Wednesday, October 31, 2018 at 6:23PM Apologies that TFE has been out tricking and treating instead of entertaining you. But please enjoy these Hollywood beauties getting into this highly specific autumnal mood. HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE
Paulette Goddard
Myrna Loy, Janet Leigh, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Clara Bow and other 'it' girls from Old Hollywood are after the jump with their pumpkins, witch hats, scary books, and cats.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018 at 9:00AM by Chris Feil
To some degree, The Nightmare Before Christmas feels like the bastard child of Disney’s animated musicals. Granted the film was originally released under the Touchstone label due to concerns of frightened children and timid brand alignment. But in the years since, it’s grown beyond its cult following into full Mouse House acceptance, certainly one of the most merchandised of its era and most revisited thanks to inherent traditions in its duel holiday premise. So why does its music not get discussed alongside its peers?
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 11:12PM Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl talk four new films now in theatrical release in select cities
Index (67 minutes)
00:01 The Hate U Give is heavy handed but moving. Amandla Stenberg and Russell Hornsby are very good in it
27:19 Spoiler warning about our discussions of Burning and Border (though in truth we don't get that spoilery. We still speak vaguely but if you wanna go in completely cold, skip!)
28:12 Burning starring Steven Yeun and directed by genius Lee Chang-dong
39:30 Discussion of Oscar's foreign film hopefuls and how they routinely ignores Asian movies
47:00 Sweden's bizarre submission Border and its multiple genres
53:15 Luca Guadagnino's remake of Dario Argento's Suspiria
64:00 Running times and wrap-up.
References / Further Reading
• Nathaniel's review of Burning & Border
• Dan's Review of The Hate U Give
• Chris's review of Wildlife
• Carey Mulligan drag Instagram cuteness
• Best Foreign Language Film Predictions
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 8:00PM Heads up on these great deals for four truly awesome movies on iTunes. iTunes deals expire quickly so if you've always wanted to see or revisit any of these they're only 99¢ this week.
• First Reformed - The nomination leader at the Gotham Awards and we still think Ethan Hawke could nab a Best Actor Oscar nomination for it.
• Boogie Nights - The film that made Paul Thomas Anderson famous, and delivered Julianne Moore 'the foxiest bitch in the whole world' her first Oscar nomination (which she should've won).
• A History of Violence - David Cronenberg's masterful adaptation of a graphic novel nabbed two Oscar nominations for its screenplay and for William Hurt's late film curtain chewing but it started the season with lots more Oscar buzz. It should have been up for everything, especially the big four: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress. It did really well at our own Film Bitch Awards that year winning several medals including the gold for the frankly scorching sex scene between Viggo and Maria Bello in her all time best screen performance.
• Heathers - 'Fuck me gently with a chainsaw...' it's the high school black comedy wherein Winona Ryder's 'teen-angst bullshit has a body count'.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 12:32PM by Jason Adams
It's tempting to immediately call this "great news" and it is a positive... but it's also a bit like spinning sunshine out of an abusive relationship too -- Netflix is apparently set to announce they're going to be screening Alfonso Cuarón's Roma in "select cities" for two full weeks before the movie drops onto their streaming platform on December 14th. That means November 30th or so.
Deadline says it should be around 12 U.S. cities total, and that Cuarón insists all the theaters it plays are Dolby Atmos eqipped, which is a thing you'll understand once you see the film and take in its astonishingly rich soundtrack. (Although given the fact that most people are going to be watching this on their iPads while they're cooking, maybe he should just encourage as many theaters as possible?)
You can read Nathaniel's review of the film from TIFF right here - I didn't get the chance to review it out of NYFF myself but if you'd like my opinion it's the best movie I've seen this year, and if you can at all make it to one of these theaters, do. It's a total sense experience - the images, the sound, they really do envelope you and transport you to another world like only cinema at its finest can. Netflix owes us all a theatrical run, and I'm glad they seem to be figuring that out. Baby steps...
Alfonso Cuarón, Netflix, Roma 