In Praise of Blanchett's Curls in Truth

Manuel here. There’s plenty to enjoy in the Dan Rather scandal film, Truth, but at the top of the list is the electric performance by Cate Blanchett who is really wiping the floor with everyone else lately. She was deliciously campy in Cinderella (which we should be taking more seriously Oscar-wise). She is perfection in Carol (few directors work as well with actresses than Todd Haynes). But her work in Truth is something else altogether. I figured we should celebrate a seemingly insignificant aspect of the performance that kept me enraptured: Cate’s gorgeous locks.

See how excited her curls are here?

Look, they even mirror Cate's anger!

So many scenes of hand-wringing that are followed by frantic hair-tussling. You can almost track the character’s state of mind by how carefully shaggy her blond curls are. Especially in comparison to Carol’s sleek and well-coiffed hair (always in its place, as composed as its heroine), Mary Mapes’s ringlets are always threatening to distract and take over the conversation.

Is it frivolous? Perhaps, but Blanchett is a performer who uses everything in her arsenal to build a character, and luscious curls are but another prop with which she created another amazing character to add to her already legendary roster.

Why Isn't 'Cinderella' an Oscar Contender?

Glenn here.

You will no doubt have read – or least seen the headlines – that people are saying that Ridley Scott’s The Martian should be taken very, very seriously as a Best Picture contender. I’ve even seen people claiming it could win, which seems awfully bullish given its hastily rising status in Oscar circles is due almost entirely to the film’s overwhelming success at the box office in the face of a glut of underperforming Oscar players like Steve Jobs. But amid this new wind of blockbuster excitement and the snickers at (contractually obligated) Oscar campaigns for other big-budget, uber-successful movies, there’s one film that has so far gone under the radar in the conversation and ought to be taken far more seriously than it likely will be.

Yes, I mean Cinderella... more after the jump

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London Film Fest Hoopla: Cate Blanchett, The Witch, Female Directors

The BFI London Film Festival wrapped up yesterday and with festival wraps (well, the juried festivals) come awardage. The big news for our actressy purposes was of course Galadriel receiving her BFI fellowship from Gandalf. More hoopla after the jump...

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Give Me All Your Linkin'

Me Says a gushing fan moment with Cate Blanchett. Adorable
Gold Derby rumor: David O. Russell's Joy will compete as a drama at the Golden Globes. That makes Best Actress Comedy or Musical a race between (if they campaign this way) hmmmm: Lily, Maggie, Blythe, Meryl, Sandy, Bel, Melissa and... wait, is that it? Elizabeth Banks?
Variety Suffragette's director Sarah Gavron will be honored with something called the "Juice Award" at Hamptons Fest. Sounds messy
AV Club Cinemax, perhaps emboldened by its success with The Knick, is clearly aiming for bigger original series now. They've picked up the rights to George R.R. Martin's werewolf noir Skin Trade. 
Empire yes, somehow there is going to be an Expendables 4. They will never end even though I've yet to meet anyone who thinks they come anywhere close to living up to their potential in concept! 

The Guardian profiles the Welsh foreign language film Oscar contender Under Milk Wood which stars Rhys Ifans. Yes, it's based on the same play that brought us the Liz Taylor movie
Twitter is Michelle Pfeiffer really making a movie with Keifer Sutherland named Kyra? If so, why? She has such weird unfortunate taste in projects/co-stars whenever she deigns to work
Empire so happy to report that Brie Larson is in demand enough at this point (5 plus projects on the way) that she's starting to get Jennifer Lawrence's sloppy seconds. She may take over the part in The Glass Castle which is a Destin Cretton project (Short Term 12 reunion - woot). This is very good news as she's a better actress and people, at least up to now, have not had the urge to cast her in roles for which she isn't well suited
Moviefone asks YA novelists to suggest YA novels they'd like to see on the screen. Have any of you read these?

Finally...
For those of you who are enjoying or soon to enjoy Madonna's Rebel Heart tour you should consider buying Matthew Rettenmund's amazing Encylopedia Madonnica 20th Anniversary Edition. I am trying to read it slowly rather than bingeing it in one sitting (tempting if impossible). When I first met Matthew some years ago one of the first things I said to him is "Why wasn't there a sequel to Encyclopedia Madonnica?" which is one of my fav pop culture books. The 20th anniversary edition puts the original to shame. It is MASSIVE (597 pages in the limited edition) and features loads of rare photos as well as super fan art. One of my favorite things about the book is the nifty one word quotes from nearly 100 celebrities Rettenmund asked to describe Madonna in one word that are superimposed on the edges of pages here and there like colorful graffiti. That's typical of the OCD detail of the book.

Full disclosure: I am in the book as one of the twenty-fiveish (I think?) Mega-Fans who get spotlight profiles. 

A photo posted by Nathaniel R (@nathaniel_tfe) on Oct 11, 2015 at 8:56am PDT

NYFF is a Wrap. All The Reviews

Whew. Though a bad cold and TIFF fatigue sidelined yours truly, Jason and Manuel were both insatiable cinephiles during the 53rd Annual New York Film Festival and reviewing machines. Huge thanks to them. We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this annual curated festival which collects key films from Cannes, TIFF, and Berlinale and throws in a few premieres as Fall Film Season begins in force in your local movie theaters.

Phyllis Nagy who wrote "Carol" and Cate Blanchett who played "Carol"

28 Films
The Assassin Hou Hsiao-Hsien does the Tang Dynasty (Nathaniel) 
Arabian Nights Vol 2: The Desolate Ones confused thoughts from TIFF (Nathaniel)
Bridge of Spies Spielberg's methodic Cold War thriller with Tom Hanks (Manuel)
Brooklyn melodramatic infatuation by way of Sundance (Nathaniel)
Carol Todd Haynes returns with an exquisite romance (Nathaniel)
Cemetery of Splendour somnambulist soldiers & their caretakers (Jason)
De Palma a filmed chat with the singular Brian de Palma (Jason)

Everything is Copy a documentary on the late great Nora Ephron (Manuel)
The Forbidden Room Guy Maddin is Guy Maddin is Guy Maddin is Guy Maddin (Jason)
In Jackson Heights Wiseman Does (upper) Manhattan (Manuel)
In the Shadow of Women wounded French masculinity (Manuel)
Ingrid Bergman - In Her Own Words just that (Manuel)
Journey to the Shore a ghost story and melodrama (Manuel) 
Junun PT Anderson makes a doc for Jason's Radiohead Fandom (Jason)
Les Cowboys from the writer of Rust & Bone, a riff on The Searchers? (Jason)
The Lobster the absurdist all star comedy (Jason)
Maggie's Plan romantic comedy every which accented Julianne Moore (Manuel)
Mia Madre Nanni Morretti gets personal (Manuel)
Microbe & Gasoline a Gondry oddity (Jason)

Emayatzy & Cheadle at the "Miles Ahead" premiereMiles Ahead Don Cheadle wearing all hats. and trumpet (Nathaniel)
My Golden Days romantic Desplechin (Manuel) 
No Home Movie the final film from the late great Chantal Akerman (Manuel)
The Short Film Programs multiple gems (Manuel)
Son of Saul Hungary's powerhouse (Manuel) 
Steve Jobs Aaron Sorkin's Electric 3-Act (Jason) 
The Treasure "This is very Romanian" (Manuel) 
The Walk Robert Zemeckis 3D fantasy (Nathaniel)
Where to Invade Next Michael Moore's optimism (Manuel) 

Next in Festival Land
There's just one more this year for TFE and its the least intense one thankfully. Nathaniel and team head to Los Angeles in November for the AFI festival and all the Oscar campaigning that comes with it. Thanks for going on these film-binge journeys with us wherever you are in the world.

Ciao