'Parasite' and 'Jojo Rabbit' win ACE Eddie Awards

by Murtada Elfadl

Bong Joon Ho and Song Kang Ho celebrate their film's win

Parasite (edited by Jinmo Yang) and Jojo Rabbit (edited by Tom Eagles) won Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) and Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) respectively at the 70th Annual ACE Eddie Awards last night in LA. This is a huge win for Parasite at the start of the guild awards. Though there’s no direct relation between this award and the best picture Oscar - the last film to win both is Argo (2012) - it still shows broad support...

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Almost There: Jennifer Lopez in "Hustlers"

"Almost There" is a new series about actors who were obviously close to an Oscar nomination but somehow missed. Here's Cláudio Alves...

Regarding this year's Oscar nominations, no snub hurt quite as much as Jennifer Lopez's absence in the Best Supporting Actress line-up. The long-time actress turned pop diva earned herself a small mountain of critic's honor for her performance in Hustlers, including the LAFCA trophy, as well as crucial precursor nominations like the Critics Choice Award, the Golden Globes, and the SAG. Still, when it was all said and done, the Academy preferred five other actresses over Lopez. If we consider Dern, Pugh, and Robbie as near locks, then her spot was either taken by Scarlett Johansson or Kathy Bates. While neither work is meritless, they've got nothing on JLo's sterling achievement.

Still, we're not here to lambast the Oscar's chosen nominees, but to celebrate one hell of an awards-worthy performance. So, join us as we explore the wonders and sing the praises of Jennifer Lopez's Ramona…

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Juries Juries Juries: Sundance and Venice

by Murtada Elfadl

Garcia, Rees and Hawke

It seems like there's a festival jury annoucement everyday!

The Sundance Film Festival has chosen 25 celebrated and revered expert voices across film, art, culture and science to review the films among their different programs. The 2020 Sundance Film Festival Jury members are... 

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Joan Castleman got there first

by Cláudio Alves

Joan Castleman might have had to watch her husband win her rightful Nobel, but she got to the Oscars before him. She lost the film award to Queen Anne of the United Kingdom while her dishonest spouse failed to launch a campaign for Best Supporting Actor. This year, John Castleman finally followed in his wife’s footsteps even if his chances at winning are much slimmer than hers were. We can only guess this is a bit of karmic justice for that eternally bereaved wife whose ghostwriting went so horribly uncredited throughout her life.

Silliness aside, Jonathan Pryce is finally an Oscar nominee and, whatever one might think about The Two Popes, that honor is still worth celebrating…

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10 years ago on this very day...

...remember when Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) lost the Globe to her ex husband James Cameron (Avatar) at the Golden Globes. Before he even began thanking his team, he name-checked her to her apparent delight in the crowd as the camera held on her.

I'm actually not well prepared because frankly I thought Kathryn was going to win this --  I'm kind of winging it here. She richly deserves it...

Of course by the time the Oscars rolled around the situation reversed and The Hurt Locker was the favourite film and Bigelow became the first female director ever to win the Oscar. The Globes gave a Best Director trophy to Barbra Streisand for Yentl (1983) two decades earlier so perhaps they didn't feel any need to make history since they already had? Anyway we figured this anniversary was worth noting because the awards trouble for female directors has also haunted this Oscar season. 

Jumping to the now... What is going on with Kathryn Bigelow? She has no new projects listed on IMDb apart from producing Pablo Larrain's next project The True American. We hope that Detroit (2017) doesn't prove to be her last feature!!!