2005: When Tilda Swinton went full Hollywood

Please welcome back former contributor Sean Donovan who returns to the fold...

With the 2005 Supporting Actress Smackdown quickly approaching TFE, let’s take a moment to think about a future Best Supporting Actress winner who was just then gathering her strength, summoning her powers of fierce alien glamour, and dipping a toe into Hollywood. 2005 was a pivotal year for Tilda Swinton in that it was her first engagement with big budget genre filmmaking. Tilda had found her way onto some Hollywood projects prior to this -- The Beach (2000) with Leonardo DiCaprio, Vanilla Sky (2001) with Tom Cruise, Jonze and Kaufman’s contemporary classic Adaptation (where she briefly shares the screen with Meryl Streep and my little gay heart explodes) -- but 2005 brought bombast, costuming, and blockbuster genre storytelling to her body of work...

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Wilford Brimley (1934-2020)

by Nathaniel R

Wilford Brimley and 80s child star Barret Oliver in Cocoon (1985)

A beloved character actor passed away this weekend. Wilford Brimley was born and died in Utah, but he became a fixture in mainstream Hollywood for a couple of decades for his earthy appeal and facility with adorable curmudgeons. Though he'd been acting since the 1960s he didn't crossover into true fame until the mid 80s...

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Would you rather?

(You know this is just an excuse to share Instagram pics we like, we hope). Time for another round of our time wasting celebrity fantasies. Would you rather...

• goof with Charlize on the set of The Old Guard?
• scrub a rock with Julianne Moore?
• complete a puzzle with Morena Baccarin?
• hot tub it with Rebel Wilson?
• canoe with Alyssa Edwards?
• shower with Simu Liu?
• compose a tune with Florence Pugh?
👈 • play legos with Sam Claflin?
• do tequila shots with Jessica Chastain?
• multitask with Alanis Morrissette? 
• "work out" with Mindy Kaling?
• nibble fruit with Reese Witherspoon?
• share wine with Dakota and Elle Fanning?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

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Alan Parker (1944-2020)

by Nathaniel R

Alan Parker and Madonna on the set of "Evita"

We were remiss Friday in sharing the news that we've lost another fine talent. The director Alan Parker who brought us gangster comedies, oddball indies, multiple musicals, and prestige literary adaptations has died at 76 years of age of an undisclosed lengthy illness. His 14 films netted a combined 27 Oscar nominations and 6 wins, and he himself received two Best Director nominations (1978's Midnight Express and 1988's Mississippi Burning).

Parker burst onto the scene as a scrappy young British director with 1976's playful gangster musical spoof Bugsy Malone and its all kid cast (Scott Baio and Jodie Foster headlined)...

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What did you see this week?

Time has lost all meaning. What is a weekend? How long will the vestiges of taking stock of the last "work week" or weekend of new movies on a Sunday last only because that's when we used to take stock of things in the pre-pandemic world? At any rate... how is your movie or TV watching these days? Tell us in the comments, won'cha? I'll share two of my own screening adventures after the jump...

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