Forget About L()ve
Friday, March 6, 2015 at 7:38PM "2014 is OVER, Nathaniel" - everyone.
I'm aware, thank you. But you know how it is. We have to wean ourselves off of each delightful film year. And we still have to finish our annual Film Bitch Awards and then we're done. Pinky swear. Speaking of the pink... time to surrender it.
Romance isn't what it used to be in the movies. Even when movies have romance at the core somewhere like American Sniper or Divergent or whatever, it's often presented like a mandatory plot point rather than with any real passion; something to check off for all quandrants rather than get lost in. That makes our Best Kiss, Best Sex Scene, and Sexpot of the Year categories sometimes hard to manage but we press on.
Sex is so integral to life that you'd think the movies would want to claim it a little more rather than ceding it to Netflix originals, Showtime and HBO. When movies do go there they're often surprisingly prim (50 Shades of Grey) or arthouse grim. For the latter see Nymphomaniac, both volumes. Or rather: don't. Unless you're willing to fast forward a lot. It would have been infinitely better as one 90 minute film: faster, funnier, and more focused. [NSFW More...]
But there are still movies to make you swoon like Beyond the Lights, movies to make you marvel at love's capacity like Love is Strange, or movies that play with notions of romance and/or sex in fun (Into the Woods) or terrifying manner (Stranger by the Lake).
Stranger by the Lake and Nymphomaniac both went explicit. It happens more often in art cinema than it use to. Is this the wave of the future?
Beyond the Lights plays with sexploitation in the music industry
Even when movies are going there they present problems for something like our "Sexpot of the Year" category. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is sexy as hell at first in Beyond the Lights but the movie constantly reminds you that she's being exploited and that she's miserable because it's not her true self to be all like "look at my ass. look at my boobs!" thus purposefully killing all boners.
At least until the movies very romantic sexcapades in Mexico. So it's safer to go with movies and actors that gleefully ask you to ogle like Zac Efron in Neighbors.
See all sexpot nominees and best kiss & sex scene over at the Film Bitch Awards pages
Reader Comments (17)
Great sexpot nominees. I don't like moustaches either but found myself attracted to the sexy predator in Stranger By The Lake. Zac gets my vote! That performance was made for this category. Dan Stevens in The Guest would have been a great nominee too.
I love Gugu but... damn.... that is filthy. That ain't right. Goddamn music industry in sexualizing women for money.
Steven: Uh.....since day 1.
I love the kiss in Belle. Sam Reid is to die for. That voice!
I also think Patrick Fugit is super hot in Gone Girl. He's grown into quite a hottie.
The fan-fic-level angsty-teen wish-fulfillment of Beyond the Lights is something people should see, but the sprawling, lacerating, endlessly inventive genius of Nymphomaniac (both volumes) is something people should fast-forward. What universe is this? Stop the ship, I want to get off
goran -- I wish I felt as you did about Nymphomaniac. I've been with Lars a long time but this and Antichrist are his nadir I think. It's just so padded and self-serious and ridiculous -- even when it's funny it's trying. The first volume was fairly watchable though what with Shia Labeouf and Uma Thurman both doing great work.
The Way He Looks and Eleanor Rigby for Best Kiss! Love it!
Also love your Sexpot nominees, but I second Dan Stevens in The Guest.
Hahah mustaches. So true. For me, they just make me think of 70s serial killers. idk why. Or pedophiles.
Mustaches: Obviously none of you have seen Sherlick Holmes with Harry Reems or lusted after Magnum P.I.
I'm totally with you re. Antichrist - I felt almost abandoned by Lars. Charlotte was stunning and stunningly committed in it but even she couldnt salvage what was otherwise such a weirdly undergrad tone-deaf effort.
And of course Uma was scorching in Nymphomaniac. I'm surprised you liked LeBeouf though - I found him the weakest link in the cast. I'll reconsider his work when I revisit the film (which I'm actually dying to do)
Meantime I just had an off-topic lightbulb moment: Tilda and Lars need to meet and make a movie.
Goddess, keep von Trier away from Tilda!
I actually hated Nymphomaniac pt. 1 so much that I just avoided pt. 2 altogether, which from what I hear is a good idea, since I've heard the first installment was stronger.
It was disappointing to me though considering he just came off of Melancholia.
Love your comments on Birdman and Gone Girl in Best Kiss.
Riseborough is so sexy and alluring in Birdman, I think I would've made room for her in the Sexpot category as well.
Franck from Stranger By the Lake would battle Johansson for my top pick. Him being so handsome and strangely lovable added a whole layer to that film. All your picks are great though.
YAY! on The Way He Looks mention! Such an underseen and underappreciated gem with the most genuinely charming and rewarding kiss scene and ending scene in years! :D
I just want to say yaaaaaaaaaay to more Film Bitch Awards! Thanks for taking the time to do them! They're fantastic.
Thank you for your awards ! Can't wait to see the results in all categories !