A Year With Kate: Mary Of Scotland (1936)

Episode 10 of 52 wherein Anne Marie screens all of Katharine Hepburn's films in chronological order.

In which Kate dons some regal duds.

Stick with me, folks. The next three weeks are going to be rough, but if we can get through it together, the last week in March will be Stage Door, and from there on it’s nothing but Kate classics. In the meantime, however, we’ll have to slog through three films which, if I’m totally honest, rightly earned Kate her “box office poison” moniker. But we’re jumping ahead of ourselves.

First we have to get through Mary of Scotland, a misbegotten, misdirected, miscast movie. “Misbegotten” because it dumbs down the political intrigue of Queen Mary of Scotland’s reign into a bad romance novel plot. “Misdirected” because John Ford clearly would rather have been out in Monument Valley with John Wayne and a wide angle lens. "Miscast" because how in the name of all that is holy did we miss the chance to cast Katharine Hepburn as Queen Elizabeth I??

Elizabeth is a great role for actresses, especially redheads with good cheekbones. You know where I’m going with this. Since everybody loves pitting Cate vs Kate Elizabeth I vs Mary Stewart, I decided to rank four stand-out Lizzies and Marys (some good, some bad, all unique).

VS

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Red Carpet Lineup: Oscar Beauties, 86th Edition

We're almost done! Only 35 more Oscar posts before w--- No for reals though we have to talk about fashion at least briefly. There sure was a lot of granny froufrou beading fussy texture on trend this year, huh? Which works on some people but not everyone. And weirdly it doesn't work at first and then totally works by the end of the evenin on some people. By some people I mean the happy Blue Jasmine twosome, whose gowns worked really well once you saw them all snuggly together in their seats. 

SUPPORTING LADIES FIRST

America's Sweetheart 90s Edition, Sally, America's Sweetheart 10s Edition, Sensation, Squibb

I think Julia Roberts should've gone younger/sexier to combat the visual drabness of the Barbara role in August and because Jennifer Lawrence, red hot, has already stolen her Sweetheart crown (in fairness Julia abdicated the throne after her Oscar win so no one really took it from her). Sally Hawkins! (Why do I feel like her bohemian signature characters Ginger & Poppy both would not approve of what their creator is wearing?) I was going to do a poll of best dressed but I figured Lupita Nyong'o would get 100% of the votes making it the most boring poll of all time. I know this is June Squibb's favorite Christmas Party Dress getting a surprise airing in March. 

BEST ACTRESS - AKA FOUR OF THE MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE BIZ

5 Times, 18 Times, 6 Times, 2 Times

Judi Dench never shows. Do you think she watches overseas?

Amy Adams has never looked better and that dress was so tight that visual effects were employed to show her jumping up to dance with Pharrell in it. Because: impossible. Meryl Streep with a little off the shoulder glam. But white blouses are risky when you're eating pizza. Cate Blanchett looking like an ethereal elf quee... hey, wait a minute. And Sandra Bullock also looking sensational. The Best Actress shortlist did the red carpet proud.

But which among them wins your "best" votes. Tough call. right? 

Which of the First-Time Nominees Will Return Soon to Oscar?

Some years ago now I did a study on how often actors win second nominations. I can't find the figures at the moment but I believe it was around 42%. Obviously it's not as many as we pretend each Oscar love-in season. Though it's arguably easier to win a second nomination than it is a first -- they're already considering you if you will -- that doesn't mean it's easy, if you get me. The Oscars are definitely a pyramid in shape. There's only one actor with 18 nominations and there are hundreds of thousands with 0. I don't mean to be a bummer, just to underline how special and rare the Oscar experience is even for celebrity actors. Lineups like Best Actress this time, which I believe has the highest average nomination count of all time in an acting shortlist, fool us into believing otherwise but the majority of first nominations are also last nominations. 

the first-timers this year that DIDN'T win: Chiwetel, Sally, Barkhad, Fassy, June*should we do a fashion post?

But let's stay optimistic!

Who among this year's first-time nominees do you think will be the first to be invited back? Explain your choice in the comments. I think I'm going with Sally Hawkins only because her work has been really solid for a long time and now that they've noticed her, perhaps a rush of even better roles will happen? It's not always easy to predict. I mean, who among us thought that Jonah Hill would be the first among the new men from the class of 2011 to do it? There's no wrong answer. At least not for another year or three. 

poll by twiigs.com

If you like this poll, there are more, you know. Vote on those, too!

Colin + Nicole

I woke up like this, wondering what's going on with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman and/or their agents?

People aren't talking about this yet because the movies haven't arrived and also, undoubtedly because both stars are so prolific that it's hard to keep track of their upcoming deals. But three of their next handful of releases are together. They're husband and wife in The Railway Man (opening in April) which is largely Colin's film. Then they're nemeses in Paddington (opening in December) in which Colin is the voice of the title character and Nicole the villain. And at some point (no release date yet)  they're back to being husband and wife again in the thriller Before I Go To Sleep in which Nicole plays a woman being treated for anterograde amnesia who doesn't realize she's married or has a son.

Will Colin & Nicole do a fourth? I feel they must. In their two films in which both actually appear, Nicole is brunette or blonde but you haven't really co-starred with Nicole Kidman unless she's a redhead.

That's the rule. 

Kidman and Firth in "Before I Go To Sleep"

Though frequent pairings have a rich history in Hollywood, it went out of fashion sometime in the modern era. (Maybe franchise culture killed the desire for it, since there is so much repetition in other ways?) Frequently co-starring with the same person just isn't that common anymore outside of auteurist filmographies that use the same actors a lot in different permutations (Cooper & Lawrence & Russell lately). It's not even common when we want it to be (I'm still waiting for Brad & Angie to follow up Mr & Mrs Smith you know? And despite several indications over 25 freaking years that Pfeiffer & Bridges wanted to pair up again it never happened). It's not even common to continue even when all of the pairings are big hits (Turner + Douglas and then Hanks + Ryan quit after only three).

Who do you wish would be reunited onscreen? Will Colin & Nicole do a fourth? Stay tuned. 

Eternal Screencaps from the Blogging Mind

Guess what unforgettable movie about people wanting to forget is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary?

Have you ever thought about what your favorite shot from it is? Or which shot best represents the movie as a whole? Have you ever wondered how it can possibly be that the cinematographer Ellen Kuras has only done 4 narrative features in the ten years since?

You know where this is going right?!

Break out the bubbly because "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" returns on March 18th (We're moving it to Tuesdays at 9 PM to give people the weekend to screen the movies and be ready!). If you're new to the blog or haven't yet experimented with actually participating, I guarantee a good time. Everyone who has participating religiously has said that they've gotten a ton out of it. Plus it proves the point 'the more the merrier' because the best episodes offer new ways of looking at a movie through multiple sets of eyes!

HOW TO PLAY? 1) Watch the movie 2) post your single favorite shot (i.e. what you deem "best" for whatever reason) on your blog/tumblr/youtube/instagram/twitter/pinterest whatever and tell us why you chose it!

03/18 ETERNAL SUNSHINE (2004, *10th anniversary*)
03/26 L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997)

... and more to come!

Some of our best episodes from your suggestions, so here's what we've already covered...

1920s Sherlock Jr (24), The Circus (28), Pandora's Box (29)  

1930s Tarzan the Ape Man (32), Snow White (37), Wizard of Oz (39) 

1940s Fantasia (41), Shadow of a Doubt (43), The Woman in the Window (44), Double Indemnity (44), Black Narcissus (47), Possessed (47), Easter Parade (48) 

1950s A Streetcar Named Desire (51), Singin' in the Rain (52), The Bad and the Beautiful (52), Forbidden Games (52), How to Marry a Millionaire (53), Night of the Hunter (55), Rebel Without a Cause (55), Picnic (55), Summertime (55), A Face in the Crowd (57) 

1960s Rocco and His Brothers (60), Psycho (60), La Dolce Vita (60), Hud (63), Mary Poppins (64), Bonnie & Clyde (67), Barbarbella (68), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (69) 

1970s Pink Narcisuss (71), The Exorcist (73), American Graffiti (73), Dog Day Afternoon (75), Story of Adele H (75), Eraserhead (77) 

1980s Ladyhawke (85), The Color Purple (85), Aliens (86), Law of Desire and/or Matador (86/87), Peggy Sue Got Married (86), Dead Ringers (88) 

1990s Edward Scissorhands (90), Beauty & the Beast (91), Raise the Red Lantern (91), Jurassic Park (93),  Heavenly Creatures (94), Se7en (95), Showgirls (95), Jackie Brown (97), The Talented Mr Ripley (99)

2000s Bring it On (00), Requiem for a Dream (00), X-Men (00), Moulin Rouge! (01), Memento (01), The Royal Tenenbaums (01), Road to Perdition (02), Angels in America (03), Mean Girls (04), Serenity (05) 

2010s Pariah (11)