Yes No Maybe So: "Nightmare Alley"

by Nathaniel R

one of many memorable images in the trailerGuillermo Del Toro has never been what one might call an Oscar-bait director, as his preferred genre is the fantastical monster movie. And yet with his inspired auteur's eye and significant command of craft he bucked the odds to helm two movies Oscar just adored, the creepy mythological creature filled fantasy Pan's Labyrinth and the sea monster in love Best Picture winner The Shape of Water. So now he's most definitely an Oscar player. This time up he's doing a remake of the great 1947 noir Nightmare Alley which featured Tyrone Power's all time best performance and two fascinating female supporting roles. Will his latest movie be another Oscar player or another Crimson Tide (which people were very excited about in theory until it became reality). But, more importantly, will it be great? Let's do the Yes No Maybe So™ breakdown of the new trailer after the jump...

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Oscar Charts: Will we have a "double" again in Best Supporting Actress?

by Nathaniel R

Ann Dowd and Martha Plimpton star in "Mass"

We may have gotten a little carried away with wishful thinking in (some) of our Supporting Actress chart building this time around. You see, so many actresses we love that have never or only once been in the Oscar race have what sound like amazing parts this year. But it's early enough in the year that optimistic guesses are as good as pessimistic guesses. At least that's true in the supporting categories where less is usually known this early about the roles themselves.

But what we found most interesting while thinking through the first predictions of the year was how many films have the potential for a double nomination in Best Supporting Actress...

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Supersized "Nomadland"... what will Searchlight do for a follow up?

by Nathaniel R

Click for the full illustrated new poster

The prolongued 2020 Oscar season is going to make 2021 weird, isn't it. Take Nomadland, for instance, which is just a smidge over HALFWAY through its long trek to Oscar night after its September bow). Hopefully the Biden Administration can figure out a way to speed up vaccine distribution and we can all get back to our favourite pasttime -- MOVIEGOING -- by summer 2021 when the new stuff starts arriving. Alas, that's too late to enjoy Nomadland on IMAX screens, beginning January 29th, which frankly sounds like heaven to us after watching it on a bad streaming link with a watermark across it.

Though Nomadland is not my #1 film of the year -- top ten list coming in a few days! -- there isn't a single film from 2020 that I'd rather see on the most gigantic screen possible. Joshua James Richards' cinematography and the beautifully aged resilient face of Frances McDormand deserve it.

After Nomadland's Oscar run, whether or not it wins the biggest prize in Hollywood, here's what Searchlight (now owned by Disney) will be releasing in 2021...

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Nightmare Alley (1947)... and (2021)

by Nathaniel R

Greg Hildebrandt riff on a Nightmare Alley posterThe urge to remake is an arguable scourge on cinema but much of what there is to argue about is who is doing the remaking and why. Oftentime the motivations are corporate cynical "cash grab for lazy audiences who will only look at new things... especially if they sound famliar". When true auteurs go there, though, especially with films that aren't enormously famous, there's more room for debate about intention and possibility and aesthetic necessity. The best possible outcome is that we get two very different equally strong films and the "new" model stirs up more interest and appreciation for the OG.

We hope that will be the case when Guillermo Del Toro finishes Nightmare Alley in... 2021? (Production was halted due to COVID-19). The original Nightmare Alley (1947), is a beautifully shot circus noir that's ripe for both rediscovery and reinterpretation...

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Carol 2 is finally here…

by Murtada Elfadl

Not exactly. But look at these pictures of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. Don’t they remind you of Carol (2015)? The period costumes, the snow and winter setting, Cate’s gorgeous blond wig? 

The internet lost its mind for a couple of hours...

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