Review: Little Women

By Lynn Lee

Did we need another one?

That question hangs over any movie based on a novel that’s already been adapted multiple times – even moreso if there’s a previous adaptation that’s particularly beloved.  It may not, however, be the right question.  As potential movie material, perhaps great books should be treated more like great plays are for the stage, in the sense that if the work has enduring appeal, every new era deserves its own adaptation.  So perhaps the better question is whether this adaptation speaks to us, the viewers of today?

As applied to Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, the answer is yes…with a few caveats.  Full disclosure: I came to the movie as someone who read Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age classic so many times that my copy literally fell apart at the seams, and my devotion to Gillian Armstrong’s near-perfect 1994 adaptation starring Winona Ryder (which you should absolutely see if you haven’t) is a matter of TFE record .

While Armstrong’s version remains my favorite, I found a lot to like and admire about Gerwig’s...

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More Critics Prizes: Detroit & San Diego

It's apparently Florence Pugh day with critics though you'll have to read on to know why.

DFCS (Detroit Film Critics Society)
Detroit gave four prizes to Marriage Story but it couldn't crack Picture or Director...

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Horror Actressing: Florence Pugh in "Midsommar"

by Jason Adams

There is a lot of bodily violence seen on-screen in Ari Aster's Midsommar -- a certain mallet comes to mind. But nowhere at any point did I wince harder than I did during a scene simply involving two people having a conversation in a college dormitory. I often reference the moment that the little ghoul girl crawls through the television screen in Ringu as being the apex of cinematic revulsion for me -- that I very nearly crawled backwards up and over my seat the first time I saw that. Midsommar's dorm scene dropped the same sensation, just emotionally...

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Major shakeups in the Best Supporting Actress race

We will finish the Oscar chart updates this weekend We will finish the Oscar chart updates this weekend We will finish the Oscar chart updates this weekend We will finish the Oscar chart updates this weekend We will finish the Oscar chart updates this weekend We will fin

There's a ton of movement on the new Best Supporting Actress Oscar prediction chart. Laura Dern and Jennifer Lopez might be all locked up but that's for nominations, the win is still very much anyone's game. Florence Pugh has been gaining momentum with Little Women more heavily screening now and the fact that she takes a well worn familiar character and suddenly makes her freshly fascinating. The Academy would never touch MidSommar but enthusiasm for her leading performance there in critical quarters doesn't exactly hurt her prestige factor since she's still a relative lesser known in Hollywood. Meanwhile in the Oscar darling realms of voting, early screenings of Richard Jewell in Los Angeles have prompted suspicion that Kathy Bates might finally be back in an Oscar lineup (it's been 17 years since her comic turn in About Schmidt brought her her third and to date final nod). Perhaps we shouldn't have plopped her right into the lineup so soon but if we have misjudged we'll adjust next week after screening the picture. 

Also rising in the charts this time: 75 year-old newbie Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell), Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (Luce), and fresh revelation Taylor Russell (Waves) who all netted important Spirit nominations this week. 

Name 5 things you're currently obsessing over!

Apologies for the sparse posting the past couple of days we've been buried in screenings & events and the like. I'm currently obsessing about five things...

1) How wrong I was assuming the character of Amy could not be the MVP of any iteration of Little Women (hi, Florence!) so our SAG screening guest was correct. 

2) Potential trickery in the Original / Adapted screenplay placements with Ford v Ferrari attempting a Gangs of New York 'no, we're an original! a category in which they have virtually no chance of scoring... (so what is the campaign reasoning? Bizarre) and The Two Popes attempting a 'never mind that play the screenwriter wrote, we're an original)

3) TODD PHILLIPS DIRECTING STYLE ON JOKER WHICH IS THE MOVIE EQUIVALENT OF CAPS LOCK FOR AN ENTIRE DOCUMENT. 

4) How we're seeing Glenn Close on the campaign trail tonight stumping for Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes and how lovely that is that she is undeterred by her own horrible recent loss and right back out there. 

5) We've updated Picture / Director / Screenplay / Actor and Supporting Actor Oscar charts but we know you're just waiting for the ladies and we'll do them tomorrow!