Split Decision: “Maestro”

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Nathaniel Rogers and Cláudio Alves on Maestro...

NATHANIEL: Being on the defensive about a movie you love is always confusing. The internet has been throwing darts at Bradley Cooper's compelling and curious Maestro for months now and I will say that I'm glad to not be 'perpetually online' as I once was. For the most part I've been able to enjoy Maestro in piece. Until now in the "split decision" series. Haha. I first saw Maestro at the Paris Theater which is a famous old single-screen theater in Manhattan (the last of its kind here!) and located roughly in between Bernstein's two main NYC residences (The Dakota to the west and Park Avenue to the East). The theater was packed with older folks who knew who Leonard Bernstein was. I went with a group of friends who were visiting for Thanksgiving, two of whom are classical music-obsessed. It was the ideal venue and situation in which to see a flamboyant handsome old-school biopic about a 20th century giant who I was already an enormous fan of. I consider West Side Story the greatest musical ever written and Candide, Wonderful Town, and On the Town, all hold distinct pleasant memories for me from multiple periods in my life as a musical theater aficionado.

I bring this up because personal history and context of the moviegoing experience totally affects people's opinions on movies whether they'll admit to it or not. So, before this conversation I watched the first half of Maestro again as a refresher to make sure I wasn't overly influenced by that very memorable happy first viewing. I still love it on second viewing at home in a far less ideal setting…

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Oscar Volley: Will there be any surprises in Best Cinematography?

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category before the nominations are announced. Here's Eric Blume and Lynn Lee to talk Best Cinematography...

ERIC:  We have the pleasure of discussing the insanely talented cinematography candidates this year.  It seems like this year's two big awards players, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, will certainly make the slate here...so, can I say, why I am not particularly excited about the work of either Hoyte van Hoytema and Rodrigo Prieto for these two films?  Don't get me wrong, both are beautifully lensed films and these men are brilliantly talented, but their work seemed more standard than inspired. 

Neither world, neither Oppenheimer's labs and offices nor Moon's flat plains, are the most visually exciting terrains, and while both men work with their respective directors to build a few lovely frames, I was definitely more knocked out by the imagery in some other films this year...

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: From the PGA to Cinema Eye

by Cláudio Alves

THE ZONE OF INTEREST proved an unexpected hit with the Producers Guild of America.

Oscar voting is ongoing, so this past week's honors feel especially important. They can be the spotlight that shines on a movie at just the right time, reminding Academy members of its merit as a contender. But of course, in terms of guild honors, they're also a way for awards obsessives to get a sense of what movies the industry values most. For example, the latest onslaught of guild nods makes the picture clear for those doubting that Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest could succeed beyond critics' prizes. If an organization as mainstream-inclined as the PGA can embrace Jonathan Glazer's latest nightmare, what's stopping AMPAS from doing the same?

So, from producers to regional critics, Annie nominees to Cinema Eye winners, this is what happened last week…

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The beauty of Linus Sandgren's cinema

by Cláudio Alves

There's been much ado about Saltburn, Emerald Fennell's sophomore feature and follow-up to Promising Young Woman. However, most coverage tends to focus on the narrative's sudsy details, the picture's eagerness to shock and provoke. There's also a lot to lust over, of course, from Barry Keoghan's middle-class interloper to Jacob Elordi's aristocratic wet dream. And then there’s Rosamund Pike, exuding ice queen glamour on the side. Yet, judging by trailers and stills, one aspect of Saltburn's spell seems underreported – it looks gorgeous, crisp and colorful, all shiny and new, images so ripe you want to sink your teeth into them.

Though one shouldn't dismiss Fennell's contribution to this aesthetic – some would argue the poppy aesthetic of her debut was its best element – much credit must go to Linus Sandgren, cinematographer mirabilis…

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Poster and Clip from "Nyad"

by Nathaniel R

Netflix has released the poster and the first clip from Nyad, the true story of open water swimmer Diana Nyad's attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida at 60 years of age. The film is the first narrative feature from Oscar-winning documentarians Elisabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin and it's based on the memoir "Find a Way". The film hits theaters on October 20th for two weeks before landing on Netflix. As for myself, I'll see it on the big screen not just for the always amazing Annette Bening but also because the cinematographer is Oscar winner Claudio Miranda so maybe there are gorgeous images of the open water? 

See the poster and the clip after the jump...

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