Three Golden Globe "controversies" that shouldn't surprise anyone

Apologies for not addressing this earlier today but of the three Golden Globe rulings that have the internet's collective tongue wagging, only one of them surprised us and only in a very mild kind of way. Perhaps this is why we didn't jump to discuss figuring that people would respond with a shrug. How wrong we were! If you're like 'what the hell are you discussing, Nathaniel?' here's a quick survey.

The three controversial rulings:

1. Minari will not be eligible for Best Picture at the Globes but instead compete for Best Foreign Language Film. Our surprise level: 0%. The Globes have never allowed pictures that weren't in the English language to compete in Best Picture and we just assumed everyone knew this but we were quite wrong. The same exact thing happened as recently as last year (The Farewell, 2019) and as recently, before that, as the year before (Roma, 2018)...

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Mae West on Criterion

by Cláudio Alves

When she's good, she's very good. When she's bad, she's better. 

Mae West was one of the great stars of the Pre-Code era, though her reign as one of Hollywood's most popular queens was short-lived and curtailed by the advent of the Hays Code. Like Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz after her, West was a target of William Randolph Hearst's ire. According to legend, the millionaire wanted revenge on West after she had made insulting remarks concerning the acting abilities of Marion Davies, his mistress. Such conspiracies are fun and it's easy to paint Hearst as Old Hollywood's perennial villain, but they're rarely 100% true. Mae West's fall from grace is more complicated than a vendetta from a mogul and a bunch of outraged Catholics. She was one of a kind, a symbol of licentiousness and indecency, a provocateur whose triumph was as amazing as it was temporary... 

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What Qualifies as a Comedy for the Golden Globes?

By Abe Friedtanzer

It was announced this week that the forthcoming Promising Young Woman (my favorite film of 2020)  will be campaigned at the Golden Globes in the comedy/musical races. There’s definitely a case to be made for its classification as a comedy, even though it’s very dark. I agree that it’s the right choice though surely some will argue. Similarly, The Flight Attendant, which just earned a season two renewal from HBO Max, is likely to be considered a comedy for the TV categories, an interesting choice given the fact that it’s really a thriller. This isn’t the first time there’s at least been room for debate about what actually counts as a comedy with the HFPA and other groups…

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Review: The Twentieth Century

By: Patrick Gratton

Canadian history remembers William Lyon Mackenzie King as one of our most defining statesmen. King was the longest running Prime Minister to hold office in Ottawa, and a central ally to both Winston Churchill and FDR, in mobilizing Canada in World War II. Historians commend Mackenzie King as a central rallying cry for a divided country, whose skill set helped him reach across the aisle, mending multiple differences and helping grow Canada’s Independence even as it remained a British colony.

In his feature film debut The Twentieth Century, Winnipeg-born Matthew Rankin subverts this story. Set in 1899 and told in ten chapters, the film omits all of the soon-to-be Prime Minister’s triumphs, focusing instead on Mackenzie King’s (Dan Bierne) candidacy to be the country’s leader. Rankins shows a steady hand, confidently orchestrating a film that’s equal parts  German expressionism, 1920s melodrama and absurdist satire. The film unapologetically ransacks the mythos of the Canadian identity.

The future prime minister is depicted as a precious man-child, with an overbearing mother (Louis Negin, in drag)...

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Showbiz History: Skeksis & Mystics... and Judy Garland & the Supremes?

7 random things that happened on this day, December 17th, in showbiz history

1943 Now forgotten Universal B franchise "The Inner Sanctum" begins with Calling Dr Death featuring Lon Chaney Jr. Intended as a series that would be carried by Chaney and Oscar winner Gale Soondergard, only Chaney actually made it to the screen. There were six films in all. 

1965 Judy Garland and the Supremes perform at Houston's then brand new 60,000 seat Astrodome Theater. Wait, what? Judy Garland AND Diana Ross and you could attend for a single dollar...

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