Chris here. As our Oscar year comes to a close, let's take some reflection on one of this season's greatest joys: the rise of Mahershala Ali. While some (including Nathaniel) are predicting a Dev Patel upset this Sunday, Ali has dominated most of the circuit for his warm, conflicted work in Moonlight, becoming something of the face of its immaculate ensemble. And don't forget he's also a member of the Hidden Figures team with his knee-flutter-inducing charms on full display. If you want a moment of true moving inspiration, look no further than his SAG acceptance speech on his experience as a Muslim American. We'll have to wait until Sundance entry Roxanne Roxanne to see more of him, so enjoy him now while we can.
And now he's giving some sunlight to go with the Moonlight in a popping yellow-drenched spread for GQ. Think of the photoset as a candy coating on an already delicious year:
In this weekly feature from Murtada we follow Oscar contender appearances and interviews
The Oscars are just 9 days away so this will be our last Oscar Week column of the season. Let’s look at how contenders are hustling in Phase 2. In this phase campaigns pivot their messages to try and secure the win. This gives us more pointed and sometimes bold messaging. Like the exploitative use of the Muslim Travel ban by Lion. Always happy to see Sonny Pawar's expressive face, but this message is a bit of a stretch. Arrival is going for the heartstrings, showing Amy Adams hugging Jeremy Renner and talking to her daughter, rather than talking up the sci-fi elements. This is smart messaging since the mother-daughter relationship is what most leave the theater talking about...
General Linkage i09Mad Mad Fury Road meets Pixar's Cars AV Club ignoring that nobody on god's green earth could possibly want to relive the election fiasco of 2016, Megan Ellison and Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty) are developing a miniseries about it right now. Too soon. Interview Mag there's going to be a biopic of Sammy Davis Jr. They have casting suggestions including Elijah Kelley as Sammy and Delroy Lindo as his father Cinesnark has an ode to Keanu Reeves, calling him 'the last great movie star.' I personally think the demise of the movie star is a myth (that's been being told my entire lifetime... and yet my lifetime has had plenty of new movie stars in it) but I tend to like pieces like this anyway because worshipping movie stars is fun The New Yorker looks at the silent film Different From Others, reportedly the first gay romantic drama on film
MNPP Tom Cullen has been at the gym and has a movie coming out co-starring his love Tatiana Maslany Screen Crush Ben Affleck rumored to want out of the Batman game. I mean... he does look miserable doing it, so why not? Batman is the star not the actor playing him anyway. Notice how many faces he's already worn since 1989 and he's still just as popular Tracking Board Mahershala Ali is joining Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy for a new crime drama called Triple Frontier
Oscar Stuff Feinberg Forecast Feinberg is predicting 10 Oscars for La La Land, losing only 3 categories Variety on the backlash to La La Land and why "exuberance" matters. I co-sign this post. I hate when films are deemed "not important enough" as that leads to comedies and family films and adventures and romances and all sorts of genres that produce classics being regularly overlooked at the Oscars Write Out of LA is, on the other side, all in for the La La Land backlash Variety Netflix sharing Ava DuVernay's with classrooms, community groups, and book clubs VarietyMoonlight took the USC Scripter prize for adapted screenplay Indie Wire Anne Thompson says Moonlight is "guaranteed" one Oscar win. Guaranteed feels like too strong a word for me when both of its potential wins (Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor) have to face off against a surging Lion which took both of those categories at the BAFTAs ... oh and BAFTA wins and gowns in case you missed those posts here!
In Case You Missed It Denzel Washington gave an inspiring speech at the NAACP Image Awards. I'm still torn as to whether he'll pull off a third Oscar win for Fences but I'm rooting for it, since it can't be Viggo!
Would you rather... ... visit an art museum with Russell Tovey and pup? ... play with a kitten with Mahershala Ali? ... cuddle with Marc Jacobs dogs with Michelle Visage? ... visit sea turtles named after actresses with Katya Zamolodchikova?
The question on a lot of people’s minds after the SAG Awards is how political are the Oscars going to be. If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs put that to rest. Addressing those gathered for the traditional luncheon, she alluded to the banned Muslim nominees, Asghar Farhadi and others, by pointing to the empty chairs:
Today we celebrate you. Your work and your achievements, but everyone knows there are some empty chairs in this room which has made Academy artists, activists. There is a struggle globally today over artistic freedom that feels more urgent than at anytime since the 1950s. Art has no borders. Art has no language and doesn’t belong to a single faith. No, the power of art is that it transcends all these things. And strong societies don’t censor art. They celebrate it.
By calling the nominees “activists”, Boone Isaacs is sanctioning political speeches at the ceremony which could make for an interesting show. Still the mood was not somber at the luncheon, and many nominees took the time to socialize. Isabelle Huppert and Michelle Williams caught up at the cocktail hour. Others did that even while taking their places for the annual class photo. More favorite moments after the jump.
Friday, February 24, 2017 at 8:00AM 
