Hal Holbrook (1925-2021)

by Nathaniel R

Do you occassionally think of Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild (2007) and just tear up? It's a common completely understandable affliction! Here's another reason to tear up. The Oscar nominated and Emmy and Tony-winning actor passed away just a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday. (He actually died before Cloris Leachman and Cicely Tyson but the news has only recently arrived; we lost three beloved acting legends in just a five-day stretch). Holbrook had become a widower 11 years ago when his wife of 26 years, Dixie Carter (Designing Women) passed away.

But what a long life and enduring career this man had. Born and raised in Ohio, a project in college (still in Ohio) led him to his greatest role:  Mark Twain. He first played the famous writer/wit when he was in his twenties and began developing his famous solo show Hal Holbrook: Mark Twain Tonight! by the age of 30. What's your favourite Holbrook performance? Twain and a dozen other key roles are after the jump... 

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Best International Feature: Argentina, Canada, Russia

by Cláudio Alves

Last time, our voyage through the Best International Feature Oscar submissions took us to the entries from some of the biggest film industries in the world. Today's countries may not be as prolific in terms of cinematic production, but they are gigantic when it comes to population and landmass. Furthermore, their submissions are united by a common theme – the relationship between mothers and daughters, familial bonds in distress. Without further ado, let's explore the maternal meditations of Argentina, Canada, and Russia…

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"Jingle Jangle" and "Ma Rainey" lead the NAACP Image Award Nominations

Netflix completely reigned over the 52nd annual NAACP Image Award nominations where Jingle Jangle, Ma Rainey and Da 5 Bloods were the top three most nominated films. As we've seen with most of the awards to date from various organizations -- but maybe not with the upcoming Globes, SAG, and the Oscars -- those films that opted to wait until January or February to start screening like Malcolm & Marie, Judas and the Black Messiah and the United States vs Billie Holliday, which are all fully "2021" films, are missing from a lot of the precursor lists. Sometimes that's due to eligibility rules sticking to the calendar year as we're doing and as we assume the NAACP did. Other times it might just be due to the age-old risk that late-breaking awards campaigns take each and every year. When you wait to the last minute you have the distinct advantage of being fresh in the mind should you be nominated coupled with the disadvantage that you might miss the nominations altogether if not enough people screen your work in time.

Congratulations to all of the nominees in film, television, literature, and music. You can all see the NAACP nominations after the jump... UPDATED WITH WINNERS 03/29...

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Sundance: "The World To Come" review

by Jason Adams

As a writer it must be said (or written even!) that I love words. Perhaps on occasion, it has been said and written, more than I ought to. It's the romance of my life. You can spend hours staring in the eyes of one -- erasing it, putting it back, looking for it the absolute best of partners. It's in words where I find meaning, too much and too often -- the experience of a thing is here and gone but once you've dug it back up and defined it, encased it into the tombs of steely-sided capital letters, well then it's a thing, right and proper. Understanding one's life, the un-understandable, becomes a matter of word puzzles.

It's this same tension, between word and feeling, that fuels Mona Fastvold's same-sex romance The World To Come, and like its heroine its that tension that very nearly undoes it...

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FYC: Best Actor

by Nathaniel R

Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods and Mads Mikkelsen in Another RoundWith the top ten list finally filed (please read and comment), the annual Film Bitch Awards are in progress. With that comes lots of hair-pulling (figuratively speaking of course as I have none) because it's hard to make decisions around what is "best" in art. At least it is if you're doing it right and care. "The Man Who Loved Movies Awards Too Much" might be the title of my biography because you can't love movies too much.  So whenever I announce my favourites, I immediately feel bad about what I didn't honor because in (grateful) truth there are far more than five worthy things in any category in any given year.

But awards are and should be a time capsule. It doesn't mean you will always feel that way but it's what you valued most at that juncture. Same is true for the big Hollywood awards shows which is why so many of their choices look so weird. Time changes people and art and public opinion...

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