12 takeaways from this morning's Oscar nominations

In no particular order - see the full list of nominations here.

1. BEST ACTRESS IS, TWO YEARS RUNNING NOW, A CHAOTIC NAIL-BITER
Last season provided us a rare nail-biter as different women kept winning lead actress at the televised shows: Andra Day, Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Carey Mulligan. This year the nominations themselves have been routinely surprising. In fact the only woman to hit *every* key precursor was Lady Gaga but when the nominations were announced this morning she was the most shocking snub. Meanwhile, Penelope Cruz who'd only won the Volpi Cup and Kristen Stewart, who had struggled in the precursors despite year long "she's going to win!" hoopla both showed up. So we currently have NO idea who is going to win. You can make a case for any of the nominees. And, once again, none of them are in Best Picture nominated films.

2. QUALIFYING RELEASES ARE ALIVE AND WELL (SIGH)
Norway's incredible film The Worst Person in the World scored a surprise nomination in Best Original Screenplay (well deserved) despite only playing for a week unadvertised in theaters to qualify...

Click to read more ...

Monica Vitti (1931-2022) What makes a great actor?

by Timothy Lyons

This year’s Best Actress discussion / post-BAFTA nomination shake-up has reached a new height of confused scrambling. Things have, for now, refocused on the single consistent presence throughout precursor season: Lady Gaga as the murderous Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci. When watching the film, it became clear to me how much Gaga’s distinctive visage bears striking resemblance to that of the great Italian star Monica Vitti. This came into sad focus today on my learning of the legend’s passing on Wednesday at the age of ninety from complications related to Alzheimer’s.

I will get quickly back to the subject at hand but to help in drawing out Vitti’s unique gifts, a little more on Gaga in Gucci as a comparison…

Click to read more ...

Sundance: More ‘I Love Lucy’ with ‘Lucy and Desi’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 Have you noticed that, when there’s a major scripted film about a real person from history, there’s often a documentary to go along with it at the same time? One of the very first articles I wrote for this site was about RBG and On the Basis of Sex, where the former was clearly the superior product. Recently, Being the Ricardos opened in theaters and then quickly to Amazon Prime. The movie looks at a (fictionalized) tempestuous week for the TV power couple. The documentary on the same couple, from director Amy Poehler, zooms out to look at their entire story, offering a good amount of added context.

This film’s title gives away its focus, which is that the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were so intertwined, even after they were no longer married, that it’s impossible to truly separate them...

Click to read more ...

Streaming Roulette, January: Being the Lost Daughter of the Manor

What's streaming in January? You know the drill by now. We pick a handful of titles and freeze them on the scroll bar at a random place (no cheating) and share what came up. Let's go.

[Crying in distance]

The Lost Daughter (2021) on Netflix
It's apt that our streaming roulette landed on this image of Leda (Jessie Buckley) ignoring her children. The discourse about this movie has been weirdly reductive and centered on freaking out that she's a "bad mother". I have no idea what ot make of this film's Oscar chances. Critics have been kind but it's an irritable confrontational movie i.e. not what Oscar usually goes for. And Netflix has soooo much on their plate in terms of Best Picture. 

Click to read more ...

TV Review – ‘Yellowstone’ Prequel ‘1883’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Paramount Network, formerly known as TNN and Spike TV, has found its flagship series in Yellowstone, the Montana-set drama starring Kevin Costner currently airing its fourth season. It’s no surprise that the show’s immense popularity would create the desire for a spinoff, and instead, sister streaming service Paramount+ has opted for a prequel. Set more than a century before the original, 1883 is a pretty straightforward Western tracking the establishment of the Yellowstone Ranch that serves as the center property of the franchise…

These two shows come from Taylor Sheridan, writer of the underrated Hell or High Water and also director of Wind River and Those Who Wish Me Dead. After I sampled the pilot, I didn’t stick with Yellowstone, even though I did enjoy Longmire, which had a similar vibe, and I continue watching the Montana-set Big Sky for unknown reasons since it’s really not good at all. Objectively, 1883 probably appeals more since it has to do with the trek west during lawless times and the official establishment of an American presence in a rural region already populated by indigenous people...

Click to read more ...