NYFF: Getting High With Staying Vertical

Here's Jason reporting from the NYFF on the new film from the director of Stranger by the Lake.

With a movie like Staying Vertical it's tempting to go look up the definition of "queer" in the dictionary and start off with that - that would do a lot of my work for me. Because make no mistake about it - Staying Vertical is queer. It is queer as in it is strange, and it is queer as in it is not precisely heterosexual. It is that kind of off-putting gay guy in the corner of the party who's laughing at something even though nobody is talking to him. It's a good thing that I am that gay guy at every party, so me and Staying Vertical, we kinda hit it off.

Everybody won't. (The bane of my existence, y'all.)...

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Spooky Season

Trick or treat, trick or treat, give us something to make us shriek! When October rolls around inevitably film studios capitalise on Halloween fever to release a slate of horror movies… and often take the chance to dump them at a “critic-proof” opportunity. Let’s look what’s being carved up for us this October.

Ouija: Origin of Evil – 21 October

Prequel to the 2014 film Ouija that lots of people watched but far less people liked. This time young attractive people in the current era, have been replaced by family with creepy little girl in the 60’s, a far more in vogue horror trope of the moment. Lin Shaye is the only one appearing in both films, who was only added to the original in reshoots, and has curiously become a horror movie icon in the last few years. No reviews are out yet, but considering director Mike Flanagan’s unexpectedly sleeper hit on Netflix Hush kept horror simple but tight, it may fare better than the first. 

Three more Halloween-aimed films after the jump

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Tweetweek

A collection of recent tweets for your amusement this morning. The debate, Oscar-buzzed performances, Pfeiffer's comeback, drag race, and more after the jump...

"more than tangerine and less than avatar" is the best answer to "what was the film budget?" i've read

— helena (@localbisexuaI) September 27, 2016

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Foreign Watch: Two Oscar Favorites Join the Fray

We've been faithfully updating the Oscar charts daily to reflect the submissions in one of our favorite categories. We'd call it our favorite but then how would Cinematography, Production Design, both Actress categories, and Costume Design feel? The deadline for submission is just a few days away so in a week or two the Academy will make the list official. Generally speaking, there are one or two surprises from our charts once they do -- a sudden addition or replacement and maybe a single disqualification. But if this list holds we are just short of the all time record number. The are currently 82 submissions, which is one shy of the record from 2014 (the Ida year).

90 year old legend Andrezj Wajda with his film trophies

Among the newly announced films are After Image, a biopic of an avant garde artist, by Andrzej Wajda for Poland and The Idol, the true story of a man who competed on "Arab Idol," from Hany Abu-Assad of Palestine. Oscar loves these two directors so they're surely threats for the finalist list. Poland has submitted films by Honorary Oscar winner Andrzej Wajda a total of nine times in their history and four of those were nominated: The Promised Land in 1975, The Maids of Wilco in 1979, Man of Iron in 1981, and Katyn in 2007. Meanwhile both of Palestine's nominations in the Best Foreign Language Film category come from Hany Abu-Assad: Paradise Now in 2005 and Omar in 2013.  Can these men work their Oscar-hooking magic again?

Updates to the charts (part 1, part 2, part 3) also include new contenders from Argentina, Bangladesh, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Turkey.

September. It's a Wrap

While the world continued to be horrifying this past month was a partial joy thanks to TIFF ushering in prestige film season, our favorite time of year, and a particularly good one from the looks of it. Here are a baker's dozen highlights from the month at the blog in case you missed these...

7 Favorites
• Isabelle Huppert is Elle -the French icon slays in this tricky movie
• Blue Velvet - 30 memorable things on its 30th anniversary 
• Memories of The Blair Witch Project - Team Experience looks back
• The Red Turtle & Courgette - animation is not a genre 
• I Could Go On Singing (1963) - Judy Garland's final film 
• The Furniture: Love & Friendship - the country charm of the hit comedy
• Moulin Rouge! the musical numbers we're most eager to see reinvisioned for the stage musical version 

7 That Spurred the Most Conversation
• Fences & 20th Century Women -they're finally teasing us 
• Oscar Chart Updates -these always spur plentiful conversation
• Tom Hanks in Sully - what does he have to do to nab another Oscar nom?
• Amy Adams Times Two - Oscar's girlfriend in Arrival & Nocturnal Animals
• The Black Dahlia (2006) - looking back at this curiousity 10 years later
• Natalie Portman in Jackie - Fox Searchlight plans a December bow
• Emmy Afterglow - what was your favorite win... other than Sarah Paulson?

7 Things Coming in October
• More from NYFF including 20th Century Women & Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
• A Marie Antoinette theme party
• 1963 Supporting Actress Smackdown: Tom Jones, Lilies of the Field, and The VIPs
• Fall TV: Crisis in Six Scenes, Divorce, Westworld, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
• New Films: Birth of a Nation, Moonlight, The Handmaiden
• The return of "Oscar Horrors"  
• ...and a new series on Costume Design