Almost There: Paul Newman & Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"

by Cláudio Alves

From 1944 to 2008, we had a five-wide Best Picture race in the Oscars, as well as four acting categories. During those years, it became rare for a movie to score a Picture nomination without also nabbing some sort of acting nod. It was especially unusual for the majority of a given line-up to be devoid of acting nods, happening only three times during those 65 years. One of those times was the 1969 Academy Awards, when Z, Hello, Dolly! and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid didn't get any love from the acting branch. Considering the general bias against "foreign language" performances and the horrible reviews of a certain musical, it's easy to understand why the actors of Z and Hello, Dolly! went unrecognized. But what about the revisionist western in the bunch?…

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Almost There: Donald Sutherland in "Ordinary People"

by Cláudio Alves

Donald Sutherland is one of those actors who seem to be Oscar nominees even if they're not. Like Mia Farrow or John Goodman, Sutherland has been in so many awarded productions that he feels like the sort of person who should have the words "Academy Award nominee" appear before his name in trailers. He's almost an institution of American Cinema, his filmography full of historically important titles such as MASH and Klute. To think such a respected actor is still without an Oscar nomination is slightly inconceivable, but the lack of accolades never shocked Donald Sutherland himself.

In 1980, he was the only main actor of Best Picture-winner Ordinary People to be ignored by the Academy. When asked about the snub, he said: "I'm not surprised. I know that community and I didn't expect a nomination." That doesn't mean he didn't deserve one…

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How had I never seen... "Three Days of the Condor" or "The Parallax View"?

In this new series, members of Team Film Experience watch and share their reactions to classic films they’ve never seen. 

by Lynn Lee

The 1970s may have been a great era for cinema, but they were a pretty lousy time for faith in the great American experiment.  Between the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, the Church Committee reports, and of course Watergate, there were seemingly endless reasons to suspect the U.S. government and other institutions meant to serve and protect the public were instead covering up all manner of malfeasance—and that they might be watching you if they thought you were a threat.  This generalized paranoia found fertile ground in Hollywood, leading to a spate of conspiracy thrillers of varying quality and goofiness.

Until last month, the only one of these films I’d seen was All the President’s Men (unless you count Chinatown and Network, which I’d argue you could).  But something about the social and political tensions of today made these movies seem especially current again.  So it seemed like a good occasion to watch two of the most famous examples of the genre: Three Days of the Condor (1975) and A Parallax View (1974)...

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Movember is here. But everyone is already furry!

I considered growing a 'mo for "Movember," to raise money for men's health issues but in truth vanity prevailed. I look good with a beard but terrible with a moustache. I tried it just once and ewww. Not everyone can be classic Robert Redford (left) and look great with no matter what facial hair situation or lack thereof they choose. Not everyone can look so definitively like their true self with a moustache that to shave it off would be as catastrophic as biblical Samson losing his hair and power -- think Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Clark Gable, or Nick Offerman.

It used to be really fun to watch everyone get furrier for Movember, which raises awareness and money for men's health issues like testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and suicide prevention. But I'll admit I haven't noticed a difference these past couple of years. How does it work when just about everyone already has so much facial hair? (It's now almost shocking to see someone clean-shaven in NYC!)

Which male movie star's facial hair do you most love? Perhaps a list or beauty break is in order...

Halloween's Big Weekend and More...

by Nathaniel R

The return of Jamie Lee Curtis to the Halloween franchise meant big business in movie theaters over the weekend, continuing a strong October. Meanwhile A Star is Born held on to second place for a third consecutive week. It's already the highest grossing release of 2018 to never hit #1, since its surpassed the Mamma Mia  sequel's gross. A lot of platform releases kicked off this week to in the rev up to awards season. More after the jump...

Weekend Box Office (October 19-21)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 Halloween $76.2 *NEW* Review	1. 🔺 Free Solo $1 on 251 screens (cum. $3.6)

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