Gay Best Friend: Jane in "Boys on the Side" (1995)

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

Incredibly disappointed I only now realized there was a road trip dramedy with Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore.Long live the era of Whoopi Goldberg vehicles (aka the 90s).

Goldberg kick-started the 90s by winning a (well-deserved) Oscar for Ghost and headlining the smash-hit Sister Act. From there, we got a string of movies where Goldberg was the leading lady. Though they varied in quality and weren’t always progressive, it was impressive to see movie after movie built around a black actress. Who else could do Eddie, Bogus, The Associate AND Ghosts of Mississippi all in 1996? We’re going a year earlier for this week’s gay best friend. No, we’re not talking about Theodore Rex (though… should we). Instead, we are talking about the messy dramedy I didn’t know I needed in my life, Boys on the Side.

Unlike in past weeks, our gay best friend (technically) takes center stage. Jane (Goldberg) is a lesbian musician looking to get out of New York and move Los Angeles after a tumultuous breakup...

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Canadian Screen Awards: Blood Quantum, The Nest, Funny Boys, etc...

by Nathaniel R

The Canadian Screen Awards, formerly known as the Genies (Film) and Geminis (TV), have been around in their current form since 2013. The indigenous zombie film Blood Quantum, currently streaming on Shudder, led the nominations for film with 10 citations but missed both picture and director. In second place, in terms of nomination tally, was Deepa Mehta's gay drama Funny Boy (which you'll remember was disqualified as Canada's submission at the Oscars since almost all of its dialogue was in English). If you watch Funny Boy on Netflix, take note that friend of TFE Arun Welandawe Prematillek, plays the teacher in the classroom scenes. The awards ceremony on May 20th will be a virtual event.

The full motion picture nominee list and where you can see some of the films after the jump [THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH THE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY] ...

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Which of these will '95 born actors will be Oscar-nominated first?

by Nathaniel R

Since it's 26 days until the Oscars we thought we'd look at 26 year-olds... or soon-to-be 26 year olds rather. Only one actor born in 1995 has been nominated to date. That'd be the internet's twink boyfriend Timothée Chalamet. But which other actors of the 1995 vintage will join him in receiving Hollywood's greatest stamp of approval? We've collected six potential suspects after the jump along with a few handful of alternates though it bears noting that the next big star born in '95 could very easily be someone who hasn't even made their first film yet since careers take time to build and Hollywood was forced to take a full year off of discovering new talent in 2020... 

WHICH BORN IN '95 ACTOR WILL BE OSCAR NOMINATED NEXT?
(ALPHA ORDER)

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Showbiz History: Warren Beatty's habitual Oscar fate, 1954's lame Best Picture lineup, and more...

4 random things that happened on this day, March 30th, in showbiz history

1946 The 3rd annual Golden Globes were held on this day honoring The Lost Weekend, 75 years ago. It was AFTER the Oscars. How bizarre right? But the Globes were more like the NBR at the start announcing winners (no nominees) in advance of a banquet.  

1955 The 27th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1954 On the Waterfront leads the nominations and wins an incredible 8 Oscars.  Though the Academy nominates all the wrong movies as its competition so it had an easy time of it. The Best Picture lineup went like so...

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Regina King directs Viola Davis

Regina King directed a photo-essay for W magazine called "Black Americana" starring Viola Davis and her family. The photographer is Andre D. Wagner. It's just beautiful. Check it out.