When Oscar met Razzie

by Cláudio Alves

Founded by Mo Murphy and John J. B. Wilson, the Golden Raspberry Awards, more commonly known as Razzies, are the evil twin to the Academy Awards. Instead of celebrating the best achievements in world cinema, they award the worst, ridiculing them in the process and daring anyone to go accept their gold sprayed statuette in good humor. They've been handed out since 1981 when Xanadu and Can't Stop the Music battled out for the title of Worst Picture. Since then, the Razzies have made many controversial choices, showing an especially troubling fondness for lampooning female-centric stories or examples of campy entertainment.

Today we'll be talking about two instances when the Oscars and the Razzies tastes diverged so much they ended up nominating the same performances…

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Curio: The Adventures of Indiana Jones

Curated by Nathaniel R

Illustration by J Scott CampbellSince we're celebrating the 1981 Oscars this coming weekend with the season premiere of Supporting Actress Smackdown it's appropriate to look at the movie from '81 that's inspired the most fan art over the years: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Steven Spielberg's best film (what? Fight me) introduced one of cinema's greatest heroes, the stuffy professor / snake-phobic but otherwise fearless adventurer Indiana Jones. Jones has gone on to multiple sequels and will surely be rebooted at some point (sigh) with a lesser being than Harrison Ford in the leading role.

Some incredible artwork inspired by the original film and resulting franchise are after the jump...

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Doc Corner: Rithy Panh's 'Graves Without a Name'

By Glenn Dunks

It is not very often an autobiographical documentary about genocide is selected to open a prestigious strand of one of the biggest film festivals in the world. I suppose that’s what being the first filmmaker to, among other things, land an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film with a work of non-fiction does to one’s reputation. Director Rithy Panh has forged his career through telling the stories of his Cambodian homeland and it’s a testament that despite what may be considered tunnel vision for other filmmakers, this is his 18th feature, he continues to find new and interesting angles to investigate.

After detours through a colonial archival scrap-book in France is Our Mother Country and meditative stargazing experimental curiosity Exile, Panh has returned to the more earthbound terrain of his Oscar-nominated The Missing Picture (my no. 1 documentary of the decade). A film as rooted in the mud and the dirt that built that film its signature image of gaunt and decaying figurines, Graves finds Panh on an even more personal mission than that film...

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Milena Canonero's Oscar glory

by Cláudio Alves

Since we're celebrating 1981 this week, let's shine a spotlight on the Best Costume Design champion of that Oscar year. The filmmaker in question is one of the best currently working on her field. Milena Canonero's vast filmography includes repeated collaborations with many great auteurs like Francis Ford and Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson, and Stanley Kubrick just to name a few. With nine nominations and four Academy Awards to her name, she's not only talented but also one of AMPAS' favorite craftswomen, having earned recognition for a variety of projects that range from strict historical recreation to lunatic explosions of avant-garde style.

Her work in Hugh Hudson's Best Picture-winning Chariots of Fire is on the more conventional end of this is one artist whose Oscar history aptly reflects her range, mastery, and good taste. In fact, not one of her nominations is undeserved and her victories are very nearly as unimpeachable. If you don't believe such conclusions, just take a look at Milena Canonero's Oscar-nominated feats of costume design…

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Retro Randomness. Born in 1981!

Since we're celebrating 1981 this week, let's look at who was born that year! Happy 39th birthday to all of 'em and if YOU were born in '81 say so in the comments. Look at these lovelies you share it with!

The Oscar Winners
In chronological order... 
• Jennifer Hudson (Best Supporting Actress, Dreamgirls)
• Natalie Portman (Best Actress, Black Swan)
• Ryan Bingham (Best Original Song, Crazy Heart)...

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