MTFB'S Oscar Take: Updating the Big Eight / Indiewire's Critics Poll for 2021 / Interviews and Profiles: Joe Wright

MTFB'S OSCAR TAKE: UPDATING THE BIG EIGHT

With little more than a month to go until Oscar night, March 7th, here is an update on the eight major above the line categories with winners predictions.  As always TFF #48 films and performers are indicated in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) The Power of the Dog

2) Belfast

3) West Side Story

4) King Richard

5) Dune

6) Licorice Pizza

7) CODA

8) Don't Look Up

9) Drive My Car

10) Nightmare Alley

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog

2) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast

3) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story

4) Licorice Pizza/Paul Thomas Anderson

5) Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Drive My Car

BEST ACTRESS

1) Nicole Kidman/Being the Ricardos

2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye

3) Kristen Stewart/Spencer

4) Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter

5) Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers

BEST ACTOR

1) Will Smith/King Richard

2) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog

3) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...BOOM

4) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth

5) Javier Bardem/Being the Ricardos

1) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Ariana DeBose/West Side Story

2) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog

3) Aujanue Ellis/King Richard

4) Jesse Buckley/The Lost Daughter

5) Judi Dench/Belfast

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog

2) Troy Kotsur/CODA

3) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast

4) Jesse Plemons/The Power of the Dog

5) J.K. Simmons/Being the Ricardos

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast

2) Licorice Pizza

3) Don't Look Up

4) King Richard

5) The Worst Person in the World

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog

2) CODA

3) The Lost Daughter

4) Drive My Car

5) Dune

THE MOST RECENT PREDICTIONS FOR THE OTHER CATEGORIES

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Summer of Soul

2) Flee

3) Attica

4) Ascension

5) Writing with Fire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Encanto

2) The Mitchells vs. the Machines

3) Luca

4) Flee

5) Raya and the Last Dragon

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Drive My Car

2) The Worst Person in the World

3) The Hand of God

4) Flee

5) Luana: A Yak in the Classroom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) The Power of the Dog

2) Dune

3) The Tragedy of Macbeth

4) Nightmare Alley

5) West Side Story

BEST EDITING

1) Dune

2) The Power of the Dog

3) Don't Look Up

4) King Richard

5) tick, tick...BOOM

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Dune

2) Nightmare Alley

3) West Side Story

4) The Power of the Dog

5) The Tragedy of Macbeth

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Dune

2) The Power of the Dog

3) Don't Look Up

4) Encanto

5) Parallel Mothers

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) No Time to Die/No Time to Die

2) Dos Oruguitas/Encanto

3) Be Alive/King Richard

4) Down to Joy/Belfast

5) Somehow You Do/Four Good Days

BEST COSTUMES

1) Cruella

2) Dune

3) Nightmare Alley

4) West Side Story

5) Cyrano

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune

2) Spiderman: No Way Home

3) No Time to Die

4) Shang Chi

5) Free Guy

BEST SOUND

1) Dune

2) West Side Story

3) Not Time to Die

4) The Power of the Dog

5) Belfast

BEST MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Dune

2) Cruella

3) The Eyes of Tammy Faye

4) The House of Gucci

5) Coming 2 America

INDIEWIRE'S CRITICS POLL FOR 2021

Indiewire polled 187critics asking them what the best films were for 2021.  They posted those results with a Top 50 list earlier this week.  TFF #48 films did well.  Very well.  Here's the rundown of where films from The SHOW ended up on the list:

#49 King Richard

#44 Cyrano

#38 The Card Counter

#37 Spencer

#32 Red Rocket

#31 The Velvet Underground

#23 A Hero

#22 Bergman Island

#21 Belfast

#16 The Lost Daughter

#10 C'mon C'mon

#8 Petite Maman

#7 Flee

#6 The French Dispatch

#1 The Power of the Dog

The complete list from Indiewire is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Joe Wright/Cyrano The Film Stage's The B-side

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

The Inventory from TFF #44 / FAC Oscar Update:Best Picture and Direction / Eligible Documentaries Announced / Releasing News

Good final Monday in October to you...



THE INVENTORY FROM TFF #44

I recently completed my annual canvas of minutiae from this year's Telluride Film Festival and thought I'd share some of the tidbits of the information from that.

Starting with the distributors.  Long time Telluride attendees and/or readers of this space know that Sony Pictures Classics is almost always well represented at the festival.  I've been going to Telluride since 2006 and in that time SPC has averaged nearly five films per fest.  SPC held true to that form this year with five films: A Fantastic Woman, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Foxtrot, Loveless and The Rider.

Five other distributors screened multiple films over Labor Day weekend:

A24: First Reformed, Lady Bird and Lean on Pete
Fox Searchlight: Battle of the Sexes and The Shape of Water
Cohen Media Group: Faces Places and The Insult
Netflix: First They Killed My Father and Wormwood
Amazon Studios: Wonderstruck and Human Flow

Nine other distributors had films on the TFF #44 schedule including Focus Features (Darkest Hour), Paramount (Downsizing),  HBO Films (Arthur Miller:Writer) and PBS (The Vietnam War).

Unusually, there were no films from Sundnace Selects/IFC Films, Open Road, Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions or Warner Brothers which have all been common players in recent years at Telluride.  And, also, no films from the currently beleaguered Weinstein Company.

As of this post, seven TFF #44 films did not yet have distribution in the U.S.:

Eating Animals
Hostages
Land of the Free
Love, Cecil
A Man of Integrity
Tesnota
The Venerable W

Film Festival crossovers...films that were shared by TFF and some other major fests:

Berlin: A Fantastic Woman, Hostages and The Other Side of Hope

Cannes: Faces Places, Film Worker, Loveless, A Man of Integrity, The Rider, Tesnota, The Venerable W., Wonderstruck

Venice: Downsizing, First Reformed, Foxtrot, Human Flow, The Insult, Lean on Pete, The Shape of Water and Wormwood

Toronto: Battle of the Sexes, Darkest Hour, Downsizing, Faces Places, A Fantastic Woman, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, First Reformed, First They Killed My Father, Foxtrot, Hostiles, Human Flow, The Insult, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete, Loveless, The Other Side of Hope, The Rider and The Shape of Water

New York: Arthur Miller: Writer, Faces Places,Film Worker, First Reformed, Lady Bird, The Other Side of Hope, The Rider. The Venerable W. and Wonderstruck

London: Battle of the Sexes. Downsizing, Faces Places, A Fantastic Woman, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Film Worker, Foxtrot, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete, Loveless, Loving Vincent, The Rider, The Shape of Water, The Venerable W. and Wonderstruck


FAC OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION


Our last Film Awards Clearinghouse look at the Best Picture and Best Direction categories came on Oct. 12th.  With the conclusion of the New York Film Festival and the announcement of the Independent Film Projects Gotham Award nominees, I thought I'd update the Best Picture and Best Direction categories.

TFF #44 films are Bold.


BEST PICTURE

This was the list on Oct. 12th:

1) Dunkirk
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Three Billboards
5) The Post
6) Call Me By Your Name
7) Get Out
8) The Florida Project

Others: Blade Runner 2049, Mudbound, Lady Bird


The updated list as of today:

1) Dunkirk
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Three Billboards
5) Call Me By Your Name
6) The Post
7) Get Out
8) The Florida Project

Others: Lady Bird, Mudbound, I Tonya

Notes: Call Me By Your Name and The Post trade spots and Lady Bird and I Tonya show some momentum.  Also, I suspect that Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread may start to make an appearance after seeing its trailer last week.


BEST DIRECTION

From Oct. 12th:

1) Christopher Nolan/Dunkirk
2) Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water
3) Steven Spielberg/The Post
4) Joe Wright/Darkest Hour
5) Martin McDonagh/Three Billboards

Other Possibilities: Sean Baker/Florida Project, Luca Guadagnino/Call Me By Your Name, Dee Rees/Mudbound

Updated list:

1) Christopher Nolan/Dunkirk

2) Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water

3) Joe Wright/Darkest Hour

4) Martin McDonagh/Three Billboards

5) Steven Spielberg/The Post

Other Possibilities: Luca Guadagnino/Call Me By Your Name, Jordan Peele/Get Out, Dee Rees/Mudbound

Notes: Wright and Mc Donagh benefit from some slippage by Spielberg.  Sean Baker loses some steam as Jordan Peele pops into the "Other Possibilities" list.

ELIGIBLE DOCUMENTARIES ANNOUNCED

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released a list of 170 feature documentaries eligible for Oscar consideration for this year.  From that list I find at least nine that played either TFF #43 or TFF #44.  They are:

From TFF #44:

Arthur Miller: Writer
Faces Places
Human Flow
An Inconvenient Sequel

From TFF #43:

The B Side
California Typewriter
Chasing Trane
Finding Oscar
I Called Him Morgan

The complete list of all 170 films is here from Variety.



RELEASING NEWS

I discovered a couple of notes concerning release dates fro films that played the 44th edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

Scott Cooper's Hostiles (recently acquired by Entertainment Studios) has been dated for initial domestic release for Dec. 22nd.  This, as expected puts it into play for Oscar consideration.  Their has been a good deal of speculation that Christian Bale, who leads the western drama, might be a serious contender in the Best Actor category.

Additionally, Indiewire reported at the end of last week that Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water will have a bi-coastal opening.  Rather than open in New York and Los Angeles on the same date, the film will open in NYC first on Dec. 1st and then in Los Angeles one week later essentially creating two red carpet opportunities.

Here is that story from Indiewire.


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


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