| We're a week away from Labor Day weekend and we have one movie slotted in as a best picture Oscar nominee. |
| That leaves nine spots and whole lot of sharp elbows as we begin the fall film festival circuit next week in Venice and Telluride. |
| I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. Worst freeway in Southern California? There is only one correct answer, but it's not the one in our rankings. And that answer is just another reason why, like Sal Saperstein, we dread going anywhere near LAX. |
Fall festivals preview |
| In case you were wondering — but I think you already know — the movie already assured a best picture nomination is Ryan Coogler's exuberant horror hit, "Sinners," a film as entertaining and provocative as anything I've seen in a theater in the last couple of years. It was my favorite summer movie, even if it did come out in April. Watching it in Imax 70mm felt like an event, the kind of blockbuster moviegoing experience I'll remember years from now. |
| The Venice Film Festival starts Wednesday. On Thursday, I'll be flying to Telluride. The 50th Toronto International Film Festival begins the following week. Dozens of movies will be premiering at these festivals. Standing ovations will be meticulously — and ridiculously — timed. And when the smoke clears, we'll have the makings of a slate of contenders that we'll be covering and debating for the next six months. |
| Here are some of the world premieres at each festival that I'll be watching most closely, movies that could be made — or broken — by the next time you hear from me. |
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Venice |
| Haute couture. Water taxis. Endless Aperol spritzes. |
| "Frankenstein": For Guillermo del Toro, Pinocchio and Frankenstein have always been two sides of the same coin, creations made by an uncaring father, released into the world without much care. Del Toro tackled Pinocchio with his last film, which won the Oscar for animated feature. And now he's adapting the Mary Shellley classic, promising to include parts of the tragic story never before seen on screen. If anyone can make us shout "it's alive" again, it's Del Toro. |
| "A House of Dynamite": A new political thriller from Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow is an event, particularly because it's her first film since "Detroit" eight years ago. "Dynamite" deals with U.S. leaders scrambling for a response after a missile attack. I'm hoping to embark on a two-hour ride firmly fixed in the fetal position. |
| "Jay Kelly": Famous actor (George Clooney) and his devoted manager (Adam Sandler) travel through Europe, pondering regrets (they've had a few) and the times they've loved, laughed and cried. Noah Baumbach directs from a script he co-wrote with Emily Mortimer. His last movie, 2019's "Marriage Story," earned six Oscar nominations, with Laura Dern winning supporting actress. Time for the Sandman to finally get an invitation to the party? |
| "No Other Choice": Park Chan-wook adapts the provocative Donald Westlake thriller "The Ax," which Costa-Gavras adapted in 2005 — but Park apparently wasn't aware of that movie when he decided to make his own film. Park has been working on it for years, calling it his "lifetime project," the movie he wanted to stand as his "masterpiece." He has made some great films — "The Handmaiden" and "Decision to Leave" among them — so it's hard not be intrigued. |
| "The Smashing Machine": I have seen the trailer for this Benny Safdie drama about MMA fighter Mark Kerr so many times that I feel like I have already seen the movie. The blend of Safdie grittiness and Dwayne Johnson star power is sure to generate buzz, but there are whispers that the film simply isn't all that good. From that trailer, I'm inclined to believe them ... but hope to be proved wrong. |
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Telluride |
| High altitude, fleece pullovers, repeated discussions about hydration. Lineup not officially announced until Thursday. These are just "rumors." |
| "Ballad of a Small Player": Edward Berger premiered "Conclave" at Telluride last year and it worked out fine, going on to earn eight Oscar nominations and emerging as a viable, sillier alternative for those looking to vote for something other than "Anora." Berger's latest is about a high-stakes gambler (Colin Farrell) holed up in China, desperate for a way out of his debts and past sins. As awards voters loved "Conclave" and Berger's misbegotten "All Quiet on the Western Front," attention must be paid. |
| "Hamnet": Paul Mescal is everywhere. And now he's playing William Shakespeare in a drama about the Bard and his wife rediscovering each other after the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Why not? Especially when the film is directed by Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland") and has the brilliant Jessie Buckley on board as Shakespeare's better half. |
| "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere": Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce! Jeremy Allen White plays Springsteen as he goes lo-fi making his acclaimed album "Nebraska." History tells us that actors starring in music biopics are rewarded handsomely, and, given what we've seen of White on "The Bear," he seems a perfect choice to play a brooding Bruce. |
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Toronto |
| Weather that veers between spring, summer and fall in the course of a week. Poutine. Splashy premieres of movies that have already played at other festivals. |
| "Christy": Sydney Sweeney has been in the news lately. Maybe you've heard? But she's about to make a serious awards-season play in this sports biopic about boundary-shattering boxer Christy Martin, a young gay woman fighting to establish an identity that runs counter to her conservative upbringing. Will the work be good enough to rise above the noise around the actor? |
| "The Lost Bus": Paul Greengrass, like Bigelow, has been absent from the conversation for a bit. His last movie, the fine western "News of the World," was swallowed by the pandemic. Now he's back with a survival drama, one with California roots, as a father (Matthew McConaughey) and a teacher (America Ferrera) try to bring a bus full of school children to safety during the deadly 2018 Camp fire. |
