Almost There: Idris Elba in "Beasts of No Nation"

by Cláudio Alves

Spike Lee's latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, was released on Netflix last week and people are already talking about the possibility of Oscar glory. Delroy Lindo, in particular, is getting plenty of attention for what many call the best performance of his career. He's an early contender for the Academy Award. To observe such a reaction is to see how far Netflix has come in the past few years, effectively carving a place for itself in the Oscar race. It wasn't always like this and we need only look back at 2015 to find proof of it. Then, rewarding the cinematic excellence of films produced by streaming companies was still a relative taboo, a bridge too far for many awards bodies. 

If it weren't for the early resistance of AMPAS towards Netflix, Idris Elba would probably already be an Oscar-nominated actor…

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Review: Da 5 Bloods

by Lynn Lee

Perfectly timed.  The right voice for this precise moment.  Spike Lee’s never been more necessary than he is now. 

If you’ve read one variation of the “timeliness” reaction to Spike Lee’s latest joint by way of Netflix, Da 5 Bloods, you’ve read them all.  It’s a truth so self-evident it practically amounts to a truism.  Except the fact is that Spike Lee never went anywhere – he’s been here the last 30 plus years, educating us on the ugly persistence of systemic racism in the U.S.  His movies have always been timely; it’s our fault if we’ve failed to heed their underlying admonitions or give them the sustained attention they deserve.  It makes little sense, then, to accord his newest release any extra expectations that it will “speak to the moment.”  Still, given that it's Spike Lee, it does speak to the moment, if less directly – or less crisply – than some of his previous films...

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Streaming Roulette, June: Nezha, Lucy in the Sky, West Side Story

If you're new to the site this is how we share new streaming offerings for the month. We select a handful or two of titles and just randomly hit a place on the scroll bar to see what the film looks like - no cheating.  Ready? Let's play...

-Maid of Honor?
-Oh, that color is bad for Anita!

West Side Story (1961) on Netflix
Silly, Maria. Anita doesn't have bad colors --she's Rita Moreno!  ICYMI I hope you'll read our huge three part retrospective of West Side Story. It was a joy to write. Netflix so rarely has 20th century movies  that you should always stream them (even if you own the picture, just leave it running in the background) to remind them that first century of the artform they make their billions off of is kind of important. Just saying...

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Brief Notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations

We want to thank Abe Fried-Tanzer for doing so much Emmy contender coverage for us this year. The Primetime Emmy Awards are, of course, the "draw" but it occurred to us recently that "primetime" and "daytime" have surely lost their meaning in our current streaming era. That is to say but for the vestigial meaning they carry, who actually thinks of TV based on its airtime sanymore? People now watch whatever shows they watch whenever they want to watch them. Even live events aren't always screened as they air but often piecemeal through clips on the following day(s).

Eastsiders, up for 8 Emmy Awards in its final season

So herewith 5 brief notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations just announced...

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Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood" Finale

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes artists dig their own graves by badly promoting or describing their works. Ryan Murphy's Hollywood is, to me, a good example of that. First off, the title is too vague, promising a portrait of Hollywood history instead of the fantasy the series presents. "Dreamland" would be an infinitely better name, both as a descriptor of the content and a tie-in to the narrative's details.

Titles aside, another big problem surrounding Hollywood is how many have been calling it revisionist history. It's no such thing…

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