Marriage Story: A Personal Reflection

by Cláudio Alves

This awards season has been a curious one. Thanks to Netflix, a handful of heavy contenders were made widely available when, in other years, you'd expect them to be stuck in limited release until late January. Oscar obsessives and film enthusiasts around the world were able to enter a conversation that's usually exclusive to critics and cinephiles from New York and LA. This democratization of film discussion is wonderful, but along with it came some of the internet's worst impulses. I'm talking about memes.

Specifically, I'm talking about the meme-ification of Marriage Story's climactic fight, a moment that made me relieve some of the worst parts of my life…

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Gone but Not Forgotten

We've been remiss of lately marking the passing of showbiz greats and with Oscar night fast approaching and with it another "in memoriam" people we've lost are suddenly in mind. (This time of year is always a major challenge to keep up with given the mania of awards season.) Here are five stars, four of whom became famous right around the same time as each other, that passed away in December.

Let this small remembrance make amends for our lateness in paying tribute...

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A Golden Globes Surprise

by Murtada Elfadl

The Golden Globes are always good for a surprise. Aaron Taylor Johnson winning best supporting actor for Nocturnal Animals (2016). Amy Adams winning for Big Eyes (2014) when everyone expected Emily Blunt to win because she was in a musical; Into the Woods (2014). Just last year Glenn Close winning over Lady Gaga changed the best actress race. 

But perhaps the biggest and happiest surprise was Isabelle Huppert winning best actress in a drama for Elle (2016). That year everyone thought the competition was between Emma Stone for La La Land and Natalie Portman in Jackie. And there they were in separate categories at the Globes and were each expected to win...

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39 Days til Oscar

With just 39 days to go until Hollywood's High Holy Night, let's look back on "Hollywood's Greatest Year" and tell us who had your vote and heart in the historic 1939 Oscar races? My votes are the choice of image ;). The ★ means they won the Oscar. 

BEST PICTURE

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Soundtracking: The Best Musical Moments of 2019

by Chris Feil

Another year of Soundtracking has brought plenty of reflection on music in the movies. From more milquetoast musical biopics to studio musicals to pop songs reinvented through their placement into cinematic narratives, songs on film in 2019 were as ripe for dissection as ever. Let's discuss the best musical scenes of 2019.

Honorable Mentions:

- Cats' thesis: "A cat is NOT a dog, OKAY?!"

- Ash is Purest White making "YMCA" cool again

- MidSommar's creepy folk songs and Frankie Valli irony

- "Thunder Road" catharsis in Blinded By The Light

- Knives Out punctuating its middle finger finale with The Rolling Stones

- Joni Mitchell's "Blue" distilling The Last Black Man in San Francisco's melancholy...

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