By Alan Hurst When it was announced that Great Gerwig, fresh off the success of the wonderful Lady Bird (2017), would be turning her attentions to yet another film version of the Louisa May Alcott classic “Little Women” my first thought was, really? Another version? At the time the BBC had just broadcast a three-part…
By John H. Foote In what now looks like raging quest for his second Academy Award, British director Sam Mendes won his second Best Director Award from the Directors Guild of America last night for his stunning World War I epic 1917. In winning the award, Mendes bested Martin Scorsese for his crime epic, the…
By John H. Foote Easily the years most unexpected hit (one billion dollars and counting) and critical darling, Warner Brothers stunned the film world with Joker especially when it was screened at the three fall festivals, Venice, Telluride and the big one, Toronto, or TIFF. This extraordinary R rated film based on the villain in…
By John H. Foote Sam Mendes is back at the Oscars after a twenty-year absence, after winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his first film, American Beauty (1999). Emerging from TIFF with extraordinary reviews and strong word of mouth, the film blew through awards season gathering steam and by the…
SIX NOMINATIONS INCLUDING BEST PICTURE By John H. Foote Watching this hilarious film for the first time at TIFF last September, I felt a surge of warm humour raging through me. I remember thinking watching the film, about the director and how he did it. Taika Waititi did it, he created a very funny black…
By John H. Foote In what looks increasingly how things will play out on Oscar night, there was were no real surprises at the Screen Actor Guild Awards last night in any of the film awards. Laura Dern was a popular winner for her tough lawyer in Marriage Story, while Brad Pitt brought the house…
January 19, 2019 DEAR ACADEMY MEMBERS: Through your history you have awarded Best Director more than 90 times. During that time great filmmakers such as Howard Hawks, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and Stanley Kubrick, while nominated, never won a competitive Oscar. In 2006, after multiple nominations, Martin Scorsese finally won an Academy Award for his…
By John H. Foote Sam Mendes superb war epic 1917 won the Producers Guild of America Award (PGA) Saturday night furthering its chances of winning the Academy Award as Best Picture. No one paid attention last year when Green Book won the same award and went on to a shocking Oscar win, though no one…
By Nick Maylor Here it is! We’ve launched our official podcast with Episode #001. On our inaugural show, John and I discuss the Oscar nominations, Joker, The Irishman, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker plus much more! To listen to the official podcast of Foote & Friends On Film, click here Nick MaylorNick is an…
By John H. Foote After taking a day to explore and review this year’s Academy Award nominations, looking over the critic’s awards and a few other awards groups, I concede there were some pretty huge snubs. In reality there were very few surprises, but in terms of snubs, they are there. The one making the…