The Oscar Luncheon was a hit - everyone glad to be back in the room

by Nathaniel R

tick tick BOOM reunion at the Oscar luncheon

For those of you who are not "extremely online" as they say, we thought we'd share some photos and point you to some fine accounts of the Oscar luncheon since they'll be new to you. We are neither cool enough nor local enough to be invited to this Los Angeles event (TFE is a NYC site... though a couple of our contributors are in LA) but thankfully some journalists are! The event took place yesterday and the reports have been trickling in ever since...

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Pushing Linksies

• The Reveal "The Gotham City liveability index" through Batman projects. Hee
• Vulture interviews Lee Pace about Pushing Daisies for its 15th anniversary. Of all the shows being rebooted, shows that didn't get long runs should be at the top of the lists
• AV Club gets righteously snarky about theater chains upping their prices for The Batman. Cosign
• Letterboxd curating a fat girl cinematic canon
• Dread Central "a timeline of women monsters in film"

More after the jump including Austin Stowell, Paul Dano, M Night Shyamalan casting news, and Disney's disgusting anti-gay politics...

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Almost There: Mike Faist in "West Side Story"

by Cláudio Alves

While the role has been shortened compared to the 1961 Best Picture winner, Mike Faist's Riff feels exponentially more complex than Russ Tamblin's take on the same character. So much so that he became one of the standouts of West Side Story '21 and won our Almost There poll, trumping the likes of Lady Gaga and Cate Blanchett. As it was the reader's choice, I'm obliged to explore the performance in an appropriate deep-dive. Though, truth be told, it's less obligation than plasure. Maybe the great surprise of the season, Mike Faist steals the musical remake from his co-stars, running away with the picture. 

From innate charisma to a cornucopia of curious acting choices, Mike Faist's Riff is worthy of gold, regardless of the Academy's indifference…

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'Worst Person...' and the 10 most successful Norwegian films in the US

by Nathaniel R

Talking about weekend box office isn't as much fun as it was pre-pandemic since it matters less and less with more films opting for streaming only. So let's get super niche instead. With the Oscar nominated The Worst Person in the World doing terrific business in the nation's arthouses -- I even heard strangers talking about it on the subway in NYC, always a great sign that an arthouse film has caught on -- let's talk about how Norwegian films fare at the Oscars and with US moviegoers...

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The Power of Jane Campion

by Mark Brinkerhoff

What a wild week it has been, ancillarily, for a certain New Zealand filmmaker. The presumed—and deserved—frontrunner for Best Director at this month’s Academy Awards, Jane Campion had her latest masterpiece unexpectedly shut out at the SAG Awards and herself inexplicably drawn into a ridiculous imbroglio stirred by none other than an apparently sexist and homophobic Sam Elliott. (Bronco Henry could never, y’all.)  

But for those less keen on reading too much into Oscar-adjacent developments or unnecessary, boneheaded statements that go viral, we find ourselves at the glorious height of a hopeful culmination of a brilliant, one-of-a-kind director’s justly lauded year. So what makes Campion such an enduring, singular international filmmaking force?

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