Showing posts with label Variety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Variety. Show all posts

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Variety's Early Oscar Picture / News from Cannes / Insight for Bucking Fastard

 VARIETY'S EARLY OSCAR PICTURE




MTFB continues to take a peek at early Best Picture Oscar prognostications for TFF #53 clues.  Today it's Clayton Davis from Variety.  From his March 19th article, here are my best guesses for what among them might make it to southwest Colorado  (with director, release date and distributor, if known.  *** indicates the director has had a previous TFF entry):


All of a Sudden/Hamaguchi/NEON
Artificial/Guadagnino***/Amazon-MGM
Being Heumann/Heder/Apple TV
Bucking Fastard/Herzog***
Clarissa/Erisi/NEON
Digger/Inarritu***/Oct. 2nd/Warner Brothers
Here Comes the Flood/Meirelles***/Netflix
A Long Winter/Haigh***/MUBI
Musk/Gibney/Bleeker Street
Narnia: The Magician's Nephew/Gerwig***/Nov. 26th/Netflix
Paper Tiger/Gray***
Primetime/Oppenheim/A24
Saturn Return/Kwedar/Netflix
Untitled Jesse Eisenberg Project/Eisenberg***/Dec. 3rd/A24
Wild Horse Nine/McDonagh/Nov. 6th/Searchlight

https://variety.com/lists/2027-oscars-predictions/documentary-feature-9/


NEWS FROM CANNES




We're keeping close tabs on what's what regarding possible films at Cannes that may then proceed across the Atlantic to T-ride.  Jordan Ruimy updated some of his speculation on Tuesday.

First a re-cap of what we've passed on here at MTFB:

Our last list from World of Reel based on Ruimy's earlier post re: Cannes:

Predicted Cannes Competition titles that might play TFF #53:

Bitter Christmas/Almodovar
Fjord/Mungiu
Jack of Spades/Coen
Minotaur/Zvyaginstev
All of a Sudden/Hamaguchi
Parallel Tales/Farhadi
Coward/Dhont
1949/Pawlikowski
Sheep in the Box/Kore-eda
Butterfly Jam/Bagalov

"Possibilities"

The Long Winter/Haigh
Let Love In/Van Groeningen
Bucking Fastard/Herzog

"French Contenders"

Moulin/Nemes

Among titles that Ruimy says are now "unlikely: for Cannes but that could still make a Telluride play:

Paper Tiger/Gray
The Way of the Wind/Malick
Untitled Mike Leigh Film
Digger/Inarritu

And the Screen Daily list we put up here on Monday:

Parallel Tales/Farhadi***
Minotaur/Zvyagintsev***
The Unknown/Harari/NEON
Paper Tiger/Gray***
All of a Sudden/Hamaguchi/NEON
Sheep in the Box/Kore-eda***/NEON
1949 (Fatherland?)/Pawlikowski***/MUBI
Bitter Christmas/Almodovar***/Sony Pictures Classics
Coward/Dhont***
Fjord/Mungiu***/NEON


And here's what Ruimy is saying as of Tuesday's post:

Pawlikowski's 1949 was OUT but now may be back IN...it's about whether post-production can be finished.  Ruimy's tone makes me think it's likely IN.

OUT: Coward and The Way of the Wind.

Probably IN: All of a Sudden and Minotaur.  Bitter Christmas looks likely too.

James Gray's Paper Tiger which was a possible no-show now seems to be a "Maybe":

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/3/18/cannes


INSIGHT FOR BUCKING FASTARD

Kate Mara made an appearance on Late Nigh with Seth Meyers last week and the program posted part of that conversation on their X account focused on the upcoming Bucking Fastard directed by Werner Herzog.  The clip is kind of entertaining.  The discussion begins at the 5:41 mark:






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Monday, July 29, 2024

Venice Schedule Leak / Davis Details Telluride

VENICE SCHEDULE LEAK




World of Reel reports that at least part of the Venice Film fest has leaked.  As frequent readers of MTFB know, there is often a fairly substantial crossover between films that screen early at Venice (the first three days) and the TFF lineup.

If the partially leaked titles and dates are correct it looks like Pablo Larrain's Maria is positioned to make the leap from Italy to Colorado as WOR says it bows in Venice on Aug. 29th.  The other film that is suggested as a possible Venice-Telluride double play is Halina Reijn's Babygirl (however, see below)  starring Nicole Kidman which is said to screen on Aug. 30th.

The reporting also indicates that, as previously reported, both Queer and The Room Next Door will be scheduled far too late to make an appearance at TFF #52.

I suspect that there will be other films that make the trip but as yet no other films screening schedule seems to have been revealed.



DAVIS DETAILS TELLURIDE




Variety's Clayton Davis writing on Tuesday detailed a ton of Telluride lineup info.

Here's what Davis says will be playing:

Conclave
Piece by Piece
Nickel Boys
The End 
Anora
Better Man
The Piano Lesson
Emilia Perez
Maria
The Friend
All We Imagine as Light
Misrecordia


Maybes for Telluride:

The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Apprentice
Megalopolis



Will NOT play Telluride:

Babygirl
A Complete Unknown
Nightbitch
The Room Next Door
Pedron Paramo
Gladiator II
Here
We Live in Time
The Brutalist
Wolfs
Queer
Joker: Folie a Deux


For more clues we now await the complete and official Venice schedule and the announcement from New York for its Centerpiece film as well as the rest of its schedule.





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Thursday, March 23, 2023

Variety's Early Oscar #96 Outlook / Some Hints and Allegations

VARIETY'S EARLY OSCAR #96 OUTLOOK




I'm continuing to check in with early predictions for next year's Oscars that might give us some clues about possible TFF #50 films and today's candidate is Variety's Oscar guru Clayton Davis.  

Davis put up his first stab last week and I have combed through it over the last few days.  Davis has the post organized by distributor so I'll follow along  focusing on films that he has mentioned in the eight "major" categories: Picture, Director, the four Acting categories and the two screen writing categories.  

Here's what I have so far:

Apple: Killers of the Flower Moon (Scorsese) and Napoleon (Scott).  We should be hearing soon officially that KOTFM will be at Cannes and maybe get an actual domestic release date.  Maybe even a teaser/trailer?  Maybe Napoleon wits until 2024. Though I continue to offer up prayers to the programming gods...I 'm still realistically putting Killer's chances of a TFF #50 screening at 10%.

Netflix:  Maestro (Cooper), The Killer (Fincher), Rustin (Wolfe), Nyad (Chin/Vasarhelyi) and Caste (DuVernay).  At the moment I feel like all of these are low level possibilities with the exception of Nyad.  It feels like the most likely prospect from the Netflix list.  At least for now.  Nyad's chances 25%.  The rest of the list 10%.

Amazon/MGM: Saltburn (Fennell) and Flint Strong (Morrison).  I have a fairly optimistic view for each of these films.  Moreso Flint Strong  than Saltburn.  Put Flint Strong at 30% and Saltburn at 25%.

Warners: The Color Purple (Bazawule).  Warners also has Wonka and Dune 2 coming but I think that those two films have almost 0% chance at a Telluride play.  As to The Color Purple...I'm slightly more bullish on its chances but only slightly.  Mark it at 10%.  Warners may have players that will have already been released prior to TFF #50 in Ben Affleck's Air which seems to have been big hit at South by Southwest (which is where Everything Everywhere All at Once premiered last year on its way to seven Oscars) and Greta Gerwig's Barbie which will pop on July 21st...the same day as Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.

Searchlight: Next Goal Wins (Waititi), Poor Things (Lanthimos) and Strangers (Haigh).  With Haigh's recent TFF history (45 Years, Lean on Pete) and a TFF friendly cast (Paul Mescal, Claire Foy) this feels like Searchlight's most likely TFF entrant.  Poor Things also seems a real possibility.  Next Goal Wins feels likely even though its release date was recently moved from the summer to the post-Telluride, Venice and even Toronto date of Sept. 22.

NEON: The Actor (Johnson), Mother's Instinct (Delhomme) and Longlegs (Perkins) are all mentioned by Davis but I don't really have strong feeling at the moment that any of them are TFF possibilities.

Focus Features: Clayton mentions Asteroid City (W. Anderson) and The Holdovers (Payne).  Asteroid City...which intrigues me, won't be doing any of the fall fests as it is currently dated for release on June 23.  The Holdovers however...Alexander Payne's bounce back from Downsizing which is rumored to be a "return to form".  It's scheduled release date of Nov. 22 puts right smack in the middle of the convo for fall fests.  It is currently my pick as the best chance at a Telluride berth.

Sony Pictures Classics: Davis lists A Little Prayer, Shayda and Freud's Last Session.  Though it played Sundance, I have already written that A Little Prayer might follow the same path that Manchester by the Sea, Living, The Report and The Father (had TFF #47 had happened) did and show up at The SHOW.  Shayda screened at Sundance as well but doesn't fit the same profile as A Little Prayer.  Finally, about Freud's Last Session...its production status is murky.  None of these seem like a slam dunk but SPC's TFF history is long so expect some thing(s) from them at the 50th.

A24: Davis mentions Past Lives (Song) which played Sundance and has a June 2 release date and Sofia Coppola's Priscilla which seems like it could be a TFF possibility.  The Coppola name has often been a part of the fest dating back to year one but Sofia's one Telluride outing was Lost in Translation back in 2003.

Davis mentions films from Bleecker Street and IFC which will all have been released prior to TFF #50.

One other intriguing note is Davis's highlighting of Jeymes Samuel's The Book of Clarence.  He has it predicted for five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Direction and Actor.  The film is from Sony/Legendary- neither of which has had a Telluride profile but its reported release date of Sept. 22nd and its stacked cast (Cumberbatch, McAvoy, Stanfield, Oyelowo) makes you have to at least consider the possibility.
  
And a quick note about one of Clayton's predictions for Best Animated Feature: Hayao Miyazaki's How Do You Live?  Considering Telluride's penchant for screening Miyazaki (The Wind Rises, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) and with this, perhaps being his last film, you have to think it's a realistic possibility.




SOME HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS




As April looms I thought I'd mention two or three things that will be important as far as the Blog is concerned.

It looks like MTFB will pass a couple of landmarks before TFF #50 takes off.  Look for those announcements.

MTFB will be dormant after the April 13th post until May 4th.

I'm cooking up some pieces that will be special to the 50th edition of The SHOW some of which will need reader participation.  I'm talking Tribute histories, Guest Directors and possible selections. Hope that's fun and that you'll join in when prompted.



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TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays


Monday, September 26, 2022

First MTFB Oscar Take for 2022-23 / Variety's Clayton Davis Says... / Bardo- Has a Trailer and is 22 Minutes Shorter

FIRST MTFB OSCAR TAKE FOR 2022-23




Welp...the Big Three Fall Film Fests are in the books.  TFF #49's MTFB polls are all in and posted.  So, now we begin to turn the page and focus on the Oscar season that is about to unfold and, more specifically, how TFF #49 films will fare over the next months or so.

Key Dates for the 95th Academy Awards:

Oscar Nomination voting Jan. 12-17
Nominations announced Jan. 24
Oscar Final voting: Mar. 2-7
The 95th Academy Awards Mar. 12

Here's your first look at my early line in six major categories.  TFF #49 films are indicated in Bold.

BEST PICTURE




1) The Fabelmans
2) Babylon
3) Everything Everywhere All at Once
4) Women Talking
5) The Banshees of Inisherin
6) Top Gun: Maverick
7) TAR
8) Avatar: The Way of Water
9) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
10) Empire of Light
11) Elvis
12) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST DIRECTION

1) Steven Spielberg/The Fabelmans
2) Sarah Polley/Women Talking
3) Damien Chazelle/ Babylon
4) Todd Field/TAR
5) The Daniels/Everything Everywhere All at Once
6) Martin McDonagh/The Banshees of Inisherin
7) James Cameron: Avatar: The Way of Water

BEST ACTRESS

1) Michelle Yeoh/Everything Everywhere All at Once
2) Cate Blanchett/TAR
3) Michelle Williams/The Fabelmans
4) Olivia Colman/Empire of Light
5) Margot Robbie/Babylon
6) Danielle Deadwyler/Till
7) Carey Mulligan/She Said

BEST ACTOR




1) Brendan Fraser/The Whale
2) Colin Farrell/The Banshees of Inisherin
3) Austin Butler/Elvis
4) Bill Nighy/Living
5) Hugh Jackman/The Son
6) Tom Cruise/Top Gun: Maverick
7) Adam Driver/White Noise

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Jesse Buckley/Women Talking
2) Clare Foy/Women Talking
3) Hong Chau/The Whale
4) Patricia Clarkson/She Said
5) Stephanie Hsu/Everything Everywhere All at Once
6) Laura Dern/The Son
7) Sadie Sink/The Whale

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Brendan Gleeson/The Banshees of Inisherin
2) Ke Huy Quan/Everything Everywhere All at Once
3) Ben Whishaw/Women Talking
4) Judd Hirsch/The Fabelmans
5) Paul Dano/The Fabelmans
6) Jeremy Strong/Armageddon Time
7) Brad Pitt/Babylon

My personal candidates for whom I am beating the drum:

Bill Nighy/Living-Best Actor
Judith Ivey/Women talking-Best Supporting Actress
Jeremy Strong/Armageddon Time-Best Supporting Actor
Ben Whishaw/Women Talking-Best Supporting Actor
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On-Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay


VARIETY'S CLAYTON DAVIS SAYS...




For a more holistic view of Oscar prospects for TFF #49 films I turned to the latest Oscar predicitons from Variety's chief Oscar prognosticator Clayton Davis. Davis currently has not yet predicted a number of categories.  He has predicted Best Picture, Direction, all four acting categories, both screenplay categories, Cinematography, International Feature and Animated Feature.  Here's what he has predicted currently for nominations for films that screened at TFF #49:

Women Talking (7 nominations): Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress/Buckley, Supporting Actress/Foy, Supporting Actress/Ivey, Supporting Actor/Whishaw, Adapted Screenplay

TAR (5 nominations): Picture, Direction, Actress/Blanchett, Supporting Actress/Hoss, Original Screenplay

Empire of Light (3 nominations): Picture, Actress/Colman and Cinematography

Bardo (2 nominations) International Feature, Cinematography

Single nominations:

Living: Best Actor/Nighy
Close: International Feature
Holy Spider: International Feature
***Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (TFF #48)



BARDO- HAS A TRAILER AND IS 22 MINUTES SHORTER

First the trailer for the film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu via YouTube:


Additionally, multiple sources reported this week that the film had been cut by 22 minutes down from a Telluride runtime of 174 min. to 152.





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TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Monday, September 13, 2021

The Professionals' Telluride / Beginning to Think About the Oscars / A New Page for MTFB / Awards from Venice /

THE PROFESSIONALS' TELLURIDE



A week removed from the conclusion of the 48th Telluride Film festival I present to you this year's Professionals ratings for TFF #48 films.  

A couple of notes by way of explanation.  The Pros were asked to rate then films they saw on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not-so-very-good and 5 being "fantastic".  Additionally, a film had to be rated by more than half of this year's panel of pros to make the list.

I am, as always, indebted to all of the industry professionals who took time from their crazy busy schedules to provide me their feedback.  I can't adequately express my appreciation.  And this year's panel of pros (in alphabetical order) are:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Clayton Davis/Variety
Peter DeBruge/Variety
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Marshall Flores/Awards Daily
Mark Johnson/Good as Gold
Dave Karger/TCM
Scott Menzel/We Live Entertainment
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Eugene Novikov/Film Blather
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Anonymous

Here's the rundown of the Professionals ratings for each year since I started polling the Pros in 2012.

2019:

1) Parasite (4.75)
2) The Two Popes (4.42)
3) Marriage Story (4.40)
4) Waves (4.29)
5) A Hidden Life (4.20)
6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (4.17)
7) Ford v. Ferrari (4.11)
8) The Report (3.87)
9) Pain and Glory (3.83)
10) Uncut Gems (3.78)
11) Motherless Brooklyn (3.58)
12) The Climb (3.50)
13) Judy (3.13)
14) The Aeronauts (3.08)
15) The Assistant (2.75)

2018:

1) Roma (4.73)
2) First Man (4.17)
3) Cold War (4.14-tie)
3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)
6) The Favourite (3.90)
7) Watergate (3.60)
8) Border (3.50)
9) Destroyer (3.25)
10) Boy Erased (3.20)
11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)
12) White Boy Rick (3.06)
13) The Front Runner (3.05)

2017:

1) The Shape of Water (4.5)
2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)
2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)
2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)
5) Lady Bird (4.20)
6) First Reformed (4.0)
7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)
8) Darkest Hour (3.85)
9) Hostiles (3.79)
10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)
11) Loving Vincent (3.63)
12) Lean on Pete (3.50)
13) Wonderstruck (3.25)
14) Downsizing (3.10)
15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)

2015:

1) Son of Saul (4.44)
2) Anomalisa (4.42)
3) Spotlight (4.41)
4) Steve Jobs (4.31)
5) Beasts of No Nation (4.27)
6) Carol (4.11)
7) 45 Years (4.06)
8) Taxi (4.00)
9) Black Mass (3.85)
10) Time to Choose (3.57)
11) Room (3.50)
12) Suffragette (3.49)
13) He Named Me Malala (2.83)

2014:

1) Birdman (4.72)
2) Foxcatcher (4.63)
3) ’71 (4.25)
4)  Wild Tales (4.20)
 5)  Leviathan (4.17)
 6)  Mr. Turner (4.10) 
 7)  The Imitation Game (4.06)
 8)  Mommy (3.92)
  9)  Two Days, One Night (3.90)
10) The Homesman (3.80)
 11)  Red Army (3.67)
 12)  Madame Bovary (3.30)
 13)  Wild (3.21)
 14)  Rosewater (3.06)

2013:

1) 12 Years a Slave (4.7)
2) Blue is the Warmest Color (4.4)
3) Gravity (4.35)
4) Tim's Vermeer (4.3)
5) Nebraska (4.3)
6) All is Lost (4.2)
7) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.1)
8) Starred Up (4.0)
9) The Past (3.9)
10) Labor Day (3.6)
11) Bethlehem (3.6)
12) Prisoners (3.5)
13) The Lunchbox (3.5)
14) Salinger (3.3)
15) The Unknown Known (3.3)
16) Palo Alto (3.2)
17) Tracks (3.2)
18) Under the Skin (3.1)
18) (tie) The Wind Rises (3.1)
20) The Invisible Woman (3.0)


2012:

1) Central Park Five-4.7
2) Argo-4.5
3) Stories We Tell- 4.3
4) The Sapphires 4.25
5) (Tie) Frances Ha and The Attack- 4.2
7) Rust and Bone- 4.0
8) The Iceman- 3.8
9) At Any Price- 3.7
10) (Tie) Amour and Baraka- 3.5
12) No- 3.4
14) (Tie) Hyde Park on Hudson and The Gatekeepers 3.0
15) Everyday- 2.8


 The Professionals' All Time Top Ten through 2019:

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19)
3) Roma (4.73) (18)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
8) La La Land (4.58) (16)
9) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
9) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)


And finally...because MTFB is about to change its focus to the Oscar prospects for this year's crop of films from TFF...  Here's where Oscar nominees for Best Picture from TFF have landed each year according  to The Professionals:

2012: Argo-4.50 (Winner) #2, Amour-3.50 #10
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.70 #1 (Winner), Gravity-4.35 #3, Nebraska-4.30 #5
2014: Birdman-4.72 (Winner) #1, The Imitation Game-4.06 #7
2015: Spotlight-4.41 (Winner) #3, Room-3.50 #11
2016: Moonlight-4.82 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.48 #2, Manchester by the Sea-3.95 #4, Arrival-3.88 #7
2017: The Shape of Water-4.50 #1 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.20 #5, Darkest Hour-3.85 #8
2018: Roma-4.74 #1, The Favourite-3.90 #6
2019: Parasite- 4.75 (Winner) #1, Marriage Story (4.40) #3, Ford v. Ferrari  (4.11) #7

So, finally...here are the results of this year's MTFB Professionals film ratings for TFF #48 (with the cumulative average in parentheses).  For a film to be counted for this year's listing, seven of the 15 respondents had to have rated it.  13films earned enough responses to be counted.

1) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (4.44)
2) The Power of the Dog (4.32)
3) Belfast (4.30)
4) Spencer (4.27)
5) Red Rocket (4.22)
6) The Rescue (3.93)
7) King Richard (3.92)
8) Bergman Island (3.79)
9) C'mon C'mon (3.65)
10) The Lost Daughter (3.48)
11) Cyrano (3.46)
12) The French Dispatch (3.05)
13) Encounter (2.71)

Three films had responses from six Pros and so just missed making the list: A Hero, Julia and Petite Maman.  The films with the most responses were: Belfast (15/15), The Power of the Dog (14/15), Cyrano, King Richard and The Lost Daughter (13/15).

Anyone have Marcel the Shell as their bet to take the top spot?  It's 4.44 rating is enough to move it into a tie for the 10th spot on the all time Professionals' list with Son of Saul.

The PEOPLE"S TELLURIDE ratings will be posted on Monday, Sept. 20th.

BEGINNING TO THINK ABOUT THE OSCARS




Now that TFF #48 has come and gone, it's time to do the annual transition of MTFB and think about how the films of this year's fest will be a part of the narrative of the 2021-22 Oscar season.

As usual, I'll be posting soon my own predictions about the Academy Awards, but I'll also be tracking the thoughts of some of the best awards  prognosticators in the business.

To that end, we start today with  a glance at Clayton Davis who is the Oscar brain at Variety.  In the coming weeks and months I'll also be tracking Oscar geniuses Sasha Stone/Awards Daily, Mark Johnson/Good as Gold (which is housed at Awards Daily), Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture, Erik Anderson/Awards Watch. Anne Thompson/Indiewire and others.

Soooo....here we go.

Clayton Davis currently has post-Telluride predictions in eight categories at Variety: Picture, Director, all four acting categories and the two screenplay categories.  His crystal ball suggests that TFF #48 films with Oscar nominations in those categories would be:

Belfast: Picture, Director/Branagh, Supporting Actress/Balfe and Dench, Supporting Actor/Hinds, Original Screenplay

The Power of the Dog: Picture, Director/Campion, Actor/Cumberbatch, Supporting Actress/Dunst, Adapted Screenplay

King Richard: Picture, Actor/Smith

C'mon C'mon: Picture, Original Screenplay

The Lost Daughter: Best Actress/Colman, Adapted Screenplay

Cyrano: Actor/Dinklage

Spencer: Actress/Stewart

The French Dispatch: Supporting Actor/Wright

That's a total of 20 predicted nominations in the "above-the-line' categories.

Other films/performers that are "next in line" as Davis puts it are:

Best Picture: Flee, Cyrano, The Lost Daughter, A Hero and Spencer

Best Director: Mike Mills/C'mon C'mon

Best Actress: Davis has Caitirona Balfe listed here depending on what category she lands in.

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon

Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis/King Richard, Jesse Buckley/The Lost Daughter, Gaby Hoffman/C'mon C'mon

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog, Woody Nomrna/C'mon C'mon

Best Original Screenplay: King Richard, A Hero


A NEW PAGE FOR MTFB




Someone asked me during this year's festival if I had collected all of The Professionals and People's film ratings dating back to the first year I did it in 2012.  My answer was "Um...no".  

Then I thought that sounded like a good idea.  So as we roll into the next week or so where I reveal the results of this years Pros, Peeps and Composite ratings, I have added a new page as of this morning that records all of the results from each poll from 2012 to the present.  You'll find it on a page listed as "Film Ratings from Past Fests". 

I hope you find it fun and useful.


AWARDS FROM VENICE




No TFF film won the Golden Lion.  That top award went to Audrey Diwan's Happening.  But TFF #48 films did not go unrewarded in Venice.  

Jane Campion won the Silver Award for Best Direction for The Power of the Dog. Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God won the Silver Lion Special Jury Prize.  Maggie Gyllenhaal won the award for Best Screenplay for The Lost Daughter and Filippo Scotti was named Best Young Actor for his role in The Hand of God.

The complete rundown of Venice winners in all categories is linked here from Indiewire.


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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Monday, January 4, 2021

Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actor / Variety's Biggest Movies / Deadline's Most Influential Films of the 21st Century / NBP's Best Bets for International Feature

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR



Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Dec. 3rd.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.


1) Sacha Baron Cohen/Trial of the Chicago 7 (2)
2) Leslie Odom Jr./One Night in Miami (1)
3) Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah (7)
4) Chadwick Boseman/Da 5 Bloods (5)
5) Bill Murray/On the Rocks (3)
6) Paul Raci/Sound of Metal (-)
7) Stanley Tucci/Supernova (8)
8) Mark Rylance/Trial of the Chicago 7 (4)
9) David Stratharin/Nomadland (6)
10) Charles Dance/Mank (-)

Other possibles: Glynn Turman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Eddie Redmayne/Trial of the Chicago 7, Aldis Hodge/One Night in Miami, Frank Langella/Trial of the Chicago 7.
Hot: Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah, Paul Raci/Sound of Metal, Charles Dance/Mank
Not: Bill Murray/On the Rocks, Mark Rylance/Trial of the Chicago 7, David Stratharin/Nomadland


On Thursday I'll update predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay.


VARIETY'S BIGGEST MOVIES




In a story entitled "The Most Anticipated Movies Coming in 2021, Variety chronologically names 33 films to their list.  Of that 33, seven are films that I feel like could be TFF #48 films:

The French Dispatch (which Variety says is a "summer" release)
Dune (10/1)
The Last Duel (10/15)
Nightmare Alley (December)

And films for which a release date has yet to be announced:

The Tragedy of Macbeth
Soggy Bottom (or whatever Paul Thomas Anderson ultimately calls it)
Annette




DEADLINE'S MOST INFLUENTIAL FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY




Deadline staff folks have come up with a listing of what they say are the most influential films of the 21st century (so far).  There are 21 films named.  Of that 21 six where TFF films:

Parasite
Roma
The Shape of Water
Moonlight
Slumdog Millionaire
There Will Be Blood (which I always count as a TFF film due the screening of a chunk of the film as part of the 2007 tribute to Paul Thomas Anderson)

I can't really argue with the choices from TFF but a surprising omission, to me at least, is Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.




NBP SAYS THESE ARE YOUR BEST BETS FOR INTERNATIONAL FEATURE




Next Best Picture's Tom O'Brien writes in a piece dated  Dec. 30, 2020 that there are 10 films out in front of the pack in the International Feature Oscar race.  Of his list of 10, a couple would have played at a TFF #47: Charlatan (Czech Republic) and Never Gonna Snow Again (Poland).

I would toss in the notion that there are a couple of other TFF #47 choices that could also land in the convo:  Apples (Greece) and Notturno (Italy).







EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Monday, October 12, 2020

Oscar 2021 First Attempt-Best Original Screenplay / TFF #47 Running Totals / Variety's Davis Looks at Documentary Oscar Chances / Indiewire Talks with Nomadland's Chloe Zhao

 OSCAR 2021 FIRST ATTEMPT-BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY







MTFB continues its first pass at predicting Oscar nominees for 2020-21 in various major categories.  Today we're looking at Best Original Screenplay with, as always, a focus on those performances that were a part of the list of 29 films that TFF released that would have been screened as a part of TFF #47.  Performers designated with *** are in films that may not be released prior to the Feb, 28, 2021 Oscar eligibility deadline.   TFF#47 performers are in Bold:


1) The Trial of the Chicago 7
2) Mank
3) Minari
4) Soul
5) Judas and the Black Messiah
6) Never Rarely Sometimes Always
7) Da 5 Bloods
8) Promising Young Woman
9) Ammonite
10) Palm Springs


TFF #47 RUNNING TOTALS




Nomadland: Best Picture, Director (Zhao), Actress (McDormand), Supporting Actor (Stratharin), Adapted Screenplay. Total of 5 in these categories.

Ammonite: Best Picture, Actress (Winslet), Supporting Actress (Ronan).  Maybe: Director (F. Lee) Best Original Screenplay.  Total: 2.

The Father: Actor (Hopkins), Supporting Actress (Colman)., Adapted Screenplay Maybe: Best Picture, Director (Zeller).  Total: 3


VARIETY'S DAVIS LOOKS AT DOCUMENTARY OSCAR CHANCES




Newly minted Variety Oscarologist Clayton Davis is a busy man as he has Oscar nomination predictions up at the venerable website/publication for 19 categories at this early stage of the now elongated Oscar season. 

The most recent category addition to his Oscar analysis is for Best Documentary Feature.  Among his Top 20 are a number of titles that were on the TFF #47 "Would Have Played" list.  They are:

1) All In:The Fight for Democracy
8) MLK/FBI
9) The Truffle Hunters
12) The Way I See It




INDIEWIRE TALKS WITH NOMADLAND'S CHLOE ZHAO




Recently, Indiewire chief critic Eric Kohn talked to director/writer Chloe Zhao whose Nomadland has made big waves over the last month.  The film won both the Golden Lion at Venice and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Zhao talks about the process that she used in collaboration with star Frances McDormand in order to make one of the most critically lauded films of 2020.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

SPECIAL WEDNESDAY POST: BREAKING NEWS-THE SHOW WON'T GO ON




We got the news yesterday afternoon that the 47th Telluride Film Festival has been cancelled.  Both press and passholders received the official word via email.  It landed in my inbox at 1:17 EDT/4:17 PDT.  At my house we had both with the press release and the passholders letter.

The press release reads as follows:


47TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL CANCELLED 

DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC



TELLURIDE, CO – Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, released today a letter officially cancelling the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, originally scheduled for September 3-7, 2020. 

 “After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride,” the statement says. “But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment.”

 The Festival plans to release its lineup in the near future in order to highlight what it says is “the best in film this year,” and hopes its audience will have the opportunity to see the films at other major fall festivals including NYFF, TIFF and Venice.

 That was followed by the full statement which went to passholders:


After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride. 

While there will be those who might say they’re not surprised by it, that this was inevitable, we beg to differ. It didn’t have to be this way. Until the past week or so, we had a very good plan to put on the SHOW safely. But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment. No matter how much many of us wear our masks and observe social distancing protocols, the pandemic has worsened rather than improved and the health and safety of you - our passholders, filmmakers, the people of Telluride and its surrounding areas - cannot be compromised. 

As you may know, we have been working cooperatively with our fellow fall film festival partners to champion global cinema and its artists. We hope that many of you will seek out and discover the titles we’ve selected for this year’s program at the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, or Venice Film Festival, or when they’re made available on a wider basis. We will announce soon what we have carefully programmed in the hopes that you will experience as we did, the best in film this year. There are some incredible, powerful, and beautiful gems and we’re excited to extol their virtues when the time is right. Follow these titles, support them. We intend to champion them outside of the festival as best we can. 

For those who have supported us and believe in what we are trying to do, our gratitude is enormous. Thank you. We will need you in the coming months in many ways. Let’s light candles now to conjure a better 2021 and Labor Day weekend in Telluride, together, under the stars in the mountains doing what many of us love the most. The way we prefer to experience cinema will return.  Let’s make it so.

We wish you good health, peace and may we collectively move forward to a better world. 

 We understand that film festivals and their long-term health are not top of mind today. A safe vaccine, vital medical interventions for those sick and properly enforced health regulations are. However, we do ask that you take this moment to consider a world where gathering around a shared love of culture is no longer possible and what that means for the psychological condition of the world. If the prospect prompts a sense of despair, please advocate and champion the return of our gatherings that provide vital nourishment and oxygen to humanity's soul. 


Additionally, passholders received another email last night outlining options for what they might chose to do regarding the status of their passes from TFF Chief of Staff Kirsten Laursen:


Dear Passholder,

You may already have seen the news that we are cancelling the 47th Telluride Film Festival with very heavy hearts. Please see attached statement. 

Because the National Film Preserve works year-round to keep the cinematic arts alive (i.e. we operate the now temporarily closed Nugget, with a year round lease obligation) and is dedicated to keeping a light on whether a Festival takes place or not, we are deeply grateful to our sponsors and passholders who recognize this effort by turning their 2020 payment into a tax-deductible donation - either full or partial.  Many have already opted to do this and it is a great relief as we chart our course for the very uncertain coming months. 

Your generosity supports the work we do twelve months a year to support film and filmmakers - even and especially during this uncertain time.  

We hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation, either full or partial in any amount to our 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and we will provide a tax letter for your records. 

If rolling over passes and sponsorship to 2021 is best for you, we will of course accommodate.  

If you decide to request a refund, we refund the total amount paid less a 4% fee to cover expenses associated with your credit card transaction.

I am available to talk through any of this if easier - on my cell below, or I'm happy to give you a call at your convenience.

A gift to the National Film Preserve/Telluride Film Festival is deeply meaningful as we work together to get through this crisis.  We look forward to being together around the silver screen again!  Thank you so much for your dedication to the SHOW.

Thank you. 


Finally, Peter DeBruge at Variety posted an interview with TFF Co- Director Julie Huntsinger last night titled: "Telluride Fest Director on Why They Ultimately Pulled the Plug".

A couple of highlights from that interview include:

“Every single tribute [honoree] was attending, and they were good ones! I had two filmmakers tell me that if they had to walk to Telluride, they would,” says Huntsinger, who hopes to make the lineup public later this month in order to support the films they would have invited."

Two things here: 1) We'll likely get to know what films had been chosen at some point in the not terribly distant future and 2) The Tributes were lined up and ready to go.

DeBruge mentions Ammonite and The French Dispatch in the article and I don't know if he's being coy and telling us those two films will be on the list or if The French Dispatch sounds like a cool title to speculatively include (we're already pretty sure Ammonite is on the list).


The complete article is linked here and has a lot more that you'll find interesting.

I'll be back with the regular Thursday edition of MTFB with musings and such.  Today I have to bag my lodging and deal with rolling over my passes...like a lot of you.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Thursday, December 13, 2018

SAG Nominees / Critics' Choice Nominees / Newest Gurus Assesses Golden Globe Chances / Variety's Directors on Directors / Mr. Tapley's Two Cents

It's a Thursday and here's your latest installment of MTFB.

SAG NOMINEES



SAG/AFTRA announced their nominees for acting superlatives for 2018 yesterday.  TFF #45 films were represented as follows:

Best Actress: Olivia Colman/The Favourite, Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Supporting Male: Richard E. Grant/Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Supporting Female: Emma Stone/The Favourite, Rachel Weisz/The Favourite.

Despite three individual acting nominations, The Favourite did not crack the Best Cast nominee list.  Also, somewhat surprising was the absence of Ethan Hawke for TFF #44's First Reformed.

Indiewire has the complete rundown of all the nominees linked here.




CRITICS' CHOICE NOMINEES




TFF #45 favorite Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite led all films in Monday's announcement of nominees for the Critics Choice Awards from the Broadcast Film Critics Association with 14 nominations.  Ryan Coogler's Black Panther was the second most nominated film with a dozen.  Damien Chazelle's First Man was next with 10 nominations.  Alfonso Cuaron's Roma had eight.

Best Picture nominations went to Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, The Favourite, First Man, Green Book, If Beale Street Could Talk, Mary Poppins Returns, Roma, A Star Is Born and Vice.

Here's how the nominations broke down for TFF #45 films:

The Favourite (14): Picture, Direction, Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Ensemble, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Costumes, Film Editing, Hair/Makeup, Comedy Film and Comedy Actress,

First Man (10): Picture, Direction, Actor (Gosling), Supporting Actress (Foy), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Film Editing, Score and Visual Effects.

Roma (8): Picture, Direction, Actress (Aparicio), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Film Editing, Foreign Language Film

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3): Actress (McCarthy), Supporting Actor (Grant), Adapted Screenplay

Boy Erased (1): Supporting Actress (Kidman)

Cold War (1): Foreign Language Film

Shoplifters (1): Foreign Language Film

Additionally, First Reformed from TFF #44 had two nominations: Best Actor (Hawke) and Original Screenplay.

The complete list of all nominees with some commentary from Anne Thompson is linked here from Indiewire.

The Critics Choice Awards will be handed out on Jan. 13, 2019.


NEWEST GURUS O' GOLD ASSESSES GOLDEN GLOBES CHANCES



Those of us comprising this season's Gurus of Gold were asked this past week to take a stab at predicting winners for the Golden Globes in three categories now that we know the nominees.  We were tasked with evaluating Best Motion Picture Drama, Musical or Comedy and Director.

My ballot was topped by A Star Is Born (Drama), The Favourite (Musical or Comedy) and I named Alfonso Cuaron as the likely Best Directing winner.

As you might expect, not all the individual Gurus agreed with my assessment.

Check out the latest Gurus o' Gold linked here.


VARIETY'S DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS



Variety posted a very cool article on Wednesday with lauded directors writing a few words about 17 of this year's films thought to be contenders during this awards season.  Among those 17 films are six that screened as apart of TFF #45.  They are:

Guillermo Del Toro on Alfonso Cuaron's Roma
Ron Howard on The Front Runner
Haiffa al-Mansour on Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Christopher Nolan on Damien Chazelle's First Man
Alexander Payne on Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War
Josh Safdie on Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite

The complete article is linked here.


MR. TAPLEY'S TWO CENTS


Logo via Variety


And finally on this Thursday...Variety's awards expert Kristopher Tapley has weighed in with his first run at predicting Oscar nominees.  Tapley gives his best insight to the 21 feature categories with TFF #45 films pegged for 32 nominations (which would be a little above the Telluride average for the past decade or so).  He also has a TFF #44 film in play for a couple of nominations.

Here's the breakdown with total predicted nominations in parentheses:

Roma (8): Best Picture, Direction, Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing.

The Favourite (7): Best Picture, Actress (Colman), Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Original Screenplay, Costumes, Production Design.

First Man (7): Best Picture, Cinematography, Film Editing, Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects.

Cold War (3): Best Direction, Foreign Language Film, Cinematography.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3): Best Actress (McCarthy), Supporting Actor (Grant), Adapted Screenplay

Border (2): Foreign Language Film, Makeup/Hair

Shoplifters (1): Foreign Language Film

Free Solo (1): Documentary Feature

AND...from TFF #44: First Reformed (2): Best Actor (Hawke), Original Screenplay.

Tapley's complete set of predictions are linked here.



More on Monday!

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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Monday, September 10, 2018

Telluride Dominates Venice / The First Gurus / The Front Runner Makes History / Podcasts: ScreenTalk, Variety, Awards Daily / Vote People!

Good Monday to all...


TELLURIDE DOMINATES VENICE



Films that played TFF #45 were well represented among the films that won major prizes at this weekend's conclusion of the Venice Film Festival with Alfonso Cuaron's Roma winning the biggest of the prizes as it was named winner of the Golden Lion.

The Favourite also scored winning the Grand Jury prize (largely regarded as the runner-up prize to the Golden Lion) as well as Best Actress for Olivia Colman's performance as Queen Anne.

Additionally, the Dareen Aronofsky produced Virtual Reality presentation: Spheres was named Best VR.  Spheres played at TFF #45 last week.

Complete winners from Venice are here from Variety and also from Indiewire.



THE FIRST GURUS



With the Toronto International Film Festival in full swing and both Telluride and Venice in the books for 2018, The Gurus of Gold have cast their first ballots attempting to discern this year's top candidates fro Best Picture.

Among the top ten vote-getters from "festival films" are Telluride '18 films: First Man, Boy Erased, Roma, The Front Runner and The Favourite.  Also mentioned are The Old Man and the Gun and Can You Ever Forgive Me?


The complete first wave of the Gurus is linked here.


THE FRONT RUNNER MAKES HISTORY



Jason Reitman's The Front Runner starring Hugh Jackman as former Senator (and Presidential candidate) Gary Hart will make history as it will be the first major motion picture to released on national election day, Nov. 6.

The story from SlashFilm can be found here.


PODCASTS: SCREEN TALK ASSESSES POST-TELLURIDE



Indiewire's Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn are in Toronto but talking largely about what went down last week in Telluride with particular focus on Roma, The Favourite and First Man in the latest installment of ScrenTalk.

Here is the link to the podcast.


PODCASTS: VARIETY'S PODCAST FEATURES NICOLE KIDMAN



Kris Tapley's latest podcast was recorded at Telluride with Nicole Kidman who talks about both films that she had playing at TFF #45: Destroyer and Boy Erased.  Kidman is getting some buzzy talk about possible Oscar nominations for both roles.  Lead for Destroyer and Supporting for Boy Erased.

Here's the link to Tapley's Kidman Convo.



PODCASTS: AWARDS DAILY'S TELLURIDE WRAP-UP



And finally, here's the link to Sasha Stone's (Awards Daily) wrap-up from the Telluride Film Fest.  The podcast features Mark Johnson of Awards Circuit, Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere and some other guy that may have accidentally stumbled into the same films they were seeing (yea, it's me).

Here's the link.


VOTE PEOPLE



We're coming down to the wire friends.  If you want your reactions to films at TFF #45 to count, the deadline is Wednesday at 5:00pm EDT.  Send the 1-5 ratings to me at any of the contact methods below:

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