"Hamnet" wins the People's Choice at TIFF. Can it win Best Picture?

by Nathaniel R

HAMNET © Focus Features

With TIFF wrapping up today, it's time to update the Oscar charts (which we will be doing soon). Chloe Zhao's adaptation of the acclaimed novel Hamnet, historical fiction about the Shakespeares and the loss of their son, has the won the coveted People's Choice Award. While this prize has historically been very prophetic in regards to future Best Picture runs, Hamnet didn't need it per se; it's Oscar appeal was already ample given the subject matter, pedigree, rising stars, and ecstatic critical response. (We're super excited that Chloe Zhao will be able to follow Jane Campion in becoming only the second woman to score multiple nominations in Best Director. That might even happen twice this year with Kathryn Bigelow in the mix for A House of Dynamite) The runners up for the coveted People's Choice prize are slightly wilder cards in terms of Oscar gold...

Click to read more ...

TIFF 50: Benoit Blanc looks for grace in "Wake Up Dead Man"

by Cláudio Alves

If Wake Up Dead Man is the weakest Knives Out mystery yet, the blame lies at the feet of its outsized thematic ambition. In that regard, the new flick outdoes its predecessors and then some, touching on the same satirical points and terminally online observations of our socio-political present while stretching hands up, toward the heavens, in search of an ineffable grace. Rian Johnson thus tackles religion and belief and absolution with a Gothic twist and perverse glee, a complex proposal further complicated by the way he keeps playing with the whodunnit model in his usual deconstructionist manner. The director boldly adds Poe and Carr to the pantheon of authors he'll crib from in a metatextual game that reaches out an invitation to its audience. Share the pleasure of my mischief, it whispers in your ear…

Click to read more ...

What's next for the recently Oscar-nominated: Pt 1 - Writer/Directors

With the 95th Academy Awards wrapped, it's time to look to the future. Herewith a quick little series about what's in store for the recently nominated. Let's start with the writer/directors.

EDWARD BERGER
The 52 year old director behind Germany's latest Oscar winner, All Quiet on the Western Front, was surely thisclose to snagging an Oscar nomination for his directing (given how well the film did across the board) but he had to make due with sharing a writing nomination. His credits to date have largely been on German television but he'd already made inroads into Hollywood prior to the World War I Oscar magnet, directing episodes of two Showtime series, Your Honor and Patrick Melrose.

Let's just say he's very busy. He's already shot a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (as a miniseries) starring Benedict Cumbatch. Around the time of the Oscar nomination he was also shooting a religious thriller Conclave...

Click to read more ...

Review: "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" Ups the Ante to Glorious Results

by Christopher James

Sometimes, bigger is actually better.

Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, Knives Out became a sleeper hit, delivering a perfectly fun and witty whodunnit perfect for all generations. The Netflix sequel, Glass Onion, ups the ante in every way possible. The set is bigger, the cast is starrier, the cameos are plentiful. Despite the excess on screen, none of the magic of the original is lost. In fact, Glass Onion improves on the original, taking a character we know and love and thrusting him into a funnier and more zany mystery. The heart is still there so sign me up for plenty more chapters of Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) solving elaborate mysteries.

For those concerned, never fear. No major spoilers are ahead. The latest Benoit Blanc tale, which just opened in cinemas, deserves to be seen with as fresh of eyes as possible...

Click to read more ...

Link vs Link

• The Guardian ranks the best "Vs" movies after the success of Godzilla vs Kong. Really fun list
• /Film You've probably heard by now that Rian Johnson scored a massive deal for his Knives Out sequels. They'll be going to Netflix for um... $400 million. Daniel Craig will be reprising his role for new mysteries.
• AV Club Edward James Olmos talks about his "random roles" in this always engaging series

More after the jump including Lil Nas X, Olivia Colman, Kung Fu, Thandiwe Newton, and new projects from Sam Mendes and Alex Garland...

Click to read more ...