First set photo of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese's upcoming gangster film - The Irishman



























Oldfellas. If you read "I Heard You Paint Houses", you know this movie is right up Scorcese's alley. And Pesci is going to be an incredible Ray Bufalino. 

 Earlier this week I wrote:

 "Last month it was confirmed that Martin Scorsese's much-anticipated "The Irishman" would start shooting this year and that Netflix has officially greenlit the project for a tentative 2019 release. Well, it seems like it's already begun, just look at these glorious photos snapped up on the streets of NYC.

 It'll be a reunion of sorts for Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, one of the great actor/director partnerships in cinematic history, whom haven't made a film together since 1995's "Casino." If that isn't enough to wet your appetites, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino are all taking part as well.

Scribe-extraordinaire Steve Zaillian (Gangs Of New York,” “Schindler’s List,” “Moneyball,“ “The Night Of“), is helming the screenplay for this one, which is based on the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. Zaillian is a hot commodity these days after writing and directing the best TV series of 2016, HBO's brilliant dissection of the justice system "The Night Of."

 Official Synopsis:

 "The Irishman"  tells the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran — a hitman tied to the Bufalino crime family that was a high ranking officer in the international brotherhood of teamsters, was tied to a possible plot in the JFK assassination and who claimed, on his deathbed, to have murdered Teamster leader and iconic cold case Jimmy Hoffa."

"The Princess Bride" Celebrates 30 Years This Week


1987 wasn’t a great year for movies, what with these 5 nominees in the running for Best Picture – The Last Emperor", "Broadcast News", "Fatal Attraction", "Hope and Glory", "Moonstruck". Not a bad bunch of films but none of which really stood the test of time, although I would still call "Broadcast News" a minor classic and far and away the best picture out of that bunch. However, what the Academy failed to do then, and are still guilty of doing now, was not nominate a fantasy movie that ultimately became a classic: Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride.

One can understand why Rob Reiner’s fairy tale was such an enigma when it first came out in the fall of 1987. Here was a film that was supposed to be primarily aimed at a younger audience but ended up pleasing all ages with its deadpan, Monty Python-esque humor and a bold, satirical narrative that never took itself too seriously. That is not to say that we don’t fully invest ourselves in its fairy-tale like storytelling and genuinely good-natured morality. In fact, one is touched by the love story deftly told by a grandfather to his ill grandson about a beautiful princess called buttercup who gets kidnapped and needs to be rescued by her brave, young fiancée Prince Humperdinck.

What works in Reiner’s tale is that every character is a delight to watch, there isn’t a dull one in the bunch. From Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini –“Inconceivable !”- to Andre The Giant’s gentle Fezzik all the way to Billy Crystal’s hilarious cameo as Miracle Max, an old, Jewish wizard that disapproves of his wife (played by Carol Kane) and refuses to help Humperdinck in his voyage to save Buttercup. But most of all, the true heart of the story is Mandy Patinkin’s Inigo Montoya a heroic swordsman with a secret –"Hello My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."It’s an undeniably powerful line that brings real, humane feeling to Reiner’s screenplay which packs a wallop on the viewer’s emotions.

 It’s not easy making a children’s tale these days and allowing adults to be as enchanted by it as the kids. Pixar has made it a habit with its original tales and it is no surprise that their films seem to be influenced by Reiner's humor. There are also shades of Reiner’s film in some of the colorful, imaginative frames of “Shrek,” and its satirical edge.

 “The Princess Bride” ran on an overdone, age-old concept but brought freshness to the edges. It is a cliché to say that a movie, from start to finish, was a magical, transcendent experience but that is truly what this movie was. The laughs come with a sting and the world that we enter is so rich and mesmerizing that it is hard to sometimes explain its surreal, dreamy impact.  The fact that this wasn’t nominated for Best Picture -Inconceivable!?- only makes it a better movie, it was a mistake not giving it its due in 1987 but it has stood the test of time and beyond.

IT's Pennywise Is Pretty Terrifying In Anime Form





























As IT is still scaring up the box-office and having Hollywood execs scratching their heads at to its massive success (Cue all the greenlit 80s inspired coming-of-age horror movies we're about to see the next few years), here's an interesting take on the film via sketches drawn and colored by Mike Anderson. Kudos to the artist for making these. It actually makes you realize just how an Anime version of the movie could work incredibly well, especially given that IT does share thematic similarities to some of Anime's core strengths. 




Box Office Week: Kingsman: The Golden Circle comes in #1 with a solid $39M while The LEGO Ninjago Movie flops at #3 with $21.5M, $30M less than LEGO Batman's opening. Meanwhile IT has grossed $6.3M domestic, beating The Exorcist ($232.9M) as the highest grossing R-rated horror film ever.

1. “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” — $39 million
2. “It” — $30 million ($266.3 mil.)
3. “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” — $21.2 million
4. “American Assassin” — $6.2 million ($26.1 mil.)
5. “Home Again” — $3.3 million ($22.3 mil.)
6. “mother!” — $3.2 million ($13.4 mil.)
7. “Friend Request” — $2.4 million
8. “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” — $1.8 million ($73.5 mil.)
9. “Stronger” — $1.7 million
10. “Wind River” — $1.2 million ($31.6 mil.)

 [The Playlist]

The Highly Entertaining "I, Tonya" Will Officially Be Released in NY and L.A. on December 8th













Given the incredible word of mouth from TIFF, it’s a no-brainer decision to have Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya released this year for potential awards. The film is a play-by-play account of what happened during the 1994 U.S. figure skating championship when Tonya Harding and her dead-beat loser of a husband hired a white-trash goon to break the leg of her arch nemesis Nancy Kerrigan. Margot Robbie plays Harding in all her blue-collar, low-rent glory. Harding was the outsider, a figure skater that lacked the class needed in a sport whose judges look for competitors to be elegantly poised. De-glamming to play a person that most of America found easy to hate in the winter of 1994, it’s not at all far fetched to wonder if Robbie could be rewarded with a nomination come next January ditto Allison Janney as her foul-mouther, chain-smoking, bird-loving mother from hell. It’s not just the actors, Gillespie borrows from Scorsese by furthering his narrative with music, especially songs from the 70s and 80s, and the ice-skating scenes are shot with virtuoso style in incredibly impressive one-takes.

 Neon has set a release date for December 8th, 2017

Is "Blade Runner 2049" in trouble?
















Upon its release in 1982, "Blade Runner" had so much studio interference that its history has been plagued with ups and downs. Receiving mixed reviews, the film came and went upon release, but ended up receiving a cult following on home video, which had its director Ridley Scott amped up and screening his own versions to audiences around the country for the next few years. There have been several versions of "Blade Runner", seven to be specific, but the ultimate version will always be the "Final Cut" which got rid of the narration, left us with an extra final brilliant shot, and fixed many of the plot holes that were present in the original. It was the only time director Ridley Scott ever had total freedom in the editing room for the film and it would only come 25 years after its release.

 With Denis Villeneuve's sequel, "Blade Runner 2049," only two weeks away, we've all been crossing our fingers that the version released on October 6th will indeed be the intended final cut. Villeneuve is an unabashed fan of the original and he surely knows about the tumultuous history behind it. Last week we learned the disconcerting news that composer Jóhann Jóhannsson had exited the movie, but his replacements Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch are no slouches and could indeed help improve the final result. However, there is still much concern about what the end result will be and whether the WB keeping a tight lid on the movie is a sign of concern. Given their mixed relationship with critics in the past, DCEU movies have been plagued by bad reviews, so it is no surprise that the film will only be screened for press the week of release.

 In a rare interview with Europe Plus, Villeneuve has tried to calm down the naysayers and skeptics by saying he indeed has the final cut and that we will likely not be seeing a barrage of different versions being released à la the original:
“The thing is, the movie you’re going to see is the director’s cut. There will be no further … maybe there’ll be a ‘studio version’ [laughs], maybe a producer version, but not a director’s version. That’s my director’s cut. So I don’t think there will be further versions. If there are alternate versions, they’re not from me.”
This is good news, as long as you believe Villeneuve at face value. "Blade Runner 2049" is a risky endeavor for the WB: a $185 million, R-Rated art-film, a sequel to a cult-classic, oh, and did we mention it clocks in at 2 hours and 43 minutes? This could be disastrous for the studio, or it could be a surprise success and herald a new auteur-driven phase in Hollywood. We are obviously rooting for the latter, but what are the chances that could happen? The film is released on October 6th and we're all hoping it'll be a success.

Mel Brooks: 'Blazing Saddles' Would Not Be Made In Today's PC Culture




We all love “Blazing Saddles,” a groundbreaking comedy by director Mel Brooks that features a black sheriff in a racist town and contains an abundance of politically incorrect, racially-driven jokes. Brooks spoke with BBC Radio 4 this week and mentiond how PC culture is gonna be “the death of comedy” and that "Blazing Saddles" would never be greenlit in today's current political climate:

 “No, no, I mean maybe ‘Young Frankenstein.’ Maybe a few. But never ‘Blazing Saddles,’ because we have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy,” he said when asked if he thinks he could get films like “Blazing Saddles,” “The Producers,” or “Young Frankenstein” made today. “It’s okay not to hurt feelings of various tribes and groups. However, it’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering into the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behavior.”

 Despite his 91 years of age, Brooks raises interesting points about the current climate of not just comedy, but art in general in this day and age of PC Twitter backlashes etc. You can't make fun of anyone anymore without endless editorializing by overly-sensitive humorless killjoys. 
Obviously, the heavier aspect of "Blazing Saddles" is that the film’s excessive use of racial slurs would render it impossible to be made in today's PC landscape. If I wanted to, I could have saved myself a ton of time and written one sentence like, “A lot of people today would freak the f*ck out if someone made a comedy that had a bunch of white people saying the N-word and other awful sh*t.” Honestly? What makes this movie so special, hilarious and all-around great is not only the acting by Little and Gene Wilder, but also the fact that it mocks every aspect of the bigotry of American history with such simplicity. It's a satire of the Western genre's racist tropes, even the white guy knows how stupid the other white people are acting. But today, that’s known as white guilt. Just watch the editorials that are about to happen condemning Brooks as an old racist man that is out of touch with today's society and doesn't know what's happening in the real world.
Do you agree or disagree with his comments? Post your reactions below.

"Thelma"

Image result for thelma 600x200

 Some people are calling Joachim Trier‘s “Thelma” his first foray into the horror genre. It is not. “Thelma” is actually an indescribable mix of genres: drama, thriller, family, horror, mystery, comedy and, yes, even supernatural elements infuse Trier’s movie.
Beautifully shot by Jakob Ihre with an attention to detail for every frame, the film is a calm, slow-burning character study. Eili Harboe is excellent as the titular character; her talent carries the movie forward in such unexpected ways as her lone wolf college freshman begins to befriend and eventually fall for Anja (Kaya Wikins). The more head over heels she becomes for Anja, the more she starts to change in ways that are too surprising to reveal in this write-up.
Trier’s film is a calm, low key affair that builds up the tension as more is revealed. The 43-year-old director is a sort of hero in his native Norway, where his first three films all became festival hits (“Reprise,” “Oslo August 31st,” “Louder Than Bombs“). With “Thelma,” he’s made an enigmatic movie that tackles female sexuality in ways we haven’t seen before. His vision is strong here, but so is his ability to continuously grab our attention throughout, despite the subtle simplicities of the tale being told. 
However, the director doesn't quite find the right tone to sustain his movie from beginning to end. The non-supernatural aspects of the film are what works best. Once, the supernatural comes into the film's final third inauthenticity occurs. "Thelma" is a fascinating mess of a movie made a talented filmmaker, but some of the directions this film goes to just feel abrupt and overtly conceived [C+]

Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Martin Scorsese have been spotted shooting 'THE IRISHMAN' in New York.








Earlier last month it was confirmed that Martin Scorsese's much anticipated "The Irishman" would start shooting this year and that Netflix has officially greenlit the project for a tentative 2019 release. Well, it seems like it's already begun, just look at these glorious photos snapped up on the streets of NYC.

 It'll be a reunion of sorts for Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, one of the great actor/director partnerships in cinematic history, whom haven't made a film together since 1995's "Casino." If that isn't enough to wet your appetites, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino are all taking part as well.

 Scribe-extraordinaire Steve Zaillian (Gangs Of New York,” “Schindler’s List,” “Moneyball,“ “The Night Of“), is helming the screenplay for this one, which is based on the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. Zaillian is a hot commodity these days after writing and directing the best TV series of 2016, HBO's brilliant dissection of the justice system "The Night Of."

Official Synopsis:

 "The Irishman"  tells the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran — a hitman tied to the Bufalino crime family that was a high ranking officer in the international brotherhood of teamsters, was tied to a possible plot in the JFK assassination and who claimed, on his deathbed, to have murdered Teamster leader and iconic cold case Jimmy Hoffa."

 [Esquire]

New poster for Darren Aronofsky's controversial mother!


Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has most definitely become the most hunted man in movie culture this last week. His controversial “mother!” has caused a volcanic stir in the mainstream by bewildering, provoking and flat-out infuriating movie audiences nationwide (and some media to boot) with its non-conventional narrative, shocking images and frustrating loop of a story.
That’s fine, adventurous moviegoers have mostly appreciated what Aronofsky went for in the film; it’s hard for any of us to really complain about a studio movie taking the kind of risks “mother!” does even if you think it subjectively fails. Critics haven’t wholly embraced “mother!” either as evidenced by its not great, but still fresh 67% Tomatometer score, and audiences have all but shunned the film (a tepid box-office debut of $7.6 million) giving it a rare, precedented by only 19 other films in history F grade on Cinemascore.
All of this has had the film’s studio Paramount scrambling to find a way to take the negative reaction and turn it into a positive ad campaign, as can be attested by the controversial poster they released which is fueling further “mother!” ire.
Even good ol’ Rex Reed — who dubbed it the “worst movie of the 21st century” in his review — is quoted in the poster. This is clear attempt by Paramount to capitalize on the media noise around the film and campaign it with a “we dare you to see it” kind of vibe, which isn’t a bad idea considering the conversational traction the film has gotten over the past week since its release. But given that it shows a physically abused Jennifer Lawrence in its attempts to provoke, the poster is being slammed as exploitive, “gross and tawdry” among many other scornful epithets.

Capsule Review: Victoria and Abdul

Set in the late 1800s “Victoria & Abdul,” centers on the untold story of the hush-hushed relationship and special bond between an aged Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and her Indian servant, Abdul Kareem (Ali Fazal). Sent from India for a medal ceremony as a stand-in for the day, the two opposites click so well that pretty soon the normally cantankerous Queen is happier than ever, learning Urdu and all about the Koran. Of course, her bigoted entourage is horrified, especially her successor Teddy, the Prince of Wales (Eddie Izzard) which has the royal household conniving their way to dismantling Victoria and Abdul’s affectionate friendship. By definition a crowd pleaser, “Victoria And Abdul,” is a mix of comedy, period costume drama: the kind of film Stephen Frears can pretty much craft in his sleep. However, that doesn't mean he should have a free pass.The film has it delights, and should please fans of his previous, safer efforts such as “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” and “Tamara Drewe,” sadly I wasn't one of them. The film's characters come off as rather caricatured and feel like they belong in a spoof rather than an actual movie. There are also problematic tonal shifts between comedy and drama which make the film feel unfocused and dismiss-able. Of course, Dame Judi Dench is at her absolute best, when isn't she, and she might garner another nomination come January, but did we really need another period-dramedy about the British monarchy which, yet again, refuses to delve deeper and ask questions about the cultural and philosophical tensions that come in being royal? The actual story of "Victoria and Abdul" is an important one, but it's constantly glossed over as the safe entertainment which has become customary of Frears this decade. It's also time to start asking if we should actually count Frears as an auteur. Are there any similar, noteworthy touches between, say, "High Fidelity" and "The Queen"? "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Philomena" ?  [C+]

"It" officially surpasses "The Exorcist" to become highest-grossing horror movie of all-time













Looks like "It," based on Stephen King's ultra-popular novel, is officially a blockbuster hit, it has recently surpassed The Exorcist as the highest-grossing horror movie of all-time. It's not a huge surprise considering the buzz that surrounded the film. The horror reboot's trailer nabbed almost 200 million views on YouTube (197 million to be precise) in its first 24 hours. That is insane. What's even more astounding is that it beat the previous record holder, "The Fate of the Furious," by almost 60 million views.

1) "It" $233 Million
2) "The Exorcist" $232 Million
3) "What Lies Beneath" $155 Million
4) "The Blair Witch Project" $140 Million
5) "The Conjuring" $137 Million
6) "The Ring" $129 Million
7) "The Grudge" $110 Million
8) "Paranormal Activity" $107 Million
9) "Paranormal Activity 3" $104 Million
10) "The Conjuring 2" $102 Million

EDIT: Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Welles has this to say about inflation "If you toss out Lang’s Exorcist tally of nearly $233 million and concentrate solely on theatrical revenues from the original ’73 and ’74 run, the domestic Exorcist gross was $193 million. In 2017 dollars that’s $1,067,233,490, or $67 million north of $1 billion. It‘s drawing power is far from spent, but right now The Exorcist‘s ’70s tally is over four times higher than It‘s current gross."

The 4 directors that could have directed Episode IX instead of Abrams













Rian Johnson
Obviously, Johnson was rumored to be Lucasfilm’s top choice to direct ‘Episode IX,’ and it makes a lot of sense: Johnson, like J.J. Abrams appears to be one of the few filmmakers that hasn’t been met with Kathleen Kennedy’s wrath. By all accounts, Johnson’s made some bold choices with the story and not only has she been cool with them, but incredibly supportive. It appears the Lucasfilm president and the rest of the company are very happy with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and if they weren’t, perhaps Johnson would be dusting off his resume. Johnson could easily take on the role, but it was a matter if he wants it or not. He’s suggested in the past through Twitter that he’d be totally game to take on another “Star Wars” film, but who knows who he feels after a two-year grueling production that has consumed his life.  

 Guillermo Del Toro
Guillermo Del Toro is about to have a very busy awards season schedule with the release of his festival favorite “The Shape of Water.” We all know Del Toro is a master of visuals, sci-fi and storytelling, which fits right into the soulful core of “Star Wars.” There’s also the fact that he is a major Star Wars fan. He even had meetings with Kathleen Kennedy and is reportedly talking with Disney to direct a Jabba the Hut spinoff movie which he said would be a gangster movie ala “TheGodfather.” He’s a master of visual effects and this would be as dreamy a partnership as any fanboy can expect in this day and age. One problem would likely be “The Shape Of Water” itself — he’s got a busy few months of promotion ahead of him and will have little to no time for all-consuming pre-production.

Jon Favreau
Director Jon Favreau impressively went from comedies like “Elf” to crowd-pleasing blockbusters with ease. The filmmaker brought a solid mix of action and humor to 2008’s “Iron Man” and more importantly kick-started Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe on the right foot. “Iron Man” was innovative and irreverent compared to the superhero movies that came before it. Favreau also gave Disney another blockbuster hit with his live-action take on “The Jungle Book” which nearly cracked $1 billion. Combining landmark visual effects with incredible story sense, Favreau proved yet again he can tackle scale with entertaining results. He’s one of the few directors that Disney can practically put their trust in, thus from this perspective, he’s likely a serious choice take over Trevorrow’s spot.

 Brad Bird
Now, this might seem like an impossible choice given that “The Incredibles 2” is less than a year away from release, but there is a precedent for this assignment. Back when Lucasfilm and Disney were first putting together what would eventually become “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” they went to Brad Bird. (This makes all of those “J.J. was our first and only choice” anecdotes from Kathy Kennedy and others on the ‘Force Awakens’ Blu-ray even more hilarious and untrue.) Bird was already deep into pre-production on “Tomorrowland” but devised a situation wherein he could do both: he would shoot “Tomorrowland” and have someone else “prep” ‘Force Awakens’ for him in his absence. (This would have largely had to do with minor casting decisions and logistical organization.) When he was done shooting “Tomorrowland” he would then immediately transition to ‘Force Awakens,”‘ presumably editing both when shooting on “Star Wars” was done. His choice for this weird pre-director role? Colin Trevorrow. And it was Trevorrow’s interactions with Bird and Kennedy that got him the “Jurassic World” job, since that film’s producer, Frank Marshall, is Kennedy’s husband. (Bird would eventually have a small role as the voice of the monorail driver in that film).

Darren Aronofsky on the F CinemaScore for mother! "We wanted to make a punk movie"

"What’s interesting about that is, like, how if you walk out of this movie are you not going to give it an “F?” It’s a punch. It’s a total punch. And I realize that we were excited by that. We wanted to make a punk movie and come at you. And the reason I wanted to come is because I was very sad and I had a lot of anguish and I wanted to express it. Filmmaking is such a hard journey. People are constantly saying no to you. And to wake up every morning and get out of bed and to face all those no’s, you have to be willing to really believe in something. And that’s what I look for in my collaborators and what I pitched the actors I said, Look, this isn’t going to be a popularity contest. We’re basically holding up a mirror to what’s going on. All of us are doing this. But that final chapter hasn’t been written and hopefully things can change. And, to go back, the fact that it’s going down right now and things are really falling apart in a way that is really scary."
"It’s scary when you talk to the people who are studying this and thinking about this and then you have other people who basically believe in the power of a iPhone that they can communicate to 35 million people in a blink of an eye, yet they don’t believe in science in other ways. You know, which is as proven as gravity at this point, really. It has as many people believe in it as believe in gravity. And it scares me and it’s time to start screaming. So I wanted to howl. And this was my howl. And some people are not going to want to listen to it. That’s cool."

Disney had to pay Paramount seven figures to allow JJ Abrams to direct Star Wars Episode IX, to compensate them for getting out of the $10 million/year deal he's under with that studio.



Back to the top. That’s what's happened with JJ Abrams given the task of directing ‘Episode IX.’ He directed “The Force Awakens” with his usual lens flares and kick-ass, Spielberg-inspired action sequences. There was also was the news, according to his friend, that he regretted not directing ‘Episode VIII.’ “He read it and said something he never, ever says, he said, ‘It’s so good, I wish I were making it.’ He may have said something one time on ‘Lost’ with Damon [Lindelof], but I never hear him express regret like that.”

 JJ was touted as the next Spielberg by many. He's so far shown considerable cops, but nothing out of the realm of just a solid and reliable filmmaker. It probably doesn't help that he's tied himself up with franchises and that an artistic voice will always be compromised when you sell yourself to these commodities. 

 "The director takes on the Lucasfilm gig despite a $10 million obligation to his "home" studio, leaving newly crowned Jim Gianopulos to ask Disney for make-good money." 

 "Fighting Abrams would have meant alienating the filmmaker and taking on major adversaries: Lucasfilm, Disney and possibly even Steven Spielberg, who isn't involved with Star Wars but has a long-term association with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and has taken credit for luring Abrams to helm The Force Awakens in the first place. And then there are Abrams' reps at CAA. With Paramount in need of all the support it can get, Gianopulos had to be realistic."

[THR]

"Isle of Dogs" - Wes Anderson - Official Trailer




Of all the great Wes Anderson movies, and there quite a few, I've always a real fondness for "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," a stop-motion animation treat from 2009 that was the most formally realized picture of his career. So it is with great joy that I see  that there's another film of his that will be in stop motion animation form: "Isle of Dogs." If that wasn't enough he has amassed another fantastic cast to take part in this adventure.

Earlier this year, Anderson had mentioned that the film was “less influenced by stop-motion movies than it is by Akira Kurosawa.”

The full cast includes Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Kunichi Nomura, Harvey Keitel, Akira Ito, Akira Takayama, Koyu Rankin, Yoko Ono (!), Courtney B. Vance (!), Greta Gerwig (!!!), Frances McDormand, Bob Balaban and Liev Schreiber

"Isle of Dogs" comes out on April 20th, 2018. Is it a coincidence that this is coming out on 4/20?


TIFF Wrap-Up




If the Academy Awards have not been much on our minds for the past few months, TIFF has changed that in an instant. As the Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday with a screening of Agnes Varda’s sublime Faces Places, and after 10 days of scurrying from screening to screening, it is safe to say the Oscar race is now ounderway. Sure, Sundance, Cannes, Telluride and Venice gave us a few hints, but for the hundreds upon hundreds of press and industry that attended TIFF it was a chance to see most of the significant films in a single lineup to assess the current state of the race.
Here are the five movies that came away as the biggest winners of the 42nd edition of the fest and seem destined for the Oscars.
1) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Martin McDonagh’s harrowingly comic film won the coveted People’s Choice Award, whose narrative and tonal jumps made for a challenging and engaging experience. Its reception bodes well for a interesting Oscar trajectory. It’s been more than 20 years since Frances McDormand won Best Actress for Fargo, and she’s back again in fine form as a serious contender. Playing Mildred, a woman who draws battle lines with a small town’s local police department by buying three billboards demanding the sheriff (Woody Harrelson) re-open her raped and murdered daughter’s case, McDormand is fiercely hilarious. Forget about Marvel’s heroes; she’s a legitimate Avenger. While British writer-director McDonagh, a theater-seasoned director, showed incredible promise with In Bruges and especially 2012’s underseen Seven Psychopaths, it’s safe to say that Three Billboards is his best movie yet. Going back and forth between comedy and drama, this is an unpredictable ride accompanied by some of the most complex characters you’ll see on-screen this movie year. Aside from the formidable McDormand, Sam Rockwell should be another Oscar contender, as the devious deputy sheriff of the town. Oh, and be prepared for one of the best endings of any movie this decade.
2) Call Me By Your Name
Luca Guadagnino’s masterful “Call Me By Your Name” screened at Sundance in January, and it continues to garner ecstatic reviews. Despite having only two public screenings, it was runner-up for the festival’s top award. A love story between a seventeen-year-old Italian lad named Elio (Timothée Chalamet), and an American summer guest Oliver (Armie Hammer) staying at his parents’ cliffside mansion, Guadagnino’s film is regarded by many as the best of the year. Sensual, witty, and touching, it’s a film simply told that packs a wallop. It’s filled with intense emotions as Gudagnino lingers on the sheen of sweat that shimmers in an southern Italian summer filled with first love. Armie Hammer’s performance is a career-peak and merits every award destined to come his way this season. Ditto newcomer Chalamet. This is an erotic and mesmerizing movie that exemplifies cinematic artistry in scope, theme and tone. 
3) I, Tonya
Given the incredible word of mouth from TIFF, it’s a no-brainer decision to have Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya released this year for potential awards. The film is a play-by-play account of what happened during the 1994 U.S. figure skating championship when Tonya Harding and her dead-beat loser of a husband hired a white-trash goon to break the leg of her arch nemesis Nancy Kerrigan. Margot Robbie plays Harding in all her blue-collar, low-rent glory. Harding was the outsider, a figure skater that lacked the class needed in a sport whose judges look for competitors to be elegantly poised. De-glamming to play a person that most of America found easy to hate in the winter of 1994, it’s not at all far fetched to wonder if Robbie could be rewarded with a nomination come next January ditto Allison Janney as her foul-mouther, chain-smoking, bird-loving mother from hell. It’s not just the actors, Gillespie borrows from Scorsese by furthering his narrative with music, especially songs from the 70s and 80s, and the ice-skating scenes are shot with virtuoso style in incredibly impressive one-takes.
4) The Shape of Water
Guillermo Del Toro’s film, the toast of Venice, came to TIFF with the highest of expectations that were admirably fulfilled. It’s a visual masterwork that will most likely receive the backing of critics nationwide. This festival bow felt like a homecoming for Del Toro, a permanent resident of Toronto, who’s easily made his best film since 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth. The Shape of Water is a genre exercise that works wonders as a beautifully realized fairy tale of the highest order. Just like Pan’s Labyrinth, the visuals are hypnotically enchanting. In the midst of Cold War 1963, a shy night-shift custodian named Eliza (the brilliant Sally Hawkins) falls for creature locked up in the secret government laboratory where she works. The cast is aces, from her next-door neighbor and best friend (Richard Jenkins), to her chatty co-worker (Octavia Spencer), to a sympathetic Russian scientist trying to save the creature (Michael Stuhlbarg), to the nasty villain of the film (Michael Shannon), this is one of the best ensembles of any film this year. The Toronto crowd went wild for the scenes which were filmed at Toronto’s famous Elgin theater. Eliza lives atop the cinema in the movie, which is also, unsurprisingly, where the film had its rollicking Ontario premiere.
5) Lady BirdThere isn’t a scene in Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut “Lady Bird,” which lasts for more than two minutes and each vignette is a gem. This episodic and effortlessly realized film is a coming-of-age-classic that blooms before one’s eyes. Christine McPherson (the amazing Saoirse Ronan) is a high school teenager who demands that everyone refers to her as Lady Bird. She wants to move to the liberal-minded northeast and leave her suburban Sacramento neighborhood. Cosmopolitan culture is what she wants and she feels New York is the ideal location. We all know how a similar path ended for Gerwig, who’s become a Manhattan cinematic fixture for millennials. Laurie Metcalf plays Lady Bird’s affectionate mother, working double shifts as a nurse; please nominate this woman for an Oscar. There is plenty of Gerwig signature charm and wit in the film, which she has refined to rose-gold perfection in films like Frances Ha and Greenberg.