2017 AWARD SEASON BEGINS

While it has not been theatrically released yet, "The Post", Steven Spielberg’s look at the Washington Post taking the lead in exposing the Pentagon Papers, impressed the National Board of Review enough for them to select it as the Best Film of 2017. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, who play Post publisher, Katherine Graham and the paper's editor, Ben Bradlee, took the Best Actress and Best Actor prizes for their roles in the film. "The Post" is due on December 22nd in limited release before rolling out nationwide in January.

In a pleasant and well-deserved surprise, actress, Greta Gerwig was selected as Best Director for her amazing coming-of-age dramedy, "Lady Bird", her directorial debut while Jordan Peele took the Directorial Debut prize for "Get Out", his reflective horror flick that examines race relations.

Both films are also well represented with nominations for the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards with "Get Out" receiving five and "Lady Bird" received four with both nominated for Best Feature. Laurie Metcalf won the Best Supporting Actress prize from NBR and a nomination from the Spirit Awards for her performance in "Lady Bird" as the harried mother. Another film not yet seen publicly, "Phantom Thread" was given the Best Original Screenplay by NBR with this drama (due out on Christmas day) by writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson being noteworthy and highly anticipated because it will feature the apparent last screen performance by three-time Oscar winner, Daniel Day-Lewis.

Meanwhile on the other side of the globe, The European Film Awards have previously announced their nominations of the best films of 2017 that originated from their continent. Four of the Best European Film nominees have been selected to represent their countries for Oscar as Best Foreign-Language Film (with "The Other Side of Hope" from Finland not getting that opportunity).

The National Board of Review Awards gala, hosted by Willie Geist, will be on January 9, 2018 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. The Spirit Awards will air live on IFC from the Santa Monica beach on March 3rd and will be hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney for a second year in a row. The 30th annual European Awards will be held on December 9th in Berlin.

Winners of the 2017 National Board of Review:

Best Film: "The Post"
Best Director: Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
Best Directorial Debut: Jordan Peele, "Get Out"
Best Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, "The Disaster Artist"
Best Actor: Tom Hanks, "The Post"
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Post"
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
Best Cast Ensemble: "Get Out"
Best Animated Feature: "Coco"
Best Foreign Language Film: "Foxtrot" (Israel)
Best Documentary: "Jane"
Best Breakthrough Performance: Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me By Your Name"
Freedom of Expression: "Let it Fall: Los Angeles, 1982-1992" and "First They Killed My Father" (tie)
Spotlight Award: "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot

2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations:

Best Feature

"Call Me By Your Name"
"Get Out"
"Lady Bird"
"The Florida Project"
"The Rider"

Best First Feature

"Columbus"
"Ingrid Goes West"
"Menashe"
"Oh Lucy!"
"Patti Cake$"

Best Director

Sean Baker, "The Florida Project"
Jonas Carpignano, "A Ciambra"
Luca Guadagnino, "Call Me by Your Name"
Jordan Peele, "Get Out"
Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie, "Good Time"
Chloé Zhao, "The Rider

Best Screenplay

Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
Azazel Jacobs, "The Lovers"
Martin McDonagh, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Jordan Peele, "Get Out"
Mike White, "Beatriz at Dinner"

Best First Screenplay

Kris Avedisian, (Story by Kyle Espeleta and Jesse Wakeman), "Donald Cried"
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, "The Big Sick"
Ingrid Jungermann, "Women Who Kill"
Kogonada, "Columbus"
David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer, "Ingrid Goes West"

Best Female Lead

Salma Hayek, "Beatriz at Dinner"
Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"
Shinobu Terajima, "Oh Lucy!"
Regina Williams, "Life and nothing more"

Best Male Lead

Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name"
Harris Dickinson, "Beach Rats"
James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out"
Robert Pattinson, "Good Time"

Best Supporting Female

Holly Hunter, "The Big Sick"
Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"
Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
Lois Smith, "Marjorie Prime"
Taliah Lennice Webster, "Good Time"

Best Supporting Male

Nnamdi Asomugha, "Crown Heights"
Armie Hammer, "Call Me By Your Name"
Barry Keoghan, "The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
Bennie Safdie, "Good Time"

Best Cinematography

Thimios Bakatakis, "The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Elisha Christian, "Columbus"
Hélène Louvart, "Beach Rats"
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, "Call Me by Your Name"
Joshua James Richards, "The Rider"

Best Editing

Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie, "Good Time"
Walter Fasano, "Call Me by Your Name"
Alex O’Flinn, "The Rider"
Gregory Plotkin, "Get Out"
Tatiana S. Riegel, "I, Tonya"

Best Documentary

"The Departure"
"Faces Places"
"Last Men in Aleppo"
"Motherland"
"Quest"

Best International Film

"BPM (Beats Per Minute)" (France)
"A Fantastic Woman" (Chile)
"I Am Not a Witch" (Zambia)
"Lady Macbeth" (U.K.)
"Loveless" (Russia)

John Cassavetes Award (for best feature made under $500,000)

"Dayveon"
"A Ghost Story"
"Life and nothing more"
"Most Beautiful Island"
"The Transfiguration"

Robert Altman Award (for Best Cast Ensemble)

"Mudbound"

Kiehl’s Someone To Watch Award

Amman Abbasi, "Dayveon"
Justin Chon, "Gook"
Kevin Phillips, "Super Dark Times"

2017 European Film Awards Nominations:

Best European Film

"BPM" (France)
"Loveless" (Russia)
"On Body And Soul" (Hungary)
"The Other Side Of Hope" (Finland)
"The Square" (Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark)

Best European Director

Ildikó Enyedi, "On Body And Soul"
Aki Kaurismäki, "The Other Side Of Hope"
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer"
Ruben Östlund, "The Square"
Andrey Zvyagintsev, "Loveless"

Best European Actress

Paula Beer, "Frantz"
Juliette Binoche, "Bright Sunshine In"
Alexandra Borbély, "On Body And Soul"
Isabelle Huppert, "Happy End"
Florence Pugh, "Lady Macbeth"

Best European Actor

Claes Bang, The Square"
Colin Farrell, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer"
Josef Hader, Stefan Zweig, "Farewell To Europe"
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, "BPM"
Jean-Louis Trintignant, "Happy End"

Best European Screenwriter

Ildikó Enyedi, "On Body And Soul"
Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer"
Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev, "Loveless"
Ruben Östlund, "The Square"
François Ozon, "Frantz"

Best European Documentary

"Austerlitz"
"Communion"
"La Chana"
"Stranger In Paradise"
"The Good Postman"

EVERY CATE BLANCHETT PERFORMANCE RANKED

"Thor: Ragnarok", the critically-acclaimed third film involving Marvel's Norse God, not only held the number one spot in the U.S. for two weeks but has collected an astounding seven hundred and fifty million dollars at the world-wide box-office to date. Many are pointing to the contribution by director Taika Waititi with adding inspired casting and clever, funny wit to the typical super-hero action for all the success. But let's keep it real. It's all about Cate Blanchett and her vampy and campy supporting turn as Hela, the Goddess of death that truly made this movie unforgettable.

The Australian actress has been dazzling us with many celebrated performances for over twenty years. She first gained attention with her co-starring role opposite Ralph Fiennes in "Oscar and Lucinda" back in 1997 which lead to memorable turns in "Elizabeth", "Notes From a Scandal", "I'm Not There", "Carol" and all those "Lord of The Rings" and "The Hobbit" movies to name a few. Blanchett won her first Oscar for playing Katherine Hepburn in "The Aviator" in 2004 before winning the 2013 Best Actress award for her role in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine".

On stage or screen, Ms Blanchett consistently has left an impressive mark with every performance. I have greatly admired her outstanding talent and even if the film she's in isn't necessarily great, she manages to always make it better simply by her commanding presence. Vulture has examined her work in cinema and has ranked her numerous roles from movies that let her down to the perfect merging of film and performance.

Click below to read:

Every Cate Blanchett Movie Ranked from Worst to Best

BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) (2017)

Written by Robin Campillo and Philippe Mangeot


Directed by Robin Campillo


Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA. October 30, 2017 7:30 PM


"BPM (120 battements par minute)", a moving and compelling drama from Robin Campillo, looks back not so long ago on the fervent battle of French AIDS activists against the slow-moving pharmaceutical companies and the ineffective response by the government. It would appear to be an uneven fight yet desperate times call for extreme measures and ACT-UP was ready to do whatever it takes to be heard. Marching loudly in the streets, unannounced visits to high schools to hand out condoms and teach safer sex and splattering fake blood on property are just a few of the activities this group did to get people to pay attention to them. This drama, which won four awards at this year's Cannes Film Festival including Grand Prix (runner-up prize of Best Film) and was selected as France's entry for the Best Foreign-Language Award at this year's Academy Awards, serves as a powerful reminder of those people we tragically lost to this disease and those individuals who fought so that they would not be forgotten.

ACT-UP (which stands for AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was a militant advocacy group formed in the late 1980's in New York. Fed up with the delayed process of medical treatment and the almost complete inaction from the U.S. government on dealing with this health crisis, gay men and lesbians came together, using civil disobedience to protest and demand a national policy to fight the disease. With the French government's reaction to this crisis no better than the States, a Paris-based chapter of ACT-UP was formed.

"BPM" is set in the early 1990's when it was much clearer on how people contracted HIV but there were still very few meds available to help those infected with the most popular being AZT which could be highly toxic and create other health complications. There are rumors of new drugs being developed called protease inhibitors which would prevent viral replication. Yet at the time, many were skeptical of their long-term effectiveness.

ACT-UP was organized as leaderless with actions and proposals brought to the committee to be debated before coming to a vote. And because of this, there is plenty of intense discussions and bickering over tactics and an effective direction of the group with some better expressing their ideas than others. While the group is made up mostly of angry and frustrated gay men, there are also a few concerned lesbians and a mother and her young hemophiliac son there to voice their opinions and lend their support.

We meet several members of this divergent group but the focus is on Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), an understandably prickly, HIV positive young man who realizes his time is limited and doesn't want to waste a moment. He wants to get out and take radical action against all those standing in the way of saving lives. A new member, Nathan (Arnaud Valois) is attracted to Sean and they slowly develop a romance but Nathan is negative which creates some complications to their relationship. And soon, Sean becomes sick. With Nathan and Sean's mother (Saadia Ben Taieb) there to help care for him, we watch in harrowing detail as his body begins to whither and fail him as the lively spark in his eyes is slowly dimmed.

Mr. Campillo began his career as an editor before moving on to screenwriting, doing acclaimed work with director Laurent Cantet on "Time Out" (2001), "Heading South" (2005) and the 2008 Palme d'Or winner and Best Foreign-Language Film nominee, "The Class". Recently he has impressed with his writing and direction on the 2013 drama, "Eastern Boys".

The filmmaker along with his co-writer Philippe Mangeot were both involved with ACT-UP and used their experiences during that time to help fill their story with detailed and accurate depictions from within the group. With so many characters involved, most do not have the opportunity to be fully fleshed out yet there still manages to be a lot of dialogue, particularly during lengthy, passionate discussions at the meetings. While some of this can be informative, it tends to drag the pacing of the film down, losing momentum and feeling unnecessarily drawn-out.

"BPM" succeeds best when we see ACT-UP in action, enthusiastically and creatively causing disruption to make their point. And in between all of the rage, fear and distress, we are also treated to some tender intimacy as we witness the blossoming courtship between Sean and Nathan including their first sexual encounter which surprisingly manages to be quite graphic yet still discreet.

But it is music that is used to transcend and exhilarate. Mr. Campillo shows the ACT-UP members moving and grooving on the dance floor as interludes between the more daunting moments. With their sweaty bodies swaying sensually through colored lights and eyes blissfully closed, we see that this throbbing house music will help keep their spirits up and to offer escape, at least briefly, to all of their cares and worries. One particularly poignant scene involves the use of "Smalltown Boy", the haunting 1984 dance hit from the openly-gay group, Bronski Beat, with Jimmy Somerville's gloriously piercing falsetto still able to shake you to your core.

2017 AFI FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY AUDI

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary since the creation of the American Film Institute which was designed to save America’s precious motion picture heritage. After it was discovered in 1967 that less than 10% of American films were being properly preserved for future generations, AFI teamed with the Library of Congress to archive and store these important films. To date, 37,000 motion pictures are now safely preserved in the AFI Collection at the Library of Congress.

The American Film Institute later created a film festival to showcase exciting new films and this year's AFI Film Fest presented by Audi is set to begin on November 9th and concluding on November 16th. The event will be held once again at the TCL Chinese Theatres and the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

"Mudbound", a historical period drama co-written and directed by Dee Rees, will open this year's AFI Fest at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The film tells the story of two families following the end of World War II living in the rural South who struggle against financial hardships and racial tensions of the day. Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige and Rob Morgan star.



There are three Centerpiece Screenings: "Call Me By Your Name" from Italian filmmaker, Luca Guadagnino, "The Disaster Artist" by star and director, James Franco and "Hostiles", the latest from director, Scott Cooper.




A tribute to the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, Errol Morris ("The Thin Blue Line", "The Fog of War", "A Brief History of Time") will be held on November 11th along with a screening of his latest, "Wormwood", a Netflix six-part drama series.



The Closing Night Gala will be the world premiere of "All The Money in The World", the latest from Ridley Scott who will also be honored with a tribute and discussion following the screening. Based on the novel from John Pearson, the film recalls the true-life incident involving the kidnapping of the sixteen year-old grandson of billionaire J. Paul Getty (played by Kevin Spacey) and his shocking refusal to pay his ransom. Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Charlie Plummer and Timothy Hutton also star.

UPDATE: Due to the disturbing allegations against actor Kevin Spacey, "All The Money In The World" has been cancelled as the Closing Night film. As for the film, in a most unusual move Christopher Plummer has been hired to re-film Spacey's role as J. Paul Getty with the plan to still release the film theatrically on December 22nd.

"Molly's Game", the feature directing debut by writer, Aaron Sorkin has been selected for the Closing Night Gala on November 16th. Based on a true story, Jessica Chastain stars as Molly Bloom who ran exclusive poker games for power players for years before getting busted by the FBI due to her unknowingly having the Russian mob playing at her club. Idris Elba plays her defense lawyer and the cast also includes Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O’Dowd and Bill Camp.



Two Special Presentations include a conversation with British director Christopher Nolan who is hot right now following his surprise summer hit, the WWII drama, "Dunkirk" and the eighty-nine year old French filmmaker, Agnes Varda will discuss her impressive career following a screening of her latest film, "Faces Places". Ms Varda will also be receiving an honorary Oscar on November 11th.

And for the first time, AFI Fest will be holding an annual retrospective to spotlight an important filmmaker of global significance and this year will be Robert Altman. The late writer/director will have twelve of his most essential films screened: "M*A*S*H" (1970), "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971), "The Long Goodbye" (1972), "California Split" (1973), "Nashville" (1975), "3 Women" (1977), "Vincent & Theo" (1990), "The Player" (1992), "Short Cuts" (1993), "Kansas City" (1996), "Godford Park" (2001) and "A Prairie Home Companion" (2006). There will be a discussion following each screening and talent in attendance will be later announced.









There is much more with the best of new features, documentaries, shorts and world cinema to be screened throughout the eight day fest. Tickets for most screenings are free and Express passes are available for purchase. For the complete list of films, to get tickets and additional information, please click below:

AFI Film Fest 2017