The Shifting Sands of Fall Film Fests / The French Dispatch Moves / Uncut Gems to Netflix

THE SHIFTING SANDS OF FALL FILM FESTS

The uncertainty of what lies ahead for the film industry in terms of both film festivals and theatrical releases is evolving almost everyday in this pandemic plagued world.

Already we have seen South by Southwest cancelled and then resurrected in some fashion this past week as an online fest hosted by Amazon.  Cannes is postponed.  Tribeca is postponed.  Others as well.

All of which leads to the natural question as to the fate and composition of Telluride's Film Fest as well as the other two legs of the opening fall film fest triad: Toronto and Venice (conceivably Cannes could become a fourth leg if that fest opts to move to a date later than the previously suggested late-June/July time period).

I shared Mar. 26th that The Denver Post was sourcing a "spokeswoman" for TFF that the fest was "scheduled to go on".

TIFF and Venice are, to my knowledge, in that same boat.  However, sources have reported at the end of last week that Toronto may be shifting what their festival might look like.  They're apparently looking at two major alterations.  First might be TIFF as a "festival of festivals" incorporating films from some of the other fests that have cancelled or been postponed.  The other is a shift to an online presentation of films.

The story is addressed further here with links from:

The Playlist

World of Reel

More to follow...

THE FRENCH DISPATCH MOVES

Searchlight has officially announced that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch has a new theatrical date for bowing.  The new date is Oct. 16th.  The film was originally scheduled to bow July 24th and was widely believed to have been a probable feature of the Cannes Film Fest.

The new date doesn't necessarily preclude a Cannes appearance depending on what decisions are made regarding that fest but it does open the door for screening it at Telluride,Toronto, Venice and/or New York should those fests occur as currently planned.

The Hollywood Reporter had the date switching info.

UNCUT GEMS TO NETFLIX

The Safdie Brothers made quite a splash at last year's fest with their film Uncut Gems.  It seemed to me that over the course of the weekend that it was the single most divisive film of the Labor Day weekend.  At least it seemed that way anecdotally as I was standing in line.

Now that film has been acquired for streaming by Netflix which announced the acquisition and also a premiere date.

Entertainment Weekly reported on Wednesday that the Adam Sandler vehicle will drop on May 25th.  The film also stars Andre Holland, Julia Fox, Eric Bogosian and Kevin Garnett.

TFF was the first place to screen the film last Aug. 30th.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Golden Globes Results / Oscar Predictions Update: International, Animated and Documentary / NSFC Winners Named / Final Uncut Gems Trailer

GOLDEN GLOBES RESULTS

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out its Golden Globe Awards last night.  Here are the results for each of the 14 Film categories with TFF #46 films in Bold:

BEST PICTURE-DRAMA
1917

BEST PICTURE-MUSICAL/COMEDY
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

BEST ACTRESS/DRAMA
Renee Zellweger/Judy

BEST ACTOR/DRAMA
Joaquin Phoenix/Joker. 

BEST ACTRESS MUSICAL/COMEDY
Awkwafina/The Farewell

BEST ACTOR MUSICAL/COMEDY
Taron Egerton/ROcketman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Laura Dern/Marriage Story  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. 

BEST DIRECTOR
Sam Mendes/1917

BEST SCREENPLAY
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Parasite

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: Missing Link

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1917

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: I'm Gonna Love Me Again/Rocketman

TFF #46 films win three Globes:

Renee Zellweger/Best Actress-Drama/Judy
Laura Dern/Best Supporting Actress/Marriage Story
Parasite/Best Foreign Language Film

Multiple Globe winning films were:


Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood- Best Picture/Comedy or Musical, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay
1917-Best Picture/Drama, Best Direction
Joker- Best Actor/Drama, Best Score
Rocketman- Best Actor/Musical or Comedy, Best Song

Complete Golden Globes results re linked here from Indiewire. 


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: INTERNATIONAL, ANIMATED AND DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

This update indicates my current thinking about the relative chances for an Oscar nomination.  The film's previous ranking is indicated in parentheses.  TFF #46 (and #45) films are indicated in Bold.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE (last predicted on Dec. 12th)

1) Parasite (1)
2) Pain and Glory (2)
3) Les Miserables (3)
4) Beanpole (-)
5) Atlantics (4)
6) Corpus Christi (6)

Other possibles: Honeyland, Truth and Justice, Those Who Remained, The Painted Bird


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Toy Story 4 (1)
2) Frozen II (2)
3) I Lost My Body (3)
4) The Missing Link (4)
5) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (5)
6) Klaus (6)

Other possibles: Abominable, The Lion King, Funan


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) American Factory (1)
2) Apollo 11 (2)
3) For Sama (3)
4) One Child Nation (4)
5) Honeyland (5)
6) Biggest Little Farm (6)

Other possibles: Midnight Family, Maiden, The Cave, Advocate


NSFC WINNERS NAMED

The National Society of Film Critics named their "Best Of" for 2019 on Saturday and here are the winners per The Hollywood Reporter (with TFF #46 in Bold.)

Best Picture: Parasite
Best Director: Greta Gerwig/Little Women
Best Actress: Mary Kay Place/Diane
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern/Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Best Screenplay: Parasite
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Atlantics
Best Non-Fiction Film: Honeyland

TFF #46 films/performances that were runners-up:
Best Director: Bong Joon-ho/Parasite
Best Actor: Adam Driver/Marriage Story, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems
Best Supporting Actor: Sang Kong-ho/Parasite

Complete results from the NSFC are linked here


FINAL UNCUT GEMS TRAILER

A24 dropped the final trailer for the Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler.  The film was released on Christmas Day.

Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

New Additions to the History Pages / TFF Top Ten for the 2010's / Oscar Predictions Updates: The Big Eight / Latest Interviews

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE HISTORY PAGES

The Telluride Film Festival history project got a new addition today.  Many of you know that I have been working for the past few months to unofficially document Telluride's impact on the Oscars since the fests inception in 1974.

I have included multiple posts over the past few months to that end and today have added that work its own page on this blog.

Want to know how many Oscar nominations 12 Years a Slave had?  You can find out on the new page.  How many nominations did TFF films have in total in 1998?  It's on the page.

Have fun and if you find an error...and don't be surprised when that happens...drop me a line and let me know.  I'll get it corrected post haste.



TFF TOP TEN FOR THE 2010'S

Over on Twitter, everyone is doing end of the decade Top Ten film lists, so, as you might expect, here's my twist: Top Ten Telluride Film Fest films of the 2010's. so if you have a Twitter account, hit me up with your #TFFTopTenofthe10's using this hashtag and pass this along.


My personal #TFFTopTenofthe10's list:

10) Lady Bird ('17)
9)   La La Land ('16)
8)   First Man ('18)
7)   Marriage Story ('19)
6)   Moonlight ('16)
5)   Son of Saul ('15)
4)   A Separation ('11)
3)   Birdman ('14)
2)   Inside Llewyn Davis ('13)
1)   12 Years a Slave ('13)

Late add is Steve McQueen's Shame at #3.  Adjust accordingly.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATED: THE BIG EIGHT (ONLY TWO WEEKS TO GO!)

Here's a look at my latest "Best Guesses" for Oscar nominations (to be announced on Jan. 13th).  I have listed the last date I predicted for each of these categories and the film's last position in parentheses.  As always, TFF #46 films are indicated in Bold.


BEST PICTURE (last updated Dec. 23rd)

1) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
2) The Irishman (2)
3) Parasite (3)
4) 1917 (4)
5) Marriage Story (5)
6) Jojo Rabbit (6)
7) Joker (7)
8) Ford v Ferrari (8)
9) The Two Popes (10)
10) Bombshell (9)

Other possibles: The Farewell, Little Women, Knives Out, Dolemite Is My Name
Notes: The top six films feel solid to me at this point.  I'm guessing nine films get nominated this year.


BEST DIRECTOR (last updated Dec. 23rd)

1) Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time... (1)
2) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite (2)
3) Martin Scorsese/The Irishman (3)
4) Sam Mendes/1917 (4)
5) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story (5)
6) Todd Phillips/Joker (6)

Other possibles: James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari, Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit, Fernando Meirelles/The Two Popes, Greta Gerwig/Little Women
Locks: Tarantino, Bong, Scorsese.  Near Lock:  Mendes


BEST ACTRESS (last updated Dec. 16th)

1) Renee Zellweger/Judy (1)
2) Scarlett Johansson/Marriage Story (2)
3) Charlize Theron/Bombshell (3)
4) Cynthia Erivo/Harriet (5)
5) Lupita Nyong'o/Us (4)
6) Awkwafina/The Farewell (6)

Other possibles: Saoirse Ronan/Little Women, Alfre Woodard/Clemency, Ana De Armas/Knives Out, Valerie Pachner/A Hidden Life
Locks: Zellweger, Johansson, Theron.  Near Locks: Erivo, Nyong'o


BEST ACTOR (last updated Dec. 16th)

1) Adam Driver/Marriage Story (1)
2) Joaquin Phoenix/Joker (2)
3) Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time... (3)
4) Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory (4)
5) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes (5)
6) Christian Bale/Ford v Ferrari (-)

Other possibles: Taron Egerton/Rocketman, Robert DeNiro/The Irishman, Eddie Murphy/Dolemite Is My Name, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems
Locks: Driver, Phoenix, DiCaprio


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (last updated Dec. 16th)

1) Laura Dern/Marriage Story (1)
2) Jennifer Lopez/Hustlers (2)
3) Margot Robbie/Bombshell (3)
4) Scarlett Johansson/Jojo Rabbit (4)
5) Kathy Bates/Richard Jewell (6)
6) Zhao Shuzhen/The Farwell (5)

Other possibles: Florence Pugh/Little Women, Nicole Kidman/Bombshell, Annette Bening/The Report, Da'Vine Joy Randolph/Dolemite Is My Name
Locks: Dern, Lopez. Robbie


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (last updated Dec. 16th)

1) Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time... (1)
2) Joe Pesci/The Irishman (2)
3) Al Pacino/The Irishman (3)
4) Tom Hanks/A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (4)
5) Anthony Hopkins/The Two Popes (5)
6) Alan Alda/Marriage Story (6)

Other possibles: Jamie Foxx/Just Mercy, Sam Rockwell/Richard Jewell, Song Kang-ho/Parasite, Willem Dafoe/The Lighthouse
Locks: Pitt, Pesci, Pacino.  Near Lock: Hanks


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (last updated Dec. 23rd)

1) The Irishman (1)
2) Jojo Rabbit (2)
3) The Two Popes (3)
4) Little Women (4)
5) Joker (5)
6) Hustlers (-)

Other possibles: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Just Mercy, Richard Jewell, Dark Waters
Locks: Irishman, Jojo, Two Popes.  Near Locks: Little Women, Joker


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Marriage Story (1)
2) Once Upon a Time... (2)
3) Parasite (3)
4) The Farewell (4)
5) Knives Out (5)
6) 1917 (-)

Other possibles: Uncut Gems, Dolemite Is My Name, Bombshell, Ford v Ferrari
Locks: Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time..., Parasite.  Near Lock: The Farewell


LATEST INTERVIEWS GROUPED BY FILM:



THE TWO POPES

Indiewire Awards Spotlight with Jonathan Pryce and Anne Thompson

Deadline's Pete Hammond talks with screenwriter Anthony McCarten

Featurette focused on the look of The Two Popes from The Playlist

Time.com on the true story of The Two Popes


UNCUT GEMS

Screen Daily talks to the Josh and Benny Safdie about the decade it took to get Uncut Gems made

The Safdies also talking to The Film Stage


MARRIAGE STORY

Noah Baumbach talking to Indiewire

Baumbach with Variety's Marc Malkin about Adam Driver, drywall and Stephen Sondheim


PARASITE

Parasite actor Song Kang-ho with Indiewire's David Ehrlich about his career 


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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar Predictions Update: Best Picture, Director, Screenplays / Latest Gurus of Gold / An MTFB First / Trailer for The Climb / Tapley Podcasts Baumbach

OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Picture, Director and Screenplays.  TFF #46 films are indicated in Bold.

BEST PICTURE (last updated 12/16)

1) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)

2) The Irishman (2)

3) Parasite (3)

4) 1917 (4)

5) Marriage Story (5)

6) Jojo Rabbit (6)

7) Joker (7)

8) Ford v Ferrari (8)

9) Bombshell (-)

10) The Two Popes (9)

Other possibles: The Farewell, Little Women. Knives Out

BEST DIRECTION (last updated 12/9)

1) Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time... (2)

2) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite (4)

3) Martin Scorsese/The Irishman (3)

4) Sam Mendes/1917 (1)

5) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story (5)

6) Todd Phillips/Joker (-)

Other possibles: James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari, Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit, Fernando Merrielle's/The Two Popes

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (last updated 12/9)

1) The Irishman (1)

2) Jojo Rabbit (3)

3) The Two Popes (2)

4) Little Women (5)

5) Joker (4)

6) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (6)

Other possibles: Hustlers, Richard Jewell, Just Mercy, Dolemite Is My Name

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (last updated 12/9)

1) Marriage Story (1)

2) Once Upon a Time... (2)

3) Parasite (3)

4) The Farewell (4)

5) Knives Out (5)

6) Uncut Gems (6)

Other possibles: Bombshell, 1917, Pain and Glory, Ford v Ferrari

LATEST GURUS OF GOLD

Movie City News has posted its latest edition of the Gurus of Gold focused on the Big Eight categories of Best Picture, Direction, all four Acting categories as well as both screenplay categories.

Here's the link to the latest Gurus.

As mentioned here before, I'm serving my second year as a Guru.  Also included as Gurus this year are some Oscar predicting heavyweights:  Sasha Stone of Awards Daily, Dave Karger of Turner Classic Movies and IMDb, Peter Howell of The Toronto Star, Jeff Sneider of Collider, Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist and Mark Johnson of Awards Watch among others.

You might notice that my Guru picks and my own posted on the blog here today may not line up exactly...Why?  Time.  My Guru picks were sent in a few days ago, whereas I worked on the freshest picks for today's blog post yesterday and this morning.


AN MTFB FIRST

Well...what do you know?

I've been plugging away at this Blog thing since August of 2008.  Lots of cool things have happened as a result of this little experience but had a first this week.

I had an Oscar screener land in my email this week.   No...no...it's not Little Women or 1917...

It's a link for a short listed Oscar Short form Documentary film.  The film: Yo Seung-Jun's In the Absence.  The description included in the email describes the focus of the doc as follows:

"When the passenger ferry MV Sewol sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities."

The short film's IMDb page is linked here.

According to accompanying material the film screened at DOC NYC and AFI Docs.

Oscar winner Laura Poitras (Citizen Four) is one of the Executive Producers of the film.

I plan to get it in over the holiday break.  I'll get back to you about it soon.


TRAILER FOR THE CLIMB

Sony Pictures Classics has released a trailer for low key buddy dramedy The Climb.  The film had a modest reception at Telluride.  It's set for release on Mar. 20th.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

TAPLEY PODCASTS BAUMBACH

Kris Tapley has put together another of his series of podcasts for Netflix under the name of The Call Sheet.  The latest features an outing with Marriage Story director and scribe Noah Baumbach.

That podcast is linked here.

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Golden Globe Nominations / Critics Choice Nominations / Los Angeles Film Critics Announce / Oscar Predictions Update : Best Pic and More / Latest Gurus of Gold / Trailers for Beanpole and The Assistant

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees this morning for the best in film and television for 2019.  Here's how TFF #46 films fared:

Marriage Story (6): Best Picture/Drama, Best Actor/Adam Driver, Best Actress/Scarlett Johansson, Best Supporting Actress/Laura Dern, Screenplay, Score  (Note: Marriage Story led the filed with its six nominations.  The Irishman was next with five).

Parasite (3): Director, Foreign Film, Screenplay

Ford v Ferrari (1): Best Actor/Christian Bale

The Two Popes (4): Best Picture/ Drama, Best Actor/Jonathan Pryce, Best Supporting Actor/Anthony Hopkins, Screenplay

Pain and Glory (2): Best Actor/Antonio Banderas, Foreign Film

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: (1):Foreign Film

Judy (1): Best Actress/Renee Zellweger

The Report (1): Best Supporting Actress/Annette Bening

TFF #46 totaled 19 nominations.

The complete list of all nominees is linked here from The Hollywood Reporter.



CRITICS CHOICE NOMINATIONS

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman led all films with 14 Critics Choice nominations with Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood close behind with 12.  Those were announced yesterday.

Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story led the TFF #46 entries in nominations with eight tied with 1917 as the fourth most nominated film.  In all TFF #46 films earned 32 Critics Choice nominations.

Here's the breakdown of TFF #46 films nomination for Critics Choice Awards yesterday:

Marriage Story (8): Best Picture, Director/Noah Baumbach, Actress/Scarlett Johansson, Actor/Adam Driver, Laura Dern/Supporting Actress, Ensemble, Original Screenplay and Score.

Parasite (7): Best Picture, Best Foreign Film, Bong Joon-ho/Director, Ensemble, Original Screenplay, Editing and Production Design.

Ford v Ferrari (5): Best Picture, Best Action Picture, Cinematography, Editing and Visual Effects.

Uncut Gems (4):  Best Picture, The Safdie Brothers/Director, Actor/Adam Sandler, Editing

Pain and Glory (2): Best Foreign Film, Actor/Antonio Banderas

Judy (2): Actress/Renee Zellweger, Makeup

The Two Popes (2): Supporting Actor/Anthony Hopkins, Adapted Screenplay

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (1): Best Foreign Film

The Aeronauts (1): Visual Effects

The complete list of all nominees for the Critics Choice Awards for film and television are linked from their website here.


LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ANNOUNCE

Also announcing their "Best Of" for 2019 yesterday was the Laos Angeles Film Critics Association.  LAFCA traditionally names a winner in each category as well as a runner-up.  In this years voting T46 films were named the Best in seven categories and runners-up in five other instances.  Leading the way was Bong Joon-ho's Parasite which was named in five of the 12 spots.  Here's the breakdown by TFF #46 film:

Parasite: Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Song Kan-ho and runner-up for Screenplay and Production Design.

Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory was named Best Foreign Film and its star Antonio Banderas was named Best Actor.

Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story was named a couple of times.  It was named Best Screenplay and Adam Driver was runner-up for Best Actor.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire was chosen as Best Cinematography and was also runner-up for Best Foreign Film.

The Safdie Brother's Uncut Gems was runner-up for Best Editing.

The complete list of winners from the LAFCA is linked here from their website.




UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Updating my Oscar predictions for Best Picture, Director the Screenplay categories and Film Editing.

As always TFF #46 films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) The Irishman (2)
2) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
3) 1917 (3)
4) Parasite (4)
5) Marriage Story (5)
6) Jojo Rabbit (6)
7) Ford v Ferrari (9)
8) Joker (8)
9) The Two Popes (7)
10) The Farewell (10)

Other possibles: Dolemite Is My Name, Richard Jewell, Bombshell, Knives Out, Uncut Gems


BEST DIRECTOR

1) Sam Mendes/1917 (4)
2) Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time... (1)
3) Martin Scorsese/The Irishman (3)
4) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite (2)
5) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story (5)
6) James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari (-)

Other possibles: Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit, Fernando Meirelles/The Two Popes, Todd Phillips/Joker


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Irishman (3)
2) The Two Popes (1)
3) Jojo Rabbit (2)
4) Joker (4)
5) Little Women (5)
6) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (-)

Other possibles: Hustlers, Just Mercy, Richard Jewell

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Marriage Story (1)
2) Once Upon a Time... (2)
3) Parasite (3)
4) The Farewell (4)
5) 1917 (5)
6) Knives Out (-)

Other Possibles: Uncut Gems, Honey Boy, Bombshell

BEST FILM EDITING

1) The Irishman (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (2)
3) Once Upon a Time... (3)
4) Parasite (5)
5) Marriage Story (-)
6) 1917 (4)

Other possibles: The Two Popes, Jojo Rabbit, Joker


LATEST BEST PICTURE PREDICTIONS FROM THE GURUS OF GOLD

These were updated late last week and the newest Best Pic consensus is linked here.

I believe there will be a new Gurus this week with expanded predictions in a number of other categories.  Keep an eye on my Twitter account ( @Gort2 ) for when that goes up.



TRAILERS FROM BEANPOLE AND THE ASSISTANT


A couple of films that screened at Telluride that have had low level buzz since the fest both released trailers this week.

Foreign Film contender from Russia, Kantemir Bagalov's Beanpole had one.  Beanpole is set for release in the U.S. on Jan. 29th and is being distributed by Kino Lorber.  Here's that video from YouTube:

Also launching a trailer was Kitty Green's The Assistant.  That film will release on Jan. 31st and is distributed by Bleecker Street Media.  Here's that trailer also from YouTube:

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

NBR and Telluride / AFI and Telluride / Gotham Award Winners: Marriage Story Wins Big / NY Critics and Telluride / And It's Never Too Early... / Updated Oscar Predictions: International, Documentary, Animated Features

NBR AND TELLURIDE

The National Board of Review released its choices for the best films in 2019 on Tuesday.  Martin Scorsese's The Irishman was named best film of the year.  NBR also includes superlatives in a number of lists and categories.  TFF #46 standout Parasite was named Best Foreign Language Film.

Among their Ten Best films of the year were these TFF #46 entrants:

Ford v Ferrari
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Waves

From the NBR list of the five Best Foreign Language Films:

Pain and Glory
Portrait of a Lady on Fire

And from their list of the Ten Best Independent Films:

A Hidden Life
Judy

Other individual awards from NBR for TFF #46 films/performances included:

Adam Sandler-Best Actor-Uncut Gems
Renee Zellweger-Best Actress-Judy
Uncut Gems-Best Original Screenplay


The complete rundown of the NBR's awards is linked here from Indiewire.


AFI AND TELLURIDE

In addition to the NBR announcement on Tuesday we also saw revealed the "Best of 2019" list from the American Film Institute.

In as far as far as TFF films are concerned, only Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story made the AFI Top Ten list.  AFI did name Bong Joon-ho's Parasite as a special award winner.


Here's the complete lowdown of AFI's lists from The Wrap.


GOTHAM AWARD WINNERS: MARRIAGE STORY WINS BIG

The Gotham Awards were passed out earlier this week and Noah Baumbach's TFF #46 film Marriage Story did very, very well.  It was named Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Adam Driver was named Best Actor.  The film was also named winner of the Gotham's Audience Award.

The other TFF #46 awarded film came for Taylor Russell as Breakthrough Performer for Waves.

The complete Gothams award list is linked here from Indiewire.


NEW YORK CRITICS AND TELLURIDE

The New York Film Critics Circle also announced their " Best of" for 2019 yesterday and the list of winners included these TFF #46 entrants:

Best Director: The Safdie Brothers/Uncut Gems
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory
Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern/Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Cinematography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite
and Randy Newman was awarded a "Special Award" One has to think that, in part, he was being recognized for his work on the score for Marriage Story


The NYFCC named Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as the Best Film of the year.

You can see the entire list of NYFCC award winners from Indiewire by clicking here.


AND IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY...

The first big list of most anticipated films for 2020 is out from The Playlist.  That outlet posted its 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2020 on Tuesday and I have culled it for the dozen films that seem the most TFF #47 friendly...at least on the surface.

Largely these 12 films make my cut based on TFF history.  Here they are (in reverse order of their position on The Playlist list):

83) The White Tiger (d. Ramin Bahrani)
66) Mainstream (d. Gia Coppola)
64) Good Night Midnight (d. George Clooney)
59) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (d. George C. Wolfe)
55) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (d. Aaron Sorkin)
48) Stillwater (d. Tom McCarthy)
27) Nomadland (d. Chloe Zhao)
17) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (d. Charlie Kaufman)
16) Bergman Island (d. Mia Hansen-Love)
13) Nightmare Alley (d. Guillermo Del Toro)
9) Mank (d. David Fincher)
4) Dune (d. Denis Villnueve)

The Playlist's top anticipated film is Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

The complete list of 100 films plus some honorable mentions is linked here.


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: INTERNATIONAL, DOCS, ANIMATED FEATURE

I'm updating my predictions today for three categories: International, Documentary and Animated Features.  Their last predicted position is indicated in parentheses;  TFF #46 films are Bold.

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Parasite (1)
2) Pain and Glory (2)
3) Les Miserables (3)
4) Atlantics (4)
5) This Invisible Life (-)
6) Corpus Christi (-)

Other possibles: And Then They Danced, Monos, Beanpole

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) American Factory (1)
2) Apollo 11 (2)
3) One Child Nation (3)
4) For Sama (-)
5) Honeyland (-)
6) The Biggest Little Farm (-) (TFF #45)

Other possibles: Sea of Shadows, Edge of Democracy, The Cave, The Kingmaker

ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Toy Story 4 (1)
2) Frozen II (2)
3) I Lost My Body (4)
4) The Missing Link (3)
5) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (5)
6) Klaus (-)

Other possibles: Abominable, Funan


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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

NBR Happens Tomorrow / Oscar Predictions Update: Acting Categories / Film Makers Featured

NBR HAPPENS TOMORROW

The national Board of Review drops its list of best films of 2019 tomorrow.  Last year its choice for Best Film, Green Book, went on to Oscar glory winning the Best Picture Oscar.

Expect the organization to announce winners of a number of individual awards in addition to Best Film such as Best Direction, Leading and Supporting performances, adapted and original screenplays and others.  In addition expect a 10 Best list, a Ten Best Independent Films list, a Five Best Documentaries list and a Five Best Foreign Film list.

TFF #46 films that could make their way onto the NBR's various lists include:

The Aeronauts
Beanpole
The Climb
Diego Maradona
Ford v Ferrari
A Hidden Life
Judy
The Kingmaker
Marriage Story
Pain and Glory
Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Report
The Two Popes
Uncut Gems
Varda by Agnes
Waves

I'll have all the NBR/TFF breakdown on Thursday edition of MTFB.


OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: ACTING

Here's my latest batch of Oscar updates for the acting category nominations.  I last posted acting predictions on Nov. 21.  TFF #46 performances are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Renee Zellweger/Judy (1)
2) Charlize Theron/Bombshell (2)
3) Scarlett Johansson/Marriage Story (3)
4) Saoirse Ronan/Little Women (4)
5) Cynthia Erivo/Harriet (5)
6) Awkwafina/The Farewell (-)

Other possibles: Lupita Nyong'o/Us, Alfre Woodard/Clemency

BEST ACTOR

1) Joaquin Phoenix/Joker (2)
2) Adam Driver/Marriage Story (1)
3) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes (3)
4) Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time...(4)
5) Robert DeNiro/The Irishman (-)
6) Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory (5)

Other possibles: George MacKay/1917, Christian Bale/Ford v Ferrari, Eddie Murphy/Dolemite Is My Name, Taron Egerton/Rocketman, Paul Walter Hauser/Richard Jewell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Laura Dern/Marriage Story (1)
2) Jennifer Lopez/Hustlers (2)
3) Margot Robbie/Bombshell (3)
4) Zhao Shuzhen/The Farewell (6)
5) Kathy Bates/Richard Jewell (-)
6) Scarlett Johansson/Jojo Rabbit (5)

Other possibles: Florence Pugh/Little Women, DaVine Joy Randolph/Dolemite Is My Name, Annette Bening/The Report, Maggie Smith/Downton Abbey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Brad Pitt/Once Upon a Time... (1)
2) Al Pacino/The Irishman (2)
3) Joe Pesci/The Irishman (5)
4) Tom Hanks/A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (3)
5) Anthony Hopkins/The Two Popes (4)
6) Sam Rockwell/Richard Jewell (-)

Other possibles: Willem Dafoe/The Lighthouse, Wesley Snipes/Dolemite Is My Name, Alan Alda/Marriage Story, Shia LaBeouf/Honey Boy, Jamie Foxx/Just Mercy

Notes: The buzz surrounding Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell (releasing Dec. 13) is lifting Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell and Paul Walter Hauser into the acting conversations.   It will be interesting to see if that sustains over the next couple of weeks.

The same is true for young and virtually unknown George MacKay for his work in 1917.  The Sam Mendes film has huge buzz after some early screenings and has skyrocketed up a number of the charts from the Oscar experts for Best Picture.  Currently Awards Circuit has it at #1.   Awards Daily has it at #1 and Awards Watch has it at #4.


FILM MAKERS FEATURED

Annie Howard talks to The Two Popes Screen writer Anthony McCarten for The Hollywood Reporter here.

Anne Thompson of Indiewire talks to Adam Sandler and The Safdie Brothers about Uncut Gems here.

Joey Moser of Awards Daily talks with composer David Wingo about the music of Motherless Brooklyn.



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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG