Boston Society embraces "The Father" and "Nomadland"

by Nathaniel R

The Boston Society of Film Critics, generally one of the best critics organizations (in that they have good taste and aren't afraid to go their own way) announced their prize winners today. They've given multiple prizes to four pictures: Nomadland, Minari, i'm thinking of ending things, and The Father. With the exception of prizes for American indie Never Rarely Sometimes Always, the Guatemalan film La Llorona, and Charlie Kaufman's I'm thinking of ending things, Boston almost exlusively went with films that have not yet opened to the public or that just barely "opened" so it's a "Best of December 2020 through February 2021" kind of list. 

The complete list of winners is after the jump...

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The 2020 Christmas Movie Catalogue

by Tony Ruggio

It wasn’t so long ago that Christmas movies were dead and buried, outside of Hallmark’s copious output anyway. They were no longer of much interest to major Hollywood studios and inherently verboten for indie distributors. Thanks to Netflix, Hulu, and the streaming wars, the genre is back and more prolific than ever. And in a year like 2020, we might need them more than ever...

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Review: Israel’s Oscar Submission "Asia"

By Abe Friedtanzer

It's been quite the year for Shira Haas. Known previously to American audiences for her work in Shtisel on Netflix and the Jessica Chastain film The Zookeeper's Wife, she arrived in a big way in 2020 as the star of Unorthodox, which premiered on Netflix in March. Just a few weeks later, she was named Best International Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival, where her film Asia was slated to have its world premiere. After popping up at a number of festivals over the past few months and winning nine of its twelve Ophir (Israel’s Oscar) nominations, Asia is now opening the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles, which begins today…

In her past few roles, Haas, who turned twenty-five in May, has been playing younger than her age. Esty in Unorthodox was nineteen, and in Esau, which debuted on digital and VOD a few weeks ago, she portrays a particularly young teenage love interest...

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EFA Winners: "Another Round" Sweeps

by Nathaniel R

The European Film Awards were held yesterday, mostly virtually, with Denmark's Another Round winning all four of its nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay). Mads Mikkelsen headlines as a depressed high school teacher who decides to experiment with binge-drinking with three of his closest teacher friends. The funny sad beautifully executed film has a star turn at its center that we hope Oscar will consider in the crowded Best Actor race. We already presumed it a major threat at the Oscars for Best International Feature Film and this should all but erase any doubts that it will be nominated. It will be available to rent online starting December 18th in the US. At the EFA site you can see all the acceptance speeches. Here's the complete list of winners for the 33rd Annual European Film Awards and a couple of more comments...

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Showbiz History: American Hustle, Clue, and Dick Van Dyke

4 random things that happened on this day, December 13th, in showbiz history

1956 Historical drama Anastasia is released starring Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman. It will bring Bergman back into Hollywood's graces after her banishment due to her extramarital affair and win her her second Best Actress Oscar (though she doesn't attend the ceremony).

1957 Peyton Place which we discussed quite a bit this past summer premieres in NYC, becomes a smash hit and Oscar contender. The soapy drama about a mother and daughter and a small gossipy town is quickly adapted into a TV series...

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