Me, You and Every Link We Click

Two Must Read Interview/Profiles
• GQ John Boyega reflects on his career and the racialized way he had to experience Star Wars. Points are made about the way the trilogy panned out for his character
• Vulture the one of a kind artist, Miranda July, has a new movie coming out (Kajillionaire). She's been artistically busy despite part-time domesticity

After the jump: Robert Pattinson tests positive for Coronavirus, Raya and the Last Dragon, Lady Gaga, Jonathan Majors, and more...

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Grammys and the Movies

by Eric Blume

Gaga wins again

The Grammy Awards have three categories that tie to moves and TV, and if you think the Oscar committee is myopic and predictable, they seem like the edgiest crew around in comparison with Grammy nominators.  Let's take a look at what was nominated and what won at last night's annual Grammy Awards...

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[Drum Roll] It's the Film Bitch Awards Medals Ceremony

It's the most painfully drawn-out nomination process followed by the swiftest awards ceremony of all. It involves your host Nathaniel slapping gold, silver, and bronze medals on the winners in the Film Bitch Awards chart! A Star is Born (10), The Favourite (9), and BlacKkKlansman (8) which all made the top ten list here, led the total medals count. It may surprise you to hear that Lady Gaga (5 for A Star is Born) and Rachel Weisz (4 between The Favourite / Disobedience) won the most medals for an individual performer,  since we didn't actually nominate either of them in the traditional 4 acting categories! But we have lots of "special" categories to reflect how we really experience the movies.  

Awards Pg 1: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Animated Feature
Awards Pg 2: The Four Traditional Acting Categories
Awards Pg 3: Visuals 
Awards Pg 4: Sound and Music
Awards Pg 5: Additional Acting Categories
Awards Pg 6: 'Characters of the Year' Prizes
Awards Pg 7: Best Individual Scenes (AND TRIVIA ABOUT THE AWARDS) 

AND WITH THAT, MY FRIENDS, FOLLOWING THE OSCAR WRAP-UP, THE FILM YEAR IS COMPLETE. ON TO 2019, ALREADY IN PROGRESS! We're currently at two festivals (SXSW and San Luis Obispo) and of course we've been discussing Avengers and Captain Marvel  and gems currently in theaters like Ash is Purest White, Transit, and more.

Links: Lansbury, Midsommar, Olivier Awards, and "Shallow" at #1

We haven't done a link roundup in too long. Not all of these are "new" but they might be to you:

• Vanity Fair Edge of Tomorrow (2014) may finally get that sequel that's been hoped for by fans
• Billboard "Shallow" has gone to #1 following that Oscar performance by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. It had previously peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 and it's Gaga's first number one in 8 years!
• People former teen idol and current Riverdale co-star Luke Perry has died at 52
• AV Club Director Joe Wright and star Tom Hanks going back to World War II with a new film In the Garden of the Beasts...

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Soundtracking: The 2018 Oscar Performances

by Chris Feil

Thank you Lady Gaga, all of the nominated Original Song performances were given a shot to perform on the Oscars! That "Shallow" leverage reportedly kept the ceremony as much of a musical night as possible. Sadly logistics kept us from getting a Kendrick Lamar and SZA performance of Black Panther's "All the Stars", but I found it frustrating that the producers didn't find some way to work the song into the telecast somehow. A montage needle drop, underscoring for the pre-commercial announcements, something?!

Even without Lamar (who also missed the Grammys), the night was a mostly solid salvage of Oscar musical tradition. It certainly fared better than some recent years, and also helped set variety and a pace for the night that otherwise felt a tad too amorphously rushed. A Star is Born's "Shallow" triumphed for the win as expected all season long, but what of the performances themselves? Time for a ranking!...

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