More prizes: IFMCA, Nevada, Utah, Seattle, Dallas Ft Worth, and Washington DC
Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:00PM by Nathaniel R
The awards for 2020 cinema aren't done yet! First things first the British Independent Film Awards were held so we've updated that post to reflect their winners. Rocks was the big winner with five wins but The Father far behind it in nomination totals, won three.
Now here are five more new sets of critics groups from Nevada, Utah, Seattle, Dallas Ft Worth, DC. There are no new names or titles winning except for Nevada honoring Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy and The Father in Screenplay and Seattle's choice of Documentary (The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition). Utah goes slightly off consensus preferring both Minari and One Night in Miami to Nomadland in the top Picture/Director categories. Utah also has two unusual choices in runners up positions like Lukasz Zal for cinematography and Cristin Milioti for Palm Springs for a genre performance category. We'd congratulate Utah on their good taste except that they also declare that Chicago 7 was better written and edited than Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal/Tenet respectively so you win some you lose some.
But first let's start with the International Film Music Critics Association winners since by its nature, it's forced to be different from the other awards being passed out at the moment...
Are you there Link? It's me, Nathaniel
Friday, February 19, 2021 at 5:06PM • US Dish is hosting a viewing party contest for romcom lovers. You can enter until the 26th and the winner has to be wiling to host an online viewing party with their friends and vlog about it afterwards. The prize is $2000
• MCN Gurus of Gold weigh in on the Best Picture and Best Director races
• Guardian excellent and rare interview with Sacha Baron Cohen as himself rather than in character about Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Trial of the Chicago 7, and his activism
• Slate really interesting piece about the way Hallmark has tried to avoid politics and their babysteps towards the modern world via their very popular Christmas movies
More after the jump including Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Zhao, Sound of Metal, new biopics, and new adaptations of old best-sellers...
Almost There: Michelle Pfeiffer in "White Oleander"
Friday, February 19, 2021 at 10:58AM 
This past weekend, actressexuals and Pfeiffer pfans were scandalized when Lucas Hedges revealed he had never seen a movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer before working with her on French Exit. I kid, while also admitting I was surprised. Being only two years older than Hedges, I've seen plenty of Pfeiffer movies as have many of my friends, ranging from work by renowned auteurs to blockbuster fare. Hers is a varied filmography. She may have only been nominated thrice for the Oscars, but Michelle Pfeiffer has delivered a fair share of awards-worthy star turns and her range is quite expansive. Equally brilliant in big leading parts and small supporting roles, broad comedy and thrilling drama, Pfeiffer is one of my favorite actresses and I'd love nothing more than to share my adoration with you, dear readers.
With that in mind, let's delve into one of the best performances in her resume. Maybe more than any other of her other films, White Oleander got Michelle Pfeiffer very close to that elusive fourth Oscar nod…
Showbiz History: Gyllenhaal's first win, The Witch's release
Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:00AM 5 random things that happened on this day, February 19th, in history (as it relates to showbiz)...
1942 /1945 Two historic and tragic days in the history of Japan & US relations. In '42 President FDR ordered Japanese-Americans into internment camps. This shameful moment is rarely dramatized in English-language movies outside of documentaries (surely because Hollywood doesn't love looking at America's own sins) though its shown up in a few like Go For Broke (1951) about Japanese-Americans serving in the US Army at the time and 1990's Come See the Paradise about an interracial family during the war. Later in '45 the US marines invasion of Iwo Jima begins. We recently saw it dramatized, from the Japanese perspective, in Clint Eastwood's Best Picture nominee Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)...