Best International Film: Brazil's "Private Desert", Iceland's "Lamb" and more...

Since I last piped up on the Best International Feature Film race at the upcoming Oscars, Italy released their finalist lists, and the following five countries have also picked their ponies:

BRAZIL
They're sending Aly Muritiba's Private Desert about a suspended policeman who is looking to meet his internet love. She's vanished but he finds a man who offers to connect the would-be lovers. It premiered at Venice...

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The Italian Oscar race: 18 contenders for the submission, 1 probable winner

by Elisa Giudici

THE HAND OF GOD

The Italian longlist for the 2021 Oscar submission is very long and much better than usual, quality-wise. Although if the Italian Cinema Academy appointed by ANICA really wants to give Italy a chance to make the finals,the choice is obvious: Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God.

Unfortunately, in the last decade, the Italian film commission's rulings on this matter have not proved to be that smart. I mean, how can you send Marco Bellocchio's The Traitor (as beautiful and important as it was domestically) when The New York Times states that Pietro Marcello's Martin Eden is the best movie of 2020? Our only solace was that that was the year of Parasite, so there was no room for a real contender to Bong Joon-ho's victory in Best Internatural Feature Film...

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Truth-Telling: Florence Pugh's Halloween Rant.

What the..
Apparently Yelena didn’t make the cut.
GUYS. I LITERALLY TALK ABOUT POCKETS IN NEARLY EVERY SCENE.
Halloween= A LOT OF FREE SWEETIES.
May I remind you that the vest has “A LOT OF HANDY POCKETS”..
Costume+vest+POCKETS= someone who came prepared.
IT IS with great importance we understand how vital Yelena is for Halloween.
Rant over, thanks for listening.

Florence Pugh (Black Widow) has a point. Should we cancel Halloween?

Yes No Maybe So: "Being the Ricardos"

by Nathaniel R

the stars at a table read

The teaser is out for Amazon's Being the Ricardo, which is not a biopic in the common sense but a behind-the-scenes drama about one week in the making of the I Love Lucy show and the volatile Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball marriage/working relationship. At least that's what we've heard about it. The trailer on the other hand, suggests something more like a glimpse of Lucille Ball's ego and fight to stay on top in the (then) new medium of television.

Let's discuss after the jump...

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Almost There: Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"

by Cláudio Alves        

Last week, you were asked to choose a horror movie performance to be analyzed in the Almost There series. From the ten possibilities, the pick was Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Telling the story of a scientist who accidentally gene-splices himself with a housefly, the movie is the platonic ideal of body horror and probably the title most readily associated with the subgenre. Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis' makeup is justly legendary and won the pair an Oscar. One would think horror would be a mainstay in that particular category, but AMPAS rarely embraces it, even there. Hence why The Fly's awards success feels so thrilling. Unfortunately, it's also why Goldblum's transformative work was ignored...

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