Months of Meryl: Lions for Lambs (2007)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.  

#38 — Janine Roth, a liberal network journalist faced with an ethical quandary.

JOHN: When Meryl Streep accepted her Golden Globe for The Devil Wears Prada in January 2007, she divulged a prophecy: “This has been such a fun year to watch movies because of you gals,” she said, citing fellow nominees like Annette Bening, Toni Collette, and Beyoncé. “[It] makes you want to cry with gratitude… until next year.” How could Streep have known that her 2007 would contain some of the most insipid and unwatchable films of her entire career?

In Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs, Streep switches sides from Rendition, her previous War on Terror drama, playing Janine Roth, an investigative journalist given an exclusive scoop by a hawkish, right-wing senator named Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) about a new military tactic being deployed in Afghanistan. Because Lions for Lambs was made under the same misguided inspiration of everything-is-connected political narratives like Babel, Crash, and Rendition, Streep and Cruise’s conversation is just one of three narrative threads...

Click to read more ...

TIFF 2018 Finale. Jury of One: Nathaniel

OKAY WRAPPING UP TIFF NOW. Unless you are on an actual jury at a festival, you see a different set of films than everyone else attending (with a handful of crossovers) so I couldn't corral votes with my festival roomies (Nick, Joe, and Chris -- instead we did a podcast). So I thought it might be fun to share my favorites from the festival in 'nominee' Oscar style. These are not, of course, Oscar predictions or even Film Bitch ballots because not all of the films are guaranteed eligibility this year and we've had 8 months of good movies before these and we'll have 3 months of hopefully good movies afterwards that they'll have to compete with. But here's the achievements within traditional awards categories that thrilled me most at TIFF during that 29 film screening marathon.

They're listed in alpha order (by film) except the actors (by name) and links go to our festival reviews if we managed one -- a few more reviews are half written but we need to wrap up TIFF so expect more on A Star is Born, Beautiful Boy, Border, and more soon as they'll be in theaters within the next few weeks.

TEN BEST FILMS I SAW AT TIFF

"Roma" is rich with endless details and emotional punch

• Border (Sweden)
• First Man (US)
• Museo (Mexico)
• The River (Kazakshtan)
• Roma (Mexico)
• A Star is Born (US)
• Transit (Germany)
• Widows (US)
• Wildlife (US)
• Woman at War (Iceland)

Runners up: Cold War (Poland)

Lots more after the jump including best performances, best visuals, best dogs (yes, really), best original songs and more...

Click to read more ...

Queer TIFF: "Vita & Virginia" and "Tell It To the Bees"

Nathaniel R trying to catch up on those festival reviews! 

Herewith two films about married women breaking out of their heteronormative bonds for passionate lesbian affairs. And what I thought were two movies written by famous actresses though, in fact, only one was...

What would Virginia Woolf make of the multiple cinematic attempts to capture her enigmatic persona in two hours flat? Hell, what did the literary icon make of the movies themselves since they were invented in her lifetime? If I'm ever able to interview Woolf expert, actress/writer Dame Eileen Atkins, I plan to ask her. Woolf was most famously played onscreen by Nicole Kidman in The Hours in which Atkins had a small role. Now it's the ever bewitching Elizabeth Debicki's turn in Vita and Virginia, written by Atkins from her play of the same name...

Click to read more ...

Best Lead Actor - New Oscar Chart

by Nathaniel R

If current predictions hold we're looking at quite an exciting Best Actor shortlist: Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Ryan Gosling, Ethan Hawke, and Viggo Mortensen. They've all been nominated multiple times for their acting but have yet to win. Since they're all hugely talented, it's basically a win-win scenario on Oscar night no matter who wins, really!  At least that's how it feels at this current moment looking at the grid.

Of course it's only September and things could definitely change. Things could definitely change in the name of Christian Bale as Vice Dick Cheney. Check out the revised chart with new photos, new ranking, new text. Thoughts?

Supporting Actor - New Oscar Chart!

by Nathaniel R

Barring a late year surprise like, oh any number of famous guys from the Dick Cheney biopic Vice (formerly known as Backseat), we may know the shape of the Best Supporting Actress race before any of the other acting races this year. That's unusual since the supporting shortlists usually clear up last since Best Picture heat is so (generally speaking) crucial to their composition.

So why the early cementing buzz? That's because  Mahershala Ali in Green Book, Sam Elliott in A Star is Born, and Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy have all already staked a very solid claim. They look like the three who will be battling it out for the actual statue. The race would arguably already be wrapped up for Sam Elliott to honor both his long long career and this perfect fit of a role but for the fact that it looks like Ali and Chalamet, both co-leads in their films, will be competing in this category (sigh) since their co-leads (Viggo Mortensen and Steve Carell, respectively) also have penises but the advantage of top billing. So... you know how that goes with Oscar campaigns.

Check out the newly revised Supporting Actor Chart. All new text and photos for everyone!