Sunday, May 3, 2020 at 7:38PM
Over at Sundays With Cate, we continue recaping and reviewing Mrs. America starring Cate Blanchett. This week we tackle episodes 4 and 5 dealing with Betty Freidan (Tracey Ullman) and Brenda Feigen Fasteau (Ari Graynor) debating Phyllis Schlafly (Blanchett). My guest is staff writer at Backstage, Casey Mink.
What did you think of the latest episodes of Mrs. America?
Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 11:42AM 
Over at Sundays With Cate I’m recapping the first three episodes of Mrs. America which are currently available on Hulu. We dig into Blanchett’s performance and the all star cast. The show is structured so that each episode highlights one of the figures in the fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The first episode is about right wing polarizing organizer Phyllis Schlafly (Blanchett) and how she came to oppose the ERA. The second highlights Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne) at the time she launched Ms. Magazine and the third takes place at the 1972 Democratic National Convention when Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba) became the first African American woman to run for president. My guest on this episode is writer and filmmaker Tayler Montague. Have a listen!
Sunday, April 12, 2020 at 6:00PM 
For this week's episode of Murtada's new podcast "Sundays with Cate," I've finally joined in as a special guest. I told him I wanted one of her obscure movies and though my preference was the total oddity The Man Who Cried (2000) which no one ever discusses and which is quite discussable (trust) it is hard to find these days. So we did Paradise Road (1997) instead. This is the movie Dame Blanchett made right before Elizabeth which would of course change everything.
In the mid 90s she was but one of many rising actresses Hollywood was curious about but not yet besotted with... would this young Aussie deliver? The answer was "and how!" but time hadn't yet provided that spoiler alert.
Listen in!
Friday, March 20, 2020 at 10:30AM 
Over at Sundays With Cate, my podcast series about the films of Cate Blanchett, I just finished a three part miniseries about her Oscar winning performance in Blue Jasmine (2013). Something I thought The Film Experience readers might enjoy so I’m sharing with you. Here are some details about the miniseries:
In part one we discuss Cate Blanchett as the real auteur of Blue Jasmine, and the many ways her performance makes her the author of the film.
In part two, we talk about the similarities to Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of Blanche Dubois clearly is the blueprint for Jasmine. The many actresses who played Blanche - including Blanchett herself in a production of Streetcar directed by Liv Ullman - or were inspired by her. From the women in Pedro Almodovar’s movies to Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence (1974) to most recently Carey Mulligan in Wildlife (2018).
And in the final part we discuss Jasmine and her sisters within the Woody Allen oeuvre. Annie Hall, Helen St Clair in Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Cecilia in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), among others.
Those episodes are now available wherever you listen to podcasts or at Sundays with Cate. Let me know what you think?
Thursday, February 20, 2020 at 11:39PM 
We may quibble and despair over the Oscars but we still tune in every year and love them despite it all. If we didn't, why would we obsess over predictions, rejoice at worthy victors or grimace when injustices occur? Looking back at the last decade of the awards, there are many indelible moments that energized us and made us applaud, that had us at the edge of our seats, crying through a heady mix of surprise and mirth.
Honorable mentions and a top ten list after the jump...
