Through Her Lens (Season Finale): The 83rd Oscars + 2010s RECAP

A series by Juan Carlos Ojano. Introduction / Explanation

After Kathryn Bigelow’s historic Director win at the previous Oscars for The Hurt Locker, the 2010 roster of nominees returned to the usual all-male lineup. The eventual five were pretty much unquestioned. David Fincher was the early frontrunner for Facebook drama The Social Network. Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell received their first nominations in this category for the psychological horror Black Swan and the sports drama The Fighter, respectively. The inclusion of the Coen Brothers was considered a semi-surprise for the late-breaking Western True Grit. Ultimately, the winner was Tom Hooper for the Best Picture-winning historical drama The King’s Speech. 

Given that context, it is still a bit discouraging to see the return to normal especially with two female-directed films also up for Best Picture: Lisa Cholodenko’s dramedy The Kids are All Right and Debra Granik’s mystery drama Winter’s Bone. Both films received four nominations, though neither secured any wins. Women were also largely absent from the Best Director conversation. Out of the 248 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2010 (83rd Academy Awards), only 24 (9.7%) were directed/co-directed by women...

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Showbiz History: Derek Jarman, The Misfits, and Jennifer Lawrence's breakout

7 random things that happened on this day, January 31st, in showbiz history

1941 Alfred Hitchcock's comedy Mr & Mrs Smith, no not the Brangelina one, opened in theaters starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. Yes, Hitchcock once made a screwball comedy without thriller elements. 

1961 The Misfits, the elegaic last film for both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable and one of Montgomery Clift's last pictures, has its world premiere in Reno, Nevada. It will open in movie theaters the next day...

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A Star is Born... in the Ozarks

by Cláudio Alves

Ten years ago this weekend, the public met a new Hollywood star in the making. The movie that brought the world a new silver screen goddess wasn't the sort of big studio production that in the old golden days would've been the logic harbinger of stardom. Quite the contrary, the film in question was a modest indie. Director Debra Granik's Sundance prize-winning critical hit would go on to become a sleeper hit in arthouse release. We're talking, of course, about Winter's Bone and the performer bound for stardom's was future Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence…

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JLaw's back!

by Cláudio Alves

Jennifer Lawrence's career is a fascinating thing, starting in humbleness followed by a meteoric rise, promises of eternal success and a swerve into the land of flops and unexpected irrelevance. It all started in her teenage years when she was a working actress with credits on film and TV. It was a humble indie film that changed everything. In Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, Lawrence gave a career-best performance, painting a portrait of desperation and lived-in roughness as an Ozark Mountain girl in search of her missing father. She got an Oscar nomination for her troubles and a new star was born…

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Prime for May - Screengrab Roulette

A new month, a smattering of titles freshly available to stream for free at home, provided you have certain subscriptions. Let's play screengrab roulette. The following images are what came up (no cheating!) when I blind "scrolled" these newly streaming films on Amazon Prime. I only allow myself a second spin if the image is a complete blur or contains something really upsetting/violent [Complete list of titles is after the jump]

All extras, keep eating the oysters or you will be shot and killed!

Cecil B DeMented (2000)
This is the John Waters movie with the biggest divide for me between how much I love the concept (a guerilla filmmaking unit kidnapping an A list actress and forcing her to star in their film) and what I think of the actual movie. But, damn, Alicia Witt was on comic fire in this movie as "Cherish". It's clear that Melanie Griffith who headlines had seen Serial Mom (1994) and thought 'I could do that!' Only, she couldn't. I forgot how many stars were in this before they broke out: Adrian Grenier, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon! 

I want you to listen to me, child. You need to turn around and get yourself on home.

Winter's Bone (2010)
Dale Dickey was so damn great in this movie, wasn't she?

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