Questions we're asking ourselves about Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor

All Oscar charts are being updated over the next four days but we started with Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor because there are so many questions haunting us. So go ahead and answer the following quandaries if you can...?

1. Can Tom Hanks finally break his strange Oscar curse?
Before anyone had seen A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood he was a lock "on paper" in Best Actor. But the movie turned out to not be a biopic at all but something far more creative and we'd argue more successful than a biopic would have been, in which Mr. Rogers is more of a symbol and catalyst for another man's journey. It's a gorgeous movie but the switcheroo from expectations to reality will likely throw some Oscar voters as well as general moviegoers. Hanks has been delivering better performances of late than the kind he used to win Oscars for but AMPAS hasn't nominated him in 19 years. Should we expect that they'll continue that "you already got yours" cold shoulder rather than be predicting him? 

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Best of the London Film Festival 2019

Please welcome guest contributor Scott Thomson, who just participated in the Critics Mentorship Programme at the London Film Festival. We've invited him to tell us about his favourites from the festival, which just concluded. -Editor

Monos, Colombia's Oscar submission, won the film festival's top honors

by Scott Thomson

The programming team at the London Film Festival delivered a magnificent slate of films this year, working within a series of expertly curated strands to shape the programme into something that caters to all tastes. This year there was a focus on developing a hub for the Festival, with a schedule of free events to generate a more connected and interactive vibe.  As London falls fairly late in the Festival calendar, it does not tend to get a great deal of World Premieres, but the buzz and atmosphere around both the larger and smaller offerings is undeniable and LFF deserves a lot of credit for being a festival that is very much for the audiences.

With 40% of all films on the programme this year were from female filmmakers this is another huge step in the right direction for festival curation; the content is most certainly available and other festivals should take note. With 28 films under my belt this year I have taken in a lot of what I was hoping to, but inevitably missed out on some wonderful stuff. Here are some of my ‘Bests’ from London this year: 

Adele Haenel and Celine SciammaBest Film: Monos (which also took the Best Film prize at the Festival). There is not an ounce of fat on Colombia's Oscar submission. It's thrilling, progressive cinema with an outstanding young cast. Everything is cinema magic including that machine energy Mica Levi score. 

Best Director: Celine Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. My my my, I’m still swooning. Sciamma’s gentle gaze on this beautiful love story is so open hearted and considerate...

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YNMS: "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"

by Lynn Lee

It’s here!  The trailer for the much-anticipated Mister Rogers movie, starring Tom Hanks as everyone’s favorite neighbor, dropped Monday…and a million Gen-Xers wept tears of pure nostalgia.  But what does the trailer reveal about the film that we didn’t already know?  Not a whole lot, as it turns out.  Let’s break it down...

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Do You Have a Question for the Podcast?

Sunday morning Nathaniel and Murtada will be recording a podcast. For this episode we'd like to answer listener questions, so ask away in the comments and we'll pick several to answer!

We promise The Godfather will NOT be the answer to all your questions.

The Once and Future Link

• /Film Tom Hanks to play Elvis Presley's shady manager Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Elvis biopic. Thankfully Baz is looking for a complete unknown for Elvis himself
• Towleroad this is awesome. Gay rights hero Harvey Milk is now on the tail fits of Norwegian Airlines. And to think he can't even get a national holiday in the US. We are so behind sometimes!
• Shadowplay some fun thoughts on John Boorman's Excalibur as "The Ridiculous"
• MNPP "do dump or marry" Matrix anniversary edition

More after the jump including the awesomeness of Eva Green, the fate of X-Men movies, an Alien high school production, and filmmaker interviews...

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