Links: Binoche in Berlin, Pfeiffer in Planning, and Endgame in Post-Production

• Gurus of Gold the latest charts on our Oscar predictions
• Coming Soon The Oscars are going hostless this year for the first time in decades but as it turns out they were originally going to go with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson who still hopes to do it someday
• Vanity Fair film insiders are speaking out about the Oscars intended changes. Thankfully many in the insider are as angry as we are about shunting some awards off air.

more after the jump including Avengers Endgame, Juliette Binoche in Berlin, Michelle Pfeiffer's smell, a new Pixar short, and the Gypsy remake...

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Eight Links Out

• Deadline 10 upcoming films that were given by funding from the British Film Institute... including a new meaty role for Sally Hawkins
• Filmmaker picks the 10 best films directed by women this year from Kenya's Rafiki through the US indie Madeline's Madeline. The biggest grosswer on the list is You Were Never Really Here by Lynne Ramsay...
• TFE <-- which, in case you missed  our year in review of box office hits, is only the 8th biggest grosser among female helmed films this year just behind Leave No Trace and Can You Ever Forgive Me?
• The Muse "Penny Marshall and the Movies That Shaped Me" 
• Gold Derby if Lady Gaga wins two Oscars this February she'll be the fifth woman to accomplish that trick in one night (but first actress).
• Pajiba picks some favourite movie costumes of the year and thankfully doesn't ignore contemporary films
• Electric Literature why recent movies about queer friendships are so revolutionary
• Awards Daily talks to Black Panther's editor Michael Shawver about some of the movie's best scenes and a compliment from Francis Coppola
• /Film you have just one week to watch Pixar's animated short finalist Bao online. It's soooo adorable

"Incredibles 2" Earns its Title with 11 Annie Nominations

by Nathaniel R

The Annie Award nominations have been released with Disney totally and utterly dominant: Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet lead with 11 and 10 nominations respectively and even when the prizes don't involve animated films (such as with animated effects or animation work in live-action features) the nominations still lean heavily toward a Disney majority.

But all is not lost for non-Disney contenders hoping to win something at the Annies or to score one of those five coveted Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars. Into the Spider-Verse, Isle of Dogs, and Early Man have to be taken seriously as Oscar threats and though foreign animated productions never fare all that well at the very American-centric Annie Awards, Oscar is a different story and both Japan's Mirai and Hungary's Ruben Brandt Collector, scored two nominations with the animation guild. They were already looking like the two most likely foreign players to spoil the Oscar dreams of some big studio CG effort and this confirms it. The complete list of nominees is after the jump along with a few comments...

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Link like the world isn't on fire

Variety - helpfully lists 10 standout moments from the MTV Movie Awards so we dont have to worry abotu missing it. Black Panther took the bulk of the prizes with Tiffany Haddish hosting
Towleroad - Interview with the director of McKellen: Playing the Part
IndieWire - 64 established and emerging film critics reflect on their favorite piece they've written -- our very own Chris Feil is in the mix! 
MNPP -Tyler Hoechlin seven times

Variety - Jennifer Lee (Frozen) and Pete Docter (Inside Out) are replacing John Lassetter at Disney and Pixar respectively
Guardian - Fun interview with Christopher Plummer on acting, replacing persona non gratas, and making peace with The Sound of Music.  
Coming Soon - this week in news absolutely no one needs: Robert Zemeckis to remake Roald Dahl's The Witches. There is literally no way to top Anjelica Huston's Grand High Witch so why?
/Film -AMC's A-List is going to compete directly with Movie Pass for those frequent moviegoer subscription dollars 
Variety - LGBTQ actors haven't had much luck securing Emmy nominations outside of the comedy fields. Will this change soon? 
New Yorker - funny piece on confessing that you met your partner in real life and not online! 

You guys. It's getting harder and harder to concentrate on movies and you know that's a nightmare for us when movies are our great love. But every day that goes by as America slides towards concentration camps, complete inhumanity, and fascism, Amy Poehler's questionnaire from last week at THR becomes ever more needed and brilliant. Here's the Q&A since the article is long and not about this:

This Summer Has "The Incredibles", Too

Chris here. Before Avengers fever takes over in the coming weeks with Infinity War (which we're still hoping is more Black Panther 1.5), it's worth remembering that the Marvel crew isn't the only superhero assemblage happening at the multiplex this summer. Namely, Pixar is finally delivering their long promised sequel to The Incredibles.

And we just got a big reminder with a full trailer that finally gives us some details about what the Incredible family is going to be facing this go around. So why not take a look and do your own Yes No Maybe So'ing in the comments.

YES. This time, Holly Hunter's Elastigirl takes the heroic center stage while hubbie Mr. Incredible struggles with fading into the background. You're married to the voice of Holly Hunter, kindly know your place, sir.

NO Pixar's previous non-Toy Story sequels give us pause about getting too excited for this one...

but none of those had Edna Mode. (And we're back up to the "Yes" column)

MAYBE SO. While this family-friendly look at issues of gender parity gives some reservations (is this all going to be Mr. Incredible's "but ME!" perspective?), we'll keep goodwill hope that the final product has some lessons in store for dad.

Are you excited for more Incredibles?