Monday, October 28, 2024 at 9:11PM by Eurocheese
Festering emotions were front-and-center in these two strong films at the festival, though they were expressed in very different ways. Both screenplays played with tone, though Nightbitch’s swings didn’t always land as successfully as A Real Pain's. In each film, one charismatic performance will be the top takeaway for most viewers..
Monday, October 28, 2024 at 4:00PM 
Joaquin Phoenix's last great performance was in C'MON C'MON.
Do you have your own dream Oscar ballots lying around? I've been doing them for ages, probably since first finding The Film Experience and becoming entranced by Nathaniel's Film Bitch Awards. In recent years, the mountains of notebooks finally came to be formally digitized, starting with the long process of creating Letterboxd lists out of every Oscar eligibility rulebook, going back to 1927. This way, I was able to make a massive Excel spreadsheet with ballots for every year, following AMPAS guidelines. Oh well, much ado about nothing. The only reason I'm bringing this up is to contextualize the bizarre birthday post in store for today, when Joaquin Phoenix celebrates his mid-century mark.
As the Todd Haynes fiasco and the disappointing Joker diptych have made Joaquin Phoenix something of a sore subject, let's go back to happier times and better movies. Indeed, let me present an alternative Oscar history. The thespian remains a winner but under very different circumstances…
Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 4:37PM by Nick Taylor
How is it that two of the year’s best documentaries currently have no major distribution team behind them? Actually, given the subject matter of both films, the logic for each case makes too much sense, but I’ll be using my little bully pulpit to rage against this. One of those films, the Palestinian documentary No Other Land, has already been covered by our beloved Cláudio Alves. The second film in this position is Union, Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s chronicle of the Amazon Labor Union’s grassroots campaign to be recognized by Amazon at the company’s Staten Island facilities in 2021. As an industrial giant whose tendons continue creeping deeper into every industry on the planet, it’s almost funny to watch them take such umbrage about this film when they might save more face by just letting it emerge into the world, rather than giving the ALU yet another chance to raise hell about Amazon silencing unions. In a very real way, the cooperative effort from so many of Union’s producers and backers to give it an Oscar-qualifying release mirrors the grassroots spirit of the film itself. Its release won’t be huge, but Level Ground is making sure it gets out into the world, and hopefully word of mouth praise for its timely subject should be enough to get butts in the theater.
If you want to hear more, join me under the cut . . . .
2024, Brett Story, NYFF, Stephen Maing, Union, documentaries, film festival Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 2:00PM 
by Eurocheese
Mike Leigh is a filmmaker who has always evoked strong opinions, with your typical cinephile having their own takes on which films are strongest among his catalog. Certainly one of the highlights of his career has been Secrets & Lies, with the memorable pairing of Brenda Blethyn and his leading lady from this film, Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Her subtle work in that film, clashing against her brash co-stars, is often cited as one of the best performances from any Leigh film, earning her only Oscar nomination to date. Seeing her back in one of his leading roles, fans of the director and actress will be pleased to hear that their reunion brings us one of the best performances and films of the year.
Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy introduces herself to the audience by waking up screaming, and her intensity doesn’t dial down from there...
Saturday, October 26, 2024 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
Image Source: La Pfeiffer's Instagram
Early voting and mail-in voting have commenced in many states. Here in New York early voting starts today. After I vote this weekend, I'll be on the bus for some canvassing. If you are a US citizen and unable to vote early, make sure to be there on Tuesday November 5 at your polling place no matter how long the line. Most important election ever now that T**** and his constituents have long ago dropped pretenses and are saying the quiet part out loud. They want to turn America into a fascist racist Christian-Nationalist hellscape that aligns itself with oligarchs and dictators around the world and aren't even embarrassed about admitting they admire Hitler and Putin. Basically the movement is as anti-American and anti-Democracy as it gets. We were not designed to elect a king with immunity. That's not how it works and the founding fathers of all political persuasions would never stop throwing up if they could see what the GOP is currently backing. No excuses to sit this one out, people. Harris/Walz 2024. Let's go Blue Wave.
Here are some picks of screen stars talking about voting and the election to tie this back into showbiz...
