Almost There: Reese Witherspoon in "Election"

by Cláudio Alves

A few weeks ago, we asked you to vote on what performances should be analyzed on the Almost There series. While Myrna Loy in Test Pilot won the poll of 1938 specific titles, John Cazale's supporting turn in Dog Day Afternoon was your pick from a selection of new to streaming titles. But your runner-up choices will also get their chance to shine. Cazale won, but Reese Witherspoon's iconic performance as Tracy Flick in Election was close behind…

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Posterized: The films of Alexander Payne

by Nathaniel R

Nebraska's most successful auteur son, 56 year old Alexander Payne is back with his seventh feature. Downsizing, his new satire about a man (Matt Damon) who joins a community that have shrunk themselves, premiered at Venice to the kind of reviews that seem startling until you remember all the reviews for all the other Payne directed movies. Raves are par for the course. He's won two Globes and two Oscars for his screenplays. His films have won an incredible 3 Best Picture prizes and he's also won four personal prizes from the normally spread-your-wealth folks at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association over the past 20 years.

The film opens in movie theaters on December 22nd and is expected to be both a box office hit and a major Oscar player. Could it finally be his year to win Best Picture?

How many of his films have you seen? The posters (and more about Oscar) are after the jump...

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Wonder Women: Tracey Flick

This week is all about female heroes. Here’s Jorge with a cupcake early in the morning…

One of the (many) beautiful things about Alexander Payne’s Election is that, by immersing the audience into the different points of view the main characters, there’s never really anyone who’s unequivocally right or wrong. There are no heroes or villains; the truth lies somewhere in the murky puddle of ethics, ambition, and torn down posters. Everyone had their part on the catastrophic school election events. It’s just that some came out better off than others.

But Tracey Flick would not hesitate one second in calling herself a heroine.

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Beauty vs Beast: Before the Beasts

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "let's retreat into fantasy for sanity's sake" edition of "Beauty vs Beast" -- you probably saw some people, maybe you were one of them, sharing a Harry Potter meme this week in the wake of the US election. It is timely, what with the next entry in the Potterverse, the first of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series, opening - we'd probably have had Muggles Inc. on our minds anyway.

But JK Rowling's fictional creation helped us sort through the Bush years and so it's no surprise that a horcrux joke or two would make their way into the conversation. The series was always explicitly political. And so let's turn our eyes to the endless battle between Good and Evil one more time today to seek out some small comfort among friends...

PREVIOUSLY One week ago we lived in a different place (what would you give to go back there right about now), one where I felt fine making a bold Hillary Clinton prediction (it was my arrogance that ruined everything, no doubt) while joking about Alexander Payne's Election - well the blonde political spitfire Tracy Flick at least got her landslide, with over 70% of the vote. Said Row-bin:

"This is one of two movies I actually enjoy Matthew Broderick in, but Tracy Flick is one of the best realized performances I've ever seen out of Reese Witherspoon. She's so unapologetic in knowing what she wants and is such a great example of well-roundedness in a character."

Beauty vs Beast: Political Animals

Jason from MNPP here, posting today's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" from deep down inside my underground election bunker -- it's kind of like 10 Cloverfield Lane only depending on which way things go tomorrow I'm possibly going to be dissolving myself in acid. Until then, cheers! And don't go blind from drunkeness.

But first I've got to put in front of you the most obvious poll for this week's contest that I could possibly have gone with. When it's right, it's right, ya know? In 1999 Alexander Payne dropped Election, his second-best movie, on the world and it's resonated deeply and profoundly every four years since. There's a character for every type - Paul Metzler's a little bit Bush and a little bit Obama; I like Tammy too much to attach Trump to her but their shared anti-establishment rhetoric is pretty on-point. And as for Tracy Flick, well... obviously.

But for "Beauty vs Beast" it only make sense to face off the real adversaries of the film. There are morals, and there are ethics, and it's one lone man's job to police the distinction...

PREVIOUSLY Last week we tackled the love-struck teenaged maniacs of Heavenly Creatures and I forced you to split the duo in two like you're they're heteronormative parents side-eyeing their affections - it was close (I was hoping for a tie!) but Winslet's Juliet squeaked it out with 54% over Lynskey's Pauline; seeing as how Juliet is ever so slightly roped into the killing by the more enthusiastic Pauline I suppose we can understand. But said our host Nathaniel (and I'm prone to agree):

"I love this movie with all my heart (the best of its year if you ask me) and this is an awful thing to be expected to answer! Cruel, Jason, cruel."