October Wrap-Up.

Tomorrow is Halloween which means October is nearly gone. Happy Devil's Night! Apart from the madhouse of virtual festivals (which all decided to happen at once!) and finally getting all Oscar charts up for this strange season we spent most of October celebrating Montgomery Clift's Centennial. We're so proud of that 18 episode series and the fine insights of our writers so we sincerely hope you got something out of it and were spurred on to discover at least a couple of his pictures that you hadn't seen before. If you did, please let us know in the comments so we know we reached people. Highlights from October follow...

12 Highlights You Might Have Missed

• To Die For -Chris revisits for the 25th anniversary of Kidman's breakout
• Damon Identity - Patrick's thinkpiece about Matt Damon's persona
• Bram Stoker's Dracula - Michael's hilarious first screening (!) of this visual orgy
• Smackdown 1965 - Shelley Winters vs Maggie Smith vs Ruth Gordon
• Sally Kirkland FYC a legendary Oscar campaign for Anna (1987)
• Ranking Olivier's 10 Oscar nods -Cláudio on Sleuth, Othello, Rebecca, etc...
• From Here to Eternity - Nathaniel on the peak of Montgomery Clift's stardom
• The Furniture: Suddenly Last Summer - Daniel on wild gardens, descending thrones, medical theatres
• Almost There: Andrew Garfield -for The Social Network's 10th anniversary
• Pretty Woman Fantasy - Christopher recounts a fateful Halloween night
• NYFF: French Exit - Nathaniel works out his issues with the transfer
• Making Montgomery Clift - Sean's thoughtful epilogue to our series - have any of you seen this documentary?

5 Most Discussed Articles

• YNMS: Hillbilly Elegy - Damn the opinions were out to play!
• Cancel the Oscars' is bulls***t - And more (heated) opinions
• YNMS: The Prom - Meryl, Nicole, and more in this movie musical
• Best Actress Predictions - Always discussable!
• Oldest Best Actress lineups will 2020 break the record set just seven years back?

COMING IN NOVEMBER: New films including Ammonite, Mank, Monsoon, Wolfwalkers, Sound of Metal, and Hillbilly Elegy and retrospectives including Home for the Holidays 25th, Gene Tierney's 100th, and of course our 1987 series culminating in the season finale of Supporting Actress Smackdown. 

If you're just rejoining us looking to catch up. 2020 so far...
2019 Film Year Wrap | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct

The 'Cancel the Oscars' thing is just plain bulls***t. Here's why

by Juan Carlos

I’ve been itching to discuss this for quite a while now. Ever since the pandemic, the way we watch films has dramatically shifted. Cinemas are now either closed down or maintained with stringent health safety measures. Drive-in cinemas have experienced a resurgence in popularity due to their safer conditions. Meanwhile, we have seen films dropping on streaming platforms, VOD, and virtual cinemas at such a rapid rate that it is quite hard to even keep track of what is being released. 

Meanwhile, AMPAS made several changes in its rules to adjust to the current world we are living in. So for the first time, the Academy allowed streaming-only films in as long as there was an intention to exhibit them theatrically (I still don’t know how they would prove intention, but that's another discussion). Also, they have extended the eligibility period: from January 1 to December 31, 2020, it will now extend until February 28, 2021, a move that seemed hastily done months ago and now makes even less sense since majority of the films that were supposed to screen in the last months of the year in cinemas have now moved to late 2021 anyway. 

And then this opinion piece from the Washington Post happened.

In an article that adds itself to the chorus of people saying that the Oscars should be cancelled in its entirety, the writer asserts that the Oscars should be cancelled because...

Click to read more ...

September. It's a wrap

We're entering the last quarter of this film-light year. But we're still finding things to talk about. We hope you enjoyed all the Emmy and 1938 coverage, and (currently ongoing) Oscar predictions and NYFF coverage. Here's a look back at September at the blog...

10 You Shouldn't Miss
• Nomadland at Venice ...and at NYFF Elisa and Murtada both react
• The Wolf of Wall Street Quaaludes, man
• John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon was this the closest he came to an Oscar nod?
• The Human Voice - Pedro and Tilda wow in short film form
• Fred & Ginger, Ranked Cláudio ranks their 10 musical pairings
• Handmaid's Tale during a pandemic Juan Carlos gets personal about why it's his favourite show ever
• 1938's Best Pictures a ranking from The Citadel to Robin Hood
• Yes No Maybe So: Dune the sci-fi epic gets another adaptation
• The Furniture: Doctor Zhivago what a way to kick off '65 coverage 

5 Most Discussed
• New Oscar Rules AMPAS gets serious about representation and inclusion
• Timothée What do you see in the Chalamet's future?
• Smackdown 38 You Can't Take Jezebel With You! 
• West Side Story Delayed so few movies competing for the Oscars
• The Baroness Nick on The Sound of Music's most overlooked turn

Coming in October 
Calgary & Middleburg film festivals, a Montgomery Clift centennial celebration, and the 1965 Supporting Actress Smackdown, and more. 

August. It's a Wrap

The "Summer Movie Season Without...er... Movies" is officially over. Now we move on to Prestige Film Season... hopefully With Movies but you never know. The dog days of summer are over but here were a baker's dozen or so key posts from the month at TFE in case you missed any of them.

Some Highlights
• French Exit Nathaniel suggests reading the book before the movie!
• When Tilda Swinton Went Mainstream - Sean dons the furcoat and angel wings
• The Australian New Wave - Glenn takes Criterion's journey down under
• The New Classics: Moonlight -Michael goes to the diner with Black & Kevin
• A Patch of Blue - Nathaniel gasps at Shelley Winters (second) Oscar
• The Furniture: The Poseidon Adventure - Daniel boards the (sinking) ship
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Nick for the 10th anniversary
• Revisiting Spotlight - Juan Carlos asks how the Best Picture has aged

Most Discussed
• Smackdown of 2005 - A banner lineup gets raves from our panel
• "Won & Done" - Baby Clyde on the curse of finally winning an Oscar
• Diaz in Malkovich - Cláudio takes a frizzy-haired request
• Emmy Lead Actress Drama - Abe considers this tough all-star race
• Yes No Maybe So: Ammonite - We're all in for this lesbian romantic drama 

Coming in September
Mulan, Tenet, and other new movies. Plus a deep dive into 1938 cinema for the Smackdown and well beyond. Definitely more Emmy talk, too, and the (virtual) ceremony. We'll hit Mickey Rooney's centennial and celebrate anniversaries of To Wong Foo, Se7en, and Mildred Pierce. And yes, updates to the Oscar charts even though the year still feels like end days. 

July. It's a Wrap

Will this hellscape of a year ever be over? Apparently it will because each month of the year has arrived and then departed even if they've been thrice as long as usual. Here are a dozen or so highlights from July that you might have missed!

• Costumes of Clueless 25 years later, Claudio feels they're even more iconic
• Mira Sorvino Mini-Fest  the actress programmed her own retrospective for us
• Let's talk about poop jokes -Michael's brilliant take on Bridesmaids (2011)
• 100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees -Sadly we had to update this recently
• Eva Green in Dark Shadows Jason considers when a bad movie houses a great star turn
• Smackdown 1957 some people say this is one of Oscar's worst lineups but it was still interesting to discuss
• Almost There: River Phoenix His performance in My Own Private Idaho remains a treasure both of promise fulfilled and agony of what could have been thereafter
• First on Vanity Fair Viola Davis's cover prompted a look back
• Bloody Nose Empty Pockets we keep hearing great things about this doc
• Lana Turner what star power!
• Hamilton on Disney plus

Most Discussed
• Smackdown 1991 Juliette Lewis vs Mercedes Ruehl in a photo finish
• Hamilton for the Oscars? The rise and fall and chaos of 'is it eligible?'
• Olivia de Havilland (RIP) the last superstar of Hollywood's Golden Age

Coming in August
We'll take intermittent trips back to 2005 (any requests?) before the next Smackdown which will feature reconsiderations of Amy Adams in Junebug, Catherine Keener in Capote, Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain, Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener, and Frances McDormand in North Country.

We'll also be celebrating the career of two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters (any requests?) for her Centennial. The rest will be a surprise to you AND TO US as we haven't planned much!