Monologue: "Sense and Sensibility"

Andrew here with your weekly monologue.

Of the half dozen, or so actresses, who ruled the awards’ races in the nineties Emma Thompson’s reign of the decade is my favourite, especially for how it subverts the notions of what kind of performances awards bodies like to honor. Usually, dissenters of award competitions cry out that they're intrinsically terrible always mistaking the Biggest for the Best but the love affair with Emma in the 90s is proof as good as any that quiet excellence can be appreciated, too. Emma’s exceptionally worthy Oscar win for Margaret Schlegel in Howards End (1992) is one of the most low-key turns to have earned the statue. Yet more muted is her Elinor Dashwood three years later in Sense and Sensibility (1995), the deliverer of this week's monologue. 

Click to read more ...

Say What? Carey & Matthias

Amuse us. Add caption or dialogue to this photo of Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone/Bullhead) and Carey Mulligan in the upcoming Far From the Madding Crowd.

AND THE WINNER IS

Can Frozen's "Olaf" Melt Monty's Heart?

This weekend on the podcast Katey asked if Monty, the web's original feline Oscar pundit, had met Olaf the scene-stealing snowman from Disney's impending Frozen. Generally speaking, Monty HATES stuffed animals and has even attacked them while they sat immobile, innocent and helpless, on a bed or couch.  I decided to risk the swag anyway and placed Olaf on the couch.  Some hours later our furry friend was caught sleeping right next to him rather than attacking him. Notice how the paw DOES NOT touch the snowman, a crucial distinction separating 'sure, ok' indifference from 'yes please' affection.  

I pushed my luck and moved Olaf nose to nose with Monty...

Click to read more ...

Vivien Leigh in "Waterloo Bridge"

TFE's Vivien Leigh Centennial Celebration continues with Abstew on Leigh's own favorite

Even if Vivien Leigh had only created Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche DuBois on film, her place as a Hollywood legend would be unquestionably well secured. Her portrayals of those two Southern Belles are so iconic that the rest of her modest filmography tends to get overlooked (she made only 19 films in her career, more than half of them British films before her star-making performance in Gone With the Wind). It certainly doesn't help that many of the films are not easy to find and some, like the 1955 film version of Terrance Rattigan's play The Deep Blue Sea (another film version of the play was released last year with Rachel Weisz which, incidentally, earned her many comparisons to Vivien Leigh), have never been made available for home viewing (although you can watch the entire film on youtube here. Not the best quality, but worth it for die-hard Vivien Leigh fans). But if there's one film that she should most be remembered for past GWTW and Streetcar, it's the film that Leigh, herself, claimed as her personal favorite of all her films, 1940's Waterloo Bridge. 

Click to read more ...

Marty + Michelle

The Age of Innocence Twenty Years Ago