'The Help' just keeps on being an Oscar good luck charm!

by Nathaniel R

from Jessica Chastain's Instagram

They is kind. They is smart. They is important. They is winning Oscars. Have you noticed that the cast of The Help, one of 2011's biggest hits (just behind the first Captain America, no joke, that year) just keeps collecting golden statues?! The Help had detractors from the start but it was hugely popular with the public considerably raising the profiles of all of its cast members, except the ones who were already enduring stars (hey Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, and Cicely Tyson! xo). It's greatest legacy might now be the Oscar winners it shoved towards the Dolby Theatre stage... 

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SXSW: Andrea Riseborough Shines in ‘To Leslie’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It's an unwritten rule that every festival must include at least one movie starring Andrea Riseborough, sometimes as many as four (that was Sundance 2018). While I’ll note that I haven’t seen one of her more recent entries – Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor – most of her turns in the past few years have been very subdued in lackluster films like Nancy, Luxor, and Here Before. I fondly remember her standout performances even with minimal roles in Birdman and The Death of Stalin, and I’m pleased to report that her latest effort, To Leslie, gives her a superb platform again in a leading part…

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Gay Best Friend: George Hanson (Paul Rudd) in The Object of My Affection (1998)

Series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Doesn't it look like these two crazy, beautiful kids would make a cute couple? Think again.Another week, another 1998 comedy about the relationship between a woman and her gay best friend starring a cast member of Friends. You have to love a specific subgenre. While Lisa Kudrow and Martin Donovan traveled across the country to find Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex, Jennifer Aniston stayed in New York in a more familiar genre -- the romantic comedy.

As the title The Object of My Affection suggests, Aniston falls in love. Unfortunately for her, the titular role is her new gay best friend, a first grade teacher played by a baby-faced, charming Paul Rudd. Wendy Wasserstein’s adaptation of the Stephen McCauley book of the same name uses genre tropes to sand some of the thorny elements of the premise. Yet, this not-always-perfect movie gives a really interesting look at a codependent friends who love each other, but also hold each other back...

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Emmy Watch: Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

Like its counterpart lead actress race, the supporting actress in a miniseries category has seen several programs receive multiple nominations over the past decade. In fact, on three occasions, three women from the same miniseries have all been cited. This year, there’s one series that may well shatter that record, with more possible contenders than there are slots in the category! That, of course, is Hulu’s Mrs. America…

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Review: Bad Education

by Tony Ruggio

Filmmaker Cory Finley is fast becoming an auteur. That much is clear, and more, when watching his second directorial effort Bad Education, a great film unfortunately relegated to the streaming fringes of HBO. A film this good would’ve been poised to make a bigger splash with Netflix or Amazon, as well as contend for Oscars over Emmys.

Hugh Jackman gives the best performance of his career as Frank Tassone, a Long Island area school district superintendent who in the early aughts, along with district business manager Pamela Gluckin (Allison Janney) and others, embezzled millions of dollars from school funds to support their lavish lifestyles... 

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