Review: John Wick 3: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

By Lynn Lee

“Guns.  Lots of guns.”

That line is only one of several of John Wick 3’s nods to its spiritual predecessor, The Matrix, albeit the most overt one.  With the right audience, it draws appreciative laughs.  It also embodies everything that’s both most effective and most lacking in Keanu Reeves’ latest blockbuster franchise.  The action pyrotechnics are dazzling, the callouts to his last blockbuster franchise amusing, but once the last gun stops firing, there’s nothing left.  Nothing to feel, think about, or care about, even as the story ends on yet another cliffhanger that practically ensures the next installment we all knew was coming and was sealed by the movie’s gargantuan opening box office haul.

It wasn’t always this way.  The first John Wick had a simplicity of premise that made for a sharp and clean, if fundamentally goofy, revenge narrative...

Click to read more ...

Links: Anjelica Huston's Life, Magic Mike's Postponement, Madonna's Holograms

The Week's Must Read
Anjelica Huston interview in Vulture -Many great quotes. So much IDGAF mixing with caring about her career in interesting ways. And her tongue is so sharp and she's so candid I am forced to order her autobiography "Watch Me"

More links after the jump involving Mean Girls, casting news, Avengers Endgame, new series in development, and the Billboard Music Awards...

Click to read more ...

2 days til Oscar. Offscreen Oscar pairs

by Nathaniel R

With just 2 days to go until Oscar let's talk famous couples who've both been Oscar blessed. This year we have loved the offscreen symmetry of A Star is Born's Sam Elliott finally having an Oscar nomination to match his beautiful wife's; Katharine Ross was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Graduate (1967) and now Elliott has a matching nomination in Supporting Actor just before their 25th wedding anniversary. They were married around the time Elliott started work on Mask (1985) and Ross started work on the Dynasty spinoff The Colbys (1985-1987). They co-starred together just last year (albeit briefly) when Ross played Elliott's character's ex-wife in The Hero (2017).

It's fairly rare for two members of a couple to win or be nominated for Oscars while they're together (lots of Hollywood relationships being short-lived) but the gold standard is surely Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward...

Click to read more ...

81 days til Oscar

by Nathaniel R

Diane & Warren / Don & Meryl at the 1981 Oscars

You know what I feel is tragic about online Oscar history, dear readers? It's the lack of abundance of Oscar night photos before, say, 2000. Oh sure you can usually find photos of the winners holding their Oscars but try finding complete gowns of all the Best Actress nominees if you (hypothetically) wanna fantasize about ordering custom doll sets of every vintage. You're out of luck for any year prior to the explosion of 24/7 media coverage and constant Oscar coverage. Take the 1981 Oscars for example...

Click to read more ...

Smackdown '85: Anjelica, Amy, Meg, Margaret and Oprah

Presenting the Supporting Actresses of '85. It was all scandal all the time at this colorful party. There were three much gossiped about women (a mafia princess, a drunk promiscuous entertainer, and a delusional pregnant nun) and two stubborn women who were just NOT having either the gossip or the abusive and cheating men around them. It was the about appreciating the color purple (Oprah & Margaret), seeing red (Amy & Meg), and embracing jet black comedy (Anjelica).

THE NOMINEES 

from left to right: Avery, Huston, Madigan, Tilly, and Winfrey

Oscar celebrated newcomers in 1985 with a shortlist composed entirely of first timers. All five actresses were relatively inexperienced (as Oscar lists go) having made less than ten films each so no overdue conversations were to be had. One of them (Oprah Winfrey) was even making her film debut though the eventual winner (Anjelica Huston) was already Hollywood royalty, being the daughter of the film titan directing her and the girlfriend of the superstar headlining her Best Picture nominated vehicle.

Notable women who Oscar didn't nominate were Globe nominees Kelly McGillis (Witness) and Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), BAFTA nominees Judi Dench (Wetherby) and Tracey Ullman (Plenty), and BAFTA winner Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan)... who was very much a leading lady but you know how awards season is! Other key supporting players that attracted critical attention and/or movie fans in 1985 were Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club), Demi Moore and Mare Winningham (St Elmo's Fire), Isabella Rossellini and Helen Mirren (White Nights), Madonna (Desperately Seeking Susan), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future), Laura Dern (Mask), Ann Wedgeworth (Sweet Dreams), and Mieko Harada (Ran).

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS

from left to right: Zehetner, Virtel, Nathaniel R, Nazemian, Morgan

Here to talk about these five nominated turns, in reverse alphabetical order: Actress Nora Zehetner (Creative Control, Brick), comedian/writer Louis Virtel  (Billy on the Street, Throwing Shade), your host Nathaniel R (The Film Experience), novelist/producer Abdi Nazemian ("The Authentics" and Call Me By Your Name), and writer/director Michelle Morgan (It Happened in LA). And now it's time for the main event... 

1985
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN  

Click to read more ...