Oscar Completism: Unfinished Business and Happy Endings?

Baby Clyde's Oscar Completist Diaries -- Part 2
(If you missed part one read that first!)

When COVID hit I happened to be in Colombia. I wasn’t frolicking on the beach in 90-degree heat or scuba diving in the beautiful clear blue Caribbean Sea but watching the Best Actress nominees of 1969 (That’s what holidays are for right?). Jean Simmons and Liza Minnelli had somehow passed me by over the years and with my new Russian pal I was able to fill in all the gaps. By the time I was back in London and lockdown had kicked in, I’d decided to make a project of it. Using Kevin Jacobson’s And The Runner-Up Is podcast as my companion I started watching every nomination in reverse order from 1969 down to 1927. I rewatched everything I’d already seen and added in the first-time watches along the way, noting everything down on a colour coded spreadsheet as I went and listening to the corresponding podcast episode (I promise I’m really not as sad as this suggests. I used to be a cool 90’s Club kid, remember!!!). This made for some very interesting stats on my Letterboxd Most Watched List – The best place on the entire internet.

2020 was full of stars of the 50’s and 60’s (Sophia Loren won) whilst 2021 was made up of the biggest names from the 30’ and 40’s (And Beulah Bondi). Cary Grant came out on top. By the end of the year Kevin had invited me on the podcast to discuss the Best Picture race of 1935. I waffled on for 2 hours and 20 minutes...

The further I went the harder it became...

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Reader's Choice: Hitchcock's Troubling Divisive "Marnie" (1964)

Each weekend Nathaniel we'll be discussing a movie requested by you! SPOILERS ahead so if you haven't screened this on Netflix do that first.

The idea was to kill myself, not feed the damn fish.

Who is the most f***ed up character in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964)? The answer is not as simple as it appears. The titular ice queen blonde (Tippi Hedren) is sexually frigid, terrified of lightning, a compulsive liar, a serial thief, and disassociates almost instantly at the sight of the color red. She has so many issues she's a full series of crazy. But while Marnie is a loner she's hardly alone in her own film when it comes to needing serious amounts of therapy...

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TCM Film Festival: Day Two - "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Killers"

Christopher James continues his coverage of the 2023 TCM Film Festival. Check in for daily diary entries.

Day two of TCM includes more of the same. More Burt Lancaster, more sweaty and handsome outlaws and plenty of indelible moments. The sun came out, but the stars of yesteryear shined bright on the silver screen. Wanting to feel old today? As part of the Warner Brothers at 100 series, Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 remake Ocean’s Eleven was screened at the festival, with Soderbergh and George Clooney in attendance. Yes, the 2001 remake played at a classic film festival!

There were plenty of high profile screenings today, plus exhibits that took attendees on a journey through WB’s history, Looney Toons at the Oscars and films banned in the South. Once again, we were able to catch a couple of very different stone cold classics...

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TCM Film Festival: Day One - "Airport" and "The Wild One"

by Christopher James

The only thing more disasterous than a gang of bikers or a bomb threat on a plane is light rain in Los Angeles. All joking aside, it's always great to return to the Hollywood and Highland center for another year of the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival.

The festival was kicked off with a red carpet screening of a freshly restored Rio Bravo, with Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson and Angie Dickinson as special guests. The opening night film is part of WB's 100 year anniversary, which will be a theme of the weekend with many of the celebrations. Rather than watch Howard Hawks' epic western, I opted to fill a couple other blind spots...

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Cannes Lineup 2023: Official Competition & Un Certain Regard

by Nathaniel R

Mia Wasikowska stars in Competition Film "Club Zero"

The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival is just one month and three days away. The world's most famous film festival runs May 16th-27th this year. Here are the competition films. More to come of course but first the big ticket films that will hog the mainstream attention ...or "mainstream" by way of a tony art festival that is... from the competition slot. And the other films that could prove high profile from the other most talked-about section (usually) "Un Certain Regard"....

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