The Honoraries: Liv Ullmann in "Face to Face"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their career.

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Liv Ullmann garnered her second and final (to date) nomination for her role as Dr. Jenny Isaksson in Face to Face, her seventh collaboration with Ingmar Bergman. Last included in the Oscar conversation in 1974 but was hampered by the eligibility issues of Scenes from a Marriage, Ullmann came back in the awards race roaring, with Best Actress wins from NYFCC, LAFCA, and NBR while getting nominations from the BAFTA and the Globes. While Faye Dunaway was the expected winner for Network, Ullmann undoubtedly gave one of her best performances (in a career filled with them) in this film.

TW: Sexual violence/rape...

Click to read more ...

Doc Corner: 'The Andy Warhol Diaries' on Netflix

By Glenn Dunks

There have been a lot of films, series and books about Andy Warhol and the company he kept. Documentaries alone, I could definitely list off a dozen titles by heart from prestige to the trash. And there's no reason for that to stop now. After all, Warhol’s factory of superstars and the art they produced will no doubt continue to inspire other creatives for as long as there is art. The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix will certainly not be the last. Although it may just go down as at least one of the more definitive of the bunch—as well as the slickest...

Click to read more ...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Kathleen Turner and Straight Camp

by Nathaniel R

Romancing the Stone's most famous sight gag. © 20th Century Fox

At the risk of accidental humiliation, like having a stranger end up face down in your lap due to a freak mudslide, I would like to propose a theory that Romancing the Stone (1984) is straight camp. Since no one can agree on a definition of "camp", let alone a heternormative variation on such a traditionally gay style / point of view, it's a risk. But looking back at Robert Zemeckis' classic adventure rom-com, the word 'camp' if not 'campy' kept coming to mind.

Right from its defining cheesy prologue, a heightened visualization of the last pages of a romance novel's already purple prose, it's an artificial wonder...

Click to read more ...

"Introducing" The film debuts of your Best Supporting Actresses

by Nathaniel R

Aunjanue Ellis in her film debut, "Girls Town"

In the glitz and glamour of awards season it can be hard to remember that today's most celebrated performers were once just starry eyed hopefuls trying to land a movie role. For this four-part series, a look back at the films that launched each of our acting nominees, some more auspiciously than others. Because acting is a three medium art form (stage, tv, screen) we're sticking to their first feature film role to make it easier. Some of the nominees had acting gigs before landing their first film. We'll take them in chronological order of their debuts and share a screen shot of the very first credited moment on film.

We begin with Supporting Actress which we'll be discussing at length on the Smackdown this weekend. But first a look back at their very first roles...

Click to read more ...

The Honoraries: Liv Ullmann in "Shame"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their career. 

by Eric Blume

Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 film Shame features one of Liv Ullmann’s greatest performances.  This was the third collaboration between the two artists, and the film is the middle portion of Bergman’s unofficial “Island Trilogy” that started with The Hour of the Wolf and concluded with The Passion of Anna.  Ullmann’s face is like the face of the film: beauty going blankly sour…

Click to read more ...