Remember 127 Hours?

It's 127 days until the Oscars. Remember Danny Boyle's 127 Hours in which James Franco sliced off his own arm years before his own career was cut off by allegations of sexual misconduct. Were you into that film at the time? Do you think it deserved its six nominations: Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song)?

I believed at the timethat it was in 10th place but its nomination haul was impressive. Now that we're back to a flat 10 for Best Picture (this year will be the first set of ten since that 2010 Oscar race) we can begin wondering which film might overperform on Oscar nomination morning that wouldn't have gotten nearly as fall without the benefit of the Academy having to choose a full top ten.

All You Can Link Smorgasbord

Instagram Actor Garret Clayton (Hairspray Live!, King Cobra, The Fosters) has officially come out of the closet
/Film a rejected 1998 pitch for a Catwoman solo movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer
AV Club Danny Boyle has dropped out of Bond 25. The longer the film delays production, the more I suspect Daniel Craig will bolt, too.
Variety Asia Argento sure has had it rough lately. In addition to her own rage about Weinstein, and the suicide of her boyfriend, she herself is denying claims that she sexually assaulted a minor.

More after the jump including the dying YA movie boom, Madonna docs and criticisms, Sebastian Stan, Crazy Rich Asians, and more...

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Annette Bening v. Hilary Swank: 2018 Edition

By Spencer Coile 

For those desperately hoping that Ryan Murphy will bring Annette Bening Emmy glory for her role on the second season of American Crime Story, think again. Hilary Swank has been cast in the new FX limited series, Trust, which will be helmed by Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle... 

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YNMS: T2 Trainspotting

 by Murtada

Where were you in 1996 when the first Trainspotting was released? Your answer to that question might determine how excited you are for the sequel, T2 Trainspotting. It was an exciting shot in the arm for 90s cinema three whole years before the banner year of 1999. It also soldified the careers of Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor. They allegedly had a tiff, over The Beach (2000). A movie few remember fondly if at all. Glad they patched things up. So let's dive into the trailer with our patented Yes No Maybe So. 

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"The best kind of music comes from experimentation and messing up" - on Scoring 'Steve Jobs'

Daniel PembertonAs we move towards the Oscars each year the public tendency is to look back and reassess the most interesting contributions to cinema in a given year. From this impulse, a good one we'd argue, top ten lists, "best ofs" and awards traction are born. Though the legendary names of film scoring all seemed to be quite active this year -- even recently absent giants like Morricone and Williams -- some of the most innovative and exciting work was being done by the relative newcomers.

One of the buzziest among them is the 38 year old composer Daniel Pemberton. He made an award-winning name for himself in British television but his feature film work only began in force just a few years ago with highly praised work on the supernatural period drama The Awakening (2011). It's safe to say that 2015 will be regarded as his breakout year. He did stylish rethink work on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and in just a few weeks he'll presumably be at the Golden Globes where he's nominated for his innovative triple-scoring of Steve Jobs. 

Will an Oscar nomination follow? It's tough to say given the temperament of Oscar's notoriously insular music branch but it would not be undeserved. He recently spoke with The Film Experience about innovation, 80s synthesizers, and how he'll keep it fresh moving forward.

NATHANIEL R: So I'll be up front with you. I find music, particularly scoring, completely mysterious. I can read music and play piano a bit but it feels like a foreign language. How does a film composer even discover their talent for it? 

DANIEL PEMBERTON: I basically started messing around with on the piano when I was very young, and I just started writing music just for fun. And then one day I saved up enough money to buy myself a synthesizer and a tape recorder, and I started making music. Pretty much from that is how I got to here!

NATHANIEL R" But there are so many different careers in music. Did you imagine yourself as this type of composer or did you want to be a rock star when you were young? [More...]

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