Weekly Trivia

Hey folks. Michael Cusumano here. We had a great time at last week's trivia match and I though I would drop in and give you a sample. Last week we had rounds focused on Cate Blanchett and an audio round on Oscar nominated scores of the 2010's plus the general knowledge round we do every week. The round was one minute per question. Let me know how you would have done in the comments (No Googling. Duh.)

 Every winning team gets to choose a round topic for next week's match, and I'm pleased to report 5/21 champs TEAM PEACH chose LGBT Movies/characters/actors nominated for Oscars for this Thursday's game. 

So brush up on that topic if you want a chance at the crown!

To play in this week's game: The event is held every Thursday at 7:30 PM EST on Zoom and runs approximately 2 hours. It’s $5 per person payable through Venmo or PayPal. Send a team name along with the payment and I will reply with the ZOOM information. You can include your contact information in a comment along with the PayPal or Venmo payment or contact me one of these ways: 

Email: WhiskeyCatProd@gmail.com
Twitter: @TriviaWhiskey
Facebook: Whiskey Cat presents: Zoom Movie Trivia  

Hope to see you there this Thursday!

Curio: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Curio is our fan art appreciation column. Curated by Nathaniel R

by manga artist Inko Ai Takita.

Up until about last month we had an incredibly sound theory that had NEON released Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) as originally expected in the fall of last year OR pushed it back fully to its rescheduled February release without that pesky "one week qualifier" that the film would have been a solid Oscar success. In either scenario we believe it could have scored Best Director and Best Cinematography and maybe even Best Actress nominations. 

As it was, positioned haphazardly between film years whilst NEON was (justifiably) distracted with making the miracle of Parasite's Oscar success possible, Portrait had to settled for halfsies...

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Horror Actressing: Rosario Dawson in "Death Proof"

by Jason Adams

Every time I see Quentin Tarantino's bifurcated 2007 flick Death Proof I want to write about Death Proof, and every time I write about Death Proof I tell myself I'm going to write about something besides Rosario Dawson's performance in Death Proof... and every time I spectacularly fail at this mission. This "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" post you're now reading is further proof, dead proof, of just that. It's just there is that moment, that single moment seen above, where Tarantino's camera zooms in on Dawson's face as her worry melts into absolute exaltation, and it is by my humble estimate one of the greatest, most electric close-ups in cinematic history. Just that!

But we are, like so much of this movie, zooming right on ahead of ourselves. Just what is it about that moment that makes all the hairs on my arms stand on end?

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The New Classics: Nightcrawler

About once a decade we get a film set in the world of television that serves not just as a satire but a warning, asking us to take a look at the glaring problems in the way Americans get their information. Titles like A Face in the Crowd (1957), Network (1976), and Broadcast News (1987). It’s clear to me that that the film to take up this mantle for this last decade was Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler (2014). 

The trend in these stories does not inspire optimism. If the 2010’s spat up Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom to represent it, am I ever terrified to meet the standard-bearer for the 2020’s... 

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Almost There: Cary Grant in "The Bishop's Wife"

by Cláudio Alves

Movie stars are not like us. Most people look perfectly banal when observed through camera lenses, but the stars are ravishing. When one appears, all eyes go to them, as if their mere presence is a gravitational hold. They are glamourous and awe-inspiring, terminally charming, and even more alluring. Idealized beyond humanity, those icons of the silver screen are the green light for which Jay Gatsby reached.

No matter the other sins of Old Hollywood, they were an exemplary movie star factory. The studios often knew just how to showcase the great stars to maximize their appeal. Or at least the finished product often suggests so. For a fascinating example of all of this look no further than Cary Grant in the 1947 Best Picture-nominee The Bishop's Wife…

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