"The Client" and Populist Oscar Choices in Acting

by Nathaniel R

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of The Client which was a big sleeper success in its summer, ending the year as the 13th highest grossing movie of 1994. Only that number wasn't bad luck since Susan Sarandon netted a Best Actress nomination for the legal drama. That nomination kept her momentum as "overdue for a win" going strong until the next year when she won the Oscar for something in Oscar's more typical wheelhouse, Dead Man Walking (1995) an issue drama based on a true story.

So let's discuss something no one talks about much. What are the lead acting nominations that would never have happened without the big hit status for the movies that housed them? This is NOT meant as a critique of the performances. Sometimes Oscar just needs to be convinced by enormous success to look at worthy pieces of acting within genres they take less seriously (their loss) or star vehicles they might not have stopped to mull over without all the general audience enthusiasm forcing the movie to be taken seriously... 

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Kennedy Center Honors Likes Sally Field and Linda Rondstadt.

by Nathaniel R

Right now we... no, always, we really like her. So to does the Kennedy Center Honors, which has selected the two-time Oscar winner and three-time Emmy winner as one of their five recipients of the prestigious honor for contribution to the American arts. In addition to Sally Field, this year's star-studded December gala will honor the R&B band Earth Wind & Fire, the program Sesame Street, the conductor/composer Michael Tilson Thomas, and singer Linda Rondstadt (who is having a very big year because an Oscar-hopeful doc about her The Sound of My Voice is also revving up for release). We tend to forget who the Kennedy Center has honored and who they haven't yet, so after the jump a list of all famous actors or director recipients to date...

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15:17 to Link

• IndieWire Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth starring Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche, and Catherine Deneuve to open the Venice Film Festival
• The Guardian on the rise of millenial filmmakers -- they're just beginning
• /Film a rare straight-to-series order for a new sitcom from the 30 Rock team - Ted Danson & Tina Fey will star
• Variety why audiences are only going to Disney movies
• /Film the new Mortal Kombat movie will be going for a violent "R" rating
• The Guardian terrific actress Billie Piper is now a director, too. Her first film Rare Beasts is going to Venice. She calls it an anti-rom-com

• Coming Soon Dark Crystal Age of Resistance gets a sneak peek via ComicCon
• Film School Rejects offers up a handy list of forthcoming action films that are directed by women
• BuzzFeed "Euphoria" and the meaning of penises onscreen via the only context in which we're ever shown them. 
• AV Club Archer renewed for an 11th season - this time he'll be back to espionage?
• Deadline Brandon Routh, who had the misfortune of being cast as Superman in a bad Superman movie (Superman Returns) gets to put the cape back on for the CW.
• Gr8ter Days TV's Hart to Hart celebrating its 40th anniversary
• Hard Times "James Corden prepared for 'Cats' role by living as obnoxious creature for decades"
• Gold Derby a nearly decade-long trend suggests a Billy Porter or Kit Harrington win for Best Actor
• Variety Two Emmy nominations revoked from Better Call Saul in the short form categories. We think they need much stricter rules about short form because it's starting to seem like a way to just give regular series extra prizes for bite-sized things (instead of honoring shows that are born and intended for the short form) 
• Refinery 29 a new interview with Madonna as she premieres another music video from Madame X "Batuka"

"San Juan Hill"

Pictures taken directly outside my front door today. omg, WEST SIDE STORY ("san juan hill" surely isn't foolin' anybody) is filming on the street where I live. My friend, after talking to some neighbors, believes the main filming business is going to be happening about two blocks from us (something about gels over apartment windows) so we probably won't be able to see a dancer number outside the window but we can always dream.

UPDATE: more photos after the jump

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Best "Cats" Tweets

We haven't shared a Twitter roundup in months so herewith, our favourite tweets on Cats.

It was so hard to choose y'all since the timeline has been Cats for like 24 hours. The trailer has already really inspired the silly. Hopefully the movie itself will prove just as worthwhile from a social media perspective...

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