MTFB Oscar Take: The Big 8 / Marcel's Second Bow / Interview

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: THE BIG 8

BEST PICTURE

1) The Power of the Dog

2) Belfast

3) CODA

4) King Richard

5) West Side Story

6) Dune

7) Licorice Pizza

8) Don't Look Up

9) Drive My Car

10) Nightmare Alley

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog

2) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast

3) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story

4) Licorice Pizza/Paul Thomas Anderson

5) Ryusuke Hamaguchi/Drive My Car

BEST ACTRESS

1) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye

2) Kristen Stewart/Spencer

3) Nicole Kidman/Being the Ricardos

4) Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter

5) Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers

BEST ACTOR

1) Will Smith/King Richard

2) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog

3) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...BOOM

4) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth

5) Javier Bardem/Being the Ricardos

1) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Ariana DeBose/West Side Story

2) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog

3) Aunjanue Ellis/King Richard

4) Jesse Buckley/The Lost Daughter

5) Judi Dench/Belfast

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Troy Kotsur/CODA

2) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog

3) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast

4) Jesse Plemons/The Power of the Dog

5) J.K. Simmons/Being the Ricardos

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast

2) Licorice Pizza

3) Don't Look Up

4) The Worst Person in the World

5) King Richard

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog

2) The Lost Daughter

3) CODA

4) Drive My Car

5) Dune

 MARCEL'S SECOND BOW

Telluride sensation Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which was at the top of the 2021 Telluride Professionals ratings, has made its second festival bow at South by Southwest this past week.  In as far as what I have seen coming out of Austin, audiences there seem to have been as seduced by the mollusk as viewers at The SHOW over Labor Day weekend.

Omar Gallaga's A- review for Austin 360

Rafael Motomayor for IGN

Laiken Neumann for DailyDot.com

INTERVIEW

An interview with potential Oscar winning editor Pamela Martin on King Richard from Indiwire.

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MTFB Oscar Nom Prediction Update: Screenplays, Visual Effects, Sound and Makeup/Hair / Indiewire's Critics' Survey Part Two / Oscar Short Lists Announced

MTFB OSCAR NOM PREDICTION UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS, VISUAL EFFECTS, SOUND AND MAKEUP/HAIR 

Here are the latest nomination predictions for these five categories.  These were last predicted on Dec. 9th.  TFF #48 films are indicated in Bold.  The film's previous ranking is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Licorice Pizza (2)

2) Belfast (1)

3) Being the Ricardos (Alt.)

4) Don't Look Up (4)

5) King Richard (3)

Alternates: C'mon C'mon and A Hero

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog (1)

2) The Lost Daughter (2)

3) CODA (3)

4) West Side Story (4)

5) Passing (Alt.)

Alternates: Nightmare Alley and Dune

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune (1)

2) The Matrix Resurrections (2)

3)  Spiderman: No Way Home (4)

4) Godzilla vs. Kong (5)

5) Eternals (3)

Alternates: Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Free Guy

BEST SOUND

1) Dune (1)

2) West Side Story (3)

3) No Time to Die (2)

4) Belfast (5)

5) tick, tick...BOOM (New)

Alternates: The Power of the Dog and The Matrix Resurrections

BEST MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Dune (1)

2) House of Gucci (2)

3) The Eyes of Tammy Faye (3)

4) Cruella (4)

5) Nightmare Alley (Alt.)

Alternates: Suicide Squad and Cyrano

INDIEWIRE'S CRITICS' SURVEY PART TWO

A week ago, I posted a breakdown of Indiewire's survey of over 180 critics.  That initial story from Indiewire focused on top ten films in a variety of categories. This week, Indiewire listed the top 50 films of the year based on that survey.  TFF #48 films that made the list are:

49) King Richard

44) Cyrano

38) The Card Counter

37) Spencer

32) Red Rocket

31) The Velvet Underground

23) A Hero

22) Bergman Island

21) Belfast

16) The Lost Daughter

10) C'mon C'mon

8) Petite Maman

7) Flee

6) The French Dispatch

1) The Power of the Dog

The complete list of the top 50 films is linked here.

OSCAR SHORT LISTS ANNOUNCED

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their Oscar short lists for a number of categories yesterday.  Making the short list keeps a film's chances for an Oscar nomination alive in that category.  Here's how TFF #48 films in each.

Best Foreign Language Film: Flee, A Hero. The Hand of God

Best Documentary: Flee, Julia, The Rescue, Procession and The Velvet Underground

Best Original Score: The French Dispatch, King Richard, The Power of the Dog and Spencer.

Best Original Song: Down to Joy/Belfast and Be Alive/King Richard

Best Sound: Belfast and The Power of the Dog

Best Makeup/Hair: Cyrano

Best Live Action Short: When the Sun Sets

Best Documentary Short: Lead Me Home

The complete rundown of all the short lists is linked here from Next Best Picture.

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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.

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MTFB's Oscar Take: Predictions for Screenplays, Visual Effects, Sound and Hair/Makeup / Interview with Belfast's Jamie Dornan

 MFTB OSCAR TAKE: PREDICITONS FOR SCREENPLAYS, VISUAL EFFECTS, SOUND AND HAIR/MAKEUP

Here are the latest nomination predictions for these five categories.  These were last predicted on Nov. 11th.  TFF #48 films are indicated in Bold.  The film's previous ranking is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast (1)

2) Licorice Pizza (2)

3) King Richard (3)

4) C'mon C'mon (4)

5) Don't Look Up (5)

Alternates: Becoming the Ricardos and A Hero

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog (1)

2) The Lost Daughter (2)

3) CODA (3)

4) Nightmare Alley (4)

5) Passing (5)

Alternates: Dune and West Side Story

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune (1)

2) The Matrix: Resurrections (2)

3) Eternals (3)

4) Spiderman: No Way Home (4)

5) Godzilla vs. Kong (Alt.)

Alternates: Don't Look Up and Free Guy

BEST SOUND

1) Dune (1)

2) West Side Story (2)

3) No Time to Die (3)

4) Belfast (4)

5) The Power of the Dog (5)

Alternates: Nightmare Alley and Eternals

BEST HAIR/MAKEUP

1) Dune (1)

2) The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)

3) House of Gucci (3)

4) Cruella (4)

5) Spencer (5)

Alternates: The French Dispatch and King Richard

INTERVIEW WITH BELFAST'S JAMIE DORNAN

The Irish Times

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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MTFB Oscar Predictions Updated: Supporting Acting and New Categories: Score, Song, Costumes / New Trailers; The Power of the Dog and Citizen Ashe / Variety Awards Circuit Podcasts: Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan / Interviews: Branagh, Smith and Mills

 MTFB OSCAR PREDICITONS UPDATED

Here's your update on the Supporting Acting races.  This updates the predictions last posted for these categories on Oct. 25th.  TFF #48 performances are indicated in Bold and their previous position in my predictions are indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast (3)

2) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog (1)

3) Aunjunue Ellis/King Richard (4)

4) Rutyh Negga/Passing (New)

5) Ann Dowd/Mass (2)

Alternates: Judi Dench/Belfast and Marlee Matlin/CODA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast (2)

2) Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza (1)

3) Jamie Dornan/Belfast (3)

4) Jared Leto/House of Gucci (New)

5) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog (5)

Alternates: Ben Affleck/The Tender Bar and Jason Isaacs/Mass

NEW CATEGORIES FIRST PREDICTIONS

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Dune

2) The Power of the Dog

3) Spencer

4) The French Dispatch

5) Don't Look Up

Alternates: Nightmare Alley and The Tragedy of Macbeth

ORIGINAL SONG

1) Believe/King Richard

2) No Time to Die/No Time to Die

3) Down to Joy/Belfast

4) So May We Start/Annette

5) Guns Go Bang/The Harder They Fall

Alternates: Colombia Mi Encanto/Encanto, Believe/The Rescue and Every Letter/Cyrano

BEST COSTUME

1) Cruella

2) Dune

3) Spencer

4) Nightmare Alley

5) House of Gucci

Alternates: The French Dispatch and West Side Story

TRAILERS

NEW TRAILER FOR THE POWER OF THE DOG

CITIZEN ASHE

VARIETY'S AWARDS CIRCUIT PODCAST:

DAKOTA JOHNSON/THE LOST DAUGHTER

JAMIE DORNAN/BELFAST

INTERVIEWS: BRANAGH, SMITH, MILLS

I've linked interviews from the past week with some TFF #48 players.

Kenneth Branagh/Belfast from Anne Thompson/Indiewire

Will Smith/King Richard from Alexia Smith/People

Mike Mills/C'mon C'mon from Jack Smart/Backstage

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MTFB Oscar Take Updated: Lead Acting / New Categories: Cinematography, Editing and Production Design / BIFA Nominations and TFF #48 / Profiles: Cumberbatch and Branagh /

 MTFB OSCAR TAKE UPDATED

Here's an update for my predictions of  the lead acting categories for the 94th Academy Awards.  As always, TFF #48 performers are in Bold. The performers' last position in these predictions is indicated to the right in parentheses.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 21st.

LEAD ACTING

BEST ACTRESS

1) Kristen Stewart/Spencer (1)

2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)

3) Lady Gaga/House of Gucci (5)

4) Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter (4)

5) Frances McDormand/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)

Alternates: Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers and Jodie Comer/The Last Duel

BEST ACTOR

1) Will Smith/King Richard (1)

2) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth (2)

3) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog (3)

4) Pere Dinklage/Cyrano (4)

5) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...BOOM (5)

Alternates: Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon and Clifton Collns/Jockey

NEW CATEGORIES: 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Dune

2) The Tragedy of Macbeth

3) Belfast

4) The Power of the Dog

5) West Side Story

Alternates: Nightmare Alley and Spencer

EDITING

1) Belfast

2) Dune

3) King Richard

4) The Power of the Dog

5) Nightmare Alley

Alternates: West Side Story and Licorice Pizza

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Dune

2) Nightmare Alley

3) The French Dispatch

4) West Side Story

5) The Tragedy of Macbeth

Alternates: The Power of the Dog and Belfast

BIFA NOMINATIONS AND TFF #48

The British Independent Film Awards announced nominees for its  2021 edition and Kenneth Branagh's Belfast (and TFF #48 selection) co-lead the haul with 11 total nominations.  Boiling Point also had 11 nominations.  Other TFF #48 films picking up BIFA noms included: Encounter, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Cow, Flee, Petite Maman and TFF #47 selection First Cow.  TFF films had a total of  26 nominations.

Here's the breakdown by film:

Belfast (11): Actress (Balfe), Supporting Actress (Dench), Supporting Actor (Hinds), Breakthrough Performer (Hill), Casting, Cinematography, Costumes, Music, Editing, Makeup/Hair and Production Design.

Encounter (4): Actor (Ahmed), Supporting Actor (Chauhan), Music and Sound.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (4): Costume, Effects, Makeup/Hair and Production Design.

Cow (4): Documentary, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.

Flee (1): International Independent Film.

Petite Maman (1): International Independent Film.

First Cow (1) (TFF #47): International Independent Feature.

  

Here's the complete rundown of BIFA nominations from Variety.

PROFILES: CUMBERBATCH AND BRANAGH

Indiewire's crew this past week has profiled actor Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and multi-hypenate Kenneth Branagh (Belfast).  Passing those along to you with the following links:

Eric Kohn on Cumberbatch.

Anne Thompson on Branagh.

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MTFB Oscar Take Updated: Best Picture and Direction / MTFB Oscar Predix: New Categories / Release Dates for TFF #48 Films / Profiles and Interviews: Branagh and Garbus / A Hero Has a Trailer

 MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATED BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.  These categories were last predicted here on Oct. 18th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

1) Belfast (1)

2) The Power of the Dog (3)

3) King Richard (2)

4) Dune (5)

5) Nightmare Alley (7)

6) Licorice Pizza (4)

7) West Side Story (6)

8) Spencer (8)

9) The Tragedy of Macbeth (9)

10) CODA (Alt.)

Alternates: House of Gucci and Flee

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 (5)

5) Guillermo Del Toro/Nightmare Alley (4)

Alternates: Pablo Larrain/Spencer and Reinaldo Marcus Green/King Richard

MTFB OSCAR PREDIX: NEW CATEGORIES: INTERNATIONAL, ANIMATED AND DOCUMENTARY FESTURES (TFF #48 films in Bold)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM:

1) The Worst Person in the World/Norway

2) A Hero/Iran

3) Flee/Denmark

4) The Hand of God/Italy

5) Titane/France

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

BEST ANINATED FEATURE

1) Flee

2) The Mitchells vs. The Machines

3) Encanto

4) Luca

5) Belle

Alternates: Raya and the Last Dragon and Sing 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Flee

2) The Rescue

3) Summer of Soul

4) Ascension

5) Procession

RELEASE DATES FOR TFF #48 FILMS

From IMDb:

2021:

Nov. 5 Spencer

Nov. 12 Belfast

Nov. 17 The Power of the Dog

Nov. 19 King Richard, C'mon C'mon

Dec. 3 Red Rocket, Flee

Dec. 10 Encounter

2022:

Jan. 7: A Hero

Release dates for other non-TFF 48 Oscar possibles:

2021:

Nov. 24 House of Gucci

Nov. 26 Licorice Pizza

Dec. 10 Being the Ricardos, West Side Story

Dec. 17: Nightmare Alley

Dec. 25 The Tragedy of Macbeth, A Journal for Jordan

PROFILES AND INTERVIEWS

Sir Kenneth Branagh- writer/director of Belfast with Brent A. Lang from Variety

Liz Garbus, director of Becoming Cousteau with Jazz Tangcay from Variety

A HERO HAS A TRAILER

Amazon Studios has released a trailer for Asghar Farhadi's International Oscar contender A Hero.  Here it is from YouTube:

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Belfast News / Interviews: Stewart, Ahmed, Isaac / The Lost Daughter Trailer

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: LEAD ACTING

Here's an update for my predictions of  the lead acting categories for the 94th Academy Awards.  As always, TFF #48 performers are in Bold. The performers' last position in these predictions is indicated to the right in parentheses.  These categories were last predicted on Oct. 7th.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Kristen Stewart/Spencer (1)

2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)

3) Frances McDormand/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)

4) Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter (New)

5) Lady Gaga/House of Gucci (4)

Alternates: Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers and Jennifer Hudson/Respect

BEST ACTOR

1) Will Smith/King Richard (1)

2) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)

3) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog (2)

4) Peter Dinklage/Cyrano (4)

5) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...BOOM (5)

Alternates: Clifton Collins/Jockey and Joaquin Pheonix/C'mon C'mon

BELFAST NEWS

* Won the Audience Awards from both the Middleburg and Mill Valley Film Festivals this past week.  Here's that story from Sasha Stone at Awards Daily.  Incidentally, The Rescue won for Best Documentary at both fests and C'mon C'mon won Audience Favorite for U.S. Cinema at Mill Valley.

*Jumped to a larger lead on the Gold Derby odds for the Best Picture Oscar.  Here that is from Gold Derby.

*Focus Features dropped a new trailer for the film.  Here that is from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS

Variety's Clayton Davis with Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

Variety's Matt Donnelly with Riz Ahmed (Encounter)

Indiewire's Eric Kohn with Oscar Issac (The Card Counter)

THE LAST DAUGHTER TRAILER

Netflix released a first trailer on Monday for Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Lost Daughter which stars Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson and Jesse Buckley.  The film is due Dec. 31st.  Here's the trailer from YouYube:

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Sunday TBAs / Saturday's Reckoning / Probable for Sunday/ The People's Telluride

 SUNDAY TBAs

The Werner Herzog Theatre

9:45 PM - THE FRENCH DISPATCH (sneak preview)

Sheridan Opera House

6:15 PM - THE CARD COUNTER (sneak preview)

Masons

4:00 PM - BERNSTEIN’S WALL  10:00 PM - STUDENT PRINTS

Le Pierre

1:15 PM - PETITE MAMAN  10:00 PM - DEAR MR. BRODY (sneak preview)

Abel Gance Open Air Cinema

8:30 PM - BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN (sneak preview)

Town Park Theater

8:45 PM - ENCOUNTER

SATURDAY'S RECKONING

JULIA- Fair

MARCEL THE SHELL WITHE SHOES ON- Great

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND- No

PROBABLE FOR SUNDAY:

The Power of the Dog and The Same Storm.  I was planning on seeing The Electrical Life of Louis Wain at the Zog at 9:00 this morning but they wiped it out to add a screening of The French Dispatch.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive 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 with any of the following contact methods:

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

Ten Bets #2 for TFF #48 / A New Possibility Emerges / Trailer for Many Saints

TEN BETS #2 FOR TFF #48

Hi there... from Massachusetts.  

Yes, the Post-ish-Covid  2021 Art Show Circuit continues with the second and final show of the summer season so I am on the road.  

Blew a tire on I-90 today, got the donut spare on after a bit of a struggle and thanks to Conner at Mavis Tire in Chatham, NY and the crew there...got a new tire on before the end of the business day.

Despite the delayed arrival and the eminent Berkshires Art Fest, here's your Thursday edition of MTFB and, as promised, an updated Ten Bets for TFF #48...there's a wrinkle or two.

Last week's Ten Bets (and "Other Possibles" list):

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

5) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

6) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love

7) Cow/Arnold

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Blonde/Dominik

10) The Story of Looking/Cousins

Don't discount the possibility of: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

News this week about films from Pedro Almodovar (see below) and Mark Cousins has altered this week's Ten Bets which look like this:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Story of Looking/Cousins

4) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

5) The Card Counter/Schrader

6) The Storms of Jeremy Thomas/Cousins

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

10) Cow/Arnold

Other Possibles: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde and Bergman Island.

Will update again next Thursday.

A NEW POSSIBILITY EMERGES

We found out this week that Pedro Almodovar's Parallel Mothers and Mark Cousins' The Storms of Jeremy Thomas are both going to be available to program for TFF #48 if  Telluride Fest programmers decide to include them.

Almodovar, who for a long while had a run at Telluride recently has been absent.  There had been a 13 year stretch between 2006's Volver and TFF #46 in 2019 when Pain and Glory screened.  I think that return and the success of P&G (Two Oscar nominations for Best International Feature and for Best Actor for Antonio Banderas) makes Parallel Mothers, starring 2006 TFF Tribute recipient Penelope Cruz, a very real possibility for a TFF #48 slot.

Parallel Mothers is set for release in Spain on Sept. 10th.

TRAILER FOR MANY SAINTS

One of  the films that Warner Bros. could bring to Telluride is the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark.  The film is set for an Oct. 1st release date (after some juggling among the WB lineup this past week).  Warners dropped a trailer for the film which you can enjoy here thanks to YouTube:

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TFF #48 Spec from Someone Besides Myself / Looks at TFF Possibles: Saints, Rockets and BOOM / Your Cousin Has Another / And Finally from TFF #47

TFF #48 SPEC FROM SOMEONE BESIDES MYSELF

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel has taken a look at the same Pete Hammond report of the recent Telluride Film Fest Annual "To-Do" in L.A. and drawn some conclusions and done some speculating.  He has some ideas that are intriguing that I thought I'd pass along.

Ruimy's analysis of Hammond's claims that there could be as many as four Netflix films at TFF #48 has him suggesting The Power of the Dog, Blonde, The Hand of God and Don't Look Back.

Other films on Ruimy's guess list include: The French Dispatch, King Richard. C'mon C'mon, Last Night in Soho, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Whale, The Card Counter, The Tragedy of Macbeth and possibly Nightmare Alley.

As of last Thursday's first "Ten Bets" you know that I'm agreeing with Ruimy on: The Power of the Dog, The Card Counter and Nightmare Alley.

This note though: we're still very early in the serious TFF #48 prediction game.

Here's the link to the Ruimy story.

LOOKS AT TFF POSSIBLES: SAINTS, ROCKETS AND BOOM

Michael Gandolfini as a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark

A slew of articles about films that are a part of the conversation for possible Telluride inclusion popped up this past week:

Indiewire looks at The Many Saints of Newark, the prequel film to HBO's classic series The Sopranos.  Here's the link to that.

Indiewire also looks at Red Rocket, Sean Baker's follow up to The Florida Project.  That is linked here.

Meanwhile, SlashFilm runs down a preview of  Lin Manuel Miranda's tick, tick...Boom.  That look is here.

YOUR COUSIN HAS ANOTHER

A scene from Mark Cousins' The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

Mark Cousins, who has already been invited to screen The Story of Looking at Cannes, revealed this past weekend that he has another film selected for Cannes Classics.  Cousins' will be screening The Storms of Jeremy Thomas as a separate selection on the Croisette.

The "twofer" raises the prospect that Cousins, whose ties with the Telluride fest are long and deep, might have both films show up on the TFF #48 list when it's announced on Wednesday, August 31st.

Deadline.com has that story as well as first look footage from the film.  That's linked here.

AND FINALLY, FROM TFF #47

Last year, when Telluride announced the list of films that would have been screened had TFF #47 taken place, TFF regular Roger Michell's The Duke was included.  The comedy starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren is now on the cusp of release in the United Kingdom and an official trailer has dropped.

Here's that is via YouTube:

The Duke opens in the U.K. on Sept. 3rd.

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Ten Bets #1 for TFF #48 / Toronto's Early Line / Winners at Annecy

 TEN BETS #1 FOR TFF #48

Well, here we are.  June 24th, 2021.  Roughly two months away from the start of TFF #48.  It's still not a guarantee but each day we get closer, the more confident I feel that we'll all be seeing each other in the San Juans in September...which sounds like a song title from a Crosby/Hope road picture doesn't it?

Here's this year's first actual attempt at a list of films that I feel like could be on the list for TFF #48 when that drops presumably on Sept. 1st.  As always, there are no "locks" on the Ten Bets- at least at this point- and fair warning, my normal track record for the initial Ten Bets each season is roughly 50%.

So, without further ado and drumroll please...

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

5) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

6) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love

7) Cow/Arnold

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Blonde/Dominik

10) The Story of Looking/Cousins

Don't discount the possibility of: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Again, grain of salt.

I'll update the Ten Bets list each week as the summer progresses right up to the final Ten Bets which is usually 20-25 bets) on Tuesday, August 31st.

TORONTO'S EARLY LINE

The Toronto International Film Festival dropped the titles of a dozen or so films that will be a part of this year's TIFF.  Unlike most normal announcements from TIFF, no premiere status was included.  The closest the statement came was to characterize Denis Villenueve's Dune as a World IMAX premiere.  Absent the specific premiere status I'm going to assume that any and all of the films are still possible for Telluride including Dune.  Other films of note in as far as Telluride potential that were included in the announcement today were:

Dune, Last Night in Soho, Petite Maman, Belfast, Les Bal des Folles, Lakewood and The Starling.

The complete story of the early announced Toronto films is here from Indiewire,

WINNERS AT ANNECY

The world's largest animated film fest, the Annecy Animation Festival has concluded in France with winning films announced last week.  Annecy is of some note to Telluride observers as films that have played there occasionally are programmed in T-ride over Labor Day weekend.

Big winners were: Flee and My Sunny Maad.  Flee won the top award at the fest, the Cristal.  Flee debuted at Sundance last January which normally precludes a slot in Telluride but there are rare exceptions and I feel like this could be one of those.  

The film is being distributed in the United States by NEON.

The complete rundown about the fest is linked here from Variety.

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