Beauty vs Beast: Somebody's Kindness of Strangers

Howdy y'all Jason from MNPP popping in to clear my throat and let out a rollicking "STELLA!!!" in honor of the master Tennessee Williams birth - he was born in the town of Columbus, Mississippi (three hours south of Memphis) on this day in the year 1911, and went on to basically shape the entire Southern United States with his writings; I'd argue he's had more of an effect on our modern view of the sub-Mason-Dixon than maybe anybody but Margaret Mitchell did. And to think a gay man did that!

Anyway for this week's "Beauty vs Beast" let's zoom in on his most famous story, the one about the Streetcar Named Desire that you take to the one called Cemetery that you take to Elysian Fields. And yes that means we're facing down arguably two of the greatest movie performances ever put on screen - Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois and Marlon brando as her brother slash ape in law Stanley Kowalski. But whose side are you on? Do you wanna sparkle in that rhinestone tiara or swap sweaty tank tops with Stan?

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PREVIOUSLY Right after the Oscars we riddled you about a pair of the night's meme-worthy moments and it turns out that you'd rather ride on a jet-ski with Dame Helen Mirren than get Armie Hammer's weiner flung into your face (PS y'all crazy) to the tune of 55%. Said AlexD:

"This was impossible. But it seems reasonable that a proud queen like myself would only turn down Armie's hot dog for a real queen, Helen Mirren herself. And jet skiing at that!"

Beauty vs Beast: Oscar's Best Bits

Jason from MNPP here, nursing my annual Oscars hangover but mostly feeling just fine about last night's winners. (The high I got off of James Ivory's Elio Shirt carried me through the whole show, honestly.) As far as a production the show had its highs (loved that cut quartz set) and its lows (really not feeling that war movie montage) but it's the two stand-out visual gags of the evening that will probably stand the test of time are the subjects of this week's "Beauty vs Beast" poll...

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PREVIOUSLY We've got to give Jennifer Lawrence some credit because she actually held her own on The Film Experience against no less fierce an opponent than queen goddess mother Michelle Pfeiffer herself - Michelle still won last week's mother!-themed poll (of course) with 70% of the vote, but it would've been way worse for most mortals. Still, said Brad:

"Give me a movie where Michelle Pfeiffer taunts and tortures Jennifer Lawrence for six or more hours and I'll be happy forever."

Oscar Presenters Named Thus Far...

For your infotainment the Oscar presenters named thus far and our theories as to why they were invited. We don't need to mention diversity because that would probably read snarky when we don't mean it that way at all; we're thrilled Hollywood is making an effort! So we'll name the other possible reasons for the names. Presumably these choices are agonized over and debated at length behind the scenes since they're always so carefully representative of a wide range of celebrities appealing to all kinds of mainstream moviegoers from kids to grandparents to sophisticated cultural mavens to soccer moms. Etcetera.

Just about the only audience they don't cater to on the regular, probably because they'll watch anyway, are cinephiles and Old Hollywood loving film buffs. The Oscar producers often do a very crappy job of that (especially given how many elderly showbiz legends are still alive! I mean come on give us some Poitier, Lansbury, Rowlands, Connery, Redford, Belafonte, or Andrews or something). It's always a welcome shock when they actually do think about their rich industry history and throw us a Kim Novak for example.

The celebrities thus far (in alpha order)... 

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The Passion of the Link

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• THR details the first attempt to put Black Panther on screen in the 1990s with Wesley Snipes stories about trying to collaborate with John Singleton (ye olde creative differences)
• Coming Soon Jim Caviezel and Mel Gibson reuniting for a sequel to Passion of the Christ about, you guessed it, the Resurrection
• IndieWire you knew that RuPaul was a major film buff, didn't you? Here he is on this year's Oscar race

More after the jump including Andrew Scott, honoring supporting actors, Bollywood stars, Xavier Dolan's next project, and Armie Hammer in a track suit...

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Soundtracking: "Call Me By Your Name"

by Chris Feil

Luca Guadagnino has become one of our top cinematic sensualists, making films built to be felt in the mind, body, and soul. Music is one of the key tools in his arsenal, particularly for how he uses rock music in ways that feel unburdened by music video tactics. Call Me By Your Name is no exception, with both classical and more electronic music highlighting the internal struggle of its protagonist Elio.

The film begins with a John Adams composition, projecting a similar personality to what Elio thinks is expected of him...

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