Christmas at TFE: The Lion In Winter

Members of Team Experience have been asked to share their favorite holiday film. Here's Dancin' Dan with his...

AH, Christmas! That special time of year when family gathers around the tree to shower each other with love, presents, and good tidings... and backstabbing, long-held resentments, and petty grievances! Which is exactly why The Lion in Winter is my kind of Christmas movie.

Of course families love each other. That goes without saying. But no family is perfect. For many people (I'm tempted to say everyone, but you never know!), going home for the holidays is a prospect that inspires fear and dread. You may only see these people once or twice a year, and there's only so long that certain things can go unsaid...

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All the Oscar Shortlists

BREAKING: We don't like this new system of announcing ALL the finalist lists (in the categories that get finalist lists, that is) on the same day as it doesn't give you time to individually think about each list and write multiple thorough articles. So we'll have to investigate more deeply over the next few days. But for those who are okay with just the quick take list format you can see the lists and a few gut reactions right after the jump. Every Oscar chart will be updated tomorrow to reflect the past week of awards season madness and these lists.

But without further ado, the finalist lists before the nominations are announced on January 22nd... 

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Boston Society (and Other Film Critics Awards)

After the jump, let's catch up on "The ROMA Show" AKA "what's been going down in regional critics awards" for those who are interested in the infinite amount of groups that do this sort of thing. Winners lists after the jump from Utah, Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, Indiana, Atlanta, and Las Vegas.

Utah Film Critics Association
A refreshingly original take on the best of the year with Roma only winning 3 prizes and not even Best Film. Into the Spider-Verse and Eighth Grade slightly dominated and some cool curveballs like Annihilation for Best Score. Okay then. I'll give it a listen.

Film: Into the Spider-Verse
Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Actress: Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed...

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Sunday in the Link with George

This link roundup was intended for last night, hence the title. We cannot be bound by time here at TFE

• Jake Gyllenhaal omg he's joined instagram and on his second post he's singing Sondheim with Annaleigh Ashford. L-O-V-E
• Vulture a fun interview with Patrick Wilson on Aquaman and much more
• Talkhouse Bruce LaBruce on underknown Canadian Christmas thriller The Silent Partner
• MNPP Stephan James eight times
• Jezebel Oscar-nominated actress/ sometime director Sondra Locke (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter) has died but the obituaries are all about her turbulent relationship with Clint Eastwood

• THR Netflix is making a Dark Crystal prequel with Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nathalie Emmanuel as the lead gelflings
• AV Club more Emmy rule changes around what counts as a TV movie 
• Deadline Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan to star in a lesbian romance
• Variety Lumiere award nominations from France (not to be confused with the Césars which are the Oscar equivalent but announce later)
• The New Yorker a convincing pan of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (and you don't see that every day!) that ends with a recommend list of other 'high-feminine mythmaking' worth checking out
• Polygon talks to Phillipa Boyens about the best moment in Return of the King for its 15th anniversary

Finally...
The IndieWire Critics poll has been released. I continue to be dumbfounded that critics support, nay, EMBRACE, category fraud as if they, too, have no respect for any actor who isn't the lead of a movie. You'd think critics (of all people) would be the check and balance on this sort of anti-art gamemanships. It's dumbfounding because they have nothing to gain by kowtowing to the whims of publicists and the egos of movie stars, rather than voting with integrity. They get access either way. I know as one such critic who everyone knows rejects category fraud wherever I see it. As with SAG, 60% of the Supporting Actress list is leading ladies. If you're wondering why Bradley Cooper missed the Best Actor list please know that for some reason he was left off of the pulldown list during voting. I wrote him in but I imagine a lot of people would not have gone to the trouble, not for any nefarious reason but because he slipped their mind when they did not see him on the list of choices. I do not support these kind of shenanigans! But the winners are Roma, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivia Colman, Ethan Hawke, Rachel Weisz (for best leading supporting actress), and Steven Yeun.

Beauty vs Beast: Dame Julie, If You're Nasty

Jason Adams of MNPP here with our last "Beauty vs Beast" until the New Year, and what better way to ring out an exhausting 2018 than with a spoonful full of sugar to make all that bitter medicine go down -- the according-to-me scrumdiddlyumptious Mary Poppins Returns is hitting theaters this week and so let's get our Dame Julie Andrews on with a show-down between her two top roles, a frisky Alpine nun and a nanny from the stars... 

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PREVIOUSLY Never underestimate the power of poetry, yall -- in our re-match between Shakespease in Love and Saving Private Ryan once again twas the Bard who came out on top, with 70% of your vote. Said par:

"The pen is mightier than the sword."