Almost There: Nicole Kidman in "To Die For"

by Cláudio Alves

This October, the Criterion Channel is celebrating all things death and murder, be it fantastical or otherwise. Indeed, amid its new collections, one can find a curated program of movies that reflect the idea of True Crime in some way or another. Gus Van Sant's pitch-black comedy To Die For is one of those films. The story of an ambitious weather girl with aspirations of TV fame who manipulates teenagers into killing her husband was a breakthrough for Nicole Kidman back in the mid-90s. After years of being systematically undervalued by audiences and critics alike, the actress got immense critical acclaim and came close to an Oscar nomination…

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Breakfast with... a repurposed "Birth" Score

September is "Better Breakfast Month" so we're celebrating because we love food and movies

This post has been repurposed from the TFE vault... but for most of you it will be "new"

Seventeen years ago on this very day (September 8th) Jonathan Glazer's Birth premiered at the Venice Film Festival (where Elisa and I are right now!) and began its long journey from misunderstood/reviled oddity to cult-beloved arthouse classic. Far fewer people remember this but ten years ago, its score was repurposed in a Quaker Oats commercial called "Wake up America"! (Remember commercials? They were these interruptions to your binge-watch that you didn't cause with the pause button.) It was one of those commercials that would look right at home during the Olympics: pretty Americana, sunrise, sports, and other daily wholesome capitalistic endeavors like the building of skyscrapers. If I hadn't been looking away from the television when it aired ten years ago, I would probably have never made the connection that the commercial was the opening score to Birth.  Alexandre Desplat is one of movie composers of all time so why shouldn't his scores live on past their movies and earn him yet more coin?

The commercial and its voiceover went like so...

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Oscar Predictions: Will Best Actress be dominated by biopics yet again?

by Nathaniel R

Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in "Respect"

We'd love not to be a broken record but until the Academy isn't, we must sing the same choppy tune: The Academy has a biopic problem. They just can't give them up and nearly always view mimicry (of various degrees) as more of an achievement than character creation from scratch. We'll never understand it exactly but it keeps reasserting its truth. So that's always where you have to begin with predictions. This year's Best Actress category has the potential to be entirely performances based on real people.

Not that it will be. There are (that we know of thus far) seven real life characters as female leading roles this season...

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Emmys Watch: Will Anya Taylor-Joy win in the crowded Lead Actress in a Limited Series category?

Our team is breaking down the top contenders in all the major Emmy races and highlighting some of our favorites over the next few weeks. 

So far, Anya Taylor-Joy has won the Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award for "The Queen's Gambit." Is an Emmy next?By: Christopher James

The limited series field became the go-to place for stories about women this past year. Great performances from Oscar winning actresses go head to head with buzzy, zeitgeisty performances from rising stars. There’s no shortage of contenders, but a shortage of slots. Only five women will earn nominations when they are announced on July 13th. Perennial winner Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) will likely show up. Will she win though once up again Oscar winner Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown)? Could a critical favorite like Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) or Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad) surprise? Or will they end up as a shocking snub?

Read on to see who might be in contention this year...

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YNMS: "Nine Perfect Strangers"

You're mine now.

Already was, Nicole. 

...and you want to be mine.

Also true.

YES - Actually that'd be a "yes! yes! yaaaaaaaaaaasssss !!!"
NO - n/a
MAYBE SO - n/a