Saturn Nominations 2019: Endgame

by Nathaniel R

Avengers Endgame dominated with 14 nominations

The Saturn Awards, which used to be held in June each year are moving to September which means the nominations have been delayed for some time now and the eligibility period for the 2019 nominations covers a 16 month period from March 1st, 2018 through to July 7th, 2019. Moving forward, the eligibility should revert to a July to June basis with the ceremony in September (September 13th this year). They're also soon announcing a streaming partner so it will become a televised ceremony starting this year.

We love the Saturn Awards in concept -- it's a worthy goal to honor genre films (fantasy, horror, action, thrillers, and sci-fi are the pet causes) because any genre is capable of greatness -- but they've never quite been able to get their act together and each year's nominations are always agonizing or inexplicable in some way or another...

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Watch at Home: Meet Me on Beale Street, Aquaman

by Nathaniel R

Links go to our reviews or interviews

New Blu-Ray / DVDs
• Aquaman Worth seeing for the insanity of the visuals plus an excellent villain in Patrick Wilson's Ocean Master.
• Capernaum One of last year's most visceral dramas.
• If Beale Street Could Talk See why Regina King took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
• Second Act In which JLo fools everyone with an embellished resume...

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Film Bitch Awards: Heroes, Villains, and Divas of the Year

It's a mad race to get everything done by the Oscars. Three more categories have been announced in our own extensive annual awards: Hero the Year, Diva of the Year, and Villain of the Year. Black Panther dominates these categories, being nominated in each one of them, but you'll also see honors for Paddington 2, A Simple Favor, Mary Poppins Returns, Hereditary, The Favourite, Aquaman, Oceans 8, and more. Check it out.

Linking Neverland

• /Film the Wicked movie has a new release date, December 22nd, 2021. We'll believe that once we see actual casting news or a start date for filming. So should we start talking about the 94th Academy Awards yet. LOLOLO no. No we shan't.
• Library of America Sheila O'Malley's great essay on East of Eden (1955)
• Deadline Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect, True Blood) gets a leading sitcom role. Yay, it's about time since she's always hilarious. The comedy is about a church choir that gets a new director (Bradley Whitford)

• IndieWire interesting quotes from indie filmmakers trying to diversify their crew to have more gender parity and multiculturalism and the obstacles they do and don't face.  
• LA Times women over 70 are killing it right now: Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, RBG, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, etc
• AV Club Black Panther's Michael B Jordan is attached to a film adaptation of the popular new fantasy epic Black Leopard, Red Wolf set in an alternate reality Africa. (Hmmm, can he also make movies called Black Tiger, Black Jaguar and Black Lion for a full set of big cats?)
• /Film Aquaman's gross has gotten so big that Warner Bros is going to do a spin-off horror film The Trench set in the kingdom of the film's most memorable sequence
• AV Club Steve Buscemi learns about that viral 'deepfake' video of his face superimposed on Jennifer Lawrence's body
• Pajiba explains the whole Jeff Bezos vs National Enquirer business. My god what a mess (but a fascinating one)
• MNPP's obsession with Armie Hammer really does make us love Armie Hammer more
• Towleroad Ellen Page drags Chris Pratt over his homophobic church
• Variety controversial Michael Jackson Sundance doc Leaving Neverland premieres on HBO on March 3rd 

Oscar Shorts Alert
Don't forget that all 15 Oscar-nominated short films are now in theaters. If they're not in your city, they'll be available On Demand on February 19th.

Nicole Kidman Rules the Box Office

Nicole Kidman has the top two movies in the nation today, with the surprise hit The Upside and the endless hit Aquaman. She's also got Destroyer in the top ten platform films of the moment. In short she never stops working and sometimes audiences come out for it. Listen, you could argue that she has nothing to do with the success of Aquaman or The Upside but why would you want to? Come live in our better world where the public lines up in droves and says "one for the new Nicole Kidman, please!".

More box office commentary after the jump...

Weekend Box Office (Estimates) (January 11th-13th)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1 The Upside $20.3 on 3080 screens *NEW*	1 🔺 Free Solo $812k on 154 screens (cum. $12.3)  Review ❤️

2 Aquaman   $17.3 on 3863 screens (cum. $287.9) Review, Podcast	2 🔺 Uri: The Surgical Strike $631k on 101 screens *NEW*

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