Telluride Ten Bets (Plus Five) #9 / New Looks for Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation" / The Changing World of Online Film Writing / Rate TFF #42 Films!

We finally get to Friday...


TELLURIDE TEN BETS #9 (PLUS FIVE)

Here's your weekly assessment of the ten most likely films for the Telluride Film Festival beginning with a reminder of last week's Ten Bets:

10) "Amazing Grace"
9) "He Named Me Malala"
8) "Steve Jobs"
7) "Suffragette"
6) "Carol"
5) "Room"
4) "Beasts of No Nation"
3) "Anomalisa"
2) "Black Mass"
1) "Son of Saul"

And now here's the ninth 2015 installment of Ten Bets (plus five)

15) "Heart of a Dog"

14) "Rams"

13) "Hitchcock/Truffaut"

12) "Spotlight"

11) "Amazing Grace"

10) "45 Years"

  9) "Carol"

  8) "He Named Me Malala"

  7) "Steve Jobs"

  6) "Anomalisa"

  5) "Room"

  4) "Suffragette"

  3) "Beasts of No Nation"

  2) "Black Mass"

  1) "Son of Saul"

I think I have one other film nailed down and that's the documentary "Tyrus" that I mentioned earlier this week.  After that...

I have a list of three documentaries that could make a play in Telluride: "A Young Patriot", "Sherpa" and "Winter on Fire".  

Here's the trailer for "A Young Patriot" via YouTube:

Here's a four and a half minute profile of "Sherpa" with director Jennifer Peedom:

                                       

And an image from "Winter on Fire":

IMDb pages for each are here...

"A Young Patriot": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4079566/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"Sherpa": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3746250/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

"Winter on Fire": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4908644/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

NEW LOOKS FROM FUKUNAGA'S "BEASTS OF NO NATION"

Trailer for "Beasts of No Nation" via YouTube

 There's a good deal of buzz about Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts of No Nation" which is at the #3 spot on the latest "Ten Bets" list above.  I'm hearing that it may be hit with the same level of intensity as Steve McQueen's Best Picture Oscar winner "12 Years a Slave".  That's some pretty bold talk which I'd love to see pay off in a couple of weeks.

The Wrap put up a story this week which included a number of unified character posters.  I have re-posted them here:

You can peruse the entire post from The Wrap here:

http://www.thewrap.com/beasts-of-no-nation-teases-idris-elba-abraham-attah-in-new-character-artwork-photos/

THE CHANGING WORLD OF ONLINE FILM WRITING

It was a shock this week when Brad Brevet of Rope of Silicon posted that he was done.  I have linked to that sight for this blog many, many times and I am saddened that a resource that's has been useful for me and my readers disappears.  You can find Brevet's sign off here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/thats-a-wrap/

Meanwhile, on the same day, Kristopher Tapley, whose InContention recently departed from HitFix posted on the tenth anniversary of its founding and the fact that he's about to start his latest iteration at Variety.com.  Here's his meditation:

http://www.incontention.com/2015/08/19/on-in-contention-going-to-variety/

Sometimes I daydream about making this enterprise bigger...expanding to cover as many as 6-10 major film fests through the course of the year and their subsequent effect on awards season.  But then I look at the landscape and see how tough it is and think: "Buddy, you're just fine the way you are".

Glad there are some peeps who read me.

Speaking of Peeps...

For the fourth straight year Michael's Telluride Film Blog is asking you to join in rating the films you see at the fest.  I want your input as I gather your ratings on a 1-5 scale.  You can email them or tweet them or put them in a comment on this blog.  I'll compile and a week or so after the fest, I'll report to you what you, The People (The Peeps), thought about the films that play TFF #42.

I'll also be compiling ratings from some of the industry professionals that'll be in town for the festivities as well.  Included in this year's pros will be writers from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Awards Daily and more.


That's a wrap for Friday, Aug. 21, 2015.  Enjoy the weekend and come back Monday for more MTFB!

Please feel free to leave a comment or question here at the blog.

Email me at michael_speech@hotmail.com or mpgort@gmail.com

Tweet/Follow at me @Gort2 on Twitter

You can also message me on Facebook (and "Like" me too)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse/107846269309712

Saturday Special: More Oscar Final Predix/Another "Only in Telluride" Moment

Good Saturday Everyone.

Here's a quick special edition of The FAC with links to more final predictions from Oscarologists as we move into the final hours before the envelopes are unsealed.

MORE OSCAR FINAL PREDIX

Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon says "12 Years" wins Best Picture.  Take a look at all of his picks here:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/final-2014-oscar-predictions-user-polls/

IndieWire has compiled the choices of over 60 critics and bloggers to produce their version of The FAC/Gurus etc.  Here's a link to that:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/oscars-poll-who-will-win-and-who-should-win-according-to-over-60-critics-and-bloggers

Over at Gold Derby they've posted a story about the Best Picture race and a podcast featuring Tom O'Neil and Tariq Khan.   Those can be seen here:

http://www.goldderby.com/news/5766/oscars-predictions-entertainment-news-852749631.html

http://www.goldderby.com/news/5773/oscars-predictions-predict-entertainment-news-856317249.html

And...late breaking...word is that Hollywood Reporter expert Scott Feinberg is about to change one of his major category predictions.  Feinberg's track record is pretty good so a switch from him at this late date should be taken very seriously.

Of course, I don't know how Scott defines "major category" but, seriously, what could it be?  Feinberg's picks for the Big Eight Categories as posted earlier this week were:

Adapted Screenplay: "12 Years"
Original Screenplay: "American Hustle"
Supporting Actress: Jennnifer Lawrence
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto
Actress: Cate Blanchett
Actor: Matthew McConaughey
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Picture: "12 Years a Slave"

So...pretty sure he won't be changing Leto, Blanchett, McConaughey or Cuaron.  I could see a change in either screenplay category, Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture...stay tuned.

UPDATE:  Feinberg changes Supporting Actress pick from Lawrence to Nyong'o:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-why-im-rescinding-my-684623

ANOTHER "ONLY IN TELLURIDE" MOMENT

I always have a lot of fun after each year's Telluride is over coming back home to the real world and having anecdotes to share about the films I saw and the people that were there.  Then I caught this last  night on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon"...Kind of gave me goosebumps as I'm pretty sure I had to be nearby when the event that Ralph Fiennes describes occurred.  Sure, this kind of thing probably happens all the time in that world...but it's still rare in mine. The relevant segment starts at 1:08 into the clip. Take a look:

I hope Lupita wins tomorrow night...

More later including the Feinberg switch...