An "Evita" Reunion

by Camila Henriques

One thing I love to do each award season is to scan through the connections between the films and nominees.  That sighting of Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix at the Golden Globes  transported me immediately back to 2005's Walk the Line. Amongst this year’s Oscar nominees, though, the connection that has me most nostalgic is one between two category mates: Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce, competing with each other in Best Actor, are finally Academy Award nominees.

They have a past together in Argentina, the same country that gave us Pope Francis, played so delightfully by Pryce. More than two decades ago, Pryce played another famous Argentinian, former president Juan Peron in the Alan Parker/Andrew Lloyd Webber/Madonna extravaganza that was Evita. That movie also featured Spanish heartthrob Banderas, fresh off a successful transition from being the quintessential Almodóvar man to Hollywood player, with talked about turns in Philadelphia and Desperado. He'd become an even bigger international star with Evita... 

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: Waiting for Guffman

by Chris Feil

Music is essential to the Christopher Guest universe, from This is Spinal Tap to the Oscar-nommed A Mighty Wind to “God Loves a Terrier”. Waiting for Guffman, however, carries such a hefty cult comedy weight with it that it hardly ever gets discussed for the musical oddity that it is. On top of the film’s improvisational comedic genius, Guest also creates it as a subversion of the classic American “let’s put on a show” midwestern musical and of the consuming culture that is musical theatre obsession. Both are presented as lies of the American dream, both to comedic extremes and tragic disappointment, as the film charts the exploits of clueless dreamers in the small town of Blaine.

Click to read more ...

Gone but Not Forgotten

We've been remiss of lately marking the passing of showbiz greats and with Oscar night fast approaching and with it another "in memoriam" people we've lost are suddenly in mind. (This time of year is always a major challenge to keep up with given the mania of awards season.) Here are five stars, four of whom became famous right around the same time as each other, that passed away in December.

Let this small remembrance make amends for our lateness in paying tribute...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: The Best Musical Moments of 2019

by Chris Feil

Another year of Soundtracking has brought plenty of reflection on music in the movies. From more milquetoast musical biopics to studio musicals to pop songs reinvented through their placement into cinematic narratives, songs on film in 2019 were as ripe for dissection as ever. Let's discuss the best musical scenes of 2019.

Honorable Mentions:

- Cats' thesis: "A cat is NOT a dog, OKAY?!"

- Ash is Purest White making "YMCA" cool again

- MidSommar's creepy folk songs and Frankie Valli irony

- "Thunder Road" catharsis in Blinded By The Light

- Knives Out punctuating its middle finger finale with The Rolling Stones

- Joni Mitchell's "Blue" distilling The Last Black Man in San Francisco's melancholy...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: White Christmas

by Chris Feil

White Christmas is a classic “let’s put on a show to save the barn” musical, except its traveling entertainers are saving... a resort hotel in Vermont. What it isn’t is a Christmas staple that has all that much to do with Christmas. Despite the title, the film is closer to a winter-set cousin to the likes of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Summer Stock, and still we watch it every holiday season. Perhaps that’s partial carryover from Bing Crosby’s White Christmas album (more of a staple in my household than the film was) and Crosby’s other holiday films (ditto, strangely) - his presence alone is enough to make him some baritone duke of the holiday season in the eyes of audiences.

Click to read more ...