Complete the Sentence(s)...

The last movie I saw in theaters was ___________. When movie theaters reopen I will _____________. 

Congrats to La Pfeiffer and "Henry Rose"

Michelle Pfeiffer's personal passion project, her unisex fragrances named after her son and daughter, have received terrific press since premiering about a year ago. They're far out of our price range but we wanted to say congratulations as they've recently received the Glamour 2020 Beauty Award for Best Fragrance and have also been doing well with men's magazines, too, logging strong sales for men's fragrances.

Filming French ExitWe didn't suspect that the reclusive goddess would stick around social media after launching her Instagram to support the fragrances but something about it suited her whims (yay!) and she has been fairly consistent since. She's not an oversharer, obviously, but it's a steady trickle. After years and years of scarcity for pfans it's nice to have her become something of a regular celebrity presence again. Plus her cat is soooo fluffy. We love.

Months before the novel coronavirus shut down Hollywood she completed work on her next leading lady role in French Exit. While the movie was expected to be released this fall in time for Oscar season we suspect that no films will have anything like secure release dates given how many have now been delayed. We'll just have to wait and see if and when Pfeiffer returns to the Oscar race at last.

All hail the great Glenda Jackson!

by Cláudio Alves 

50 years ago, Ken Russell's Women in Love was released in US theaters after having already opened in the UK the year before. Accusations of obscenity and licentiousness followed the picture across the Atlantic and, as it usually happens, polemic was a good catalyst for popularity. Nowadays, such arthouse offerings rarely get mainstream attention but the America of 1970 was a different place as far as moviegoing was concerned. In a time of radical change in society and tastes, Women in Love's tale of bohemian affairs, sexual candor and class hierarchies in 20s England was warmly received by critics and audiences alike. The performance of Glenda Jackson was of particular fame and catapulted the actress to the pantheon of celebrity.

So much so that, by April of 1971, she won the Oscar for Best Actress. To this day, it's one of the weirdest victories in the category's history…

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Review: Little Fires Everywhere

by Murtada Elfadl

This review only covers the first three episodes of Little Fires Everywhere.

In the second episode of the new Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere rich privileged white woman Elena Richardson (Reeese Witherspoon) asks the nomad artist Mia (Kerry Washington), who is her new tenant, to be her maid. You see she means well. She saw Mia and her teenage daughter asleep in their car and of course as any upstanding citizen would do, called the police on them for trespassing. Out of guilt she leased them her open apartment when by coincidence she recognized them later in the day. Now Mia has told her that she needs to juggle more than one job to make ends meet. The offer comes out naturally out of Elena's mouth. Only after she finishes saying the words does she realize what she has said and how it can be misconstrued. She back tracks by changing the job to “house manager.”

That scene is fraught with racial, class and socio-economic tension. It made me excited for the series and for watching Witherspoon and Washington tackle these issues...

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On the mend. And an Oscar thought.

by Nathaniel R

Just wanted to quickly check in to let you all know that I am on the mend and doing a lot better now, self-recovering from a flu or covid-19 or whatever it is/was that I was relaying on the podcast. The fever has been gone for a couple of days and I have more energy daily.  It's hard to get tested which is such a ridiculous problem. Our country was so severely ill prepared for a pandemic since the CDC was gutted by T**** two years ago (why does the media stay so silent on the awful decisions of the government and spend so much time on his tweets or just replaying his self-congratulatory speeches?). And even if the GOP hadn't already ravaged greatly needed government programs, our healthcare system was already in disarray. People being laid off right and left in the face of business closings will also mean the loss of medical insurance for a lot of people. Losing insurance during a pandemic is (unneccessary) tragedy on top of tragedy. It only highlights the absurdity of connecting your ability to see a doctor with working for a corporation. The two should have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

It's been beyond clear for years that our country needs universal healthcare. 

But on a more familiar topic for this blog so as not too get bogged down in political anger -- movies and Oscars...

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