Oscar's Visual Effects Race, Round One

This just in... The Academy will narrow down the list of possibilities in Visual Effects on a couple of weeks to ten films but they've cobbled together the initial list of 20 semi-finalists. Along with all six superhero films of the year, the presumed frontrunner The Jungle Book is accounted for as is one animated picture - Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo isn't the first animated picture to make the bakeoffs but only one has ever been nominated for the Oscar in this category (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993).

The complete lists of finalists, Oscar trivia, and the films that didn't make the cut are after the jump...

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Questions for the Podcast?

Tis the Season. We're feeling festive.

The whole podcast team (Katey, Nick, Joe and Nathaniel) will be recording Sunday morning (possibly the last time in 2016 due to the holiday madness coming up) discussing new films and current awards buzz.

Got any questions for us?
We'll devote some minutes to reader inquiries if you do. 

Open Thread

What movie were you thinking about right before you clicked over to TFE? And what else is on your cinematic mind? 

John Waters's Top 10 of 2016

Chris here. One of the most interesting curiosities every year in Best Of kudos is the list from trashcamp grandmaster John Waters. The provcateur always delivers a list that is surprising in its inclusions both for the purely unexpected (like last year's Cinderella) and for title or two you probably haven't heard of. Rest assured no matter how many films you have seen in a given year, Waters has seen more and his taste is more expansive. Eat your heart out, critics groups.

This year his top choice goes to a film getting lots of breakthrough love this week - Trey Edward Shults's Krisha. The film is quite a fitting choice for the filmmaker - with nonactors on a microbudget, Krisha is all taught social mores, fraught observations of family structures, and psychosis. Sounds somewhat like his own fascinations, albeit with much more inhibitions. Here's what he says of the film, with the rest of his list after the jump:

This hilariously harrowing portrait of a family reunion ruined by an alcoholic relative and too many dogs is told with verve and lunacy and features a top-notch performance by Krisha Fairchild, the director’s own aunt. Other people’s hell can sometimes be so much fun.

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Cate and Pedro

It's been great having Cate Blanchett in our city. From glimpsing her amazing costumes on the Ocean's 8 set, to waxing poetic about Amy Adams at the Gotham Awards, she's giving us lots to cherish while she is in New York City. And there's more to come. Rehearsals start next week on her Broadway debut, The Present, set to start previews on December 17th and open on January 8th. Before that though she had time to toast the master actressexual filmmaker, Pedro Almodovar.

Cate was one of the guests at the opening of the Almodovar retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. The retrospective is running through December 17th, and coincides with the release of Almodóvar’s 20th feature, Julieta (2016), and includes all of his feature films. So New Yorkers don't miss it. 

This picture got us thinking that Cate should work with Pedro. Can you see her in an English language remake of one of his films? Which one?