"Respect" moving to summer 2021

R-E-S-P-E-C-T the release date chaos, since you have no other choice! The movie calendar has been in serious chaos since March and it will continue to be so until there's a vaccine. There has always been an element of uncertainty surrounding release dates, even in the before times, but we've never before had uncertainty about when EVERY movie might arrive before. Unprecedented times we live in. Anyway, Respect, the Aretha Franklin biopic, is moving to August 2021. Maybe theaters will be open by then? This takes Jennifer Hudson out of the Oscar race (at least until the 94th Oscars in 2022) so we've had to adjust the Best Actress chart yet again. 

Strange timing though since just last week she was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly promoting the movie (which is a much more normal 3 month out promotional window but now that press was 10 months early!)

Almost There: Joan Crawford in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

by Cláudio Alves

It's October, a season for spookiness and horror movies, for nightmares and ghouls. It seems only appropriate that the Almost There series takes a look at a performance in the horror genre, though it's hard to find examples that fit the criteria. AMPAS is famously allergic to most horror and few actors have been recognized or come close for that genre. 

Inspired by the month and the Criterion Channel's new Joan Crawford collection, I decided to take a look at one of the actress' most contentious and controversial achievements. One speaks of that terrifying occasion when Joan and Bette met onscreen, the clashing of two titans and two acting styles, the epitome of Grande Dame Guignol. That's right, it's time to explore What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...

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Horror Actressing: Manuela Velasco in "[REC]" (2007)

by Jason Adams

Whenever you read a plot synopsis of the 2007 found-footage masterpiece [REC] by Spanish filmmakers Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza (both of whom have gone on to make outstanding films on their own, not to mention a couple of outstanding sequels to [REC] itself) it's worth noting that the synopsis always leaves out the first fifteen minutes of the movie. It's always like this, stolen off Wikipedia:

"Reporter Ángela Vidal and her cameraman Pablo are covering the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the documentary television series While You're Sleeping. While they are recording, the firehouse receives a call about an old woman..."

There is far more meat to that "while they are recording" then one would think...

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Sandy Powell ❤️ plaid

Powell on the set of "The Irishman"by Cláudio Alves

Some auteurists would have you believe that only directors among filmmakers have a distinctive style, a visual language transversal to all their projects. People like Sandy Powell, one of AMPAS' favorite costume designers, defy this logic. Her films share an aesthetic ethos and her taste is ever-present. Notice, for instance, how Powell has a penchant for saturated contrasting colors and bold patterns, often filling the frame with a cacophony of clashing prints. Her approach is so characteristic, in part, because busy textiles aren't something that normally works on camera.

Too much visual information can often distract the audience, dispersing the focus instead of guiding the eye with careful purpose. Powell, however, is capable of making it all work and her films are always bursting at the seams with complicated motifs, be it moiré silks or paisley wools, sequined brocades or floral cotton. Most of all, Powell loves plaid...

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The New Classics: The Babadook

Hello, everyone. Michael Cusumano here to close out the second season of The New Classics. Since I'm wrapping it up so close to Halloween I feel like it's my duty to honor one of the 21st Century's new horror icons.

At first glance Mr. Babadook appears to be a character engineered to anchor a horror franchise. His distinctive silhouette, with his spidery claws and wardrobe right out of Dr. Caligari’s cabinet, seems ready-made for branding. It’s only once you’ve been through the psychological wringer of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook that you realize how ill-suited the character is to such a role. The Babadook is a single serving tormentor, tailored specifically to the psychological scars of Essie Davis’s Amelia. He could no more pick up and move to a different victim than Mrs. Bates could torture someone other than poor Norman.

Scene: The Book Returns...

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