Armenia, Canada, Colombia, and Peru announce their Oscar submissions

by Nathaniel R

DRUNKEN BIRDS

We have four more submission for Oscar's Best International Feature Film race to share.

CANADA
Remember that nude asshole boyfriend "Fermin" from Alfonso Cuarón's Roma who knocked our heroine up and then abandoned her? The actor who played him, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, could be back in the International Feature Oscar race. Guerrero headlines this year's Canadian Oscar submission Drunken Birds, which is about a man on the run from a cartel leader who relocates to Quebec and hopes to find a woman there who fled from the same cartel. The film, in French and Spanish, comes from Canadian director Ivan Grbovic and just played TIFF...

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Udo Kier's Best Actor-worthy performance in "Swan Song"

by Eurocheese

It’s almost fitting that Todd Stephens’ Swan Song will have to fight for its title with a higher prestige film of the same name (Benjamin Cleary’s film starring Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and Glenn Close) this season. The film’s main character, Mr. Pat (Udo Kier), has been pushed out of his former life as his town's most respected hairdresser, and now earns respect in his nursing home only by demanding it. The film starts in a fairly grim reality, but he finds solace in his hidden More 120 Slim cigars and teasing the hair of his fellow patients from time to time. He is somewhat resigned to this existence. 

All of this changes when he is offered a large sum of money to fix the hair of a former client for her funeral (Dynasty's Linda Evans making her first film appearance in 24 years). Initially he defiantly rejects the offer, siting the fact that she fired him years ago...

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HollyShorts Pt. 3 Final Films and the Oscar-Qualifying Winners

By Ben Miller

The virtual HollyShorts Film Festival is at an end.  Showcasing the newest and best films under 40 minutes, I was able to watch dozens of great short films across a myriad of categories.  Here are my thoughs on ten more films as well the festival winners...

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NYFF: The visual wonder of "The Tragedy of Macbeth"

By Nathaniel R

“When” is the first word of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, uttered by one of three witches. Though the word precedes a question it sounds more like a definitive statement in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth; the writer/director even grants the word its own solo title card. Later the word “Tomorrow” will also grace the screen alone. Time, we immediately understand, is at the heart of the latest big screen Shakespeare. And it’s running out. Coen’s adaptation casts two older-than-usual actors as the titular Lord (Denzel Washington) and Lady (Frances McDormand). As a result their infamous power grab plays like a violently desperate game of “last chance”…

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Yes No Maybe So: P.T. Anderson's "Licorice Pizza"

by Nathaniel R

Paul Thomas Anderson's ninth feature film is almost upon us. As one of America's most singular auteurs that's reason to celebrate whether or not this turns out to be top tier Anderson or his nadir. Licorice Pizza (which went by the equally odd title Soggy Bottom previously) is due to open on November 26th in select cities followed by a nationwide bow around Christmas. The trailer uses "Life on Mars" by David Bowie from 1971 as its primary soundtrack. The presence of hairdresser turned movie producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) in his Barbra Streisand phase places us even more specifically in the mid 1970s during the peak of Bab's movie stardom when practically every film was a smash hit (Peters and Streisand started dating in '73 and he helped produce A Star is Born in 1976) so on the timeline we're sandwiched directly inbetween Anderson's Inherent Vice and Boogie Nights if you want to rewatch his movies chronologically as they take place for kicks. 

Let's break down the trailer with our Yes No Maybe So system after the jump...

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