The Best Costumes of 1986

by Cláudio Alves

At last, we must say goodbye to the 1986 cinematic year. The Supporting Actress Smackdown was a blast and, before moving on to 1937, there's one remaining matter to take care of – the Best Costume Design Oscar race. Just like Dianne Wiest won the first of her two Academy Awards at that ceremony, so did Jenny Beavan. The British designer dressed the likely runner-up for Supporting Actress, Maggie Smith in A Room with a View, delivering a dream of Edwardian fashions with the help of fellow costumier John Bright. Indeed, all of the nominees that year were period pieces, ranging from 1500s Venetian tragedies to a time-traveling misadventure through 1960's suburbia. The contenders were:

• Anna Anni & Maurizio Millenotti, Otello
• Jenny Beavan & John Bright, A Room with a View
• Anthony Powell, Pirates
• Theadora Van Runkle, Peggy Sue Got Married
• Enrico Sabbatini, The Mission

First, let's examine the winner, our favorite and much-dissected Merchant-Ivory classic. I promise this is the last time I write about A Room with a View…

Click to read more ...

Breakfast with... Joe Gideon

September is "Better Breakfast Month" -we're celebrating because we ❤️ food and movies. 

Alka Seltzer, Dexedrine, eyedrops... a cigarette in the shower. You're ready to go!

It's showtime, folks.

This is not a healthy breakfast. Where does Bob Fosse /Joe Gideon get all that energy? Man cannot live on sex, drugs and jazz hands alone. But at least try the "it's showtime, folks" this morning in the mirror and see if that's like adding another cup of joe, fuel-wise. I will be doing the same on my first day in VENICE. ohmygod. More soon.

Meet the Parents

by Jason Adams

I'm can't really do a TFE-patented "Yes No Maybe So" for the just-dropped trailer for Mass -- writer-director Fran Kranz's Sundance smash that gives four great roles to the character actors Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Jason Isaacs, and Martha f'ing Plimpton, playing the parents of two children involved in a school shooting -- because the trailer is mostly critical hosannas from Sundance, with maybe ten seconds of actual and intense footage from the intense film slammed down at the end, a bit like a punch in the gut. What am I gonna say, "Yes to that Variety quote but I'm iffy on the one from the Post?"

Anyway I already saw the movie at Sundance and it should be a yes for all of you, just trust me. All four actors have made it clear they're aiming for Supporting nominations Oscars-wise, and I wouldn't be surprised to see all of them make it. I'm rooting for all of them! The film hits NYC & LA on October 8th and rolls on out after that. Here's that trailer...

Interview: "Never Gonna Snow Again"s enigmatic Alec Utgoff. What will he do for an encore?

by Nathaniel R

from the actor's instragram

One of the most unusual and affecting movies of the past year or so in cinema is finally making the rounds. Poland’s 2020 Oscar submission, Never Gonna Snow Again is in theaters and will presumably hit VOD shortly. The mysterious  film is about a man named Zhenia, a Ukrainian massage therapist, who becomes the fixation of a small Polish town. The residents  all begin to employ him and each of them project their own feelings and fantasies onto him. Still, Zhenia's own desires and identity remain an enigma, even to the audience who are  invited to fixate and project, much like the townsfolk. But even the town is not entirely grounded in reality, but arguably an homogenous purgatory of a suburban fantasy. All in all it makes for an unusual and riveting film experience. 

At the center of it all is the 35 year-old actor Alec Utgoff of Stranger Things fame. The Ukraine born actor has been working in film and television for a decade now but this is his biggest film role to date, and a major breakthrough in terms of the ways in which filmmakers might imagine casting him. We recently talked with him about his career as well as this particular role...

Click to read more ...

ICYMI - Best of August

We're about to enter the prime Oscar-hopeful months of the year. Excited? But before we do, here's a quick look back at August at TFE. In case you missed any of this baker's dozen... 

Some Highlights
• Interview Nine Perfect Strangers Abe interviews Michael Shannon
• Emmy Categories -we've analyzed many of the top races
• Spencer tease - will Kristen Stewart be up for gold?
• Jennifer Hudson in Respect a big new role for a fine singer 
• The Green Knight -Matt has a big crush on Dev Patel
• Phil Tippet -Elisa meets the "mad god" of vfx (RoboCop, Star Wars)
• Jeanette Goldstein in Aliens Nick gives a strong genre turn its due
• Gay Best Friend: Chuck and Buck - with White Lotus all the rage, Christopher looks back at Mike White's breakout
• A Room With a View a long-read team retrospective
• How had I never seen...Blue Velvet Ben has never been a Lynch person

Most Discussed Articles
• Smackdown 1986 -discussing Best Picture nominees Hannah and Her Sisters, A Room With a View, and Children of a Lesser God, plus Scorsese's Color of Money and the bewidering Crimes of the Heart
• Vintage '86 what people were talking about in pop culture that year
• Almost There: Linda Fiorentino The Last Seduction

Coming in September
• (1st-11th) The Venice Film Festival with both Elisa & Nathaniel on the Lido
• (19th) Emmy Awards we have the biggest categories left to discuss
• (24th-30th) Best Actress regular Deborah Kerr's centennial
• (27th) Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1937 - Queue up Dead End, Stella Dallas, Stage Door, Night Must Fall, and In Old Chicago (lotsa good flicks this time!) for maximum enjoyment.
• AND LOTS OF NEW MOVIES including Shang Chi, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Cinderella, Cry Macho, Blue Bayou, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and Dear Evan Hansen.