Sundance: Dale Dickey shines in 'A Love Song'

by Matt St Clair

If you don’t know her name, odds are you’ve probably still seen Dale Dickey pop up in shows and films you like including Best Picture nominee Winter’s Bone (2010). Even after earning slight awards traction for her role as the wife of a backwoods crime boss in the acclaimed indie, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Dickey has remained on the precipice of famed character actordom, not quite tipping over. 

But with A Love Song, which just premiered at Sundance, Dickey finally gets a starring role to showcase her too often unsung gifts...

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Prime for May - Screengrab Roulette

A new month, a smattering of titles freshly available to stream for free at home, provided you have certain subscriptions. Let's play screengrab roulette. The following images are what came up (no cheating!) when I blind "scrolled" these newly streaming films on Amazon Prime. I only allow myself a second spin if the image is a complete blur or contains something really upsetting/violent [Complete list of titles is after the jump]

All extras, keep eating the oysters or you will be shot and killed!

Cecil B DeMented (2000)
This is the John Waters movie with the biggest divide for me between how much I love the concept (a guerilla filmmaking unit kidnapping an A list actress and forcing her to star in their film) and what I think of the actual movie. But, damn, Alicia Witt was on comic fire in this movie as "Cherish". It's clear that Melanie Griffith who headlines had seen Serial Mom (1994) and thought 'I could do that!' Only, she couldn't. I forgot how many stars were in this before they broke out: Adrian Grenier, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon! 

I want you to listen to me, child. You need to turn around and get yourself on home.

Winter's Bone (2010)
Dale Dickey was so damn great in this movie, wasn't she?

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True Blood 5.1 "Turn! Turn! Turn!"

I had such a good time covering True Blood last year that I decided early on that I'd chime in again this year. Unfortunately those slutty Bon Temps whackjobs and their blaspheming god (Alan Ball) did not reward me with a fine debut. Cliffhangers are rarely the best way to end a TV season -- especially one with a really devout fanbase that's coming back anyway. They invariably make the return feel like less of a drunken celebration and more like the clean up after A Lost Weekend. No one remembers how things got so messy but excuse us while we mop up.

Turn Turn Turn... TARA? The angriest bartender in Bon Temps won't be happy about this.

There's so much clean up. Sookie's house had not one but two dead girls to dispose of (Tara and Debby) and icky leftovers (the tooth!) but to avoid Tara's death being a true one, Sookie bargains with Vampire Pam to turn her. This is a terrible terrible decision but Sookie makes notoriously terrible decisions and almost always for selfish reasons so this is par for the course. More after the jump including the usual NSFW shenanigans of those Bon Temps hookers...

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Last Minute Oscar Linkage

Serious Film 3 wishes for the ceremony aside from wins
Wild Lines roots for a movie they weren't rooting for. "I take it all back" interesting post
<--- James Franco Oscar Morning footage. Adorable.
THR six things to watch for tonight.
Wesley Morris if you suffer for your art (Natalie Portman) you end up celebrated for it. In depth piece about the perceptions of screen acting changing. Liz Taylor, today's birthday girl, even gets a casaul shout out.
NPR good informative listen as Andy Trudeau runs down the nominees for Best Score. Did you know that How To Train Your Dragon uses a penny whistle and a dulcimer at the same time in its score? I did not.
Bohemea Best thing about the Spirit Awards? John Hawkes and Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone)
IndieWire Melissa Leo has a breast tattoo. #thingswedidntknow
Sunset Gun "Bette Davis Defines... Oscar" Love this.

And if you're just tuning in, YES, we will be live-blogging the Oscars tonight. See you at 6 PM EST. It's also the last couple hours to vote on the readers choice "should" wins so get clicking through the categories.