Meryl Streep and Renée Zellweger are up for Grammys...

We don't really cover the Grammys here at TFE as it's rather beyond our wheelhouse but to give you a general sense of that awards landscape, Taylor Swift ("Folklore"), and Dua Lipa ("Future Nostalgia") dominated and Beyoncé, too, despite the lack of a new album. Everyone's fav obsession at the moment, BTS, disappointingly scored only one nomination for Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Dynamite". Insane that that wasn't up for Record of the Year.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Black Pumas -Deluxe Edition (Black Pumas)
• Chilombo (Jhené Aiko)
• Djesse Vol 3 (Jacob Collier)
• Everyday Life (Coldplay)
• Folklore (Taylor Swift)
• Future Nostalgia (Dua Lipa)
• Hollywood's Bleeding (Post Malone)
• Women in Music Pt III (Haim)

But as we do we focus on categories that fall more under our umbrella here. So after the jump the categories for visual media as well as actors and composers who work primarily in film and television who are up for Grammys this year...

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Have you caught up with "Cats" on streaming yet?

by Eric Blume

While many Americans are talking about their life in terms of Before and After the Pandemic, I'm now talking about my life in terms of Before and After watching Cats the movie.  The much-maligned Tom Hooper musical opus is currently available on iTunes and Amazon, so I felt I should give it a shot after all the chatter, here, and elsewhere.  But beware, kind viewer:  once you've seen this movie, there is no coming back.

Preface that I am not a "Cats" hater (or even a cats hater...they're not dogs, but that's not their fault).  I saw the almost-original Broadway production back when it was all the rage, so I have a tender spot for it in my heart...

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Linkward

Gal Gadot and celebrity friends sing "Imagine" to us from their quarantines
AV Club the Olympic Flame has arrived in Tokyo... but how will the Olympics go on?
Criterion has announced its June titles - Portrait of a Lady on Fire, whoooo!
France 24 Cannes has finally made the announcement. The long running festival will not be cancelled but postponed. It will now begin at the end of June instead of mid-Ma 

After the jump including coronavirus dread at movie theaters, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, the fate of Pixar's Onward, and more...

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Dame Judi Dench loves a feline theme

by Murtada Elfadl

The new trend in celebrity videos is about hand washing and social distancing. But trust a revered Oscar winner to add a dash of poetry. Dame Judi Dench appears in a short clip with her friend and fellow actor Gyles Brandreth as they lather up their hands for the required 20 seconds. Instead of singing a song or reciting a famous monologue they recite the opening verses of Edward Lear’s beloved poem The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

Ever the showwoman, Dench even begins purring and nuzzling up to Brandreth when they reach the line “What a beautiful pussy you are.” Nice homage to your current movie, Dame Judi, but perhaps not keeping with the current guidelines for social distancing.  

A Public Service Poem - from Judi Dench & Gyles Brandreth pic.twitter.com/jocgJtjvVd

— Gyles Brandreth (@GylesB1) March 15, 2020

 Now that Cats is available at home, have you watched yet and what do you think of the Dame’s feline moves?

Soundtracking: Cats

by Chris Feil

One month after its catastrophic arrival and its official: Cats has entered the cult pantheon. But unlike the midnight musical tradition set before it by The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this disaster isn’t simply finding an audience that appreciates its merits. If the ultimate schadenfreude response to the film felt pre-baked by the gleefully unhinged  reactions to its promotional material, we shouldn’t forget that much of its failed vision falls squarely in the lap of director Tom Hooper.

Cats as a musical is supposed to be earnest, its silly concept a vessel for unbridled imagination from the bombastic funhouse of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Of course, it has always had vocal detractors - it’s still a musical about cats. But for better or worse, it’s a more tuneful score than it’s often credited as, even if it grates...

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