Streaming Diaries: "1899", "Friend of the Family" and more

by Nathaniel R

I didn't see you there.

I had a short-lived second round with COVID over Thanksgiving week (all better now, "negative", and out and about). While sick the hot ginger tea was flowing and the streaming entertainment was constant. The great f***-over moment of the timing of all this (first world problem incoming!) was that the FYC screeners went to my old address and the new Apple TV that could download the studio FYC streaming apps didn't arrive until after the holiday. This means I did not have access to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio so naturally that's the movie I felt like watching at every moment. But you should know (if you don't already from social media) that Netflix is really pouring money into that Oscar campaign; they sent a massive box of stuff!

Okay, we'll do a few of these streaming diaries posts to catch up and they'll be very random as to what's discussed from Oscar bait to trashy TV...

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Sunset Circle names "TÁR" best of the year

by Nathaniel R

Sarah Polley's philosophical drama Women Talking and Park Chan Wook's twisty noir Decision to Leave led the nominations for the Sunset Circle Awards in their third year but came up mostly empty-handed when it came to wins. Todd Field's TÁR emerged as the big winner taking Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay. The smaller the critics group the more likely you are to have nominee and winners list with some personality. Whether or not that personality is a good one is of course up to the eye of the beholder. Sunset Circle is composed of just 9 film journalists who specialize in awards coverage. We don't love that they vote before all the movies are screened each year in order to be first but we do love that they don't try to predict the Oscars. No critics group should. If you're voting on anything other than your own preferences, you're doing it wrong! Their nominees and winners (marked by ★) follow along with a few more comments... 

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Review: "The Fabelmans" is a 'love letter to cinema' done right

by Cláudio Alves

Around the holiday season of 1952, a Jewish couple takes their son to the movies in New Jersey. It's his first time watching a picture on the big screen, and the experience will change him forever. As Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth unravels at 24 frames per second, the kid's eyes watch everything in starry awe, growing fearful as a massive train crash marks the narrative's climactic set piece. In the coming days, he'll ask for a trainset as his Hanukah present, growing obsessed with restaging the calamity he saw projected big on that magical place, the movie screen. So he doesn't ruin the expensive toy with multiple crashes, his mom suggests the boy films the crash with the dad's 8mm camera. And thus begins a love story bigger than life itself.

In reality, the boy's name was Steven Spielberg. In this latest memory play turned film fantasy, or private secret elevated to public spectacle, he's Sammy Fabelman…

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Lots of winners at a 'spread the wealth' kind of Gotham Awards

by Nathaniel R

Gay Joy! The "Fire Island" cast, in one of Gothams many tributes, were honored for their ensemble work

A24's Everything Everywhere All At Once triumphed at the Gotham Awards last night in NYC winning two prizes: Best Feature and Best Supporting Performance (Ke Huy Quan). Since the Gothams have very few categories, the nomination leaders Tár and Aftersun had to settle for one prize each. The big awards story of the night, punditry-wise if not at the actual event since she wasn't there, was Danielle Deadwyler taking Best Lead Performance for Till. That's a nice feather in her cap and when you're less famous than your competition, every bit of media attention helps. It's always been hard to win third Oscars so perhaps Best Actress will end up very competitive and not just a cakewalk for Blanchett?  Full list of winners plus a few quotes and notes after the jump...

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Thanksgiving was Unkind to the Box Office

By Ben Miller

Thanksgiving weekend can usually be counted on for a big box office, but that was certainly not the case this year.  The entire box office managed just $92.9 million for the three-day weekend.  That's the lowest Thanksgiving box office weekend since 1994 (not counting 2020, obviously).  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cruised to another easy box office win, dropping a mere 31% in it's third week of release.  The two new releases of Disney's Strange World and the war film Devotion both landed with relative thuds.  The marketing on both has been dubious at best...

Weekend Box Office (actuals) November 25th-27th 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER	GLASS ONION
1 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $45.6 (cum. $367.5)	1 🔺★ GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY $9.4 *NEW* 696 screens

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