Sight & Sound's Top 20

So many lists and awards announcements this week you'd think it was... oh, yes, it is December. Sight and Sound enter the fray now with their top 20 which is a mix of expected auteur worship titles, festival films that may or may not ever actually open. It's also very now. The oldest title here is the great German continuous shot film Victoria (which premiered at festivals last year -- we nominated it for cinematography in 2015) but almost everything else just opened or hasn't opened yet! It's to be expected but also deeply frustrating that distributors never really catch up to film buzz...

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John Waters's Top 10 of 2016

Chris here. One of the most interesting curiosities every year in Best Of kudos is the list from trashcamp grandmaster John Waters. The provcateur always delivers a list that is surprising in its inclusions both for the purely unexpected (like last year's Cinderella) and for title or two you probably haven't heard of. Rest assured no matter how many films you have seen in a given year, Waters has seen more and his taste is more expansive. Eat your heart out, critics groups.

This year his top choice goes to a film getting lots of breakthrough love this week - Trey Edward Shults's Krisha. The film is quite a fitting choice for the filmmaker - with nonactors on a microbudget, Krisha is all taught social mores, fraught observations of family structures, and psychosis. Sounds somewhat like his own fascinations, albeit with much more inhibitions. Here's what he says of the film, with the rest of his list after the jump:

This hilariously harrowing portrait of a family reunion ruined by an alcoholic relative and too many dogs is told with verve and lunacy and features a top-notch performance by Krisha Fairchild, the director’s own aunt. Other people’s hell can sometimes be so much fun.

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November. It's a Wrap

November's most fun exercize was a ranking of the "1 and done" actors and actresses who've won Oscars in their only competition, and updating the Oscar charts for 2016, too. The key awards events were the Indie Spirits which Moonlight and American Honey led with six nominations apiece and the Gothams which went big for Moonlight and also loved all over Isabelle Huppert. Here are 16 key posts from the month in case you missed any of them.

8 Favorites
• Best Young Performers - which child stars and teen actors deserve kudos? 
• Happy Anniversary to the Pfeiffer-Kelleys - a couple for 23 years now 
• Tree of Life Revisited - with a live orchestra no less 
• Noirvember: Kiss Me Deadly - a "thriller of tomorrow" that still packs a punch 
• "Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again" -Judy & Barbra's classic duet 
• The Furniture: Hell or High Water - I always see the movie in new ways after these columns
• Noirvember: Bound The Wachowski's debut 
• We Give Thanks For...- Team Experience gave thanks for this film year.

8 Most Discussed
• Current Oscar Charts - the four acting categories. Volatile or set?
• It's Not Supposed to Happen This Way - we're in mourning about our country
• Oscar-Less Actress Wonders - which 5 do you love most?
• Yes No Maybe So: Silence - the trailer for Scorsese's latest
• Actress Roundtable - thoughts on the magazine cover
• Meryl Streep and the Cecil B DeMilles - Golden Globe history
• Fences: His & Hers - Denzel and Viola are both sensational
• Posterized: Ang Lee - How many of his films have you seen?

COMING IN DECEMBER
La La Land, Jackie, Fences, Kirk Douglas Centennial, and The Year in Review party begins. Any requests?

September. It's a Wrap

While the world continued to be horrifying this past month was a partial joy thanks to TIFF ushering in prestige film season, our favorite time of year, and a particularly good one from the looks of it. Here are a baker's dozen highlights from the month at the blog in case you missed these...

7 Favorites
• Isabelle Huppert is Elle -the French icon slays in this tricky movie
• Blue Velvet - 30 memorable things on its 30th anniversary 
• Memories of The Blair Witch Project - Team Experience looks back
• The Red Turtle & Courgette - animation is not a genre 
• I Could Go On Singing (1963) - Judy Garland's final film 
• The Furniture: Love & Friendship - the country charm of the hit comedy
• Moulin Rouge! the musical numbers we're most eager to see reinvisioned for the stage musical version 

7 That Spurred the Most Conversation
• Fences & 20th Century Women -they're finally teasing us 
• Oscar Chart Updates -these always spur plentiful conversation
• Tom Hanks in Sully - what does he have to do to nab another Oscar nom?
• Amy Adams Times Two - Oscar's girlfriend in Arrival & Nocturnal Animals
• The Black Dahlia (2006) - looking back at this curiousity 10 years later
• Natalie Portman in Jackie - Fox Searchlight plans a December bow
• Emmy Afterglow - what was your favorite win... other than Sarah Paulson?

7 Things Coming in October
• More from NYFF including 20th Century Women & Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
• A Marie Antoinette theme party
• 1963 Supporting Actress Smackdown: Tom Jones, Lilies of the Field, and The VIPs
• Fall TV: Crisis in Six Scenes, Divorce, Westworld, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
• New Films: Birth of a Nation, Moonlight, The Handmaiden
• The return of "Oscar Horrors"  
• ...and a new series on Costume Design 

August. It's Nearly a Wrap

The eighth month of the year is -- we've reached the final third of 2016 already? That was quick. Fall film season here we come. Summer was dreadful for movies unless you were smart and caught platform releases like Little Men, The Fits, Captain Fantastic, Morris From America, Disorder instead of the big budget spectacles. In fact, 2016 is shaping up to be a very rough year for mainstream cinema which could make the Oscars disastrous if they don't get creative and look further afield than they're usually prone to. We shall see.

This past month we've been celebrating 1984 for the Smackdown (coming your way Wednesday) but here are some other highlights in case you missed any.

8 Favorites
• The Art of Disavowing Your Film No, Jared Leto, no. 
• The Lobster's Phony Flowers another great episode of The Furniture
• Beauty vs Beast Bridesmaids Wiig or Byrne. Tough choice, right?
• That time Oscar loved Tarzan Revisiting the grand Greystoke
• Judy by the Numbers Judgement at Nuremberg -a different kind of singing
• Florence Foster Jenkins off-tune fuss & fun 
• Q&A Gender and the Oscars Plus Streep
• Sausage Party buns, dogs, filth, and stereotypes

8 That Spurred the Most Conversation
• Cast This: Clue Yes, they're making another movie from the game
• 1984, Year of the Heroic Farm Wives Sissy & Jessica & Sally
• Posterized: Woody Allen How many have you seen?
• Posterized: Natalie Portman How many of her films have you seen?
• Best Films of the 21st Century? That BBC List
• Monty (RIP) The Film Experience's beloved cat pundit has passed away
• 198 Oscar Performaces Ranking the Nominees (2000-2009) 
• 120 Oscar Performances Ranking the Nominees (2010-2015)

Coming in September
• Festival Season! Nathaniel leaves for Toronto real soon
• Emmy Awards
• 1963 is Our "Year of the Month": Tom Jones, The Sword in the Stone, Lilies of the Field, I Could Go On Singing, and more...
• BluRay: A Bigger Splash, The Conjuring 2, and Civil War revisits coming your way
• New Releases: Bridget Jones's Baby, Sully, Miss Peregrine, The Queen of Katwe, The Dressmaker, Magnificent Seven, and many more

ANY REQUESTS?