Olivia de Havilland 1916-2020

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Olivia de Havilland died peacefully in her sleep yesterday at the age of 104. One of the last movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, she was a two-time Oscar winner, whose filmography was ripe with classics, from her debut in 1935’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the eight movies she co-starred in with Errol Flynn (my favorites are The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dodge City and Captain Blood) to Gone With the Wind (forever Melanie to most people), her two Oscar winning roles in To Each His Own and The Heiress, to The Snake Pit, Hold Back the Dawn and The Strawberry Blonde. A legend of the silver screen, she shared a notorious lifelong feud with her sister Joan Fontaine (another old Hollywood icon), whom she outlived by seven years, and was known for her groundbreaking fight to break down the Hollywood studio system in the 1930’s. A certain era of the movies dies with her today. Make sure to check out those films I mentioned if you can- she was known as a kind of “gentlewoman” onscreen for her grace and beauty, but she had range that spanned from screwball comedy to melodrama and action/adventure.

Trailer for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938):

Trailer for The Heiress (1949):

Judd Apatow's 'The King of Staten Island' Comes to VOD on Friday

We’re still in a holding period when it comes to theaters and what new movies are going to come back and when (maybe July is when we’ll start seeing it?), but some new movies are still coming out soon. Just not in theaters. The King of Staten Island, a starring vehicle for SNL’s Pete Davidson, which was co-written by him and Apatow, is set to premiere on video on demand on Friday- and it’s gotten some pretty good early reviews so far. Judd Apatow’s last movie was Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck (which he didn’t write), so his penchant for trying to boost up and coming comics continues.

Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' Promises to Arrive "In Theaters," But When?

This new extended trailer for Tenet gives me no further insight into what it’s about- another of Nolan’s puzzle box, sci-fi movies ala Inception and Memento I guess, but the biggest question surrounding its release is when it’s actually coming out and whether it will indeed be the first big movie that people are going to go back to theaters to see in the midst of the pandemic. It was scheduled for July 17th, but no date is stamped on this trailer. Is is coming out or not? We still don’t know but WB and Nolan are going to have to make a decision pretty soon here. Movie theaters are a question mark- are they super spreader events like other types of mass gatherings or will social distance measures, masks and fewer people in one theater be enough to protect moviegoers? I myself would rather not risk it and will go back when the vaccine is here.

From Director Christopher Nolan. #TENET, coming to theaters. Watch the new trailer now. ----------------- https://www.facebook.com/TENETfilm https://twitter....

Max Von Sydow 1929-2020

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The great Swedish actor Max Von Sydow passed away today at the age of 90. He appeared in more than 100 films since the 1950’s, most notably as a favorite collaborator of Swedish director ingmar Bergman, starring in 1957’s The Seventh Seal, as the knight who plays a game of chess with Death. He also famously co-starred in 1972’s The Exorcist, as the priest who battles Satan, and was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for 1987’s Pelle the Conqueror. Most recently he’d been known for appearing on Game of Thrones as the Three-Eyed Raven (for which he was nominated for an Emmy) and in the opening scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Other notable films of his included Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (1957), The Virgin Spring (1960) Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963) and Shame (1968), as well as the long post-Bergman era, which included The Emigrants (1971), Awakenings (1990), Minority Report (2005), and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), among others far too many to name in his prolific career.

Trailer for The Seventh Seal:

My Top 10 Movies of 2019

At long last, this Leap Day I’m finally posting my Top 10 list of 2019. I’m pretty happy with it, as last year was for me, a pretty great year for movies and I’d gladly watch any of these again. Hopefully you’ll see all of these as well.

1) ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

A dazzling panorama of 1960’s Hollywood and the magic of the movies to rewrite history as fable

A dazzling panorama of 1960’s Hollywood and the magic of the movies to rewrite history as fable

2) PARASITE

A sensational, pulpy thriller worthy of Hitchcock in its impact, with much to say about society’s ills

A sensational, pulpy thriller worthy of Hitchcock in its impact, with much to say about society’s ills

3) JOJO RABBIT

No other movie this year makes you feel better about life and want to embrace love over hate more than this comedy about, of all things, Nazis

No other movie this year makes you feel better about life and want to embrace love over hate more than this comedy about, of all things, Nazis

4) THE NIGHTINGALE

A historical revenge tale that packs a heartpounding punch and leaves you ravaged with emotion

A historical revenge tale that packs a heartpounding punch and leaves you ravaged with emotion

5) ROCKETMAN

A bold, brassy musical with a showstoppincgly energetic performance from Taron Egerton as Elton John

A bold, brassy musical with a showstoppincgly energetic performance from Taron Egerton as Elton John

6) THE IRISHMAN

Martin Scorsese’s ode to gangster movies, with an elegiac ending that puts a cap on the genre as a whole

Martin Scorsese’s ode to gangster movies, with an elegiac ending that puts a cap on the genre as a whole

7) TOY STORY 4

The fourth entry in the longtime franchise brings a fresh perspective to the next step in life’s journey for our old toy friends

The fourth entry in the longtime franchise brings a fresh perspective to the next step in life’s journey for our old toy friends

8) DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

A brash, raunchy and hilarious tribute to Rudy Ray Moore and his sheer will to succeed in an industry that didn’t want him

A brash, raunchy and hilarious tribute to Rudy Ray Moore and his sheer will to succeed in an industry that didn’t want him

9) PAIN AND GLORY

A melancholy yet affectionate reflection on an auteur’s rediscovery of his love for his life’s work

A melancholy yet affectionate reflection on an auteur’s rediscovery of his love for his life’s work

10) PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

A romantic and lush exploration of an 18th century forbidden love affair

A romantic and lush exploration of an 18th century forbidden love affair

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Uncut Gems; 1917; The Farewell

Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'In the Heights' Coming This Summer

Before Hamilton conquered the world, Lin-Manuel Miranda had another beloved, Tony award-winning musical, 2005’s In the Heights, which is now coming to the big screen this summer. You can never quite tell about traditional musicals based on the trailers, which don’t show off the big production numbers, but…it certainly has potential. The only problem for me is that I HATED this director’s last movie (Crazy Rich Asians was one of the worst of that year for me). But maybe that was just the story. Hopefully this is better.

A Starry Cast Assembles for Wes Anderson's New Film 'The French Dispatch'

Well, it’s a Wes Anderson movie, alright. Apparently this one is an anthology of separate short stories taking place in a fictional European city, centered around an American publishing outlet based on The New Yorker. It’s got the usual Anderson roster of bit players in there and maybe looks a little more like The Grand Budapest Hotel than some of his other films? It’s coming out July 24th and will likely premiere at Cannes this year.

2020 Oscar Predictions, Part 5: Director and Picture

Now we come to the moment of truth. I don’t think it’s a hard choice this year- it’s basically 1917 in the lead with Parasite as a strong upset possibility.

BEST DIRECTOR

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  • Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

  • Sam Mendes, 1917

  • Todd Phillips, Joker

  • Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

  • Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

So for this one it’s basically not smart to predict anyone who didn’t win the DGA. That’s the most accurate precursor for this, unless it’s some kind of weird fluke year where the DGA winner wasn’t nominated (like Ben Affleck and Argo, for example). Sam Mendes also won at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice (split with Bong Joon-ho there) and BAFTA, so he’s safe for this anyway. 

BEST PICTURE

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  • Ford v. Ferrari

  • The Irishman

  • Jojo Rabbit

  • Joker

  • Little Women

  • Marriage Story

  • 1917

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

  • Parasite

And now we come down to the nitty gritty. How to assess Best Picture this year? Well, first of all, a reminder about this weird preferential ballot the Academy uses (for only this category, don’t forget). It’s not the movie that gets the most votes. The choices are ranked 1-9 and it goes through rounds of voting if no movie gets a certain percentage right off the bat, where second and third place votes are tabulated, etc. This is how we can occasionally get surprise winners, most recently, when Moonlight beat La La Land at the last minute. 

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But this year, it looks fairly safe for 1917, because the movie won at the PGA, which is the only other group that uses this same type of balloting. And of course it also won the DGA for Sam Mendes, and that combination of precursor is pretty strong. It also swept at BAFTA, but BAFTA actually hasn’t matched Best Picture since 2013, when 12 Years a Slave won, so maybe that’s a bad omen? If there’s anything else that can take it down with second and third round voting, I think it’s Parasite, which had a strong guild run, winning SAG, WGA, and ACE (editing), the most significant guilds after PGA and DGA. It’s obviously going to be high on people’s ballots, with lots of second and third place votes, which could help it come out on top (if 1917 doesn’t just win on the first round of course). And it would make history, as the first foreign-language film to ever win Best Picture- the question is and has always been, if those movies having their own separate category has hampered them from winning in the past?

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And then after that, my guess is Jojo Rabbit is actually the movie that has a tiny sliver of a chance to upset, after also winning at some important guilds, including ACE and WGA, and getting that DGA nod that Joker didn’t get. It’s very popular in the industry. I thought Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would be, but after wining at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards, it went on to be basically skunked by all the major industry awards, except the art direction guild. And supporting actor of course. As for the rest of them, they’re basically all also rans, and will come in at the bottom of the ballots, so if those movies are the number one choice for voters, their second and third choices will matter more.

Winner: 1917 (65% chance to win)

Alternate: Parasite (30% chance)

Dark Horse: Jojo Rabbit (5% chance)