Judy by the Numbers: "Hello, Dolly!"

Anne Marie has been chronicling Judy Garland's career chronologically through musical numbers...

With only two weeks left in the year, how do we cover the five remaining years of Judy Garland's life? I've tried as much as possible to deliver beautiful numbers and biographical details as near as I could verify in between bits of high-spirited hagiography. Unfortunately, the complicated myth built by talent, timing, and Hollywood studios only amplified after her death, making fact and fiction nearly impossible to untangle...

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Catching up w/ Critics Prizes: Chicago, London, Kansas City, and SEFCA

Another week another big round of critics prizes. As previously noted we only cover about 16 groups (for sanity purposes) so here were a fourth of them as announced these past few days.

CHICAGO FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

Chicago's association was first established in 1988 with a Best Picture prize for Mississippi Burning of all things. This year they liked The Handmaiden so much that it even broke into their Best Picture nomination, a rarity for the group. The last foreign language film to do so with Chicago was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon back in 2000. It won three prizes, just shy of what Manchester by the Sea managed...

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Zsa Zsa's Farewell and Other Links...

The Retro Set a "loosely autobiographical review" of 20th Century Women
Variety there's a documentary coming about the men behind the classic "Curious George" books
The Guardian Dick Van Dyke, who is 91 years old, has confirmed that he has a part in Mary Poppins Returns playing the son of one of his two characters in the original (the ancient banker guy apparently rather than the chimney sweep)

Browbeat BAFTA makes a bold move, requiring some degree of diversity to be eligible for awards starting in 2019 (they offer several ways in which you can do that for those worried about artistic freedoms for filmmakers)
Towleroad a list of retailers you should shop at this Christmas since the anti-gay right wing is targeting them.
Decider the year in cinematic smoking 
New Yorker their 16 most read stories this year
Coming Soon Legion, an X-Men spinoff TV series, gets a poster
Awards Daily Vancouver Critics favors Manchester by the Sea in 5 of its 9 categories

Zsa Zsa in the 1980sMore goodbyes... as is 2016's awful habit
Eye for Cinema remembers French actress Michèle Morgan who passed away today at the age of 96 - her credits included Port of Shadows, The Fallen Idol, and Pastoral Symphony (Cannes Best Actress win)
Variety Dick Latessa, who was so wonderful as Mr Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway, has passed away
New York Times Zsa Zsa Gabor (Moulin Rouge), the last surviving member of the world famous Hungarian Gabor sisters (famous for acting, yes, but arguably more for the 20 marriages between them) has died. She was just two months shy of her 100th birthday! Her sisters Magda and Eva both passed away in the 1990s. Zsa Zsa's last two big screen appearance were cameo apperances as herself in the comedies Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and A Very Brady Sequel (1996). She was the only Gabor sister to have a child but she outlived her daughter Constance Francesca Hilton (yes, of that Hilton family) who died just 13 months ago.

Fun Oscar Trivia: One of Zsa Zsa's nine husbands was George Sanders (All About Eve) and she was married to him during that Oscar-winning career peak. She was considered for the role that went to Marilyn Monroe in that classic.  

25th Anniversary: Prince of Tides (1991)

by Eric Blume

Twenty five years ago, director Barbra Streisand delivered her big-screen adaptation of the Pat Conroy novel The Prince of Tides for Christmas.  The film went on to win the Best Actor Golden Globe for Nick Nolte, as well as seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture (but famously not a Best Director nod for Streisand).  

Looking at the film now, The Prince of Tides feels like a remnant from a lost Hollywood genre:  the mainstream, gimmick-free adult drama.  Streisand’s instincts lean to the commercial, and she’s fully devoted to the film’s rather banal psychobabble that purports how one good solid cry can heal a childhood rape.  The script may be as deep as a raindrop, but it has its strengths as well, and they’re strengths that align with Streisand’s own...

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