The Distributors 2019: Warner Bros / The Aeronauts Flies Into the Conversation / Country Music Preview

I'm back.

I was in Dallas, Texas all of last week working as a part of the staff for the National Speech and Debate Association's National Speech Tournament.  It was good.

THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: WARNER BROS.

This week I'm continuing to look at film production/distribution companies whose past record and current stash of films point to a possible choice for the 46th Telluride Film Festival.  Up until today's post I have been focused on specialty firms and streaming services.  Today is our first look at a major studio: Warner Bros.  Warners has, over the past half dozen years or so, made a mark on the festival. 

Here's their recent run at Telluride:

2018: No Show

2017: No Show

2016: Sully

2015 Black Mass

2014: No Show

2013: Gravity, Prisoners

2012: Argo

Warner Independent played Telluride in 2006 with Infamous and 2007 with Rails and Ties.

Last year Warners only likely Telluride play was A Star Is Born and we all know that didn't happen.

Despite not having a film at Telluride the past two years, 2019 could mark the return of the WB to the San Juans with four films that should be considered as possibles:

Bill Condon's The Good Liar starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren set for releases on Nov. 15th.  Condon has Telluride history (Kinsey-2004).

John Crowley's The Goldfinch starring Nicole Kidman and Ansel Elgort set for release Sept. 13th.  Crowley has Telluride history (Intermission-2003).

Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn starring Norton, Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin and more.  It is set for release on Nov. 1.  Norton has no history with Telluride as a director - this is his second feature as a director- and I can't find any indication that Norton has been a guest of the fest in the past.  He has appeared in films that have played the festival: Birdman (2014), Frida (2002).  Also of note, Motherless Brooklyn is based on the novel by Jonathan Lethem who served as the fest's Guest Director last year.  That could be a signal.

Gavin O'Connor's Torrance (now reportedly renamed Long Time Coming) starring Ben Affleck as a former star athlete looking for redemption.  Affleck also acts as a producer for the film and his past success with Argo, which started its run to Oscar glory at Telluride, could make it a potential SHOW choice.

I honestly think any of the three could make the lineup and this could be the second time Warners lands more than a single film at TFF.

Chances:

The Goldfinch 60%
Motherless Brooklyn 50%
The Good Liar 40%
Long Time Coming 25%



THE AERONAUTS

I posted my analysis for Amazon Studios Telluride chances on June 17th and in it,a film I didn't even mention is Tom Harper's The Aeronauts.

Couple of reasons for that:  Amazon is loaded with films that have a shot at Telluride and the film, which has a logline that reads like a straight thriller/action-adventure flick, just didn't seem like a film and director Tom Harper, to the best of my knowledge hasn't been near the festival in the past.

But after news this weekend, it seems that I may have miscalculated.

The International Film Critique Twitter account tweeted that:

If it were to be chosen to open Venice that means I definitely need to pay attention as a number of films that have been the Venice opener in recent years have then jumped to Telluride: Birdman, Gravity, La La Land, First Man, Downsizing.  So, should this be the choice for Venice, I'd better pay attention.

Adding fuel to the fuel to the fire was reporting from World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy.

Ruimy updated a fest-centric article from late May with news of The Aeronauts (as well as The Good Liar and Jojo Rabbit).  That updated post is linked here.  Ruimy also posted a small blurb about the film yesterday suggesting he's thinking that it might make the T-ride lineup.  See that here.

Put The Aeronauts on the list that I originally published a week ago for Amazon Studios as follows:

The Goldfinch 60%
Radioactive 50%
Les Miserables 40% (Cannes prize winner: Jury Prize)
Against All Enemies 40%
The Report 35%
The Aeronauts 30%

COUNTRY MUSIC PREVIEW

PBS has released a 25 minute preview of Ken Burns' upcoming multi-party documentary : Country Music.  Here's a link that will get you to the preview:

Ken Burns' Country Music on PBS

I still believe there's a reasonable chance that TFF #46 attendees may be able to see at least part of the doc over Labor Day weekend.

That's a wrap for MTFB on this Monday.  More on its way to you tomorrow and coming FRIDAY...the first TFF #46 Ten Bets list of the summer!

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The Distributors 2019: Amazon Studios / The Report Release / Just Off the "If I Had To"

Welcome back from your Father's Day weekend.  Twas also my dad's birthday weekend...he's 83!


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: AMAZON STUDIOS

Last Friday I talked about Netflix and it's no secret that streaming platforms have changed the landscape when it comes to film festivals, Oscar and T-ride.  Amazon Studios has also been a huge player in that transition and as such has become, over the last three years, an outfit to be noticed when trying to handicap The SHOW as well as the Oscar race.

Amazon had serious Oscar players last year with Cold War (Three Oscar nominations including Best Director) and in 2016 with Manchester by the Sea (which allowed Casey Affleck to win the Oscar for Best Actor and Kenneth Lonergan to win for Best Original Screenplay).

Amazon Studios Telluride resume is small but mighty:

2018: Peterloo, Cold War
2017: Wonderstruck
2016: Manchester by the Sea

And here were my numbers attempting to predict their chances at Telluride for 2018.  I posted the Amazon picks on June 21st last year.

Peterloo- 75%
Cold War- 50%
Beautiful Boy 40%
Photograph- 30%
Life Itself- 20%


And, as you can see, the high percentages for Peterloo and Cold War panned out.

Looking at this year, Amazon's potential for T-ride inclusion is substantial.  As of today, they have at least five films that are part of the conversation:

Against All Enemies/Andrews
The Goldfinch/Crowley
Les Miserables/Ly
Radioactive/Satrapi
The Report/Burns

Andrews, Crowley and Satrapi have all had films play at Telluride previously each with a single film:

Andrews: 2016: Una
Crowley: 2003: Intermission
Satrapi: 2007: Persepolis

On Friday last week, you may have noticed that I listed Crowley's The Goldfinch as one of my ten "If I Had To" list.  The Goldfinch is actually split between Amazon and Warner Bros.

Consequently, The Goldfinch leads the Amazon list in terms of chances to play T-ride in 2019 but each of the five films have a serious chance to make it.

The chances:

The Goldfinch 60%
Radioactive 50%
Les Miserables 40% (Cannes prize winner: Jury Prize)
Against All Enemies 40%
The Report 35% (played Sundance but so did Manchester by the Sea...see below)


Tomorrow, I'll take a stab at evaluating the lineup from Focus Features.



THE REPORT RELEASE

Adam Driver in The Report (via IMDb)

The Report was very well received at its original screening at Sundance in February (94% at Rotten Tomatoes) and since then I have been suggesting that it might be one of the films for which the programmers at Telluride might make an exception.

Telluride rarely...and I mean rarely...programs a film that has played previously at Sundance.  It happened a couple of years back with Manchester by the Sea which was produced by Amazon Studios.  The Report is being distributed this year by Amazon as well.

Not surprisingly, we found out over the weekend that The Report will have a theatrical release prior to its streaming debut on Sept. 27th.  Tom Bruggeman at Indiewire, among others, posted that on Thursday.  You can find more details in the Indiewire story linked here.

That date would certainly allow The Report to make the lineup at The SHOW as well as Toronto.   New York seems unlikely as that fest opens on the 27th as well.


JUST OFF THE "IF I HAD TO"

Friday I kind of did an unofficial list of films that I was spitballing as possible TFF #46 films.  If you missed them, that list again was:

Atlantics
The Climb
Country Music
Family Romance LLC
The Goldfinch
Nomadland
Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Untitled Todd Haynes Project
Varda by Agnes

In addition to those ten films there are a few others that I feel like may also be semi-serious potentials:

Harriet, Motherless Brooklyn, Synonyms, Little Women, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, The Truth.


More to come on Tuesday...

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Looking Toward the Fall / More of the Critics' View from France / The Goldfinch Trailer, Stills, Poster

Good Thursday to you faithful readers...and everyone else as well.


LOOKING TOWARD THE FALL

Jordan Ruimy wrote a piece on his website World of Reel this week focusing on films that he thinks are in the mix to play one or more of the triumvirate of film festivals of late August-early September-i.e. Telluride, Venice and Toronto.

The list has expanded over the past couple of days as Jordan solicited input from readers and as I punch the publish to publish this morning the list has over four dozen possibilities.

I took a look at them and, based on history and/or distribution, these are the films that seem most likely from Jordan's list to make the TFF #46 SHOW.  I have listed them here in the order that Jordan has them on his original listing and with the numbering he has used:

8) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood/Heller/TriStar-Sony
10) Lucy in the Sky/Hawley/Fox Searchlight
11) Nomadland/Zhao/Fox Searchlight
14) Dry Run/Haynes/Focus Features
18) Little Women/Gerwig/Columbia-Sony
24) Antlers/Cooper/Fox Searchlight
31) Against All Enemies/Andrews/Amazon Studios
32) Motherless Brooklyn/Norton/Warner Bros.
39) The Truth/Kore-eda/No current U.S. distribution
40) Ema/Larrain/No current U.S. distribution
41) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love/No current U.S. distribution
50) Radioactive/Satrapi/Amazon Studios

Of course there are numerous others in the list that could play or that I'd like to see on the list when it's released: Scorsese's The Irishman, Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, Gray's Ad Astra, Crowley's The Goldfinch to name a few.

The other note here is that Ruimy's list are all films that have yet to premiere.  He does not include films from Berlin or Cannes that could be a pert of the TFF program.

Ruimy's complete list of films is linked here.


MORE OF THE CRITICS' VIEWS FROM CANNES

Having linked Reini Urban's critical compilation for the films from Cannes quite a bit the last couple of weeks, I took a suggestion from a reader via the comments section and decided to relay critical reactions that had been put together by other sources.

The specifically mentioned critical review of the Palme competition films was from David Hudson writing for The Criterion Collection.  You can find that here.


Additionally, Eric Kohn at Indiewire put together the critical reception from 50 or so critics.  The Indiewire group chose Bong Joon-ho's Parasite as the best film as, of course, did the jury.

The article with the top five vote-getters in four categories: Best Film (Parasite), Direction (Sciamma/Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Screenplay (Parasite) and First Film (Atlantics).

The Indiewire critics article is linked here.

Among the critics included were a few who have participated in my annual collection of responses from industry types following TFF: including Kohn/Indiewire, Anne Thompson/Indiewire, Peter DeBruge/Variety, Gregory Ellwood/The Playlist and David Ehrlich/Indiewire.


THE GOLDFINCH TRAILER, STILLS, POSTER

The folks at Warner Bros. and Amazon have started rolling out the publicity for John Crowley's The Goldfinch based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  Appearing this week were stills, a poster and a teaser trailer which is here from YouTube:

Additionally stills were released for the film which first appeared at USA Today:

And finally we saw a teaser poster for the film as well.  Here that is from Awards Watch:

The Goldfinch is set for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.


That's today's version of MTFB.  I'll be back with more on Monday.

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The New Malick at TFF #46? / The Critics at Cannes /Coming Soon

Hope that your week has been going well.  It's Thursday!

THE NEW MALICK AT TFF #46?

Like a lot of the film community, I've been keeping an eye on the latest film, A Hidden Life,  from auteur Terrence Malick for...well...a long time.  News appeared this week that might nudge its chances of playing at Telluride a bit closer to a reality.

Fox Searchlight acquired the film for U.S. distribution after its play in Cannes.  The film was reportedly acquired for somewhere between $12-14 million.  

The anticipation at this point is that Searchlight will likely position the film for a fall release, plays at a fall fest or fests and campaign it as an awards contender.

Malick is notoriously reclusive and his previous Telluride brief, as best as I can sniff it out, came in 1998 as a producer for the film Endurance (IMDb link here).

Fox Searchlight's participation certainly doesn't hurt the films chances of playing at TFF #46 as the distributor has become a frequent presence in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  Last year Searchlight was at the fest with Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Favourite and The Old Man and the Gun.  In 2017, FS screened The Shape of Water at TFF #44 which, of course, went on to capture the Oscar for Best Picture.  Searchlight has also has Best Picture wins in the last decade with 12 Years a Slave and Birdman both of which also played the Telluride fest.

So...this week's acquisition activity probably bumps up the chances that A Hidden Life makes its way to southwest Colorado in about thee months.

THE CRITICS AT CANNES

Checking in with Reini Urban's collection of critical responses to the films that have been screening this last week-plus at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.

With just a few days left before awards are handed out Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite sits atop the overall critical reception.  The film boasts a cumulative 8.57 rating on a scale of 10 (with over 200 critics counted) making it not only the highest rated film of the Palme competitors but the top rated film when all categories are considered.

Parasite has U.S. distribution from a relative newcomer on the scene: Neon.  Despite its youth, Neon has been well represented at Telluride the past few years with The B Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (2016), Border (2018) and The Biggest Little Farm (2018) all making the TFF lineup so Parasite becomes a serious potential TFF #46 film.

Other notes from the critical compilation: 3 other Palme competing films are in the critics top ten at the moment.  That includes Almodovar's Pain and Glory (8.43 at #3) , Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (7.76 at #6) and Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (7.57 at #9).

Robert Eggers The Lighthouse is at #2 with a 8.48 rating.  The Lighthouse is being distributed domestically by A24.  Aside from the Tarantino film which with be released in the U.S. on July 26th, the other four films have a shot at Telluride.

Other Cannes films that I've taken note of as potential TFF choices and their critical response at this point include:

Young Ahmed/Dardennes- 5.47
A Hidden Life/Malick- 6.93
Matthias and Maxime/Dolan 5.84
Frankie/Sachs 5.53
Joan of Arc/Dumont 6.30
Port Authority/Lessovitz 5.56
Diego Maradona/Kapadia 7.11
Family Romance/Herzog 5.95
The Climb/Covino 6.76

A rating above 6.0 is generally regarded as good to great but hasn't necessarily been a determinative factor regarding whether TFF programs a Cannes film.


The Palme and other awards will be announced tomorrow and Saturday.

The Urban critical compilation is linked here.


COMING SOON

Still of Sarah Paulson in The Goldfinch (from IMDb)

Anton Volkov's Trailer Track website says we're about to get the first trailer for John Crowley's The Goldfinch.  Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson and Ansel Engort. 

The film is set for U.S. release on Sept. 13th and is distributed by Warner Bros with Amazon Studios distributing worldwide and also acting as a production company for the film.

All of this means that it's a TFF #46 possibility.

Stay tuned for the trailer.

That's it for today.  Come back Monday for a look at Cannes awards results and if that menas anything for Labor Day weekend.


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More on Agnes Varda / Report from CinemaCon: The Goldfinch / New Title for Radegund / Thanks to World of Reel for the Invitation

Good Thursday to all...


MORE ON AGNES VARDA

Photo via Indiewire

The death of film making pioneer Agnes Varda has continued to send reverberations through the film community and the honorifics and reminiscences continue to appear online and in major publications.  As I did on Monday, I have linked a few more of those here:

From the Cannes Film Festival official site

Manohla Dargis for The New York Times

Jude Dry for Indiewire with comments from female film makers including: Greta Gerwig, Ava Duvernay, Lena Dunham and a dozen others.


REPORT FROM CINEMACON: THE GOLDFINCH

Part of the cast of The Goldfinch at CinemaCon (via Indiewire)

CinemaCon attendees got the first look at a trailer for John Crowley's adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Goldfinch earlier this week.

The film is certainly on my watch list as a potential choice by TFF programmers for this year's fest.  The film is scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th and is from the combination of Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios.  The combination of factors means that it could play any or all of the combination of Telluride, Venice and Toronto.

Kate Erbland writing for Indiewire filed this report from CinemaCon detailing the roll out of the first filmed images of the film.


NEW TITLE FOR RADEGUND

Amid fevered speculation that Terrence Malick's new film will be announced as a competition film for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival on April 18th came news this week that its title has officially been changed. 

The film has been discussed for months with the working title Radegund.  However, Indiewire's Zack Sharf reported on Tuesday that the film will now be titled A Hidden Life.

The film follows the true story of World War II Austrian Conscientious Objector Franz Jagerstatter who was executed by the Nazis in 1943.

Sharf's story from Indiewire is linked here.

A Hidden Life is on my TFF #45 watch list.


THANKS TO WORLD OF REEL FOR THE INVITATION

I got a nice invite from Jordan Ruimy of the World of Reel website to participate in a project he is currently working on.  I don't want to give away what it is until Jordan is ready to unveil it but I did want to publicly give him a thank you and a shout out and tell you that something is in the works.

You can take a look at World of Reel by clicking here.

And thanks again for including me Mr. Ruimy.



That's today's MTFB.  Thanks for taking the time to give it a look.  More on Monday.

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Awards Circuit's First Predix for Oscar 2020 / A Tease for The Irishman / Inarritu to Preside Over Cannes / Trial by Fire Acquired

Good post-Oscar Thursday...


AWARDS CIRCUIT'S FIRST PREDIX FOR OSCAR 2020

Clayton Davis is all over it as he and his website, Awards Circuit, are already up with, what I believe is, the first serious pass at predicting Oscar nominees for Best Picture for next year.

Davis has a really good record of sniffing out Oscar potential this early and as such, gives us some hints about films that might have the pedigree necessary to be considered as possible TFF #46 selections.

Davis runs down a fairly substantial list of films and ends the article with a "pre-season" top ten of possible Best Picture nominees.  Without giving away the entire list of ten films, here are those included that, at first blush, feel like they have the most Telluride prospects:

Marielle Heller's Mr. Rogers biopic starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

John Crowley's The Goldfinch based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book starring Nicole Kidman.

Kasi Lemmon's Harriet based on the life of Underground Railroad pioneer Harriet Tubman starring Cynthia Erivo.

And...just because I think Netflix might try to follow the path they used with Roma, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (see below).  The story of a mob hitman who may have killed Jimmy Hoffa.  For Scorsese, the old gang came back together as the film stars Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci with the addition of Al Pacino.

Among the other films that Davis discusses that didn't make it to his initial top ten list are these which also seem to make some sense for TFF:

Greta Gerwig's Little Women
Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window
Hirokazu Koreeda's The Truth
Scott Cooper's Antlers
Bill Condon's The Good Liar

Additionally, Davis makes predictions for each of the other 23 categories.

The entire article is linked here.


A TEASE FOR THE IRISHMAN

Perhaps this is Martin Scorsese' Great White Whale.  It's reportedly in post-production and there are rumors that it could well be headed to Cannes (if Cannes and Netflix can reach some sort of arrangement) or maybe Venice.

As I mentioned above, I think we have to at least consider the chance that the film makes its way to Telluride so I'll continue to keep an eye on it.

Consequently, if you didn't notice earlier this week, The Irishman and Netflix dropped a teaser.  Here it is via YouTube:

I also linked some of the coverage the came out with the teaser's release from:

Indiewire

The Playlist

Trailer Track


INARRITU TO PRESIDE OVER CANNES

Speaking of Cannes...the prestigious film festival announced this week that four time Oscar winning director/writer Alejandro Inarritu will preside over this year's Palme d'Or jury.  Inarritu has, over the years, been a staple of the Cannes' lineup in various sections and with multiple films.

Inarritu has also been a frequent presence at Telluride both in the capacity as presenting one of his own films but also as a fan and supporter of his fellow amigos Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron.

Inarritu was first represented at Cannes in 2000 with his first feature Amores Perros.

Here's Variety's story about the announcement.


TRIAL BY FIRE IS ACQUIRED

Roadside Attractions has acquired TFF #45 entrant Trial by Fire from director Ed Zwick.  The film stars Laura Dern and Jack O'Connell and is based on an article from author David Grann.  Trial by Fire was one of two films at last year's fest that was based on material written by Grann.  The other was David Lowery's The Old Man and the Gun starring Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek.

Coverage of the acquisition and plans to release the film this spring are addressed in the following:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

The Wrap



That's today's MTFB.  I'll another go at this on Monday.

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Reminders as we head into 2019 / 150 Foreign Films / Golden Globes on Sunday / 52 Directors on 2018 Films

REMINDERS AS WE HEAD INTO 2019

I took a quick step back at the last couple of months and have re-posted 2019 speculative pieces (with an update here and there) about what films might be in consideration to make the lineup at TFF #46:


THE PLAYLIST 100 (from my Dec. 6th post)

The annual review of their 100 most anticipated films for the new year came down for The Playlist earlier this week and, as you might expect, I have culled the list for films that seem like they should be on our radar for TFF #46.

The staff specifically mentions Telluride as a possible destination for only three films:

#39: Pale Blue Dot (now titled: Lucy in the Sky)
#26: The untitled Noah Baumbach project
#11: The Last Thing He Wanted

Among the other 97 films listed, the following are the ones that seem to me to be most likely:

#100: The Glorias: A Life on the Road
#91: Resistance
#79: My Zoe
#66: Mainstream
#64: Against All Enemies
#63: The Woman in the Window
#59: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (not likely as production has been delayed)
#52: Motherless Brooklyn
#40: The Goldfinch
#34: You Are My Friend (Now titled: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
#33: Antlers
#30: Ema
#29: Waiting for the Barbarians
#24: The King
#20: Radegund
#19: Bergman Island
#17: The Truth
#15: The Laundromat
#13: Triple Frontier (off the list, release dated for Mar. 13th)
#7: Little Women
#2: The Irishman

The complete list of 100 films (plus some honorable mentions) from The Playlist is linked here.

WELLS AND RUIMY (from my Nov. 26th post)


I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend (now titled A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood):  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plot sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

NOPE...SET TO DROP AT SUNDANCE: Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot (now titled Lucy in the Sky)  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

AGAIN...NOPE...RELEASE IS IN MARCH NOW....Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well.

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes.

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


150 FOREIGN FILMS

Ioncinema has undertaken the mammoth task of laying out 150 foreign films to anticipate in 2019.  The list is ongoing and not yet complete at their site. 

Among the early films listed are Xavier Dolan's Matthias and Maxime, Michel Hazanavicius' The Lost Prince and Zhang Yimou's One Second which all could make a splash over Labor Day weekend in Telluride.

Here's the first of the links from Ioncinema.



GOLDEN GLOBES ON SUNDAY

I honestly have no real idea how these 90+ HFPA members are going to play this on Sunday.  If I had to guess, I'm thinking A Star Is Born is likely to have a big night.

Here's a reminder of the TFF films/performers who are nominated for Golden Globes:

The Favourite (5):  Best Film-Musical or Comedy, Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Screenplay

Roma (3): Foreign Language, Direction, Screenplay

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2):  Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Grant)

Boy Erased (2): Best Actor-Drama (Hedges), Best Song

First Man (2): Best Supporting Actress (Foy), Best Score

Destroyer (1): Best Actress-Drama (Kidman)

The Old Man and the Gun (1): Best Actor-Musical or Comedy (Redford)

Girl (1): Best Foreign Language Film

Shoplifters (1): Best Foreign Language Film

TFF #45 films earn 18 Globe nominations.  I'll have some sort of breakdown and commentary in Monday's post.

THE PLAYLIST POLLS 52 DIRECTORS ON THE FILMS OF 2018

The Playlist recent posted an article titled "52 Directors Pick Their Favorite Movies of 2018".  The results are not particularly surprising...Roma is named as the favorite from eight directors including Guillermo Del Toro, Pedro Almodovar, Lynne Ramsay, Rebecca Miller and Edgar Wright.

Several of the respondents listed films in alphabetically order.  Some listed favorite performances or moments.  One even included mention of a couple of plays.

Also mentioned by at least one director as their favorite 2019 film from among Telluride offerings: The Favourite, First Man, Cold War, The Other Side of the Wind and TFF #44's First Reformed.

The complete article from The Playlist is here.


That's MTFB for this first Thursday in 2019.  Happy New Year to all!


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

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Updated Oscar Predictions: Picture, Director and Cinematography / Gurus of Gold-Thanksgiving Weekend / This IS Way Too Early

Welcome to the Monday after Thanksgiving.  For those who over-indulged in "thanks"...I hope your food coma has subsided...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: PICTURE, DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY

As a part of my ongoing position as a Guru o' Gold for Movie City News (see below), I was asked to update predictions for Best Picture, Direction and offer up a first take on Cinematography.  As such, here's what I reported.  For Picture and Director, their previous spot here at MTFB follows in parentheses.  Best Picture and Director was last included here on Nov. 1st.

As always, TFF #45 films are Bold

BEST PICTURE

1) A Star Is Born (1)
2) Roma (2)
3) Green Book (3)
4) The Favourite (4)
5) Vice (10)
6) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
7) BlacKkKlansman (5)
8) Black Panther (8)
9) First Man (6)
10) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (9)
11) Widows (-)
12) Mary Poppins Returns (-)


BEST DIRECTION

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 (-)
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)
6) Peter Farrelly/Green Book (-)
7) Damien Chazelle/First Man (4)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Roma
2) A Star Is Born
3) First Man
4) If Beale Street Could Talk
5) The Favourite
6) Cold War
7) Black Panther


GURUS OF GOLD-THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Here's the link to the latest Gurus of Gold predictions.  Among the three categories updated (Picture, Director, Cinematography) TFF #45 films are named as follows:

Roma: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Favourite: Picture, Director, Cinematography
First Man: Picture (if it goes to nine), Cinematography
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Picture (if it goes to ten)

Others getting mentioned without earning enough votes for predicted nominations:

First Man: Director
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Director
Cold War: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Front Runner: Picture
Boy Erased: Picture
First Reformed (TFF #44): Picture


THIS IS WAY TOO EARLY

Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers on the set of Marielle Heller's You Are My Friend via IMDb

I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend:  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plotline sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman. 

Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot:  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well. 

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes. 

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


That's this Monday's MTFB.  More will be on its way to you on Thursday.


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

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Oscar Predictions Ten Days Out / Future Telluride: Quixote, The Goldfinch and Radioactive

Last Thursday in February my friends...


OSCAR PREDICTIONS TEN DAYS OUT

With a week and a half left before they open the envelopes in L.A. and still a few days left to vote, here are Oscar predictions for the eight major feature film categories at this moment:

BEST PICTURE

1)  The Shape of Water
2) Three Billboards
3) Dunkirk
4) Get Out
5) Lady Bird
6) Phantom Thread
7) Call Me By Your Name
8) Darkest Hour
9) The Post

The top five seem like the only real candidates and their positions are fluid.  We've gotten used to having a two horse race down the finish these past few years:

Moonlight vs. La La Land
Spotlight vs. The Revenant
Birdman vs. Boyhood
12 Years a Slave vs. Gravity

But this year...you can make a reasonable case for any of the top four and Lady Bird still has a path to the big prize.  I'll update these predictions next week but for now, I'm putting the nomination leader and PGA/DGA winner at the top.

The Wrap's Steve Pond wrote about the five films still thought to be in contention.  Here is Pond's article.

BEST ACTRESS

It's Frances McDormand's.  Upset specials: Sally Hawkins or Saoirse Ronan.

BEST ACTOR

Gary Oldman for the win.  Timothee Chalamet is your best chance at a spoiler.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Alison Janney has this sown up in a race that was once perceived as a tight contest with Laurie Metcalf.  If anyone would upset, it would be her.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sam Rockwell with the win in another category that was initially thought to be competitive with Willem Dafoe.

BEST DIRECTION

Guillermo Del Toro is your favorite to win here but it's not a lock. Christopher Nolan is a possible upset.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

No one thinks it's likely that anyone but James Ivory wins for Call Me By Your Name.  Upset special: Aaron Sorkin for Molly's Game.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

An category that is very competitive.  Three Billboards and Get Out are thought to be the favorite with Lady Bird and The Shape of Water with an outside chance.  My call, for the moment: Get Out.


FUTURE TELLURIDE: QUIXOTE, THE GOLDFINCH AND RADIOACTIVE

Three films that appear, at least initially to be potential choices for future TFFs are moving forward.

We have stills from Terry Gilliam's incredibly long gestating passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.  The film still seems very likely for Cannes and then, perhaps a play at Telluride could be in the offing.  The Playlist put up a new still from the film that has completed filming and is in editing.  As a matter of fact, a rough cut has been screened.

Here's the pic of Jonathan Pryce as Quixote:

The Playlist post is here.

We also saw the first stills from The Goldfinch based on the Donna Tartt novel and under the direction of John Crowley (Brooklyn).  The film is currently scheduled for release on Oct. 11, 2019.

Warner Brothers is distributing and has a solid recent history with films playing at Telluride: Argo, Black Mass, Sully.

Indiewire had a number of shots from the film in a post up earlier this week:

That Indiewire post is here.

And finally, we saw news this week of the next film project from film maker Marjane Satrapi who made waves at Telluride in 2007 with her wonderful animated film Persepolis. 

Variety reported that Amazon has decided to back her next project which will focus on the life of famed scientist Madame Marie Curie.  The film is titled Radioactive.

The film is set to star Rosamund Pike as the trail blazing scientist.  Pike was a guest at Telluride last year with her film Hostiles.

The Variety story is here.


More on Monday including Oscar predictions in more categories.

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

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