Soundtracking: "Inside Llewyn Davis"

by Chris Feil

"I don’t see a lot of money here."

With that cold, unfeeling line, F. Murray Abraham’s notorious club owner dismisses Oscar Isaac’s Llewyn Davis after a crucial impromptu audition. In so few words, he communicates that both Llewyn’s hard times and the commodification of his art form are here to stay.

After a taxing hitchhike from New York City on the promise of this gamechanger opportunity, the forever beleaguered Llewyn finagles his way into this audition and performs “The Death of Queen Jane”. The bitterness of Inside Llewyn Davis calms for Isaac’s crystalline vocals...

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April Foolish Predictions: Best Supporting Actor

by Nathaniel R

One intriguing possibility is Oscar Isaac as the painter Paul Gauguin in "At Eternity's Gate" -- the film is about Vincent Van Gogh's time in Aries (in which their friendship went awry) -- but will it be ready in time and get strong distribution?

And now we come to the one acting category that arguably has no super devoted fan base: Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Why have we never met an obsessive fan of this category? It's easy to run into people who love leading ladies and/or leading men and, we should know more than anyone given the Supporting Actress Smackdowns that that particular contest tends to fascinate a wide swath of people. So why no love for Supporting Actor? Could it be because the Academy uses this category, we'd argue more than the others, as an afterthought, filling it with 'thanks for the career' citations and 'we like this movie, so, sure' troupers. Any other theories out there as to the lack of love? Please note: this is not to disparage supporting players as we love to sing their praises for jobs well done. Supporting actors (and actresses) are essential to the overall success of the stories they help shape and color.  

We've got at least five true stories this year with heavily male supporting ensembles that could affect this category though it's difficult to know in advance which actor (if any) might make enough of a mark to stand out beyond the leading men or leading ladies

• The undercover in the Klu Klux Klan drama BlacKkKlansman from Spike Lee (August)
• Astronauts to the moon drama First Man  from La La Land's Damien Chazelle (October)
• The Dick Cheney political (comic?) biopic Backseat from the director of The Big Short (December)
• Mary Queen of Scots history is full of men wrestling for power through her (December)
• Mary Poppins Ret --- WAIT, THAT'S NOT A TRUE STORY? GET OUTTA HERE! 

INVESTIGATE THE CHART. What do you think might happen in this category? 

Previous April Foolish Articles
Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Cinematography, Original Score, Screenplays, Animated Features, and the Prediction Charts

VOTE In Our Thirst Trap Party. We Rounded Them Up For a Sexy NY's

Happy New Year's Eve! One last year in review list during the actual calendar year (though you know 2017 film year doesn't truly end until the Oscars are handed out). Here's Nathaniel R...

[Pictured left: Lady Bird just needed to see some D. We've all been there.]

In a not so festive season when we've all been thinking hard about a lot of terrible thinkings like corrupt governments and oligarchies, sexual misconduct and systemic isms that make life such an oppressive mess for so many people (and damage everyone -- even the opporessors -- since we all are truly in this life together) as well as the terror of both climate change and this particular cold snap  (I'm super sick right now, yay!)  it may feel counterintuitive to be silly and celebrate, I dunno, sexy movie men.

But it is New Year's Eve as I type this (my least favorite holiday since i can remember... I only like to goof off at home and make lists for this one) and we must start the New Year on a positive hedonistic note. Puritanism is bad for you anyway since sex and the enjoyment of sexy things can be a source of immense  joy and pleasure and intimacy and/or whatever both consenting parties have agreed upon. 

If you're a cinephile some part of you loves to look so this one's for you as we ogle some movie men after the jump. We squeezed them into six themed groups in their showoff or coy glory from which you should vote and choose the winners, okay? Okay!  

1 SIDEBAR HEROICS

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A Slightly Queer Take on "The Last Jedi"

This was originally published in Nathaniel's intermittent column at Towleroad.

There’s a bit of a macro and micro thing happening at the movies. I’m not talking about Disney’s new merchandising bonanza pairing those miniature “porgs” (think CGI puffins) with towering furry Chewbacca. No we speak of the wide release and limited release divide. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been filling houses at over 4000 theaters and is obliterating the competition (already number #3 of the year in just 10 days) while a bunch of Oscar contenders are playing, not so quietly, in limited release gigs in their pursuit of golden statues. We’ll talk about more of those again soon but first [cue yellow text crawl over space] Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

We now return to The Resistance (aka the proudly defiant “Rebel Scum”) who are even easier to relate to know in December 2017 when it feels like the world will be ending any day with each new disastrous move from our own evil empire. (Sigh) If they can just harness the light side of the force, break through that one gerrymandered code, save that one cornered group of people, fetch Luke Skywalker, they might live to see another day...

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"The Last Jedi" Trailer Arrives!

Chris here. A full trailer for The Last Jedi is finally here! Now before anyone complains about long waits or lack of plot details, allow me to remind that the limited information for the new Star Wars films has been refreshing compared to other franchises. Which is good, because now officially starts a likely three month period of Star Wars invading conversation and consciousness with relentless vigor. Luckily, it looks like director Rian Johnson has created a thrilling and singular entry into the beloved franchise that even the indifferent can get excited about.

But the thing you will all be lamenting is that we get no glimpse of Laura Dern's mauve-haired Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. I'll give you a moment to let out that frustration before we dive in to the trailer. Inhale. Vent. Exhale. Very good. Shall we begin?

No need to give this one a Yes No Maybe So treatment, because we've already bought our tickets! Take a look at the trailer (if you haven't devoured it a dozen times already) and I'll give some ecstatic notes after the jump...

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