Saturn Award Nominations: Rogue One... and Hidden Figures?

The Saturn Awards were created over 40 years go to honor the then generally dishonored genres of sci-fi fantasy and horror. Whether they're still needed in a pop culture climate that veritably worships these things is up for debate. But even if they are -- and its certainly true that genre shows and films are still considered poor cousins to more respectable "drama" and "biopics" when it comes to mainstream awards --  are the Saturn Awards the ones to do it?

Now in their 43rd year, they seem to have lost the thread a little. They have so many categories it feels like they're eager to displace the Grammys, Satellites, or BFCA for "MOST!" and in addition to the ridiculous amounts of categories, they have 6 to 8 nominees per category which negates the need to have much in the way of discernment as to what constitutes "best". The problem in a nutshell: It's great to have an awards group that can say "Captain America: Civil War is superb" with a straight face, but when they also hold up Batman v Superman for the same honor, it kind of kills the impact.

Rogue One leads the nominees with 11 nominations. All 41 categories and more commentary after the jump... 

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Review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

by Steven Fenton 

I’ll start with a confession. I’m not typically the first in line for a horror movie...in fact, I’m rarely in line for them at all. But recently I’ve found myself opening up to the possibilities of the genre, and it feels like I’m not the only one. There’s something in the water (and no, I’m not talking about Blake Lively). This new wave of “sophisticated horror” (for lack of a better term), from high profile festival hits like The Babadook and The Witch and critical sensations like Get Out, has done an amazing job of re-branding the genre for new audiences. So that’s why when I heard one of my favorite festival programmer sing the praises of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, I knew I had to check it out.

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Review: "Get Out"

by Chris Feil

From its long-take opening to its satisfying conclusion, comedian Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out is one hell of a delight. Photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is heading to the country family home of his girlfriend Rose (Girls’ Allison Williams), an extra uneasy experience given that he is her first black boyfriend. Her parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) are woodsy liberals, quasi-intellectuals who love Obama and are just on the performative side of accommodating.

But it’s best to let the rest of Get Out reveal itself: you’ll want to know as little as possible before strapping into this ride...

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Beauty vs Beast: Direct to the Death

Jason from MNPP here - for this week's "Beauty vs Beast" we're celebrating what would have been the 85th birthday of one of the most important figures in cinema, the French critic turned director François Truffaut. What's your favorite Truffaut film? I know the "right" answer is The 400 Blows (or possibly Jules & Jim) (or maybe Day For Night) but I've always had a real soft spot for Mississippi Mermaid - Catherine Deneueve and Jean-Paul Belmondo all sweaty and sexy ? Sign me up.

But it's a different sexy pair I'm going to focus in on for this week's contest -- namely the director himself with his seminal book (recently turned documentary) Hitchcock / Truffaut, which linked him forever with the "Master of Suspense" himself. That's right - I found a way to make this series about Hitchcock again! Life finds a way, you guys.

PREVIOUSLY Last week Dario Argento's candy-colored hallucination Suspiria turned 40, and so we pit the film's protagonist, Suzy the dancing girl, against the conspiring witches running her dance academy, and just like in the film Suzy was able to pirouette to safety, taking just over 60% of your vote. Said Tom:

"I feel like the race should be a close one. But in light of recent events, I think many might feel urged to vote against an evil establishment with control issues. I'm voiting for Suzy."

First you watch it. Then you are short $15

Hidden Figures finally lept-frog La La Land this weekend at the domestic box office. With budgets around 25-30 million each they're both going to be very very profitable films for their studios and stars. They remain the biggest hits among the major Oscar nominees but Lion also had reason to celebrate this weekend. It finally went wide and landed in the top ten. But, since is the US box office, violent horror-tinged movies are seemingly always at the top of the charts and the weekend belonged to Split and the latest installment of the Ring franchise, inventively titled Rings this time. Its missing its original star Naomi Watts but the star of all horror franchises is actually the villain so "Samara" is back to kill people who watch her experimental art film shorts.

Samara is PISSED that Hidden Figures is more popular than Hacksaw Ridge and she wants you to suffer as she has!

TOP TEN 
01 Split $14.5 (cum. $98.7) 
02 Rings $13 NEW 
03 A Dog's Purpose $10.8 (cum. $32.9) Podcast
04 Hidden Figures $10.1 (cum. $119.4)  Podcast
05 La La Land $7.4 (cum. $118.3) on the Costumes, Reviewish, and How Rare It Is!
06 Resident Evil: The Final Chapter $4.5 (cum. $21.8) on the franchise  
07 Sing $4 (cum. $262.9)
08 Lion $4 (cum. $24.7) a cocktail with Nicole, Podcast, Review
09 The Space Between Us $3.8 NEW
10 xXx: The Return of Xander Cage $3.7 (cum. $40) 

 What did you see this weekend?