Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 11:00AM by Ben Miller
Festival season is in full swing and there are just a few complete unknowns left in the game. One of those, which could turn out to be a big awards player, is Dustin Daniel Cretton’s Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan and Oscar-winners Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx. Let’s dive in with a Yes, No, Maybe So after the jump...
Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 7:30AM 
Meryl Streep days ago across the Atlantic in Venice joyfully demonstrating exactly how we feel whenever we arrive at film festivals. Chris Feil and Nathaniel R (that's me) are both officially on the ground in Toronto, ready for The Film Experience's favourite fest each year, TIFF! Screenings start in just an hour or so. And we're off...
Meryl Streep, TIFF, Venice Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 9:00PM by Lynn Lee
A surprise breakout and audience favorite at Sundance earlier this year, Brittany Runs a Marathon now faces a challenge nearly as daunting as that of the title character’s – namely, overcoming the late summer movie doldrums and getting the attention of potential viewers who are already turning their thoughts to school, football, Oscar contenders, and other harbingers of fall. Can this tiny indie picture – with a newbie director and no big names attached – become the sleeper hit it’s clearly angling to be through word of mouth and savvy social media marketing? Having seen the movie, which I found quite charming if predictable and a bit lightweight, I’ll volunteer a cautious “maybe.”
Brittany’s chief assets are a winning star turn from Jillian Bell (most familiar to mainstream audiences as the acerbic scene-stealer of 22 Jump Street), who moves confidently from comic sidekick to funny Everywoman lead, and a narrative arc that’s just as humorous and relatable...
Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 5:28PM By Glenn Dunks
Music documentaries are a dime-a-dozen these days, and musicals have been a Hollywood staple for as long as there has been sound to go alongside the flickering images of movies. But it hadn’t really dawned on me until I watched Max Lewkowicz’s Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles that documentaries about Broadway shows are surprisingly rare.
Among this rare subgenre The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened will probably find a lasting cultural place thanks to Richard Linklaker’s latest long-form cinematic folly of Merrily We Roll Along. It's a surprise that Show Business: The Road to Broadway has not already become a staple thanks to its amazing line-up of big Broadway hitters. There are also shows like Every Little Step, The Heat is On: The Making of Miss Saigon and Life After Tomorrow, which offer a glimpse back stage to what it is like to put on a Broadway show. But I can’t actually recall a documentary that took a single show like Lewkowicz does with Fiddler on The Roof and examine it all the way from its inception through to its lasting legacy. Perhaps it will inspire some more – I certainly hope so, for A Miracle of Miracles is a delight of a documentary that educated me and made me into a bigger fan of the show...
Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 3:00PM by Eurocheese
Since Nathaniel is flying to Toronto as we speak (TIFF kicks off tomorrow and runs through Sunday, September 15th), I volunteered to handle this week's Oscar Trivia column for him. I thought it might be fun to throw out a little quiz. THE ANSWERS WILL BE AFTER THE JUMP – no peeking! -- and be honest in the comments. How many can you guess correctly?
1. The highest number of Oscar wins for a single person is a whopping 22. Name the person who won them.
2. Last year, Roma won three Oscars. That means it missed the record for the most Oscars won by a foreign language film, a record currently held by which two films?
3. Have there been more female or more African-American Director nominees in the Academy’s history? (Both are sadly too few... bonus points if you can name all of those nominees)
4. The longest screen time for an Oscar nominated performance ended up netting the performer a win. The shortest nominated performance of all time did not. Can you name these two performances?
5. Which country has won the most Best Foreign Language Film Oscars? And which country has been nominated most often in the category?
6. Name the only actor or actress that has multiple posthumous nominations.
7. Only one person has an Olympic gold medal and an Academy Award. Name that person.
8. No film has ever won all four acting categories. Can you name the two films that came closest to that mark?
9. Name the most Oscar nominated woman in the Academy’s history.
10. How many times has a debut performance won the Best Actor Oscar?
