Almost There: Thandiwe Newton in "Crash"

by Cláudio Alves

Happy belated birthday to Thandiwe Newton, who turned 50 last Sunday. From Flirting (1991) to God's Country (2022), the British actress has impressed across a variety of genres and roles, be they prestige melodrama or pulpy sci-fi. There's a tremendous flexibility to her screen presence, a vast range showcased even in projects that never quite rise to her level. Such is the case of Crash, Paul Haggis' divisive Best Picture winner, where Newton is just one thread within a broad tapestry of tricky racial dynamics, each storyline intertwining with ten others. Hyperlink cinema was all the rage in the 00s, and this particular example surely propelled Newton closer to the Oscar race than she'd been before or since.

Though it's no fun to look back on Crash, we shouldn't let the picture's general awfulness bleed into the memory of Newton's work. She's a beacon of quality, shining brightly amid the offensive generalizations which crash into sanctimonious incompetence…

Click to read more ...

Tribeca 2022: Peter Dinklage & Shirley MacLaine in 'American Dreamer'

By Abe Friedtanzer

A comedy starring four-time Emmy winner Peter Dinklage and the legendary Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine (who at age 88, still has three upcoming projects listed on IMDB)? Sounds like a recipe for success. Yet there’s something about American Dreamer that just doesn’t work. That's a shame given that these actors are so talented and putting them together should work very well. Paul Dektor’s directorial debut is still a perfectly decent way to spend 106 minutes, but it’s not as funny or satisfying as it could be…

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: Matt Dillon endures, Reality Bites opens, and Three Billboards peaks

6 random things that happened on this day, February 18th, in showbiz history...

1928 Sonja Henie wins her first of three consecutive gold medals in women's figure skating (a feat that's never been equalled in women's figure skating). Hollywood comes calling in the mid 30s (back when they used to make movie stars of famous athletes -- see also Buster Crabbe, Esther Williams, and Johnny Weismuller) and she headlines several hit films, starring with One in a Million in 1936...

Click to read more ...

TIFF Quickies: Animated Bollywood, Mother/Daughter Science, and Annette Bening

by Nathaniel R

HOPE GAP (UK, William Nicholson)
Have you ever wanted to see Annette Bening play a retired British poet attempting to create her own 'Martha & George'  dynamic with her unwilling elderly husband (Bill Nighy)? That was a rhetorical question. Of course you want to see The Bening do that as you'd want to see her do all things onscreen if you have any taste. Hope Gap, the second directorial effort from long time screenwriter William Nicholson (Gladiator, Shadowlands, Nell, etcetera...), is about a married couple of 29 years whose marriage has died. The wife just doesn't know it yet and continually "has a go" at her husband, eager to see him fight back or express anything at all. Their loving but avoidant son (Josh O'Connor, doing a 180 from his breakout role in In God's Country) is completely out of his depth as he is forced into the role of shoulder-to-cry on, referee, and messenger boy all at once. Though Bening struggles a bit with the accent, she's on typical fire when it comes to blending a well of complex emotion with crackling comic timing...

Click to read more ...

Critics Choice Documentary Winners 2018

In an unusually successful year for documentaries in terms of audience interest, two of the biggest hits, Won't You Be My Neighbor? ($22.6 million) and Free Solo ($7.3 million and climbing) now have yet more to crow about. They each won three prizes at the 3rd annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards last night. Though they both appear to be likely future Oscar nominees you just never know with the documentary branch. 

The winners in each of the Critics Choice doc categories are listed after the jump... 

Click to read more ...