Streaming Roulette, March: Drive my car by the west side, Peggy Sue

by Nathaniel R

Before we begin we should note that between HBOMax (Dune, King Richard, Drive My Car, West Side Story), Netflix (Power of the Dog, Don't Look Up), Hulu (Nightmare Alley), AppleTV+ (CODA) and VOD (Belfast, Licorice Pizza) all of the Best Picture nominees are or will be available to watch at home this month before the Oscars (March 27th). 

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming titles by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and just sharing what pops up. No cheating*!

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Jesse Plemons is an Oscar lucky charm

by Cláudio Alves

Mr. Kirsten Dunst is a lucky guy, wouldn't you say? The past decade has seen him rise in prominence, acting in movies by some of today's greatest directors – Spielberg! Scorsese! Campion! – while also delivering a slew of memorable performances in supporting roles. After earning TV awards glory, he finally transferred that same acclaim to big screen prizes, winning his first Academy Award nomination in the same movie that got his wife an overdue recognition. For awards aficionados, his turn as George Burbank in The Power of the Dog holds even more Oscar trivia goodness. You see, when Jane Campion's latest scored a Best Picture nomination, it marked the fifth consecutive year of Plemons starring in a movie up for the Academy's greatest trophy…

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Movie Calendar - March & April

Welcome to March the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar but basically the last month of the year in our calendar, since each year ends on Oscar night our New Year's Eve. Nomination morning is our Christmas, don'cha know. March has lots of awards ceremonies and not enough new movies with all the studios steering clear of The Batman...

March 1st
The Batman (IMAX Theaters)

March 2nd
Against the Ice (Netflix)
Drive My Car (HBOMax)
West Side Story (Disney+)...

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The frontrunners for Best Picture went-home empty-handed at SAG. What does it mean?

We'll talk more about the SAG ceremony and actual winners soon but first let's talk about what happened to Belfast and The Power of the Dog. While Kenneth Branagh's memoir and Jane Campion's instant classic have long been considered Best Picture frontrunners neither of them won a single prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Does this mean anything? Well,  yes and no...

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February. It's a Wrap

Eeeeeeeeeehhhhaaaargwhoohoo. We're about to enter final month of the 2021 film year with SAG tonight (foolish predictions here!) and Oscar night looming. We hope you're voting daily on the Oscar charts and investigating all the trivia and 'how'd they get nominated?' theorizing. Here are a dozen highlights from the month that was in case you missed 'em...

• Why can't the Oscars love themselves? -The Academy self-sabotages yet again
• Why can't we have Jonathan Bailey in the movies? - An appreciation of the Olivier winning Bridgerton star
• Almost There: House of Gucci Cláudio talks Lady Gaga's star turn
• Best Shot: Nightmare Alley - our once-signature series returns for a reboot season. Thank you for attending, especially those who played or commented!
• Film Bitch Nominations - Nathaniel's awards ballots revealed
• Kristen Stewart can still win -Despite a rocky precursor season a Best Actress win might happen
• Oscar and LGBTQ actors -Evolution of (slow) acceptance
• Death on the Nile- a power ranking of the suspects
• One for them One for Me: Nicole Kidman - remembering the goddess' 2004
• Nathaniel's Top 10 List - from Petite Maman to Power of the Dog
• Martha Plimpton interview - thank you to Abe for speaking to one of our favs
• LGBTQ Representation on TV - GLAAD's annual report
• 12 Takeaways from the Oscar Noms - What stood out?
• Oscar Nom Reaction - the team shares their highs and lows

COMING IN MARCH
Obviously there will be much Oscar hoopla including Honorary Oscar miniseries on Samuel L Jackson and Liv Ullmann and the first episode of the new season of Supporting Actress Smackdown. You can also expect discussions of new films The Batman, After Yang, Turning Red, and The Lost City. As far as older films to check out to maximize your reading pleasure here: queue up Romancing the Stone (1984), The Godfather (1972), and The Conversation (1974). ANY REQUESTS?