May is Wrapping Up

Each year we struggle to rev back up during the Post Oscar malaise but I think we're finally getting there. Be kind, June! Herewith highlights from April and May in case you missed 'em. xo

18 Highlights
• Soundtracking: Burlesque "Show me how you ____"
• Actors Who Should Be More Famous Elise, Rains, DeWitt, Taghmaoui, etcetera
• Ashley Judd, Pulp Queen
• We The Animals watch out for this great movie coming in August
• Michelle Williams in I Feel Pretty ... and other scene-stealers 
• Months of Meryl: Postcards from the Edge Meryl's first great comedy
• Smackdown 1970 Five Easy Pieces, Airport, and more 
• A Fantastic Woman A Dreamy Awakening
• Pfandom: Scarface Michelle's inner great actress breaks out
• Isle of Dogs and Japanese Culture Riff, love letter, appropriation
• Natalie Wood ♥︎ The Boys... Her connection to the seminal gay play/film 
• Blueprints: Love Simon two emotional scenes
• Bernstein's Legacy now in the hands of Gyllenhaal and Spielberg?
• Contrarian Corner Not everyone loves A Quiet Place 

Most Discussed
• Avengers Infinity War
• Egregious Weinstein Oscar Campaigns
• Top Ten Annette Bening Performances
• Buffyverse Alums and Actors We Don't "Get"  

Coming in June
Hereditary, Oceans 8, The 1994 Supporting Actress Smackdown and other 1994 Goodies, sequels to Sicario and The Incredibles, Pride Month LGBTQ films, The Americans series finale, Harlots Season 1 Recap, Robert Preston Centennial, various surprises, and,  at the tail end of the month: HALFWAY MARK, BEST OF THE YEAR THUS FAR. 

Soundtracking: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

by Chris Feil

Perhaps you missed that John Cameron Mitchell finally returned to the punk rock scene this past weekend with How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and honestly - what gives? Regardless of this Neil Gaiman adaptation’s quality, has everyone faded from the afterglow of Hedwig and the Angry Inch so quickly? (Mitchell's promise that the film is joining The Criterion Collection later this year should fix that.)

Mitchell has given us one of the most unique musicals of the past quarter century, so any return to musical adjacency (National Anthem or otherwise) deserves our attention. Or maybe the distinctive qualities of Hedwig make comparisons - its weathered reductive comparisons to every recent rock musical you can think of - a losing battle...

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"So how was that for you?"

When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars...

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Two Handfuls of Link

• The Guardian Isabelle Huppert has really outdone herself with her answers in this new Q&A
• Variety Roseanne cancelled at ABC after Roseanne couldn't help herself and went on yet another round of racist remarks. Still, that's quite a move by ABC given the success and profitability of the show (and their past indifference to her statements). Corporations aren't really known for not letting money do the loudest talking.
• Variety interesting buiness related follow up: In the very recent upfronts ABC had basically built its whole Tuesday schedule around Roseanne as ratings savior. What will they do now?
• Slate an oral history of The Muppets
• Coming Soon Uma Thurman to star in Netflix's supernatural drama series Chambers. Let's hope she has better luck than Naomi Watts did with Gypsy.
• Pajiba Let's talk about Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Solo)

Much more after the jump including Jake Shears new song, George Takei exonerated, Interview magazine, Mean Girls album, a Spawn reboot, and what to do when stars disappoint us...

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A Reflection on "The Tale"

By Spencer Coile 

I intended for this to be a formal review of Jennifer Fox’s autobiographical HBO film, The Tale. I was going to dive into the Sundance darling and discuss it, celebrate it, and critique it the way we do most movies. I was going to conclude with the film’s Emmy chances, where it will no doubt be a worthy contender for Best Made for TV Movie and Laura Dern in Leading Actress. And it’s no wonder – it was critically lauded as a timely reflection of the #MeToo movement.  

But a "review" would be doing Fox’s story a disservice. This is, first and foremost, a personal story about Fox's reconciliation with the past as a means of understanding her present and future. The Tale was acclaimed coming out of Sundance, and was quickly scooped up by HBO. Gone were Dern’s Oscar chances, but this decision ensured that the film would reach an audience, which according to Fox, was the point all along.

Dern plays Jennifer Fox at 48-years-old – a documentarian, a professor, engaged. On the surface, she seems to be living a completely fulfilling life. But when her mother (Ellen Burstyn) finds a story that Jennifer wrote at 13, her world begins to crumble...

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