET (d. Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron, U.S., 2018)

·       GIRL (d. Lukas Dhont, Belgium-Netherlands, 2018)

·       GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME (d. Rithy Panh, France-Cambodia, 2018)

·       MEETING GORBACHEV (d. Werner Herzog and André Singer, U.K.-U.S.-Germany, 2018)

·       NON FICTION (d. Olivier Assayas, France, 2018)

·       PETERLOO (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2018)

·       REVERSING ROE (d. Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, U.S., 2018)

·       ROMA (d. Alfonso Cuarón, U.S.-Mexico, 2018)

·       SHOPLIFTERS (d. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2018)

·       THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM (d. John and Molly Chester, U.S., 2018)

·       THE FAVOURITE (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland-U.K.-U.S., 2018)

·       THE FRONT RUNNER (d. Jason Reitman, U.S., 2018)

·       THE GREAT BUSTER (d. Peter Bogdanovich, U.S., 2018)

·       THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (d. David Lowery, U.S., 2018)

·       THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (d. Orson Welles, U.S., 1976/2018)

·       THE WHITE CROW (d. Ralph Fiennes, U.K., 2018)

·       THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD (d. Morgan Neville, U.S., 2018)

·       TRIAL BY FIRE (d. Ed Zwick, U.S., 2018)

·       WATERGATE – OR, HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP AN OUT-OF-CONTROL PRESIDENT (d. Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2018)

·       WHITE BOY RICK (d. Yann Demange, U.S., 2018)

USEFUL INFO FOR SOME OF THE FILMS ANNOUNCED TODAY


Here's a partial list of films announced this morning as part of the TFF #45 lineup with a trailer and an IMDb link (in alphabetical order):

BOY ERASED

Dir: Joel Edgerton
Main Cast: Lukas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton
Release date: Nov. 2
Distrib: Focus Features

Trailer:

Boy Erased IMDb link

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Dir: Marielle Heller

Main Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant

Release date: Oct. 19

Distrib: Fox Searchlight

Trailer: 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? IMDb link


COLD WAR

Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski
Main Cast:Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot
Release date: Dec. 21
Distrib: Amazon
Trailer:

Cold War IMDb link


DESTROYER

Dir: Karyn Kuwasa
Main Cast: Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan
Release date: Dec. 25
Distrib: Annapurna
Trailer: Unavailable

Destroyer IMDb link


THE FAVOURITE

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Main Cast: Olivia Colman, Rachel Wiesz, Emma Stone
Release date: Nov. 23
Distrib: Fox Searchlight
Trailer:

The Favourite IMDb link

FIRST MAN

Dir: Damien Chazelle

Main Cast: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy

Release date: Oct. 12

Distrib: Universal 

Original Trailer:

New Trailer as of yesterday:

First Man IMDb link

THE FRONT RUNNER

Dir: Jason Reitman

Main Cast: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga

Release date: Nov. 21

Distrib: Columba/Stage 6

Trailer:Unavailable

The Front Runner IMDb link

GIRL

Dir: Lukas Dhont

Main cast: Victor Polster

Release date: Nov. 16

Distrib: Netflix

Trailer:  

Girl IMDb link

NON-FICTION

Dir: Olivier Assayas

Main Cast: Juliette Binoche, Guillaume Canet

Release date: TBD

Distrib: Sundance Selects

Trailer: Unavailable

THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN

Dir: David Lowery

Main Cast: Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck

Release date: Sept. 28

Distrib: Fox Searchlight

Trailer:

The Old Man & the Gun IMDb link


THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND

Dir: Orson Welles
Main Cast: John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich
Release date: Nov. 2
Distrib: Netflix
Trailer:

The Other Side of the Wind IMDb link


PETERLOO

Dir: Mike Leigh
Main cast: Rory Kinnear
Release date: Nov. 9
Distrib: Amazon
Trailer:

Peterloo IMDb link

ROMA

Dir: Alfonso Cuaron

Main cast: Yalitza Aparicio

Release date: Oct. 5

Distrib: Netflix

Trialer: 

Roma IMDb link


SHOPLIFTERS

Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Main cast: Lily Franky, Kirin Kiki
Release date: Nov. 23
Distrib: Magnolia
Trailer:

Shoplifters IMDb link


WHITE BOY RICK

Dir: Yann Demange
Main cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Release date: Sept. 14
Distrib: Columbia
Trailer:

White Boy Rick IMDb link


WHO'S #1?

You may or may not have seen a post from Awards Circuit yesterday that linked to their YouTube account.  If you did not, they rank the world's most important film festivals in as far as awards season is concerned.

No spoilers but...

Here's that video:

I'm out...almost literally...we hit the road to T-ride in about two hours... Hoping to see some of you tonight.

Next post will be Friday morning with a view toward what I'll be planning to see and do...

Then check back throughout the weekend for TBAs and reactions to the films that I see.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

New Announcements Reveal Possibilities / Awards Daily's Comprehensive Review of Fests and Oscar Players / First Look at Nicole in Destroyer

Good Thursday everyone...we're just a week away from being on the road to Telluride. 


NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS REVEAL POSSIBILITIES

Since Tuesday's post we have seen new announcements from Fantastic Fest (its second wave), the New York Film Fest  and the last of Toronto's announcements.  Each has given us a few more tidbits to chew on.

New York's documentary announcements give us the most information of interest.  The NYFF announces with some films having NO premiere designation.  Those appear to be films that have had their U.S. premiere somewhere prior to New York's dates.  Three documentaries fit that criteria that also do not have any credited U.S. screening that I can find up to this point:  Angels Are Made of Light...which almost assuredly confirms it for Telluride after its earlier announcement for Toronto as a Canadian Premiere.

The other two are The Waldheim Waltz and Watergate.  Waldheim is from film maker Ruth Beckermann while Watergate is from Oscar winner (Inside Job) Charles Ferguson.  Ferguson has played Telluride in 2010.  Seems like Ferguson could well be returning to The SHOW.

Meanwhile, Toronto's last announcement left us with a couple of items of interest.  We know that Brady Corbet's Vox Lux starring Natalie Portman won't make the trip from Venice as TIFF lists it as a North American Premiere.  However, Lukas Dhont's Girl, which made a splash at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, is all but confirmed for TFF #45 with its Canadian Premiere designation.

And Fantastic Fest announced Ali Abassi's Border as a Texas Premiere.  I had some confusion a couple of weeks back when the L.A. Film Fest announced it (prior to its inclusion later by Toronto) as a "California Premiere" rather than a U.S. Premiere and thought that made the film a pretty decent bet for T-ride.  Seems I was wrong.

I'll have all of this figured into tomorrow's post with a brand new Ten Bets that will probably be 20 films. 

Here are links to the latest news from the New York Film Festival (via Variety)

The Toronto International Film Festival

Fantastic Fest (from ComingSoon.net)




AWARDS DAILY'S COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF FESTS AND OSCAR PLAYERS

Yesterday my friend Sasha Stone of Awards Daily posted a substantial piece detailing what film festivals have what films and which seem to be playing that are probable Oscar contenders.  The piece is quite informative and, to blow my own horn here, the Telluride section includes a fairly significant chunk of MTFB.

Here's the link.

And my thanks to Sasha for including my work on her website.


FIRST LOOK AT NICOLE IN DESTROYER


You probably saw it all over the web the last day or so.  I'm taking the photo of Nicole Kidman in character for her film Destroyer which we are relatively certain will be a part of the TFF #45 lineup when it's officially announced a week from today.  If you haven't seen it, take a gander:

Here's a woman going full Charlize Theron in Monster.

Kidman plays a former cop that attempts to correct a part of her past.  

Could this be the role that nets her a third Oscar?  Maybe.

Vanity Fair published the photo with an interview of the film's director Karyn Kusawa which you can find here.

That's your Thursday MTFB.  More tomorrow including the next to last Ten Bets for 2018.  The SHOW draws near!


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

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The First Telluride Film Festival-1974 / Tribute Odds / Indiewire's Fall Movie Preview / The People's Telluride

Good Tuesday everyone... Ten Days until the 45th Telluride Film Festival...



THE FIRST TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL-1974

The long developing TFF history project comes to a way station today with a review of the first Telluride Film Festival which occurred in Telluride on Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 1974.

I started this with a post on April 13, 2017 with a look at the 32nd TFF.  That was the starting point as you can still access programs for the festival beginning with the one from 2006 on the official Telluride Film Festival website.

I plan to add this style of history for each of those years soon.  Ultimately, I plan to add pages to the History section of this space by permanently placing all of my synopses there in full.  My goal is to have a one stop spot where anyone can access a somewhat expanded history of the fest.  That's going to drop next week just prior to the beginning of this year's fest.

So, though today is a milestone, it's still not the completion of the project.

That said, here's the review of TFF #1:

Tributes: Francis Ford Coppola, Gloria Swanson, Leni Riefenstahl

SHOWS:

BBC Interview with Leni Riefenstahl
The Blue Light
The Chinese in Paris
The Conversation
Das Stahltier
Don't Touch the White Woman
Finian's Rainbow
Olympia
Peau Danne
Queen Kelly
The Rain People
Rivers of Sand
Sadie Thompson
Solaris
Stage Struck
Sunset Boulevard
Sweet Movie
The Thief of Baghdad
Triumph of the Will
White Hell of Pitz Palu
Why Change Your Wife
You're a Big Boy Now

In addition to the tribute recipients, British actress Julie Christie was reported to have attended the festival.


TRIBUTE ODDS

As the picture continues to get clearer about probable films that will part of the TFF #45 program, I thought it might be time to return to the contemplation of who might be tribute recipients this year.

I touched on this topic in a post on July 31st and since then, we've added some more film titles that are probable for Telluride...most notably Destroyer with Nicole Kidman starring.

So...here are ten people would could be tributed and what I guessing their odds are:

1) Nicole Kidman/Destroyer and Boy Erased Odds-2 to 1.
2) Sissy Spacek/The Old Man and the Gun Odds 3 to 1.
3) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma Odds- 3 to 1
4) Juliette Binoche/Non-Fiction Odds - 4 to 1
5) Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner Odds-5 to 1
6) Matthew McConaughey/White Boy Rick Odds-5 to 1
7) Ryan Gosling/First Man Odds- 10 to 1
8) Hirokazu Kore-eda/Sholifters Odds- 15 to 1
9) Rachel Wiesz/The Favourite Odds-20 to 1
10) Guillaume Canet/Non-Fiction Odds 25 to 1

Runner-up-Olivier Assayas/Non-Fiction Odds 30 to 1


INDIEWIRE'S FALL MOVIE PREVIEW

The staff at Indiewire have put together their "awards contenders" list of 25 films for the fall film season and listed them chronologically by release date.

If the latest Ten Bets list from last Friday is accurate (and I think it's pretty accurate) then nine TFF #45 films made their list:

White Boy Rick- Sept. 21
The Old Man and the Gun- Sept. 28
First Man- Oct. 12
Boy Erased- Nov. 2
The Other Side of the Wind- Nov.2
Peterloo- Nov. 9
The Favourite- Nov. 23
Cold War- Dec. 21
Roma- undated but likely a December release

On the list of the Indiewire films that could still land at Telluride: Mary Queen of Scots (Dec. 7), Welcome to Marwen (Dec. 21), Adam McKay's untitled Dick Cheney film (Dec. 21), Ad Astra (Dec. 21) and On the Basis of Sex (Dec. 25)

Check out the entire list at Indiewire.


THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the seventh consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.

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

Ten (20) Bets #8 for TFF #45 / Roma Trailer Looks Impressive / Peterloo News and Poster

Welcome to Friday...glad you got here.


TEN (20) BETS FOR TFF #8

We're two weeks away as of today from the opening pf the 45th Telluride Film Festival.  As we close in on the Labor Day weekend,  our list of films that I think will play is expanding.  This week's newest reveals from the Toronto International Film Festival has changed the landscape in terms a new film or two being added or confirmed and also through the elimination of a number of titles that could still make an appearance when the official program drops on Thursday, Aug. 30th.

Here's a review of where the Ten Bets list was last Friday:

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


Girl, Border, , They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Graves Without a Name, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, On the Basis of Sex, He Dreams of Giants, Free Solo, Angels Are Made of Light, The Biggest Little Farm, Ghost Fleet, Cheney (Backseat), Nothing Like a Dame, Mid 90s, Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased, Ad Astra


And here is your new Ten (20) Bets:

1) The Old Man and the Gun
2) Roma
3) First Man
4) The Front Runner
5) Destroyer
6) The Favourite
7) Cold War
8) Dogman
9) Shoplifters
10) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
11) Non-Fiction
12) Boy Erased
13) White Boy Rick
14) Peterloo
15) The Other Side of the Wind
16) Meeting Gorbachev
17) Free Solo
18) Graves Without a Name
19) Birds of Passage
20) Girl


Ghost Fleet, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, On the Basis of Sex, He Dreams of Giants, Angels Are Made of Light, The Biggest Little Farm, Ghost Fleet, Cheney (Backseat), Nothing Like a Dame, Mary Queen of Scots, Ad Astra, The White Crow, The Aspern Papers.

I'd also mention that there are a couple of other titles that I am vaguely aware of that could poke their way onto the list that aren't currently named here.


ROMA TRAILER LOOKS IMPRESSIVE


Netflix released a new teaser trailer for Alfonso Cuaron's Roma yesterday and it looks marvelous.  Here it is from YouTube:

The film has the distinction of playing all four major fall fests: T-ride, TIFF, Venice and New York.  At the moment it appears to share that distinction with Olivier Assayas Non-Fiction.

Roma is as yet still not dated for a theatrical release.  IMDb reports that it has an internet release date of Dec. 14th.

I have linked coverage of the release of the trailer from Indiewire and The Playlist.


PETERLOO NEWS

The BFI/London Film Fest announced yesterday that almost-certain Telluride title, Mike Leigh's Peterloo, will appear as a part of that fest with a screening in Manchester, England.  That is reportedly the first time any film that is a part of the the BFI/LFF will screen outside of London.

Additionally, Amazon Studios released a poster for the film yesterday.  That release and the announcement of the special Manchester screening (site of the events depicted in the film) had special significance.  Eagle-eyed friend of the blog Patrick Pringle noted in a message to me that yesterday was the 199th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre.

Here's the poster:

Additionally, here coverage of the BFI/LFF announcement from The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

If you missed it from last month, here's the trailer for the film from YouTube:

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


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

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The Provenance of the Ten Bets List / Redford Reflects / Indiewire's 15 Docs / Banging the Drum Begins Today

Good Monday film fanatics!


THE PROVENANCE OF THE TEN BETS LIST

Here's a brief rundown of the 10 films on the most recent Ten Bets list (from last Friday) and the reason(s) I believe that they're headed to Telluride...

1) First Man- Listed as a Canadian Premiere by Toronto and the Opening Night film from Venice.  Director Damien Chazelle will replicate the path that his La La Land took two years ago.

2) Roma- Named as the centerpiece film for the New York Film Fest without a specific premiere designation.  Subsequently announced by TIFF as a Canadian Premiere for TIFF.  Scheduled early enough at Venice to make a run to Telluride.  Cuaron follows the steps he took with Gravity in 2013.

3) The Old Man and the Gun- TIFF lists it as an International Premiere-which traditionally means a film's first screening outside of its nationality of origin.  TIFF's program notes indicates the U.S. as the nation of origin.  Leaves Telluride as the only option.  Fox Searchlight is looking to capitalize on a strong T-ride response as it received for films such as The Shape of Water, Birdman and 12 Years a Slave-Best Picture Oscar winners all.

4) The Front Runner- TIFF lists the film as an International Premiere...see above.  Jason Reitman returns to his old stomping grounds.

5) Destroyer- TIFF lists the film as an International Premiere with the requisite designation of U.S. origin in its Platform section.

6) Cold War- TIFF lists as Canadian Premiere and NYFF lists it with no premiere status. First Cannes crossover with T-ride on this version of the Ten Bets.  Pawlikowski returns to TFF.

7) Dogman- TIFF lists this as Canadian Premiere.  Also a Cannes crossover.  Garrone returns to The SHOW.

8) Shoplifters- TIFF lists this as a Canadian Premiere.  Palme D'or winner at Cannes...the first Palme winner programmed at Telluride since 2013's Blue Is the Warmest Color.  NYFF lists it without a premiere designation.

9) Can You Ever Forgive Me?- Another TIFF International Premiere and also from Fox Searchlight.

10) Non-Fiction- Listed as a Canadian Premiere by TIFF.  At NYFF sans premiere designation. Early enough at Venice to make the trip. Olivier Assayas returns to Telluride.

Other films that seem to have reasonably good corroboration that are outside the top ten bets:

11) The Favourite- NYFF's Opening Night film was announced without any premiere designation and the film is also scheduled early enough at Venice to make the trip.  The third Fox Searchlight film that seems to be headed to the San Juans for Labor Day weekend.

12) White Boy Rick- The fifth film listed by TIFF as an International Premiere with U.S. origins.  Demange returns to Telluride.

13) Peterloo- A Venice play that's just barely early enough.  Mike Leigh has had a strong connection to Telluride over the years.

14) The Other Side of the Wind- Also barely early enough in Venice.  Connections to Telluride regulars such as Frank Marshall and Peter Bogdanovich.

15) Meeting Gorbachev- A tweet from the docs composer, who is also the brother of its co-director.  Listed by TIFF as a Canadian Premiere.  And, of course, it's other director is Werner Herzog.


The additional possibilities list from Friday was: Girl, Border, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Graves Without a Name, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, On the Basis of Sex, He Dreams of Giants, Free Solo, Angels Are Made of Light, The Biggest Little Farm, Ghost Fleet, Cheney (Backseat), Nothing Like a Dame, Mid 90s, Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased, Ad Astra.

From this list I feel nominally confident anywhere between 5-10 of them will also be programmed for TFF #45.


REDFORD REFLECTS

Ahead of the expected Telluride screening of what he has said will be his last film acting, Robert Redford recently shared thoughts about many of his most well known and beloved films with Entertainment Weekly.

Redford recounts anecdotes and reflections about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the President's Men and Ordinary People among others.

I suspect that the 2014 TFF Tribute recipient and Best Director Oscar Winner is likely to turn up in T-ride in a couple of weeks.  At least I hope he does.  I am also hoping his co-star Sissy Spacek makes the trip as well.  I have Spacek on my list of possible Tribute recipients for this year and could certainly envision Redford on hand to award her a silver medallion.

The EW article by Joe McGovern is here.



INDIEWIRE'S 15 DOCS

Indiewire's Anne Thompson wrote an article over the weekend isolating 15 documentaries that have been announced for the Toronto International Film Festival that she says have a chance to make a splash at Oscar time.

Among those she analyzes are a number that we're relatively confident will or could show up in T-ride prior to their screening in Canada.

Included in Anne's list that may be TFF #45 bound: #3 Free Solo, #4 Meeting Gorbachev, #13 Angels Are Made of Light, #15 The Biggest Little Farm

Anne's article is linked here.


BANGING THE DRUM BEGINS!

For the seventh consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.

 And that's the Monday edition of MTFB.  I'll have more tomorrow...


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

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