October. It's a wrap!

The scariest thing that's happening on Halloween today is the realization that there are only two months of the year (AND DECADE) left to go [SCREAMS]. If you've been a spotty visitor lately, here are a dozen highlights we don't want you to have missed from the month that was...

• Hustlers for Best Costume Design - a convincing case!
• Beauty Break Cláudio survey's Almodóvar's luscious men
• Monthly Calendar of the Oscar Fanatic -Eurocheese's diary is freakishly accurate!
• Parasite Podcast - now that you've seen Bong Joon ho's instant classic, you can listen to the spoilery podcast
• Avengers Endgame's Oscar play - Abe wonders how it can fare
• Empty Joker - Michael isn't into it. Are you?
• How Had I Never Seen... Cabaret - Ben catches up with one of the all time great musicals
• Murtada on TV - Turkish television had him on to talk Almodóvar
• Female Directors in the International Film Race - as usual Nathaniel went deep into investigation when the longlist for Best International Film was announced
• Soundtracking - Chris's series takes on Ellen Burstyn's struggling singer in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Horror Actressing - Jason's series looks back at Pan's Labyrinth

Most Discussed Posts
• Ten Best Supporting Actors of the 2010s that weren't nominated - These still hurt
• Bombshell screenings shake up Actress categories - Eric hears the buzz

Coming in November
LOTS OF OSCAR CAMPAIGN FEVER. More on Parasite, JoJo Rabbit, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Knives Out, Waves, and The Irishman. New releases Harriet, Terminator Dark Fate, Klaus, Charlie's Angels, The Good Liar, Queen and Slim. Disney +'s debut, TFE's Thanksgiving bounty, new interviews, and anniversaries for Precious, Interview with the Vampire, and Meet Me in St Louis.

This is Halloween

Everybody give a scream! What's the scariest thing you've ever seen in a movie? After the jump I'll share a few of mine. I can't even put into words how much these four moments freaked me out on first time screenings...

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101 days til Oscar. How will Disney's fare fare?

by Nathaniel R

Glenn Close actually dressed up as Cruella for the movie's premiere!Remember Glenn Close's Globe nomination for 101 Dalmatians (1996)? In retrospect it's kind of fascinating that greedy Disney didn't start fully committing to live-actioning and spinning off all their animated properties until recently because that early example was a huge hit, the sixth most popular film in the US that year. It also grossed $320 million globally well before the days when billion dollar worldwide grosses became common for Disney blockbusters.

Close's broadly comic diva turn didn't cross over to an Oscar nomination but its sequel managed one (for Costume Design). With Disney quadrupling down this year with four options for voters to look at (Dumbo, Maleficent 2, The Lion King, Aladdin) one wonders how the Mouse House will fare come nomination morning. After the jump a list of exactly how previous remakes have fared and how 2019 might shake out...

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BIFA loves "Wild Rose" and "David Copperfield"

British Independent Film Awards, or BIFA for short, have announced their nominations for the 2019 film year. Like the Gothams and Spirits they are juried which means a small group of people decide various categories before the entire membership votes on the winners. Strangely, despite that they focused on a small pool of films (the leaders, Wild Rose and The Personal History of David Copperfield have a staggering 21 nominations between them. Yikes! 

Our friend and sometimes Smackdown guest Guy Lodge was on the panel this year and here are their choices.

Best British Independent Film

• Bait, Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite

• For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

• The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Kevin Loader The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• Wild Rose, Tom Harper, Nicole Taylor, Faye Ward

Bait and David Copperfield have not yet arrived stateside. The latter is coming in 2020 and with lots of name actors it will get some attention (plus it's quite funny) but we had to look up Bait to see what it was. We must keep an eye out due to the BIFA love...

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Doc Corner: To Syria in 'The Cave' and 'For Sama'

By Glenn Dunks

The sheer audacity of making a documentary in Syria is something that astounds me. But part of what makes Syria such a fascinating subject for continued exploration is that theirs is a story we have seen unfold in real time. From its initial uprising to its deafening destruction and their continued traumas, the last decade have granted audiences a unique interior look into many facets of the Syrian Civil War from the side of rebels and side of the radicals, humanitarians and civilians.

So when I say that Feras Fayyad’s The Cave is easily among the very top of the docket, I don’t do so lightly. Fayyad is already an Oscar nominee for Last Men in Aleppo about the men known as The White Helmets. Here he has shifted gears to focus on the women doctors of what’s known as The Cave, an underground hospital network underneath the city of Ghouta. Mostly medical students who stayed behind to help those in need, the spotlight lands firmly on 30-year-old aspiring paediatrician Dr. Armani Ballour whose calming presence amid the storm of shells and fire around them is as compelling a non-fiction subject I have seen in a very long time...

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