Editor’s Note: Deadline presents the 30th episode of its video series take two (officially known as two shots), in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy tackle the craft of filmmaking. Each has reviewed and written about the art for decades and has built up a remarkable breadth of knowledge about films past and present. What we hoped for when we asked them to do this was a concise, mature and thoughtful discussion comparable to what we saw from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
“This is the season, or at least the season that film critics are most interested in. It begins on Wednesday with the opening of the Venice Film Festival, two days later the Telluride Film Festival and a week later the Toronto Film Festival, followed later in the month by the New York Film Festival. is actually the time we start getting the “serious” movies. We define “serious” as those films that are also potential Oscar contenders, or at least on paper appear to have those aspirations. And even though the actual festivals where many of the season’s most important awards contenders will be in the spotlight begin in person this week, the past few weeks have seen a big slice of what’s in store for festivals and film fans this fall.
While we can’t review them until they officially premiere, we can certainly talk about what we’re most excited to see and write about in the coming days. The fun thing about this time of year though is that we have a good idea of what to expect from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, with his first film in seven years since back-to-back Oscar wins, or from Todd Field, whose was expected Tar represents his first film in the 16 years, or by Darren Aronofsky, whose The whale could mean a major return for star Brendan Fraser or from Sam Mendes, who returned with the promising Empire of Light, or Steven Spielberg with perhaps his most personal film The Fabelmans? The list goes on and on, with new films from Noah Baumbach, Florian Zeller, Luca Guadagnino, Peter Farrelly (his first since winning the Oscar for Green Paper), Sarah Polley and countless others.
To watch our conversation, click on the video above.
Hammond has been Deadline’s awards columnist for the past decade, covering what are now seemingly Oscar and Emmy seasons year-round. He is also Deadline’s chief film critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, Booking office magazine, Behind the scenesHollywood.com and Maximas Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, for which he participated as an editor. In addition to writing, Hammond also hosts the KCET film series and the station’s weekly series Movies you must see.
McCarthy is a veteran film critic, columnist and reporter who has written numerous books and documentary films. He served two terms on his staffs Variety and The Hollywood Reporter and extensively covered film festivals internationally for both publications. His movie Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography won Best Documentary Awards from the New York Film Critics Association and the National Society of Motion Picture Critics and won an Emmy for writing the documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer. He also directed the documentaries Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient and Forever Hollywood.
