Quickies to Catch Up (pt 1): The Conjuring 3, A Quiet Place 2, Barb & Star 1

It's been difficult to get back into the swing of things, especially since we're short on funds given how last season went with Hollywood shut down. That said, we're feeling a swing of summer energy coming so... watch out? stay tuned? cross fingers? Though we reviewed quite a few indies, docs, and festival entries, we've given mainstream stuff short shrift other than the beautifully made but maddeningly soft Cruella, the wondrously exuberant In the Heights, and the utterly lame Thunder Force. We'll be shocked if a worse movie arrives this year than the latter, which is sad since it's so easy to root for both of its leading actresses in a general career sense.

Without further ado let's get started on the catch-up (and fill out that review page) with four movies you probably saw that we didn't talk about. Let's fix that in the comment section...

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The Best Costumes of 1946

by Cláudio Alves

Before we head into the nitty-gritty of the Best Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1946 tomorrow, it's time to look at some pretty clothes and lose our minds in a hurricane of 'what ifs.' By the end of that decade, the Academy had implemented two Best Costume Design categories – black-and-white and color – but those awards were only introduced in 1948 for the 21st Academy Awards. Before that, costume designers had no way of winning Oscars. If you're an awards obsessive who loves the art of costuming, it's easy to wonder what would have happened if the category were introduced at the beginning. What would have been nominated in 1946? Who would have won? Here are my tentative answers to these complicated questions…

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Doc Corner: Tribeca '21 — 'Socks on Fire' and 'North by Current' explore queerness in rural America

By Glenn Dunks

It’s thankfully no longer all that rare to see stories of queer people in rural settings. Especially in documentary. But that doesn’t make it any less special to see their stories—once so often relegated to traumatic narratives centering violence—told by queer filmmakers. Two films in particular at the recently wrapped Tribeca Film Festival examined the changing dynamics of (some) American small-town life. Both take elements of memoir and even non-traditional storytelling to create unique films that make strong arguments for the sheer human decency that many in minority communities desire.

While Bo McGuire’s Socks on Fire and Angelo Madsen Minax’s North by Current tell stories that confront the still very tangible realities of being LGBTQ+ outside of the more accepting big cities, they do so with artistic flair and the confidence that comes from generational change...

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74th Cannes. Spike Lee's Jury

by Nathaniel R

We've known for well over a year that Spike Lee would be presiding over the competition jury. And last week he became the first Jury President (that we know of) to ever be the poster star of the festival in the year he was jurying. How about that? People will also be excited to hear that the competition jury is majority women but that's not a first. It's actually the third time. Isabelle Huppert led a majority female jury in 2009 (White Ribbon won the Palme that year) and Jane Campion led a majority female jury in 2014 (Winter Sleep won).

LET'S MEET THE JURY...

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The Honorary Oscars are back with a worthy quartet!

by Nathaniel R

After a year off from the Honorary Oscars, thanks to COVID-19, we deserved an awesome list this year and the Academy has provided. This is exactly the type of list we need each year wherein the Academy honors people who haven't already won Oscars but contributed indelibly to film culture. At the next Governor's Awards, which will be on January 15th, 2022 (instead of in its usual November spot) the Honorary Oscar will be given to actors Samuel L Jackson (one previous nomination, Pulp Fiction) and Liv Ullmann (two previous nominations, The Emigrants and Face to Face), and the actress/director/screenwriter Elaine May (two previous nominations for writing for Primary Colors and Heaven Can Wait). If you count honorary prizes this means 89 year old Elaine May will just be an Emmy short of EGOTing since she's already won a Tony (The Waverly Gallery) and a Grammy (An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May)...

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