What are Kristen Stewart's Five Good Films?

by Cláudio Alves

In the past decade, Kristen Stewart has come a long way. While her career started early and with great promise – while she was still a teenager – the actress' participation in Twilight movies soured the world's perception of her talent. It's unfair but, as of the writing of this piece, it seems to be over. With Pablo Larraín's Spencer, even the biggest Stewart skeptics have quieted, and she's on her way to a likely Oscar nomination if prognosticators are to be believed. All that and she also just got engaged to girlfriend Dylan Meyer, making this a time of great personal fulfillment as well as professional and artistic. Still, when looking back at her own filmography, it seems that the actress herself isn't as enamored with it as some fans might be…

In an interview about Spencer for The Sunday Times, Stewart said:

I've probably made five really good films out of 45 or 50 films. Ones that I go, 'Wow, that person made a top-to-bottom beautiful piece of work!

Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder what cinematic quintet she holds dear to her heart...

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Through Her Lens: An Introduction

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

Will any female directors be nominated this year at the Oscars? It's too early to say but sexism has been a long-standing problem in the history of cinema and the Oscars -- that's often reflected in who is invited to enter the canon and who is not. Year after year, films directed by women have been routinely ignored. Seeing five men in Best Director lineups during awards season has long been a given. Only seven women have been nominated for Best Director. Ever. Last season, though, featured what we hope will prove a turning point.

In this series, we will share an alternate list of five films directed by women per Oscar vintage, based on what was eligible. This is not to say that the films we'll cite will always be better than the ones nominated. Take this list more as a reminder that the work by women has always existed. That should be reason enough for celebration. This is Through Her Lens...

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BIFA Nominations: Is "Belfast" a David or a Goliath?

by Nathaniel R

In extremely good news for presumed Oscar frontrunner Belfast, they're still running as a "David" rather than a "Goliath" in the Oscar race. That's by way of a leading the British Independent Film Award nominations without truly hogging the spotlight since Kenneth Branagh's charming memoir film missed in the big categories like Film and Director. It still leads the nominations by way of across the board love in the craft categories. It's funny because we initially thought it might have the opposite problem at the Oscar. Yes, it's a period drama but it's not particularly flashy about its craft elements (beyond the black & white cinematography and the Van Morrison songscape). Tying it for most nominations, 9, is a continuous shot movie called Boiling Point by Philip Barantini.

Five other films also scored six or more nominations suggesting the juries had a small pool to choose from or only loved seven films. The Souvenir Part II, Censor, Ali & Ava, The Nest, and After Love were all obviously well regarded, too. A complete list of nominations and more after the jump...

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November's Streaming Roulette: The Harder They Fall at Block Parties and in Nightmare Alleys

HELLO NOVEMBER. You know the drill. We point out ten random titles that are brand new or new (again) to streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at a totally random place in the scroll bar (no cheating - what comes up is what comes up). If there's a link in the long list after the selected titles it goes to previous articles on that film.

Now I aint gonna kill you, Wiley. You and I were friends once.

THE HARDER THEY FALL (2021) on Netflix
Idris Elba (speaking, hovering over the fallen man) is the antagonist in this movie with Jonathan Majors as our outlaw hero (a rare hero named "Nat", yay!!!) in this all-star Black western. Love those long shadows. The cinematography here is by the super talented Romanian DP Mihai Malamaire, Jr (The Master, Jojo Rabbit, Youth Without Youth).

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Streaming Review: "Finch" on Apple TV+

By Ben Miller

Miguel Sapochnik's Finch revolves around the love between a man (Tom Hanks), his dog...and his robot.

The world has effectively ended.  Solar flares have killed much of mankind and the rest have resorted to living out of society and fighting for food and shelter.  The holes in the ozone layer have made living in the sun impossible, so the surviving humans must don radiation suits or stay in the shade to live...

In St. Louis, Missouri, our titular hero scours the remains of the city for supplies...

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