Doc Corner: Movie Stars - Fonda, Kael and Dukakis

by Glenn Dunks

DOC NYC is still going in New York, running until this Thursday the 15th. We’re looking at just a very small selection of films screening at the festival including these today based around three iconic names in American cinema: film critic Pauline Kael, and Oscar-winning actors Jane Fonda and Olympia Dukakis.

WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL
I noted on social media as I sat down to watch my screener of Rob Garver’s biography that there were certainly worse ways to spend one’s Sunday evening than surrounded by the words of the late, great Pauline Kael and an abundance of film clips. Sometimes a film can give you exactly what you ask for and that’s exactly what I received from What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael about the much loved (and loathed) film critic...

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Links

• IndieWire a brief interview with Steven Yeun about life after The Walking Dead -- strangely there are no questions about his new Korean movie Burning despite the fact that he's amazing in it
• THR Bradley Cooper getting an award from PETA for casting his own dog Charlie in A Star is Born. I mean.... the dog is perfection, so why not?
• Vanity Fair Fan Bingbing has broken her silence after disappearing. She is said to owe more than $100 million in backtaxes to the Chinese government

• /Film Trailer for The Conners series, essentially Roseanne without Roseanne
• The Guardian a wonderful interview with Samantha Morton about choices she made in her career, her new part on The Walking Dead, and why she was dubbed "difficult" in her early years of stardom.
• Playbill Emmy & Oscar winner Christine Lahti now starring in a play Off-Broadway about Gloria Steinem called Gloria: A Life. Steinem is quite the hot topic at the moment since there's also a biopic in the works
• Pajiba on the Bullseye rumors around Daredevil season 3
• Decider a Jeopardy moment that will go viral involving drag superstar Alyssa Edwards
• /Film Netflix will be releasing Paul Greengrass 22 July in 100 theaters (they're also rumored to be trying to buy movie theaters, which is odd considering how much they've worked to diminish the moviegoing habit)
• MNPP Luke Benward nine times
• Daily Beast and director Catherine Hardwicke reflect back on Twilight's success and the sexist aftermath

This Week's Must Read (s)
Wesley Morris has an amazing challenging essay about the new ways we discuss art and how they've come to center more on the artist and that person's perceived moral or representational correctness then the quality of the art.  I loved reading this because so much of what he's saying I've seen happening and whenever I tried to put my finger on why it was frustrating me, I couldn't quite locate the target. 

The essay also prompted this interesting discussion at Vulture among a panel of mostly female critics. I love the point raised that there's a way to discuss art in this new way while also balancing aesthetic discussion but a lot of younger critics haven't been trained in that way or encouraged to learn that skill in the charged political time we're living in.

Link Buzz

← TODAY'S MUST LISTEN. Nick and I joined Joe Reid and Chris Feil on their new podcast "This Had Oscar Buzz" this week for a special episode. If you haven't yet heard their podcast they generally cover one major failed Oscar bet each time and discuss that year as well. But this episode ignores the usual formula since we recorded in Canada and talked TIFF movies. We covered many of the films which currently have Oscar buzz like Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, Wildlife, and  A Star is Born. 

Okay on to links! We probably missed a whole lotta news while we were away in Canada but here are a few random links for ya!

• IndieWire Critics rank of the best performances and films from TIFF. This list is completely nuts. Lady Gaga makes the list but Bradley Cooper doesn't? Whaaaa. FTR Gaga is solid with the acting but Bradley Cooper, a great actor already, tops his own previous career best. It's no contest. Maybe the odd results are that they only let us vote for one thing per category, so no rankings or anything else. But still.
• Feedspot "30 Best European Movie Blogs" Somehow The Film Experience made the list even though we aren't really European... (well a couple of contributors are!). And we do cover Eurofilms. But we're in good company so thank you Feedspot.
• Broadway.com had readers vote for which current TV series should be stage musicals. Weird poll but I can definitely see a few of them working
• THR Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding was added to the A Simple Favor poster after the fact to capitalize on his new stardom
• THR Bryan Singer in talks to direct Red Sonja. Somehow he's still going to be paid top dollar despite being fired from his last picture for frequently not showing up on set!

Early "Destroyer" Reviews. Guess How Good Nicole Is!

by Nathaniel R

We knew ahead of time that Nicole Kidman would be great in Destroyer -- it's kind of her schtick to be brilliant, duh! So it's not a surprise to hear early reviews saying that she delivers and then some. But it IS a surprise and a nice change of pace, post Lion & Big Little Lies, that people are willing to praise her so extravagantly for her uncommon gifts rather than berate her for (take your pick) not being warm enough onscreen / having a frozen forehead / liking "weird" projects / whatever other dumb things people used to hold against her between the Oscar win and Lion (so roughly 2003-2015)... Seriously why must every great actress go through the public hate period?

Anyway. In "we all love Kidman again" mode (nice but obnoxious to those of us who never stopped and didn't fall for the misogyny hamster wheel of public opinion) these are the kind of reviews she's getting...

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Roma, A Star is Born, The Favourite... Will anything flop this festival season?

by Nathaniel R

So far so good for all the expected Oscar favorites. The First Man won (mostly) raves and the next three big premieres also did. Alfonso Cuaron's Spanish language black-and-white family epic Roma, Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga, Yorgos Lanthimos' comedy The Favourite with three great actresses... everyone seems to love everything! Are they all suffering from "first!" blurb whore fever or will the next wave of critics (coming soon at Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF) also fall so hard for these same pictures?

I don't personally read reviews before I see a picture (though sometimes I skim them) but if you do, here's what people are saying about these Best Picture hopefuls...

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