Chart Updates: Best Animated & Documentary Features

by Nathaniel R

"All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" won Venice, but nothing is ever locked for the Documentary nominations as they pass over many frontrunners.

Happy weekend, Oscar fantastics. Figured it was time to finally put up the Documentary Feature chart now that we know several of the potential biggies. How do we suddenly know them given that documentaries arrive each and every week with little indication of whether they'll be Emmy or Oscar fodder? The answer is three key buzz-boosting factors...

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Yes No Maybe So: "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio"

by Nathaniel R

This morning Netflix released the poster and teaser to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio so it's really happening. Del Toro always has so many projects in development that it's something of a surprise when any of the long gestating projects emerges, complete. They're being somewhat cagey about actual dates beyond "November in theaters / December on Netflix" but a month is good enough for now. The trailer poster and quick Yes No Maybe So thoughts are after the jump...

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What's next for this season's Oscar-celebrated directors?

Tis the post-season to wonder about next season... and the seasons after that. While Will Packer, ABC, and the Academy continue to try to dull our love for Oscars, they could never dull our love for the movies themselves. So let's look at what this year's most celebrated filmmakers are up to next. We'll take them in alpha order...

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
PTA, who turns 52 this June, has 11 nominations to his name but no Oscar yet since he just lost his Licorice Pizza directing and writing bids. Generally he takes quite a long time between films though he tends to stay busy inbetwen directing music videos (the latest is Haim's "Lost Track"), fatherhood  since he and Maya Rudolph have four children between the ages of 10 and 17 (one assumes that keeps them busy) and, we hope, tinkering on script ideas. So who knows!?

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Linkshelf

• The Film Stage great interview with Kyle Buchanan on his book "Blood, Sweat and Chrome" which is about the making of Mad Max Fury Road
• TFE on Instagram I am also going to celebrate this book by devouring it between every deadline
• /Film Teaser for Under the Banner of Heaven starring Andrew Garfield who is messing with the Mormons again (see also Angels in America)
• Vanity Fair "The minions do the actual writing" a fascinating report on the composing industry in Hollywood and name composers as 'brand leaders' rather than actual composers

The Boogeyman cast, Britney Spears tell-all, a great role for Stephan James, an award for Guillermo del Toro and more after the jump...

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Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Nightmare Alley (2021)

Welcome back to the series, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Nathaniel R. Each week we'll discuss a single movie via a particular shot. Anyone who'd like to participate can choose their own!

Best Prop

When you're reading your mark, as former circus psychic Pete (David Strathairn) teaches us, you're searching for external clues to internal damage. The fatal flaw of Nightmare Alley, up this year for Best Picture, may well be that Guillermo del Toro, though a gifted filmmaker, isn't much for interiority. But oh his surfaces! Overly lacquered beauty and the ugly rot it's faililng to hide are the greatest assets of his latest film. On that note we must pause to honor the funhouse sequence early in the film which operates like a veritable FYC ad for the Oscar-nominated Production Design. The set amazes and one particular prop in the 'funhouse', a mirror stating "TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF  SINNER" is a perfect offhand joke. We know very little about Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) but he already knows he's "no good". The camera lingers for a second on the mirror, to make sure we do... 

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