Michael's Telluride Film Blog : Keep on Keepin' On

Showing posts with label Keep on Keepin' On. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Telluride and Oscar in 2015/Already Oscar #88 Musings/News and Notes from Past Tellurides/Birdman Action Figure Commercial

Good Thursday everyone.

TELLURIDE AND OSCAR

As you might expect, I didn't shy away from mentioning on Monday that with "Birdman's" Best Picture Oscar win on Sunday night that Telluride has now hosted the Best Pic winner for the last five consecutive years and six of the last seven.

As you might also expect, I'm not the only one who noticed. Kristopher Tapley, who, by the by, had the best prognostication record among the Oscar experts at 20/24 and who is an annual Telluride attendee, made note of it as well in this post that appeared earlier this week:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/birdman-oscar-win-again-proves-telluride-an-oscar-season-good-luck-charm

ALREADY OSCAR #88 MUSINGS

As expected, the body of the 87th Oscars isn't even cold yet, but Oscar detectives have already started mulling over the next edition with some fearless picks about what films could make the cut a year from now. Their musings also give us some information to mull an=bout some of the films that could be programmed for TFF #42. Check predictions from The Hollywood Reporter and The Chicago Sun Times:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-2016-predictions-best-picture-774353

http://entertainment.suntimes.com/movies/2016-oscars-guessing-game-begins/

NEWS AND NOTES FROM PAST TELLURIDES

I stumbled across a couple of interesting news bits this week that included past Telluride Film Festival connections.

The former President of the Maldives who was featured in the TFF documentary "The Isalnd President" has been arrested and charged with treason in the Maldives and Clark Terry, one of the musicians involved with the doc "Keep On Keepin' On" died. Both of those stories are here from The New York Times and Time.com:

http://time.com/3718344/maldives-president-mohamed-nasheed-arrest-protests-charges-terrorism/

http://time.com/3718438/clark-terry-obit-jazz-trumpeter-educator/

BIRDMAN ACTION FIGURE FAUX COMMERCIAL

And finally, from the whimsy department. A commercial exists for a Birdman action figure. Check it here:

Rope of Silicon has the story:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-birdman-action-figure-commercial/

More on Monday...

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Film Awards Clearinghouse Vol. 5A: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor/WGA Excludes/Oscar Doc List at 15/NYFCC and NBR Announce

FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL. 5A

Here's the latest FAC focused on Best Picture, Director, Actress and Actor.

The FAC uses the published predictions of the following to develop its list of likely Oscar nominees:

Kristopher Tapley/InContention/HitFix
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Bred Brevet/Rope of Silicon
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
Peter Knegt/IndieWire
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Telluride #41 films are Bold (with their last rating in parentheses).

BEST PICTURE

1) Boyhood (1)
2) Selma (9)
3) Birdman (2)
4) The Imitation Game (3)
5) The Theory of Everything (4)
6) Unbroken (5)
7) Whiplash (6)
8) Gone Girl (8)
9) Foxcatcher (10)
10) Interstellar (7)
11) American Sniper (12)
12) Into the Woods (13)
13) Mr. Turner (11)
14) A Most Violent Year (14)
15) The Grand Budapest Hotel (15)

Hot: Selma's march to serious contender status is complete as it zooms past a number of serious Best Pic contenders to challenge "Boyhood".

Not: "Interstellar" takes the biggest slide which seems about right to me. "Mr. Turner" also slides a good bit.

It'll be interesting to see if this week's awards announcements from the New York critics, the Gotham Awards and The National Board of Review (in addition to the L.A. critics and The American Film Institutes's list coming this weekend) have an effect when we next post these categories in a couple of weeks. Additionally, all of the players have now been seen in some form by some people.

I'd expect that "Boyhood", "Birdman" and "A Most Violent Year" have had the best of it from NBR, NYFCC and The Gothams. NBR's omission of "Theory" and "Selma" is curious.

BEST DIRECTION

Director Morten Tyldum/The Imitation Game

1) Richard Linklater/Boyhood (1)
2) Alejandro Inarritu/Birdman (2)
3) Ava DuVernay/Selma (7)
4) Morten Tyldum/The Imitation Game (3)
5) Angelina Jolie/Unbroken (5)
6) David Fincher (6)
7) Damien Chazelle/Whiplash (8)
8) James Marsh/The Theory of Everything (12)
9) Christopher Nolan/Interstellar (4)
10) Bennett Miller /Foxcatcher (9)

Hot: DuVernay

Not: Nolan

The director's race gives, I think, a real window as to the Best Picture race. "Selma's" Ava DuVernay has also rocketed from the edge of consideration into the thick of the race. Meanwhile, Chris Nolan's plunge here is even more precipitous than "Interstellar's" drop in the Best Picture category.

BEST ACTRESS

Hilary Swank/The Homesman

1) Julianne Moore/Still Alice (1)
2) Reese Witherspoon/Wild (2)
3) Felicity Jones/The Theory of Everything (3)
4) Rosamund Pike/Gone Girl (4)
5) Hilary Swank/The Homesman (6)
6) Amy Adams/Big Eyes (5)
7) Emily Blunt/Into the Woods (7)
8) Shailene Woodley/The Fault in Our Stars (8)
9) Jennifer Aniston/Cake (17)
10) Gugu Mbatha-Raw/Belle (12)

Hot:Aniston and Mbatha-Raw. Aniston rises like a rocket over the last three weeks. If she continues at this rate, she could sneak into the fifth spot.

Not: Cotillard. It'll be interesting to see if Cotillard's NYFCC win has an impact on this chart in a couple of weeks. Chastain also falls out with the realization that her role in "A Most Violent Year" is supporting.

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell/Foxcatcher

1) Michael Keaton/Birdman (1)
2) Eddie Redmayne/The Theory of Everything (2)
3) Benedcit Cumberbatch/The Imitation Game (3)
4) David Oyelowo/Selma (5)
5) Steve Carell/Foxcatcher (4)
6) Bradley Cooper/American Sniper (8)
7) Timothy Spall/Mr. Turner (6)
8) Oscar Isaac/A Most Violent Year (7)
9) Jake O'Connell/Unbroken (9)
10) Jake Gyllenhaal/Nightcrawler (10)

Hot: Cooper.

Not: Nobody.

It says a lot about the toughness of this category that Oyelowo barely benefits from the rocket ship that "Selma" has become the last couple of weeks. I'm also interested to see if Spall's NTFCC win translates into increased support.

Next week, the supporting and screenplay updates.

WGA GUIDELINES EXCLUDE SOME SCRIPTS

As is the case every year, some screenplays that will be Oscar eligible are not eligible for the Writers' Guild honors. InContention posted this story outlining some of the Oscar favorites that won't be a part of the WGA awards: (including Telluride films: "Mr. Turner" and "Wild Tales"

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/exclusive-selma-theory-mr-turner-among-2014-scripts-not-eligible-for-wga-awards

OSCAR DOC LIST IS DOWN TO 15

The Academy pared the number of possible Best Documentary nominees to a list of 15 films this week. I have linked Variety's story that provides the list of 15. On the list are three TFF #41 films: "Keep on Keepin' On", "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and "The Salt of the Earth". Also included is "Jodorowsky's Dune" which was on the program at TFF #40.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/15-documentaries-land-on-oscars-short-list-1201368807/

AWARDS REVIEW FROM THIS WEEK: NYFCC AND NBR

Here's a re-post of results from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review from earlier this week":

New York Film Critics Circle 2014 Awards

Best Animated Feature: “The Lego Movie”

Best Foreign Film: “Ida” (TFF #40)

Best Non-Fiction Film: “Citizenfour”

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons/”Whiplash”

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette/”Boyhood”

Best Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Cinematography: “The Immigrant”

Best Actor: Timothy Spall/”Mr. Turner” (TFF #41)

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard/”The Immigrant” and “Two Days, One Night” (TFF #41)

Best First Film: “The Babadook”

Best Director: Richard Linklater/”Boyhood”

Best Picture: “Boyhood”

NBR'S BEST FILMS OF 2014

Telluride Films are Bold

Best Picture: A Most Violent Year

Top Ten Films:
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
American Sniper
Unbroken
Fury
The Lego Movie
Inherent Vice
Nightcrawler

Director: Clint Eastwood/American Sniper

Actor: Oscar Isaac/Most Violent Year and Michael Keaton/Birdman (Tie)

Actress: Julianne Moore/Still Alice

Supporting Actor: Edward Norton/Birdman

Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain/Most Violent Year

Original Screenplay: The Lego Movie

Adapted Screenplay: Inherent Vice

Ensemble: Fury

Breakthrough: Jack O'Connell (Starred Up/Unbroken)

Top Ten Indie Films:

Blue Ruin, Locke, A Most Wanted Man, Obvious Child, The Skeleton Twins, Snowpiercer, Stand Clear of Closing Doors, Starred Up, Still Alice

Foreign Film: Wild Tales

Top Five Foreign Films: Force Majuere, Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem, Leviathan, Two Days One Night" We Are the Best

Documentary: Life Itself

Top Five Documentaries: Art and Craft, Jodorowsky's Dune, Keep On Keepin' On, The Kill Team, Last Days of Vietnam

Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2

NBR Freedom of Expression Awards: Rosewater, Selma

LA AND AFI

I'll post the announcements from both the L.A. critics and The American Film Institute as they happen over the weekend...as always...More then, on Monday...

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

National Board of Review Names Best Films of 2014

NBR'S BEST FILMS OF 2014

Thursday, November 6, 2014

The Film Awards Clearinghouse Vol. 3C: Foreign, Doc, Editing and Cinematography/"Birdman's" Beat/"Rosewater's" Tone/BIFA Loves " '71" and Others

Welcome to Thursday everyone...

THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL. 3C

I thought I'd use the FAC this week to drop in on four Oscar races outside the Big Eight and see what's going on in them. I'll return next Thursday with The FAC for Best Picture, Director, Actress and Actor.

The FAC uses the published predictions of the following (for these four categories) to develop its list of likely Oscar nominees:

Kristopher Tapley/InContention/HitFix
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
Peter Knegt/IndieWire
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Telluride #41 films are Bold.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Citizenfour
2) Life Itself
3) Red Army
4) Keep On Keepin' On
5) The Overnighters
6) The Case Against 8
7) Salt of the Earth
8) Tales of the Grim Sleeper
9) Last Days in Vietnam
10) Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me

Comment: Telluride #41 boasts 2 possible nominees with another couple of possibles. At this point, "Citizenfour" looks like the only lock.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1) Ida*
2) Leviathan
3) Two Days, One Night
4) Mommy
5) Wild Tales
6) Winter Sleep
7) Force Majeure
8) Timbuktu
9) White God
10) Gett: The Trail of Viviane Amsalem

Comments: The dream of an all Telluride slate of nominees in an Oscar category could happen this year in the Foreign Language category albeit with an asterisk for "Ida" which actually played Telluride #40. Realistically, I believe it's unlikely that the current top five end up as the five nominees announced in February and looking at the numbers that I crunched, none of these five would be termed locks at this point.

FILM EDITING

1) The Imitation Game
2) Birdman
3) Boyhood
4) Interstellar
5) Gone Girl
6) Unbroken
7) Whiplash
8) Fury
9) American Sniper
10) Foxcatcher

Comment: It says something that "The Imitation Game" sits at the top of the list. Much has been over the past several years about the connection between Best Picture winners and a film editing nomination. It happens a lot. It happened last year with "12 Years a Slave". The notion isn't that a film has to win editing to win Best Picture, but it almost always has to have a nomination. The same could be said about the appearance of Richard Linklater's "Boyhood's" #3 spot on this first chart for Editing.

You wouldn't be surprised at the nomination of such "flashy" editing as "Birdman" or "Interstellar" so the pundits' inclusion of "Imitation" at the top makes you think that it's Best Picture chances are rather good.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Birdman
2) Interstellar
3) Mr. Turner
4) Unbroken
5) The Theory of Everything
6) Gone Girl
7) Inherent Vice
8) The Imitation Game
9) The Grand Budapest Hotel
10) Wild

Comments: Every film through the #8 Spot looks like a potential nominee. "Birdman" is a lock.

Ultimately, in these four categories, Telluride #41 films (if The FAC is 100% accurate) would have 10 nominations plus another nomination for a TFF #40 film and an additional 5 possibilities.

In all, looking at the totality of Volume 3 FAC for the dozen categories suggests the following:

"Birdman" nominated for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Film Editing and Cinematography. (Nominations in 8 of the 9 categories it could be nominated in...and realistically, there isn't a Lead Actress candidate in the film).

"The Imitation Game" nominated for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actress and Film Editing with a possibility of a nomination for Cinematography.

"Foxcatcher" nominated for Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor with possibilities for Original Screenplay, Director and Film Editing.

"Mr. Turner nominated for Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Cinematography with a possibility for Best Director.

"Wild" nominated for Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay with possibilities for Best Picture and Cinematography.

Additional films with possibilities include "Rosewater" for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Homesman foe Best Actress and "Wild Tales" for Best Original Screenplay.

Totals for these ten categories plus Documentary Feature and Foreign Films have 29 nominations for TFF #41 films with an additional 12 possible nominations. Of course, still not included are the remaining feature film categories.

BIRDMAN'S BEAT

One of the many distinctive qualities about Alejandro G. Inarritu's masterpiece, "Birdman", is the jazz percussion score. Now, frankly, it is the one element of the film that I'm not crazy about but I also can't deny that it's propulsive and unique. Matt Patches writing for HitFix posted an interview with Antonio Sanchez, the man behind the sounds. That interview is here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/how-alejandro-inarritu-directed-drummer-antonio-sanchezs-birdman-score

ROSEWATER'S TONE

Jon Stewart may well have a shot at an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of Maziar Bahari's book, "Then They Came for Me". "Rosewater" had some champions critically coming out of Telluride but also some detractors (put me in the second camp...I thought it was a noble experiment that failed to connect and included too many warring impulses).

This week Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood posted interviews and Telluride panels that included Stewart and actor Gael Garcia Bernal as the film moves to theaters next week. Here's that collection of material from Anne:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-rosewaters-jon-stewart-and-gael-garcia-bernal-talk-purposeful-inauthenticity-exclusive-20140903

BIFA LOVES " '71" AND OTHERS

Nominations were announced this week for the British Independent Film Awards and a number of Telluride #41 films made the cut. Best Indie Film nominations included " '71", "The Imitation Game" and "Mr, Turner". As a matter of fact " '71" lead the pack with nine total BIFA nominations. "Mr. Turner" was nominated for five BIFA's and "Imitation" was nominated for four.

The Playlist has the complete breakdown of the BIFA nominees here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/71-starring-jack-oconnell-leads-the-17th-british-independent-film-awards-nominees-20141103

More on Monday...hope your weekend is terrific!

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