The Surprise MVP of Matrix Resurrections

by Tony Ruggio

Response to The Matrix Resurrections over the past few weeks has not been unlike response to The Last Jedi. A legion of fans loathe it for reasons of defied expectations. That's a typical response when fandom has a set idea of how a long-running tale should continue to unfold, often years later. Others love it, though, enraptured by its discursive saga and meta commentary. I fall somewhere in between, just as I did on The Last Jedi, admired and tickled by Lana Wachowski’s daring narrative excursions. She attempts to unravel and re-frame the myths and myriad cliches, but she could and should have gone even further.

The Last Jedi, for all of the belly-aching by fans, was still very much a Star Wars film beholden to black-and-white notions of good and evil, wherein the Jedi are heroes and the Sith are villains. Rian Johnson had an opportunity to dispense with such binaries and have Rey join forces with Ren to defeat both sides of the aisle. The picture waxes frequently about leaving old habits in the past, and then proceeds to follow old habits to the very end. To her credit, Lana at least one-ups that polarizing sequel by dispensing with one of the binaries central to her creation...

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Review: Scream '22

By Glenn Dunks

Movies made predominantly out of a requirement for fan service can go one of a few ways. They can give audiences just what they wanted (as we’ve seen with some MCU movies), they can give audiences what they didn’t know they needed (as we’ve seen with some MCU movies), or they can be a complete and utter dog’s breakfast (as we’ve seen with some MCU movies).

The Scream franchise isn’t as long-running or as mythologized as iconic horror brands like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or A Nightmare on Elm Street. But what it does have that those series do not is a consistent core—both in characters (Sidney, Gale and Dewey) and tone (comically meta slasher)—that has remained unwavering across 25 years and five individual movies. Fan service here then is actually quite tricky...

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Ariana DeBose, Saturday Night Live, and Oscar Campaigns

by Nathaniel R

As you may have heard Best Supporting Actress Oscar hopeful Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) will be hosting Saturday Night Live when the show returns tomorrow, January 15th. That's just 12 days before the Academy starts voting on nominations. Which got us to thinking: How often is Saturday Night Live used as a campaign stop for Oscar hopefuls and is it successful? Let's do a little research. We're only going back five years for time constraint reasons but we do wonder when this became a thing or if it's always been thus? I have only ever been a casual SNL viewer but perhaps there are Saturday Night Live experts reading who could shed some light...

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Critics Choice Awards will now be held on... the same day as BAFTA

After attempting to steal what little Golden Globes thunder remained by scheduling themselves on the exact same date, the Critics Choice Awards were delayed (understandably) by Omicron variant fears. A new date has been announced: March 13th, 2022. That's well timed in terms of Oscar (two weeks prior) but poorly timed in terms of celebrity strategy as it's the exact same day as the BAFTA ceremony!

Now it's possible things will work out for both shows as some celebrities will not want to cross the ocean (in either direction) due to COVID but it's still a worrisome choice; Celebrity presence is crucial to the success of live awards ceremonies. On the other hand, the calendar was filling up so the show had to go somewhere. If Sunday was the only day of the week to do it (why is that the only day of the week? the Oscar were on Mondays for decades!)  there were very few options remaining. February 20th was the Olympics closing ceremony. February 27th was already claimed for SAG Awards. March 6th belongs to the Film Independent Spirit Awards. But what was wrong with, say, March 20th, the week before the Oscars? What do you make of the move? 

"Movies for Grownups" Awards - 20th Anniversary

by Nathaniel R

Dame Judi Dench as "Granny" in Belfast

The AARP 'Movies For Grownups' Awards is now 20 years old. They'll be airing a PBS special on March 18th to celebrate their 20th anniversary. This year their favourites were Belfast with 8 nominations and West Side Story with 6. Their awards specifically honor filmmakers and actors over 50 which is why their acting lineups are generally a combination of actors with genuine Oscar buzz paired with random celebrity fillers. Though let's just say in their supporting categories they largely have no excuse for their lapses of taste since plenty of great roles / performances come from the over 50 set each year...

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