Meet the New Honorary Oscar Winners!

by Cláudio Alves

On Saturday, November 28th, at this year's Governors Awards, we'll finally see the amazing Angela Bassett with an Oscar statuette befitting her talents and incredible career. After she lost the Best Supporting Actress trophy at the 95th Academy Awards, netizens everywhere decried another injustice committed against one of the most important African-American thespians working today, mourning an Oscar-less status many think should have been rectified way back in 1993. Hopefully, they feel vindicated now. Indeed, if nothing else, this proves how much the industry is behind Bassett, making one wonder how close the vote was between her and Jamie Lee Curtis...

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Doc Corner Catch-Up: White Hot, The Automat, and ¡Viva Maestro!

By Glenn Dunks

White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & FitchYou may have noticed that the Doc Corner column has been a bit quiet. I have been unfortunately quite slack with the reviews in the first four months of 2022. It is usually a quiet period at the beginning of the year in general, but fatigue (awards season + life) means I have unfortunately missed the chance to talk about some of the titles that have come along. And then added onto that, I had COVID and despite being in mandated isolation for the week, my brain was living strictly on a diet of Harrison Ford movies and television catch-up (Shining Vale, Abbott Elementary, Troppo among them).

But we are here on the first of May. And so before we get back into regular coverage of some pretty big titles (some of which will be angling for Oscar's attention), we’re going to play a little bit of catch-up today. We have war-torn Ukraine, the history of American dining and fashion institutions, and globe-trotting philosophers...

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Over & Overs: Young Frankenstein (1974)

by Ginny O'Keefe

When you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to 
Why don’t you go where passion sits
PUTTINNNONDAREEEEEEEEEZ

In these dark times we are living in, it’s good to have a little escapism. Even if it only lasts an hour and forty-six minutes. And nothing puts a larger smile on my face quite like Mel Brooks’ classic horror-parody, Young Frankenstein. I watched this movie with my family on a skit trip when I was eight years old, not knowing what I was getting into...

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RIP Gene Wilder (1933 - 2016)

Comedy legend Gene Wilder has passed away, after complications with Alzheimer's disease. He served as Mel Brooks's leading player, producing such classics as Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Young Frankenstein. After those films, he also frequently starred opposite Richard Pryor. But to many he will always be remembered for the hilarious sly cruelty of his Willy Wonka, a performance that seen from a childhood gaze is awe-inspiring and warm only to become more delectably rotten in adulthood.

After the passing of his wife Gilda Radner (Wilder also had his own battle with cancer), he mostly stepped out of the spotlight, leaving those mentioned behemoths to speak for his legacy. For me, his Frederic Frankensteen is the one that sticks - all barking neuroses and feigned composure while lampooning the heightened acting styles of Universal horror classics. The performance is so physical and modulated to extremes that his comedy becomes like a set piece, a spectacle worth coming back to again and again.

What are your favorite Gene Wilder memories?

From Here to Eternity? It's Jennifer & Justin's Wedding Anniversary

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux hit their first anniversary today. You know who shares that date on the calendar? Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, that's who! They were married on this day in 1964 when they were both in their thirties. The 1960s were good to them as they both won Oscars and each other. They were married until her death in 2005. We miss her stellar acting.

On this day in showbiz history after the jump...

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