Thursday, October 28, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take Updated: Screenplays / International Feature Race: Russia / A Peek at 2022

MTFB OSCAR TAKE UPDATED: SCREENPLAYS



Here's your latest Oscar predictions for Screenplay writing from MTFB.  These categories were last updated here on Oct. 14th.  TFF #48 films are in Bold.


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast (1)
2) Licorice Pizza (2)
3) C'mon C'mon (4)
4) King Richard (3)
5) Don't Look Up (5)

Alternates: Mass and Spencer


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog (1)
2) Nightmare Alley (2)
3) The Lost Daughter (3)
4) CODA (4)
5) The Tragedy of Macbeth (5)

Alternates: Dune and West Side Story


INERNATIONAL FEATURE RACE: RUSSIA




The Hollywood Reporter, among others, revealed that Russia has chosen TFF #48 selection Unclenching the Fists from director Kira Kovalenko as its official submission for consideration in International Feature Oscar race.

Unclenching the Fists joins three other TTF #48 films that have been previously announced for consideration.  Those films are Asghar Farhadi's A Hero from Iran, Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God from Italy and Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Flee from Denmark.



A PEEK AT 2022




Just this week Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel posted a speculative list of films that could be released and make a splash in what he calls "a landmark year for movies.

I took a gander at the list and landed on a few that seem like possible TFF #49 selections largely based on the director and past associations with TFF.  They include:

Damien Chazelle's Babylon
Noah Baumbach's White Noise
Kelly Reichardt's Owl
Alejandro Inarrito's Bardo
Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
Florian Zeller's The Son
The Dardennes' Tori et Lokita

Other films are expected from directors that have made an appearance at Telluride at least once including: The Way of the Wind (Malick), Women Talking (Polley), Tar (Field), The Whale (Aronofsky), Crimes of the Future (Cronenberg), The Zone of Interest (Glazer), Poor Things (Lanthimos), Amsterdam (Russell), Asteroid City (W. Anderson), The Killer (Fincher and, of course, Killers of the Flower Moon (Scorsese)




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Monday, October 25, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Updated Supporting Acting Categories / Gotham Awards Nominations and Telluride / Critics Say The Power of the Dog Is Tops / And Speaking of Jane Campion... / Trailer for The Real Charlie Chaplin /

 MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATED SUPPORTING ACTING CATEGORIES



Here's your update on the Supporting Acting races.  This updates the predictions last posted for these categories on Oct. 11th.  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) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog (1)
2) Anne Dowd/Mass (2)
3) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast (4)
4) Aunjunue Ellis/King Richard (3)
5) Judi Dench/Belfast (Alt.)

Alternates: Ruth Negga/Passing and Marlee Matlin/CODA


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR




1) Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza (1)
2) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast (2)
3) Jamie Dornan/Belfast (New)
4) Ben Affleck/The Tender Bar or The Last Duel (Alt.)
5) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog (Alt.)

Alternates: Jared Leto/House of Gucci and Jason Isaacs/Mass


GOTHAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TELLURIDE




The New York based Gotham Awards, which aim to highlight independent film releases, announced its 2021 nominees on Thursday.  Here's how TFF #48 films fared:

The Lost Daughter: Best Feature, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director (Gyllenhaal), Best Screenplay, Outstanding Performance (Colman). Outstanding Supporting Performance (Buckley)

Flee: Best Documentary Feature

The Card Counter: Best Screenplay, Outstanding Performance (Isaac)

Red Rocket: Best Screenplay, Outstanding Performance (Rex), Breakthrough Performance (Son)

C'mon C'mon: Outstanding Performance (Phoenix), Outstanding Supporting Performance (Hoffman)




CRITICS SAY POWER OF THE DOG IS TOPS




Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel has conducted and informal poll of over 50 critics asking them to name the best film of 2021 to date.

Winning the poll is Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog which currently sits in the #3 spot on MTFB's Oscar Take for a Best Picture Academy Award nomination.

Other TFF #48 films to make Ruimy's list include Bergman Island (#13) and Red Rocket (#15).  The Father, from the TFF #47 list, made the grade at #8.



AND SPEAKING OF JANE CAMPION




The Film Stage has gathered interviews from The New York Film Festival with Campion as well as Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and KodiSmit-McPhee that accompanied The Power of the Dog's NYFF screening.




TRAILER FOR THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Altitude Films and Showtime have released a trailer for the Peter Middleton and James Spinney's documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin.  The trailer appeared on YouTube on Oct. 20th.  Here it is:



 AND INTERVIEWS:







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Thursday, October 21, 2021

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









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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Monday, October 18, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Updated Best Picture and Director / More from Todd Haynes / Hansen-Love and Bergman Island / AFI-TFF Crossover

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. 4th.  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) King Richard (3)
3) The Power of the Dog (2)
4) Licorice Pizza (4)
5) Dune (5)
6) West Side Story (6)
7) Nightmare Alley (7)
8) Spencer (9)
9) The Tragedy of Macbeth (8)
10) House of Gucci (New)

Alternates: CODA, Don't Look Up, and tick, tick...BOOM


 BEST DIRECTOR

1) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (1)
2) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (2)
3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)
4) Guillermo del Toro/Nightmare Alley (5)
5) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (4)

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


MORE FROM TODD HAYNES




My last post included a Todd Haynes' interview with The Playlist.  Today I include a link to a separate Haynes interview that was posted last Thursday at Awards Daily.  Frank J. Avella wrote it up and it is linked here.


HANSEN-LOVE AND BERGMAN ISLAND




The Playlist's Andrew Bundy posted an interview with Bergman Island director and writer Mia Hansen-Love.  Hansen-Love has made my list of Telluride "Usual Suspects" with fest appearances over the years that have included: Things to Come and Goodbye First Love.



AFI-TFF CROSSOVER




The American Film Institute has announced its full lineup for AFI Fest.  AFI's list includes a number of films that cross over with TFF #48 titles, especially documentaries.  They include:

Cow
Red Rocket
Petite Maman
King Richard
Unclenching the Fists
Bernstein's Wall
Citizen Ashe
Julia 
Procession
The Real Charlie Chaplin

And the Shorts:

Love, Dad
Motorcyclists Happiness Won't Fit Into His Suit
Play It Safe
Soft Animals

The complete rundown of AFI programming can be found here from Awards Watch.



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Thursday, October 14, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Screenplays / Indiewire Critic's Survey of the Fall Fests / Todd Haynes on The Velvet Underground / Belfast Adults Are All Supporting

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: SCREENPLAYS




Here's your latest Oscar predictions for Screenplay writing from MTFB.  These categories were last updated here on Sept. 30th.  TFF #48 films are in Bold.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast (1)
2) Licorice Pizza (2)
3) King Richard (4)
4) C'mon C'mon (5)
5) Don't Look Up (3)

Alternates: Mass and Spencer 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog (1)
2) Nightmare Alley (2)
3) The Lost Daughter (New)
4) CODA (4)
5) The Tragedy of Macbeth (5)

Alternates: House of Gucci, Dune and West Side Story


INDIWIRE'S CRITICS' SURVEY OF THE FALL FESTS





Indiewire surveyed 137 critics and charged them with evaluating the films they had seen through the run of fall fests including Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York'  Here's how TFF #48 films from that survey:

The overall #1 film from all four fests combined was Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog. 
 
#5 Celina Sciamma's Petite Maman
#8 Sean Baker's Red Rocket
#9 Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island\
#11 Pablo Larrain's Spencer
#14 Mike Mill's C'mon C'mon
#15 Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Lost Daughter

C'mon C'mon was the critic's favorite specifically focused on Telluride alone.

The top three documentaries all played TFF #47: Flee, The Velvet Underground and The Rescue.
The Power of the Dog was also named Best Directed Film.
Best Performances from all of the fests combined included Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog at #3 and Kristen Stewart in Spencer at #4.



TODD HAYNES ON THE VELVET UNDERGROUND




As mentioned above, Todd Haynes' doc about The Velvet Underground was named as one of the three best documentaries that played the fall festivals.  Haynes was recently featured in an interview for The Playlist.

Check out what Haynes has to say.  The interview is linked here.


BELFAST ADULTS ARE ALL SUPPORTING




Focus Features has announced that all of the adult actors in Kenneth Branagh's Belfast will be campaigned as Supporting players for the awards season.  That puts an end to speculation that both Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe would possibly be categorized as leading performers.  Now, child actor Judah Hill will be the lone Belfast cast member who is campaigned as a leading actor.

Variety's Clayton Davis broke the details on Monday.  That story is linked here.



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Monday, October 11, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Supporting Update / Citizen Ashe Has a Home / Deadline Talks to...Everyone

MTAFB'S OSCAR TAKE: SUPPORTING UPDATE





Here's your update on the Supporting Acting races.  This updates the predictions last posted for these categories on Sept. 27th.  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) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog (1)
2) Ann Dowd/Mass (2)
3) Aunjunue Ellis/King Richard (3)
4) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast (4)*
5) Adriana DeBose/West Side Story (New)

Alternates: Judi Dench/Belfast and Ruth Negga/Passing
* Depending on category placement 
Personally, I'm pulling for Dunst and Balfe.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza (1)
2) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast (2)
3) Corey Hawkins/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)
4) Jason Issacs/Mass (4)
5) Jared Leto/House of Gucci (New)

Alternates: Ben Affleck/The Tender Bar and Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog
I'd urge Academy voters to remember Tony Kotsur in CODA and Kodi Smit-McPhee in The Power of the Dog.



CITIZEN ASHE HAS A HOME




Magnolia has acquired the domestic theatrical distribution rights to the Rex Miller/Sam Pollard documentary about tennis legend Arthur Ashe.  The film made its debut at the year's Telluride Film Festival.  The film also screened this past weekend at the BFI London Film Festival.  The film was produced by HBO Max and CNN Media among others.




DEADLINE TALKS TO...EVERYONE




Deadline.com's "Contender" series (London) has begun and is highlighting a number of the films and filmmakers that were a part of  the 2021 edition of The SHOW.  I have linked a bunch of them here:









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Thursday, October 7, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Lead Acting / Interviews: Cumberbatch, Rex and Dunst / Cyrano Trailer / Red Rocket Goodies / New Poster for Belfast

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 Sept. 23rd.

BEST ACTRESS 

1) Kristen Stewart/Spencer (1)
2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)
3) Frances McDormand/The Tragedy of Macbeth (New)
4) Lady Gaga/House of Gucci (3)
5) Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers (5)

Alternates: Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter and Jennifer Hudson/Respect


BEST ACTOR

1) Will Smith/King Richard (2)
2) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog (1)
3) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)
4) Peter Dinklage/Cyrano (Alt.)
5) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...Boom (4)

Alternates: Bradley Cooper/Nightmare Alley and Clifton Collins/Jockey


INTERVIEWS: CUMBERBATCH, REX AND DUNST



Benedict Cumberbatch at the New York Film Festival
(Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)



I'm passing along select interviews with actors that were at TFF #48 last month with projects.

Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain from The New York Daily News. 

Simon Rex/Red Rocket  and Kirsten Dunst from Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast with Clayton Davis.
 
Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog will be released in limited fashion in theaters on Nov. 17th.  It will be available on Netflix on Dec. 1st.


CYRANO TRAILER

From the folks at MGM and United Artists comes the release of a trailer for Joe Wright's Cyrano.  Here it is from YouTube:



Cyrano is set for release on Dec. 25th.


RED ROCKET GOODIES





From A24 we have a poster and a trailer for Sean Baker's Red Rocket.  The poster, as you can see, is above and the trailer is below via YouTube:




Red Rocket is set to be released on Dec. 3rd.


NEW POSTER FOR BELFAST

From Focus Features comes the release of a new poster for Kenneth Branagh's Belfast.



Belfast is set for domestic release on Nov. 12th.



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Monday, October 4, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Picture and Director / Changes to the Pages / Jenny Slate and The Boston Globe / Time's Look at Nuclear Family

 MTFB OSCAR(r) TAKE: PICTURE AND DIRECTOR




Here's an update for Academy Award predictions for Best Picture and a first take for Best Direction.  A film's past position is indicated in parentheses.  As always TFF #48 films are indicated in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Belfast (2)
2) The Power of the Dog (1)
3) King Richard (4)
4) Licorice Pizza (5)
5) Dune (3)
6) West Side Story (6)
7) Nightmare Alley (7)
8) Macbeth (New)
9) Spencer (New)
10) Don't Look Up (8)

Alternates: House of Gucci and CODA

BEST DIRECTION

1) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast 
2) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog
3) Denis Villenueve/Dune
4) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza
5) Guillermo del Toro/Nightmare Alley

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

Current predicted nominations for TFF #48 films in the "above the line" categories:

Belfast (6): Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Balfe), Supporting Actress (Dench), Supporting Actor (Hinds), Original Screenplay.

The Power of the Dog (6): Picture, Direction, Actor (Cumberbatch), Supporting Actress (Dunst), Supporting Actor (Smit-McPhee), Adapted Screenplay.

King Richard (4): Picture, Actor (Smith), Supporting Actress (Ellis), Original Screenplay.  Alternate for Direction (Green)

Spencer (2): Picture, Actress (Stewart), Alternate for Direction (Larrain) and Original Screenplay

C'mon C'mon (2): Actor (Phoenix), Original Screenplay

The Lost Daughter: Alternate for Adapted Screenplay

Cyrano: Alternate for Actor (Dinklage)



CHANGES TO THE PAGES

As I mentioned last Thursday. I have, as of today, added a new page to the "Pages" section of MTFB that features my ongoing Oscar (r) predictions for this year.  I'll update that page each time I update any categories  throughout the season.  In addition to that addition I have updated "History of the Telluride Film Festival Part Two: 1996-Present" include 2020 and 2021.  I have also retired the Select History of the Fest page as it is redundant with the larger History sections.  Take a look!



JENNY SLATE AND THE BOSTON GLOBE



films was 
The voice of and co-creator of Marcel the Shell, Jenny Slate, was recently interviewed by The Boston Globe as she was participating at the Globe Summit.  Naturally Slate's film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, was a part of that conversation.




TIME'S LOOK AT NUCLEAR FAMILY

Floating under the threshold of getting enough votes in either MTFB's Professional or People's polls of TFF #48 films was Ry Russo-Young's Nuclear Family.   Thorough the Labor Day weekend, however, I persistently heard good things about the film while I was in line.

Time.com has profiled the film maker and her family in post from last week.


And, from YouTube, here is the official trailer:






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Thursday, September 30, 2021

MTFB Oscar Take: Screenplays / And While We're on the Subject / Correction / Fleischer-Camp Talks Marcel at Telluride

 MTFB OSCAR TAKE: SCREENPLAYS




Here's my first pass at predicting the Oscar nominees for the Best Writing of the Year.  As always TFF #48 films are in Bold.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Belfast
2) Licorice Pizza
3) Don't Look Up
4) King Richard
5) C'mon C'mon

Alternates: Being the Ricardos, Parallel Mothers, Spencer


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) The Power of the Dog
2) Nightmare Alley
3) Dune
4) CODA
5) The Tragedy of Macbeth

Alternates: The Last Daughter and House of Gucci

So, now that I have predictions made over the past two weeks for the eight "above the line" categories, here's the breakdown of  what I have predicted for each TFF #48 film in those.



AND WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT...

On Monday I am launching a new page on MTFB that will house all of the Oscar predictions that I am making so that readers can reference those all together in one place.  As I update categories going through the season, I will also update that category on the new MTFB's Oscar(r) Take page.

I hope readers will find that useful and enjoyable!


CORRECTION




In my last post I incorrectly identified Roger Michell's The Duke as having a "unique distinction" of being selected for both TFF #47 and TFF #48.  That is incorrect.  The Automat and Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer also were selected for both.


FLEISCHER-CAMP TALKS MARCEL AT TELLURIDE




Indiewire's Eric Kohn filed a lovely look at Dean Fleischer-Camp's commentary about Marcel the Shell with Shoes On from TFF weekend.  Fleischer-Camp is the director and co-writer of the film which stunningly topped the MTFB Professionals poll for this year's SHOW.

The film that features the animated mollusk...with shoes on...is currently in the process of acquiring distribution.





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Monday, September 27, 2021

Roger Michell 1956-2021 / MTFB Oscar Take: Supporting / New Trailers for TFF #48 Films

ROGER MICHELL 1956-2021


(Photo via IMDb.com)


BAFTA winning director and frequent guest at the Telluride Film Festival Roger Michell died this past Wednesday.  He is  best known for the films Notting Hill, Venus which featured Pater O'Toole in his final Oscar nominated performance.

 Michell was well known to Telluride fans having screened five films there over the years.  They are:

Persuasion 1995
Enduring Love 2004
Venus 2006
Hyde Park on Hudson 2012
The Duke 2021*

* The Duke holds a unique distinction as being both on the TFF #48 program as well as the announced TFF #47 program last year.

Michell was in Telluride three weeks ago along with Helen Mirren for The Duke's screening.

Michell's current project is a documentary about Queen Elizabeth and is reportedly completed and expected 2022.

Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker wrote a very good remembrance in Indiewire that you can find here.


MTFB OSCAR TAKE: SUPPORTING





As the New York Film Festival gets going. here's snapshot of where I think the Oscar Supporting Acting races are at the moment.  TFF #48 films are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog
2) Anne Dowd/Mass
3) Aujunue Ellis/King Richard
4) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast
5) Judi Dench/Belfast

Alternates: Marlee Matlin/Coda and Toni Collette/Nightmare Alley


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza
2) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast
3) Corey Hawkins/The Tragedy of Macbeth
4) Jason Isaacs/Mass
5) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog

Alternates: Richard Jenkins/The Humans and Andrew Garfield/The Eyes of Tammy Faye

I'll have a look at the Screenplay categories on Thursday.


NEW TRAILERS FOR TFF #48 FILMS
(via YouTube)

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain:



Spencer:


  

Not a Trailer but a bit of The French Dispatch:




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Thursday, September 23, 2021

Jenny Slate and Isabella Rossellini Talk Marcel the Shell / MTFB Oscar Take: Lead Actress and Actor / Music Video from The French Dispatch / Crested Butte Film Fest Opens Tomorrow

JENNY SLATE AND ISABELLA ROSSELINI TALK MARCEL




Actress and Marcel the Shell co-creator Jenny Slate and her co-star Isabella Rossellini sat down recently together as a part of Vulture's Two Fiends video project and discussed the plucky Mollusk's feature film debut as well as other topics.  Vulture posted the video on Sept. 7th.  

You can find it linked here.


MTFB OSCAR TAKE: LEAD ACTRESS AND ACTOR



Here' my opening salvo as I continue to make initial guesses re: the newly commenced Oscar race.  Today first stabs at both Lead Acting categories with TFF #48 performances in Bold.


BEST ACTRESS

1) Kristen Stewart/Spencer
2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye
3) Lady Gaga/House of Gucci
4) Nicole Kidman/Being the Ricardos
5) Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers

Alternates: Jennifer Hudson/Respect and Jodie Comer/The Last Duel

BEST ACTOR

1) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog
2) Will Smith/King Richard
3) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth
4) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...Boom
5) Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon

Alternates: Peter Dinklage/Cyrano and Leonardo DiCaprio/Don't Look Up


MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Searchlight has released a Wes Anderson directed music video for the song Aline which is featured in the film.  From YouTube: 




CRESYED BUTTE FILM FEST OPENS TOMORROW




I met Michael and Jennifer Brody several years ago when the wife and I were doing an art show in Crested Butte and we've kept in touch since then even occasionally running into each other at TFF.  The Brody's run the Crested Butte Film Festival each year st the end of September.  It's a class affair.

This year the fest has scheduled a number of notable films including Celine Sciamma's Petit Maman which played as a part of TFF #48 as well as Cannes.  Other noteworthy narrative films include Joe Bell, Nine Days, Jagged, the Alanis Morissette documentary, and Jacque Audiard's Paris 13th District. 

The fest starts tomorrow with its in-person screenings in Crested Butte and runs through the weekend.  Virtual screenings will run through Oct. 3rd. 



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Monday, September 20, 2021

The Composite Telluride / Belfast Wins in Toronto / MTFB's First Oscar Predix for 2021

THE COMPOSITE TELLURIDE






Here's my annual final step of computation that has become an MTFB tradition.  It's The Composite Telluride ratings in which I add the average from The People and The Professionals to provide one more glimpse of how The SHOW's films were perceived.   

To begin, here's the history of The Composite Telluride with the film's combined rating in parentheses and its position on each of the two lists in brackets.


2012

1) Argo (9.25) [2/2]
2) Stories We Tell (9.10) [3/1]
3) The Attack (8.70) [5/3]
4) Central Park Five (8.450 [1/13]
5) The Sapphires (8.36) [4/8]
6) Frances Ha (8.27) [5/9]
7) Amour (7.67) [10/6]
8) Rust and Bone (7.65) [7/16]
9) Baraka (7.50) [10/10]
10) The Iceman 7.41 [8/17]
11) No (6.61) [12/21]
12) The Gatekeepers (6.58) [14/18]
13) Hyde Park on Hudson (6.33) [14/20]
14) At Any Price (5.83) [9/24]
15) Everyday (4.88) [15/25]

2013

1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) [1/2]
2) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) [4/1]
3) Gravity (8.75) [3/3]
4) Nebraska (8.38) [5/6]
5) All is Lost (8.26) [6/7]
6) Inside Llewyn Davis (8.25) [7/5]
7) Blue is the Warmest Color (8.15) [2/11]
8) The Past (7.71) [9/10]
9) The Lunchbox (7.55) [13/4]
10) The Wind Rises (7.1) [18/8]
11) Labor Day (7.0) [10/14]
11) (tie) Prisoners (7.0) [12/13]
13) Tracks (6.84) [16/12]
14) Palo Alto (6.4) [16/17]
15) The Invisible Woman (6.19) [20/18]
16) The Unknown Known (5.73) [15/20]
17) Under the Skin (5.1) [18/21]

2014

1) Birdman (9.18) [2/1]
2) Foxcatcher (8.83) [4/2]
3) The Imitation Game (8.79)  [1/7]
4) Wild Tales (8.43) [3/4]
5) '71 (8.15) [6/3]
6) Mommy (7.42) [8/8]
7) Red Army (7.30) [7/11]
8) Two Days, One Night (7.21) [13/9]
9) Mr. Turner (7.10) [14/6]
10) Wild (6.71) [8/13]
11) Rosewater (6.52) [12/14]
12) The Homesman (6.38) [16/11]
13) Madame Bovary (6.18) [15/12]

2015

1) Spotlight (8.86) [2/3]
2) Son of Saul (8.74) [5/1]
3) Beasts of No Nation (8.62) [3/5]
4) Steve Jobs (8.17) [10/4]
5) Carol (8.13) [8/6]
6) Black Mass (7.98) [7/9]
7) Room (7.97) [1/11]
8) 45 Years (7.84) [11/7]
9) Anomalisa (7.78) [14/2]
10) Suffragette (7.07) [12/12]
11) He Named Me Malala (6.22) [13/13]

2016

1) Moonlight (9.19) [1/1]
2) La La Land (8.91) [2/2]
3) Manchester by the Sea (8.13) [5/4]
4) Arrival (8.01) [6/7]
5) Maudie (7.89) [3/9]
6) Sully (7.68) [10/6]
7) Toni Erdmann (7.65) [9/8]
8) Things to Come (7.25) [19/3]
9) Una (6.85) [15/10]
10) California Typewriter (6.78)[13/11]
10) Into the Inferno (6.78) [21/5]
12) Wakefield (6.26) [12/14]
13) Bleed for This (6.12) [14/13]
14) Norman (5.97) [16/15]

2017

1) The Shape of Water (8.72) [2/1]
2) Lady Bird (8.58) [1/5]
3) Faces Places (7.96) [5/2]
4) Darkest Hour (7.90) [3/8]
5) Hostiles (7.78) [4/9]
6) The Rider (7.63) [10/2]
7) Battle of the Sexes (7.62) [6/7]
8) First Reformed (7.32) [13/6]
9) Lean on Pete (7.16) [7/12]
10) First They Killed My Father (7.05) [15/10]
11) Loving Vincent (7.00) [12/11]
12) Wonderstruck (6.6) [10/13]
13) Downsizing (6.17) [16/14)]
14) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (6.16) [8/15]


2018

1) Roma  (9.20) [1/1]
2) First Man (8.51) [2/2]
3) Free Solo (8.33) [5/3]
4) Cold War (8.16) [6/3]
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (7.91) [8/5]
6) The Favourite (7.66) [9/6]
7) Boy Erased (7.43) [4/10]
8) White Boy Rick (6.94) [7/11]
9) The Front Runner (6.74) [10/13]
10) Destroyer (6.69) [12/9]
11) Border (6.57) [16/8]
12) The Old Man and the Gun (6.56) [14/10]

2019

1) Parasite (9.11) [2/1]
2) The Two Popes (8.93) [1/2]
3) Marriage Story (8.54) [4/3]
4) Ford v. Ferrari (8.46) [3/7]
5) A Hidden Life (8.01) [5/5]
6) Waves (7.90) [12/4]
7) Pain and Glory (7.63) [5/9]
8) The Report (7.53) [9/8]
9) Motherless Brooklyn (7.22) [10/11]
10) Uncut Gems (7.00) [14/10]
11) Judy (6.93) [7/13]
12) The Aeronauts (6.75) [8/14]
13) The Climb (6.57) [15/12]


The current all time top ten composite scores:

1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Parasite (9.11) 2019
7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
8) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
9) The Two Popes (8.93) 2019
10) La La Land (8.91) 2016 (Won Best Director)

Soooo...Here's your results of The Composite Telluride for 2021 (12 films made both The Peoples Telluride list and The Professionals Telluride list):

1) The Power of the Dog (8.95) [2/1]
2) Belfast (8.42) [3/4]
3) The Rescue (8.13) [6/2]
4) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (8.01) [1/10]
5) King Richard (7.98) [7/5]
6) Spencer (7.77) [4/12]
7) Red Rocket (7.63) [5/15]
8) C'mon C'mon (7.58) [9/6)
9) Cyrano (7.08) [11/8]
10) The Lost Daughter (6.92) [10/14]
11) The French Dispatch (5.55) [12/17]
12) Encounter (5.14) [13/18]

Big disconnects between the Pros and the People on Marcel the Shell, Spencer and Red Rocket.

If you're talking the Best Picture Oscar, ending up in the top spot for The Composite Telluride is a good place to be.  Since I started it, The Composite Telluride has pointed to the Best Picture in seven out of eight years missing for 2018-19 because Breen Book won breaking the TFF string at that point.

It's my guess that had TFF #47 had happened last year that Nomadland would likely have topped this list as well.

The composite rating for Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog allows it to move into The All-Time Composite Top Ten at the #9 spot.  It will displace La La Land from the new Top Ten, which now looks like this:

1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Parasite (9.11) 2019 (Won Best Picture)
7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
8) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
9) The Power of the Dog (8.95) 2021
10) The Two Popes (8.93) 2019


BELFAST WINS IN TORONTO




Sie Kenneth Branagh's Belfast won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award Saturday night.  That's the top prize handed out by TIFF each year and has, in the past, included such films as: Nomadland, Green Book, La La Land, The Imitation Game, 12 Years a Slave and Slumdog Millionaire among others.

Additionally, in a good night for TFF #48 films, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's The Rescue won TIFF's People's Choice for Documentary and Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog reportedly finished third in the voting for the overall award.

In addition actor Benedict Cumberbatch was feted with a TIFF Tribute Actor Award for The Power of the Dog and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.  Both films were a part of the TFF #48 lineup.

The conventional wisdom at the moment is that Belfast's rise at Telluride followed by this win puts it squarely in the middle of the upcoming Oscar derby.  The film is set for release in the U.S. on Nov. 12th.

Here is some reportage about Belfast's TIFF win from:





MTFB'S FIRST OSCAR PREDIX FOR 2021




It's transition time.  With the posting of today's Composite Telluride comes the signal that we are turning the corner into Oscar season.  Telluride, Venice and Toronto have come and gone and it's noe time to steer the ship toward the Oscar horizon.  The Oscars for this year will be held March 27, 2022.

We'll start off the the Big category and then expand the predictions as we move forward through time.  So, here's the MTFB starting lineup for Best Picture with TFF #48 films in Bold.

1) The Power of the Dog
2) Belfast
3) Dune
4) King Richard
5) Licorice Pizza
6) West Side Story
7) Nightmare Alley
8) Don't Look Up
9) CODA
10) House of Gucci

Alternates: The Tragedy of Macbeth and Being the Ricardos.






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