Showbiz History: Dunne born, Dick Tracy begins, Scream opens

10 random things that happened on this day, December 20th, in showbiz history

1945 Seventy-five years ago today the first feature film based on the comic strip Dick Tracy arrived. The syndicated newspaper hero had been a popular character in film serials since the mid 1930s. He'd get three more features  (the last arriving in 1947) before being revived again for Warren Beatty's Oscar-winning spectacle in 1990. 

1946 It's a Wonderful Life has ts world premiere in NYC. Why a Christmas classic opened in January for most of the nation is a mystery whose answer is surely lost in 1940s era moviegoing / holiday habits...

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1991: Madonna's Most Fascinating Movie Year

Team Experience is celebrating the 1991 film year for the next couple of weeks.

by Camila Henriques

1991 was an interesting year, movie-wise, for Madonna. The Queen of Pop had just come off of her Blond Ambition Tour and what was, arguably, her first movie to have a major awards breakthrough, Dick Tracy (with the caveat that Desperately Seeking Susan did get a Golden Globe for Rosanna Arquette). So, with that, she entered the decade with her feet dipping, once more, into the waters of film stardom.

Madonna’s cinematic year started - in the eyes of the audience, at least - on March 25, 1991, with an iconic performance at the 63rd Academy Awards. Dressed in a Bob Mackie gown that gave her an air of Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe. She also made headlines as she arrived at the awards gala. That happens when you’re Madonna and you step on the Oscars red carpet arm-in-arm with Michael Jackson...

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Milena Canonero's Oscar glory

by Cláudio Alves

Since we're celebrating 1981 this week, let's shine a spotlight on the Best Costume Design champion of that Oscar year. The filmmaker in question is one of the best currently working on her field. Milena Canonero's vast filmography includes repeated collaborations with many great auteurs like Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson, and Stanley Kubrick just to name a few. With nine nominations and four Academy Awards to her name, she's not only talented but also one of AMPAS' favorite craftswomen, having earned recognition for a variety of projects that range from strict historical recreation to lunatic explosions of avant-garde style.

Her work in Hugh Hudson's Best Picture-winning Chariots of Fire is on the more conventional end of this is one artist whose Oscar history aptly reflects her range, mastery, and good taste. In fact, not one of her nominations is undeserved and her victories are very nearly as unimpeachable. If you don't believe such conclusions, just take a look at Milena Canonero's Oscar-nominated feats of costume design…

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Today's Must Read: Pedro Almodóvar talks Madonna and Oscars

by Nathaniel R

Pedro quarantined and tripping through memory lane.

You can keep all those celebrity sing-alongs or other social media attempts to cheer us up collectively. Instead give us gossip to chew on. More juicy shared "diaries" of stir-crazy stars, please!

The occassion for this request is that we've just finished reading a new article by Spanish genius Pedro Almodóvar. He wrote a piece for the Spanish website el diario about... well, a lot of things. It begins with memories of getting dressed up to go on an errand during quarantine and segueways into other memories of getting dressed up for movie events. Lots of fun anecdotes follow including a night with Jane Fonda (!). But the bulk of the piece centers on 1990-1991 when Madonna entered his life via Dick Tracy through the essential documentary Truth or Dare (1991). You must read the whole thing -- Spanish readers will probably enjoy it most but the rest of us will have to suffer through a google translation.

I've excerpted the Dick Tracy story after the jump...

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60 Reasons Cinephiles Should Love Madonna

Happy 60th birthday to the coolest bitch in the world since 1958.

Because we are first and foremost a film site, here are 60 reasons you should love Madonna that are at connected to the cinema.

They're listed in no particular order, numbered only so we can keep count because when the subject is Madonna we tend to go on...

1. She makes a perfect animated character in the credits sequence of Who's That Girl  (1987)
2. She's been close friends forever with one of film & television's secret actress weapons, Debi Mazar
   
   
3. Dick Tracy (1990) is awesome.
4. As is Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).
5. She deserved a Best Original Song nomination for "Into the Groove" from Desperately Seeking Susan
6. She loves movies
7. "Greta Garbo, and Monroe..."

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