DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: Do Next Year's Oscar Winners Walk Amongst Us?
PLUS The latest DUNE PART THREE trailer; We review READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN, EVIL DEAD BURN and GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS; A Czech New Wave moment; and, Hanks...Tom Hanks.
When SILENCE OF THE LAMBS swept the 1992 Academy Awards, it was a big deal. Jonathan Demme’s serial killer classic was released on February 14, 1991 - a full year before Hollywood’s ‘Night of Nights’ - and that rarely happens. Fuelled by repeat theatrical business and massive home video success, market forces had created the perfect reputational storm come voting time.
Could that happen again this year? Have we already seen a film that will resonate until voting closes on March 4, 2027?
Might PROJECT HAIL MARY (20/3) be this year’s …LAMBS? With the potential for ten nominees in the Best Picture category, voters will almost certainly reward the blockbuster hit with a nomination. But non-Cameron sci-fi is a tough sell to The Academy; INTERSTELLAR told a very similar story, scoring only tech noms for one win. And the vision of deep space that Phil Miller and Chris Lord conjured will be up against Denis Villeneuve’s prestige trilogy wrap-up, DUNE PART THREE.
Will Hollywood stay obsessed with OBSESSION (15/5)? When horror connects like Curry Barker’s phenom has, Oscar remembers; in 1999, M. Night Shyamalan’s THE SIXTH SENSE (an August release) earned five noms, including Best Picture. Watch for Inde Navarrette in the Supporting Actress category; if she’s nominated, she’s been remembered, and that means she’ll win. The other Q2 horror hit, Kane Parson’s BACKROOMS (29/5), could also triumph; at least expect Art Direction and Production Design mentions.
Oscar loves a musical biopic, but most don’t come with a 38% Rotten Tomato score, so who knows with MICHAEL (24/4). Might Krisoffer Borgli have directed Zendaya to a Best Actress trophy for THE DRAMA (3/4)? Did enough voters see POWER BALLAD (5/6) to give Paul Rudd a Best Actor shot? Will Cannes glory travel for Christian Mungiu and his FJORD ensemble? Do acting nods beckon for Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien in SEND HELP (30/1)? And will HOPPERS (6/3) have legs in the animated pic race?
Do you have a January-June favourite with Oscar cred…?
Simon Foster, Editor: SCREEN-SPACE
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TRAILER PREMIERE | DUNE PART THREE
The concluding chapter in Denis Villeneuve’s epic space saga drops in global cinemas in December 2026, and Warner Bros. have released the latest trailer. An expansion of author Frank Herbert’s already vast literary work, the final in the three-film series fulfils the destiny set for Paul Atreides, now an Emperor and faced with a galaxy straining under dark ambition, ruthless betrayal and fragile loyalties.
The mammoth cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Isaach de Bankolé, Charlotte Rampling, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, and Oscar winner Javier Bardem.
FOSTER’S FILM REVIEWS
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READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN (Dir: Eran Riklis; starring Golshifteh Farahani, Zar Amir Ebrahini, Mina Kavini, Reza Diako, Arash Marandi, Catayoune Ahmadi and Sina Parvaneh). Returning to her birth country having studied classic literature in the U.S., Prof. Azar Nafisi’s hope for a new Iranian intellectualism is soon extinguished as the Ayatollah Khomeini’s hardline Islamic regime takes hold of society. Nafisi’s quiet rebellion takes the form of private readings of banned books, an action that inspires the small group of women she engages. Director Eran Riklis’ understated approach in adapting Nafisi’s bestselling memoir may ultimately deny the audience some high-emotion catharsis, but the dignified essence of the characters remain intact. Exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani is compelling as Nafisi; from her naively idealistic return to her desperately sad acceptance of her new land to her acceptance as a revolutionary-of-sorts, Farahani commands the screen. ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS (Dir: David Wain; starring Zoey Deutch, Ken Marino, Ben Wang, John Slattery, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Sabrina Impacciatore, Joe Truglio and Jon Hamm). When smalltown sweetie Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch, her generation’s Meg Ryan) finds her fiancé cashing in his celebrity sex pass (well played, Jennifer Aniston), she turns an L.A. work trip into a quest to conquer her own fantasy f**k - one, Jon Hamm. There’s a gloriously silly subplot about a swapped suitcase and some hitmen, but the unique comedic stylings of David Wain and his co-writer/scene stealer Ken Marino are largely in service of their wonderful leading lady and the ensemble of inspired support players. The director’s finely-honed timing taps the kind of giggle-a-minute energy and romantic essence that helped THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY capture a blockbuster audience’s hearts. That ‘something’ is there in Gail, too. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
EVIL DEAD BURN (Dir: Sébastien Vaniček; starring Souheila Yacoub, Luciane Buchanan, Hunter Doohan and Tandi Wright). From Sam Raimi’s insanely silly trilogy to Fede Elverez’s superbly splattery 2013 reboot, the great thing about the best EVIL DEAD films are that they weren’t really about anything. They just wanted to be the best horror-comedies they could be, with cursed books and possessed undead and yadda yadda. Lee Cronin introduced a little bit of deeper meaning into 2023’s EVIL DEAD RISE, but not at the expense of inventively-staged gore and good frights. But EVIL DEAD BURN wants to engage the mind, with a story steeped in the cyclical nature of domestic abuse and the insidious family dynamics that enable it. All credit to French director Sébastien Vaniček for aiming high, wanting to raise the hellraising to ‘elevated horror’ status. But jettisoning a legacy of gory good times for cumbersome worthiness only serves to pick at the sinewy stitches that have held the series together. ⭐️⭐️½
WORLD WATCH
LARGEST-EVER AFRICAN FILM FUND ANNOUNCED: An ambitious Pan-African Film and Audiovisual Fund will mobilise up to US$1 billion for the continent’s film, television and digital media industries (READ: Dawan Africa).
BILLE AUGUST TO DIRECT GIORGIO ARMANI STORY: The two-time Palme d’Or winner’s biopic will be made without the support of the Armani Group, which has distanced itself from the project (READ: CinEuropa).
FRENCH SUPPORT FOR LEBANESE THEATRE INITIATIVE: The French Institute of Lebanon will back Salet Wassel, a new mentorship program and regional cinema network launched by Metropolis Cinema (READ: Asian Movie Pulse).
ARTE FRANCE CINEMA BACKS BACKS GLOBAL TRIO: The ARTE France Cinéma committee will back new works from Kira Kovalenko, Diao Yinan and Shengze Zhu, with MD Olivier Père set to contribute as producer (READ: ION Cinema).
LATEST TRAILERS | GOLDEN APRICOT YEREVAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, July 12-19
THE LION AT MY BACK (Dir: Tonia Mishiali; starring Sokhna Diallo and Elena Kallinikou). A teenage Senegalese asylum seeker and a Cypriot recovering drug addict cross paths in a world that has failed them both, sparking an unexpected mother-daughter bond.
DREAM OF ANOTHER SUMMER (Dir: Irene Bartolomé; starring Sylvain Perdigon, Nesrine Khodr, Cecilia Bartolomé Pina and Gerard Ortín). A woman’s collapse amid urban ruins sparks an exploration of humanity’s connection to physical spaces and a city’s resilience in the face of mortality.
A FIRE THERE (Dir: Marlene Edoyan). In the southern Georgian village of Gandzani, home to an Armenian community where echoes of exile and Soviet nostalgia still linger, three teenagers negotiate the tension between inherited traditions and the desire for something new.
WHY WE LOVE MOVIES
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (Dir: Jiří Menzel; 1966). A Czechoslovakian New Wave classic that likens a nation’s wartime inexperience to a virgin boy’s quest for sexual maturation, Jiří Menzel’s supremely strange vision represents a national cinema finding a bold new voice. It is a film of life’s discoveries, seen through a hyperbolic lens and with a wicked sense of humour.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Oh, that’s too bad. That’s a waste of some good fat.” - Rick Gassko (Tom Hanks), BACHELOR PARTY (Dir: Neal Israel; 1984)
And if SCREEN-SPACE isn’t enough Simon for you…:
LISTEN to me co-host the weekly film and TV podcast SCREEN WATCHING with Dan Barrett, of Always Be Watching notoriety;
WATCH/LISTEN Dan and I reflect on the films of 1987 in our fun retro-podcast, BEST MOVIE YEAR (available to watch on our YouTube channel)
FOLLOW my curatorial efforts as Festival Director of the SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL.
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