Dan Stevens is a tempting romantic ideal in "I'm Your Man"

by Matt St Clair

Despite having otherworldly leading man looks, Dan Stevens has a clear affinity for playing eccentric character roles. That being said, some of those roles that he’s played, like flamboyant, implicitly gay Russian singer Alexander Lemtov in Eurovision Song Contest and the enigmatic titular character from The Guest, have allowed him to play into his sex appeal. The German sci-fi romance I’m Your Man, which is opening today in US movie theaters, is a continuation of that trend. 

Stevens plays Tom, an android designed to be the perfect companion, someone with perfect looks who is programmed to fulfill the every need of their human partner...

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: Inspirational Bette, Presidential Meryl, and Favourite Joe

4 random things that happened on this day, February 21st, in showbiz history...

The Globes weren't crazy about A Streetcar Named Desire

1952 9th annual Golden Globes are held with An American in Paris and A Place in the Sun both winning before battling it out at the Oscars. The Globes weren't that into A Streetcar Named Desire so the only one of the acting wins shared by the two shows was Kim Hunter as "Stellaaaaaa!" I had the pleasure of speaking about this competition on the "And the Runner Up Is..." podcast. And speaking of podcasts, 1951 is one of the few remaining years for the Supporting Actress Smackdown final season. 

1981 Prince performs on Saturday Night Live for the first time. Charlene Tilton (Dallas) was the host and he sang "Party Up" from the album "Dirty Mind"...

Click to read more ...

Cannes & Berlinale delayed

While we're on record objecting to awards shows changing their eligibility dates like crazy (despite, you know, the quarantine accessibility of streaming giving us all ways to see lots of movies) here's one change we can totally get behind and which makes total sense. Cannes, which always takes place in May, has moved itself to July for the 2021 film year.  More specifically the festival will run from July 6th through July 17th.  Last year, Spike Lee as chosen as jury president but then the event was cancelled so he was meant to reign in 2021 instead. That's still the plan (assuming Spike's schedule hasn't changed).

Though this is only a two month move it could prove a bit disruptive to the fall A list festivals like Venice, Telluride, and Toronto who generally can nab world premieres from prestige filmmakers whose films weren't quite ready for Cannes. Now all the A-list non Sundance festivals, including Berlinale, which is usually in February but will be in June this year, will take place across only a four month span. That's a lot of competition for films!

Berlinale goes for genderless acting prizes

There were quite a few comments the other day wondering why we hadn't shared the news that Berlinale, one of the world's top film festivals, will no longer be giving out separate Best Actress and Best Actor prizes. Instead they'll now be giving out two genderless acting prizes, one for a leading role and one for a supporting role. The reason we hadn't yet shared the news is that we found it self-sabotaging and depressing. A disclaimer before we continue: Before yet another angry comment explosion wherein we're accused of not having any perspective -- 'the world is burning, who cares about movie awards,' etcetera, you know the drill -- we must state upfront that we're fully aware that film awards are not the most important thing going on in the world. To which we must also state "duh!" reflectively and pre-emptively. But this is a film site, and a film site that is obsessed with film awards so please just let us do our thing. If you want to read about the world burning, you're at the wrong website anyway. This one is built for talking about arts and entertainment with a heavy emphasis on the filmed kind.

Now let's continue to the Berlinale topic...

Click to read more ...

Berlinale 2019: Three queer selections, a doc from the Sudan, and one walkout

Hallo! Seán here reporting from the 2019 Berlinale. It's the first big European film festival of the year, where new work premieres, deals get made, parties go on (and on) and where cinephiles prove their love of film by standing around in the freezing cold. I'm doing my best "Berlinale business bear" I'm here in an offical capacity: getting a first look at the queer TEDDY titles (which we'll talk about after the jump) and the short films for festivals in London and Dublin, but aside from that I'm also here to enjoy the film festival experience i.e. standing in the wrong line and walking in completely cold to something truly bizarre and extraordinary.

The Berlinale has many distinct and diverse sections, each with their own different forms and appeal. As someone who (a year later) is only a year later beginning to figure this out, allow me to impart my knowledge on the sections before we jump into the queer selection...

Click to read more ...