The Margot Robbie conundrum

by Cláudio Alves

This year's SAG Awards feature an assortment of multiple nominees across categories. Nicole Kidman, Al Pacino, and Scarlett Johansson scored a rare triple nod and they weren't the only ones. Margot Robbie also did it thanks to her participation in two of this season's juiciest awards magnets. In Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, she's Sharon Tate, while, in Bombshell, Robbie gives life to Kayla Pospisil, a fictional character that stands in for many of the women victimized by Fox News' toxic work environment.

Since Cannes, Tarantino's take on Hollywood's most tragic ingenue has been put through heavy scrutiny. Robbie's role has been accused of being a misogynistic and limited take on Sharon Tate, terminally underwritten and underutilized to boot. Even so, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood is a critics' darling while Bombshell has been promptly lambasted as soon as the review embargo ended. Controversies notwithstanding, I confess myself dismayed at the way Margot Robbie's Oscar hopes seem to have concentrated solely on the Jay Roach flick…

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Review: Bombshell

by Murtada Elfadl

Bombshell takes a while to show us the crimes of abuse that Roger Ailes committed. But when that moment comes it’s as gross, as unpleasant and as horrifying as we thought it’d be. Instead at the beginning we follow Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) as she is fired from Fox News and decides to sue the network and Ailes for sexual harassment. As that is happening two other narratives begin to formulate. A young producer named Kayla (a composite character played by Margot Robbie) tries to get invited into Ailes’ inner echelon so that she can speed up her rise to a news anchor role. While in another part of the building Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) becomes embroiled in a nationally televised juvenile on air battle with then Candidate Trump. The film - directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph - starts building a network of misogyny stories within the three narrative threads showing how powerful men completely disregard and exploit women. 

Naturally Carlson needs witnesses to help win her case and this is when the three narrative threads come together hinged on Kelly's decision to testify against Ailes or not...

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"Bombshell" screens shaking up Best Actress

by Eric Blume

Potentially great news just arrived for the undernourished Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress races:  Jay Roach’s Bombshell had its first screening in LA on Sunday night, and the word out of the gate seems overwhelmingly positive.

Reviews for the film are embargoed for another eight weeks or so, but various sources online are saying Charlize Theron’s “transformational” performance as Fox News personality Megyn Kelly is explosive and catapults her into the top of the Best Actress race...

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Tweet of the Week: Charlize Crushes

I feel like I have to be honest.
I’m in a new relationship.
With both these ladies.
For real. pic.twitter.com/V2GxFW8PTi

— Charlize Theron (@CharlizeAfrica) September 15, 2019

If Bombshell is great it might become the tweet of the year!

Yes No Maybe So: "Bombshell"

On the heels of Showtime’s unheralded miniseries The Loudest Voice, Lionsgate and director Jay Roach are diving into the zeitgeist with Bombshell (formerly titled Fair and Balanced). The film details the #MeToo fallout at Fox News and stars three of today’s greatest working actresses. For whatever reason, Bombshell is being mostly ignored by many early Oscar prognosticators.

This despite, well...let’s dive into that teaser shall we?

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