Some Thoughts on "The White Lotus"

by Eric Blume

With the Emmy Awards ahead of us this coming weekend, it seems like a good time to start discussing a show that will likely make a killing at next year's Emmys, Mike White's HBO show The White Lotus.  It's been the talk of the industry this summer, and rightfully so, as there's nothing quite like it.  This intense ensemble comedy-drama-satire-tragedy is incredibly dense, so to start off the discussion, I thought I'd offer just a few of the very difficult things that writer-director Mike White accomplished with such intelligent success...

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Emmy Category Review: Outstanding Television Movie

by Juan Carlos Ojano

In a surprise, Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square was announced the winner of Outstanding TV Movie at last night's Primetime Creative Arts Emmys, securing Netflix another win in this category after missing last year. While this category has gone low-profile in recent years (being “demoted” from the main ceremony to the Creative Arts), the work represented in this category is still worth recognizing and worth checking out. Unlike last year, four networks are represented in this category of five (with Prime Video getting double nods). For the last time, here were the nominees...

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That's a wrap on Venice!

by Nathaniel R

Elisa and Nathaniel on one of several drink between movies breaks

That's a wrap on Venezia 78, otherwise known at the 2021 edition of the Venice Film Festival. The Golden Lion went to the excellent French abortion drama L'Evenement / Happening with Parallel Mothers, Spencer, and a trio of Netflix movies Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, and Power of the Dog  also emerging as hot future awards-prospects from the competition. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the city is (my first time visiting), or what it's like to take a boat ride to the movies each day. Or especially to hang with Elisa in person who was such a great translator for me both linguistically and culturally (and so much fun, too!). There was definitely a learning curve as a first-timer (I missed way too many of the hot ticket titles) but overall it was a good experience.  We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Consider subscribing for the price of a cup of coffee a month if you did as festival coverage isn't cheap for us behind the scenes...

• Elisa's Diary #1 Parallel Mothers and Power of the Dog
• Elisa's Diary #2 The Card Counter, Hand of God, The Lost Daughter
• Elisa's Diary #3 Spencer, A Plein Temps, Il Buco
• Eiisa's Diary #4 Sundown, Official Competition, etc...
• Elisa Extra Dune - full review
• Elisa's Diary #5 L'Evenement, Lost Illusions, Mona Lisa...
• Elisa's Diary #6 Reflection, Captain Volkonoff Escaped, Old Henry, etc...
• Elisa's Diary #7 Halloween Kills, Freaks Out, The Last Duel, etc...
• Elisa Extra Golden Lion and other prizes

• Nathaniel in Venice #1 Parallel Mothers
• Nathaniel in Venice #2 Power of the Dog, Madeleine Collins
• Nathaniel in Venice #3 Atlantide, Les Promesses, The Lost Daughter
• Nathaniel in Venice #4 107 Mothers, Official Competition, Miracle, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jessica Chastain & Oscar Isaac 🖤
• Nathaniel in Venice #5 Last Night in Soho, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
• Nathaniel in Venice #6 Catholic School, A Hole in the Fence, The Box
• Nathaniel Extra Cambodia's Oscar submission
• Nathaniel in Venice #7 Mother Lode, L'Evenement, The Falls, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jury of One - best of what he saw

cup o' joe : $2.50USD - monthly popcorn : $5.00USD - monthly movie ticket : $10.00USD - monthly

I ♥ The Film Experience

Almost There: Jack Lemmon in "Glengarry Glen Ross"

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, in the Almost There series, I took a look at Shirley MacLaine's Volpi Cup-winning turn in Madame Sousatzka. This week, it's on to another Venice Film Festival champion who got some Oscar buzz but failed to make it to the Academy's lineup. From a Best Actress winner to a Best Actor victor, from one elderly Oscar-winner to another, from The Apartment's leading lady to its leading man. In 1992, Jack Lemmon won two prizes at Venice, both for his performance in James Foley's screen adaptation of David Mamet's most famous play, Glengarry Glen Ross. The movie is iconic, full of memorable dialogue and oft-quoted one-liners, a treasure trove of vociferous acting, bursting at the seams with tired testosterone. Still, amid such a powerhouse cast of characters and acclaimed thespians, Lemmon shines brightest…

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Oscar's "Best International Feature Film" race begins

by Nathaniel R

The 94th Oscars are six months away but we now know seven of the contenders for the next Best International Feature Film race (so it's time to start updating/building the Oscar charts). In the past couple of years this category has been on absolute fire with the double whammy of extremely enthusiastic critical acclaim and crowd-pleasing entertainments via South Korea's Parasite (2019) and Denmark's Another Round (2020). For the first time that we can recall the window of eligibility this season follows the exact calendar year (usually international film contenders calendar runs October to September but last year f***ed with everyone's calendar) so as long as a movie opens in its home country sometime in 2021 it is theoretically eligible for submission. Each country can only send one film, though, as per always.

Here are the first seven contenders announced. If we've reviewed them there's a link...

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