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

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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

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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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.

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Post Oscar Nomination Thoughts / Writer's Guild and TFF / U.S. Trailer for Godland / Visitations: Foy, Buckley and More

POST OSCAR NOMINATION THOUGHTS

So after  last Tuesday we have moved to the final phase of the 95th Oscar season in which Academy voters will winnow nominees down to winners in the 23 categories.  Final voting runs from March 2nd and ends March 7th with the ceremony set for March 12th.

Some random thoughts about what we know and what might be coming.

Everything Everywhere All at Once was always going to have a big morning last Tuesday but even the EEAAO crew had to be a little surprised that the film picked up 11 nominations and was the only film earning double digit nominations.

All Quiet on the Western Front; I had it getting nine nominations and was pretty queasy that I had gone overboard assessing its chances.  I really did think that my predilection for picking it would wreck my overall level accuracy.  In so many of its categories I had it getting in at the fifth spot.  Shaky at best.  But all turned out fairly well.  AQOTHWF did get nine nominations.  My predictions very nearly matched nomination for nomination save for picking Edward Berger getting in for Best Direction.  That didn't happen but the film picked up a nomination for Original Score which put it at nine total nominations.

TFF:  TAR overperformed a bit with its six nominations.  I had it predicted for four (Picture, Direction, Actress and Original screenplay) all of which it got in addition to Cinematography and Editing.

I had hoped Women Talking would get a least Supporting Acting nomination and had predicted a Best Original Score nomination but those did not materialize.  I was gratified that it pulled in that Best Picture nomination.  Many thought that it would not and my prediction was shaky.

I was also very pleased to see Bill Nighy get his first ever Oscar nomination.

Ultimately I had TFF films earning 16 nominations and they ended up with 17.

I was [leased that I went 93 for 120 for a success rate of 77.5% which, I gather, was a respectable number for Oscarologists.  Over at Gold Derby I would have finished behind just two experts: Indiewire's Anne Thompson who was tops with 95/120 and Gold Derby's Joyce Eng who had 94/120.

So yeah, it's true.  I outperformed a bunch of the folks who get paid to do this stuff.  Here's the link to all of the experts scores from Gold Derby.

Now it's on to March 12th.  Several actual races to make this a fun end to the awards season.  The Best Picture front runner right now seems to be Everything Everywhere but it's certainly not a lock.  Best Actor seems like a tight race between Fraser, Butler and Farrell.  Best Actress looks like  a showdown between Blanchett and Yeoh.  Supporting Actress seems to be leaning toward Angela Bassett but I wouldn't count out Condon or Curtis.  Supporting Actor looks like a slam dunk for Ke Huy Quan.  Best Direction appears to be a battle between The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinart) and Steven Spielberg.  

I'll start predicting for the winners in next Monday's post.

WRITER'S GUILD AND TFF

The Writer's Guild of America announced its nominees for the best work in screenplays for 2022 yesterday.  TFF #49 films scored a nomination in each of the three categories.  Todd Field earned a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for TAR.  Sarah Polley was nominated for penning the Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking and Ondi Timoner was nominated for the best screenplay for a documentary for the Last Flight Home.

As is often the case, a number of Oscar nominated screenplays likely missed out due being ineligible for the WGA honor such as The Banshees of Inisherin, Living and All Quiet on the Western Front.

The WGA will announce its winners on March 5th.

Here is the complete list of WGA nominees.

U.S TRAILER FOR GODLAND

VISITATIONS

WOMEN TALKING

Sarah Polley on the WTF podcast.

Claire Foy and Jesse Buckley on ming5.com. 

EMPIRE OF LIGHT

Micheal Ward from Vanity Fair.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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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!

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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.

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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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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting Plus More / Indiewire's Top 50 and TFF / Hollywood Critics Association and TFF / Visitations: Inarittu, Deakins, Polley and More

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: LEAD ACTING UPDATE 

I am updating predictions in the categories of Best Actress and Best Actor and adding first predictions for Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  These were last predicted on Dec. 5th.  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) Margot Robbie/Babylon (5)

6) Viola Davis/The Woman King (6)

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 (New)

7) Hugh Jackman/The Son (6)

Out: Gabriel LaBelle/The Fabelmans

BEST CINEMATOGRAHY

1) Avatar: The Way of Water

2) Top Gun: Maverick

3) The Fabelmans

4) Babylon

5) Empire of Light

6) All Quiet on the Western Front

7) Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

BEST FILM EDITING

1) Top Gun: Maverick

2) Everything Everywhere All at Once

3) The Fabelmans

4) Avatar: The Way of Water

5) Elvis

6) The Banshees of Inisherin

7) TAR

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Elvis

2) Babylon

3) The Fabelmans

4) Avatar: The Way of Water

5) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

6) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

7) Everything Everywhere All at Once

INDIEWIRE'S TOP 50 AND TFF

Indiewire published its survey of more than 160 film critics and journalists on Wednesday this past week and TFF films nabbed nine of the 50 spots.  I have listed them in the order they appear on the list:

43) Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

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

31) Three Minutes: A Lengthening (TFF #48)

20) Bones and All

19) Living

18) Women Talking

10) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

2) Aftersun

1) TAR

The complete list of 50 films is linked here.

HOLLYWOOD CRITICS ASSOCAITION AND TFF

The Hollywood Critics Association announced their nominees for the best in cinema for 2022 on Thursday.  Eight TFF films landed at least one nomination and TFF films earned 20 nominations overall.  Women Talking and TAR led the way with five nominations each.  Here's the rundown:

Women Talking (5): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor (Whishaw), Adapted Screenplay and Ensemble.  Women Talking had also been nominated for two HCA Creative Arts Awards on Dec. 8th for Best Casting Direction and Score.

TAR (5): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Blanchett), Original Screenplay and Best Independent Film.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On From (TFF #48) (3): Best Independent Film, Animated Film, Vocal Performance/Slate.

Aftersun (3): Best Independent Film, First Feature, Actor (Mescal).

Bones and All (1): Best Horror Film.

Close (1): Best International Film,

Good Night Oppy (1): Best Documentary,

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (1): Best Documentary.

Everything Everywhere All at Once led all films with a total of nine nominations.  Here us the complete list of nominees from The HCA.

VISITATIONS: INARITTU, DEAKINS, POLLEY AND MORE

Alejandro G. Inarittu on Bardo from Indiewire.

Alejandro G. Inarittu on Bardo from Awards Radar.

Roger Deakins on Empire of Light from Awards Watch.

Sarah Polley with Francis Ford Coppola on Women Talking from Variety.

Micheal Ward on Empire of Light from Next Best Picture.

Melissa Lesh and Trevor Frost on Wildcat from Indiewire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB Oscar Take: Picture, Direction and More / Critics Choice Nominations / Trailer and Poster for Women Talking / Visitations: Inarittu, Polley and More

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATING BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION...ADDING DOCUMENTARY, ANIMATED FEATURE AND INTERNATIONAL FILM

In today's post I am updating Oscar predictions for Best Picture and Best Direction which were last posted on Dec. 1st.  In addition I am including first predictions for Best Animated, Documentary and International films.  TFF #49 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) The Fabelmans (1)

2) The Banshees of Inisherin (2)

3) Everything Everywhere All at Once (5)

4) Women Talking (3)

5) Top Gun: Maverick (4)

6) TAR (6)

7) Elvis (7)

8) Avatar: The Way of Water (9)

9) Babylon (8)

10) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (9)

11) The Woman King (New)

12) Triangle of Sadness  (10)

Out: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11)

Stealth BP possibles: RRR, She Said, GDT's Pinocchio, Living

BEST DIRECTION

1) Steven Spielberg/The Fabelmans (1)

2) Sarah Polley/Women Talking (2)

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

4) Todd Field/TAR (4)

5) The Daniels/EEAAO (5)

6) Damien Chazelle/Babylon (6)

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

Out: Rueben Ostlund/Triangle of Sadness

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) GDT's Pinocchio

2) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

3) Turning Red

4) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

5) Wendall and Wild

6) Strange World

7) Lightyear

BEST DOUMENATRY FEATURE

1) Good Night Oppy

2) Fire of Love

3) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

4) All That Breathes

5) Navalny

6) Descendant

7) The Territory

BEST  INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Close

2) All Quiet on the Western Front

3) Decision to Leave

4) Holy Spider

5) Argentina 1985

6) Saint Omer

7) Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

CRITICS CHOICE NOMINATIONS

The Critics Choice Association named their nominees for film superlatives on Wednesday morning.  Nine different Telluride films earned at least one nomination with Todd Field's TAR leading the way with seven total nominations.  Here's the breakdown:

TAR (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Blanchett), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Score.

Women Talking (6): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Buckley), Ensemble, Adapted Screenplay and Score.

Aftersun (3): Best Actor (Mescal), Young Actor (Corio), Original Screenplay

Living (2): Best Actor (Nighy), Adapted Screenplay

Empire of Light (1): Cinematography

Armageddon Time (1): Best Young Actor (Repeta)

Bardo (1): Best Foreign Language Film

Close (1): Best Foreign Language Film

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (1): Best Animated Film

Everything Everywhere All at Once led all films with 14 nominations.

You can fins the complete list of nominees linked here.

TRAILER AND POSTER FOR WOMEN TALKING

New views of Sarah Polley's Women Talking with a new poster and a trailer.  Here's the trailer via YouTube:

 And the new poster:

VISITATIONS: INARITTU, POLLEY AND MORE

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu on Bardo from Gold Derby.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu on Bardo from The Hollywood Reporter.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu on Bardo from The Playlist.

Sarah Polley on Women Talking from The Hollywood Reporter.

Mary McCartney on If These Walls Could Sing from Solzy at the Movies.

Micheal Ward on Empire of Light from Indiewire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays