HollyShorts Pt. 2: Amanda Seyfried, Sofas, and Cigarettes

By Ben Miller

The virtual HollyShorts Film Festival is in full swing and begins to focus on specific genre categories as the days roll on.  It's an Oscar Qualifying Festival so nominees or even a future Oscar winner could well emerge. In part one we looked at nine shorts with a couple of familiar actors appearing. While there is just too much to cover, here are nine more highlights and a few more celebrity actors, too...

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Revisiting the original "A Star Is Born"

by Cláudio Alves

As the next Supporting Actress Smackdown approaches, The Film Experience is celebrating the cinematic year of 1937. It was then that Hollywood consolidated its favorite myth about itself. While the story model had been making the rounds for ages, both in gossip and on-screen (check out What Price Hollywood?), William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born is the first movie of its name. The tale of Norman Maine and Vicky Lester, his downfall and her rise to fame, would be told three more times to great effect, but one should never forget the original. Not when the movie is this pristine, written to formidable effect by a team that included the legendary Dorothy Parker and performed with utmost conviction by Fredric March and Janet Gaynor…

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Middleburg Honorees: Ann Dowd, Dakota Johnson, and more...

by Nathaniel R

We previously reported on the six films getting major attention at Middleburg Film Festival and now we know some of the stars who will be attending given the honors & conversations scheduled: 

Agnes Varda Trailbazing Film Artist: Ann Dowd (Mass)
Actor Spotlight: Dakota Johnson (The Lost Daughter)
Director Spotlight: Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
International Spotlight: Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God)
Ensemble Cast Spotlight: Simon Rex and cast (Red Rocket)
Distingued Cinematographer: Ari Wegner (Power of the Dog)
Conversation: Hair and Makeup artist Donald Mowat (Dune)
Conversation: Songwriters Kathryn Bostic, Amie Doherty, Lesley Barber, and Diane Warren

Which of these talents would you most like us to interview? More after the jump including our own panel plus our favourite annual Middleburg event...

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Deborah Kerr @ 100: The legend, the legacy, "The Innocents"

by Cláudio Alves

For decades she held the record of being the most Oscar-nominated actress never to have won the statuette, with six unsuccessful nominations. In a piteous gesture, the Academy granted her an honorary award in 1994. How fitting that Deborah Kerr received such tribute from the hands of Glenn Close, the current holder of the older actress' erstwhile record. Considering this trivia, it'd be easy to remember Kerr's legacy through the prism of Oscar history. That would be a mistake. I state it as someone who first encountered the British thespian through her nominated roles, constructing a mental image limited by AMPAS' taste. As it turns out, despite her numerous nods, the most outstanding Kerr performances weren't so highly celebrated by the Academy. Simply told, that Oscar-y sextet doesn't do her justice. 

To celebrate Deborah Kerr's centennial, let's remember her range beyond golden laurels, her incandescent talent, the power she brought to her films. Let's honor her by reflecting on the actress' greatest work - the nightmare that is The Innocents…

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September. It's a Wrap

We've done it. Somehow we're halfway through the NYFF and we've hit the final quarter of 2021 or as we like to call it "precursor season". From now until the tail end of the year everything that's happening in Hollywood is about trying to get Oscar traction for this or that. We won't know what has truly accomplished that until Tuesday February 8th, 2022 when the Oscar nominations are announced. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. For now a quick look back at September highlights in case you missed any of them.

12 highlights
• How do you arrange your DVD collection? Christopher asks. You answered
• Best of Venice Elisa and Nathaniel on the Lido for 10 days of CINEMA
• Weekend Cláudio revisits this new gay classic for its 10th birthday
• I'm Your Man Matt looks at Germany's Oscar submission
• Over and Overs: WALL•E Ben formed a bond with his son over this Pixar classic
• The White Lotus Eric has a few thoughts on this instant classic miniseries
• How Had I Never Seen... Lust Caution Nick finally sees Ang Lee's most risque film
• Shang-Chi Nathaniel writes the only review of the Marvel blockbuster which manages to name-check The Piano
• Emmys AND Tonys Weird to have these two awards shows back-to-back this year
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye Jesus takes Jessica higher!
• Billy Wilder Christopher samples the Criterion Channel's collection
• Best of NYFF Benedetta, Tragedy of Macbeth, Titane and more...

COMING IN OCTOBER
Let's not over promise (we know we tend to do that. sorry) as it's going to be B-U-S-Y but at the very least we have the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1937 (in just a couple of days), the release of Dune, a few more NYFF reviews, and the Middleburg Film Festival where Nathaniel (c'est moi) will be doing an Oscar panel again with friends and colleagues Clayton Davis and Jazz Tangcay. Stay tuned!