TWO INVITATIONS
First...I let the cat out of the bag earlier this week in that we've confirmed that there will be a 2nd "Guide to the Ride, Flow of the SHOW" at this year's Telluride Film Festival. As we did last year, the event will be at 5:00pm Friday, Aug. 31 at The River Club (550 Depot). You blog readers are seriously invited to come and we'll talk the weekend, what films and talent are on hand and just about anything else. I'm looking forward to getting back together with friends I made last year at the first of these and equally pumped about meeting more of you...so...come, because you're invited!
And second, I have started getting the occasional email, tweet etc. with questions about this year's fest and that's very cool. It means it we are getting closer to Labor Day weekend and our appointment with film destiny. I love it when readers have something about which they're curious and take the time to contact me. So this second invitation is to encourage that even more. Keep the questions and comments coming my friends and take advantage of the comment function for the blog at the bottom of each new entry.
BEST OF THE WEEK
Here's a run down of the best bits and pieces from this week's MTFB/FAC:
This week's "Ten Bets":
1) Amour
2) Rust and Bone
3) Beyond the Hills
4) On the Road
5) Something in the Air
6) The Central Park Five
7) Serge Bromberg's Charlie Chaplin Project
8) Hyde Park on Hudson
9) Like Someone in Love
10) No
"Song for Marion" drops to #11 this week, but I still feel pretty good about it playing. Abbas Kiraostami's "Like Someone in Love" makes the list. Others that I'm warmish on this week include: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", "The Sapphires", "The Angel's Share", "The East"and "Midnight's Children". I have also reconsidered Chan-wook Park's "Stoker" and think it may have a chance at Telluride.
VIEW OF HYDE PARK
The Playlist has a post up this morning that shows us posters for John Hillcoat's "Lawless" which we won't see in Telluride (it opens nationally that weekend) and Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson" which I feel strongly that we WILL see in Telluride. Here's the poster:
And the post from The Playlist:
The "Hyde Park" teaser:
AND THEN AGAIN
I started yesterday's post with a lament about how a guy (me) can think he's pretty smart and has something figured out only to find out that....maybe not so much.
If you know me at all, (and if you don't, you're about to find out) you know that the inability to solve that kind of research puzzle drives me insane. So you won't be surprised that I spent some more time last night and dug deeper...I mean crazy deep. And that paid off.
I am prepared to say that using the same root information that I stumbled across on Monday that I have a high degree of certainty about a film to play Telluride in September. Which film? How certain?
Let's put it this way..."Midnight's Children" will return to the "Ten Bets" list on Monday and it won't be at #10...
"Midnight's Children"
"Midnight's Children" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714866/
Late additional news... according to IMDb MC is set for an Oct. 26th release in the U.S.and is listed as a selection for Toronto's International Film Festival. this despite the fact that we're still quite aways from TIFF's official announcement. Neither of these items diminishes the chances of its Telluride appearance.
MASTER RATING
Word this morning from Rope of Silicon (which perused the release of ratings from the MPAA) that tells us that Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" is ready for fall festivities. You'll see in the post linked below that "The Master" is rated R for "sexual content, graphic nudity and language".
The rating means it's done!
I've all but decided that it WILL play Venice...too much rumor to deny. My hope is that like 2-3 films each year that do both Venice and then Telluride (like "A Dangerous Method" and "Shame" last year) that "The Master" will be in that same category.
Here's the ROS post:
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/mpaa-ratings-master-frankenweenie-killing-softly/
MASTER POSTER
It started as a buzz about noon (my time, CDT) yesterday and rolled throughout the afternoon and finally culminated in the release of the first online poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated "The Master". Here's the poster:
Here are a couple of posts that came with the poster's debut from The Playlist:
and also from FirstShowing.net:
"THE MASTER" FULL TRAILER
Here it is...released last night on Entertainment tonight and Yahoo Movies:
I have linked multiple stories for the trailer release below.
FirstShowing.net:
Hollywood Elsewhere:
The Playlist:
Movie City News:
InContention/HitFix:
Thompson on Hollywood:
The Wrap:
The Hollywood Reporter:
Slate:
Awards Daily:
Cigarettes and Red Vines:
"The Master's" IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/
TORONTO POSSIBLES
The blog Movie Knight has a lengthy post up speculating on the chances of 43 different films making the Toronto International Film Festival lineup. Regular readers of this space know that I have said many times that there is usually a significant overlap between Toronto and Telluride...sometimes as much as a third of the T-ride lineup, or more, can also show in Toronto. This year TIFF opens Sept. 6.
Films that blogger Matt Rorabeck says are "Very Likely" to "Near Locks" are:
"Killing Them Softly"
"Looper"
"Trouble with the Curve"
"The Paperboy"
"Argo"
"Anna Karenina"
"Life of Pi"
"Les Miserables"
"Amour"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Much Ado About Nothing"
"Liberal Arts"
"Antiviral"
"The Sessions"
"The Place Beyond the Pines"
"Lesson of the Evil"
You'll notice that there is only one film listed here on my "Ten Bets" list.
Take a look at the entire list of films and the assessment of their chances for TIFF inclusion here:
TWO NEW TO VIEW
Naomi Watts in "The Impossible" via The Playlist
Two under the radar films had news notes yesterday that piqued my interest and makes me at least consider that they could be on the Telluride program. The Playlist reports that "The Impossible" directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and starring Ewan MacGregor and Naomi Watts has an awards friendly release date now- Dec. 21.
Here's the link to that post: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-impossible-starring-ewan-mcgregor-naomi-watts-will-hit-theaters-on-december-21st-20120718#.UAgVQ2FtrSh
"The Impossible's" IMDb page is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1649419/
The Playlist also reported yesterday that IFC had picked distribution for the James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough thriller "Welcome to the Punch" which makes me think it has to be considered as well.
James McAvoy in "Welcome to the Punch" again via The Playlist
Here's that story: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ifc-films-pick-up-james-mcavoy-mark-strong-thriller-welcome-to-the-punch-20120718#.UAgV5GFtrSg
And the "Welcome to the Punch" IMDb entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684233/
THE IMPOSSIBLE
I've been passing along tidbits here and there about "The Impossible", a film centered on the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean starring Naomi Watts and Ewan MacGregor and which just this week got scheduled for an awards friendly release date from Summit Entertainment.
Naturally this caught my eye along with the speculation in some quarters that because of the noticeably flashy date (Dec. 21) that Summit might be looking at some fall fest action for it. Also what little reaction to screenings that I've been able to find suggests that it might also be a pretty good film. So, it's on my watch list.
Consequently I have added a couple more posts that shine a bit more light on the film including a Spanish language trailer linked by Jeff Wells.
Hollywood Elsewhere:
InContention/HitFix:
That's your "Best of the Week"
A VIEW OF LAURENCE
A Cannes film with some chance of appearing at Telluride is Xavier Dolan's "Laurence Anyways" which debuted an international trailer yesterday. Here it is via YouTube:
You can the related story from The Playlist here:
"Laurence Anyways" was a part of this year's Un Certain Regard segment at Cannes. Here is it's IMDb entry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650048/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650048/
S\TATE OF THE RACE
And Awards Daily's Sasha Stone has a "middle of the year/before the fests announce" Oscar piece up> Link to it here:
MASTER CLASS
This just posted this morning: The Playlist digs deep on the full trailer for "The Master". [that trailer is above in my "Best of the Week" section]. They have a lot to say. Look:
More later...
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