Gene Tierney @ 100: "Laura"

by Nathaniel R

Dear reader, we had such fun doing the Montgomery Clift Centennial that we want to do more of them. Of course not every movie star inspires the same passion in cinephiles, nor has a cooperatively small enough filmography to be completist about. For instance I put out the feelers on Gene Tierney, who made 37 films in her career, and received only 2 volunteers. And herewith a confession: I, myself, despite my love of Old Hollywood, was unfamiliar. I had seen only two of her movies and so long ago that I had next to no recollection. So I queued up her most famous picture, Laura (1944), which I'd somehow never seen even when I was a uncool kid in the horrific "colorizing" days of pop culture who relished seeing old black and white movies... 

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It's "Two of Us" for France. With so many Oscar nods will they ever win again?

by Nathaniel R

In something of a surprise move, France has selected the lesbian seniors drama Deux  (or Two of Us) for Oscar submission rather than their higher profile titles Summer of '85 with its EFA director nomination or Cuties with its hot potato festival run and Netflix controversy. This suggests that Two of Us might do very well in a month or three at the César Awards but for now let's talk France and Oscar as there's a LOT to discuss.

France is of course a total powerhouse at the Oscars. The Best International Feature Film category has existed as a competitive category for 64 years (as of last season) and France has been nominated in 59% of those races.

What's more they've tried to factor in to the competition 100% of the time! In point of fact, France is the only country that's never skipped an Oscar submission year.

FRANCE'S OSCAR STATS and key submissions after the jump...

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Showbiz History: Drew makes history on SNL and more...

6 random things that happened on this day, November 20th, in showbiz history

1982 Drew Barrymore hosts SNL in the year of E.T.'s mega-pop culture dominance. She's still the youngest host of all time. She was just 7 years old and one of the first jokes was about her famous family's alcoholism "Milk? I'm a Barrymore. Get me a drink... and make it a double!"  (Julia Louis-Dreyfus was on the show back then ?!?)

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Smackdown '87: A Fatal Attraction to Moonstruck

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage to explore. Now it's time for the season finale featuring the year 1987. 

THE NOMINEES 1987's shortlist of supporting characters featured three very different moms (victim/monster/old-soul-wiseass), one selfless caretaker, and a gossipy neighbor. The actresses gathered were all mature talents, enjoying what would turn out to be their sole brush with Oscar.

THE PANEL  Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, the actor Ato Essandoh (Away, Tales from the Loop, Chicago Med), critic/author Manuel Betancourt (Judy Garland's Judy at Carnegie Hall), critic Naveen Kumar, critic Kathia Woods, and your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin!

1987
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page... 

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"The Dead" and the end of John Huston

by Cláudio Alves

Few cineastes can count their last film among their greatest works. Fewer still finish a career, a life, with their best cinematic effort. As much as I admire such gems as Ophüls' carnivalesque Lola Montès, the amorous musings of Dreyer's Gertrud, the bittersweet self-reflections of Akerman's No Home Movie and Varda's Varda by Agnès, I wouldn't classify any of those pictures as their director's crown jewels. John Huston's a whole different matter. 

The American filmmaker, whose career spanned six decades, finished his last picture in 1987. Faithfully adapted from a short story by James Joyce, The Dead may not be as influential as The Maltese Falcon, as exciting as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, nor as tragic as The Misfits, but, as far as I'm concerned, it's Huston's most ravishing creation…

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