Just Jack

JA from MNPP here with some sad news - it's being reported that Jack Nicholson has officially, if quietly, retired from acting. Given that's it's been two years since the 76 year-old made a movie it's not the most surprising news in the world, but he's taken that long between roles before and I kept hoping he'd come back with one killer role and not go out on a sour note like How Do You Know (a title whose lack of punctuation still grates two years later). Radar is quoting ye old anonymous "Hollywood insider" as saying that it's due to memory loss - that he just can't remember his lines anymore, and that's why he passed on reuniting with his About Schmidt director Alexander Payne on the upcoming Nebraska, a role that eventually went to Bruce Dern. So... there's Johnny. What's your favorite Nicholson?

Foreign Oscar Updates: 15 Official Submissions & Much More

Another week, another 10+ submissions for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race. We're up to 15 official titles now (which means there are about 50 to go). We previously covered Germany's finalist list but they didn't go with the youthful hit comedy Oh Boy after all but with the drama Two Lives, which we highlighted as a strong possibility given its war themes and the presence of Liv Ullman in the cast list.

But the German news is just scratching the surface of what's going on in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race.

FINALISTS AND SPECULATION

"Thy Womb"'s Nora Aunor won several Best Actress prizes at festivals

THE PHILIPPINES
They've recently announced a list of 8 finalists although, to make things confusing, they are still willing to look at more films that aren't on the list in case of late arrivals to the cinema. But chances are the film will come from this list: Supremo, Boses, El Presidente, Thy Womb (from the acclaimed Brillante Mendoza), Dance of the Steel Bars (inspired by a true story of prison inmate dancing videos going viral), Pinoy superstar Eugene Domingo (Ploning, The Woman in the Septic Tank) might be representing her country again in Tuhog, and finally director Erik Matti has two opportunities for submission since he has two films on the list On the Job and Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. You may recall I was bummed that The Phillipines missed last year since I loved their entry Bwakaw. They've yet to be nominated for an Oscar. 

"I Am Yours" might be the submission from Norway

NORWAY 
I was just visiting earlier this summer! Norway has announced their three finalists for Oscar submission. The Norwegian Oscar committee will be choosing between Arild Østin Ommundsen’s It’s Only Make Believe (Eventyrland) about a woman convicted for shooting two people who is released from prison, Erik Skjoldbjærg’s Pioneer about a deep sea diver, and Iram Haq’s I Am Yours (Jeg er din) about a Norwegian Pakistani woman falling in love. The latter starsOla Rapace (the ex Mr. Noomi who was recently in Skyfall) and Amrita Acharia and I'm hoping to see it at TIFF. None of these directors have been submitted in previous years. Norway won't be announcing their official candidate until September 20th. The land of the midnight sun has been nominated for the Oscar fem ganger (most recently last season with Kon-Tiki) but has yet to win the gold.

Fernanda Montenegro in "Time and the Wind"BRAZIL 
Brazil has not released a finalist list or an official submission but longtime fans of this category (and of The Film Experience which has always had a loyal following in Brazil!) should note that it's very possible that Fernanda Montenegro, Best Actress nominated for Central Station (1998), could be back on Academy screens. The 83 year old acting icon co-stars in the lush period drama Time and the Wind. It’s from director Jayme Monjardim, whose film Olga was submitted in its year, and it’s based on a beloved series of historical novels set in the colonial era. 

MEXICO & PORTUGAL
They've both released very long finalists lists of 15 and 16 films respectively. Here is Mexico's list and Portugal's (which is harder to read). Any guesses?

15 ½ OFFICIAL SUBMISSIONS THUS FAR

AUSTRIA The Wall
BULGARIA Colour of the Chameleon
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Who's the Boss?
FINLAND The Disciple
GERMANY Two Lives
GREECE Boy Eating the Bird's Food
HUNGARY The Notebook
LUXEMBOURG Blind Spot
MONTENEGRO Debut Submission! Bad Destiny
NEPAL Soongava: Dance of the Orchids
THE NETHERLANDS Borgman  --Though it's been referred to in some articles here and there as the Dutch Oscar entry, this is not official (yet). Just widely assumed
ROMANIA Child's Pose
SINGAPORE Ilo Ilo
SOUTH KOREA Juvenile Offender
TURKEY The Butterfly's Dream
VENEZUELA Breach in the Silence

Nepal is sending the lesbian romantic drama "SOONGAVA: DANCE OF THE ORCHIDS

MORE (INFO, TRAILERS, POSTERS) @ OUR OSCAR CHARTS
Foreign Film Submissions Pt 1. Albania through Italy
Foreign Film Submissions Pt 2. Kenya through Vietnam

May the best films be nominated, no matter what country they're from! Pass it on to your friends who love subtitles!

Miyazaki To Retire (Again)

Anne Marie here, with some news I have been trying desperately to ignore all weekend: Hayao Miyazaki is officially retiring. It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the master animator has announced his retirement. But each time he threatens to leave, a little color goes out of the world.

My feelings at this exact moment.

Miyazaki is one of those unique artists who sees the extraordinary in the ordinary, and draws from a seemingly inexhaustable wellspring of imagination. My favorite film is Princess Mononoke only because it was the first Miyazaki film I saw, and I was thus completely overwhelmed by the movie.

What's your favorite Miyazaki film? Do you fear this retirement is the permanent one?

Team Top Ten: Biggest Awards Season Flops

Amir here, to bring you our newest edition of Team Top Ten. Festival season is in full force. Telluride just wrapped. Venice is going strong. And in just two days, Toronto will set the awards season ablaze (Nathaniel and I will be there covering the flames). So we thought we’d vote on something that captures the spirit of the season.

Sort of.

Looking ahead at this point, there are a lot of films that look like surefire Oscar contenders. Inevitably, some of them will miss out on nomination morning, but at this very moment, everyone’s got their hopes high. Even in a year where unfortunate circumstances led to widespread discussion of racism in America, one can’t expect Mandela, 12 Years a Slave, Lee Daniels' The Butler AND Fruitvale Station to be nominated, but all four films are certainly gunning for it. So has been the story with many films in the past couple of decades, since the Oscars became the most glamorous political race on the planet and the Weinstein’s at Miramax supercharged awards campaigning.  

We’re looking back today at the films of the past 25 years – let’s call it the Campaigning Era – that looked like major Oscar players this far out in the year, or hell, even five minutes before nominations were announced in some cases, but failed to make a dent of any size. This is Team Experience’s Top Ten Awards Season Flops. Note that this is not a qualitative judgment - some stank, some were superb. But, for one reason or another, they fell short of what The Golden Man deems "Best". In simple terms – borrowed from Team Experience member, Nick Davis – these are the ten films that have the largest gap between their Oscar hopes and their Oscar outcomes. Without further ado… 

Bobby and 9 more dashed-hopefuls after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Oh No Not Alain Delon

JA from MNPP here with some upsetting news - famed French beauty Alain Delon (who I could have sworn was openly bisexual way back in the day) has spoken out against homosexuality in France, calling it "unnatural" and saying that men "are here to love a woman, to woo a woman, not to flirt with or get picked up by guys." French writer Claude Serraute hysterically responded, “It is against nature to love yourself as much as he does.” Anyway Delon says he doesn't give a damn about gay marriage, but that he's against the adoption of children by gay couples.

Am I going to have to burn my copy of Purple Noon now, you guys? I really don't want to burn my copy of Purple Noon. And Rocco and His Brothers! I loved that shower scene so much. And what to do about my cherished memories of the way he and Jean-Paul Belmondo were always hanging on each other? Am I supposed to forget all that? This is a travesty. With one bigoted pile of big-mouth bullcrap so many of my favorite movie fantasies have been dashed. Damn him. It's like how I can't watch Contempt anymore without thinking of Brigitte Bardot's homophobic comments. Can old French actors just shut up and stop ruining classics? At least we'll always have Saint Deneuve. (Oh wait.)