Leaving Wednesday / Tribute Clues / The Mastermind Has a Trailer and a Poster / Blue Moon Madness / Documentary Hints / The 13th People's Telluride

LEAVING WEDNESDAY

Yup.  Leaving Wednesday.  I will post MTFB's Final Bets for TFF #52 on  Wednesday morning.  Then, as has been our custom, we'll drive to Salida on Wednesday.  We'll complete the drive to Telluride on Thursday after the official lineup is announced and I've posted it here. 

I have to tell you that this has been one of the more difficult years to crack and I am less than confident about the films that will be on The Final Bets  in a couple of days.

TRIBUTE CLUES

Telluride film fans have known for some time that the films screened at the Abel Gance outdoor theater on the last couple of evenings before the Festival begins are often clues to possible Tribute recipients.  Last year, for example, the free screenings were After Hours and Lady Bird.  They pointed to tributes for Thelma Schoonmaker and Saorise Ronan.  The third tribute last year was for Jacques Audiard...which neither free screening pointed to.

So what does the free screenings for this year portend?

Before Sunshine...Richard Linklater or Ethan Hawke or possibly both.  Linklater almost certainly be in Telluride with Nouvelle Vague and possibly Blue Moon.  Hawke may be in town with Blue Moon and/or with a documentary discussed below.

The Squid and the Whale almost certainly means Noah Baumbach is getting a Silver Medallion as well.  

As to the third tribute?  My best guesses would be Chloe Zhao (who I believe would have been tributes in 2020 had the fest occurred), Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Farrell, Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Jesse Plemons, Scott Cooper or Kelly Reichardt.  It could also be a behind the camera honoree as Schoonmaker was last year.

, 

THE MASTERMIND HAS A TRAILER AND A POSTER

From YouTube, here's the trailer:

And the poster:

I enjoyed the trailer and might be enough for me to put The Mastermind on my list for this weekend.

BLUE MOON MADNESS

It's real and it continues.  After my last post a helpful reader pointed me towards the Calabasas Film Festival which will be screening Blue Moon during its run from Sept. 17-22.  I looked it up...it's true. Here's a pic from the Calabasas Fest's home page:

That would explain the "disconnect" between Toronto and New York premiere designations and mean no Blue Moon at Telluride.  I'll tell you, though, I still think that Blue Moon might make an appearance at TFF #52.  Hope it does.

DOCUMENTARY HINTS

Last post you might have seen the section that mentions Oscar Isaac slipping in a visit to Telluride this weekend between screenings in Venice per Variety.  He's reported to be headed our way to support a mysterious documentary.  Try as I might, I haven't unearthed what it is.  

Since the last post I have also stumbled across a mention on social media of a probable documentary focused on Country and Western music legend Merle Haggard.  After some digging that would likely be a film that, at least as reported by a California TV News program, would be "Merle Haggard: Highway 99" and has been directed by Ethan Hawke.

Don't bother looking for it on IMDb.  It's not there.

I do have the video that ran at station KGET of Bakersfield, CA:

HE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION

For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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The People's Telluride / Toronto's People's Choice Award and TFF #51 / Early Oscar Picks from Experts-THR / New International Trailer for Anora / Reitman on Saturday Night / Behind the Scenes on Memoir of a Snail / Not a Blurb...But...

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

Well, here it is.  The 2024 edition of MTFB's People's Telluride Poll.  I'll address the parameters that guided the poll below but I suspect you want to get right to the results...

1) Zawurski v. Texas 4.64

2) Will and Harper 4.47

3) Anora 4.44

4) Conclave 4.34

5) Emilia Perez 4.30

6) A Real Pain 4.28

7) September 5 4.20

8) Memoir of a Snail 4.03

9) Saturday Night 4.02

10) The Outrun 3.74

11) Maria 3.68

12) The Apprentice 3.55

13) The Friend 3.51

14) Piece by Piece 3.40

15) The Piano Lesson 3.29

16) Nickel Boys 3.26

17) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight 3.16

18) The End 2.52

TFF #51 had a record response with more votes from The People than ever before.  To make the list a film had to have been seen by at least 25% of the respondents to the poll.  A 1 to 5 scale was used.  I added all ratings up for each film and those that met the threshold then divided the total ratings points by the number of people who had responded with ratings for that film.  That provided the average rating for each film above on the 5 point scale.

For fun the top five most "seen" films among the folks who responded with votes for the poll where:

1) Saturday Night which was seen by 82.4% of respondents.  The rest of the top five were:

2) Conclave 74.3%

3) Anora 71.6%

4) September 5  and Nickel Boys at 50% 

I really thought as the numbers were coming in that Anora was going to take the top spot.

Zuwarski's 4.64 will move it to #6 on the all time list of The People's Telluride.  That will also keep Will & Harper from moving onto the top ten as its 4.47 average will just be outside the top ten behind The Two Popes and Poor Things tied for the 9-10 spots now with a 4.51 average.  Will & Harper's 4.47 ties them with Roma and Room now at the 11-13 spots.

And a personal note, I want to thank so many of you that offered thoughts in response to my Sept. 3rd post and the questions that it posed.  It was, as they say, affirming.  I mean really affirming.  Thanks TFF peeps!

TORONTO'S PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD AND TFF

Yesterday Mike Flanagan's The Life of Chuck surprisingly (at least to me) won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award.  Runner-up Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez which rated #3 on the TFF #51 Pro's Poll and #5 above for the People. 

Second Runner-up was Sean Baker's Anora which you can see from this post and my previous post topped this year's TFF Pro's poll and was third on the just published People's Poll.

Josh Greenbaum's documentary, which played really well at Telluride (again, as you can see above) finished second in the voting for TIFF's People's Choice of Docs.  Landing ahead of it was Tragically Hip: no Time for Rehearsal.

Here's the complete rundown of results from Toronto as reported by Deadline.

EARLY OSCAR PICKS FROM EXPERTS

The Hollywood Reporter's Awards executive Editor Scott Feinberg opens the 2024-25 Oscar season predicting these nominations for TFF #51 films (Scott is making predictions in the Big Eight categories as well as Animated, Documentary and International Features).

Emilia Perez (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress-2 (Saldana, Gomez), Original Screenplay, International Film.

Conclave (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay.

Anora (4): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Original Screenplay.

September 5 (4): Best Picture, Actor (Sarsgaard), Supporting Actor (Magaro), Original Screenplay.

Saturday Night (2): Best Picture, Original Screenplay.

A Real Pain (2): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin).

Piece by Piece (2): Best Picture, Animated Feature.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2): Best Direction, International Feature.

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

The Piano Lesson (2): Best Actor (Washington), Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

Maria (1): Best Actress (Jolie).

Nickel Boys (1) Best Adapted Screenplay.

No Other Land (1): Best Documentary.

Hollywood Gate (1) : Best Documentary (from TFF #50).

That's 36 projected nominations for TFF #51 films in theses 11 categories.

Here's Feinberg's complete list of projected nominees from The Hollywood Reporter.

NEW  (INTERNATIONAL) TRAILER FOR ANORA

From YouTube:

REITMAN ON SATURDAY NIGHT

IndieWire's Kate Erbland talks to writer/director Jason Reitman about TFF #51 world premiering film Saturday Night.  Here's the link.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

MTFB friend Alex Billington at his site FirstShowing.net has linked five mini-behind-the scenes featurettes from Adam Elliots' delightful and moving Memoir of a Snail.  Variety has it currently #3 on its Animated Feature Oscar nominations predictions and The Hollywood Reporter has it a #10.

Alex has them all collected at his site here.

NOT A BLURB...BUT...

I have long dreamed of the day when my publicly posted response to a film gets blurbed in a trailer or a TV ad...and, of course that hasn't happened...yet.

Back in 2011 I freelanced for The Playlist and reviewed three films at TFF #38 and filed reviews for The Descendants, Albert Nobbs and Butter.  I had nice things to say about The Descendants and Albert Nobbs (Butter not so much) and thought that might be the moment.  It was not.

Since then I know it's unlikely as to tag a blurb with "of Michael's Telluride Film Blog" seems smallish.  But you know...maybe someday.  I've certainly been highlighted by other sites and blogs regarding that meat and bones of what the blog does.

But I did get a little closer as I found with Gold Derby's roundup of Jason Retiman's Saturday Night I find myself included as "more reactions".  Evidence below:

Sooooo...inching closer?

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The Professional's Telluride / The People's Telluride-Last Call / Trailers / Interviews and Profiles

THE PROFESSIONAL'S TELLURIDE

Here we go...ratings from The Professionals of the films from TFF #51.  Some standards:   industry professionals agreed to rate the films they at TFF #51 on a 1-5 scale.  The pros are a mix of critics, awards experts and other industry insiders.  To make the list this year a film had to be rated by at least half of the Pros.

Here's this year's list of Pros:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch

J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com

Christina Jeurling Birro/Pop Culture Confidential

Clayton Davis/Variety

David Ehrlich/Indiewire

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Marshall Flores/Awards Daily

Mark Johnson/Good as Gold

Dave Karger/Turner Classic Movies

Joey Magidson/Awards Radar

Ryan McQuade/Awards Watch

Will Mavity/Next Best Picture

Clarence Moye/Awards Daily

Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture

Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Anonymous

And here are the results for the 2024 edition of The SHOW:

1) Anora 4.53

2) September 5 4.08

3) Emilia Perez 4.07

4) Saturday Night 3.86

5) Conclave 3.83

6) Nickel Boys 3.77

7) Piece by Piece 3.60

8) The Piano Lesson 3.46

9) Maria 3.43

10) The Friend 3.25

11) The End 2.65

Congratulations to Sean Baker and Anora for topping the TFF Pro's Poll for 2024.  Anora's 4.53 rating supplants Argo and The Shape of Water on the all time Professional's list in a tie with Poor Things for the 9th and 10th spots:

And after TFF #51, the new updates all time Top Tens *well...since 2012:

The Professionals All Time Top Ten:

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16) (Won Best Picture)

2) Parasite (4.75) (19) (Won Best Picture)

3) Roma (4.73) (18) (Nominated Best Picture)

4) Birdman (4.72) (14) (Won Best Picture)

5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13) (Won Best Picture)

6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)

7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)

8) La La Land (4.58) (16) (Nominated Best Picture)

9) Poor Things (4.53) (23) (Nominated Best Picture)

9) Anora (4.53) (24)

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-LAST CALL

Here's your FINALCALL to get in your ratings for TFF #51 films.  The scale is 1 to 5.  The deadline is tomorrow at 5:00 pm PDT|.  The People's results will be Monday's regularly scheduled post.  Right now the battle for the top spot is a slugfest.  Your ratings could tip the scale in favor of the films you loved best!

Email ratings to mpgort@gmail.com

TRAILERS

NEW FOR SATURDAY NIGHT (language)

THE APPRENTICE

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Selena Gomez on Emilia Perez from Variety on X

Conclave director Edward Berger from Deadline

Pharrell Williams on Piece by Piece from The Hollywood Reporter

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Remember to Rate / TFF #51 and Oscar / Interviews and Profiles / Trailer for Blink

REMEMBER TO RATE

We're closing in the deadline for you folks to get your ratings of the films you saw at TFF #51 to me. 

The DUE DATE for ratings is SEPT. 13TH.

EMAIL YOUR RATINGS TO: mpgort@gmail.com

I'm planning on posting The People's  results on Monday, Sept.16.

please rate the films you saw on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being awful and 5 being super!  Decimals are fine.

TFF #51 AND OSCAR

Long time MTFB readers know that now that the fest is over, I will now spend a bunch of time over the next six months focused on the Oscar (and other awards) prospects of the films that screened at Telluride.  That will include my own set of Oscar nomination and winner predictions which will start in a few weeks..

So, to kick that off, here are the current Oscar nomination predictions for TFF #51 films from Variety's Clayton Davis:

Emilia Perez (11): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Original Screenplay, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Score. Song (x2), International.

Saturday Night (9): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor (LaBelle), Original Screenplay, Production Design, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Sound, Score.

Conclave (6): Best Picture, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Score.

Anora (5): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Original Screenplay, Editing.

The Piano Lesson (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Deadwyler), Adapted Screenplay.

Maria (4): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography, Costumes, Makeup/Hair.

A Real Pain (2): Best Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay.

Piece by Piece (2): Best Animated Film, Song.

The Outrun (1): Best Actress (Ronan).

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

Nickel Boys (1): Best Cinematography.

Will and Harper (1): Best Documentary.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best International Feature.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best International Feature.

Total of 44 nominations predicted for 14 films.

Here's the link to all of Davis' predictions.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sean Baker on Anora with Backstage.

Jeremy Strong, Sebastian Stan and Ali Abassi for The Apprentice with The Hollywood Reporter.

Featurette Behind the Scenes of Saturday Night from The Contending.

First Looks at The End from The Playlist.

TRAILER FOR BLINK

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The People's Telluride / Statistical Re-hash / What I Saw / Now What?

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

Well Friends...

It is time.  If you haven't already sent in your ratings for TFF #51 films that you saw, now's the time.  A reminder about the process.  Email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

The DUE DATE for ratings is SEPT. 13TH.

EMAIL YOUR RATINGS TO: mpgort@gmail.com

I'm planning on posting The People's  results on Monday, Sept.16.

STATISTICAL RE-HASH

TFF 2024 was a reasonably good year for MTFB.  From the final "bets" that were posted on Wednesday last week, after the addition of The Apprentice as a sneak, MTFB was 25 of 25 for films playing TFF #51.  Additionally, five of the films listed as "other possibilities" made the lineup as well.

From the original "Ten Bets" posted back on June 20th, seven films made the lineup: Anora, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Emilia Perez, Bird, Maria, The End and Conclave.  Also from the list of "Other Possibilities" in that post were: The Piano Lesson and Nickel Boys.

Also, MTFB wasn't too bad at the Tribute speculation.  I'd been talking about the Saoirse Ronan/Outrun possibility for months.  Managed to guess the Thelma Schoonmaker notion based on the pre-fest screening of After Hours at Elk's Park and Jacques Audiard had been on my really short list of possible directors that could be tributed.

WHAT I SAW

Ultimately I saw seven films.  It's an uncommonly small number for me at the fest but long "standing in line" times were necessary to avoid the risk of being shutout.  I was commonly in line three hours before the posted screening time.  As I result I made all seven I chose to see but that drastically reduced the number of films I could see.

If anything rivaled line conversation about the films it was the convo about accessibility.

My films in the order I saw them:

Conclave:  Liked it quite a bit  Good performances across the board. 3.75/5

Nickel Boys: I have been seeing the critics responding enthusiastically...me...not so much.  I respect the notion of inventive film making but, for me, Ross's choices often got in the way rather than enhancing the story he was telling. 3/5

Zuwarski v. Texas: This was the pick of the fest for me.  Powerful.  Seek it out. 5/5

Saturday Night:  Jason Reitman hits it out of the park.  Funny and Frenetic. 4.5/5

Emilia Perez: Terrific;  Super performances from the lead cast.  Inventive in a way that worked from my perspective. 4/5

September 5:  Excellent telling of the sports reporters at the 1972 Munich Olympics who had to turn into news reporters. 4/5

Memoir of a Snail:  Also outstanding. 4/5

What I missed that I would have liked to gotten in:

Anora

Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid

Casa Bonita Mi Amor

The End

Maria

The Outrun

The Piano Lesson

Piece by Piece

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Will & Harper

NOW WHAT?

Well, collate the ratings from The People and The Pros and report back on those.  Also, collate both sets of ratings into The Composite Telluride.  I'll have all of that done and posted over the 10-14 days.

I'll also turn the attention of MTFB to the Oscar/Awards prospects of the films that played this past weekend.  As a part of that I'll soon begin posting my own predictions for Oscar glory.  Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 17th and the ceremony itself will be Mar. 2nd.

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That's a Wrap TFF #51 /The People's Telluride

THAT'S A WRAP TFF #51

Welp, my 18th TFF is in the books.  Fewer movies than usual owing to challenges both logistic and emotional.  

Not enough time to share with old friends but joyous about some of the new friends made.

Largely for me, the films I did get to see were good to great and you can't complain about that.  

For a number of years I have been blessed with meeting and conversing with so many of you that read this thing.  This year, however, it seemed that the sheer number of folks who read the blog was massive.  At one point this weekend I turned to my wife and said that I think almost everyone that's here in town has read the blog.

To all of you that took the time to speak to me this weekend know that I am humbled and gratified that you find this space useful.

For long time readers, you know that MTFB now shifts into awards season mode.  The next six months is about what occurs in the race to the Academy Awards and how Telluride films figure into the various races.

Thanks to all of you who follow...now rate the TFF #51 films for The People's Telluride (directions below).

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

Finally, I need some feedback.   I often get some negative vibes from the fest.  This space is, you might say, not embraced by the organization. Should MTFB continue?  does in enhance or detract from your festival experience?  Drop my a thought along with your ratings if you're so inclined.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Maria Revealed / Elk's Park Films and Clues / Nickel Boys Screened / International Buzz / And Then There's This... / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 MARIA REVEALED

Are you prepared for a return of Angelina Jolie to Telluride?  Looks like that's going to happen after Pablo Larrain's film Maria (starring Jolie) will screen in Venice on Aug. 29th and then head to the San Juans.

Vanity Fair had a couple of "first look" stills up at the end of last week.

The Vanity Fair article is linked here.

ELK'S PARK FILMS AND CLUES

Long time TFFers know that in the past that the films that the fest chooses to screen in Elk's Park the two nights prior to the fest taking off on Friday often (but not always) provide clues as to who (or in the case of Apocalypse Now-what) will be getting Tributes.  The last really good year for predicting tributes based on Elk's Park films was 2019 when the free flicks were Bridget Jones's Diary, The Right Stuff and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which pointed to Renee Zellweger, Philip Kaufman and Adam Driver as tributees.  

Soooo...here's the flyer for the free films in Elk's Park:

After Hours: My bet is that if it signals anything that it's a tribute for Thelma Schoonmaker.  I'd be surprised but very excited if it were for Martin Scorsese...that's not impossible.  Or maybe it's the two of them together.  At any rate, should either or both be tributed I'd also count on a screening of David Hinton's Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.  Scorsese is a producer of the doc (which did screen at Tribeca but TFF has presented docs from Tribeca in the past).  Schoonmaker is in the film as herself, the wife of Michael Powell, and she also is a producer.

Lady Bird: Does this validate my Saoirse Ronan theory that I first wrote about back on June 3rd?  It was my original thought that Ronan would get a tribute and that Steve McQueen's Blitz might screen at TFF as well as The Outrun.  The announcement that Blitz would world premiere in London made me alter that theory but...

I still think a Ronan tribute likely occurs and occurs with some clips from Blitz.

Hottest possibilities for a tribute beyond these two: Ralph Fiennes, Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, Jacques Audiard and Samuel L. Jackson.

NICKEL BOYS SCREENED

According to World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy  RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys has screened privately in London and the response appears to have been very good.  Ruimy writes:

"“Nickel Boys” just had a preview screening at London’s Curzon Soho. A few folks who attended the screening have chimed in on Letterboxd, and you can read their reactions near the tail end of this article. They’re all very positive."

Ruimy continues:

"This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel has been loaded with buzz for months. The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. "

Nickel Boys is currently #2 on my "to see" list for later this week.

INTERNATIONAL BUZZ

Pablo Larrain, director of Maria talks to Indiewire.

Screen Daily reports that Germany will submit Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its selection for the International Film Oscar.

Variety reveals that Cannes sensation All We Imagine as Light has set a U.S. release date of Nov. 15th.  It's very likely India's entry for the International Film Oscar.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

From the "Local News Network/Telluride, Colorado for Aug. 21st, a report that the fest has asked the Telluride Parks and Recreation Dept. for permission to offer tethered hot air balloon rides during the fest (in Town Park) and that the request is somehow related to a "program related event".  You can see the report yourself at about the 1:48 mark:

https://www.telluridelocal.news/newsstories/tln-august-21-2024

What "program" would hot air balloons be connected to?  I'm stumped.  One follower suggested over the weekend a connection to Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls with this balloon sequence (from YouTube):

The speculation then focused on the possibility of a Schnabel tribute and, I would assume, a screening of Hand of Dante.

A REMINDER: I WILL POST "FINAL BETS" FOR TFF #51 ON WEDNESDAY MORNING and then, of course, the actual lineup when it pops on Thursday morning.  MTFB will post daily from TFF #51.  Mostly during the fest I like to make sure to get the TBAs posted each night for the following day.  I sometimes will include what I think my itinerary will look like for each day and also an occasional comment or two about some of the film I've seen.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

Ten (Plus) Bets #10 for TFF #51 / Looks at The Piano Lesson / Buzzworthy / The People's Telluride /

TEN (PLUS) BETS #10 FOR TFF #51

Here's the penultimate set of "bets" regarding what films will be announced for the Telluride Film Festival a week from today. 

Let me start today's list with a couple of notes.  First, there's a reasonably good chance that 2-3 films won't be included in the program you pickup at Brigadoon.  Over the last few years the festival has held back a few titles from the published program but then has added them as "sneaks".  Last year, for example, TFF #50 had three "sneaks", The Taste of Things, They Shot the Piano Player and Totem.  I had Piano Player at #22 on the final bets and The Taste of Things at #23.

Second note: I will post a "special" edition of MTFB next Wednesday, August 28th from the road as I'll be already headed to Telluride.  It will be the final list of titles that I'm saying will play TFF #51 done 24 hours before the fests big reveal on Thursday.  Of course, the regular Thursday post next week will be the official lineup announcement.

With that said, here's a refresher of last week's "Bets":

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Separated/Morris

12) Better Man/Gracey

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) Maria/Larrain

18) Bird/Arnold

19) Disclaimer/Cuaron

20) Santosh/Suri

Other possibilities:

The Outrun/Fingsheidt

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

The Apprentice/Abassi

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

And here's this week's:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Maria/Larrian

10) The Outrun/Fingscheidt

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Bird/Arnold

12) Disclaimer/Cuaron

13) Separated/Morris

14) Better Man/Gracey

15) Piece by Piece/Neville

16) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

17) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

18) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

19) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

20) The Apprentice/Abassi

Other possibilities:

Santosh/Suri

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

Misrecordia/Guiraudie

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

September 5/Fehlbaum

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

LOOKS AT THE PIANO LESSON

We're expecting Malcolm Washington's The Piano Lesson to screen at TFF next week.  We're hoping that Samuel L. Jackson is along and we'd be really thrilled if producer Denzel Washington happened to show up as well.  Actually...put Denzel on the possible guest list as well as potential tribute recipient.

Anyway, Netflix dropped a poster and a trailer for the film earlier this week.  The poster is above.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair dropped some first look photos of the film on Monday.  Here's a tease:

And here's the link to the entire article.

BUZZWORTHY

Hearing from good sources that Ali Abassi's The Apprentice, Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun and Tim Fehlbaum's September 5 will appear at Telluride.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

The People's Telluride 2023 / Audience Award at Toronto / Trailer for The Taste of Things / Alexander Payne Talks The Holdovers / Changes Coming to Your Favorite Gondola

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE 2023

Here it is!  The People's Telluride poll for TFF #50.  We start with a trip down memory lane.

The first People's Telluride was posted on Sept. 10, 2012.  The top ten films from that year's fest from the populist perspective were:

1) Stories We Tell- 4.80

2) Argo- 4.75

3) The Attack- 4.70

4) The Act of Killing-4.41

5) Wadjda-4.2

6) Amour 4.17

7) Barbara- 4.17

8) The Sapphires-4.11

9) Frances Ha-4.07

10) (Tie)The Hunt and Baraka - 4.00

In subsequent years the top ten were:

2013:

1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)

2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)

3) Gravity (4.40)

4) The Lunchbox (4.25)

5) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.15)

6) Nebraska (4.08)

7) All is Lost (4.06)

8) The Wind Rises (4.0)

9) Ida (4.0)

10) The Past (3.81)

2014:

1) The Imitation Game (4.73)

2) Birdman (4.46)

3) Wild Tales (4.23)

4) Foxcatcher (4.20)

5) Merchants of Doubt (4.04)

6) '71 (3.90)

7) Red Army (3.63)

8) Wild (Tie 3.50)

8) Escobar: Paradise Lost (Tie 3.50)

8) Mommy (Tie 3.50)

2015:

1) Room (4.47)

2) Spotlight (4.45)

3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)

4) Ixcanul (4.31)

5) Son of Saul (4.30)

6) Marguerite (4.23)

7) Black Mass (4.13)

8) Carol (4.02)

9) Rams (3.98)

10) Steve Jobs (3.86)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.37)

2) La La Land (4.33)

3) Maudie (4.29)

4) The Eagle Huntress (4.21)

5) Manchester by the Sea (4.18)

6) Arrival (4.13)

7) Bright Lights (3.90)

8) Frantz (3.89)

9) Toni Erdmann (3.80)

10) Sully (3.79)

2017:

1) Lady Bird (4.38)

2) The Shape of Water (4.22)

3) Darkest Hour (4.04)

4) Hostiles (3.99)

5) Faces Places (3.71)

6) Battle of the Sexes (3.68)

7) Lean on  Pete (3.66)

8) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (3.57)

9) The Other Side of Hope (3.45)

10) Wonderstruck (3.43)

2018

1) Roma (4.47)

2) First Man (4.34)

3) Shoplifters (4.29)

4) Boy Erased (4.23)

5) Free Solo (4.19)

6) Cold War (4.02)

7) White Boy Rick (3.88)

8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)

9) The Favourite (3.76)

10) The Front Runner (3.69)

2019:

1) The Two Popes (4.51)

2) Parasite (4.36)

3) Ford v. Ferrari (4.35)

4) Marriage Story (4.14)

5) Pain and Glory (3.81-Tie)

5) A Hidden Life (3.81-Tie)

7) Judy (3.80)

8) The Aeronauts (3.67)

9) The Report (3.66)

10) Motherless Brooklyn (3.64)

11) Lyrebird (3.62)

12) Waves (3.61)

13) Inside Bill's Brain (3.39)

14) Uncut Gems (3.22)

15) The Climb (3.07)

16) First Cow (3.02)

No People's poll in 2020.

 2021:

1) The Power of the Dog (4.63)

2) The Rescue (4.20)

3) Julia (4.18)

4) Belfast (4.12)

5) King Richard (4.06)

6) C'mon C'mon (3.93)

7) The Hand of God (3.83)

8) Cyrano (3,62)

9) A Hero (3.60)

10) Marcel the Shell (3.57)

11) The Duke (3.53)

12) Spencer-tie- (3.50)

12) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain-tie- (3.50)

14) The Lost Daughter (3.44)

15) Red Rocket (3.41)

16) Petite Maman (3.25)

17) The French Dispatch (2.50)

18) Encounter (2.43)

2022:

1) Women Talking 4.22

2) TAR 4.20

3) Sr. 3.98

4) The Wonder 3.86-(TIE)

4) One Fine Morning 3.86 (TIE)
6) Bones and All 3.77

7) Living 3.70

8) Aftersun 3.63

9) Armageddon Time 3.62

10) Broker 3.57

11) Godland 3.50

12) Empire of Light 3.43

13) Lady Chatterley's Lover 3.31

The Process:  I collated all results that were sent in.  Films that earned ratings from at least 40% of all respondents qualified to make the final listings. 16 films met that threshold.  I added all ratings of a film together and then divided that by the number of ratings it received to arrive at the average rating on a 1-5 scale.

AND SO, HERE ARE YOUR RESULTS FOR THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE FOR 2023

1) Poor Things (4.51)

2) Anatomy of a Fall (4.24)

3) The Zone of Interest (4.19)

4) The Holdovers (4.17)

5) Perfect Days (4.16)

6) All of Us Strangers (4.14)

7) Rustin (4.00)

8) Daddio (3.99)

9) Nyad (3.95)

10) The Bikeriders (3.86)

11) Saltburn (3.68)

12) Fingernails (3.46)

13) Janet Planet (3.45)

14) The Royal Hotel (3.36)

15) Tuesday (2.98)

16) Wildcat (2.62)

Seven films earned a 4.00 average or better making 2023 the best year for that statistic since 2013 which had nine (2015 also had seven films rated 4.00 or better).

Poor Things was the most viewed film among respondents to the poll this year with 93% of them having viewed it.  Saltburn was next at 88%.  The Holdovers was third at 75%. The Bikeriders was fourth with 73% and for fifth there was a three way tie between All of Us Strangers, Rustin and The Zone of Interest at 70%.

After the completion of this year's People's Telluride Poor Things moves onto the all time top ten films with it 4.51 rating at #8 tied with The Two Popes.

The all time People's Top Ten:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)

2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture

3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture

4) The Attack (4.70) (12)

5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)

6) The Power of the Dog (4.63) (21) Nominated Best Picture 

7) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture

8) (TIE) Poor Things (4.51) (23)

8) (TIE)The Two Popes (4.51) (19)

10) (TIE) Roma (4.47) (15) Nominated Best Picture

10) (TIE) Room (4.47) (18) Nominated Best Picture

The Composite Telluride will go up on Thursday!

AUDIENCE AWARD AT TORONTO

Cord Jefferson's under -the-radar film American Fiction (stars Jeffrey Wright) won the TIFF Audience Award Sunday.  Alexander Payne's The Holdovers was first runner-up followed by Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron.  

Full details are here from Variety.

TRAILER FOR THE TASTE OF THINGS

Here's an official trailer for director Ahn Hung Tran's The Taste of Things (The Pot au Feu) that dropped last week:

ALEXANDER PAYNE TALKS THE HOLDOVERS

As a part of Deadline's series of interviews during the Toronto International Film festival, director Alexander Payne sat down and talked about his latest film (and one of the most highly rated and viewed films at Telluride a couple of weeks back) The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti, Da'vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa.

You can access that here.

CHANGES COMING TO YOUR FAVORITE GONDOLA

News from The Telluride Daily Planet:  It appears a new gondola may be on the way to T-ride.  From the story that appeared in the digital version of The Daily Planet on Thursday, Sept. 14th:

"San Miguel County is poised to move forward with a draft intergovernmental agreement for planning the replacement of the current gondola with a new gondola system."

The bare bones of a timeline were also mentioned on the post:

"Wednesday’s work session was a discussion “about a proposed intergovernmental agreement for the planning operations that will be occurring for the next two years to get us to a potential ballot measure and/or other grant opportunities” for the “the ultimate replacement of the gondola as well as continued operations of the gondola post-2027.”

The complete article is linked here.

Stay tuned...

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

900,000 / Continuing to Look at Oscar Experts / Saltburn Trailer / International Affairs/ The People's Telluride-Votes Are Due

900,000

If you're reading this you are someone who has recorded somewhere north of the 900,000th view of MTFB.  We blew through that number yesterday.  I'm stunned.

MTFB has been posted 2,160 times meaning that each post has averaged 417 views.

Hope you'll keep reading.  Om to a million!

CONTINUING TO LOOK AT OSCAR EXPERTS

In the afterglow of TFF #50, I'm continuing to examine the early post-fest Oscar predictions from a number of Oscarologists in terms of how they have TFF #50 titles fairing when Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.  I'm currently assessing the eight "above-the-line-categories: Best Picture, Direction, all four acting categories and the two screenplay categories.  

In my last post I shared predictions from Variety's top Oscar analyst Clayton Davis.  Today my focus moves to The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg.

Feinberg, as did Davis, has Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things leading the T-ride pack with 5 predicted nominations and one other possibility:

Poor Things: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor (Ruffalo) and Adapted Screenplay.  The other possibility is a Supporting Actor nomination for Willem Dafoe.

Here's the rest of Feinberg's predictions for Telluride films:

***The Zone of Interest (four nominations and one possibility): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Huller), Adapted Screenplay.  The additional possibility is a Best Actor nomination for Christian Freidel.

***Nyad (Three nominations and three other possibilities): Best Picture, Actress (Bening), Supporting Actress (Foster).  Also possible are noms for Direction, Supporting Actor (Ifans) and Adapted Screenplay.

***The Holdovers (Three nominations and two possibilities): Best Picture, Actor (Giamatti) and Original Screenplay.  Possibilities are Direction and Supporting Actress (Randolph).

***Anatomy of a Fall (Three nominations and one added possibility): Best Picture, Actress (Huller) and Original Screenplay.  Also possible: Direction.

***Saltburn (One nomination and two possibles): Best Supporting Actress (Pike) and the possibles are Best Actor (Keoghan) and Original Screenplay.

***Rustin (One nomination and one possibility): Best Actor (Domingo) and a possible for Original Screenplay.

***The Teachers' Lounge (One nomination and one possibility): Original Screenplay with a possible nod for Best Actress (Benesch).

Films with possible shots at nominations but that Feinberg does not have predicted to receive any actual nominations:

***All of Us Strangers with potential nominations for Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Scott) and Adapted Screenplay.

***The Taste of Things with a possible nomination for Best Actress (Binoche).

***The Bikeriders with a possible nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

SALTBURN TRAILER

In all the frenzy as this year's fest was going on, I neglected to post an official trailer for Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.  Here it is from YouTube and MGM:

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

It's that time of year when countries are beginning to submit their choices for consideration for the Best International Film Oscar.  

France announced yesterday that their official shortlist includes Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and The Taste of Things both of which screened at TFF #50. Variety, among others reported that.

Also yesterday, Screen Daily revealed that Finland has selected Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves as its candidate for International Oscar contention.  Fallen Leaves also was a choice of TFF #50.

Earlier this week Iceland chose TFF #49 entry Godland as its selection.  Several nations have already made their submissions which, to no one's surprise, has included some TFF titles including:

The Monk and the Gun (Bhutan)

Perfect Days (Japan)

The Teachers' Lounge (Germany)

Here's a link to an updating list of submissions from Screen Daily.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-VOTES ARE DUE

LAST CALL...the clock runs out on your chance to be a part of this year's People's poll of TFF #50 films TOMORROW!

All you have to do is rate the films you saw  and then report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "TERRIBLE" and 5 being "FANTASTIC".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings is tomorrow, Sept. 15th at 5:00pm PDT.

The results of The People's Telluride polling will be revealed in Monday's (9/18) post.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com