Horror Actressing: Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"

by Jason Adams

We're in between seasons of our "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series, taking the post-Halloween holidays off, but I decided to spring out from under my self-appointed mothballs to celebrate this week's 10th anniversary of Darren Aronofsky's le grande trash Black Swan -- to spring out, to do a lustily precise pirouette, and to plunk down some love here for Natalie Portman's spectacular and much-deserved Oscar-winning turn as the prima ballerina Nina Sayers, our favorite sweet girl slash toe-crunching psycho.

Over this past weekend I randomly ended up re-watching two seemingly disparate horror films that you might not immediately sense a sister-bond between... 

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Almost There: Joan Allen in "Pleasantville"

by Cláudio Alves

You guys really love Joan Allen. Once again, this three-time Academy Award nominee has won the readers' vote in the Almost There polls. When choosing from a selection of 10 non-Oscar-nominated performances in new to streaming movies, you picked Allen's turn in Gary Ross' Pleasantville. It's a 1998 fantasy about two modern teenagers who find themselves teleported inside a 1950s black-and-white sitcom. As their influence humanizes the neighborhood, sexual autonomy blossoms as do other desires, wills. Even color starts to appear in the monochrome universe. Odious prejudice is soon to follow.

Between metaphors about sexual liberation, racism, and midcentury conservativism, one cast member shines brighter than all the others, rises above the picture's relative shortcomings. As the kids' televisual mother, Joan Allen is a miracle of stilted cheeriness melting into delicate gradations of humanity…

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International Oscar - will we have a record number of competing films?

Since the Thanksgiving Eve update we've had the following films join the competition for Oscar's Best International Feature Film bringing the current number up to 84.

• Bangladesh - Sincerely Yours, Dhaka which is an anthology from multiple directors about life in Dhaka (streaming on Netflix)
• Belarus - Persian Lessons
• Hong Kong - Better Days which is  teen crime drama about a bully victim and a street thug who protects her (for rent on Amazon | more on Hong Kong and Oscar)
• Iceland - Agnes Joy a mother daughter drama
• Pakistan - Zindagi Tamasha / Circus of Life is about an elderly man who loves music whose life is changed by a social media post which brings him in conflict with the strict Muslim society in which he lives. 
• Serbia - Dara in Jasenovac  *sniffle* Was really hoping it'd be Father which I looooved at CIFF but perhaps this Holocaust drama about two kids in a concentration camp is stellar, too?
• Uruguay - Aleli in which three adult siblings fight over their father's home when he dies (streaming on Netflix)

The record for most competitors for Best International Feature Film is 92 (the 2017 competition). 2019 tried to break that with 93 submissions but two were disqualified, which allowed 2017 to keep the record. We're just 8 titles short (if none of the ones we've heard about are disqualified) of a new record for 2020. You can follow this list on the charts here or at letterboxd.

Gay Best Friend: Wallace Wells in "Scott Pilgrim vs the World"

by Christopher James

Get your hot topic graphic tees and turn on some Clash inspired rock music, we’re going back to 2010 for this week’s installment of Gay Best Friend. Inspired by comments from readers Scott C and Jesus Alonso, we returned to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the first time since seeing it in theaters 10 years ago. It turned out to be a fascinating watch in more ways than one, so thank you for the suggestion!

It’s fitting we’re examining the role of Wallace Wells, played by Kieran Culkin, 10 years later. Culkin has graduated from “Maculely Culkin’s talented brother” to stardom thanks to his Emmy-nominated work in Succession. Additionally, in a movie stuffed with zaniness and stylization, Wallace’s role as the GBF is more as a stabilizing, grounding force. While it’s a small role, the film makes Wallace an interesting, modern portrait of a gay man that strays away from typical characterizations...

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It's Virginia Mayo's Centennial

by Nathaniel R

Today marks the centennial of another Old Hollywood star that seems to be forgotten these days but perhaps there are fans among you? Born in Missouri on this day in 1920, Virginia Clara Jones hit the Vaudeville circuit as a professional entertainer when she was 17 and adopted the stage name of "Virginia Mayo" even before Hollywood came calling in the early 1940s. Her first credited film role was in the biopic Jack London (1943) starring Michael O'Shea (who she would marry four years later). Though she was a leading lady with many box office hits to her name, enduring classics (mostly) eluded her. Naturally then she's best remembered today in a supporting role as the unfaithful wife in the superb Best Picture winner The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), one of those utterly magic films where every single actor is killing it...

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