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• Vulture Jackson McHenry surveys the current scam artists on TV dramas
• The Grio Ruth E Carter to be honored with an NAACP "Vanguard" Award
• BuzzFeed Reliving the Lizzo vs Melissa MCCarthy Little Mermaid casting drama, now with fresh quotes
• Vox Emily VanDerWerff on the rise of art about evangelicals from Midnight Mass to The Righteous Gemstones to current novels, too

More after the jump including Jessica Chastain, The Northman, Sean Penn, Peter Sarsgaard, and the shirtless dancers from Euphoria...

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Best Shot Index: 'All That Heaven Allows'

We revived the long dormant "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" club last week with Nightmare Alley and tonight the film is Douglas Sirk's melodrama All That Heaven Allows (1955). It's currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HIGHLY recommended. The drama features Jane Wyman as a New England widow and Rock Hudson as the younger gardener she falls for. He doesn't care much for societal expectations but she's awfully concerned about what her neighbors and grown children think. While the film was underappreciated in its time (zero Oscar nominations for this beauty?!) it has since grown into being an influential classic, famously homaged in Far From Heaven (2002). (Each week on Best Shot anyone who would like to join is welcome to post their choice for the chosen film. We'll add more shots if any more come in.)

Click on these "Best Shots" to see why these players chose it...

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Hit Me With Your Best Shot: All That Heaven Allows (1955)

by Nathaniel R

Cary: I suppose these old beams are rotted.
Ron: No they're oak. They're good for another 100 years

Do any of you remember that short burst of retro Douglas Sirk-enthusiasm in 2002? Todd Haynes, Pedro Almodóvar and François Ozon (all of whom cite Sirk as an influence) all had new very stylized films out, and the lost art of melodrama was suddenly in the air and being discussed. Sirk was briefly exalted (especially in Haynes' Far From Heaven, a direct homage to All That Heaven Allows our topic today). Those were good times. It should happen every few years, trotting Sirk back out again, to marvel at his gifts.

Realism has not always been the most prized end-game of art, but for most of our lives the consensus, from critics audiences and awards bodies has wildly favoured it. Give us something real and gritty! Melodrama, then, is a hard ask for many moviegoers though we've never understood why...

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Sally Kellerman (1937-2022)

by Nathaniel R

The original "Hot Lips" Houlihan, actress Sally Kellerman has passed away at 84 after a battle with dementia. The willowy California blonde landed her first screen role when she was just a teenager in the B movie Reform School Girl (1957) after which she paid her dues with over a decade's worth of guest spots on various television series and small movie roles. Fame took its time arriving. She finally broke through as the lusty nurse in Robert Altman's hit war comedy MASH (1970), landing an Oscar nomination...

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Linkshelf

• The Film Stage great interview with Kyle Buchanan on his book "Blood, Sweat and Chrome" which is about the making of Mad Max Fury Road
• TFE on Instagram I am also going to celebrate this book by devouring it between every deadline
• /Film Teaser for Under the Banner of Heaven starring Andrew Garfield who is messing with the Mormons again (see also Angels in America)
• Vanity Fair "The minions do the actual writing" a fascinating report on the composing industry in Hollywood and name composers as 'brand leaders' rather than actual composers

The Boogeyman cast, Britney Spears tell-all, a great role for Stephan James, an award for Guillermo del Toro and more after the jump...

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