Franchise fever continues to dominate the Saturn Awards

By Nathaniel R

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE © Warner Bros

The 52nd annual Saturn Awards are taking place this year on February 2nd and voting is happening right now (until the 15th). Dune Part Two (14 nominations) and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (13 noms) are in the lead this time around while Deadpool & Wolverine is lagging a bit behind in third with 10 noms. Those aren't the only franchises in play and we'll discuss how long some of these franchises that are up for prizes have been running (once since the 1950s!)...

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Best Actor in the 80s: An Alternative Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

Your eyes don't deceive you. At long last, AMPAs and I can find common ground and award the same performance. Well, two out of ten. It's something!

This November, we've been celebrating the 1980s with a series of throwback articles. To contribute and inspired by Nathaniel's top tens, I decided to share my alternative Oscar ballots, the idealized lineups that would have come to pass in a world where my taste prevailed over the Academy's. We've already looked at Best Actress, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor, so now it's time for the leading men. As always, I welcome all recommendations – it's been a great pleasure to read all your own ideal lineups and jot down films to watch in the future. To repeat some critical details, these lists include my personal Oscar lineup according to the eligibility established by the Academy. There are also honorable mentions, ineligible gems, and some notable titles I already have on my watchlist…

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Which star would you want to haunt your dreams?

by Cláudio Alves

Maybe Mitzi Fabelman was right. Maybe films are dreams you never forget, imagination unbound and projected wide at 24 frames per second. And yet, the reverse trajectory can happen, too. From dreams becoming movies to dreams made from movies– who hasn't been lost in some oneiric reverie with one or two elements borrowed from a cinematic favorite? I know I have on multiple occasions, and sometimes it's not even the pictures themselves but the faces that shine brightly within the frame. Movie stars can feel bigger than life, already a step removed from reality with a foot planted in myth, making them perfect fodder for the unconscious mind. 

In Dream Scenario, soon in theaters, Nicolas Cage stars as Paul, a hapless man manifesting across strangers' slumbering fantasies. He's a nobody whose unlikely place in other people's dreams transforms him into somebody. He's a star of sorts, just like the man playing him…

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Hollywood Weirdo: A Nicolas Cage Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

A new Nicolas Cage movie is in cinemas, a blessing to the actor's fans and all those who've ever dreamed of this Hollywood weirdo playing Count Dracula. Renfield comes at a time in his career when the industry seems ready to recognize him as something more than a meme, finding value in the thespian's oddities past the point of self-parody. This happens after many years when it felt like Cage was only ever mentioned in jest, the butt of a bad joke, a meme to make the internet laugh. And so, it tastes a bit like justice. At least, it does to longtime admirers that never entirely bought into a negative narrative that stems partly from the supposition that exaggeration and what's beyond realism don't belong in the box labeled 'good acting.'

In celebration, allow me to give in to the homosexual prerogative to make lists and present you with my top ten best Nicolas Cage performances. As with recent lists for Angela Bassett and Gwyneth Paltrow, this will only include big screen work, and the movies will remain unranked. However, I decided to add a unique twist to this Nic Cage lovefest...

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25th Anniversary: "Face/Off"

by Nick Taylor

Yeah, that’s right motherfuckers, we are talking about ci-ne-MA! We’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of Chinese action auteur John Woo’s third English-language film, the 11th highest grossing film of 1997, a lone Oscar nominee in the now-subsumed Sound Editing category (may her memory be eternal) that was inevitably bulldozed by Titanic. It's one of the most voluptuously insane movies Nicolas fucking Cage has ever appeared in; Face/Off, where they take the face OFF.

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been proselytizing about this film for years, ever since I first saw it with my sister Melina and some friends of our  about 8 years ago. The 25th anniversary was an ideal opportunity to pop in the Blu-Ray Tommy got me for Christmas and finally share (he might say inflict) its majesty with him. Our roommates even joined us, and I had so much fucking fun watching them experience it for the first time...

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