22 Black Dresses

by Nathaniel R

Since Hollywood's glamazons were a united force on Sunday evening towards a better industry with gender parity and less flagrant abuses of power Hollywood, we're opting not to rank the gowns this year. Hollywood's most beautiful were out in force but for the most part they proved that black need not feel funereal even if it's prioritizing solemn resolve above the more typical red carpet concerns: unique beauty, personal style, and either up to the minute contemporary trends or classic throwback glamour. 

Allison Janney, Samira Wiley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mandy Moore

Here are the 22 gowns The Film Experience cherished most from Hollywood's second-most glamorous annual event...

Click to read more ...

Ranking the Golden Globe Presenters

by Jorge Molina

Oh, what a night. The Golden Globes delivered the head-scratching, Twitter-blowing night that we expect every year. Of the many things we can count on (apart from drunk speeches and Meryl being nominated), is that they are the award show that puts the most thought, or at least has the most fun, pairing up their presenters. To various degrees of success. 

So check out this second annual ranking of the Golden Globes presenters after the jump, evaluated in terms of banter, chemistry, relation to the award given, and presentation...

Click to read more ...

Best Golden Globe Tweets

by Nathaniel R

BREAKING: Nicole Kidman has finally used her Instagram account which had been taunting us for years (or at least it felt like that... months?) with "no posts yet". Here is the beauteous moment in full.

For those of you who don't have Twitter and thus missed any of these delicious bites, photos, or observations, here you go. These are culled from the vastness with speed and imprecision but I hope you find a chuckle you might have otherwise missed... 

Click to read more ...

FYC: The Furniture's 2017 Oscar Ballot

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Production design can be a tricky thing to award. Like so many other categories, there’s a tendency to simply recognize “most,” rather than “best.” Moreover, great design can hide in plain sight. Brilliantly-conceived sets can seem like ready-made locations, particularly in contemporary films. Transportive design elements sit in the background, working their magic under the radar. It can take both a close eye and a little extra research to identify the year’s best work.

Still, here we are. Oscar voting is open and it’s time to make a last pitch. Below are my ideal nominees for Best Production Design, five films that often press up against detailed realism, while never letting go of their own movie magic...

Click to read more ...

Beauty vs Beast: Ebbing Through Awards Season

Jason from MNPP here with this week's post-Globes edition of "Beauty vs Beast." And let's just get this out of the way right up front: Frances McDormand is, in the wise parlance of Groundhog Day, if not The God, A God. Every second she's on screen at any awards show ever is a gift - for the lovers, the memers, and me. I'm one of the ones who kind of can't with Three Billboards (although I fall more in the middle than most) and I don't even think Franny's doing anything near her best work in it, but trot her out in a stately pilgrim sack and have her scowl at the camera-man and my heart sings. I'll just pretend they're still giving her awards for Olive Kitteredge (while pouring one out for Sally Hawkins).

All of that is to say that if we're going to do Three Billboards for this series we can't possibly use Fran's character of Mildred because any and every one is gum on that woman's shoe. But since the film took over the night let's tackle it anyway, and with a real good fight if you ask me - Woody Harrelson gives in my opinion the film's best performance as the cancer-stricken Chief Willoughby. Sam Rockwell meanwhile is steam-rolling the awards nominations as dancing racist Dixon, giving a performance I truly cannot stand. (Oh am I biased in my introduction here? Whoops.) As problematic as the writing of Dixon is I don't think Rockwell helps it at all, leaning into his worst hammy instincts. But perhaps that is just me! What about y'all?

survey service

PREVIOUSLY Our last contest was way back before the holiday break, where we asked you to choose between Bob Clark Holiday Classics, and the "Leg Lamp" of A Christmas Story kicked the "Crystal Unicorn" of Black Christmas' butt, but in the comments kermit_the_frog singled out the latter's owner for some much-deserved love:

"Brian De Palma's "Sisters" and "Black Christmas" in consecutive years cemented Margot Kidder's place in my heart. One of the most underrated actresses of the 70s."