Would you rather...?

It's been ages since we played our favorite time wasting game of imaginary hang outs with celebrities. So let's do it. 

So would you rather

...have a kickbox with Vincent Rodriguez?
...play hood ornaments w/ Billy Magnussen?
...fly the friendly skies with Luca, Armie, and Timothée?
...do an accessories check with Nicole Kidman?
...make it a trio at Sundance with Maggie Gyllenhaal & Martha Wainwright?
...visit the Blue Lagoon in Iceland with Lewis Tan?
...enjoy millinery with Juliette Lewis?
...study up on "self care for the real world" with director Sam Taylor-Johnson?
...interior decorate with Sarah Michelle Gellar?
...fight insomnia with Tom Holland?
...or do a little risky DIY cat grooming with Kat Dennings?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide...

Click to read more ...

Meryl in Monterey

Chris here. HBO sees your Big Little Lies season two skepticism and raises you a legend. There's no sense in holding out the news: Meryl Streep has joined Big Little Lies! A 21st Oscar nomination and major casting coup in the span of two days?! How's your week going?

The Andrea Arnold-directed season will feature Meryl donning her birth name as Mary Louise Wright, the mother of Alexander Skarsgård departed abusive husband Perry. Mary Louise comes to Monterey looking for answers after Perry's demise, so expect some fireworks between her and Nicole Kidman. Call it a The Hours reunion...

Click to read more ...

The Joyful Nominations. Which were yours?

by Nathaniel R

img srcIt's part two of our Team Experience Oscar Nomination response... and then we can move on to both Oscar chart fun and back to cinema proper. The latter some of you will surely be itching for if you're not all-the-way obsessed with Oscar minutiae.

This morning we shed final tears for the snubs and now, the nominations that brought us the most joy in the acting categories and elsewhere.

WHICH (NON-ACTING) NOMINATION GAVE YOU THE MOST JOY?

CHRIS FEIL: Agnès Varda is finally a competitive Oscar nominee, which is doubly rewarding considering Faces Places will likely be her final film. (We love you too, JR.) With Jane out of the way she may even be the frontrunner, giving her Honorary Oscar a friend on its shelf - a lovely thought considering Faces Places is partly an ode to partnership.

GLENN DUNKS: Rachel Morrison becoming the first nominated woman in Achievement in Cinematography is pretty great and a major win for Netflix considering most people would have seen it on their smaller screens...

Click to read more ...

Team Experience Grieving the Oscar Shut-Outs

Nathaniel R

We're not supposed to use the word "snub" anymore (stop trying to make "snubbed" rehappen). It's true that it's become overused to the point of insanity. The word implies a purposeful disdain, a rebuff, when Oscar voters surely aren't saying "ugh, that Franco!" when they vote (errr, bad example perhaps they were). The point is they're merely voting on the ones they keep hearing about their favorites. Some films and performances and achievements just don't quite make the cut. And who knows? Someone or something you love might have been one vote shy of a nomination so it wasn't "snubbed" at all, just unlucky! This is what I'm choosing to believe about Jake Gyllenhaal's raw, rangey, vulnerable, and altogether stunning turn in Stronger. He's one of his generations very best actors and keeps proving it in film after film and they just keep ignoring him year after year. It's driving me mad. So...

Which omission pissed you off the most? That's the question that I ask you in the comments and that I already asked the (usually) Oscar loving Team Experience. Their angry-fun answers are after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: 2017's Original Song Nominees

by Chris Feil

Chris here, with your weekly dose of movie music. If this year's list of Oscar nominated songs doesn't help relieve the widely stated concerns for the category, I'm not sure what will. Not only do you have a batch of memorable tunes you would have actually heard, but they also fulfill the branch's aim of being narratively resonant as well. Throw in some popular artists and rousing emotion and it might actually make for a less disposable part of the ceremony this year...

Click to read more ...