The Phantom Link

• The Atlantic "Fear of a Black Hobbit" insightful piece about politics and 'nostalgia' franchises
• Boy Culture the latest updated edition of "Encyclopedia Madonnica" (one of our all time fav showbiz books) is out. Buy one if you haven't yet and love Madonna. It's a treasure trove.
• Vulture looks at Baz's tortured artists from Moulin Rouge! to Elvis

Very significant Broadway news regarding The Phantom of the Opera, A trans riff on Gotham City characters, Superman II cosplay, and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

TIFF: Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott in ‘Sanctuary’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Two-handers aren’t easy to pull off. They require strong actors who understand how to play off each other well enough to keep things interesting for the duration of an entire film. Fortunately, Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary makes a great case for this format, showcasing excellent performances from its stars, Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott. It's a 96-minute power struggle rollercoaster that never lets up…

Click to read more ...

TIFF: "The Swimmers"

by Matt St Clair

In an early sequence from The Swimmers, we see both sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini jamming to “Titanium” by Sia. As they’re happily move on the dance floor in slow motion, the camera pans over to the escalating warfare happening in the background. That one scene is perfectly emblematic of the movie’s overall point of view. We watch these two real-life sisters persevere and maintained hope no matter the crises surrounding them... 

Click to read more ...

TIFF Diary #5: Disappointing Oscar bait and a surprise favourite

by Baby Clyde

Hugh Jackman and Florian Zeller on the set of "The Son"

Today I had no mid-film snooze problems. The screenings started at midday with Florian Zeller’s adaptation of his own play The Son. I saw the original London production back in 2019: Great performances. Terrible play. Though Zeller has ironed out some of the innate staginess of the source material The Son can’t overcome the fact that this is not a play about the teenage depression epidemic but rather about absurdly inept parenting. The choices made are so ludicrous and the reasoning so shallow I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. They also kept the queasily distasteful, possible twist as a coda which is no less objectionable on film than it was on the stage. Sir Anthony pops up briefly in what is presumably a reprise of his character from The Father. He makes more impact in three minutes than the rest of the cast do in the other two hours of contrived torment. Consider it the first proper clunker of this Oscar season.

Empire of Light was next and has seemingly been genetically engineered in a film lab to garner Oscar noms...

Click to read more ...

TIFF: Austria’s Oscar entry ‘Corsage’ starring Vicky Krieps

By Abe Friedtanzer

Actress Vicky Krieps, who was introduced to American audiences in a big way in a performance that should have earned her an Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread, is getting a lot of work lately. She had a prominent role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old and stars in Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight, which is now playing in theaters. Most notably, she tied for the best performance prize in the 'Un Certain Regard' section at Cannes this summer for Corsage. It's a movie she both conceived of and executive produced, and now it's become Austria’s official Oscar entry.

Krieps plays Elisabeth, the Empress of Austria in 1878. The popular royal figurehead is turning forty, and she’s also watching her life slip away as her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), relegates her to uninteresting duties that don’t serve any true purpose...

Click to read more ...