Frances McDormand, Vogue Cover Girl!

by Nathaniel R

Whoa. Frances McDormand is the cover star of Vogue's January issue (the profile is up now). It's not every day you see a 60something woman on the cover of a legendary fashion magazine! But Frances McDormand is hardly an every day kind of woman. She's more of the 'only a few times a generation' sort. The only other 60something woman to make Vogue's cover in the past twenties year was Meryl Streep...

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Doc Corner: Queer x3 to Japan, NYC and Manchester

By Glenn Dunks

LGBTIA people of colour are seen far less on our screens so I wanted to use this week’s column to focus on a few films that give them a spotlight which are now accessible to audiences. Of the three titles, the one that feels the most urgent is Graham Kolbeins’ exuberant Queer Japan that traverses the (often quite interconnected) underground scene of Japan’s queer population. If Kolbein’s film is vibrant and busy, then Gustávo Sanchez’s transgender narrative of I Hate New York manages to somehow find the grit and the dirt in NYC long after it seemingly vanished. Lastly, while that city’s Harlem ball scene has been well memorialized on screen, Deep in Vogue by Dennis Keighron-Foster and Amy Watson finds a different angle across the pond in England’s scene...

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Showbiz History: Superman's premiere, Middle Earth's arrival, Bollywood's physique

Six random things that happened on this day, December 10th, in showbiz history

1966 "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys, considered on of the most influential and important compositions of the rock era, hits #1. Remember when Paul Dano did such amazing work playing Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson in the biopic Love & Mercy (2015) and then got such a shabby awards season response (though at least we nominated him here!)?

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BIFA Nominations: "Saint Maud" leads the horror friendly pack

by Nathaniel R

The British Independent Film Awards have announced their nominations for the year. 27 films received at least one nomination but the bulk of the nominations went to Saint Maud (17), His House (16), and Rocks (15). UPDATE: Rocks and His House later emerged as the big winners. Higher profile Oscar hopefuls like The Father (6) and Ammonite (2) didn't do as well though The Father eventually won 3 of its 6 categories. Due to the category divisions BIFA has a lot of people that are double or triple nominated this year (they have the regular categories plus "debut" style categories). The BIFAs have a unique process in that the nominations are juried and then winners are decided in two separate ways. All BIFA vote by secret ballot to decide the winners of the nine craft categories plus Best Film, Best International Film, Discovery Award, and Short Film. But everything else is decided by discussion of individual juries separate from the juries who picked the nomination! Confusing right?! 

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH THE WINNERS 02/19/21

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Podcast: All about "Mank" plus the Best Director Oscar race

with Nathaniel R & Murtada Elfadl

We're back!

Index (63 minutes)
00:01 Mank: The stars, the story, and rewatching Citizen Kane
24:00 MVPs of the ensemble. Plus those Norma Shearer asides
32:00 How will Oscar react overall? David Fincher's career acclaim
38:00 Everybody in the (wildly open) Best Director race. Plus female directors rising!
55:30 Mank in male acting categories: Gary Oldman? Charles Dance?

Related Reading:
• Best Actor Chart
• Best Director Oscar Chart

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

MANK