Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 9:05AM Good morning! New podcast coming up in quick featuring Arrival. But what's on your mind this morning? Anything cinematic?
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Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 11:19AM 
Did you catch the out of focus Yul Brynner robot in the background of a darkly lit scene in last week's episode of Westworld? That charismatic movie star had a lot of success in action films (see also the original Magnificent Seven) but he won his only Oscar race for a musical, The King and I. Which brings us back around to our "One and done" discussion. We featured the actresses who'd won Oscars for their one and only nomination a week ago and it was so fun we decided we should do the men this weekend. The "One and Done" club includes men, too, and even a few more of them. (As with the women I left out those who would otherwise qualify but for a second round via the Honorary Oscars)
Give us your top ten among them in the comments!
LEAD
A few differences worth noting that differ from leading actresses. Only 9% of leading actresses win from their sole nomination. For men, it's quite different with around 21% belonging to the 1 and done club...
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 9:33PM Variety Will Hollywood forgive Mel Gibson with Hacksaw Ridge?
Variety Robert Redford to retire from acting. That's a pity. He was just starting to be in movies again regularly.
MNPP Joe Alwyn eleven times
Coming Soon Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein in a new series
/Film a new featurette about a Ghost in the Shell set visit
I Like Things That Look Like Mistakes on the resonance of Dogville's revenge fantasy
Total Verhoeven the Film Society's Verhoeven retrospective just began. I'm anxious to see his Oscar nominated Turkish Delight (1973) for the first time!
DListed first shot of Johnny Depp (or rather the back of his head) in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. Can't believe they're already promoting the second one before the first one is in theaters (sigh)
RIP Because 2016 continues to be the most hateful year ever
Deadline Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE, The Magnificent Seven)
Criterion Corner Remembering Leonard Cohen (via McCabe and Mrs Miller)
In this very difficult week these things gave me teensy moments of solitude or defiant strength
NY Mag Hiking and running into Hillary Clinton
Advocate People of the Year: The survivors of Pulse nightclub
Review "Rules for Survival" under men like Donald Trump
Pajiba "never forget that Donald Trump is a profoundly stupid person" -perhaps his incompetence will help prevent some of the possible catastrophes
The Matinee "Dear America..."
Towleroad The continually scrappy Elizabeth Warren on Rachel Maddow "we fight back"
The New Yorker "How to restore your faith in Democracy"
Gothamist advice for how to protect your fellow citizens from Trump's embolded xenophobic and racist fans if you see bullying taking place
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 4:31PM It's Noirvember. Here's Lynn Lee...
For a film set in the ’50s, L.A. Confidential (1997) looks and feels surprisingly contemporary. Maybe it’s because so many of its themes still resonate today: police brutality (especially against racial minorities), broken Hollywood dreams, and the addictiveness of celebrity and power. Maybe it’s because so much of the film is shot and lit in a more naturalistic, less stylized manner than your typical hardboiled crime movie, which makes the more obviously noir-ish sequences really pop by contrast. But I think what distinguishes it most from its classic forbears is that it ends up being less memorable for its atmosphere or its plot twists than its character development of not one detective-protagonist but three, whose parallel narrative lines end up converging over the course of the film.
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 1:08PM by Nathaniel R
Okay, this is one of those "sick" calls you make to the boss when you're not really sick but you just absolutely can't. Getting out of bed since Tuesday has been quite a Herculean challenge. Hence the far lighter than usual posting (apologies! but by Monday we will figure out a way to be posting with the mad frequent abandon that awards season deserves). If you have any tricks for soldiering on whilst feeling despair do please share them in the meantime. It's not just myself who needs them.
One of the best activities when feeling under the weather, physically or spiritually or emotionally is arguably list-making. It is "busywork" so in one sense you don't need all that much energy and focus to do it but it is also fun if you choose the right list topic. Over the past couple of weeks I've been updating and fixing the top ten pages (which are always under construction in case we see a new old favorite) but if you'd like to investigate the various decades and see the lists please click away.
Check them out. If only we had time to write about them all...
