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Thursday, December 24, 2020 at 9:30AM 7 random things that happened on this day, December 24th, in showbiz history
1936 The Jungle Princess starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland opens in movie theaters. How about that tagline?
"You savage, untamed she-devil -- I adore you!"
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 11:39PM 
Apologies for not addressing this earlier today but of the three Golden Globe rulings that have the internet's collective tongue wagging, only one of them surprised us and only in a very mild kind of way. Perhaps this is why we didn't jump to discuss figuring that people would respond with a shrug. How wrong we were! If you're like 'what the hell are you discussing, Nathaniel?' here's a quick survey.
The three controversial rulings:
1. Minari will not be eligible for Best Picture at the Globes but instead compete for Best Foreign Language Film. Our surprise level: 0%. The Globes have never allowed pictures that weren't in the English language to compete in Best Picture and we just assumed everyone knew this but we were quite wrong. The same exact thing happened as recently as last year (The Farewell, 2019) and as recently, before that, as the year before (Roma, 2018)...
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 10:00PM by Nathaniel R
Is there a stranger 'big eight' Oscar category situation this year than the Supporting categories? Both of them appear to have a weird dearth of mainstream contenders. Meanwhile the critics awards or "precursors" have (thus far) been laser-focused on upping the Oscar viability of just two (or three if we're being generous) arguably non-traditional options in those categories: Maria Bakalova's comic improv genius in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Paul Raci's weary mentor in the hard-edged indie Sound of Metal, and Youn Yuh-Jung's spirited grandmother in Minari.
Which brings up the natural but loaded question of what part critics do or don't / should or shouldn't play in the televised awards races. There are no doubt complicated reasons why critics all across the nation vote so uniformly in some years but we'd argue that it's never from a lack of good options as hundreds of movies starring plentiful gifted actors come out each year...
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 6:45PM "The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)
This week marks the 75th anniversary of Leave Her to Heaven, a technicolor noir blockbuster with set decoration so opulent, you will find yourself shouting at the upholstery.
It has other virtues, of course: Gene Tierney’s wickedly genre-shifting performance, Leon Shamroy’s shadow-wielding cinematography, Vincent Price’s height, etc. But the last time I watched it, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sets. The film takes place in a fever-dream of post-war prosperity before the fact, an endless parade of over-decorated vacation homes.
Frankly, it should have won the Oscar for Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Color...
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
After Visual Effects and Makeup and Animated and Documentary Features let's turn out attention to the written word seeking Oscar approval. The critics awards for Best Screenplays are never very telling because many film critic organizations lump Adapted and Originals together. The only films in the Oscar race that have already won Best Screenplay prizes this year (at this writing) are the originals Promising Young Woman (LAFCA) and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (NYFCC and CFCA) and the adaptation that feels like an original i'm thinking of ending things (BSFC, FFCC, and IFJA). (The various screenplay winners from Cannes, Venice, Sundance and Berlinale are not eligible at the Oscars this year.) That's a long way of saying that we have very little to go on in the Oscar race...
