Special Note to New England Readers

Maureen Stapleton in Interiors (1978)If you're anywhere near Troy or Sarasota Springs, NY this weekend there's two special events you might want to attend should you fancy a summer drive or a little movie-educational fun.

3:00 PM in Troy, NY
TFE reader Billy (who we've interviewed before in "reader spotlight") is hosting the final gallery tour of an exhibit in honor of Maureen Stapleton at the Rensselaer County Historical Museum. Billy's been a lifelong fan of the legendary stage and film actress who cherished her hometown of Troy. He even got to meet her and hold her Oscar. He's sharing his private collection, her Oscar winning moment, and speaking about her career in this guided tour. Champagne toast to end the afternoon! [$5 admission]

12:00-4:00 PM in Sarasota Springs, NY
Nearby in Sarasota Springs they're celebrating Solomon Northup day at Skidmore College. Northup, a Sarasota Springs native, is the subject of the new film 12 Years a Slave. In addition to guest speakers educating you on the man to be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the movie, Fox Searchlight says they'll be showing a bit of footage from the movie.  [Free to the public]

I just made your Saturday afternoon plan for you! You're welcome. If you plan on attending either, let me know. 

Yes, No, Maybe So: "12 Years a Slave"

One of our 'Most Awaited Titles of 2013' has long been 12 Years A Slave and very little of that anticipatory impatience is due to its arguable Oscar Baitiness (but yes, I've predicted it for several things back when the April Fools Predix arrived). No, ninety percent of the excitement comes by way of its director (Steve McQueen) who has yet to make a movie that's anything less than unmissable. True, he's only made two features and one of them has its very vocal detractors but if you missed Hunger or Shame it's your loss. They're two of the most striking features of the 21st century 

For his third feature he's reunited with his muse Michael Fassbender but this time the focus is on another actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor who has long been on the bubble to major stardom. 

Will this potentially potent period drama do the trick? Our Yes, No, Maybe So breakdown follows...

Click to read more ...

Release Date Shuffle: Oscar Players, Musical Wars, Franchise Heroes

I know most film blogs make a post for every teaser, release date, and every last press release. I frankly don't have the time but even if I did... why encourage Hollywood's itchy trigger fingers when they're constantly fussily rescrambling their pieces on the puzz--I'm mixing too many metaphors--  Moving on to the Release Date Switches/Announcements. We're less than 200 days away from Oscar nominations! So yes, we gotta update those charts again soon, I know.

Oscarable Switcheroos
August: Osage County has, as you now, moved to Christmas day, despite its summer friendly title. And Saving Mr Banks, the Mary Poppins related Disney flick is opting to get out in front of the Christmas crowd a bit with a December 13th bow. Meanwhile Twelve Years a Slave, from director Steve McQueen and Grace of Monaco, the new Kidman flick, both move from the Dread Oscar Eligibility Dump Week (that awful New Years week) into airier mid October. And October is getting busier and busier, really because Ridley Scott's The Counselor (just discussed) has also moved from its intended mid November start to late October.

Contrary to popular belief this does not automatically mean that the studios are less gung ho about their Oscar chances. Oscar watchers (and, yes, distributors sometimse) often forget that you don't have to open in late December to be a player. It helps to open in the last third of the year though, sure! But MANY MANY films have had good luck in September (your Argos and your American Beautys), October (your Departeds) and November (your Slumdogs and your No Countrys) among other months. 

Your Oscar calendar is currently looking like this... [Oscar Types, Superheroes and Meryl vs. Annie after the jump]

woo woo ♪ here comes the life of the Oscar partay

Click to read more ...

12 Years Of Fassbender

JA from MNPP here - have y'all seen the first batch of photos from Steve McQueen's upcoming slavery drama 12 Years a Slave? USA Today has several, including the two Fassbender-centric ones you can see here. It's Fassbender's third team-up with the Hunger / Shame director, and I can't be alone in hoping this might be the role that will finally get him some Academy attention after his most terrible omission in 2011. Same goes for the film's actual lead, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who's also been doing great work for several years now - he first really caught my eye in Dirty Pretty Things back in 2002 (although to be honest I cannot for the life of me remember squat about Amistad).

I haven't read the book upon which the film's based so I even hazard to guess whether this could actually be Academy friendly - so far McQueen's proven too outre for their tastes. But this one's got some big-time star-power behind it - it also stars (deep breath) Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Garrett Dillahunt, Alfre Woodard, Scoot McNairy and Quvenzhané Wallis, amongst many others. And 12 Years a Slave is out at the end of December, a not-so-subtle sign that somebody's thinking statues...

Do you plan to read any of the books this season's movies are based on?

I'll answer the question first. I might, though I probably shouldn't say that I might. For each year I make an internal plan to read all of the books on which upcoming films are based. Guess how many I usually get through? But given that I'd never trade F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" for any film version that might ever exist, I should probably try and read source material quicker once I know it's going to be a movie. I weep proactively, for example, for anyone who sees August: Osage County first as a movie (if it's not good) without having previously known the brilliance of the play. With this year's "Adapted" crowd, I have actually had read/experienced at least five of them... plus all the superhero stuff, 'natch.

intimate knowledge *before* seeing the movies, 2013 edition

This topic is on the mind since I've posted my predictions in the Original and Adapted Screenplay Oscar categories.

What's the difference between ADAPTED and ORIGINAL these days? Well, like the Acting Categories, sometimes screenplays play fast and loose with definitions. The landmark year for "Original" vs "Adapted" shenanigans was 2002 in which both Gangs of New York and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which had presented themselves as adaptations of a novel and play respectively for months on end as they made their way into the public consciousness, suddenly decided they were originals when that category proved conveniently easier to nab nominations in. Oh sure, they had their excuses ("only inspired by" "I wrote a version of this for the screen before I wrote it as a play") but it still smelled like Category Fraud.  

I bring this up because it's possible that some of the films will be classified differently than I've classified them. The most confusing case is probably Foxcatcher since books have been written about the bizarre true story but the film doesn't seem to be based on those books but on an unpublished autobiography (?) by one of its secondary characters (played by Channing Tatum). I'm guessing Adapted for now but that could easily change.

But back to books. Have any of you read any of these pictured? Do you want to?
Which of these ten should I read and write about before the film version?

poll by twiigs.com

WHICHEVER BOOK WINS THIS POLL I PROMISE TO READ / BLOG.

I'll try for two but I will do one. I will,  I will.