A Shocking First-Time-Ever WGA Surprise!

To all the other nominees in the category, have fun at the Oscars, LOSERS!"
-Bo Burnham accepting his WGA prize for Original Screenplay

This is not common at all but last night the Writers Guild of America opted to ditch the Best Picture nominated films and instead chose Can You Ever Forgive Me? in Adapted and Eighth Grade (which was not even nominated for the Oscar *sniffle*) in Original as the year's best screenplays. Though the WGA and the Oscar winners only line up about half the time (some of that due to eligibility differences) it's pretty rare that the WGA skips Best Picture nominees if they have the option of awarding them. The last time they gave their Adapted Screenplay prize to a non Oscar Best Pic contender was American Splendor (2003) and the last time they gave their Original Screenplay to a non Oscar Best Pic contender was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) so we're talking quite a while ago. It's so uncommon that it happening in both categories simultaneously is a downright shock; it's literally never happened in the history of the WGA...

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Berlinale 2019: Juliette Binoche, delights & disappointments, and the festival winners

Seán McGovern concludes his coverage of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Juliette Binoche presents the Golden Bear to Israel's Nadav Lapid for his drama "Synonyms"

There is a bittersweet conundrum with film festivals, that no matter how many films you see, you still only get one colourfully subjective corner of a greater kaleidoscope of stories. But you do get a sense both from the conversations you have in line and the energy on the ground as to what you absolutely must see. Each year we ask the same question, no different for the 69th Berlinale: was it a good year, or a bad year? The answer is... a resounding shrug of the shoulders.

Not that the festival was without worthy winners. In typically pluralistic European style, a veritable bread basket of awards were given to a range of films both in the main competition and beyond, led by our “beautiful” president Juliette Binoche. I don't know if it was a translation thing, but the amount of times that Binoche was referred to as “our beautiful president” during Berlinale was insane...

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Six days til Oscar. Six pieces of number 6 related trivia

Six is the number of the day so here are six different stats involving that number for distraction & fun.

1. BlacKkKlansman is the only movie this year with exactly six nominations. The other movies this decade with with exactly that number of nominations: Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread, Manchester by the Sea, Lion*, Hacksaw Ridge, Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, Carol*, Boyhood, American Sniper, Captain Philllips*, Nebraska*, Dallas Buyers Club, War Horse*, Moneyball*, and 127 Hours*. I was hoping to discover that one of those titles had EXACTLY the same category nominations as BlacKkKlansman but none did. Titles with an asterisk lost all their nominations but the bulk of the six-time nominees won at least 1 Oscar which is good news for Spike Lee's Adapted Screenplay bid for BlacKkKlansman, the category its most likely to win in this coming Sunday.

2. Carol is the only six-time nominee in the past decade not to score a Best Picture nomination... 

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Interview: Richard E Grant on lucky breaks, film diaries, and "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"

by Nathaniel R

Richard E Grant's timing was impeccable during my own journey into cinephilia. I was in the process of falling madly deeply in love with movies when he made his debut in the cult classic With Nail and I (1987) and as I became more invested in not just movie stars but the crucial contributions of character actors to rich movies, he was everyone in so many movies I loved: Henry & June (1990), L.A. Story (1991), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993). I bought his first book "With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant" in hardcover right when it was published and later bought it again in paperback. I bring up this chronological personal fandom so that'll you'll understand that I was surely as visibly thrilled to sit down with Richard E Grant as he has appeared to be for the entirety of this awards season. We're both giddy about the Oscar nomination for his incredible performance as the slippery but loveable Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

But we began by discussing the book. I'd read it too often to begin anywhere else...

[The interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

One of the funniest film books you'll ever read. A must-have for fans of 1990s cinemaNATHANIEL R: Do you still do film diaries or did you do it only for your book 'With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E Grant"?

RICHARD E GRANT: I've kept diaries since I was 11 years old, since I saw my mother shagging my father’s best friend on the front seat of a car, by accident. I tried religion, got no reply, couldn’t tell my friends, certainly couldn’t tell my parents what I’d seen, so I kept a diary to keep sane, and it has kept me relatively sane all these years. I was on the ill-fated  Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) movie for Robert Altman, and a newspaper in England asked me if I would write a diary, so I did, and they published it...

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Great Moments in Kissing: "Y Tu Mama También"

We've decided to extend our 'kissing' appreciation series past Valentine's. Not that you were asking but we're having fun and it's a sexy break inbetween Oscar madness. Here's Eric Blume...

In director Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 mini-masterpiece Y Tu Mama Tambien, lifelong friends Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) spend much of the movie talking about girls and sex.  And when they begin a road trip with older, sexy Luisa (Maribel Verdu), most of their focus is on her, her body, and the idea of getting her into bed.  Which makes the climax (yep, I said it) of the film so incredibly surprising:  at the end of their journey, they finally consummate their adventure in one of the cinema's best threesomes... 

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