Who deserves a shot at romantic lead stardom?

This question is brought to you by a recent rescreening of North Country (2005). The movie is too didactic to dimensionalize its characters but there are lots of little things worth thinking about and discussing therein... especially the kind of topics that can only come when a movie is now an older if not an 'old' movie. Like... why didn't Michelle Monaghan (who really pops in a small role) become a bigger deal? And why hasn't Hollywood given Corey Stoll a shot as a romantic lead? There he was, 15 whole year ago, being bald and sexy and crushworthy six years before his breakthrough (Midnight in Paris). He plays one of the only redeemable guys in the mine where Charlize works (and is continually harassed, both violently and sexually). There's a lovely but sad moment when he asks her to dance at a local bar and as she relaxes into his arms, drunk, she asks him twice... "you're a nice guy, right?" 

Are they any other character actors that you think deserve a shot at a romantic leading role? 

Remembering Howard Ashman

by Cláudio Alves

On the morning of February 19th, 1992, the nominations for the 64th Academy Awards were announced. As always, the last category to be revealed was that of Best Picture and, just as Best Director lineup had done, it brought with it a historical event. Disney's Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, a momentous achievement that was applauded by the audience of journalists. It was the only Best Picture nominee to receive such jubilant cheer and it's easy to see why. While some had predicted the cartoon's glorious haul of nominations, the long-lasting prejudices of AMPAS against animation made its success seem impossible. Thankfully, even the Academy can get over itself from time to time, and honor truly deserving cinema. Beauty and the Beast is certainly deserving, being a masterpiece of American animation, as well as one of Disney's crown jewels.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved with its triumph was able to bask in the glory of the Oscar nominations. One of the men most responsible for the wonder of Beauty and the Beast was long gone by the time of the announcement…

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1991: Carina Lau in "Days of Being Wild"

by Nick Taylor

Happy Birthday, Wong Kar-Wai, who turned 62 years old last week, something that surely feels impossible for anyone younger than 61 to really consider for themselves! The celebrated auteur is known for his indefatigable sense of coolness and poise, doing for delicately conjured yet passionately felt romanticism what Ingmar Bergman did for psychological anguish. Especially in certified masterpieces like In the Mood for Love and Happy Together but even in lesser works like My Blueberry Nights, Wong’s sense of style is refreshing to sit with and inimitably his. And so, in celebration of our beloved birthday boy and the many gifts he’s given us across his career, I’m here to discuss Days of Being Wild, and the bewitching, jewel-toned performance of Carina Lau...

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When Bening met Beatty

by Cláudio Alves

Barry Levinson's gangster biopic Bugsy was the most nominated movie at the 1991 Oscars, ten nods in total, including Picture, Director, and Actor. While most of the big categories were won by The Silence of the Lambs, Levinson's picture still took home two statuettes. They were for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, rightful rewards for a glamourous recreation of 1940s Hollywood and the nascent Las Vegas. Unlike Dennis Gassner, Nancy Haigh, and Albert Wolsky, the movie's star left the Academy Awards ceremony with no new little golden man of his own. Nonetheless, Warren Beatty might have gotten a greater reward out of Bugsy than any of the Oscared cineastes.

After all, it was during the shooting of Bugsy that the man once considered to be Hollywood's hottest bachelor finally met his match and future wife, the one and only Annette Bening…

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Final Emmy Predictions

By Abe Fried-Tanzer

Emmy nominations will be announced on Tuesday, July 28th at 11:30am ET/8:30am ET. We’ve covered the major categories, analyzed the rule changes, listed some of our favorite underdogs, poured over the ballots, and pondered lingering questions. It’s time now for our final predictions, and we’ll see how things play out on Tuesday.

Below, you’ll find our picks for the nominees in each of the top categories...

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