Streaming Recommendation: "Lost Boys & Fairies"

by Nathaniel R

Fra Fee (Hawkeye, Prime Target) and Sion Daniel Young (Slow Horses, The Left Behind) are would-be parents in LOST BOYS & FAIRIES

Herewith a very modern problem. You see something interesting on a streaming channel and you subscribe without hesitation. You know you have too many subscriptions already. Before you know it you are paying hundreds of dollars for 10 services + add-ons. As much as I wish I had more self-control in this arena, I know I am not alone. Sometimes, though, the bleeding wallet is worth it. After subscribing to BritBox on Amazon Prime solely to watch "Lost Boys & Fairies", I do not regret it one iota. I will not even regret it a year from now when I realize I haven't watched anything else and am still paying for this one watch every single month.

In other words, I am here to emphatically recommend Daf James' BAFTA nominated miniseries Lost Boys and Fairies.  It's an often surprising, emotionally dense, occassionally tuneful, and funny tearjerker...

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My Trip to Bountiful Oscar Completism!

Baby Clyde's Oscar Completist Diaries -- Part 1

I’ve been and gone and done it! It took me nearly four decades, thousands of hours of screen time, a very patient brother and ultimately a trip to the other side of the world, but I’ve finally I’ve watched every available Best Picture and Acting Oscar nomination.

There were highs, lows, tears, laughter and Maximillian Schell in The Man in the Glass Booth but I’ve done it. The first thing I’ve ever had patience to follow through with in my entire life and we have one woman to thank. I know the exact moment my Oscar obsession started: Tuesday March 25th, 1986. 37 years ago, today...   

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Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne win Olivier Awards

by Nathaniel R

Jessie Buckley & Eddie Redmayne at the Olivier Awards yesterday

On Sunday across the pond the West End's Olivier Awards were held at the Royal Albert Hall. Since Broadway and the West End are on different schedules despite cross pollination you can sometimes get clues as to what future shows might be big at the Tony Awards and which Broadway shows have transferred well to London. Regarding the latter, London got two high profile Broadway transfers this season, the 2011 Sutton Foster led revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes and the 2019 musical adapation of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! both of which won multiple Tony Awards in their seasons. In stark contrast, they took only one prize each at the Oliviers. Disney's Frozen also lept across the pond but, just as it had in NYC, it received a few courtesy nominations but no wins.

The big Olivier winners were a new play based on the book/movie Life of Pi using actor operated puppets for the animals and yet another revival of Kander & Ebb's eternally thrilling Cabaret...

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Three of TFE's favourite actresses in limited runs on stage this summer!

by Nathaniel R

Donna Lynne, Sutton, and Ann

Theater is finally starting up again this summer and though the news is coming fast and furious about MANY productions there are three you really must know about involving great shows starring three special actresses that TFE loves dearly: Donna Lynn Champlin and Ann Dowd (both of whom have been kind enough to guest-star on this very site!) and Sutton Foster who is a longtime obsession...

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BIFA loves "Wild Rose" and "David Copperfield"

British Independent Film Awards, or BIFA for short, have announced their nominations for the 2019 film year. Like the Gothams and Spirits they are juried which means a small group of people decide various categories before the entire membership votes on the winners. Strangely, despite that they focused on a small pool of films (the leaders, Wild Rose and The Personal History of David Copperfield have a staggering 21 nominations between them. Yikes! 

Our friend and sometimes Smackdown guest Guy Lodge was on the panel this year and here are their choices.

Best British Independent Film

• Bait, Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite

• For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

• The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Kevin Loader The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• Wild Rose, Tom Harper, Nicole Taylor, Faye Ward

Bait and David Copperfield have not yet arrived stateside. The latter is coming in 2020 and with lots of name actors it will get some attention (plus it's quite funny) but we had to look up Bait to see what it was. We must keep an eye out due to the BIFA love...

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