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The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1984 is coming your way on Wednesday August 31st with Dame Peggy Ashcroft defending her Oscar from the other side. Will the panel co-sign that Oscar win or throw their votes to Christine Lahti, Lindsay Crouse, or legendary Oscar regulars in the form or either Glenn Close or Geraldine Page. Please remember that readers are the collective sixth panelist so I expect your answers to these questions in the comments (as well as your ballots - details on what to send me here).
MEET THE PANELISTS
Please give a hearty welcome to two first time Smackdowners
NOAH TSIKA Noah Tsika is the Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Queens College, CUNY. He has also written two books on cinema: Nollywood Stars: Media and Migration in West Africa and the Diaspora and Pink 2.0: Encoding Queer Cinema on the Internet. Follow Noah on Twitter
SHEILA O'MALLEY Sheila O'Malley is a regular film critic for Rogerebert.com and other outlets including The Criterion Collection. She wrote the narration (read by Angelina Jolie) for the Gena Rowlands tribute reel played at the 2016 Governors Awards. Her blog is The Sheila Variations. Follow Sheila on Twitter.
...welcome back two regular Smackdowners
JOE REID Joe Reid never went to film school, unless you count the film school of hard knocks, which he also didn't go to. That hasn't stopped him from writing about movies. He is currently Senior Writer at Decider.com. One day, he'll have written about his love for The Hours, Go, and Mermaids enough that he can finally close his laptop, satisfied that his work is done. Follow Joe on Twitter
NICK DAVIS Nick Davis writes the reviews and features at the website Nick's Flick Picks. The site's unpredictable cycles of frenzied activity and long dormancy have to do with his also being an Associate Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies at Northwestern, where his research and teaching mostly concern narrative film in different eras, genres, and countries. Follow Nick on Twitter
And, of course, your host with all his needy questions about your favorites this and that...
We're celebrating the cinematic year of 1984 this month. Here's Chris Feil on Romancing the Stone...
One of 1984's biggest hits was Romancing the Stone, a quippy twist on a harlequin romance dressed up as a jungle adventure. The film was the first big box office success for director Robert Zemeckis, though he only ever fleetingly matched Stone's glee for the sexy - it's almost odd that this film comes from a director who's film are often mostly crotchless.
But more importantly, Stone gifted us with the first cinematic gold pairing of Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. The duo is perfectly matched for their complimentary wits and evident sex appeal, resulting in both sequel The Jewel of the Nile and The War of the Rose before the decade's end. They may have had more overt steaminess elsewhere (see: Body Heat and Fatal Attraction, et al.), but even this film's PG rating can't contain their fireworks together.
The blend of grand adventure, slapstick humor, and loin-grabbing passion begs the question "Why does sex at the movies always have to be so damn serious?" So in honor of the Stone's hot fun:
Variety Dean Jones, Disney star of the 60s and 70s, dies at 84. RIP Variety National Medal of Arts recipients this week at the White House include Larry McMurtry, Stephen King and Sally Field! This is Not Porn Peter O'Toole playing cricket during The Lion in Winter Boston Globe Sienna Miller cut from Black Mass - oh the indignities of how many miniscule roles she gets Many Rantings of John thinks Game of Thrones will beat Mad Men to the Drama Emmy. Agree? I think I do. I've managed to keep my Mad Men expectations tamped down (but for Jon Hamm who is deserving times a thousand) and four Best Drama trophies for an 8 year series (F*** you F***ing two-part finale TV/movie trend) is nothing to complain about, you know? Variety raves Tom McCarthy's Spotlight with the "heftiest roles" belonging to Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo. Move it up your Oscar charts
AV Club Anne Hathaway on losing roles to early 20somethings-- hey she isn't talking about Silver Linings Playbook is she? Comics Alliance looks at those unboxed Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys. If you're into that sort of thing Pajiba tries to recast Galaxy Quest which is going to become a TV series now. Honestly, in some cases why recast? Missi Pyle needs to be a regular! MNPP more new pics from A Bigger Splash with Tilda Swinton. It looks more and more scrumptuous the more we see MNPP also believes that Jake Gyllenhaal nudity has been removed from Everest. Boo! Kenneth in the (212) Henry Cavill apologizes for his boner Towleroad Candis Cayne's Curb Your Enthusiasm experience. (I've never told you this but I love Candis Cayne -- since Wigstock in 1995 -- and am so glad she's getting more press via "I Am Cait".) Empire I somehow missed the news that Neighbors is getting a sequel (already filming) but maybe I blocked it out since Selena Gomez and Chloe Moretz are the antagonists this time for our hapless marrieds played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne? Variety on a new biography "Can I Go Now?" on outrageous superagent Sue Mengers agent to Barbra Streisand who is having quite a posthumous revival of late Time Out London Joaquin Phoenix on Irrational Man and why he turned down Doctor Strange
When I was younger I was probably a bit of a snob about [taking on blockbuster roles]. But they’ve gotten better. I’ve flirted with several of those films, having meetings and getting close, but ultimately it never felt like they’d really be fulfilling. There were too many requirements that went against my instincts for character. I’ve been spoiled. I’ve never had to make those compromises. I’ve not met a director yet with one of those films where we go through the script, they say: ‘You know what, fuck this set-piece, let’s focus on the character!’ I understand, but it’s best I don’t do it.
Video of the Day Check out this incredible mashup of movie characters in "Hell's Club" starring Al Pacino, Tom Cruise, and John Travolta. I especially like the Collateral on Cocktail staredown and unobtrusive Boogie Nights appearances
Telluride Lineup The high altitude festival kicks off today with the following 27 film lineup. TFE never attends Telluride because it is against our "deeply held religious beliefs" to pay for the privilege of giving a festival free publicity (unlike most A list festivals you have to pay for a press pass). Titles in red are also playing at TIFF some of which have already played Cannes or Berlinale and some of which will also play NYFF. Titles in blue are playing NYFF but not TIFF which is a roundabout way of saying we'll be seeing most of them within a month, just not this very weekend! They'll also be giving awards/holding tributes to director Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs), Rooney Mara (Carol) -- Nick made a funny -- and documentarian Adam Curtis (Bitter Lake) so Oscar Campaign Season has officially begun. Speaking of Rooney, here's the new poster for Carol. Unimaginative but pretty!
CAROL (d. Todd Haynes, U.S., 2015)
AMAZING GRACE (d. Sydney Pollack, U.S., 1972/2015)
ANOMALISA (d. Charlie Kaufman, U.S., 2015)
BEAST OF NO NATION (d. Cary Fukunaga, U.S., 2015)
HE NAMED ME MALALA (d. Davis Guggenheim, U.S., 2015)
STEVE JOBS (d. Danny Boyle, U.S., 2015)
IXCANUL(d. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala, 2015)
BITTER LAKE (d. Adam Curtis, U.K., 2015)
ROOM (d. Lenny Abrahamson, England, 2015)
BLACK MASS (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2015) Why anyone would be seeing Black Mass at either fest when it opens on 09/18, I cannot say!
SUFFRAGETTE (d. Sarah Gavron, U.K., 2015)
SPOTLIGHT (d. Tom McCarthy, U.S., 2015)
RAMS (d. Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland, 2015)
MOM AND ME (d. Ken Wardrop, Ireland, 2015)
VIVA (d. Paddy Breathnach, Ireland, 2015)
TAJ MAJAL (d. Nicolas Saada, France-India, 2015)
SITI (d. Eddie Cahyono, Indonesia, 2015)
HEART OF THE DOG (d. Laurie Anderson, U.S. 2014)
45 YEARS (d. Andrew Haigh, England, 2015)
SON OF SAUL (d. Lázló Nemes, Hungary, 2015)
ONLY THE DEAD (d. Michael Ware, Bill Guttentag, U.S.- Australia, 2015)
TAXI (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2015)
HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (d. Kent Jones, U.S., 2015)
TIME TO CHOOSE (d. Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2015)
MARGUERITE (d. Xavier Giannoli, France, 2015)
TIKKUN (d. Avishai Sivan, Israel, 2015)
WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM (d. Evgeny Afineevsky, Russia-Ukraine, 2015)
Off Screen Vulture smart negative review of Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz. I like the album quite a lot more than this but salient points made Broadway Buzz Kathleen Turner to costar in "Would You Still Love Me..." Off Broadway. It's about gender reassignment surgery. But not her characters (sorry, Friends fans). Her child is considering it in the play. NYT a profile of a "fit-model". I include this because I had never heard of this job until I became friends some years ago with a girl who is one! (Hi, Jenn!) People get this job not from magazine-beauty but from having ideal/average proporations/measurements for clothes-sizes. It's always neat to realize that each industry has jobs you've never imagined that people can actually earn livings from. Gothamist on the best non Broadway theater companies in NYC i09 novelist Don DeLillo to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Book Awards this fall
"Can Marlon Brando Be Tamed?" - the answer, as the next 50 years taught the world was an unequivocal "No."1954 is our "Year of the Month" and this post was fun to research. People who only care about 'the now' are really missing out. Movie tickets were only 70 cents. Can you imagine?
We'll announce the panelists for the Supporting Actress Smackdown (August 30th) on Tuesday. But until then let's marinate a little in the year that was.
BEST MOVIES ACCORDING TO...
Oscar: On the Waterfront (12 noms / 8 wins) The Country Girl (7 noms | 2 wins) The Caine Mutiny (7 nominations) Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (5 noms | 1 win) Three Coins in the Fountain (3 noms | 2 wins).
Just outside the Best Picture shortlist looking in was surely Billy Wilder's wonderful and funny Sabrina and maybe the airplane drama The High and the Mighty (both with 6 noms | 1 win). Probably not just-misses as they were not totally loved but definitely prestigious / respected were two musicals, the awesome A Star is Born (6 nominations) which should have definitely been there and which in fact won both the acting Globes for comedy/musical and the historic Carmen Jones (2 nominations). It's always worth noting that only beginning in the 80s were musicals like rare unicorns. There were 22 musicals released in 1954! It was just another type of movie with hits and misses like any other film genre for the first 50 years of sound cinema. Golden Globe: (drama) On the Waterfront (comedy/musical) Carmen Jones
Cannes: Gate of Hell (Japan) took the Palme D'Or and after opening in the US in December and Oscar nomination for Costume Design and an Honorary Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (before that category was created)
List-Mania continues withmusic hits, debuts, and adorable "born in '54" people after the jump...
When the red band trailer for the revival (not a reboot but a long distant "next generation" sequel) of Vacation premiered yesterday, with Chris Hemsworth swinging a big fake one around for a cheap laugh, it got me to thinking about how phallic-centric Hollywood has become. This is no new thinkpiece notion of course. But with the incredible amount of material from the 1980s that Hollywood has been mining and regurgitating, we're getting about the sharpest resolution picture possible of how Hollywood has regressed in terms of equal opportunities for female stars. Hollywood has always had its share of sexism but today's Hollywood seems especially female-averse. How did it happen exactly? Hollywood will reboot ANYTHING from the 1980s. So long as it did not star a woman. No, not even if it was a smash hit. They won't do it... although they will allow those titles to be remade for television if you're really desperate to see them revamped.
To prove the point here are a list of the most successful 1980s movies starring women. I only looked at the top 25 or so box office hits from each year of the 1980s. To give you a contemporary correlative of their success that's like from the tippity top American Sniper sized behemoth down to the Lucy-sized hit levels last year if you pretend that each year is roughly the same as the last in terms of gross domestic box office.
Disclaimer: This list should in no way be mistaken as a plea to remake these pictures -- we have more than enough remakes. We need original material! It's just to make a point.
Saturday, August 27, 2016 at 1:38PM 
MEET THE PANELISTS
SHEILA O'MALLEY 
JOE REID
NICK DAVIS
