Vintage '94: Vampires, Gumps, and Serial Moms

The Supporting Actress Smackdown 1994 Edition arrives in just two weeks (Sunday June 24th) so as we approach and you vote (hint hint), let's talk context in movies and entertainment.

Great Big Box Office Hits: 1. Forrest Gump 2. The Lion King 3. True Lies 4. The Santa Clause 5. The Flintstones 6. Dumb & Dumber 7. Clear and Present Danger 8. Speed 9. The Mask and 10. Pulp Fiction just barely beating out Interview with the Vampire to complete the top ten. 

Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: Forrest Gump  (13 noms / 6 wins), Pulp Fiction  (7 noms / 1 win), The Shawshank Redemption (7 nominations), Quiz Show (4 noms), and the surprise Four Weddings and a Funeral (only 2 nominations in the 'only 5' Best Picture era!).

After the jump more vintage '94 and our best guess as to what would have made the list in the current voting era of 5-10 nominees...

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Yes No Maybe So: A Star is Born

by Nathaniel R

When the trailer for the fourth version of A Star is Born hit yesterday everyone was all surprised like "omg this looks... good. Could it be good?" Dear reader, we been saying that via the Oscar charts! It certainly helps that Bradley Cooper enlisted DP Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, Tigerland, Iron Man) to shoot it and from early images it looks like Libatique knew what an attention grabber this could be and is really going for broke. So much color and beauty. Yes! Let's do a quick Yes No Maybe So™ on this (and a few more trailers) after the jump...

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Showbiz History: Robert Preston Centennial, Audra's Sixth and More

Happy Robert Preston Centennial! He was born on this day in 1918 and went on to  screen immortality via The Music Man (1962, Tony win for the stage version) and Victor / Victoria (1982, Oscar nomination). Other famous films include: Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Mame (1974) and his last feature film The Last Starfighter (1984). We had planned a whole thing but this week has been bu-sy.

Here's what else was happening on this day in showbiz history...

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Tweetweek: Hathaway Tea, Princess Thor, Cooper Snatched, and More

The journey of this tweet. ❤️ 

pic.twitter.com/bYZNqVF92W

— Ray Lewis (@RayLewis1997) June 5, 2018

After the jump, Barry Jenkins reacts to Steve McQueen's Widows, Marc Sneticker reminds us of the existence of Shark Tale, Thor is revealed to be a true Disney Princess, and lots of other pop culture quips and bits feat. Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon, Samuel L Jackson, Zhang Ziyi, and more...

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Review: "Hereditary"

by Chris Feil

Hereditary gives so much: a bold lead performance from Toni Collette, genuine skin-crawling scares, and a stream of ominously manicured imagery to obsess over on multiple viewings. And yet its mightiest power is how and when it withholds. Layers revealed in its central family mystery only yield more questions and terrifying unreconciled implications on its descent into madness. You think at first the film is keeping you at arm’s length, when really it is picking you up by the shoulders and placing you down precisely where it knows it will unnerve you most. Letting it get its sadistic claws on you is simply one of the year’s essential cinematic experiences.

The feature debut of writer/director Ari Aster, Hereditary is uncommonly patient in delivering on its horrific promises. The film is less of a slow burn than an enticing bear trap, meditatively luring the audience with all of its pieces before suddenly closing its jaws on us with furious velocity. But that’s the thing about nightmares: rarely do they announce their punishment immediately. Hereditary is as wise and calculating as a demon ready to pounce.

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