Almost There: Viola Davis in "Widows"

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, Nick Taylor wrote a beautiful piece about the early days of Viola Davis' screen career, specifically her tryptic of stellar supporting performances in 2002. The article highlights the actress's formidable talent for creating full characterizations with minimal screen time, how she conjures rich humanity from people on the margins of the story, imbuing every glance and spoken word with mountains of meaning. After reading that, I felt compelled to revisit some of the actress's best works and, here we are, exploring the only time Viola Davis was legitimately in contention for an Oscar nomination and missed. Coincidently, it's also my favorite performance of hers in what is probably the best film she's ever been in - Widows…

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Flashing back to movies while in nature...

by Nathaniel R

Apologies for the book-end birthday posts but we'll be back to movies in a hot second. Just back from the self-care birthday trip. Spent the weekend trying to enjoy quiet nature. Activities were as varied as laying in the grass, walking through the woods, and sitting on a beach with face mask on but shoes off. SUCH RANGE! (That image to the left was taken in Woodstock, New York. Nothing was open though we did manage an incredible take-out breakfast to eat outdoors thanks to The Mud Club. Ohmygod the deliciousness)

On the way back to NYC this morning we visited the spectacular grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Twas so lush and moneyed, I flashed back alternately to every establishing shot of Downton Abbey and the party sequence in Baz Lurhmann's The Great Gatsby though no anachronistic music was booming to conjure the second...

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Introducing the Smackdown Panelists for '02

Are you enjoying our super-sized Supporting Actress Smackdown season? We've already discussed 1947 and 1981. Because you were all clamoring for 2002 to be covered this season we're pulling out the razzle dazzle with a panel as merry as those murderesses of Chicago. Yes, in the upcoming Smackdown we'll be talking about that musical as well as Kathy Bates in the hot tub in About Schmidt , Meryl Streep stoned in Adaptation, and the saphhic literary-triptych The Hours. So start rewatching those flicks. Now, let's meet the panel.

PLEASE WELCOME IN ALPHA ORDER ... 

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Happy birthday to all our Gemini readers!

by Nathaniel R

Today is my birthday! I don't want anything this year beyond these three things. 1) Safety and continued stamina for all the Black Lives Matter protestors. 2) Good health and continued stamina for the essential workers and anyone battling COVID-19. And 3) Strategic genius and continued stamina for anyone involved in the upcoming elections who wants to right this ship and get that family of narcissist sociopaths and (just as importantly) their legion of enablers out of office. A big ask, I know, but if you dont ask for what u want, how u gonna get it? 

OH NO WAIT I DO WANT ONE MORE THING. FROM YOU.  In the comments please tell us the very first time you realized you loved an actress too much*.

Reading these over the weekend will surely put a huge smile on my face. Happy early or belated birthday to all you Geminis reading, too! Twin power!

* There is no such thing as "too much" but you know what I mean.

Links: John Boyega's activism, Criterion Channel says "Black Lives Matter," The Eisner Awards and more...

We're always behind with our news roundups. Forgive. It's such a difficult time out there. We know we aren't the only people struggling to concentrate...

• THR A personal history of queer cinema by critic David Rooney with Dirk Bogarde anecdotes
• Vulture the 100 best movies on HBO Max
• The Guardian for our UK readers, Guy Lodge points out the awesome movies from RKO pictures that you can stream online there now

After the jump John Boyega's activism, Criterion Channel on Black Lives Matter, the Oscars of comic books', theaters opening in time for Tenet and more...

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