Nicole Kidman Tribute: Chanel N°5: The Film (2004)

by Cláudio Alves

If someone asked me to come up with the definitive image of Nicole Kidman, I'm not sure I'd gravitate toward her work in movies or TV, nor even her red-carpet appearances. Instead, my mind would instinctually drift to that shot of industrial-grade glamour that once played at every primetime ad break. It's a Moulin Rouge! reunion and, in its way, a miniature remake with a contemporary twist. It's fashion distilled into a dream, a bespoke Lagerfeld-designed wardrobe, and a fragrance we can only imagine through the screen. It's Old Hollywood resurrected for 180 seconds of hyper-artifice and soft-focus glow, so beautiful it makes your heartache. It's Chanel N°5: The Film, of course…

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Cannes at Home: Day 1 – When "Gatsby "opened the festival...

by Cláudio Alves

The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has begun in a flurry of controversy. Jeanne Du Barry, Johnny Depp's return to the silver screen after a much-publicized trial, was selected to open the festivities, prompting reporters to swarm the Croisette with polemic on their minds. The situation wasn't helped by incidents earlier this year, when director Maïwenn spat on a journalist, making their film about much more than just Louis XV's last mistress. In giving such attention to the kerfuffle, we've all played into Thierry Frémaux's hands. Regardless of the picture's quality, everybody's eyes are on Cannes, whether looking for a redemption story, an immoral scandal, or secret fashion messages on the red carpet.

Then again, the Cannes opener is seldom an example of masterpiece cinema capable of accruing wide acclaim. More often than not, the titles blessed – or is it burdened? – with this honor tend to be mixed bags with big names attached, glossy stuff ready to act as attention magnets. Such was the case ten years ago when Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby opened the festivities to various degrees of critical hostility. Looking back, one is enticed by the possibility of reappraisal…

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"Elvis" wins big at the AACTAs

by Travis Cragg

Austin Butler as "ELVIS"

As anticipated here last month, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis has dominated the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards this week. The musical biopic won a total of 11 statues. But the wealth wasn’t completely hoovered up by the Memphis biopic, as some other uniquely Australian stories managed to pick up awards as well. The full results for film are after the jump…

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Who will be nominated for Costume Design?

by Nathaniel R

Shirley Kurata's costumes for "Jobu Tupaki" in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE are great chaotic fun

Let's tackle each Oscar category while there's still wiggle room for all contenders! Last season Best Costume Design was sewn up (sorry!) unusually early in the year when Jenny Beavan's garbage dress unfurled midway through Cruella (2021) in the summer movie season. From then on it was everyone versus Cruella and Beavan came out on top for the third time in her delicious career. The costumes of 2022 haven't really had one showstopping gown to end everyone else's Oscar dreams so it's anyone's guess at this point.

Let's discuss 8 films we think are major threats for those 5 nomination slots and why. It seems natural to start with two films where fashion is a co-lead of sorts...

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BAZ DAZZLED!

Manuel here with some Spectacular Spectacular news!

This one goes out to those Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin fanatics out there (there’s still a number of us, right?). Since releasing The Great Gatsby ...sorry, two-time Academy Award winner The Great Gatsby, Baz has been flexing his muscles elsewhere: he directed some beautiful shorts for the Prada/Schiaparelli exhibit at the Metropolitan museum, he directed the musical stage adaptation of Strictly Ballroom currently playing in Sydney, and threw quite the lavish party (does he throw any other kind?) to commemorate the opening of Melbourne’s newest mall, Emporium. We’ve also been hearing whispers of him possibly directing the long-gestating Stanley Kubrick project on Napoleon for HBO. While we wait, those of us in the tri-state area (or those visiting) may get our Baz-fix from the holiday windows at Barney’s this winter in what the retail company is calling a “Baz Dazzled Holiday”; a title which is equal parts flamboyant, ridiculous, and flashy which is to say, Baz in a nutshell.

Style. Fashion. Razzle-dazzle. It really feels like a match made in Spectacular Spectacular! heaven. Let’s throw suggestions out here for what Baz & Martin might come up with for Barney’s. Are you hoping for some holiday pop mish-mash worthy of a Shakespearean couple, or maybe for a 1930s glitzy winter wonderland?

Also, I wouldn’t be doing this news tidbit any justice if I didn’t in some way shoehorn in this picture, taken during New York Fashion week of Baz and his two Moulin Rouge! stars, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor which Nat may have missed in his TIFF-frenzy. They do make quite the dapper trio, don't you agree?