The Best of Cloris Leachman (1926-2021)

by Nathaniel R

We've lost one of the true greats. The one and only Cloris Leachman has died at 94 years of age of natural causes. The showbiz bug hit early, as it often does with plays as a teenager and by the time she was 20 in 1946 she was a Miss America contestant. Her career developed slowly as many truly enduring careers do, with numerous small roles in film and television (and some large ones onstage) before the big breakthrough. That breakthrough was a double whammy, as befits hard-working but late-breaking fame. In short succession she made a huge impression as Phyllis the landlady on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970/1971 first season and in October 1971 she was also on the big screen, flexing very different acting chops, in the soon to be Oscar-winning classic, The Last Picture Show (1971).  

Though she is best remembered today for television sitcoms which she did on and off throughout her career, she was an actress of verve and versatility...

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Almost There: Ralph Fiennes in "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

by Cláudio Alves

With Netflix's The Dig arriving friday, let's talk about the remarkable Ralph Fiennes. Oscar-wise, the British actor hit it big quickly, earning a nomination for his third feature, Best Picture champion Schindler's List. For a handful of years, it seemed like he'd become an awards season perennial, but things turned out differently. While he conquered another Oscar nomination for 1996's The English Patient, he's won little buzz since. That doesn't reflect a decrease in the quality of his work nor a turn to less prestigious fare. Oddly, even when he gets great reviews in titles beloved by AMPAS, an acting nomination remains elusive. This was never more evident than in 2014 when Fiennes delivered a tour-de-force in one of the most nominated movies of the year, The Grand Budapest Hotel…

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The Furniture: Promising Young Woman and Set Decoration as Weapon

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

The best part of Promising Young Woman, aside from Carey Mulligan’s performance, is the look. It’s refreshing to see a comedy with so striking a visual sensibility, a neon nihilism that leaps off the screen. It’s certainly the first time I’ve ever seen coffee shop decor that I could describe as “snide.”

The work put in by production designer Michael Perry, art director Liz Kloczkowski and set decorator Rae Deslich is remarkable. Promising Young Woman has such a heightened visual sensibility, occasionally its own plot seems surprisingly tame in comparison...

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Cannes & Berlinale delayed

While we're on record objecting to awards shows changing their eligibility dates like crazy (despite, you know, the quarantine accessibility of streaming giving us all ways to see lots of movies) here's one change we can totally get behind and which makes total sense. Cannes, which always takes place in May, has moved itself to July for the 2021 film year.  More specifically the festival will run from July 6th through July 17th.  Last year, Spike Lee as chosen as jury president but then the event was cancelled so he was meant to reign in 2021 instead. That's still the plan (assuming Spike's schedule hasn't changed).

Though this is only a two month move it could prove a bit disruptive to the fall A list festivals like Venice, Telluride, and Toronto who generally can nab world premieres from prestige filmmakers whose films weren't quite ready for Cannes. Now all the A-list non Sundance festivals, including Berlinale, which is usually in February but will be in June this year, will take place across only a four month span. That's a lot of competition for films!

Angels & Insects @ 25: Entomological Perversions

by Cláudio Alves

Angels & Insects arrived in US theaters 25 years ago. The picture had had its premiere at the 48th Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or but it would take several more months for it to get a commercial release in the UK and the States. Once that happened, Phillip Haas' adaptation of an A.S. Byatt novel received plenty of acclaim from such renowned critics as Roger Ebert, conquering enough buzz to get a surprising, if deserved, Best Costume Design Oscar nomination. Nowadays, the flick isn't talked about, which is a terrible injustice as far as I'm concerned.

To rectify such lack of contemporary discussion, let's try to explore the sensuous perversions and entomological nightmares of this tale insects, incest, and insidiousness…

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