New Academy Rulings = Catastrophe

Oh dear.

Whatever goodwill Oscar has gained recently with their commendable efforts to diversify their membership appears to have not appeased their naked NEED to more popular with people who they'll never be popular with. Three new changes have been announced two of which are potentially catastrophic.

Let's take them in order of least to most upsetting.

The Oscars will be earlier after this year. 
The 2019 Oscars will be held on February 9th, 2020. The benefit of rushing the Oscars is that it also helps alleviate (in theory) the December glut as well as the ever-tacky "one week qualifier" release tactic that feel like cheating even though it's technically just fine with the rulebooks...

Click to read more ...

Yes No Maybe So: If Beale Street Could Talk

by Nathaniel R

James Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk" was published in the summer of 1974, forty-four years ago. It feels like we've waited about that many years for any hint of what Barry Jenkins film adaptation might look like since he announced his intention to film it, a year or so ago. The trailer has finally arrived, temporarily satiating our curiousity. Temporarily. It's the type of trailer that relies extensively on moodiness rather than what-the-film-is-actually-like reveal. Let's break it down after the jump with our Yes, No, Maybe So system...

Click to read more ...

Blueprints: "Eighth Grade"

While we’re still caught in a wave of summer releases, Jorge takes a look at the script for what has become the indie comedy darling of the moment.

Capturing the essence of a teenager on screen is not easy. Since most screenwriters are decades removed from that time in their lives when they develop their scripts, the language and sentiment around it can feel removed or separate from reality. If this was true during the teen comedy heyday of the 80s, it’s even truer today, when the quickly evolving culture and technology make even a couple years’ difference a generational gap with young people...

Click to read more ...

TIFF Galas & Special Presentations Announced

by Nathaniel R

TIFF is around the corner y'all. Excited we are since it means the prestige film season and another round of Oscar madness is about to begin. For the first time TIFF has allowed The Film Experience two press passes so Chris Feil and Nathaniel R (that's me) will both be covering in real time for the whole fest from September 6th through the 16th. Today TIFF has announced the 47 films that will be featured in their Galas and Special Presentations sections. These are the two sections wherein you'll usually find the mainstream awards hopefuls shoulder-to-shoulder with more traditional festival fare and world cinema premieres. TIFF usually has hundreds of films so this is just the first announcement. 

The full list containing masterpieces and duds and everything inbetween (though we won't know which-is-which-is-which until we see them) is after the jump!

Click to read more ...

Venice Film Festival Gets "First" First

Chris here. Get ready for the fall film festival announcements to start rolling in at rapid speed. NYFF just announced Alfonso Cuaron's tightly guarded Netflix saga Roma as their centerpiece (not a world premiere, so likely to pop up elsewhere), but another big reveal was just announced: Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong thriller First Man starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy is our Venice Film Festival opener. This marks the second time that Chazelle has been invited to open the Lido after La La Land, but this go around looks to be a very different spectacle from the director.

Things have been quiet on the film since that first trailer, but the Venice opening spot should stir up quite a bit of attention before the film opens on October 12. The rest of the Venice lineup will be announced next week, July 25. While Venice trophies don't always translate to Oscar glory, last year's top prize Golden Lion winner The Shape of Water was our eventual Best Picture winner. Could First Man have a similarly successful launch? Oh the joys the fall festival season!