MTFB Oscar Take: Best Picture and More Updated / Interviews and Profiles: Gyllenhaal and Rasmussen

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE UPDATED

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, International Feature, Animated Feature and Documentary Feature.  These categories were last predicted here on Jan. 10th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (2)

3) West Side Story (3)

4) King Richard (6)

5) Dune (4)

6) CODA (7)

7) Licorice Pizza (5)

8) Don't Look Up (8)

9) tick, tick...BOOM (9)

10) Being the Ricardos (Alt.)

Alternates: House of Gucci and The Tragedy of Macbeth

Comment:  The top six films look solid.  Licorice Pizza and Don't Look Up are probable and then after those it's a free for all.  As you can see, I currently have tick, tick...BOOM and Being the Ricardos in to get nominated and House of Gucci and The Tragedy of Macbeth as alternates but you could also see Drive My Car and Nightmare Alley sneak in and don't discount the outside shots of the Lost Daughter, No Time to Die or Spiderman: No Way Home.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog  (1)

2) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (2)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story (4)

5) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (5)

Alternates: Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Drive My Car and Maggie Gyllenhaal/The Lost Daughter

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Drive My Car/Japan (1)

2) The Worst Person in the World/Norway (2)

3) The Hand of God/Italy (5)

4) A Hero/Iran (3)

5) Flee/Denmark (4)

Alternates: Compartment #6/Finland and I'm Your Man/Germany

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Encanto (1)

2) The Mitchells vs. the Machines (3)

3) Flee (2)

4) Luca (4)

5) Raya and the Last Dragon (5)

Alternates: Belle and Sing 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Flee (2)

2) The Rescue (1)

3) Summer of Soul (3)

4) Ascension (5)

5) Procession (Alt.)

Alternates: The First Wave and The Velvet Underground 

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen willbe live with Variety's Screening Room with Peter DeBruge tomorrow.  Here's where you can register for that Q+A.

Writer and Director Maggie Gyllenhaal talks The Lost Daughter for Indiewire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture, Direction and More / Directors from TFF #48 Films / Trailer for Cow

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE, DIRECTION AND MORE

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, International Feature, Animated Feature and Documentary Feature.  These categories were last predicted here on Dec. 13th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (2)

3) West Side Story (3)

4) Dune (5)

5) Licorice Pizza (6)

6) King Richard (4)

7) CODA (8)

8) Don't Look Up (10)

9) tick, tick, BOOM (Alt.)

10) Being the Ricardos (9)

Alternates: Nightmare Alley and The Tragedy of Macbeth (Look out for Drive My Car)

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (1)

2) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (2)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story (5)

5) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (4)

Alternates: Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Drive My Car and Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Drive My Car/Japan (3)

2) A Hero/Iran (1)

3) The Worst Person in the World/Norway (2)

4) Flee/Denmark (4)

5) The Hand of God/Italy (5)

Alternates: Compartment #6/Finland and I'm Your Man/Germany

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Encanto (1)

2) Flee (3)

3) The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2)

4) Luca (4)

5) Raya and The Last Dragon (Alt.)

Alternates: Belle and The Summit of the Gods

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Flee (2)

2) The Rescue (1)

3) Summer of Soul (3)

4) Attica (Alt.)

5) Procession (4)

Alternates: Ascension and The First Wave

DIRECTORS FROM TFF #48 FILMS 

Asghar Farhadi/A Hero from The Hollywood Reporter and also from the National Board of Review.

Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (with Guillermo Del Toro) from Variety.

Joe Wright/Cyrano from Awards Daily.

TRAILER FOR ANDREA ARNOLD'S DOCUMENTARY: COW

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Dec. 13th Post Updated: Globes and the CCA / MTFB Updates Oscar Predix: Best Picture, Director and More / Playlist 100 and TFF #49 / Interviews and Profiles

TODAY'S POST UPDATED: GLOBES AND THE CCA

I have updated today's post this afternoon to reflect nominations from the HFPA/Golden Globes and The Critics' Choice Awards as they reflect/impact TFF #48 films.  Starting with The CCA where TFF #48 films combined for 39 nominations today lead by Belfast's 11 (West Side Story also had 11 nominations).  Here's the rundown of TFF #48 CCA nominations:

BELFAST (11): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor (Hinds), Supporting Actor (Dornan), Supporting Actress (Balfe), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Young Actor (Hill), and Ensemble.

THE POWER OF THE DOG (10): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Cumberbatch), Supporting Actor (Smit-McPhee), Supporting Actress (Dunst), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Ensemble.

KING RICHARD (6): Best Picture, Actor (Smith), Supporting Actress (Ellis), Original Screenplay, Song, Young Actor (Sidney)

THE LOST DAUGHTER (2): Best Actress (Colman), Adapted Screenplay

SPENCER (2): Best Actress (Stewart), Score

THE FRENCH DISPATCH (2): Best Comedy,  Production Design

FLEE (2): Best Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature

CYRANO (1): Best Actor (Dinklage)

A HERO (1): Best Foreign Language Film

THE HAND OF GOD (1); Best Foreign Language Film

C'MON C'MON (1): Best Young Actor (Norman)

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

TFF #48 total nominations: 27

BELFAST 7: Best Picture-Drama, Direction, Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Balfe), Supporting Actor (Hinds), Supporting Actor (Dornan), Song

THE POWER OF THE DOG (7): Best Picture-Drama, Direction, Screenplay, Actor-Drama (Cumberbatch), Supporting Actress (Dunst), Supporting Actor (Smit-McPhee), Score

KING RICHARD (4): Best Picture-Drama, Actor-Drama (Smith), Supporting Actress (Ellis), Song

CYRANO (2): Best Picture-Musical/Comedy, Actor-Musical/Comedy (Dinklage)

THE LOST DAUGHTER (2): Best Direction, Actress-Drama (Colman)

SPENCER (1): Best Actress/Drama (Stewart)

FLEE (1): Best Animated Feature

THE HAND OF GOD (1): Best Foreign Language Film

A HERO (1): Best Foreign Language Film

THE FRENCH DISPATCH (1): Best Score

MTFB UPDATES OSCAR PREDIX: BEST PICTURE, DIRECTOR AND MORE

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, International Feature, Animated Feature and Documentary Feature.  These categories were last predicted here on Nov. 29th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (2)

3) West Side Story (7)

4) King Richard (3)

5) Dune (4)

6) Licorice Pizza (5)

7) Nightmare Alley (8)

8) CODA (New)

9) Being the Ricardos (6)

10) Don't Look Up (10)

Alternates: Spencer and tick, tick...BOOM

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (2)

2) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (1)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story (Alt.)

5) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (4)

Alternates: Reinaldo Marcus Green/King Richard and Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) A Hero/Iran (2)

2) The Worst Person in the World/Norway (1)

3) Drive My Car/Japan (Alt.)

4) The Hand of God/Italy (4)

5) Flee/Denmark (3)

Alternates: Titane/France and Compartment#6/Finland

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Encanto (2)

2) The Mitchell's vs. The Machines (3)

3) Flee (1)

4) Luca (4)

5) Belle (5)

Alternates: Raya and the Last Dragon and The Summit of the Gods

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) The Rescue (2)

2) Flee (1)

3) Summer of Soul (3)

4) Procession (4)

5) Ascension (5)

Alternates: Attica and The First Wave

PLAYLIST 100 AND TFF #49

Each year around this time The Playlist maps out a list of its 100 most anticipated films for the following year. each year I try to cull some ides for what might be in the mix as possible choices for Telluride.  Last year's assessment ended up with me picking 20 films as possible for TFF #48.  That list ended up having seven films that were on TFF's announced list of films for 2021: 

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

The Velvet Underground

The Card Counter

Petite Maman

The Power of the Dog

Bergman Island

The French Dispatch

Four films were on last year's list that made the TFF #48 which I did not predict:

King Richard

The Lost Daughter

Red Rocket

C'mon C'mon

So here's my stab at this year's list at some films that could play TFF #49:

#87 The Good Nurse

#77 Kenneth Branagh's Untitled Bee Gees Film

#68 Rustin

#54 The Pale Blue Eye

#52 The Son

#48 The Actor

#47 Beth and Don

#45 The End

#39 Maestro

#38 The Whale

#29 Red, White and Water

#21 Babylon

#15 Showing Up

the other #15 (yes, the list has two 15's) TAR

#14 Armageddon Time

#11 White Noise

#10 Poor Things

#7 Blonde

#6 Bardo

#5 Bones and All

#4 Women Talking

#2 Killer of the Flower Moon

#1 The Killer

The complete Playlist 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2022 is linked here.

INETERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jamie Dornan/Indiewire

Jane Campion/Indiewire

Jonas Poher Rassmussen/Variety

Asghar Farhadi/Indiwire

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Stephen Sondheim 1930-2021 / MTFB Updates Oscar Predictions: Picture, Director and More / Indiewire' s International Shortlist

STEPHEN SONDHEIM 1930-2021

Musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim has died.  Reports were that the great Broadway songwriter died on Friday morning.  Many of the remembrances over the weekend have made a point that Sondheim was a big fan of film and I'm happy to remind all that Sondheim guest-directed TFF in 2003.  His presentation was a mini-retrospective of the works of Julien Duvivier.  The retrospective consisted of three of Duvivier's films: Panique, La Belle Equipe and Carnet Du Bal.  Sondheim also presented George Stevens' The More the Merrier for TFF #30.

In terms of his own film involvement, Sondheim was an Oscar winner for Original Song for Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man) in 1991.  He also was the co-screen writer (with Anthony Hopkins) of the 1973 film The Last of Sheila.  Then, of course, there were the adaptations of so many of the musicals that he had been a part of including the upcoming re-imagining of West Side Story from Steven Spielberg.

Sondheim also won a Pulitzer Prize, eight Grammys and eight Tony awards as well as being a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 1993.

As for me, my fascination with Sondheim began with a love affair with the Judy Collins recording of Send in the Clowns.  I didn't even know that it was from the musical A Little Night Music at the time.  Yet, later that year (1975), my first participation in a college production was as Asst. Prop Master for the production at the University of Oklahoma.  Later in life (2010), A Little Night Music also provided what has been the most moving and transfixing moment I have ever experienced in a Broadway theater as I saw Bernadette Peters in her opening night performance sing the song.

Coincidentally, my little community theater here in the Oklahoma panhandle is prepping to do Into the Woods in February.  My wife has had that on her wish list to direct for decades and we were to have done it a couple of years back...but then Covid-19 changed the world.  It'll be a family affair with my daughter, grandkids and son-in-law joining me as cast members.

The word genius has been overused but in Sondheim's case, it's as close as we can come to finding a single word that can name the thing he was.  As it is, genius isn't a big enough word to use but it's what we have.

MTFB UPDATES OSCAR PREDICITONS: PICTURE, DIRECTOR AND ANIMATED, DOCUMENTARY AND INTERNATIONAL FEATURES

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, International Feature, Animated Feature and Documentary Feature.  These categories were last predicted here on Nov. 15th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE 

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (2)

3) King Richard (4)

4) Dune (5)

5) Licorice Pizza (3)

6) Being the Ricardos (New)

7) West Side Story (7)

8) Nightmare Alley (6)

9) Spencer (9)

10) Don't Look Up (New)

Alternates: The Tragedy of Macbeth and tick, tick...BOOM

BEST DIRECTION

1) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (1)

2) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (2)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (4)

5) Reinaldo Marcus Green/King Richard (New)

Alternates: Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley and Steven Spielberg/West Side Story

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Worst Person in the World/Norway (1)

2) A Hero/Iran (2)

3) Flee/Denmark (3)

4) The Hand of God/Italy (4)

5) Titane/France (5)

Alternates: Drive My Car/Japan and Compartment #6/Finland

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Flee (1)

2) Encanto (2)

3) The Mitchell's vs. the Machines (3)

4) Luca (4)

5) Belle (5)

Alternates: Raya and the Last Dragon and The Summit of the Gods

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1) Flee (1)

2) The Rescue (2)

3) Summer of Soul (3)

4) Procession (5)

5) Ascension (4)

Alternates: Faha Deyi and The Velvet Underground

INDIEWIRE'S INTERNATIONAL SHORT LIST

Indiewire's staff recently compiled a list of 15 films that they suggest are the most likely to be nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar on Feb. 8, 2022.  TFF #48 hosted  four of the 15 films:

Flee/Denmark

The Hand of God/Italy

A Hero/Iran

Unclenching the Fists/Russia

As you can see above, Flee, The Hand of God and A Hero are all included in my current predictions to be nominated.  The Worst Person in the world and Titane, which I have also predicted for nominations are also included in the Indiewire 15.  

You can find that complete list and story linked here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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