Linkwarm off the Presses

Whooo. Thanksgiving week flew by and we're suddenly so very far behind on important news items, so a quick link roundup to get us back on track. Here we go...

• Variety Black Panther, Marvelous Mrs Maisel, One Day at a Time, and Crazy Rich Asians are all up for Humanitas prizes
• Variety Paul King, famous for making those delightful Paddington movies, will now direct a fantasy adaption of Time's Fool
• Coming Soon Alessandro Nivola, an actor TFE is always rooting for, cast in The Sopranos prequel movie. He'll play Dickey Moltisanti if that means anything to you fans of The Sopranos out there

More after the jump including Aquaman, If Beale Street Could Talk, the new Fosse/Verdon TV miniseries, deaths of showbiz legends, and more...

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NBR Loves "A Star is Born" and "Beale Street" but names "Green Book" Best of the Year

by Nathaniel R

Mahershala and Viggo are all dolled up and ready for awards shows

The National Board of Review announced its winners today for their January 8th gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. While NBR no longer signifies the kick-off to precursor season (with the Gotham and Spirit Awards announcing so early each year) they're still a significant bellwether or rather they're a bell ringing, alerting everyone that you can't hide from awards season; it is upon us! This year Green Book, A Star is Born, and If Beale Street Could Talk were their three obvious favorites, the only films to take multiple prizes.

THIS YEAR'S PRIZES, WHAT THEY MIGHT MEAN, AND SOME STATS AFTER THE JUMP...

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Chris Gives Thanks!!

Team Experience members were invited to give thanks this week so you'll be hearing from a few of us. Here's Chris Feil...

Thank you love, thank you life, thank you faithful Film Experience readers!

2018 has been a busy year for yours truly! Between being TFE's resident soundtrack obsessive, starting a podcast, and having another go at TIFF, it's nice to indulge in a little bit of reflection on what this year has meant to me cinematically. As always, I'm grateful to our benevolent host Nathaniel for allowing me to share my voice with you all and my fellow genius cowriters here at TFE. In a terrifying world, our little corner of the internet is a salve. But as for the movies, I am most thankful for...

• "[staccato piano keys] ... I'm alone in my HOUSE!"

• Nicholas Britell's majestic If Beale Street Could Talk score. The rare beast that feels inextricable from its images, forever tied together in my brain.

• Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer in general, but specifically "Pynk" in particular. Listen, if folks are allowed to put Twin Peaks on their best films of the century lists, I can put a music video in mine...

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Murtada Gives Thanks

Team Experience members were invited to give thanks this week so you'll be hearing from a few of us. Here's Murtada Elfadl... 

It’s that time again when we tell you lovely readers of The Film experience what we’ve appreciated from all the stuff we watched in the past year. But first things first, I'm thankful for Nathaniel and The Film Experience. For the readers and those who engage in the comments, for this lovely oasis of a community.

And now for the movies, and the people behind them, who made me whoop with joy, cry silently in my seat and sometimes shake my head in amazement and awe.

• YouTube making "The Shallow" always available just a click away so I can watch as many times as I want and not just 200 like Andrew Dice Clay. Because just listening is not enough, I want to see Gaga and Bradley!

• The gut punch to the heart that Carey Mulligan gave me this year. On stage in Girls and Boys. On screen in Wildlife...

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The Spirit Award Nominations are Here

by Nathaniel R

Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians) and former Spirit Award winner Molly Shannon (Other People) announced the Spirit nominations for the 2018 film year. No film truly dominated the announcement because, while We the Animals led with 5 nominations (YAYYYY) it wasn't nominated in the top category. Eighth Grade, First Reformed, and You Were Never Really Here each had 4 nominations. The highest profile expected contenders with not so great results this morning were BlacKkKlansman (only Adam Driver was recognized) and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (the Screenplay and Richard E Grant only). 

so happy for this little gem!

An important note before the full list of nominees: Unlike other major awards bodies, film festival releases are (sometimes) eligible here, overseas films even if they're in english are (mostly) ineligible outside of foreign film, and anything over a $20 million budget is (usually) ineligible here, so the eligibility pool is slightly different. Some examples of 'not eligible' this year for those reasons are: The Hate U Give and Beautiful Boy (too expensive) The Rider (festivals and nominated last year), Roma and The Favorite (both foreign film only though The Favourite led the Gotham nods). The Spirit Awards has multiple nominating committees assigned to different categories. Even better they meet several times throughout the fall before selecting the nominees which is, we think, why the nominations sometimes have a better spread of titles (in terms of release dates) than the Oscars do.

The full list of nominees along with a few comments are after the jump...

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