Showbiz History: Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Terminator, and Bond

Five random things that happened on this day (October 26th) in history...

1881 The Gunfight at the OK Corral lasted just 30 seconds on this day but it's been immortal since via the movies and television where it's been depicted dozens of times, most famously in Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993).

1931 Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra opens on Broadway starring Alice Brady (who will win an Oscar later that decade for In Old Chicago). But it takes 16 years for a film version to premiere which disappoints but nabs an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Drama win for Rosalind Russell...

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Borat's return in "Subsequent Moviefilm"

by Eric Blume

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 smash hit, has arrived on Amazon, and just within the first days of its arrival, the film has the country buzzing on whether or not Rudy Guiliani thought he was going to get laid by a teenager, plus registered a hateful tweet from Trump (and a hilarious comeback from Cohen to Trump).  When is the last time a movie provoked that kind of high-level anxiety?

The original Borat movie was revelatory at the time, an extension of the mockumentary style we'd seen since the Spinal Tap days, but roping in the clueless general populace to create a brutal takedown on American stupidity, racism, and sexism.  But the approach from the Borat creative team felt fresh...

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Chi Film Fest: Palestine's Oscar submission "Gaza Mon Amour"

by Nick Taylor

I felt much warmer towards Gaza Mon Amour at its conclusion than when it began. The gradual expansion of its story and stabilization of its aesthetic strategies are what got me on its side. At its core, Gaza Mon Amour is buoyed by the mutual, barely spoken ardor between fisherman Issa (Salim Daw) and dressmaker Siham (Hiam Abbass), but the script gives near-equal attention to their work lives and the friends and family members that populate their lives. It’s an admirable scope, though one might wonder when Tarzan and Arab Nasser, the twin sibling writer/director duo behind Palestine’s International Film submission, are going to move their story forward. It’s not clear for the first half hour whether the film will find itself or collapse entirely...

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Fargo: Kindness in an Unkind World

by Cláudio Alves

With Frances McDormand back in the Oscar conversation thanks to Chloe Zhao's Nomadland, I'm reminded of some discussions I had when Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri was making its way through the festival circuit. On first viewing, I was more charmed by the movie than many of my friends and colleagues (subsequent re-watches killed that initial goodwill), finding myself defending some of the picture's elements to its impassioned detractors. Three years later, there's still a critique of Frances McDormand's second Oscar-winning performance that infuriates me, even though I'm no big fan of her turn as Mildred Hayes. 

According to people whose opinions I respect, McDormand was doing the same thing she always does. More alarmingly, I was told that the actress was just repeating her first Oscar-winning performance in Fargo. Whatever one may think about this thespian's pair of Academy Award-winning works, they are different, diametrically opposed even. In many ways, Mildred is the antithesis of Marge Gunderson…

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Another AFI Wrap: I Carry You With Me, One Night in Miami, etc.

by Christopher James

The gay romantic drama "I Carry You With Me"

AFI Fest has always been one of my favorite times of the year. As an LA-based critic, it’s my chance to catch up on all the big movies that premiered at Venice, TIFF, NYFF and Telluride. Some of my personal favorite memories from attending the festival the last five years include watching Roma at the legendary Egyptian Theater and attending an afterparty for Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool with Annette Bening and Jamie Bell in attendance. With the pandemic, a lot of the pomp and circumstance has been taken out of the film festival. That absence has been replaced by greater accessibility to some of the great films chosen for the festival. No more rushing across Hollywood Boulevard to get in line for a third film in a day. All the bingeing can be done from the comfort of my couch. Many film festivals have found a positive way to adapt to the pandemic.

Chris’ 'Jury-of-One' Top Five AFI Fest 2020 Films...

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