Soundtracking: "Westworld"

Westworld returns to HBO this Sunday, so Chris is taking on season one's hidden songs...

Remember back in 2016 when Westworld debuted and select corners of the internet went gaga over the songs that underscored its Thandie Newton-forefronted saloon. This would-be jukebox of pianistic gloom christened its maidens and gunslingers in the likes of Soundgarden and Radiohead, an easter egg in plain sight meant to draw oohs and ahs of macho irony.

Instead of stereotypical ragtime revelry, this wild west fantasy sounds like a wind-up music box sold at a Hot Topic...

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Carrie Coon Joins "Infinity War"

By Spencer Coile 

As if Carrie Coon couldn't impress us more, she recently confirmed (via Twitter) that she will play a villainous role in Avengers: Infinity War. Coon will play Proxima Midnight, a member of the Black Order, as she works with Thanos (Josh Brolin) to take down the Avengers. Her character was introduced to the comic book series in 2013 and is said to be the most treacherous member of the Order. 

If you're a Marvel buff, this must surely be exciting news. But if only half of those words make sense to you (same), fear not! Marvel's latest will be out on April 27, so that we can all soak up Carrie Coon's villainous motion capture performance in all its glory.  (Great, now it looks like I have to see Infinity War now.)

Ashley Judd, Pulp Queen

Wishing Ashley Judd a happy 50th birthday this week. Here's Chris Feil.

Ashley Judd deserves some credit that’s mostly only afforded to television actresses: she’s a pulp queen. It’s like a horror movie scream queen, except for midrange crime thrillers that your dad loves. But when the movie gods dealt her a standard genre exercise she could elevate it to something incredibly watchable, like a femme fatale without all the trappings of a leacherous male gaze.

Judd would eventually riff on the dingiest of pulp for her greatest performance in Bug, but mainstream audiences are more likely to remember her for her cinematic entanglements with the courtroom, espionage, and serial killers...

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April Foolish Predictions: 4 Questions About Best Animated Feature

Last year's Best Animated Feature field was remarkably empty and 2018, at first glance, also doesn't look that promising. You can probably take it to the bank that Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs will be squaring off against the sequels to Wreck it Ralph and The Incredibles. And it shouldn't be THAT easy to know what's going to happen a full year in advance, should it?

Of course we don't know everything yet. It's tough to foresee which foreign entries will qualify, for example. 2018 seems bereft of an obvious non-American competitor (last year it was easy to see The Breadwinner coming, which is why we predicted it a year in advance). [Four questions and ways to improve the category after the jump...]

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The April Foolish Oscar Predictions Begin...

Ah... April. It's that time of year when we inevitably make fools of ourselves looooong in advance by predicting the Oscar nominations nearly a full year ahead of time. The 91st Oscars won't be held for another 314 days (February 24th, 2019 if you must know) but it's time we started building the Oscar charts.

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