Links!

• TFE Nomadland collects a bunch of OFCS prizes (*updated post)
• AV Club Lovecraft Country's Misha Green will direct the next Tomb Raider. Yes, somehow they're continuing this franchise despite the super dull results last time
• Atlantic Hollywood's big studios largely aren't following Warner Bros 'dump it all on streaming' lead. And Warner Bros may have lost one of its biggest revenue-producing directors with that decision.

News of the World, superhero multiverses, child stars, and Jonathan Bailey ❤️ after the jump... 

Click to read more ...

Revisiting 1989's International Oscars: Cinema Paradiso vs Camille Claudel vs Jesus of Montreal

by Nathaniel R

You've gotten to know Juan Carlos a little bit as a new contributor here at TFE. He hosts a podcast "The One Inch Barrier" which is how I sought him out to join us here. Each episode looks at one year of the Best International Feature Film race at the Oscars, moving backward chronologically. Each season covers one decade. I've finally made the time to guest-star, for the season four premiere to discuss a year that's deeply embedded in my history: 1989... aka the year my beloved Pfeiffer lost Best Actress. We discuss Italy's winner Cinema Paradiso which is all about moviegoing and nostalgia (so appropriate for the now), France's presumed runner up Camille Claudel (which was also nominated for Best Actress for Isabelle Adjani), and Canada's provocative Jesus of Montreal. A few other films make cameos, too, including Hong Kong's Painted Faces which is randomly streaming on Netflix; it was not nominated but makes an interesting companion piece to Cinema Paradiso.  

Please do share your feelings on these four films, none of which we've discussed on the site! 

Supersized "Nomadland"... what will Searchlight do for a follow up?

by Nathaniel R

Click for the full illustrated new poster

The prolongued 2020 Oscar season is going to make 2021 weird, isn't it. Take Nomadland, for instance, which is just a smidge over HALFWAY through its long trek to Oscar night after its September bow). Hopefully the Biden Administration can figure out a way to speed up vaccine distribution and we can all get back to our favourite pasttime -- MOVIEGOING -- by summer 2021 when the new stuff starts arriving. Alas, that's too late to enjoy Nomadland on IMAX screens, beginning January 29th, which frankly sounds like heaven to us after watching it on a bad streaming link with a watermark across it.

Though Nomadland is not my #1 film of the year -- top ten list coming in a few days! -- there isn't a single film from 2020 that I'd rather see on the most gigantic screen possible. Joshua James Richards' cinematography and the beautifully aged resilient face of Frances McDormand deserve it.

After Nomadland's Oscar run, whether or not it wins the biggest prize in Hollywood, here's what Searchlight (now owned by Disney) will be releasing in 2021...

Click to read more ...

What did you see this weekend?

While time has lost much of its meaning during the work-from-home lockdown, it's still a holiday weekend which theoretically will give more of us an opportunity to catch up on screenings. For the Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday weekend, Amazon Prime released One Night in Miami and, it's worth noting as perfect holiday viewing, that the Oscar hopeful documentary MLK/FBI is also available to rent online. Here's what was popular in movie theaters, such as they are right now...

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: Dunne born, Dick Tracy begins, Scream opens

10 random things that happened on this day, December 20th, in showbiz history

1945 Seventy-five years ago today the first feature film based on the comic strip Dick Tracy arrived. The syndicated newspaper hero had been a popular character in film serials since the mid 1930s. He'd get three more features  (the last arriving in 1947) before being revived again for Warren Beatty's Oscar-winning spectacle in 1990. 

1946 It's a Wonderful Life has ts world premiere in NYC. Why a Christmas classic opened in January for most of the nation is a mystery whose answer is surely lost in 1940s era moviegoing / holiday habits...

Click to read more ...