Robert Altman @100: "Short Cuts" The Actresses

part 2 of a piece on Short Cuts (1993) to relaunch our Robert Altman tribute. (or start with part 1 if you missed it)

Julianne Moore & Anne Archer in "Short Cuts"

by Eric Blume

Inspired by Juan Carlos’ very fun and smart examination of the actresses in Nashville, I thought it might be fun to do the same for the many actresses in Short Cuts.  Here’s a report of my favorites from least to most…with the caveat that even the “least” are beautifully played by these super talented ladies.

10 Lili Taylor as Honey Bush
Taylor has possibly the least to do of any of the actresses, but it was joyful to see her again and be reminded of that fresh, weird, thrilling energy she brought to cinema in the 1990s.  Hollywood never figured out what to do with her, even though she’s worked continuously.  Here she’s yearning and touching, and she and Robert Downey Jr (before he got so self-conscious) find a quirky comic spark...

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Gotham Nominees: Lili Taylor in "Paper Spiders"

by Nick Taylor

With the 2021 Gotham Awards just a week away, we thought it’d be fun to highlight a handful of nominated films that could use some attention. It’s always worthwhile to sort through that exclusive group of widely available, barely distributed, minimally buzzed films hiding between the noteworthy early releases and the awards players that won’t legally exist to the moviegoing public for a few more weeks. Inon Stampanier’s Paper Spiders, which earned an Outstanding Lead Performance nomination for Lili Taylor, falls safely into this lucky group. So, to start with a good film that deserves a moment in the spotlight, and as tribute to all the Lili Taylor gays out there (ie, gays I know who can’t stop watching The Conjuring), we begin our little tour here!

Paper Spiders - a title that won’t make any sense until the last few minutes - centers itself on the relationship between college-bound high school senior Melanie (Stefania Owen) and her mother Dawn (Lili Taylor)...

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Emmy Spotlight - Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

by Eric Blume

We love our actresses, and the Emmy race for Best Actress, Limited Series or Movie on Sunday night is filled with very good ones.  Let’s take a look at who’s in the running and who the winner might be.

Kirsten Dunst nabbed her first Emmy nomination in her freshman foray into television for her role as a deluded hairdresser in season two of Fargo.  Unlike Nathaniel, I’m not a huge fan of Dunst, but her work here is probably the best thing she’s ever done outside of Melancholia.  What she pulls off here is a very tricky blend of naturalism and heightened comedy, a dangerous high-wire act that could have fallen flat quite easily...

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In Appreciation of "American Crime"

It's a common beliefe that there’s a ceiling to how poignant and brutally honest network television can be.  The often accurate stereotype is that the hour-long dramas that inspire debate and passion are found on pay or premium cable; network TV is for rote procedurals and other series unwilling or unable to truly push the envelope.

Yet In the month since it has premiered, the second season of Academy-Award winning writer John Ridley’s (12 Years a Slave) “American Crime” has been flying in the face of pre-conceived notions about the limitations of network television. [More...]

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1995 Bonus Podcast !

We're spoiling you with two podcasts this week. We'll talk Ant-Man and Southpaw tomorrow night but here's an extra bonus episode in which Nathaniel, Nick, and Joe each recommend a 1995 film they remember loving that they'd like to revisit or wish that more people would talk about. The conversation wanders, as it does, to the Best Actress race, Scorned 2 ??? "Meryl's third Oscar!" talk (duh), and the films of Michael Mann ???

Contents (45 minutes)
00:01 Mia Kirshner in Atom Egoyan's Exotica 
04:30 Kathy Bates as Stephen King's Delores Claiborne
07:45 Lili Taylor of The Addiction
10:55 Random loved titles: Babe, Nixon, etcetera
14:10 Actresses of 1995 outside the Best Actress nominees: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Toni Collette, Holly Hunter, Parker Posey, Rene Russo, Ashley Judd, and more...
31:11 Get Shorty
34:30 Michael Mann films and Heat

Ashley Judd in "Heat"

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes.  Continue the conversation in the comments...

1995 Bonus Chit Chat