The Planet of the Links

Pull it together, Nathaniel! There is so much showbiz news of late that we've been buried in avalanche of it. How to stop and collect the linkage? So herewith a looooong list of links in a vain attempt to catch up or but by the time you've read it we'll surely have missed another 20 stories in addition to those that already slipped by in the past two weeks. What I'm saying is "too many things too many things too many things" 

So read on and click away for The Avengers: Infinity War, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jessica Chastain, Big Little Lies paydays, Sundance buzz, and much much more. Please to enjoy or at least peruse...

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FYC: "Okja" for Best Visual Effects

by Ilich Mejía

With all due respect to Transformers: The Last Night and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, neither one made me fall in love with a creature forty times my size—mostly because I skipped both, but other reasons, too. Okja's titular superpig, however, had me smitten after her opening scene cavorting across a Korean forest with her best friend, Mija (played by Ahn Seo-hyun, a revelation).

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A Slightly Queer Take on "The Last Jedi"

This was originally published in Nathaniel's intermittent column at Towleroad.

There’s a bit of a macro and micro thing happening at the movies. I’m not talking about Disney’s new merchandising bonanza pairing those miniature “porgs” (think CGI puffins) with towering furry Chewbacca. No we speak of the wide release and limited release divide. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been filling houses at over 4000 theaters and is obliterating the competition (already number #3 of the year in just 10 days) while a bunch of Oscar contenders are playing, not so quietly, in limited release gigs in their pursuit of golden statues. We’ll talk about more of those again soon but first [cue yellow text crawl over space] Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

We now return to The Resistance (aka the proudly defiant “Rebel Scum”) who are even easier to relate to know in December 2017 when it feels like the world will be ending any day with each new disastrous move from our own evil empire. (Sigh) If they can just harness the light side of the force, break through that one gerrymandered code, save that one cornered group of people, fetch Luke Skywalker, they might live to see another day...

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Visual Effects Race Narrows Further

Chris here, with a quick update on the visual effects Oscar race. Two weeks ago this year's longlist of twenty eligible CGI wonders dropped but the VFX branch is already down to the next bake off round, slicing those contenders in half. Those not tough enough to stick around included many of the early year releases (like Beauty and the Beast and Logan) and every superhero film with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

But fear not, humble porg, for you and the fish nuns of The Last Jedi are still in the hunt. Here's the ten films that advance:

• Alien: Covenant
• Blade Runner 2049
• Dunkirk
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Kong: Skull Island
• Okja
• The Shape of Water
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
• War for the Planet of the Apes

Interesting to see smaller art house fare like Okja and The Shape of Water advance in a category that traditionally favors studio pictures. The win two years ago for Ex Machina (and to a much lesser extent last year's Deepwater Horizon nomination) suggests that supporting visual effects actually stand a chance against showier work. Along with the seemless, unflashy Dunkirk these make for curious potential nomination threats against the flashier sights of likely nominees Last Jedi and Apes. What five do you think are the eventual nominees?

Field Narrows for Visual Effects Oscar

Chris here. We should soon be getting word of what films have moved on in bake off rounds for Oscar categories like Foreign Film and Makeup and Hairstyling. But now we have a longlist for the Visual Effects category and many of the players are genre films and blockbusters as expected. There is still room for a surprise or two, the most heartwarming of which is certainly Netflix's Okja. There's even two unseen films among the lineup: The Last Jedi and the Jumanji sequel.

Here are the 20 eligible films:

• Alien: Covenant
• Beauty and the Beast
• Blade Runner 2049
• Dunkirk
• Ghost in the Shell
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
• Justice League
• Kong: Skull Island
• Life
• Logan
• Okja
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• The Shape of Water
  
• Spider-Man Homecoming
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Thor: Ragnarok
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
• War for the Planet of the Apes
• Wonder Woman

Isn't it surprising that the awe-inspiring motion capture work on the new Apes trilogy has gone un rewarded so far? Folks might need to be reminded about War, but it would make for a lovely series capper should it take the prize this year. The candidates will narrow further to end at the end of the month. Any thoughts on frontrunners? Oscar chart here.