Release Dates, for the hell of it...

by Nathaniel R

Remember when reporting on movie news and release dates used to have meaning? It's a distant foggy memory but there was, in fact, a time when release dates felt, if not certain, than likely... something to get giddy about while you waited for the next "Must See". The Bond and Fast and Furious producers who pushed their films No Time to Die and F9, respectively, several months away when people first started to learn the word "coronavirus" are looking very smart in hindsight. They got the hell out of there before anyone was sick! Disney with Mulan and WB with Tenet chose to play the "let's just wait one more month" game and keep playing it. Both movies have recently pushed back to August.

Here's the schedule of the big(gish) movies for the rest of the year though obviously you should read it with not a grain of salt but the whole Great Salt Lake from Utah...

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Oscar Trivia: Ranking the His & Hers Supporting Oscar Wins

Moreno & Chakiris winning for WEST SIDE STORYby Nathaniel R

Only 8 times in the 92 year history of the Academy Awards have both Supporting trophies gone to the same movie. We were thinking about this factoid recently given that 1957 is the topic of next week's Smackdown (get those votes in). 1957's Sayonara wins for Miyoki Umeshi and Red Buttons (who played newlyweds) marked the third instance of both supporting trophies going to the same movie in just a seven year span. Given that that specific type of Oscar pairing has only happened five times more in the next sixty-two years of history, it's clear that "his & hers" was definitely more of a 1950s voter mindset than it is now.

[Tangent: Lead 'His & Hers' statues happen with about the same frequency but are mostly bunched up in the late 70s for some reason]

Let's rank what came before with double supporting wins in a highly unscientific fusion of the performances...

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Links

• The Playlist Tenet pushed back to August. Shouldn't they just push it back to November at this point? What will change in one month's time?
• Variety Zoe Kravitz talks playing Catwoman in The Batman (2021). La Pfeiffer gave her blessing!
• Awards Daily interviews Tim Blake Nelson of Watchmen

After the jump a new Princess Diana movie, Big Mouth changes, new roles for Keke Palmer and Michael Keaton and a Gone With the Wind discussion...

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Vintage '57 (and what if there had been 10 nominees)

by Nathaniel R

The next Smackdown will be posted on Sunday July 7th. But first let's have a little context on the year that was: Dwight Eisenhower began his second term as President, an influenza epidemic that killed 1 million people worldwide began, Elvis Presley made his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan show (shot waist up only), and the Frisbee was introduced. here's more context for that year in a pop culture sense.

Great Big Box Office Hits: Bridge on the River Kwai, Sayonara, and Peyton Place were the top grossers (and competed for the Oscars). Other hits included Old Yeller, Raintree County, and Gunfight at the OK Corral...

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How Had I Never Seen..."Hard Eight"?

by Cláudio Alves

Paul Thomas Anderson turns 50 today, making this a good time to remember how his film career began. Weirdly enough, despite being a longtime fan of the director, I had never seen his first feature, a little indie by the name of Hard Eight, which hit Sundance and Cannes in 1996 but would only get a commercial release the next year. That made 1997 quite the occasion for Anderson. In February, he opened Hard Eight to good reviews and, in October, Boogie Nights made him one of the most critically acclaimed directors of the moment. The latter movie went on to conquer him his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Original Screenplay. What's fascinating and what most surprised me about the pair is how distinct they are, showing two very different sides of their director's craft…

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