Doc Corner: 'Homeroom' and 'Bulletproof' take us to school

By Glenn Dunks

I think it’s fair to say that when Frederick Wiseman directed High School in 1968 he wouldn’t have expected the modern version of education with its prevalence of technology and virtual teaching. Charles Guggenheim, too, who in 1984 also made a documentary titled High Schools, that time an Oscar nominee, surely could not have perceived of metal detectors and mass field trips for teachers dressed in chinos to shooting ranges where they learn how to shoot an armed gunman.

But 50 years after Wiseman captured debates over skirt length and observed awkward sexual education classes, Homeroom and Bulletproof both offer very contemporary looks at what it is like to be a student in 2021...

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Gay Best Friend: Todd Cleary (Keir O'Donnell) in "Wedding Crashers" (2005)

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Was Todd (Keir O'Donnell) the earliest inspiration for Gru from "Despicable Me?"I don’t love to complain (okay, sometimes I do). Most of the times I write this column to understand how gay representation in mainstream film has changed and evolved over the decades. Each shortcoming could be seen as another toe that LGBTQ+ characters stuck through the door of mainstream society. However, not all representations are good. Especially in the late 90s and early/mid 2000s, male focused comedies used gay characters as particularly malicious punchlines. As cartoonish as these characterizations are, they did paint a horrifying portrait of gay life to straight people. To gay people, these characters also served as a vision of what straight America hated about them.

My dark confession is that I love Adam Sandler comedies. They remind me of being an immature teenager and immediately bring back the sense memory of my hometown and a specific period in my life. Yet, these films were often the main source of these mockeries of gay life. (Though Sandler could be an equal opportunity offender, making himself the butt of the joke, too). Other mainstream comedies followed this formula to diminishing (and more demeaning) returns. The biggest R-rated comedy of this time was Wedding Crashers. The film grossed $205 million domestically (only to relinquish this title later to The Hangover 1 and 2) and was a word of mouth hit.

Today, the film’s success feels completely wild...

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Vintage '86

The Smackdown of '86 (with special guests) arrives in just 9 days. Before we get to the main event let's talk about what people were talking about that year in film, television, stage, music, and books... 

Great Big Box Office Hits: Movie stars rather than IP still ruled so the top ten made room for Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, and Bette Midler vehicles along with just 3 sequels (can you imagine a top ten box office of the year with just 3 sequels nowadays? It's hard to do). Military men and women were also the rage with the marines of Aliens, the airforce bros of Top Gun, and the traumatized foot soldiers of Platoon all extremely popular with moviegoers.

1. Top Gun (military drama)
2. Crocodile Dundee (comedy)
3. Platoon (military drama)
4. Karate Kid Part II (sequel)
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (sci-fi sequel)...

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Almost There: Hattie McDaniel in "In This Our Life"

by Cláudio Alves

The Criterion Channel is currently featuring an extensive collection of John Huston movies. Considering his directorial debut, The Maltese Falcon, was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture, it's fair to say that Huston's films have always been on the Academy's radar. Consequently many of his actors gained Oscar buzz though just as often they were egregiously snubbed. With that said, I'd like to focus on a performer that was already an Oscar winner before she starred in a Huston flick, a Black actress whose career was limited by institutional racism and confined to playing second fiddle to white stars, often in peripheral roles. Nevertheless, Hattie McDaniel always spun gold from straw, injecting complicated humanity, humor, and pathos into the tiniest of parts. Such is the case of In This Our Life…

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Category Analysis: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

By Abe Friedtanzer

The Handmaid's Tale hogged the nomination in this category with three of the eight nominees.

This category is once again selected from the most-populated ballot, with 311 eligible men, one of only two acting races that had more than 200 eligible contenders. While there’s one show dominating the nominated field with three of the slots again, this year there are actually six shows represented, up from five. Michael K. Williams won the Critics Choice prize but none of these men were even nominated by the HFPA or SAG, so it’s possible that things are a bit more open and unpredictable this time in terms of a winner.

I’ll try to avoid major plot details in my analysis – but if you’d like more spoiler-filled descriptions, click on the episode titles. Let’s consider each nominee… 

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