Mother-Daughter Duos at the Oscars

by Cláudio Alves

Fernanda Montenegro in Walter Salles' I'M STILL HERE.

This past week, Fernanda Montenegro celebrated her 95th birthday. A living legend of Brazilian culture in various mediums, she is our oldest living Best Actress nominee. Montenegro is back on the awards trail with Walter Salles' I'm Still Here. While her late-film cameo won't excite many voters, Brazil's Best International Film submission is raking in Audience Awards at festivals worldwide and sterling reviews to match. Perhaps Sony Pictures Classics can even look away from Saoirse Ronan and Almodóvar's leading ladies for a moment, and mount a Best Actress campaign for Fernanda Torres. Her performance as Eunice Paiva is nothing short of magnificent. 

Though a longshot, Torres' nomination would be amply deserved, making her and Montenegro one of the few mother-daughter duos to score acting Oscar nominations. It's a very exclusive club that includes…

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Taylor Swift, Star-Studded and "Bejewelled"

by Nathaniel R

Do we have any Swifties amongst the readers? I personally rarely thought of Swift outside of liking a few hits but with the queer-ally song "You Need To Calm Down" followed by the double pandemic punch of the Folklore and Evermore albums, the common wisdom that she was a very talented songwriter finally pierced my consciousness where pop music is but a small niche (crowded out by cinema, tv, and theatre). Her new album "Midnights," which was immediately at the top of the charts giving her the most #1 albums of any woman (though she's tied in that with Barbra Streisand), is 20 songs long so it'll take a while to sink in.

But let's talk music videos. Taylor has always loved celebrity cameos (remember "Bad Blood" and its bevy of young actresses?) and the first two Midnights videos are star-studded fun...

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Venice Diary #08 - "The Son", "Beyond the Wall", and "Dreamin' Wild"

by Elisa Giudici

Today on the menu in Venice, there is only one option: crying your heart out. You can choose which missing son and worried parent will tear your heart in pieces, though.

THE SON by Florian Zeller
Who is 'the son' of the title? That's debatable. There is the troubled teenager Nicholas (Zen McGrath) that Peter (Hugh Jackman) had with his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern). Peter also has a newborn son he is raising with his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby). Maybe Peter himself is the titular character? He's learning some hard lessons in being a father while struggling with what it means to be the son of Anthony (Sir Anthony Hopkins). I would say the latter, considering how this movie works best as a reminder of Hugh Jackman’s considerable acting skill...

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Review: "Jurassic World Dominion" Proves Franchise Charms Are Near Extinct

By: Christopher James

The wonderful teaser moment of a dinosaur walking through a drive-in... not in the final film.All that’s old is new again at movie theaters this summer. However, not all nostalgia plays are created equal. Top Gun: Maverick has successfully delighted audiences old and young, marrying nostalgia with strong storytelling and jaw-dropping stunts. The final chapter of the new Jurassic World trilogy tries to do the same hat trick. Bringing back the original trio - Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum - checks off the 90s nostalgia box. A doomsday plot around terrifying dino-locusts eating crops acts as the great thread bringing all our characters together. Finally, is there any spectacle quite as jaw-dropping as dinosaurs?

Unfortunately, all these elements sloppily come together in this letdown of a final chapter. Though it comes alive in fits and starts, the result is far less than the sum of its parts...

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Happy Birthday, Laura Dern!

by Cláudio Alves

Laura Dern has been blessing us with her existence for 55 years. The Oscar-winning actress started young, being the daughter of two screen titans in their own right – Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Indeed, one of her earliest big-screen roles was by her mother's side in Martin Scorsese's 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Since then, Dern has flourished into one of American cinema's most important modern performers. Often driven to auteurs with bold visions, she's a director's actress whose commitment to her roles is never in question. She's never in danger of dispassionate acting, giving it her all 100% of the time and often twisting her visage into terrifying extremes. She really is 'The Face.'

To celebrate the occasion, a list of favorite Laura Dern film performances…

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