Yes No Maybe So: "Gemini Man"

by Eurocheese

Let's do a Yes No Maybe So on a strangely under the radar film (given the names involved). When Nathaniel put out the call for more trailer coverage, I though I'd give the Gemini Man trailer a second look because honestly, when I saw the trailer in theaters I was completely confused. This is not what I expected as a next step for either Ang Lee or Will Smith, two names none of us might have ever thought to link. If I had predicted them working together, I would not have pictured a somber sci-fi action film. 

The YNMS breakdown is after the jump... 

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Golden Horse Winners (including "Shadow") and Fashions!

by Nathaniel R

Ang Lee and Andy Lau cheering on the winners

The Golden Horse Awards had a truly spread the wealth kind of year with no film dominating - all five of the Best Film nominees won multiple times. Though it didn't win the most statues, the four hour drama Elephant Sitting Still took Best Picture. Zhang Yimou took Best Director for Shadow (reviewed) and the film won three other technical prizes, leading the win tally. It probably helped that Yimou had his long time former muse, the goddess Gong Li, presiding over the jury but you can excuse those Huppert judging Haneke at Cannes style situations when it comes to the greatest director/muse pairings and Gong Li and Zhang Yimou are certainly on the all-time list. If you're unfamiliar with their work together watch any of their eight collaborations -- I'm most partial to Ju Dou or Raise the Red Lantern personally -- and be floored.

Best Actress Gowns!

The winners, a few gifs, and red carpet fashions are after the jump...

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Beauty vs Beast: Tiger vs Dragon

Jason Adams from MNPP here, hoping against hope that Michelle Yeoh's name doesn't get lost among all the brand new Oscar contenders currently dominating our thoughts thanks to the ongoing Toronto Film Festival; they might be fresh playthings but Crazy Rich Asians as Nathaniel just reported is still dominating the box office, so let's keep Yeoh's heat going.

And what better way than to use this week's "Beauty vs Beast" glance back at her previous greatest role, that of the love-stricken bad-ass Yu Shu Lien in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She faced down an ignorant but loveable upstart that time around to, with Zhang Ziyi embodying all fiery desire as the thief and shit-kicker Jen Yu. 

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PREVIOUSLY Our Hammer vs Cavill battle kept itself pretty tight but Armie came out on top (I hear he's into that) with 52% of your vote - said Matt:

"Well, Armie Hammer wants to wrestle. So....yeah."

Golden Horse Winners 2017

by Nathaniel R

The 54th Annual Golden Horse Awards were held today in Taipei. That's the Taiwanese Oscars if you will. Though a female-led comedy called The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful took the top prizes, the film with the most wins was The Great Buddha+ which took home five. A romantic comedy called See You Tomorrow (the all-star cast includes TFE favorites Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Angelababy) took home most of the 'eye candy' prizes. The family tragedy Old Beast, about a father in court and at war with his kids, also did well.

Curiously Taiwan's Oscar submission Small Talk was eligible last year at this ceremony but wasn't a major player. You can see the whole 2017 ceremony online here but it's not subtitled so good luck! Toward the end of the ceremony Jessica Chastain even shows up to help Ang Lee present Best Actress (which went to Kara Wai) so we've included gifs of that and the list of winners after the jump...

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Beauty vs Beast: Float With Me

Jason from MNPP here - as Nathaniel mentioned in yesterday's box office rundown the latest version of Stephen King's It has officially become the highest grossing horror film of all time now. And what with tomorrow being Halloween this week seemed a great chance to face down the story's Good Guys (And Girl) versus its Bad Guy with our "Beauty vs Beast" contest. It has a great legendary Bad Guy, one of the best ever. But can you actually root for him against a bunch of damaged nerds? I mean if we were talking about the 1990 miniseries I would give this question an emphatic "Heck Yes" but it's a little bit tougher with the remake...

PREVIOUSLY Y'all were feeling more Sense than Sensibility last week, giving Emma Thompson a solid 67% of your vote in last week's tribute to Ang Lee's classic film. Said lylee:

"Yay for Emma leading! It helps that I've always found Elinor vastly more compelling than Marianne as a character. They're both wonderful, but this I think is my favorite Emma performance. And yes, bonus for penning the screenplay. I still go back to her screenplay diaries (which *everyone* should read) when I want a pick-me-up."