Announcement: Weekly Trivia!

Hey, everyone. Michael Cusumano here with an exciting announcement. My company Whiskey Cat LLC recently launched a weekly Movie Trivia night on Zoom and The Film Experience has come aboard as a sponsor! It's 5 rounds with 50+ question with a variety of questions and games including audio and visual clues. Rest assured I am taking care to craft questions that The Film Experience audience will enjoy. Oscars and actresses will no doubt abound. Nathaniel will be writing one of the 5 rounds this week!

Here's an example of one ten minute round last week. Within that time limit, how many of these could you answer correctly (no googling allowed obviously)

How do you play? The event is held every Thursday at 7:30 PM EST on Zoom and runs about 2 hours. It’s $5 per person payable through Venmo or PayPal. Send a team name along with the payment and I will reply with the ZOOM information. You can include your information in a comment along with the PayPal or Venmo payment or contact me one of these ways: 

Email: WhiskeyCatProd@gmail.com
Twitter: @TriviaWhiskey
Facebook: Whiskey Cat presents: Zoom Movie Trivia  

Hope to see you there this Thursday!

Oldies but Linkies

• Indiewire Waiting for Chris Nolan's Tenet -  Hollywood hopes summer can be saved
• Rick's Real Reel remembering Doris Day and Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink
• Slate fun short piece on the absurd thrill (in a vacuum) of the Ben Affleck / Ana de Armas romance as witness by paparazzi

Today's roundup continues after the jump and is a mix of new and old (i.e. past couple of weeks) stuff since we haven't hit you with a link in a bit: Robert Pattinson profiled, a rift at the César awards, Dear Evan Hansen couplings, Drama League nominations, Peabody Awards, RIPs and more...

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When Oscar met Razzie

by Cláudio Alves

Founded by Mo Murphy and John J. B. Wilson, the Golden Raspberry Awards, more commonly known as Razzies, are the evil twin to the Academy Awards. Instead of celebrating the best achievements in world cinema, they award the worst, ridiculing them in the process and daring anyone to go accept their gold sprayed statuette in good humor. They've been handed out since 1981 when Xanadu and Can't Stop the Music battled out for the title of Worst Picture. Since then, the Razzies have made many controversial choices, showing an especially troubling fondness for lampooning female-centric stories or examples of campy entertainment.

Today we'll be talking about two instances when the Oscars and the Razzies tastes diverged so much they ended up nominating the same performances…

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New Rules for the Next Oscar Race!

by Nathaniel R

Is the Academy being proactive or panicky? That's up for debate but they've made a big announcement. Though the Oscar ceremony is almost exactly 10 month away (February 28th, 2021) -- practically a full year -- AMPAS is planning for the worst with the coronavirus pandemic and adjusting accordingly. The biggest news might well be a 'letting the genie out of the bottle' rule change. They will now allow streaming films without theatrical releases to compete for Oscars.

From their own mouths:

“The Academy firmly believes there is no greater way to experience the magic of movies than to see them in a theater. Our commitment to that is unchanged and unwavering. Nonetheless, the historically tragic COVID-19 pandemic necessitates this temporary exception to our awards eligibility rules. The Academy supports our members and colleagues during this time of uncertainty. We recognize the importance of their work being seen and also celebrated, especially now, when audiences appreciate movies more than ever.” 

We've assumed this was going to happen eventually though the notion frightens us for what it portends, not for its arguable necessity at the moment. This change makes a lot of sense in this extremely unprecedented situation BUT, and here's the nuanced bit of our feelings that's hard to sell in easy sound bites....

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Five Reasons the Oscars Won't Be Cancelled. (Relax)

by Nathaniel R

Regular readers know that we put our Punditry hat on and whip out the foggy crystal ball each year about this time. The reason is an attempt to predict the Oscar nominations nearly a full year in advance each season. We tend to do alright at this admittedly silly endeavour (silly because 90% of the films haven't yet been seen.) But 2020 is different. Perhaps you've noticed that movies haven't been opening for a full month now and all filming stopped in Hollywood. Some pre and post-production business is still happening in Hollywood but in very limited work-from-home capacity. In the twenty years of running The Film Experience we've truly never seen anything like this!

However, we wish to sound a note of optimism that you generally won't get elsewhere on the web due to the click-bait happy tone and echo chamber hysteria so many sites opt for. We don't feel there's any reason to assume that the Oscars will be cancelled. Here's why in five reasons...

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