Denzel Back in the Oscar Race?

Chris here.

After it was such a surprise late addition to the TIFF lineup, it wasn't much of a shock that Roman J Israel, Esq. got one of the more muted responses of the festival's big premieres. But the film is coming right around the corner and we can expect a much more attentive response for its release now that we have more time to actually get excited for it. And from the looks of the new trailer, it looks like we'll be getting more of peak Denzel Washington after a near miss with Oscar in Fences.

So can this film build on the momentum that Washington had last year? The Best Actor race is on the thin side, aside from incoming behemoth Gary Oldman, so some movie star goodwill can't hurt. Writer/director Dan Gilroy certainly gave us a complex sociopolitical male vehicle with Nightcrawler and this looks like another layered morality tale, even with significantly less scabrousness than that debut. But if there's any actor today who can mine the full depth of a character's compromise and regret, it's Washington.

As for the film itself, it will have to overcome some already tepid reviews to register beyond the megastar. There is certainly some promise here in the trailer, even if I'm bracing myself to be enraged by yet another film sidelining the fabulous Carmen Ejogo and giving us Colin Farrell sans beard. Roman J Israel, Esq. opens on November 3.

Ashley Judd Confirms Weinstein Harassment

by Ilich Mejia

In 2015, actress Ashley Judd spoke to Variety as part of their Power of Women issue and declared a powerful studio head sexually harassed her during the making of 1997's Kiss the Girls. She detailed how he invited her to his hotel room and, once there, ordered her around while making her uncomfortable.

This morning, The New York Times reported that Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of prestige production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, has been confronted with several sexual harrassment accusations from underlings and colleagues that have resulted in at least eight out-of-court settlements...

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DOC NYC Announce Their 15 Oscar Potentials

by Glenn Dunks

Every year the mammoth New York based documentary film festival DOC NYC announces a program of films titled the “Short List”. These are films they describe as "[feeling] like worthy contenders for the Oscar short list based on festival accolades, reviews, box office”, culled from a longer list by means of “evaluating what titles appear to have momentum.”

The DOC NYC festival casts a very wide net for their selections with an annual line-up including films that have already screened in theatrical release or on television. Because of this, they’re able to claim to have played the last six winners of the Best Documentary Oscar. And in the four years since they began the Short List, the only Oscar nominee to not feature in the Short List program is Virunga. It’s an impressive statistic if not a somewhat deflating one knowing that this year’s nominees are likely somewhere to be found in this list of 15. But that's the Oscar prognastication game for you and we all love to play along so it's worth mentioning.

THE FINAL YEAR (Greg Barker)

There’s still about two months until the Academy release their own shortlist of 15 from the estimated 130 titles that will be submitted. But for now, let’s take a look at what DOC NYC are hedging their bets on...

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C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 3rd Qtr

by Nathaniel R

Blade Runner 2049 is our current prediction for "Most Nominations Without Best Picture" though maybe it'll snag that, too.Here at The Film Experience I like to keep track of favorites all year long for two reasons. The first is to not to be unduly influenced by the studio shenanigans of backloading the film year with their intended Oscar hopefuls. The second is to prevent forgetfullness when it comes time to give out the Film Bitch Awards, my own virtual awards fest to close out each film year.  When I don't keep careful track it's much harder to wrap things up at year's end.

Being a bit late this quarter, here are Best ofs per Oscar category from films released from July through October 6th (an extra week added on because we're running late). This list does not include films with known release dates from now until the end of the year. We'll save those films till we get there. Unreleased films without a future date are marked with an asterisk. Got it?

Key movies I missed this quarter  (that I'll try and catch up with on screeners hopefully): It, Valerian, Logan Lucky, Patti Cake$, Tulip Fever, Good Time, Lady MacBeth, and A Ghost Story

PICTURE and/or DIRECTOR and/or SCREENPLAY
(i couldn't decide which to cut so this first grouped selection is 8 wide)

     released
ATOMIC BLONDE (David Leitch) The lack of audience turn out for this uber-stylish, inventive actioner, with Charlize Theron showing all the other movie stars how to do action hero performances  (again!) was one of the bummers of summer '17.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Jonathan Drayton & Valerie Faris) Such a surprisingly strong history lesson and funny resonant drama, too
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Hypnotic if already overrated (calm down! If you're claiming that it's better than the original if it's not your #1 of 2017 with ease you'll have to explain why you've dissed one of the greatest and most influential movies ever made)
DUNKIRK (Christopher Nolan)
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) The new criticism that I keep seeing online that this film romanticizes poverty is a head-scratcher as it's an exceedingly dark movie that merely looks like candy (due to all that color). The imagined future of virtually all the characters is outstandingly bleak and politically aware for those who are willing to see it. Sean Baker's recent (also terrific) movies Starlet and Tangerine are similarly focused / staged / and tonally nimble with gallows humor, character specificity, and socioeconomic concerns. If having this much empathy for marginalized people is romanticizing poverty, I say bring it on!
mother! (Darren Aronofsky) Sorry not sorry.

more after the jump including best unreleased pics, highlights in cinematography, costumes, and the like...

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"American Girl": Tom Petty at the Movies.

By Salim Garami

What's good? 

In memory of the musical legend Tom Petty, I couldn't help thinking about how the movies essentially introduced me to my love for his music (much as movies happen to introduce me to a lot of music I come to hold close to my heart) and I wanted to have something to say about it.

So I looked to two wildly different films that utilize the quintessential Heartbreakers classic "American Girl", the jangly pumping tune about a young girl looking out in hopes of a world outside her balcony. It was his second big hit, riding on the success of previous single "Breakdown", and it's instantly recognizable in the Diddley-esque high chords strumming and the sort of bass drum kick-snare pattern that makes one pop up and ready to move. It's no less infectious than any pop song of the day in its simplicity. So it only makes sense that so many films and tv series would be eager to use it in their soundtracks.

Take It Easy, Baby, and Find Out Which Films I Choose After the Break...

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