Hit Me With Your Best Shot: "Moonlight"

by Nathaniel R

Little and Juan framed by nature

A truth: No matter how much you love a movie on first viewing, what makes it become a classic, a masterpiece even, is less predictable. That's in how it endures and oft times whether it can keep giving you new information. Aging, even for non-living things like a movie which is already "complete," before it begins that process, is tricky. But after a handful of screenings of Moonlight over the past nine months, it's quite obvious that the film (not to mention its surprise Best Picture win) will age spectacularly well. A prediction: We're just barely getting to know its marvel.

The Hit Me With Your Best Shot series initially started as an idea to honor Cinematography but film is so collaborative and complex that that's not how it turned out. It's ended up being more of a mise-en-scène appreciation ... sometimes the images that grab you are lighting based, other times it's the perfect marriage of a sound and picture, and then there are performances so indelible that they even become the primary iconic visual. Because Moonlight is rich in all of its moving parts, I opted to just look at the first act (for now). And I did something I never do: I watched it with the sound turned off... 

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Today's 5: Tilda's miraculous Julia, Drew's dangerous Lolita, and more

It's a brand new week. Ready to get this one started with some pizazz? 

Five showbiz anniversaries for May 8th as mood boosters

2009 Julia opens in limited release in the US. It's arguably Tilda Swinton's greatest performance and also as against-type as it comes for the actress who was surprised Erick Zonca thought of her for the motor-mouthed titular sociopath. If you haven't seen it, what in the universe are you waiting for?

In its honor today: Do something totally atypical today, surprise yourself!

1992 Poison Ivy opens in theaters, serving as Drew Barrymore's buzzy "comeback"... yet she was only 17 years old. Child stars grow up fast, y'all...

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Picture, Director, Screenplays ~ April Foolish Oscar Predix

by Nathaniel R

I've been rubbing my crystal ball vigorously backstage to bring you the new Oscar charts. Everything is up but the acting now Let's discuss our way too early April guesswork in these categories: PICTURE and DIRECTOR and SCREENPLAYS. Thoughts? Objections? Applause?

Which 2017 releases will Oscar voters fall hard for?

Perfect on paper
Looks right on paper for major Oscar love doesn't always translate to the real thing but I've fallen for the chances of this year's World War II dramas from Chris Nolan (Dunkirk) and Joe Wright (Darkest Hour). Curiously, though both men have helmed Best Picture nominees in the past, neither have been nominated for Best Director yet. So strange but I'm predicting both of them to get in. I'm also predicting Get Out to score a Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing nods. That might sound crazy but I don't think it is. As I've often said genre pictures need time with awards bodies to cement their worth. Jump in your time machine and I'll bet you people are still talking in glowing terms about Get Out in December and everyone starts rooting for its Oscar nomination because they've accepted that it's special...

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358 Days Until Oscar. Moonlight was short, as Best Pictures go.

Gone With the Wind is not remotely the longest movie to ever win an Oscar (O.J. Made in America just beat previously record holder in that regard, Russia's foreign film winner War & Peace, by pretending to be a "movie" when it was actually a TV miniseries). But Gone With the Wind remains, at 3 hrs & 58 minutes, the longest Best Picture winner. We published the list of running times of the Best Picture winners a few years back but since then the Academy has naturally added a few movies to this list so it was time to update.

The last three winners have all, thankfully, been comparatively succinct in their storytelling and all of them under the "average" in length for a Best Picture. Can we hope that running times will come back down again since they've been growing over the years? Moonlight, our latest champ, is the 15th shortest film to ever win Best Picture. You can pack a lot of greatness into 111 minutes as we hope future filmmakers will realize when they study Barry Jenkins amazing movie in film schools. 

Here are all 90 Best Picture winners from longest to shortest. The new entries in bold...

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Podcast: Oscar Afterglow... or is that Sleep Deprivation?

Katey phones in from Los Angeles to talk Oscar night with Nathaniel and Joe in New York and Nick in Chicago. What a crazy night that was, huh? Some of us didn't sleep much. We talk about that shocking messy finale, the history-making decision to name Moonlight Best Picture, debate which celebrity was having the most fun on the big night, judge the musical performances, name the craft wins we were confused by, and answer the age old question: junior mints or twizzlers?

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

P.S. The podcast will return at the end of the month for a new season. If we get a few more patron saints this week I'll buy a professional mic. 

89th Oscars, Reactions. Season Finale