October. It's a Wrap

A dozen highlights from the month in case you missed 'em...

• "Hot Ones" as Oscar stop Best Actresses getting spicy
• Angela Lansbury in Death on the Nile as tribute when she passed
• Paul Mescal x 2 Eurocheese on Aftersun and God's Creatures
• Podcast Guesting Nathaniel had fun on "Hallmarkies" talking Bros and "Oscar Wild" taking pre-season Oscar Predictions
• Middleburg w/ special guests Nathaniel with Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Dolly DeLeon (Triangle of Sadness)
• Banshees of Inisherin Nathaniel on Martin McDonagh's Oscar hopeful
• TÁR Nathaniel on Todd & Cate's incredible collaborative drama
• TÁR's ending Ben thinks it's a major misstep. You? 
• Brainwashed Glenn on the controversial gender/film theory doc
• Mars One Juan Carlos talks to the director of Brazil's Oscar submission
• Alcarràs Jason on Spain's Oscar submission
• Decision to Leave Cláudio on South Korea's Oscar submission

COMING IN NOVEMBER
The Spirit Award nominations, that long awaited 1951 Smackdown (sorry sorry), Centennial tributes to both Dorothy Dandridge and Veronica Lake, and a whole slew of new films as we hit the busy season like Black Panther Wakanda Forever, The Fabelmans, The Son, The Wonder, Bones and All, Good Night Oppy, She Said, The Inspection, and more! 

ICYMI - Best of August/September

We realize the site has been eerily quiet this past month. But as we meet backstage to rectify, here are a dozen highlights you might have missed these past two months...

A dozen highlights
• Michelle Williams' Ocar campaign Nathaniel on the pundit freakout of her lead campaign
• Emmys in Review Nathaniel shares highlights from TV's big night
• Don't Worry Darling Glenn reviewed the film that's on everyone's lips albeit for the wrong reasons
• Smackdown 1997 Special guests have a lively discussion on Julianne Moore, Joan Cusack, Kim Basinger and more to celebrate a great Oscar year
• Almost There Cláudio revisited James Dean's iconic work in Rebel Without a Cause
• Ranking: Joanne & Paul to honor "The Last Movie Stars" limited series, Cláudio watched all of the Newman & Woodward collaborations
• Goddamn Asura Juan Carlos interviews the director of Taiwan's Oscar submission
• Film Critic & The Common Man Ben shares what he learned launching a podcast with his brother
• First Look - Babylon Thoughts Nathaniel had on the first official images
• TIFF Baby Clyde, Matt, and Abe reviewed new films
• Venice Elisa attended, Cláudio reviewed past winners, and Nathaniel gawked at fashion
• Palme d'Or title switcheroos an international amusement

Coming in October. We're going to be careful about promising too much given the past two months but we will 100% be attending the NYFF (already in progress) and Middleburg festivals to discuss hot Oscar titles as well as exciting world cinema offerings. The 1951 Smackdown (already recorded) will also go up soon. And we will try to find time for some spooky treats for Halloween, too. Stay tuned. 

July. It's a Wrap

We're in the dog days of summer now. Just one month of the heat left to go. July flew by. Here are a dozen of the highlights in case you missed 'em...

 

• Debbi Morgan in Eve's Bayou Nick takes on this modern classic that has a Criterion release coming
• Fire of Love Glenn on the volcanic love documentary hit
• Till Nathaniel talks to the director of this awards hopeful drama
• 28 Years 28 Films Cláudio celebrates his birthday with a film timeline
• Laura Linney Double Vision She looks EXACTLY like her mother. Uncanny
• Ranking the Men of LA Confidential Ben looks back at the men of this '97 classic
• Stage Door: The Minutes a new play from Tracy Letts 
• Mrs Harris Goes to Paris Chris reviews the frothy Lesley Manville dramedy
• James Caan (RIP) Remembering an underappreciated great
• Through Her Lens 2013 Juan Carlos series returns to look back at the work of female directors corresponding with each Oscar year, whether or not they were nominated (usually not) 
• Almost There: Pam Grier Cláudio thinks she should've won the Oscar for Jackie Brown
• Venice and TIFF lineups with photos, descriptions, and anticipation

COMING IN AUGUST
Emmy reviews of individual categories, new movies like Bullet Train, Luck, Girl Picture, They/Them, a few reader requests from the recent fundraiser, and a weeklong celebration of Cameron Diaz for her 50th birthday.

Finally, at the end of the month, the 1951 Supporting Actress Smackdown featuring the first screen adaptations of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Since 3/5ths of the supporting actress nominees that month were from films on the obscure side (even for cinephiles), we'll fill in with celebrations of more celebrated movies of 1951, too. ANY REQUESTS?

ICYMI - Best of June

June didn't work out exactly as we planned but we delivered most of what we promised (sorry Eleanor Parker -- we'll try to make up for it in July) and it sure ended on a high note with Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.

Here are a dozen of the highlights in case you missed 'em...

• Halfway Mark the best performances and films of the year thus far
• Almost There Emily Blunt - she's a perennial at "almost" snagging an Oscar nod so Cláudio talked The Devil Wears Prada
• Judy Garland @ 100 we covered nine movies from ending with her final film I Could Go On Singing
• Best Shot Fire Island this one was fun to really look at... and not just for thirst reasons
• Ranking International Feature Oscar winners - Juan Carlos has seen them all
• Emma Thompson in Good Luck To You Leo Grande - what a performance!
• Jurassic World Dominion - Chris says the franchise should go extinct now
• Stage Door - we launched a weekly theater column w/ a celebration of Mare Winningham
• "TV" Movie or Just"Movie" - The Emmys are so confusing!
• The 75th Annual Tony Awards - back to basics so it was good musical fun!
• Klute Deep Dive - a tag team miniseries on the seminal thriller.  
• Tom & Dickie - Chris got in the bath with The Talented Mr Ripley

COMING IN JULY 
New films like Marvel's Thor Love and Thunder, Lesley Manville & Isabelle Huppert in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, and Jordan Peele's Nope. Plus plenty on the Emmy nominations (which will be announced July 12th) ...for better and worse. We also hope to do a few reader's requests from the fundraiser. And a celebration of the director Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffanys, Victor/Victoria) for his Centennial.

Finally, at the end of the month, the 1997 Supporting Actress Smackdown so we'll be discussing Boogie Nights, Good Will Hunting, LA Confidential, Titanic, In & Out, and maybe some other 1997 gems, scattered throughout the month. 

Halfway Mark 1: Fav Films & Miscellaneous Achievements of 2022 (thus far)

by Nathaniel R

The following list honors films released between January 1st, 2022 and June 30th, 2022. Obviously studios save the bulk of their perceived "prestige" pictures until the back half of the year but we always hope that lists like this will remind them they don't need to and to remind audiences that there's good stuff all year round. These are not official nominees for our own film bitch awards but they do function as reminder lists as we compile year-end stuff later on. If every Academy member and critic did this, awards season would be far more varied and film culture would be more robust because people would be seeing movies all year round and not cramming in only a small heap of them at year's end. 

Okay off of the soapbox and on to the favourites of 2022 (thus far) in alpha order by category. The pictures do not indicate winners as they're all winners. This is just an appreciation for these artists and movies...  

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