MTFB Oscar Take: Best Picture, Direction and Lead Acting / More of the Deluge: Golden Globes, L.A. Film Critics, Critic's Choice and The American Film Institute / La Grazia Trailer

MTFB OSCAR TAKE:  BEST PICTURE, DIRECTION AND LEAD ACTING #4

BEST PICTURE

1) One Battle After Another (1)

2) Hamnet (2)

3) Sinners (3)

4) Marty Supreme (5)

5) Sentimental Value (4)

6) Frankenstein (7)

7) It Was Just an Accident (8)

8) Jay Kelly (9)

9) Wicked: For Good (6)

10) Train Dreams (10)

Others: Avatar: Fire and Ice, Bugonia and The Secret Agent.

 

Notes: Wicked: for Good takes a substantial drop.  The Frankenstein charge continues.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Paul Thomas Anderson/OBAA (1)

2) Chloe Zhao/Hamnet (2)

3) Ryan Coogler/Sinners (3)

4) Jafar Panahi/It Was Just an Accident (4)

5) Joachim Trier/Sentimental Value (5)

Others: Josh Safdie/Marty Supreme, Guillermo del Toro/Frankenstein and Park Chan-wook/No Other Choice.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Jesse Buckley/Hamnet (1)

2) Rene Reinsve/Sentimental Value (2)

3) Cynthia Enviro/Wicked: For Good (3)

4) Amanda Seyfried/The Testament of Ann Lee (5)

4) Emma Stone/Bugonia (4)

Others: Chase Infiniti/OBAA, Rose Byrne/If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and Kate Hudson/Song Sung Blue.

BEST ACTOR

1) Timothee Chalamet/Marty Supreme (1)

2) Leonardo DiCaprio/OBAA (2)

3) Walter Moura/The Secret Agent (3)

4) Ethan Hawke/Blue Moon (5)

5) Michael B. Jordan/Sinners (4)

Others: Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), George Clooney/Jay Kelly and  Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

MORE OF THE DELUGE

Critics and Film Organizations continued these past few days with their lists of "Best Ofs" and/or nominations. 

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning.  TFF #52 films did well earning a collective 36 nominations.  One Battle After Another led all films with nine nominations..  Here's the rundown of TFF #52 nominees:

Sentimental Value (8): Best Picture/Drama, Non-English Language Film, Actress/Drama, Supporting Actress X 2, Supporting actor, Direction, Screenplay.

Hamnet (6): Best Picture/Drama, Actress/Drama. Supporting Actor, Director, Screenplay and Score.

Frankenstein (5): best Picture/Drama, Actor/Drama, Supporting Actor, Director, Score.

It Was Just an Accident (4): Best Picture/Drama, Non-English Language Film, Director, Screenplay.

The Secret Agent (3): Best Picture/Drama, Non-English Language Film, Actor/Drama

Bugonia (3): Best Picture/Musical or Comedy, Actress/Musical or Comedy, Actor Musical or Comedy.

Blue Moon (2): Best Picture/Musical or Comedy, Actor/Musical or Comedy.

Jay Kelly (2): Best Actor/Musical or Comedy, Supporting Actor.

Springsteen; Deliver Me from Nowhere (1): Best Actor/Musical or Comedy.

If I had Legs Id' Kick You (1): Best Actress/Musical or Comedy.

Nouvelle Vague (1): Best Picture/Musical or Comedy.

The complete Golden Globes list of nominees is here.

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS

The L.A. Film Critics' Association named their best films in a number of categories.  Six TFF #52 films earned Best Of or Runner-up Status.  They were:

The Secret Agent: Best Film/Runner-up, Best Non English-Language Film, Lead Performance/Runner-up.

Blue Moon: Best Lead Performance, Supporting actor/Runner-up.

Sentimental Value: Best Supporting Performance, Supporting Performance/Runner-up.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: Best Lead Performance.

It Was Just an Accident; Best Screenplay.

Frankenstein; Production Design/Runner-up.

CRITICS' CHOICE NOMINATIONS

Sinners lead all films with 17 total CCA nominations followed by One Battle After Another with 14.  TFF#52 films held their own though with both Hamnet and Frankenstein grabbing 11 nominations (the third highest total). TFF #52 films earned a total of 41 nominations.

Here's the TFF #52 breakdown:

HAMNET (Focus Features) – 11

Best Picture

Best Actress – Jessie Buckley

Best Supporting Actor – Paul Mescal

Best Young Actor / Actress – Jacobi Jupe

Best Director – Chloé Zhao

Best Adapted Screenplay – Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell

Best Casting and Ensemble – Nina Gold

Best Cinematography – Łukasz Żal

Best Production Design – Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton

Best Costume Design – Malgosia Turzanska

Best Score – Max Richter

FRANKENSTEIN (Netflix) – 11

Best Picture

Best Supporting Actor – Jacob Elordi

Best Director – Guillermo del Toro

Best Adapted Screenplay – Guillermo del Toro

Best Cinematography – Dan Laustsen

Best Production Design – Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau

Best Costume Design – Kate Hawley

Best Hair and Makeup – Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey

Best Visual Effects – Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess, Ivan Busquets, José Granell

Best Score – Alexandre Desplat

Best Sound – Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, Greg Chapman

SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Neon) – 7

Best Picture

Best Actress – Renate Reinsve

Best Supporting Actor – Stellan Skarsgård

Best Supporting Actress – Elle Fanning

Best Supporting Actress – Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas

Best Director – Joachim Trier

Best Original Screenplay – Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

JAY KELLY (Netflix) – 4

Best Picture

Best Supporting Actor – Adam Sandler

Best Original Screenplay – Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer

Best Casting and Ensemble – Douglas Aibel, Nina Gold

BUGONIA (Focus Features) – 3

Best Picture

Best Actress – Emma Stone

Best Adapted Screenplay – Will Tracy

THE SECRET AGENT (Neon) – 2

Best Actor – Wagner Moura

Best Foreign Language Film

BLUE MOON (Sony Pictures Classics) – 1

Best Actor – Ethan Hawke

IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU (A24) – 1

Best Actress – Rose Byrne

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (Neon) – 1

Best Foreign Language Film

The complete rundown of nominations for the CCA is linked here.

AMERICAN FILM INSTUTUTE TOP TEN FILMS (PLUS)

From the American Film Institute's Top Ten list plus one more superlative (TFF #52 films in Bold):

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

BUGONIA

FRANKENSTEIN

HAMNET

JAY KELLY

MARTY SUPREME

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

SINNERS

TRAIN DREAMS

WICKED: FOR GOOD

AFI SPECIAL AWARD

IT WAS JUST AN ACCCIDENT

Here's the complete announcement from the AFI.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / Golden Globe Nominations and TFF / Critics and Awards Groups from This Past Weekend / The Playlist 100 Most Anticipated for 2025 / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward.  The categories I am adding today are: Original Score, Original Song And Sound. The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 25th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (2)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (3)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (4)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Saoirse Ronan/Blitz and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Yura Borisov/Anora (-)

Others: Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown, Stanley Tucci/Conclave. Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Conclave

2) The Brutalist

3) Emilia Perez

4) The Wild Robot

5) The Room Next Door

Others: Blitz, Challengers and Saturday Night.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez

2) El Mal/Emilia Perez

3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot

4) Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece

5) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight

Others: Winter Coat/Blitz, Beyond/Moana 2 and Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper.

BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two

2) Wicked

3) Gladiator II

4) A Complete Unknown

5) Emilia Perez

Others: Blitz, Maria and The Brutalist.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS AND TFF

Here are the TFF films That were nominated for Golden Globes this morning:

Twelve TFF Films earned 35 Golden Globe nominations early theis morning.  Emilia Perez led all films with 10 nominations.  Here are the results from the announcement:

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana and Gomez), Screenplay, Song (El Mal and Mi Camino) and Score.

Conclave (6): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor (Drama-Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Screenplay and Score.

Anora (5): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Moore), Supporting Actor (Burisov), and Screenplay.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Actor (Musical or Comedy-Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Screenplay.

All We Imagine as Light (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction.

The Apprentice (2): Best Actor (Drama-Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

September 5 (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Nickel Boys (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Film Not in the English Language.

Saturday Night (1): Best Actor (Musical or Comedy-LaBelle).

Maria (1): Best actress (Drama-Jolie).

The Golden Globes winners will be announced on January 5th, 2025.

The complete list of all Golden Globes nominees is linked here from Variety.

CRITICS AND AWARDS GROUPS FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

***THE LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named their "Best Of" yesterday.  Here's how films that played at TFF fared:

Best Picture: Anora

Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof/The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Lead Performance: Mikey Madison/Anora

Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov/Anora and Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain.

Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Cinematography: Nickel Boys.

Editing: Nickel Boys and September 5 (tied).

Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light.  Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Best Documentary: No Other land.

A full list of the LAFCA results is linked here from their website.

***EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS AND TFF

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez dominated the European Film Awards which announced their recipients on Dec. 7th.

Emilai Perez won Best European Film, Direction for Audiard and Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascon.  Audiard was also awarded Best Screenwriter.  Additionally the film won Best Editing.  The other TFF winner was No Other Land as Best European Documentary.

***BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS AND TFF

The British Independent Film Association announced its winners on Sunday evening.  TFF films winning are as follows:

Best Screenplay: Santosh.

Best Supporting Performance: Frank Rogowski/Bird.

Breakthrough Producer: Santosh.

Best Independent Foreign Film: Anora.

The complete list of all winners is linked here from the BIFA website.

THE PLAYLIST 100 MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025

Each year about this time The Playlist publishes a list of 100 films that they're most interested in for the following year.  The 2025 list was posted last week.  Also each year I spend some time culling the list for what feel like possible titles for TFF.  Normally I come up with a list of around 20 titles and on average 5-6 of those actually make it into The SHOW.  Last year was actually a low point for me as only four of the films I highlighted actually made it to Telluride: The End, Anora, Bird and Maria.  Nevertheless, here's my best shot at what might be in TFF #52 from this list of 100 films:

#85) Echo Valley

#73 The Actor (again)

#65) The Roses

#56) The Way of gthe Wind (again)

#52) The History of Sound

#50) Pressure

#47) Splitsville

#43) Deliver Me from Nowhere

#42) The Ballad of a Small Player

#37) Hamnet

#28) Anemone

#14) The Phoenician Scheme

#13) Untitled Noah Baunbach (Jay Kelly?)

#8) Frankenstein

#5) Untitled Alejandro Inarritu (Judy?)

#4) Bugonia

#2) Die My Love

Personally, I'm most excited for Anemone (Daniel Day Lewis unretires), Hamnet (Chole Zhao and Shakespeare) and Del Toro's Frankenstein.

The complete list of 100 films, plus some honorable mentions, is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Errol Morris for Separated from Gold Derby.

Michael Shannon for The End from Vanity Fair.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from AP News.

Behind the Scenes: the Makking of The Seed of the Sacred Fig from NEON.

Dylan O'Brien (Dan Akroyd) for Saturday Night from Gold Derby.

Matt Wood (John Belushi) for Saturday Night from Awards Radar.

Mark Eydelshteyn for Anora from The Contending.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from Gold Derby.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Playlist.

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Oscar Update: Best Director / LA and NY Film Critics Award 2020 Films / Indiewire's Best of 2020 / Nightmare at Christmas (And Maybe Labor Day?) / Two Telluride Favorites Talk Film: Barry and Chloe

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST DIRECTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Direction updated since I last posted this category on  Nov. 19th.  A director's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (1)

2) David Fincher/Mank (2)

3) Aaron Sorkin/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (3)

4) Lee Isaac Chung/Minari (7)

5) Regina King/One Night in Miami (4)

6) George C. Wolfe/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (9)

7) Florian Zeller/The Father (5)

8) Paul Greengrass/News of the World (8)

9) Spike Lee/Da 5 Bloods (6)

10) Shaka King/Judas and the Black Messiah (10)

Other Possibles: Darius Marder/Sound of Metal, Emerald Fennell/Promising Young Woman. Kornel Mundruczo/Pieces of a Woman

Hot: Lee Isaac Chung/Minari, George C. Wolfe/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Not: Florian Zeller/The Father, Spike Lee/Da 5 Bloods

INDIEWIRE'S BEST OF 2020

Indiewire polled over 200 critics worldwide for their 2020 Best Of poll.  The website posted their lists of top tens in multiple categories on Dec. 14th.  Among the various categories, here is where Tff $6 and TFF #47 films landed in each category:

Best Picture: #1) Nomadland (47), #3) First Cow (46), #6) Beanpole (46)

Best Director #1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (47), #4) Kelly Reichardt/First Cow, #9) Kantemir Balegov/Beanpole (46)

Best Performance: #2) Frances McDormand/Nomadland (47)

Best Cinematography: #1) Nomadland (47) #7) First Cow (46), #9) Beanpole (46)

Best Screenplay: #2) First Cow (46)

Best International Film: #2) Beanpole (46)

Best First Film: #7) The Assistant (46), #10) The Climb (46)

The complete listing in each category is linked here.

LA AND NY FILM CRITICS AWARD 2020 FILMS

Both The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and The New York Film Critics Circle named their "Best Of" for 2020 films over the weekend.  Here's how that played out for Telluride films from both TFF #47 and #46 is as follows:

From New York (From Variety):

Best Film: First Cow (TFF #46)

Best Director: Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (TFF #47)

The complete list of NYFCC winners is here from Variety.

Meanwhile the LAFCA had the following TFF films on its list:

Best Picture Runner-up: Nomadland (TFF #47)

Best Director: Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (TFF #47)

Best Foreign Language Film: Beanpole (TFF 346)

Best Editing: The Father (TFF #47)

Best Production Design Runner-up: Beanpole (TFF #46)

Best Cinematography Runner-up: Nomadland (TFF #47)

The complete list of LAFCA winners is here from The Hollywood Reporter.

 

NIGHTMARE AT CHRISTMAS (AND MAYBE LABOR DAY?)

Indiewire reported this week that Guillermo Del Toro has wrapped Nightmare Alley, his film noir starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe and Richard Jenkins.  The article also includes a Tweet from the film's distributor, Searchlight, confirming an earlier Tweet from the film's co-writer, Kim Morgan, revealing that the film will be released in December of 2021.

The information that the film is wrapped combined with the release date allows for the possibility that we could see it pop up at TFF #48 perhaps after a Cannes or Venice bow or even as a first time ever screening at TFF.

Del Toro was on hand in Telluride in 2017 with The Shape of Water which had premiered at Venice.  after its Telluride play it went on to win the Best Picture Oscar and Del Toro won for Best Director.

Check out more details in the story from Indiewire linked here.

TWO TELLURIDE FAVORITES TALK FILM: BARRY AND CHLOE

They're two of the hottest directing/writing talents in the current film firmament.  They've also been at Telluride.  I'm talking Barry Jenkins, who has been a part of TFF since his college days and debuted Oscar winner Moonlight there in 2016 and Chloe Zhao who has been at T-ride with both The Rider in 2017 and this year's Nomadland.  As a matter of fact, the two met originally in Telluride in 2017 (per Variety's reporting).

So, Variety got the two together recently for a conversation.  Thanks Variety!

Here's the link to the print and video of their conversation.

BERLIN FEST MOVES AND WILL BE A HYBRID

The Berlin Film Festival, which often premieres a couple of films that make it into the Telluride lineup each year, has announced changes from their traditional dates and structure as Covid-19 continues to change the shape of the film world at large and film festivals in particular.

Variety reports that:

"The festival is now looking to present the festival selections to the film industry in early March, Variety understands, with the European Film Market running as a digital event at the same time. A mini-festival with a series of onsite world premieres is being planned for early June."

The complete Variety article with further details can be found here.

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Golden Globe Nominations / Critics Choice Nominations / Los Angeles Film Critics Announce / Oscar Predictions Update : Best Pic and More / Latest Gurus of Gold / Trailers for Beanpole and The Assistant

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees this morning for the best in film and television for 2019.  Here's how TFF #46 films fared:

Marriage Story (6): Best Picture/Drama, Best Actor/Adam Driver, Best Actress/Scarlett Johansson, Best Supporting Actress/Laura Dern, Screenplay, Score  (Note: Marriage Story led the filed with its six nominations.  The Irishman was next with five).

Parasite (3): Director, Foreign Film, Screenplay

Ford v Ferrari (1): Best Actor/Christian Bale

The Two Popes (4): Best Picture/ Drama, Best Actor/Jonathan Pryce, Best Supporting Actor/Anthony Hopkins, Screenplay

Pain and Glory (2): Best Actor/Antonio Banderas, Foreign Film

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: (1):Foreign Film

Judy (1): Best Actress/Renee Zellweger

The Report (1): Best Supporting Actress/Annette Bening

TFF #46 totaled 19 nominations.

The complete list of all nominees is linked here from The Hollywood Reporter.



CRITICS CHOICE NOMINATIONS

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman led all films with 14 Critics Choice nominations with Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood close behind with 12.  Those were announced yesterday.

Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story led the TFF #46 entries in nominations with eight tied with 1917 as the fourth most nominated film.  In all TFF #46 films earned 32 Critics Choice nominations.

Here's the breakdown of TFF #46 films nomination for Critics Choice Awards yesterday:

Marriage Story (8): Best Picture, Director/Noah Baumbach, Actress/Scarlett Johansson, Actor/Adam Driver, Laura Dern/Supporting Actress, Ensemble, Original Screenplay and Score.

Parasite (7): Best Picture, Best Foreign Film, Bong Joon-ho/Director, Ensemble, Original Screenplay, Editing and Production Design.

Ford v Ferrari (5): Best Picture, Best Action Picture, Cinematography, Editing and Visual Effects.

Uncut Gems (4):  Best Picture, The Safdie Brothers/Director, Actor/Adam Sandler, Editing

Pain and Glory (2): Best Foreign Film, Actor/Antonio Banderas

Judy (2): Actress/Renee Zellweger, Makeup

The Two Popes (2): Supporting Actor/Anthony Hopkins, Adapted Screenplay

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (1): Best Foreign Film

The Aeronauts (1): Visual Effects

The complete list of all nominees for the Critics Choice Awards for film and television are linked from their website here.


LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ANNOUNCE

Also announcing their "Best Of" for 2019 yesterday was the Laos Angeles Film Critics Association.  LAFCA traditionally names a winner in each category as well as a runner-up.  In this years voting T46 films were named the Best in seven categories and runners-up in five other instances.  Leading the way was Bong Joon-ho's Parasite which was named in five of the 12 spots.  Here's the breakdown by TFF #46 film:

Parasite: Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Song Kan-ho and runner-up for Screenplay and Production Design.

Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory was named Best Foreign Film and its star Antonio Banderas was named Best Actor.

Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story was named a couple of times.  It was named Best Screenplay and Adam Driver was runner-up for Best Actor.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire was chosen as Best Cinematography and was also runner-up for Best Foreign Film.

The Safdie Brother's Uncut Gems was runner-up for Best Editing.

The complete list of winners from the LAFCA is linked here from their website.




UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Updating my Oscar predictions for Best Picture, Director the Screenplay categories and Film Editing.

As always TFF #46 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) The Irishman (2)
2) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
3) 1917 (3)
4) Parasite (4)
5) Marriage Story (5)
6) Jojo Rabbit (6)
7) Ford v Ferrari (9)
8) Joker (8)
9) The Two Popes (7)
10) The Farewell (10)

Other possibles: Dolemite Is My Name, Richard Jewell, Bombshell, Knives Out, Uncut Gems


BEST DIRECTOR

1) Sam Mendes/1917 (4)
2) Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time... (1)
3) Martin Scorsese/The Irishman (3)
4) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite (2)
5) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story (5)
6) James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari (-)

Other possibles: Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit, Fernando Meirelles/The Two Popes, Todd Phillips/Joker


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Irishman (3)
2) The Two Popes (1)
3) Jojo Rabbit (2)
4) Joker (4)
5) Little Women (5)
6) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (-)

Other possibles: Hustlers, Just Mercy, Richard Jewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Marriage Story (1)
2) Once Upon a Time... (2)
3) Parasite (3)
4) The Farewell (4)
5) 1917 (5)
6) Knives Out (-)

Other Possibles: Uncut Gems, Honey Boy, Bombshell

BEST FILM EDITING

1) The Irishman (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (2)
3) Once Upon a Time... (3)
4) Parasite (5)
5) Marriage Story (-)
6) 1917 (4)

Other possibles: The Two Popes, Jojo Rabbit, Joker


LATEST BEST PICTURE PREDICTIONS FROM THE GURUS OF GOLD

These were updated late last week and the newest Best Pic consensus is linked here.

I believe there will be a new Gurus this week with expanded predictions in a number of other categories.  Keep an eye on my Twitter account ( @Gort2 ) for when that goes up.



TRAILERS FROM BEANPOLE AND THE ASSISTANT


A couple of films that screened at Telluride that have had low level buzz since the fest both released trailers this week.

Foreign Film contender from Russia, Kantemir Bagalov's Beanpole had one.  Beanpole is set for release in the U.S. on Jan. 29th and is being distributed by Kino Lorber.  Here's that video from YouTube:

Also launching a trailer was Kitty Green's The Assistant.  That film will release on Jan. 31st and is distributed by Bleecker Street Media.  Here's that trailer also from YouTube:

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Los Angeles Critics' Name 2018's Top Films / Oscar Predictions Update / Acquiring Minds Want to Know / Berlin Announces Opening Film

Good Monday film friends...


LOS ANGELES CRITICS' NAME 2018'S TOP FILMS

The LA Film Critics Association met and voted for their top films and performances for the past year yesterday and here are their results with Telluride films in Bold.

Best Picture
Winner: Roma
Runner-up: Burning

Best Direction
Winner: Debra Granik/Leave No Trace
Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaron/Roma

Best Actress
Winner:Olivia Colman/The Favourite
Runner-up: Toni Collette/Hereditary

Best Actor
Winner:Ethan Hawke/First Reformed (TFF #44)
Runner-up:Ben Foster/Leave No Trace

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Regina King/If Beale Street Could Talk
Runner-up: Elizabeth Debicki/Widows

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Steven Yeun/Burning
Runner-up: Hugh Grant/Paddington 2

Best Screenplay
Winner: Nicole Holofcener and Tim Whitty/Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Runner-up: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara/The Favourite

Best Production Design
Winner: Black Panther
Runner-up: The Favourite

Best Editing
Winner: Minding the Gap
Runner-up: Roma

Best Cinematography
Winner: Roma
Runner-up: If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Music Score
Winner: If Beale Street Could Talk
Runner-up: First Man

Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: (Tie) Burning and Shoplifters

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
Winner: Shirkers
Runner-up: Minding the Gap

Best Animation:
Winner: Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse
Runner-up: Incredibles 2

New Generation: Chloe Zhao

Special Citation: The Other Side of the Wind

Douglas Edwards Award: Green Fog

Lifetime Achievement: Hayao Miyazaki

The complete list and a bit of commentary is linked here from Indiewire.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE

Here's my latest take on four major Oscar categories.  The film/performer's position as of my last set of predictions for that category follow in parentheses and TFF #45 films are Bold.

BEST PICTURE (Last updated Nov. 26th)

1) A Star Is Born (1)

2) Roma (2)

3) Green Book (3)

4) The Favourite (4)

5) Black Panther (8)

6) BlacKkKlansman (7)

7) If Beale Street Could Talk (6)

8) Vice (5)

9) Mary Poppins Returns (12)

10) First Reformed (-)***TFF #44

Others: First Man, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Widows, Boy Erased

BEST DIRECTION (Last update Nov. 26th)

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)

2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)

3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (3)

4) Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk (4)

5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)

Others: Peter Farrelly/Green Book, Ryan Coogler/Black Panther, Rob Marshall/Mary Poppins Returns, Adam McKay/Vice

BEST ACTRESS (Last updated Nov. 8th)

1) Glenn Close/The Wife (1)

2) Lady Gaga/A Star Is Born (2)

3) Olivia Colman/The Favourite (3)

4) Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me? (4)

5) Emily Blunt/Mary Poppins Returns (-)

Others: Yalitza Aparicio/Roma, Nicole Kidman/Destroyer, Viola Davis/Widows

BEST ACTOR (Last Updated Nov. 8th)

1) Christian Bale/Vice (3)

2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (1)

3) Viggo Mortensen/Green Book (2)

4) Ethan Hawke/First Reformed (-)***TFF#44

5) Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody (4)

Others: Lucas Hedges/Boy Erased, WIllem Dafoe/At Eternity's Gate, Ryan Gosling/First Man

ACQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW

A couple of interesting and Telluride related news items concerning film distribution deals emerged this week.

First...

The long awaited Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace has been picked up for release by specialty outfit Neon.  The film was scheduled to be screened at T-ride in both 2015 and 2016 but legal issues prevented that from occurring in both years.

As a side note, the film was recently screened at a Telluride Film Festival event in San Francisco.  So, in a sense, the twice scheduled and twice denied film finally did screen for TFFers.

Here's a sampling of coverage of the film's acquisition from: Variety, Deadline, Indiewire, The Wrap.

Meanwhile, Werner Herzog's documentary conversation with former Soviet Union Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, Meeting Gorbachev, that played this year's TFF #45 was also acquired for distribution this week by The Orchard.  Reporting is that The Orchard will release the film early next year.

Here are details from The Wrap and Deadline.


BERLIN ANNOUNCES OPENING FILM

The 69th Berlin Film Fest will open with Lone Scherfig's newest The Kindness of Strangers with Zoe Kazan , Andrea Riseborough and Bill Nighy.  The film is set for release sometime in 2019 and, as yet, has no U.S. distribution.

It is of note for Telluride fans as T-ride usually has a film or two from Berlin in the TFF lineup.  This year included Berlin entry Dovlatov and in 2017 TFF screened Berlin films A Fantastic Woman, The Other Side of Hope and Hostages.

Additionally, Lone Scherfig has a bit of a Telluride history having screened Italian for Beginners in 2001 and An Education in 2009.

So, until we have a definite distributor and release date, maybe put this on your TFF #46 possibles list.

IMDb describes The Kindness of Strangers as "The story of four strangers suffering through the worst crises of their lives."

The press release from the Berlinale is linked here.


That's today's semi-packed MTFB.  More to come on Thursday...including Screen Actors Guild/Aftra and Critics' Choice (BFCA) nominations!

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

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The FAC Updates Supporting Categories / NY Loves Lady Bird and LA Loves Name and Shape / The Week and a Half Ahead / Profile and Interview Grab Bag

Hope everyone had a fine weekend...and welcome back to MTFB.


THE F(ilm) A(wards) C(learinghouse) UPDATES SUPPORTING CATEGORIES


Our last look at the Supporting Actress and Actor categories came back on Nov. 6th.  After a month of that has seen the actual beginnings of award frenzy, there has been some movement in those categories.

As always, films/performers from TFF #44 films are Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Here's where the category stood a month ago:

1) Alison Janney/I, Tonya
2) Laurie Metcalf/Lady Bird
3) Holly Hunter/The Big Sick
4) Octavia Spencer/The Shape of Water
5) Kristen Scott Thomas/Darkest Hour

Others: Melissa Leo/Novitiate, Mary J. Blige/Mudbound, Hong Chau/Downsizing


And here's today's update:

1) Alison Janney/I, Tonya
2) Laurie Metcalf/Lady Bird
3) Holly Hunter/The Big Sick
4) Octavia Spencer/The Shape of Water
5) Mary J. Blige/Mudbound

Others: Hong Chau/Downsizing, Leslie Manville/Phantom Thread, Melissa Leo/Novitiate

Comment: Phantom Thread screenings have moved Manville into the convo (as well as the film and Daniel Day Lewis into stronger positions in the Best Picture and Actor categories.  Paul Thomas Anderson is also a serious player for Original Screenplay and possibly Director).  Scott Thomas falls out of immediate consideration which mirrors the general pull back from Darkest Hour that seems to have developed.  It's still regarded as a two pony race between Janney and Metcalf.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The Best Supporting Actor race looked like this a month ago:

1) Willem Dafoe/The Florida Project
2) Sam Rockwell/Three Billboards
3) Armie Hammer/Call Me By Your Name
4) Michael Stuhlbarg/Call Me By Your Name
5) Michael Shannon/The Shape of Water

Others: Mark Rylance/Dunkirk, Ben Mendelsohn/Darkest Hour, Richard Jenkins/The Shape of Water

 Today's update looks like this:

1) Willem Dafoe/The Florida Project
2) Sam Rockwell/Three Billboards
3) Armie Hammer/Call Me By Your Name
4) Michael Stuhlbarg/Call Me By Your Name
5) Mark Rylance/Dunkirk

Others: Richard Jenkins/The Shape of Water, Ben Mendelsohn/Darkest Hour, Ray Romano/The Big Sick


Comment: The top four stay solidly the same and, as with the women, the real race appears to be between the top two: Dafoe and Rockwell with everyone else jockeying for the "honor to be nominated" spots.  Michael Shannon's performance has lost forward momentum and that has boosted Rylance and Jenkins (who, of course, has been my personal choice on this category since seeing the film in Telluride over Labor Day).


NY LOVES LADY BIRD AND LA LOVES NAME AND SHAPE

The New York Film Critics Circle named their "Best Of" for 2017 on Thursday with Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird winning the top honor as Best Film.  Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan was also honored as Best Actress.  The other TFF #44 film named by the NYFCC was Agnes Varda and JR's Faces Places as Best Non-fiction film.

Other key winners were:

Direction: Sean Baker/The Florida Project
Actor: Timothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name
Supporting Actress: Tiffany Haddish/Girl's Trip
Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe/The Florida Project
Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson/Phantom Thread

The complete list of NYFCC winners is here from Variety.

Meanwhile, yesterday, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named their film superlatives for 2017 which was dominated by Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name and Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.

TFF #44 recognition from the LAFCA was spearheaded by the three awards that Shape of Water received: Best Direction for Del Toro (in a tie with Guadagnino), Best Actress for Sally Hawkins and Best Cinematography.  It was also runner-up for Production Design and Score.

Other TFF #44 winners were Laurie Metcalf as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Lady Bird, Agnes Varda and JR's documentary Faces Places and Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless which tied with BPM for Best Foreign Language Film.

The L.A. critics also recognized Lady Bird writer/director Greta Gerwig with their New Generation Award.

Awards Daily's Sasha Stone says that Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird might be the Oscar frontrunner right now.  I'm  not all the way there yet.  I still think that if I were a betting fellow that the best bet is still Chris Nolan's Dunkirk.  That said, I have been suggesting for almost a month now that I do think the preferential ballot maybe does boost Lady Bird and Sasha is way smarter and more experienced than most of the planet about Oscar.

Call Me By Your Name was recognized as Best Film (The Florida Project was named runner-up) along with recognition for Timothee Chalamet as Best Actor and the nod for Guadagnino's direction.

Coverage of the LAFCA awards is here from:

Indiewire

Deadline

Entertainment Weekly


THE WEEK AND A HALF AHEAD

Today's post continues its theme of focusing on the awards season as I turn to Sasha Stone's/Awards Daily's weekend post that identifies all of the awards dates/deadlines that are looming over the next ten days or so.  Key organizations and the dates of their reveals are:

Dec. 6th-Critic's Choice Nominations are announced.
Dec. 7th-American Film Institute announce their films of the year.
Dec. 11th-Golden Globe nominations are announced.
Dec. 13th-SAG-AFTRA nominations are announced.

And after that we won't see any other major group announcements until after the first of the year.


PROFILE AND INTERVIEW GRAB BAG:

Here's a collection of interviews and profiles I've collected the past few days about films that appeared as a part of the program for the 2017 edition of The SHOW:

Downsizing film editor Kevin Trent from Variety.  And also from Awards Circuit.

Wonderstruck (and TFF #44 Tribute recipient) Director of Photography Ed Lachman from Deadline.

20+ images from Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water from Entertainment Weekly.

Director Rebecca Miller on her doc Arthur Miller: Writer from Indiewire.

Darkest Hour score composer Dario Marianelli from Indiewire.



That's your wrap from MTFB for this Monday, Dec. 4th.  I'll be back with more on Thursday!


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

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