International Feature Race - Part 3: A Dozen Movie Stars

by Nathaniel R

Voting on the finalist list for the Oscar categories that use that system (including Best International Feature Film) concluded last week with the finalist lists to be announced on December 21st. As a final part of our general trivia overview (pt 1 stats & genres / pt 2 directors) we thought we'd look at the famous faces gracing the international contenders this year. Here are eleven of the most familiar movie stars in the mix that Academy voters (and you) might recognize from their own history of awardage not to mention previous classics. We'll take these famous actors alphabetically starting with a multilingual Spanish-German star and ending with a Chinese beauty, both of whom came to fame in the Aughts when they were fresh-faced twentysomethings...

Click to read more ...

Review: All Quiet on the Western Front

By Christopher James

Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) heads into World War I in "All Quiet on the Western Front," the German submission this year for Best International Feature.

It’s daunting to remake a Best Picture winner. Steven Spielberg was able to breathe new life and vitality into West Side Story, making it a companion to the timeless original. But, more often than not, filmmakers buckle under the weight of expectations and self importance (like the failures of, say, Steven Zaillian's star-studded rendition of All the King’s Men or Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur).

The Lewis Milestone adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930 struck new ground for realism, brutality and anti-war sentiments. It earned Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director. It's been regarded as a classic ever since, later receiving citations on AFI’s list of best films and best epics and inclusion in the National Film Registry. How could a new film pack a similar punch? Director Edward Berger doesn’t reinvent the story, but his 2022 re-telling of All Quiet on the Western Front is loaded with enough technical panache to make it a worthy, additive remake and a great time at the movies...

Click to read more ...

Links: Multiple Sherlock Holmes, Change in Oscar Venue, and more...

• Crime Reads an amazing piece ranking the 100 best, strangest, and worst portrayals of Sherlock Holmes. I LOL'ed several times. 
• Deadline icymi the Visual Effects Society awards were held. The Midnight Sky, The Mandalorian, Project Power, Lovecraft Country, and Soul were all winners
• Variety on the absence of Latinos at the Oscars. Rosie Perez speaks out about never being asked back. And she's not even talking about being nominated again.

“Not even to sit in the audience, not to present, nothing—and I’m a member. I love the Academy Awards. I cheer on my peers, but it hurts. It’s like when your home team doesn’t ask you to come back into the stadium after you got up to bat and hit the home run.”

More after the jump including Los Angeles streets during Oscar week, Youn Yuh-jung, Queer as Folk, and more...

Click to read more ...

Linkness

• Vulture Marcia Gay Harden answers all the questions about her awesome Oscar win for Pollock on its 20th anniversary
• MNPP Josh O'Connor to make a queer horror film with Francis Lee (God's Own Country, Ammonite)
• Deadline very interesting (if way too complimentary) report on dubbing films into other languages. Daniel Brühl is among the top actors who dub their own performances into multiple languages rather than letting other actors do it and change the performance. It helps that he's fluent in multiple languages of course. 

More after the jump including Pose, Regé-Jean Page, Killers of the Moon, a new adaptation of Blindness, and recent showbiz deaths...

Click to read more ...

Review: The Cloverfield Paradox

By Spencer Coile 

Like the first two Cloverfield films, The Cloverfield Paradox premiered with plenty of hype surrounding it. After several delays, it was rumored to be picked up by Netflix which proved true when during Super Bowl LII, Netflix announced the arrival of The Cloverfield Paradox immediately following the game. 

Fans of the series were in a tizzy, counting down the hours before they could enjoy the latest entry. The marketing push for Paradox was as ambiguous and mysterious as the first two films which is a good thing. Like Cloverfield (2008) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), it is best to go into The Cloverfield Paradox knowing little about the plot...

Click to read more ...