The 38th Annual Telluride Film Festival announces its lineup...

...and you can read all about it in this press release:

Telluride, CO (September 1, 2011) – Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its program for the 38^th Telluride Film Festival. Featuring diverse programming from around the globe, TFF once again sets the stage for some of the year’s most highly anticipated films.

TFF opens its 38^th year with over twenty-five new feature films plus special artist tributes, Guest Director programs selected by Caetano Veloso, Backlot programs, classics and restorations, shorts, student films, seminars and conversations, each introduced or proceeded with a Q&A by its filmmaker, actors, writer or producer. Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

The slate is after the cut...

Is it really such a good thing that the Telluride Film Festival keeps its lineup a secret?

The Hollywood Reporter says yes:

The guessing game is on as to what will be shown during the 38th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, the only major such event in the world that doesn't announce its lineup ahead of time. Such is the confidence in the Labor Day Weekend event that Tom Luddy — now in league with Gary Meyer after years of running the Show with Bill Pence — has built up over the years that audiences trust him implicitly to deliver a program that is more than worth the effort to get to the remote Colorado mountain town to spend three-and-a-half days in the dark when it's usually so gorgeous outside.

Virtually from the beginning, Telluride has performed an exquisite balancing act: Between old and new, foreign and American, the esoteric and the accessible, the expected and the unknown. As at a great restaurant, it's best to just place yourself in the chef's hands and sample what's served up. Some dishes are better than others, of course, but you can rarely say something was bad or a waste of time. Because of its limited duration, Telluride can afford to be picky and discriminating, which only works to the benefit of the viewer.
Because of its maverick, rarified status, Telluride never felt much need to publicize itself. It's never courted press, although a few journalists go every year, and it doesn't crow about world premieres, even though it's had some big ones. However, mostly due to changes in the culture and release schedules, it’s served as a perceived lucky charm for some major films and has, through little will of its own, become the much-sough-after first domestic stop for specialized films with Oscar dreams.

One of the first instances of Telluride playing a crucial role in the Oscar race came way back in 1992, when an completely unheralded British film called The Crying Game played there and in Venice over the same weekend. It has since been documented that Miramax had no clue what to do with this tricky sexual and political thriller until the enormous reaction at Telluride suggested that it held potential gold — monetary and honorary — in its hands.

So what exactly did the first part of the year give us in terms of Oscar contenders?

Well, this article from Deadline gives sort of a primer on just that:

OK, I’ll say it: If the Oscars were held today (nearly two-thirds of the way through 2011) Woody Allen could have another Best Picture winner. Of course the 84th Academy Awards aren’t being held yet and we are still four and a half months away from the end of eligibility. But as I embark on the fall season beginning with the Venice + Telluride + Toronto film festivals it’s time to take a look at where things stand and where things are going. First up in this series of posts: Is there anything released so far in 2011 with a realistic chance to ultimately win Best Picture? Or at the very least earn a nomination? Remember, new rules say from 5 to 10 films could benominated, meaning each nominee can’t get there without receiving at least 300 first place votes in the nominating process. Conventional wisdom is that films released in the first 8 months of the year are at a tremendous disadvantage to those coming out in the fall and holiday season. Last year no eventual winner in the top 8 categories was released before October — and 7 of those winners came out on or after Thanksgiving. Then again some recent Best Pic winners like The Hurt Locker (2010) and Crash (2005) came from the first half of their respective years. Other classic Best Pic champs like Patton, The Godfather, The Silence Of The Lambs, Gladiator, Braveheart, and yes, Woody Allen’s first Best Picture, Annie Hall (1977), were all released in the first 5 months of their respective years so it would be foolish to downgrade the chances of movies we’ve already seen this year. Or would it? Indeed 4 of last time’s 10 Best Picture nominees were released in June and July.

But other than animated films like Rango and Rio there were no solid Best Pic possibilities until we hit the Cannes Film Festival in May. Slowly simmering Best Picture talk was sparked by the fest opener, Allen’s rapturously received Midnight In Paris and Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or winner The Tree Of Life which both went on to later May domestic releases. The Allen film has become his most financially successful film ever and it will hit the $50 million benchmark this weekend. Its official Academy screening was packed to the rafters (“the best turnout I have seen in years”, according to one member) and was extremely well received. “I liked it but some members I know got mad at me because I didn’t love it,” another voter told me. ”I haven’t seen anything that’s gotten that kind of response.”

Behold the trailer for Tyrannosaur!

The performances are supposedly phenomenal:

It's time for the Gurus of Gold to chime in...

Thoughts?

What is Pixar cooking up next?

Entertainment Weekly has the answer:

Pixar announced two very peculiar animated features, both of them what-if concepts that immediately raised more questions than the studio was ready to answer.

“We’re going to announce two new films no one has ever heard about. Original films,” emphasized Pixar and Disney animation chief John Lasetter [sic], rousing cheers from the auditorium at Disney’s D23 fan convention, where the news was revealed. “You’re the very first group anywhere in the world to hear what these are about. But I’m not going to tell you about it. I’m going to let the filmmakers tell you.”

So are we …

The New York Film Festival announces its slate!

Here's the lineup:

The 49th New York Film Festival main-slate:

Opening Night Gala Selection
“Carnage”
Director: Roman Polanski
Country: France/Germany/Poland

Centerpiece Gala Selection
“My Week With Marilyn”
Director: Simon Curtis
Country: UK

Special Gala Presentations
“A Dangerous Method”
Director: David Cronenberg
Country: UK/Canada/Germany

“The Skin I Live In”
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain

Closing Night Gala Selection
“The Descendants”
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: USA

Take a glance at what the current BFCA Critics' Choice Rankings look like!

Those are the 12 films with a 4 star ranking from the Broadcast Film Critics. Obviously only some are true contenders, but it's something to make a small note of. After the jump you'll see the films with a 3 star ranking. Consider it a quick portrait of what the Oscar players might be before the big hitters debut in the coming months...

Circuit Round-Up, 08/07

* Last week saw a whole slew of new reviews: Crazy Stupid Love, The Guard, Attack the Block, Captain America: The First Avenger, Horrible Bosses, Friends with Benefits, Terri, Hobo with a Shotgun, Winnie the Pooh, Cowboys & Aliens, Of Gods and Men, Illegal, Beastly, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes!

* Joey’s DVD Pick of the Week was a tiny indie starring one of Hollywood’s most recognizable “That Guy” actors.

* Mike Ward chronicled the myriad failures leading up to the release of Cowboys & Aliens in last week’s Box Office Actuals.

* John Foote felt like a kid in a candy store with all the promising films at TIFF this year.

* I speculated on the Oscar possibilities of films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Whistleblower.

* Finally, Anna Belickis wondered what happened to one of the most promising actresses of the 90’s for this week’s Women in Cinema.

Behold the Trailer for the Sundance hit and Oscar hopeful Like Crazy!

Is this potentially the indie breakout of the year? Take a look and judge for yourself:

-Joey's Two Cents: It looks like a hybrid of (500) Days of Summer and Blue Valentine, and if it approaches the quality of either of those two phenomenal films, it'll be a major player. For now, it's a great looking trailer that hints at a rather moving story. I'm in...thoughts?

The Venice Film Festival officially announces its lineup!

The last few days have seen plenty of festival news, and here's the actual slate of films to be playing at Venice:

Venice 2011 Competition

The Ides Of March – George Clooney (US) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights – Andrea Arnold (UK)
Texas Killing Fields – Ami Canaan Maan (US)
Quando La Notte – Cristina Comencini (Italy)
Terraferma – Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France)
A Dangerous Method – David Cronenberg (Germany/Canada)
4:44 Last Day On Earth – Abel Ferrara (US)
Killer Joe – William Friedkin (US)
Un Ete Brulant – Philippe Garrel (France/Italy/Switzerland)
A Simple Life (Taojie) – Ann Hui (China/Hong Kong)
The Exchange (Hahithalfut) – Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Alps (Alpeis) -Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece)
Shame – Steve McQueen (UK)
L’ultimo Terrestre – Gian Alfonso Pacinotti (Italy)
Carnage – Roman Polanski (France/Germany/Spain/Poland)
Chicken With Plums – Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud (France/Belgium/Germany)
Faust – Aleksander Sokurov (Russia)
Dark Horse – Todd Solondz (US)
Himizu – Sion Sono (Japan)
Seediq Bale – Wei Te-Sheng (Taiwan)

Making sense of what's playing (and not playing) on the festival circuit this year...

...especially in terms of the Oscar hopefuls. Here's the story from Deadline:

With today's announcement of the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival lineup (or at least the first phase of titles) and the imminent announcement Thursday of the Venice International Film Festival lineup, the buzzing about Oscar possibilities -- at least as far as the all-important Fall Festival circuit is concerned -- is off and running, even with five weeks to go before Venice and Telluride's increasingly important Labor Day weekend festival get the six-month season off to its official launch. As for that latter fest, we will have to wait until Sept. 1, the day before it opens, to find out what potential Oscar goodies it might have in store.

There is indeed a pecking order in the way these announcements are made, and the reason Telluride does not go the splashy weeks-in-advance press conference route like Toronto (this year's dates: Sept. 8-18) and Venice (Aug. 31-Sept. 10) do -- as well as October's New York Film Festival -- is because it doesn't mind keeping its lineup secret and not labeled as "World" or "North American" premieres in return for actually getting the movies and their filmmakers to attend the oh-so-cool movie geek fest (my fave) high in the Colorado mountains. Studios and distributors who participate in Telluride are sworn to secrecy as to their plans as usual (one publicist was even afraid to admit to me they weren't going for fear of retribution), but that can't keep us from some informed speculation which Oscar hopefuls will be making the trip there as well as to the other fests. Last year, you may recall Telluride was the first North American stop for The King's Speech, 127 Hours and Black Swan among other big Oscar titles.

Strategies abound as to which festival is right for your film, and jockeying will continue long after these announcements and right up to festival time. A wrong decision can be deadly for a film's potential marketing and awards campaign, which is why studios and distributors are so cautious about jumping into the early fall festival waters, particularly, as in many cases this year, where the film isn't even scheduled until the holiday season.

Take a look at the Poster for The Ides of March

Thoughts?

The 2011 Toronto Film Festival announces some of its film slate!

Hot off of Venice's lineup partially coming unfurled yesterday, Toronto has this to say in their press release:

Now in its 36th year, the Toronto International Film Festival® today unveiled a selection of films in the 2011 Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The selection comprises 10 Galas and 43 Special Presentations, including 31 World Premieres. Running from September 8 to 18, this year‟s Festival presents the world premieres of films from directors Bruce Beresford, Luc Besson, Rémi Bezancon, Cameron Crowe, Terence Davies, Mathieu Demy, Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass, Roland Emmerich, Julian Farino, Jim Field Smith, Francis Ford Coppola, Marc Foster, Rodrigo Garcia, Lasse Hallstrom, Huh Jong-ho, Cédric Khan, Jonathan Levine, Jamie Linden, Derick Martini, Fernando Meirelles, Bennett Miller, Oren Moverman, Daniel Nettheim, Pawel Pawlikowski, Alexander Payne, Sarah Polley, Malgoska Szumowska, Jonathan Teplitzky, Jennifer Westfeldt, Michael Winterbottom and Wang Xiaoshuai.

The list after the jump...

The Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a pretty strong one...

...judging by the early word on what films will be playing. We'll know the official slate on Thursday, but for now this look from indieWIRE will do:

While the official announcement won’t occur until Thursday, Variety is reporting what appears to be the majority of the lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival, including new works from David Cronenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Roman Polanski, Todd Solondz, Jonathan Demme, Alexander Sokurov, Mary Harron, William Friedkin and Madonna. They come in addition to the already announced “The Ides of March,” George Clooney’s political drama that will open the festival.

The article also suggested that new films Walter Salles, Wong Kar Wai, Luc Besson, Brillante Mendoza and Fatih Akin will not be ready for the festival.

Below is the full list of films the article notes (not listed is Soderbergh’s film, which isn’t explicitly noted in the Variety story though one can probably assume it’s “Contagion” and not “Haywire”).

In Competition:
“Alps,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
“A Burning Hot Summer,” directed by Philippe Garrel
“Carnage,” directed by Roman Polanski
“A Dangerous Method,” directed by David Cronenberg
“Dark Horse,” directed by Todd Solondz
“The Exchange,” directed by Eran Kolirin
“Faust,” directed by Alexander Sokurov
“Himizu,” directed by Sion Sono
“Killer Joe,” directed by William Friedkin
“The Ides of March,” directed by George Clooney (Opening Night)
“Last Day on Earth,” directed by Abel Ferrara
“The Moth Diaries,” directed by Mary Harron
“Poulet aux prunes,” directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Quando la notte,” directed by Cristina Comencini
“Seediq Bale,” directed by Wei Te-sheng
“Shame,” directed by Steve McQueen
“Terraferma,” directed by Emanuele Crialese
“Texas Killing Fields” directed by Ami Canaan Mann
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” directed by Tomas Alfredson
“L’ultimo terrestre,” directed by Gipi
“W.E.,” directed by Madonna
“Wuthering Heights,” directed by Andrea Arnold

Out of Competition:
“La folie Almayer,” directed by Chantal Akerman

Horizons section:
“I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful,” directed by Jonathan Demme
“Sal,” directed by James Franco

'Descendants' opening moved forward

According to Variety:

Fox Searchlight has moved the opening of Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" forward by three weeks to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend of Nov. 23 from Dec. 16.


"Descendants," based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, stars George Clooney as an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-establish his relationship with his daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster, Nick Krause, Shailene Woodley and Mary Birdsong also star.

Today's Posters: 50/50, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and more...

The rest after the cut...

Does Meryl Streep have Glenn Close to worry about for Best Actress this year?

Deadline seems to think so:

It appears Glenn Close may be shaking up the Best Actress Oscar race this year. Today's announcement that Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment have acquired all U.S. rights to Albert Nobbs, in which Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to survive in 19th century Dublin, and plan a fall release and likely Oscar campaign adds a bit of drama to 2011's budding Academy race. Meryl Streep, a two-time winner and 16-time nominee, is the presumed front-runner as Margaret Thatcher in the Weinstein Company's The Iron Lady.Streep hasn't won since 1982, and many think (sight unseen) that Thatcher could be her ticket back to the winner's circle. Ironically, that was also the year Close received the first of her five nominations (for her first film, The World According To Garp) in a remarkable run between 1982 and 1988 when she received her last nod for Dangerous Liaisons. Of course she's won Tonys and Emmys, but the Oscar has famously eluded her.

In fact, 1982 was also the year she first played Albert Nobbs in an off-Broadway production of the play and won an Obie Award for it. Even though that was near the beginning of her career, she's had her eye on it as a possible film ever since and has been actively trying to get it produced for the past 15 years. In addition to starring, she also co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay, enlisting her Nine Lives and Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her director Rodrigo Garcia to helm.

Warner Bros. will release both J. Edgar and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in 2011...

...putting them square in the Oscar race (and proving me right in heavily favoring them in my early predictions...huzzah). The Playlist has the details:

With The Weinstein Company busy over the last few weeks getting their Oscar season in order, Warner Bros. is following suit setting (vague) dates for two of their big prestige films of the year.

First up, Clint Eastwood‘s “J. Edgar” will hit theaters in a to be determined date in October. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and he’s got a great supporting cast around him. b> Armie Hammer, the breakout star of “The Social Network,” will play Clyde Tolson, Hoover’s assistant/lover, while Naomi Watts will play Helen Gandy, Hoover’s personal secretary. The film will also star Judi Dench, Stephen Root, Ed Westwick, and Josh Lucas. Of course, the big question is not if the film will be Oscar bait, but just what categories in can contend in. Even “Hereafter,” released in the same frame last year largely to muted reviews, wound up with an nomination for Visual Effects so anything is possible.

Next up, is Stephen Daldry‘s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and with Warner Bros setting it for sometime in December, they are clearing putting most of their Oscar push behind this one. Based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer, the story focuses on Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old boy from Manhattan whose father died on 9/11. Two years later, the boy discovers a key belonging to his father, which sends him on a search through the city. Newcomer Thomas Horn will play Oskar, with Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks as his parents, and John Goodman as a doorman who aids Schell on his quest. Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Max Von Sydow and James Gandolfini round out the cast.

Best selling and critically acclaimed book + three time Best Director Oscar nominee + five time nominee and two-time Oscar winning actor + Best Actress winner = instant awards horse. They would have to screw the pooch pretty hard to mess this one up.

The Weinstein Company has got no shortage of 4th quarter films this year...

...and they certainly seem to be gunning for more Oscar gold. Coming Soon has the slate for this year and next:

The Weinstein Company have released a slew of release dates for their fall prestige pics, with many of them vying for Oscar nominations in order to keep up the company's success with last year's The King's Speech. But before we get to them, the movie that really stands out among the latest release schedule is seeing the title...