King McQueen On Every Screen

by Jason Adams

Steve McQueen, the man who directed five, count 'em, five of last year's best films with his Small Axe series, is about to confound everybody fixated on old-fashioned definitions of Art all over again with a new three-part thingamajig for the BBC called Uprising.  THR is calling it a "docuseries" and this one, on paper, does admittedly sound more like a proper old-fashioned series than the Small Axe anthology ended up seeming (to me). We'll  wait and see how McQueen confounds our expectations, since he does always love to do that, and to stunning effect. And hey if awards voting bodies can't keep up with where and how the art is happening that's their fault, not the artists.

Uprising will focus in closer on the 1981 events that formed the backdrop of Axe's fourth chapter "Alex Wheatle" -- namely the New Cross Fire which killed 13 young people, and the Black People's Day of Action and then the Brixton Riots which followed right on its heels. It's not entirely clear if this will be entirely a documentary -- McQueen's quoted as saying it will be drawn from "testimonials" of the people involved -- or if there will be a hybrid project with a fictionalized mix of recreations. Not that McQueen needs help but I'm hoping he draws some inspiration from Raoul Peck's recent HBO series Exterminate All the Brutes, which threw absolutely everything at us all at once and blew my socks straight off in the process.

2000: "The Contender" and Three Varying Oscar Journeys

In preparation for the next Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.

By Ben Miller

Revisiting Rod Lurie’s The Contender, the three primary performances of Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman still pop off the screen.  All three had been critically lauded before the political drama and earned rave reviews for their performances.  Oddly, the film serves as the unintentional catalyst for the Oscar trajectory of all three actors.  In the next 20 years, two would win Oscars, while the other has yet to be nominated again...

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Gay Best Friend: Brandon (Dan Byrd) in "Easy A" (2010)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope    

Where would gay boys be without their beards?Looking back in the past for this column, it can be very easy to think homophobia in mainstream pop culture is a thing of the 90s. Obviously, the news reflects a much more grim reality, especially when it comes to racism and transphobia. However, it wasn’t long ago that Proposition 8 passed in California in 2008, banning same sex marriage. Though it would be overturned, this gives a good barometer how LGBTQ+ people were far from the mainstream well into the millennium. Even in 2010, it wasn’t easy to be openly gay, no matter how many “It Gets Better” videos people watched or “No H8” photo shoots were done.

This fact is central to the inciting incident of the Will Gluck 2010 comedy Easy A. The high school comedy and sleeper hit launched the A-list career of Emma Stone. Yet it's actually Dan Bryd’s Brandon who sets the plot into motion...

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Almost There: Jamie Bell in "Billy Elliot"

In preparation for the next Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.

by Cláudio Alves

The ingrained sexism within Hollywood, in general, and AMPAS, in particular, has many consequences. One of them is the disparity of ages when men and women are recognized for their talents. Male actors tend to be rewarded later in life, while the industry often ignores women after they hit a certain age. You can even see this dynamic at play with underage actors. Only six male children have been nominated in Oscar history in comparison with over a dozen actresses.

Over the past two decades, several boy wonders have been ignored by the Academy, despite buzz in their years. There's Alan S. Kim (Minari), Jacob Tremblay (Room), Tom Holland (The Impossible), Thomas Horn (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland), and, of course, Jamie Bell. In 2000, the latter was definitely in the Best Actor conversation for the sleeper-hit Billy Elliot…

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Streaming May 2021: The Mitchells vs. Dancing Girls at the Commune

Yes it's time for another round of streaming roulette where we point out titles that are new(ish) to streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar and whatever comes up we share. Let's start with Netflix...

It's too dangerous out there. We need to stay here and play it safe!"

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