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Wednesday
Dec092020

What will the Golden Globes choose for international cinema?

by Nathaniel R

one of many titles that's eligible for the Globes but not the OscarsWhile we've never extensively covered the Golden Globes selection process it's worth noting that one of the categories where they historically definitely go their own way is in Best International Feature.

DIFFERENCES: Their aesthetic taste is different than Oscar voters but, more than that, they also have different rules. First, their own eligibility list is quite different and historically larger. Oscar only allows each country to submit one film (a system surely set in place to prevent France and Italy from hogging 100% of the nominations in the early years) but the Globes don't have that restriction so we've had years where they've honored more than one film from a single country. France, for instance, sent all of their Oscar submission finalists this year to the Globes. The Globes also don't get hung up on eligibility when it comes to international productions where many countries are involved as Oscar sometimes has. They also allow films from the United States to compete if they're not in the English language (so Minari and I Carry You With Me both have a shot at a nomination this year). There's one final difference: the Globes do not allow documentaries and animated films to compete in this category.

SIMILARITIES: Otherwise the rules are the same (eligibility window and no more than 50% in English) and a good chunk of the titles on Oscar's eligibility list are usually also sent to the Globes.

Here are the titles that differ from Oscar's list...

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Dec092020

The Furniture: Ammonite's Many, Many Fossils

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

Fossils! They’re cool.

In Ammonite, they’re also a metaphor - a simple one, I’d argue. To be frank, I found the 19th century seaside lesbian paleontology drama to be a bit dull, throwing quite a bit of symbolism up on the screen without ever making a real case that this director needed to make this film about these women.

But I did quite enjoy the sheer number of visual cues, some of which do work quite well. Victorian women, the film suggests, were like fossils. Society confined them to small, dim spaces where they slowly ossified...

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Dec092020

Showbiz History: Peanuts Special, Dame Judi, and Young Tom Hardy in Prosthetics

5 random things that happened on this day, December 9th, in showbiz history

1965 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premieres on CBS, the first of many TV specials (and later feature films) based on Charles M Schultz classic comic strip. It went on to receive a Grammy nomination and win the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming and the Peabody, too. 

1988 Mississippi Burning (the first of Frances McDormand's three soon-to-be-four appearances in a Best Picture nominee) and two comedies My Stepmother is an Alien and Twins open in movie theaters...

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Tuesday
Dec082020

Let Them All Link 

• New York Times Agents, stars, and production companies are pissed at Warner Bros for their HBO Max same day as theatrical plans... which they apparently announced without warning any of their financial partners who will likely lose millions as a result. Ouch
TFE in case you missed my despondency when the Warner Bros plan was announced
• Daily Beast Steven Soderbergh interview on why he's working with HBOMax and his chemistry with Meryl Streep and his new film Let Them All Talk

More after the jump including Gucci, Spider-Man 3, Oscar Producers, and Top Ten List season...

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Tuesday
Dec082020

Comment Party: What's a movie that's famous but you (still) think vastly undervalued?

Just a question I've been thinking of today for no apparent reason. What's a movie you think is vastly underrated that also happens to be respected / famous? Usually respected and famous things aren't exactly "underappreciated", you know? I'll give you four examples off the top of my head that I would use to answer this question in that I think they're genuinely great movies, in addition to being whatever else they happen to be. 

• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, 1969)
• Silkwood (Mike Nichols, 1983)
• Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006)
• Magic Mike (Steven Sodebergh, 2012)

What's your answer?