Doc Corner: 'Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power' and the Male Gaze

By Glenn Dunks

Hmm. This is a curious one, isn’t it?

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is a cinematic adaptation of an on-stage presentation by filmmaker Nina Menkes on the male gaze. Originally titled “Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Oppression”, Menkes has reworked the live show into a curious hybrid that deconstructs the way many movies are shot and framed in a way that subjugates the female characters. The first image we see is of Ana De Armas as the nude advertisement in Blade Runner 2049 before dissecting over 170 films in one form (very briefly) or another (more up close and personal).

Click to read more ...

Link grab bag from Disney strategies to new Auteur projects to Sean Young speaking out

It's been approximately 1,000 years since our last link roundup. It's always tough to keep up with news during Oscar season when more important things (shiny gold statues!) are on the mind.

• Variety Disney is shifting release strategies and dates again for Black Widow, Luca, and Cruella among others. We're disappointed that Adrian Lyne's long awaited return with erotic thriller Deep Water is now a 2022 movie (that's well over a full year since it was first supposed to come out.) 
• IndieWire meanwhile Warner Bros announces that it will end the opening simultaneously on HBOMax treatment for its new movies starting in 2022 which will play in theaters for 45 days first. (We're guessing the people behind Dune are pissed that this doesn't apply to them) since none of their deals imagined a non-theatrical world.
• Towleroad Lady Gaga has already upset the woman she's playing in Ridley Scott's Gucci biopic

More after the jump including Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Elliot Page, Steven Spielberg, and Clint Eastwood... 

Click to read more ...

Film Bitch Awards Finale - The Medal Ceremony

by Nathaniel R 

Cue trumpets and confetti!  The 18th annual Film Bitch Awards have finally reached their conclusion with the "best scene" page fully up and complete with nominations and medals for BEST KISS, BEST ACTION SCENE, and BEST MUSICAL SEQUENCE and the like.

64 movies were honored over our 40 regular categories for the 2017 film year. Lady Bird and Get Out led this past year's crop with 13 nominations each and 10 and 9 medal wins respectively. Other top ten entries that scored multiple medals were Call Me By Your Name, Baby Driver, and Atomic Blonde. The films that made the strongest showing without scoring in headline categories or the top ten list were: Phantom Thread, The Greatest Showman, and Blade Runner 2049.

Some curiousities: The Florida Project won only gold medals, never a silver or bronze. Oscar's best picture winner The Shape of Water was nominated in six categories but only took home one medal (gold for Production Design). And the film that Oscar completely ignored that performed strongest here was --  no surprise I suppose -- France's Oscar submission BPM with 8 nominations, 1 gold, 1 silver, and 4 bronze medals.

Part 1 - Film, Director, Picture
Part 2 - Acting Categories 
Part 3 - Visuals
Part 4 - Music and Sound 
Part 5 - Non-Traditional Acting Categories
Part 6 - Character Prizes
Part 7 - Best Scene Work *NEWLY COMPLETED*

...and in case you missed it, the top ten list write-up. We hope you enjoyed all our 2017 coverage. Now on to 2018 as Spring begins!

Film Bitch Awards Pt 1 - Oscar Correlative Crafts

by Nathaniel R

Had hoped to meter these out as we usually do but time ran out and here we are at Oscar weekend. So herewith the Film Bitch nominations in all the Oscar correlative categories (plus one as we have two "Score" categories since there are largely two types used for movies these days). The acting categories are the only thing not completed yet but they'll hopefully be up tonight. Blade Runner 2049 and Get Out are the leaders thus far with 6 and 5 nominations respectively.

Part 1 - Film, Director, Picture
Part 2 - Acting TBA
Part 3 - Visuals
Part 4 - Music and Sound 

...and in case you missed it, the top ten list write-up.

BAFTA Winners + Precursor Consensus = No Surprises on Oscar Night?

by Nathaniel R

Kaluuya wins "Rising Star"With only 13 days left until Oscar, the race in most of the marquee categories is sadly settled. BAFTA, held today in London, cemented the frontrunners honoring the exact same actors as the Critics Choice Awards, SAG, and Golden Globes. It's Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Alison Janney for the Oscars. Engrave the statues now. That's just too much consensus for Oscar to overthrow though we're personally baffled that none of that quartet's strong (and arguably better) competitors managed to put up a fight. What's more it's the first time in history when there's been no variation whatsoever in the prizes despite none of that foursome winning any of the top critics awards (NYFCC, LAFCA, and NSFC). Usually there's at least one 'we're-doing-our-own-thing' moment within the four categories in the televised precursors. Not this year. What happened to the tough battle we were suppose to have in Best Actress for example with Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, and Sally Hawkins all seeming possible early on as victors. 

The only real question on Oscar night given this lock-step agreement from all of the major precursors is within the rare categories wherein there wasn't total agreement...

Click to read more ...