[Updated Feb. 4]

Winner prediction:
1. “Darkest Hour”
2. “Wonder”
3. “Victoria & Abdul”

Current predictions:

Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Director
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
Editing
Cinematography
Production Design
Original Score
Best Song
Costumes
Sound Mixing
Sound Editing
Documentary
Foreign Language Film
Animated Feature Film
Makeup and Hairstyling
Visual Effects

Continue reading 2018 Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

For all the gentility and good natured humor in the work of filmmaker Stephen Frears the 76-year-old director was a bit more reserved in our interview during the Toronto International Film Festival for the debut of his new movie “Victoria And Abdul.” Set in the late 1800s “Victoria & Abdul,” centers on the untold story of the hush-hushed relationship and special bond between an aged Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and her Indian servant, Abdul Kareem (Ali Fazal).

Continue reading Stephen Frears Talks ‘Victoria & Abdul,’ Working With The “Brilliant” Judi Dench at The Playlist.

If you wanted to be glib and coarse, not to mention antithetical to the film’s convivial tone, you could describe “Victoria & Abdul” as the movie that finally lets a constipated Queen Victoria take a shit. It’s about a doodie dislodged that brings joy and liberation. Hear me out.

In Stephen Frears’ agreeable period costume drama— which is engaging and charming thanks to Judi Dench, if too nonthreatening and ingratiating otherwise— the bowels are the window to the soul.

Continue reading ‘Victoria & Abdul’: Judi Dench Elevates Stephen Frears’ Feel-Good Dramedy [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

Judi Dench knows the weight of carrying the crown, having played Queen Victoria twenty years ago in John Madden‘s “Mrs. Brown.” Now, the Oscar winning actress is back on the throne to play the royal role again in “Victoria And Abdul,” and awards season chatter is already buzzing about her performance. And today we have an exclusive clip from the film.

Directed by Stephen Frears, who previously worked with Dench on “Philomena,” “Mrs.

Continue reading ‘Victoria And Abdul’ Exclusive Clip: Judi Dench Learns Urdu at The Playlist.

Get ready, strap in, put your helmet on. Or in the case of Playlist writers, pack your snacks, remember to hydrate and try and get some sleep because the fall film festival season is about to kick off this week and the madness won’t stop anytime soon. We’ve got Telluride also coming this weekend, and the Toronto International Film Festival lands next week, but it starts as it always does on the Lido on Wednesday with the Venice Film Festival.

Continue reading Venice Film Festival: 13 Must-See Movies at The Playlist.

One thing that non-Cannesgoers might not realize about this crazy festival is that underlying the stew of emotions served up by the programming, the one constant is guilt: every moment not spent either watching a film or writing about a film comes freighted with a low-level background hum of remorse, with a side order of vertiginous FOMO. But this year I’ve tried to come to terms with my inability to bilocate, and to explore just a few of the other experiences the festival has to offer.

Continue reading The First 3 Days: Iñarritu Goes VR, Focus Features Tease And More [Cannes Report] at The Playlist.