Shelley Winters @ 100: A Patch of Blue (1965)

We're celebrating the centennial of Shelley Winters. Here's Nathaniel...

Int. Nathaniel's apartment. Two best friends are bored, realizing it's another "exciting" COVID summer night of what will we eat for dinner / watch on TV?. Nathaniel presents a few movie options (inevitably related to whatever TFE projects are in development). His friend's choice surprises him, "I think I'm really in a Shelley Winters mood." Nathaniel wonders for a split-second what a 'Winters mood' is before realizing he already knows... and approves! Up goes the movie and within seconds they glance at each other. "Shelley is going hard!" Nathaniel proclaims, half-stunned. He really shouldn't be. Going hard is, after all, a Winters mood and specialty.

Still and all, performances that begin at the pitch the Oscar winner risks for her introductory scene in A Patch of Blue rarely have anywhere go to thereafter...

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Shelley Winters @100: Lolita (1962)

We're celebrating the centennial of Shelley Winters each night for a few more days. Here's Eric Blume...

Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film adaptation of Lolita lands right in the middle of Shelley Winters’ two Oscar wins (The Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue).  Her balls-out performance in the first hour of this movie contains some true humdinger acting. She comes to the table to play and win here. 

Obviously, especially when viewed within the context of today’s sensibilities, Lolita is a problematic picture. That's especially true since Kubrick plays each scene with his sympathies clearly in line with our leading man, Humbert Humbert (played, superbly, by James Mason), and actively against Winters, who plays mom of young Lolita, and who falls in love with HH...  

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Shelley Winters @ 100: A Double Life (1947)

For the next few evenings we'll be celebrating the career of Shelley Winters for her Centennial. Here's Nathaniel R...

Shelley as a young starlet (1943) and as a prestigious character actress (1968)

Shirley Schrift had been kicking around showbiz for eight years before the needle moved. At just 19 years of age, before she had any real professional credits, she auditioned for Scarlett O'Hara (like virtually every aspiring actress of the time) during the famed nationwide search. Director George Cukor himself (the initial director of Gone With the Wind) advised her to get acting lessons. She did and her work ethic and ambition paid off. Broadway roles followed and Hollywood soon after. The first years of her movie career were mostly filled with uncredited bits in Columbia and MGM pictures. With studio jobs came the usual tinkering with persona starting with a stage name. Shirley became Shelley and the Schrift became Winter and then Winters. Though some screen icons were given the instant star treatment, Winters career was closer to the norm of working actors in studio-era Hollywood. You were just one of thousands of faces but if you were lucky, charismatic, talented, or if executives took an interest (all four was naturally ideal), they'd work carefully on your image and groom you for larger roles.

At twenty-six the actress's luck changed suddenly -- as it does if it changes at all -- with two roles that launched her to stardom...

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Almost There: Cameron Diaz in "Being John Malkovich"

by Cláudio Alves

We asked you to choose the next two subjects of the Almost There series, and you came through. After more than 800 votes overall, Cameron Diaz won out from the new-to-streaming batch. Her against-type supporting turn in Spike Jonze's 1999 Being John Malkovich conquered around 24% of your votes, with Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind coming in as a close second. So, for now, let's focus on Diaz and her frizzy-haired Lotte…

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Podcast: Emmy Nods & Oscar Worries

with Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl

Hey, it's a wee break from our smackdowning for an old school podcast of rambling conversation!

Index (68 minutes)
00:01 We're back talking about what we've been watching
08:13 Emmy nomination theories and viewing habits. The Mandalorian and more
19:13 Comedy series nominees: Insecure, What We Do in the Shadows, etc...
27:20 Limited Series is what we're both most invested in: Little Fires Everywhere, Unorthodox, Normal People, Mrs America and various acting categories
49:00 Emmy's "creative arts" - why not televised? 
53:00 What kind of an awards season and Oscar race are we heading into? Fall festivals are announcing but not really happening. The movie calendar is in disarray
01:05:00 Critics groups will also postpone their awards

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? 

Emmy Reactions and Oscar Worries