Lynn Gives Thanks, 2020

Team Experience is giving thanks. Here's Lynn Lee...

Between the scourge of COVID-19 and the utterly dysfunctional American response, 2020 is looking more and more like a lost year for public health, good governance, and the arts and entertainment industry in this country.  Still, as tantalizing hopes of a return to normalcy glimmer on the horizon (three potential vaccines! A responsible, expertise-driven presidential administration!), Thanksgiving provides a much-needed reminder to appreciate the things that helped get us through the past several months.  Here are some of the movie and TV-related moments and discoveries that brought me joy this year:

• Parasite making history as the first Korean movie to win the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Foreign Film.

• The huge, unblinking gimlet eyes of Anya Taylor-Joy (which bring to mind a cross between Emma Stone and Alita): sometimes challenging, sometimes disquieting, always riveting.

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Italy chooses "Notturno" (Plus Italy's robust Oscar history)

by Nathaniel R

Italy has chosen Gianfranco Rosi's highly acclaimed documentary Notturno (which we reviewed at the AFI fest) to represent them at the Oscars from 25 Italian films that were submitted for consideration. Italy previously submitted his 2016 documentary Fire at Sea (which was not nominated for International Film but did score in Documentary Feature). Perhaps emboldened by Honeyland's double nomination last season for Best Documentary and Best International Film, more countries than usual have submitted documentaries this year hoping to repeat that historic double. That said, only three docs have ever been nominated in this particular category: Waltz with Bashir, The Missing Picture, and Honeyland.

As we've seen in past Oscar seasons, Italy skipping over The Life Ahead for their submission entry is not at all a deterrent for Sophia Loren's Best Actress campaign. Movie stars and world famous directors operate by different rules, if you know what we mean...

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Showbiz History: Bicycle Thieves, Fur Bikinis, and a Costume Design King

6 random things that happened on this day, November 24th, in showbiz history...

1948 Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves (also known as The Bicycle Thief) is released in Italian theaters. It will take a few years for it to travel the world (global distribution is slow now and was even slower back then) but it will become an international hit the following year and receive the Globe, the Oscar, the BAFTA, and the NYFCC prizes for 'foreign film' in the 1949/1950 awards season. The National Board of Review went one further and just named it "Best Film" period, the second consecutive year they'd given that honor to an Italian film (the first non-English language winner had been Roberto Rossellini's Paisan the previous year) 

1956 Giant released in movie theaters the month after glitzy premieres in NYC and LA

1966 Wet, fur-bikini'd international sex-symbol Raquel Welch arrives in One Million Years BC ... 

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Almost There: Amy Adams in "Arrival"

by Cláudio Alves

With Hillbilly Elegy upon us, two of Oscar's perennial bridesmaids are back on the hunt for gold. Most of the movie's buzz has centered on Glenn Close's latest attempt at enshrining her career in the glory of Hollywood's most coveted trophy. However, one shouldn't ignore Amy Adams, an Oscar-hungry actress who's only one winless nomination away from tying her costar's record of seven nods and no victory. She'd have already tied Close if not for her infamous snub in 2016.

Despite starring in a Best Picture contender with eight overall nominations, earning citations from the Globes, BAFTA, SAG, and the BFCA, Amy Adams failed to conquer a place in AMPAS' Best Actress lineup for her performance in Arrival…

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Glenn gives thanks (even though he is Australian)

I’m not American, but that doesn’t matter.

Living in Melbourne, Australia, means I have spent a large amount of the year in a strict lockdown. But I am extremely thankful that we have a leader who did something about that and now we’re back out in the world and I have been able watch Mank and Ammonite in cinemas this last week. Here’s some other things I am personally thankful for in the world of movies and entertainment that kept me sane in 2020:

The Film Experience, “It’s fashion”; The Invisible Man; having a new Scream movie to obsess over; Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets; Kristen Johnson as director; Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny; “Oh, the fracking?”; that tracking shot in The Vast of Night; the rest of The Vast of Night; randomly remembering that The Forbidden Dance and Lambada were made by rival producer brothers and released on the exact same day; Kylie Minogue’s Disco; Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure; “Nicole Kidman theme night”; film scores with saxophone on them; any scene in Mank with Amanda Seyfried; Paul Mescal (and his rugby shorts); my fave podcasts (The Record Doctor, This Had Oscar Buzz, Deep Cuts and Superficial Wounds, Little Gold Men); Parasite winning Best Picture.