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Plex is gearing up for an exciting lineup of films and series in November 2024. Viewers can look forward to a variety of new additions, including Blue Ridge, But I’m A Cheerleader, Call Jane, and Empire State. Cult classics like The Grudge, Hard Candy, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Midnight Meat Train are also hitting the platform, alongside more recent hits like Wind River and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? For fans of horror, thrillers, and emotional dramas, there’s no shortage of options. However, Plex is also bidding farewell to a number of films and shows in November. Among those leaving are 24 Hours to Live, Drive Angry, The Devil’s Rejects, Snowpiercer, and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. If you’ve been meaning to watch these titles, now is the time to catch them before they disappear. For those looking to binge their favorites, many notable titles are still available for streaming.

Cinema isn’t dead, long live cinema! (Pronounced cheenima.)

So the Venice Film Festival — aka La Biennale as it’s known around the Lido — launched into its 81st edition on Wednesday, August 28 with a chatty day of press conferences, a world premiere, and a Golden Lion ceremony for an American screen icon. And it’s an especially hot day with temperatures in the low 30 degrees Celsius (or the upper 80s in Fahrenheit; I’m trying to get into my Italian spin here) and attendees in under-air-conditioned venues like the Sala Grande schvitzing into the night. Heads up: Bring a paper fan.

Last year’s Venice saw a festival deprived of top-drawer talent due to the then-ongoing writers and actors strikes. That’s not the case in 2024, where all the stars of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” could come out for their world premiere, not just Tim Burton and his girlfriend Monica Bellucci (who...

Alice Munro, the Nobel and prize-winning Canadian author of short story collections and novels including “Lives of Girls and Women” and “The Love of a Good Woman,” died Monday night at her home in Ontario, the New York Times reported. She was 92

Munro won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2013 for her short stories, the Man Booker International prize in 2009 and the O’Henry award in 2012. Born Alice Laidlaw in Ontario, Canada, she often wrote about women living in small towns in the province.

The Booker jury wrote in its prize statement, “Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before.”

Several of Munro’s stories were adapted for film and television,...

After the conclusion of each Academy Awards ceremony, I always go back and rewatch the telecast from start to finish. I want to pick up on all of the things that I might have missed during my initial viewing. I especially like to study the nominees’ reactions each time an envelope is opened — particularly for the major categories when the famous five-camera shot is strategically displayed on the TV screen. I always rewind the moment that each winner is announced, so that I can carefully study the look on each individual’s face both before and after the big reveal.

As we all know, this year’s Best Actress race was the only above-the-line race with any real suspense. That it made it all the more fascinating when reigning Best Actress Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) announced that the torch would be passed on to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.

This year’s Best Actress Oscar race is perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of all of the main categories, becoming a make-or-break race for the fourth straight year.

It all began when Lily Gladstone surprised pundits with her move up to the lead category for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” then was halted by Emma Stone for “Poor Things” at the Critics Choice Awards (after both won Golden Globes in their respective categories). Stone continued to succeed at the BAFTA Awards after Gladstone was shockingly snubbed. And it seemed that she was on a roll to victory to her second Oscar, only to be stopped in her tracks at the SAG Awards by, you guessed it, Gladstone. This push and pull between the two actresses has created back-and-forth mania over who will ultimately win out, and even though Gladstone has overtaken the lead currently in the combined Gold Derby odds at...

At least one live-action Disney remake just took a major step backward. Last year, we learned that the Oscar-winning Sarah Polley ("Women Talking") was set to direct a new live-action reimagining of the 1940s classic "Bambi." Now, it's been revealed that Polley has left the project. There is currently no word on who will replace her and, not to get too ahead of ourselves here, but the answer may be nobody.

According to a report from The Wrap, Polley has quietly left the remake. It's unclear when the filmmaker departed or why she split from Disney on this one. The report also notes that it's equally unclear if the movie will still move forward. Part of that has to do with the recent departure of Sean Bailey, the former president of Walt Disney Motion Picture Production. Bailey was largely responsible for the deluge of live-action remakes of animated classics that...

For the fourth consecutive year, we’ve got a firecracker of a Best Actress Oscar race. Lily Gladstone took home the Screen Actors Guild Award on Saturday for “Killers of the Flower Moon” over Emma Stone, who had been on a roll since the two won their respective Golden Globes, having pocketed the Critics Choice and BAFTA Awards for “Poor Things.” Now they each have an industry prize and Best Actress feels like a coin-flip. Gladstone has closed the gap on Stone in the Oscar odds since Saturday. Don’t be surprised if she overtakes the top spot soon. But when the SAG Awards and BAFTAs don’t align in Best Actress, which one has the edge at the Oscars?

Since BAFTA became an Oscar precursor 23 years ago, the Brits and the actors guilds have disagreed 13 times in the category prior to the Battle of the Stones. But not all splits are created equally.

Just 30 minutes after final voting for the Screen Actors Guild Awards wrapped up, I made a last-minute switch in my best actress prediction — from Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.” Let this be a lesson: Second-guessing yourself is seldom a good idea.

Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga. With a lead actress (drama) Golden Globe and a SAG Award now under her belt, Gladstone’s award-season momentum continues to be formidable. Historically, only seven performers have failed to win the Oscar after winning the unique combination of Globe and SAG:

1995: Lauren Bacall (“The Mirror Has Two Faces”) lost to Juliette Binoche 2001: Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) lost to Denzel Washington (“Training Day...

Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we cover the 80th Academy Awards in 2008, honoring the films of 2007.

The 80th Academy Awards almost didn’t happen the way it did. The 2007-08 writers’ strike ended just 12 days before the ceremony, so producers were prepping for a strike-proof version of the ceremony. In the end, a traditional ceremony took place, hosted by Jon Stewart, who had to ask Hollywood, “Does this town need a hug?” It was a reference to the slate of “psychopathic killer movies,” including eventual — and one of the greatest — Best Picture winner “No Country for Old Men.”

See Oscars Playback: Revisiting the 2006 ceremony when ‘Crash’ crashed its way into Best Picture

“No Country for Old Men” won four Oscars total, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for...

Sarah Polley is in talks to direct a live-action remake of Walt Disney’s “Bambi,” TheWrap has learned. Details on the project are scarce, but she will work off a recent screenplay draft penned by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster and the film will be a musical featuring music from Kacey Musgraves.

The news comes as Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” is lighting up the box office and could follow in the footsteps of the photoreal CG-filled “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book.” While those films were blockbusters, it has not been confirmed as to whether this seemingly less epic offering will be intended for theaters or, as we saw with “Pinocchio,” “Lady and the Tramp” and “Peter Pan and Wendy,” Disney+.

Sarah Polley is coming off an Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay for the critically acclaimed “Women Talking,” which was her first directorial effort in over a...

Still fresh off her Academy Award for Best Screenplay for 2022’s “Women Talking,” (which was also nominated for Best Picture), Canadian writer/director Sarah Polley may have found her next gig. However, it’ll be one that surprises and possibly shocks some. Polley will be writing and directing a live-action adaptation of the animated “Bambi” story for Disney.

The move may surprise those that know Polley for her indie and dramatic work, films like “Take This Waltz,” the documentary “Stories We Tell,” last year’s aforementioned “Women Talking,” and the Academy Award-nominated “Away From Her.”

Read More: ‘Women Talking’ Director Sarah Polley Developing A Film Inspired By Her Awards Season Run

You could call it the Barry Jenkins “get that bag” move if you’re cynical (he’s gone from beloved indies to directing a—presumably highly-lucrative— live-action prequel adaptation of Disney’s “The Lion King.

Continue reading ‘Bambi’:...

Sarah Polley — who earlier this year won the best-adapted screenplay Oscar for her feature Women Talking — is in talks to direct the live-action Bambi film for Disney, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The project is still in development, but should it happen, it would join Disney’s lucrative classic animation–to–live-action roster, the most recent addition to which was The Little Mermaid, which has made over $400 million at the box office to date.

The Bambi project was first reported in 2020, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Lindsey Beer (Chaos Walking) set to pen the screenplay and Depth of Field, the production banner run by Chris and Paul Weitz and Andrew Miano, on board to produce. It’s unclear if this team is still in place. (Depth of Field worked with the studio on Robert Zemeckis’ take on another classic animation, Pinocchio.)

The original movie, released in 1942, told...

Actor Barry Newman, star of the 1971 hot rod classic “Vanishing Point”, has died at age 92.

Newman’s wife, Angela, told The Hollywood Reporter that Newman died May 11 at New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

After appearing in Broadway, Newman was cast in 1970 feature “The Lawyer”. That led to a starring role in director Richard C. Sarafian’s 1971 “Vanishing Point”, which went on to become a cult classic that has influenced the likes of Steven Spielberg.

Read More: Canadian Actor Gordon Pinsent, Who Starred In ‘Away From Her’, Has Died At 92

Newman then reprised his role in “The Lawyer” — brash young attorney Anthony Petrocelli — in the 1974 made-for-tv movie “Night Games”, which was spun off as the series “Petrocelli”, which ran from 1974 until 1976.

Among Newman’s extensive list of credits are the TV movies “King Crab”, “City on Fire”, “Amy” and “Good Advice”, and TV series including “L.A. Law”, “Murder, She Wrote...

Canada is paying tribute to Gordon Pinsent.

In celebration of National Canadian Film Day (April 19), a series of online and in-theatre events are being held in memory of the late icon of Canadian film, featuring Colm Feore, Mary Walsh and Peter O’Brian.

Read More: Canadian Actor Gordon Pinsent, Who Starred In ‘Away From Her’, Has Died At 92

Speaking with Et Canada, Feore talks about getting involved with the tribute to Pinsent, who died in February at age 92.

“Gordon Pinsent was a huge inspiration for all Canadian artists, writers, directors, actors, etc,” he said, “and a mentor to many as well.”

The actor continued, “So we thought it only fitting to celebrate his legacy by running a series of his films all in a row and then having a discussion, and just a celebration afterwards. So we’re going to do that.”

Feore will be sitting down for a conversation onstage...

Julie Christie is an Oscar-winning actress who has been largely absent from movie screens this century, enjoying a semi-retirement that finds her returning for the odd performance here and there. Yet she’s always finding new fans as younger generations discover her cinematic classics. Let’s take a look at 20 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born on April 14, 1940, Christie rose to prominence for her work in London, starting with a breakthrough performance in John Schlesinger‘s “Billy Liar” (1963). She won the Oscar as Best Actress just two years later for Schlesinger’s “Darling” (1965), playing a fashion model who sleeps her way to the top. That same year, she shot to stardom thanks to David Lean‘s romantic epic “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), which casts her as a political activist’s wife who falls in love with a physician (Omar Sharif) during the Russian Revolution.

She earned a second Best...

Sarah Polley’s Oscar for her Women Talking script has not actually been rescinded by the Film Academy, despite her 11-year-old child’s valiant April Fools’ Day effort to suggest otherwise.

The filmmaker, who picked up the vaunted prize for best adapted screenplay last month, shared a letter to Twitter on Saturday that she attributed to her child. The prank involved a typed-out message stating that Polley must send back the trophy in order for it to be given to the team behind Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, who were the actual winners, according to the note. The letter ended with a signoff from Academy president David Rubin, forged signature and all.

“We are giving you one more week to enjoy its presence in your home, but after that period of time you must mail it back to LA, where we will give it to the rightful...

Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley won the Best Adapted Screenplay award last night for “Women Talking,” her fourth feature-length film. The award was her second Oscar nomination and first win— she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay before for her feature-length debut, “Away From Her” in 2008. So she’s been down this road before, and this isn’t her first awards season rodeo. But still, something must be different about this go-round doing the Oscar campaigning circuit, as the actor-turned-writer/director said the experience has marked her so much she’s now developing a project based on her 2022/2023 awards season.

Continue reading ‘Women Talking’ Director Sarah Polley Developing A Film Inspired By Her Awards Season Run at The Playlist.

Sarah Polley is already working on her next project.

On Sunday night, the Canadian director won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Women Talking”, and apparently the whole awards season has inspired her.

Read More: Toronto’s Sarah Polley Wins Her First-Ever Oscar For ‘Women Talking’

“I’ve been developing a project based on my experiences going through awards season — I’m not kidding,” she told Deadline on the red carpet. “I know all of your names and I have all of your numbers, you will be hearing from me.”

Polley added, “I’ve had basically a hotline with all the filmmakers and writers in the race, who text and email me things as they happen all night long — I have this informal writers room which has been amazing.”

Read More: Radical Dialogue And Open Roads In Sarah Polley’s ‘Women Talking’

This wasn’t Polley’s first awards season experience,...

Sarah Polley has won her first Academy Award.

The Canadian filmmaker, who hails from Toronto, Ont., was awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar Sunday night for her movie, “Women Talking”.

Read more: Oscars 2023 red carpet: The best and boldest fashion of the night

As she accepted her award, she joked that she was grateful to the Academy for not being offended by the words “women” and “talking” together.

“First of all, I just want to thank The Academy for not being mortally offended by the words ‘women’ and ‘talking’ put so close together like that. Cheers,” she said.

She also gave mention to fellow Canadian, Miriam Toews, who wrote the 2018 novel of the same name, which inspired the film.

“Miriam Toews wrote an essential novel about a radical democracy in which people who don’t agree on every single issue managed to sit together in a room and carve out...

Sarah Polley won her first Oscar for her Women Talking.

“First of all, just want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words women and talking with so close together like that,” she said as her film won the award for Writing (Adapted Screenplay).

“Miriam Toews wrote an essential novel about a radical democracy in which people who don’t agree on every single issue managed to sit together in a room and carve out a way forward together free of violence. They do so not just by talking but also by listening,” she added.

Related: ‘Women Talking’: Read The Screenplay By Sarah Polley That Takes On Remaking “A Broken World”

Women Talking, which came from Orion Pictures/United Artists Releasing, beat All Quiet on the Western Front, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Living and Top Gun: Maverick in the category.

The win prevented...

“Women Talking”? More like women (are) winning. Sarah Polley took home the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar on Sunday, making her one of the category’s few female winners and giving the category back-to-back female champs for the first time.

With Polley’s victory, Best Adapted Screenplay has now gone to women nine times — and twice to the same person, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who triumphed for 1986’s “A Room with a View” and 1992’s “Howards End.” Polley joins Jhabvala as one of four women who’ve won as solo writers. The others are Emma Thompson (1995’s “Sense and Sensibility”) and last year’s winner, Sian Heder (“Coda”).

The category’s other female winners prevailed as part of writing teams. Sarah Y. Mason was the first woman to win adapted screenplay for co-writing 1933’s “Little Women” with her husband Victor Heerman. Claudine West shared her award for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver” with George Froeschel,...

The films in contention for the 2023 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar are “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Glass Onion,” “Living,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “Women Talking.” Our odds currently indicate that “Women Talking” (10/3) will win the award, followed in order of likelihood by “All Quiet on the Western Front” (37/10), “Glass Onion” (9/2), “Top Gun: Maverick” (9/2), and “Living” (9/2).

“Glass Onion” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” which are, respectively, the first sequels to 2019’s “Knives Out” and 1986’s “Top Gun,” are the first pair of continuation films ever nominated against each other in this category. Included among the seven sequels that have contended here before are winners “The Godfather Part II” (1975) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004) and nominees “Before Sunset” (2005), “Toy Story 3” (2011), “Before Midnight” (2014), “Logan” (2018), and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (2021).

Of the 11 individual writers in this year’s lineup, only Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”) has competed for this particular award before.

With only two total Oscar nominations, you need a lot of faith to predict “Women Talking” to prevail in the Best Picture race. But the acclaimed film is out in front to take home an Oscar, while films with bigger totals are expected to leave empty-handed.

Best Picture will be determined by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a group of approximately 10,000 people from different branches of the filmmaking industry. Nominated for producing “Women Talking” are two-time winners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (“12 Years A Slave” and “Moonlight”) as well as three-time Best Actress winner Frances McDormand, who also has a supporting role in the film.

SEE2023 Gold Derby Film Awards ceremony: Watch 20 exciting acceptance speeches by Michelle Yeoh, Colin Farrell, Austin Butler …

“Women Talking” is directed and written by Sarah Polley. It tells the story of women in a Mennonite community who are subjected...

We keep updating these predictions through the awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2023 Oscar picks. Final voting is March 2 through 7, 2023. The 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12 and air live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. Et/ 5:00 p.m. Pt.

See IndieWire’s previous Oscars Predictions for this category and more here.

The State of the Race

It took some time to get there, but “Women Talking” has finally built up plenty of momentum this awards season, right as Oscar voters are turning in their final ballots. The Best Picture nominee helmed by writer-director Sarah Polley spent the first weekend of March collecting trophies at the Independent Spirit Awards, the USC Scripter Awards, and Writers Guild of America Awards — the latter two for its screenplay, adapted from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel.

Polley, who was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay once before, for her directorial...

With Michael B. Jordan making his directorial debut with Creed III this weekend, we wanted to know what film by a first time Actor turned Director has been your favorite? Some came out of the gates with Oscar Glory (Kevin Costner/ Robert Redford) while others found a passion they haven’t looked back from (Ron Howard/ Sofia Coppola). If you don’t see your favorite listed, please let us know what (and who) it is in the comments section.

Update: I have rightly been called out for listing Braveheart as Mel Gibson’s first film when he actually directed a film prior to that called The Man Without a Face in 1993. So I guess the results are slightly skewed, but really, wasn’t Braveheart the first Mel Gibson directed film we all saw?!

Favorite Film by a First Time Actor Turned DirectorThat Thing You Do! (1996) (Tom Hanks)Ordinary People (1980) (Robert Redford)In a World…...

This year marks Sarah Polley’s second shot at an Academy Award for adapted screenplay. Her first nomination came in 2008 for “Away from Her,” when she lost to Joel and Ethan Coen for “No Country for Old Men.” Now she’s up for “Women Talking,” which Polley adapted from the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews. The film premiered at Telluride last September and generated immediate Oscar buzz and rave reviews.

Back in those early days, Polley looked like a decent bet for her first career directing nomination, with Emmy-winners Claire Foy and Ben Whishaw and Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley also seen as strong contenders in the supporting acting categories.

See‘Women Talking’s’ Sarah Polley can make it back-to-back female Oscar winners in Best Adapted Screenplay

But as the balmy hope of late summer gave way to the cold reality of winter, the “Women Talking” momentum cooled considerably. The film subsequently underperformed at the Golden Globes,...

Musician Ben Kweller is mourning the death of his son.

He announced on Instagram Tuesday that his 16-year-old son Dorian Zev Kweller was killed the night before.

Kweller began his post, “There’s no way that I can be typing this but I am…. Our son, Dorian Zev Kweller, was killed last night.”

Read More: Canadian Actor Gordon Pinsent, Who Starred In ‘Away From Her’, Has Died At 92

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ben Kweller (@benkweller)

“He was only 16 and he was a true legend. Kindest, gentle soul, a friend to all. If you knew him, you know. We’ll never get over him as long as we’re here on earth,” he continued.

The 41-year-old then asked for fans to keep his memory alive by sharing Dorian’s music. The teenager was an aspiring songwriter like his father and was beginning his journey, according to the post.

Gordon Pinsent, the Canadian actor whose career went back to the 1950s and earned acclaim over a 60+-year run, has passed away at the age of 92.

Gordon Pinsent may be best known for playing Julie Christie’s husband in 2007’s Away from Her. While Christie received most of the acclaim as a wife suffering from Alzheimer’s, Pinsent’s performance was an emotionally complex one that served as the perfect counterpart to Christie’s. For his turn, Pinsent earned a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Gordon Pinsent was bestowed various accolades throughout his lengthy career, primarily in his home country of Canada. In addition to six Genie Award nods (with three wins), he also earned an astounding 11 Gemini Award (the Great White North equivalent of the Academy Awards) nominations, not including two honorary awards.

The appeal of Gordon Pinsent crossed generations. Not only was he heralded as a...

Gordon Pinsent, the prolific Canadian actor and writer-director who starred opposite Julie Christie in Sarah Polley’s “Away From Her,” died Saturday. He was 92.

According to multiple media reports, his family released a statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announcing that he passed away in his sleep. No other details were provided.

“Gordon Pinsent’s daughters Leah, and Beverly, and his son Barry, would like to announce the passing of their father peacefully in sleep today with his family at his side,” his son-in-law Peter Keleghan confirmed wrote. “Gordon passionately loved this country and its people, purpose, and culture to his last breath.”

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With more than 150 credits to his name, Pinsent was known for starring in projects like “Away From Her” (2006), for which he earned several nominations and a Genie Award, among others. Some of his...

Gordon Pinsent, a prolific Canadian actor who gained international recognition in 2006 for his performance alongside Julie Christie in Sarah Polley’s drama “Away From Her,” died Saturday. He was 92 years old.

Pinsent’s death was confirmed to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation through a statement released by his family. No further details about his death are available at this time.

“Gordon Pinsent’s daughters, Leah and Beverly, and his son, Barry, would like to announce the passing of their father peacefully in sleep today with his family at his side,” reads a note written on behalf of Pinsent’s family by his son-in-law, Peter Keleghan. “Gordon passionately loved this country and its people, purpose and culture to his last breath.”

With more than 150 film and television acting credits, Pinsent’s career spanned seven decades and made him a household name in his native country. His role as a husband losing his...

Gordon Pinsent, one of Canada’s most iconic actors, has died. He was 92 and died in his sleep Saturday, his family confirmed.

“Gordon Pinsent’s daughters Leah and Beverly, and his son Barry, would like to announce the passing of their father peacefully in sleep today with his family at his side,” said a note written on behalf of Pinsent’s family by his son-in-law, actor Peter Keleghan.

“Gordon passionately loved this country and its people, purpose, and culture to his last breath.”

Pinsent’s career spanned dozens of films and TV projects over six decades, including Away From Her, Due South, The Red Green Show, Babar and the Adventures of Badou, The Grand Seduction and The Shipping News, The Forest Rangers, Quentin Durgens, M.P., the original Street Legal and Republic of Doyle, among others.

In the U.S., where he lived in Los Angeles for six years, he...

Gordon Pinsent, the admired Canadian actor who starred opposite Julie Christie as a husband losing his wife to Alzheimer’s disease in Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, died Saturday, his family announced. He was 92.

A household name in his country, Pinsent also appeared on the big screen in Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Lasse Hallström’s The Shipping News (2001), Michael McGowan’s Saint Ralph (2004) and Don McKellar’s The Grand Seduction (2013).

On television, he played Possum Lake resident Hap Shaughnessy, a teller of tall tales, on the Canadian comedy The Red Green Show from 1991-2004 and was Chicago-based Royal Canadian Mounted Police sergeant Bob Fraser on the CTV/CBS series Due South from 1994-99.

And he served as the distinctive voice of Babar the Elephant in film and TV from 1989 through 2015.

In Away From Her (2006), which marked Polley’s directorial debut — she also received an Oscar nomination...

Gordon Pinsent, the adored Canadian actor whose career hit its peak well into his 70s with an award-winning performance as the heartbroken husband in “Away From Her”, has died.

Pinset died on Saturday evening at age 92, his friend actor Mark Critch confirmed.

The Newfoundland native, a household name in Canada for decades after his many appearances on stage and screen, became known internationally after his Genie Award-winning turn as Grant in Sarah Polley’s acclaimed directorial debut.

His dignified portrayal so impressed Daniel Day-Lewis, who went on to win the best actor Oscar in 2008 for “There Will Be Blood,” that he sent an email to Polley praising Pinsent’s performance as one of the most “astonishing” he’d ever seen.

Read more: Gordon Pinsent relives his remarkable life in ‘The River of My Dreams’

Those types of kudos tickled the modest Pinsent. Well into the final years of his life,...

Growing up, I knew Sarah Polley as both Beverly Cleary's lively, imaginative heroine, Ramona Geraldine Quimby in the 1980s "Ramona" TV series, and then as the equally spirited Sara Stanley on the '90s Canadian (and Disney Channel) TV period drama staple, "Road to Avonlea." Nowadays, of course, Polley is better known for her celebrated efforts as a writer-director on the relationship dramas "Away from Her" and "Take This Waltz." Her latest venture behind the camera, "Women Talking," has even secured a Best Picture nod at the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, in addition to landing Polly a nomination for her adapted screenplay.

Based on Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name (which was itself inspired by horrifying real-life events), "Women Talking" takes place in an isolated Mennonite colony circa 2010. When it's discovered the men have been drugging and sexually assaulting the community's women in their sleep, the local authorities intervene,...

Although Marilyn Monroe never got the chance to achieve Screen Actors Guild Awards recognition, her legacy has been honored by the organization in the form of multiple Best Actress notices for women who have embodied her on the big screen. 11 years after Michelle Williams was nominated for playing Monroe in “My Week with Marilyn,” Ana de Armas has earned a spot in the current lead female lineup for her take on the classic movie star in “Blonde.” Since SAG voters have feted several portrayals of iconic actors before, she stands a good chance of going all the way.

De Armas, Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”), and Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) make up a first-time nominee majority in this year’s Best Film Actress SAG Award lineup, although Yeoh is a past ensemble contender for “Crazy Rich Asians” (2019). The other two lead female slots are filled by Cate Blanchett (“Tar...

It’s been a rocky road for “Women Talking,” having underperformed or been overlooked completely at various precursors, but it managed to earn two Oscar nominations: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sarah Polley. The latter category has long been predicted to be the one that the drama could win and it is currently out in front with 16/5 odds. If Polley does pull through, she’ll join a short list of not just female winners in the category but an even shorter list of female writers who’ve won individually.

As is the case with most non-gendered categories, female champs are rather infrequent in Best Adapted Screenplay. In the 94-year history of the Oscars, the award has gone to women just eight times — and twice to the same person, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who prevailed for 1986’s “A Room with a View” and 1992’s “Howards End.” Jhabvala is one of...

Multiple Oscar-nominated films opened, expanded, or returned this weekend without much box-office impact. Best Picture Oscar nominee “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Disney) took #1 for its seventh weekend (and likely its last; M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” should replace it next weekend). It fell a bit off pace over the past two weeks, but it should still supplant fellow Best Picture contender “Top Gun: Maverick” as the biggest 2022 domestic release. James Cameron’s film stands at 620 million domestic, 2.117 billion total worldwide.

Best Animated Feature Nominee “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (Universal) was #2, but that’s been consistently strong performer. At #3 was the Academy-ignored and critically derided “A Man Called Otto” (Sony). With 6,750,000 million in 3,957 theaters, it is the dominant film for older audiences despite its absence from the race.

Excluding “The Way of Water” and “Puss in Boots,” the other 11 nominated films that played this weekend...

“ I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

– 1 Timothy 2:12

Numerous explanations have been given for the Apostle Paul’s harsh teaching. Some scholars feel he was responding to cultural concerns in a patriarchal society. Others believe he was addressing a conflict inside local churches. It’s also possible he was simply a raging misogynist. Whatever his intentions, it’s undeniable that this verse and interpretations of it have caused irreparable harm and devastation, creating cultures where women are seen as unequal to men and excusing horrendous abuse.

It’s a verse that the characters of Women Talking would know quite well, although they’ve never read it with their own eyes. Raised in a strict Mennonite community, they’re not permitted to read or write, and they have no voice in governing their small village. Although Paul...

After last year’s record-breaking Best Director win for Jane Campion — who became only the third woman to ever win the Oscar for Best Director, joining Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland” in 2021) and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker” in 2009) — the 2023 Oscar nominations failed to nominate any women in the Best Director category. Instead, this year’s Best Director race will see Martin McDonagh, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Steven Spielberg, Todd Field, and Ruben Östlund duking it out for the honor.

And while Sarah Polley missed out on a Best Director nod for her “Women Talking,” she was nominated in Best Adapted Screenplay for the Miriam Toews adaptation, while the film itself is the sole female-directed feature to appear in the 10-film list of Best Picture nominees. Last year, “Coda” filmmaker Sian Heder missed out on a Best Director nod, though the film eventually claimed the Best Picture title.

Other female directors...

Just two years have passed since Youn Yuh-jung broke new ground at the 27th Screen Actors Guild Awards by becoming the first performer of Asian descent to triumph in any individual film category. Now, the Korean Best Supporting Actress winner for “Minari” will likely be joined in this regard by “Everything Everywhere All at Once” costars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, who were both born to Chinese families. She would be the first Asian Best Film Actress recipient, while he would be the first Asian winner of either individual male film trophy.

Yeoh and Quan’s performances as married couple Evelyn and Waymond Wang in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” have earned them the number one spots on Gold Derby’s Best Film Actress and Supporting Actor predictions lists. They and their cast mates also appear to be the ones to beat in this year’s ensemble race, while...

Photo: 'Women Talking'

The headline "women-directed" drama migth be jarring, but absolutely necessary. Sarah Polley has been a well-known actress that has made her mark in the acting world. She has been a child actress by appearing in the show ‘Road to Avonlea.’ As she got older, she was recognized in movies such as ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004). Around 2006, she released her debut film ‘Away From Her.’ Around 2011, she made her second film ‘Take This Waltz,’ which features Michelle Williams as a suburban housewife who is bored from her marriage to a loving but neglecting husband (played by Seth Rogen). A year later, she made her first documentary ‘Stories We Tell,’ which focuses on the enigmatic tales of her enigmatic mother which have been told by her friends and family members that knew her the best. Ten years later, she returned to the director’s chair by making ‘Women Talking,...

Sian Heder‘s Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar win for “Coda” earlier this year marked the first time in 17 years that the award went to woman. But we may not have to wait that long for the next one. Sarah Polley currently leads the Best Adapted Screenplay odds for her adaptation of Miriam Toews‘ 2018 novel “Women Talking.” If she prevails, it’ll be the ninth time a woman has won and the first time the category has seen back-to-back female winners.

Even though the first woman to win adapted screenplay was Sarah Y. Mason for co-writing 1933’s “Little Women” with her husband Victor Heerman, it will not shock you to learn that, like most non-gendered categories, female winners are few and far in between here. There have been just eight instances total, with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala accounting for two of them. Jhabvala is also one of three women who’ve won as individuals,...

Based on the predictions of the Expert film journalists we’ve surveyed, “Women Talking” ranked seventh in the race for Best Picture on September 4. Fast forward less than two weeks to September 16 and it climbed to third place. Can it keep rising to challenge “The Fabelmans” for front-runner position? Scroll down for our current predictions graph to see where it stands.

“Women Talking” is based on the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews and tells the story of the women of an isolated religious community. Its awards-friendly cast includes four-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand, Oscar nominees Rooney Mara and Jessie Buckley, and Emmy winners Claire Foy and Ben Whishaw. It’s written and directed by Sarah Polley, who previously earned an Oscar nomination for writing “Away from Her,” which also earned Julie Christie a bid for Best Actress. So on paper, all signs point to an awards magnet.

SEETelluride: ‘Empire of Light,...

Over a career that has taken her from child actor to the director’s chair, Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley has spent enough time on set to have a feel for the standard rhythms of a shoot.

But there was something different about the female-led production of “Women Talking,” Polley said, of the first feature she has directed in more than a decade.

Tasks that would typically take 45 minutes would be done in seven, with crew members holding competitions to see who could help set up a shot the fastest, she recalled.

From the stars to the grips, everyone on the call sheet seemed to be galvanized by a sense of collective mission that went beyond adding another credit to their resume, Polley said.

Read more: ‘The People’s Joker,’ reimagining of Gotham City, pulled from TIFF over rights issues

“We felt like we were part of a movement, not a movie,...

The following review includes reference to domestic abuse and sexual assault. Please proceed with caution.

In a world where abortion rights feel tenuous, men's sexual appetites endless, and domestic abuse cases ubiquitous, we need movies like "Women Talking." The confident, fearless film is a testament to female empowerment, depicting a colony of vulnerable women banding together to change their lives for the better — facing the unknown in order to improve the situation not just out of their own self-interest, but out of love for their fellow sisters in Christ. It's a beautifully shot, skillfully acted story that sends a powerful message about choosing a better future.

The film was written and directed by Sarah Polley, a Canadian storyteller with a knack for exploring broken relationships. Her films "Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz" are evocative, intimate portraits of domestic partnerships, interrupted by chance; the former centers on a long marriage disrupted by dementia,...

With Women Talking, Sarah Polley adapts Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel in a way that feels like a response to the last several years. The book, which concerns women in a Mennonite colony deciding whether to leave their community and the men who spent years assaulting and raping them, published after the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the formation of the #MeToo movement, which made its subject and themes reverberate around topics that were, and still are, at the forefront of media and public discourse. Polley leans hard into the bigger ideas, making her film less of a chamber piece and more a fumbled commentary on where we are now. Schematic in its intent and pedestrian in its execution, Women Talking is a well-meaning drama that’s obvious in all the wrong ways.

Women Talking largely takes place in the hayloft of the village’s barn, where two families of women gather...

The Telluride Film Festival wrapped on Labor Day, with many of the season’s mystery films getting a first look from critics, journalists and festivalgoers. But what did we learn from the four-day fest? Do we have an Oscar frontrunner?

Four narrative films world premiered in the Colorado mountains – “Women Talking” from MGM/Uar, “Empire of Light” from Searchlight Pictures and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “The Wonder” from Netflix. Other Venice titles also made their North American debuts such as Netflix’s “Bardo” and Focus Features’ “Tar.”

Here are five things we learned at Telluride.

Polley Want an Oscar?

Writer, actor and director Sarah Polley received a tribute at the top of the festival, with her film “Women Talking” making its debut. Clips of her acting performances were part of the montage. Featured more prominently were her three films as a director – the documentary “Stories We Tell” and her two indie gems,...

The women in question here belong to a secluded rural religious order on unidentified prairieland and the talking they do throughout Sarah Polley’s immaculately made, intellectually adventurous and politically incisive new film consists of an ongoing debate that will determine the futures of these mostly young women.

Of course, Polley is really addressing all women—and men as well—who are on board with the considerable political and societal changes that have taken place over the past few years and only show signs of accelerating. Engaging an array of excellent actors to portray women in different phases of life, the writer-director draws upon egregious attitudes and behavior of the past and present to envision a significantly altered future, one that can already be glimpsed if you squint your eyes and stand in the right direction–or, as a young Black New York filmmaker hoped for and envisioned more than three decades ago,...

Could Sarah Polley join the ranks of Jane Campion, Chloe Zhao and Kathryn Bigelow by becoming only the fourth female filmmaker to win an Oscar for directing? Based on the rapturous reception that “Women Talking” received at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday, it certainly seems possible.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the ambitious film, a drama about a group of women in a tight-knit religious community grappling with a legacy of abuse, has put a stake in the ground as the festival’s first slam dunk best picture candidate. In fact, I think it’s going to be a contender across the board.

In a Telluride lineup that is heavy on documentaries and Cannes titles, Polley’s film is one of only four World Premieres for narrative features. But what a launching pad Telluride is shaping up to be for the film and its director, a critical favorite...

Sarah Polley, at the Telluride Film Festival for the world premiere of Women Talking, her latest film as a director, acknowledged how lucky she was as an actress to have worked with so many female filmmakers. They told her to be “fierce” when they saw that she wanted to work behind the camera.

Women Talking, based on Miriam Toew’s celebrated novel about a group of Mennonite women having to confront sexual assaults committed by men feeding their desires, is a powerhouse exploration of the female imagination.

“This film began with three women talking a lot,” Polley said. She was referring to Dede Gardner as producer through Plan B Entertainment, and Frances McDormand as a cast member and producer via her Hear/Say Productions, and Polley herself.

Polley cited three female directors she’d worked with who helped pave the way for her as a director: Audrey Wells on her 1999 feature Guinevere; Kathryn Bigelow,...