What will the Netherlands submit to Oscar?

by Nathaniel R

Will The Netherlands submit "De Oost", currently streaming on Amazon?

For those of you who like to follow the admittedly super niche drama of the submission battles for Oscar's best International Feature Film race, we have another finalist list to report. The Netherlands will be announcing their submission in early October but we have their 14 wide finalist list. The first thing to note is that Paul Verhoeven's excellent lesbian nun drama Benedetta is not on it. Perhaps it's because the Dutch director who The Netherlands have submitted four times (Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange, The Fourth Man, Black Book)  is now working in France mostly. Elle, his most recent previous picture, was a submission for France and perhaps Benedetta wasn't deemed Dutch enough? Only three of the fourteen possibilities from The Netherlands have anything like an international profile and all three are about young soldiers so we suspect the Dutch will be sending a war drama.

After the jump a brief decription of each finalist, one of which is already in release in the US...

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The Tonys Return: A Year and a Half Late, But Right OnTime

by Patrick Ball

Hamilton, just celebrated at the Emmys, swept the Tonys six years ago.

Eighteen months after Broadway’s curtains dropped due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, they finally rose again last week as New Yorkers and theater lovers across the country welcomed their favorite witches, lions, and founding fathers back to Broadway. Correspondingly, The American Theater Wing and The Broadway League have set the 74th annual Tony Awards for the curtailed 2019-2020 Broadway season for this Sunday. Yes, you read that right, this weekend awards are finally being handed out for productions from an eligibility window that ran from the literal *summer* of 2019 to February 2020 -- a lifetime ago! (It's been two years and three months since the 73rd annual Tony Awards were held.)

Luckily, theater-related talent and content has been gracing our screens in abundance over the past year to help ease the wait...

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"Belfast" is TIFF's choice. How far can it go with Oscar?

by Nathaniel R

going to the movies in "Belfast"

It's been strange to have gone without TIFF, my once favourite festival, for two years running. As a result i have yet to see Kenneth Branagh's Belfast which did not play at Venice though its Oscar buzz is now quite loud. It recently won TIFF's People's Choice Award which has long been a strong Oscar bellwether. We'd argue that that connection is less causal than reflective of a "similar taste profile", though. The type of people who go to huge and accessible film festivals are not unlike Oscar voters in that their tastes lean mainstream but mainstream under the now niche umbrella (sigh) of "also art"...

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The 2021 Emmy Winners + Trivia and Notes

by Nathaniel R

Did you watch the show last night? Despite the monotony of the nominations -- the Television Academy just has to do better and they must install specific juries to determine nominations since people naturally only have a couple handfuls of shows and naturally vote on the series as a whole rather than that season -- it was a night where the wealth was magically spread. At least a little bit...

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Would you rather?

Time for our silly gawking at celebrities on Instagram impromptu readers poll. So, would you rather...

GOOD MORNING.

• Have a cup of tea with Lee Pace?
• ride bikes with Anna Kendrick?
• rush tickets for "Wicked" with Kristen Chenoweth?
• celebrate Park So Dam's birthday with the Parasite star herself?
• pause for a little stretch and a glass of wine with Julianne Moore?
• bake cookies with Jennifer Garner?
• take photos with LaKeith Stanfield?
• dive with Ben Hardy in Croatia?
• do a quick supply run with Dove Cameron?
• cosplay favourite toys with Lea Delaria?
• hit the beach with Tony Leung? 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide. 

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