5 days til Oscar! The Sound of Music, Cuckoo's Nest and More...

The Sound of Music won exactly 5 Oscars, lost exactly 5 Oscars, and won in a year ending in the number 5Today's magic number is 5 and it's too overwhelming a number in Oscar lore for a list of trivia items since it's the 'traditional' size of Oscar shortlists in every Oscar category with the exception of Best Makeup and Hairstyling. We've harped on that one before but we consider it brazenly insulting that Oscar views those craftsmen as the bastard stepchildren of the industry since they've never been allowed more than 3 nominees despite literally every live action film using their services. Several categories have experimented with varying sizes of their nominated lists over the years (Best Picture under the current rules, being obviously the most prominent and inconsistent *sigh* but the number five can safely be called one of Oscar's favourite things...

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Oscar Trivia: How often do three films dominate the acting categories?

Bradley & Gaga at the beginning of their run for "A Star is Born"by Nathaniel R

With the 20 acting nominations this year coming from only 11 films this year we got to wondering how frequently that happens. The Favourite, Vice, and A Star is Born all received 3 acting nods each. Green Book and Roma received doubles, though of course doubles happen frequently. But how often do three acting noms from three separate films happen in a single year? And is this anything like a record? This was somewhat tough to investigate but investigate we did.

MOST NOMINATIONS EVER FOR ACTING FROM A SINGLE FILM

Before we get to individual years which had a small pool of films dominating the acting prizes, let's look at the films that hold the record for nominations:  It's an nine-way tie for the record with the following films receiving 5 acting nominations each...

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Trip a Little Link Fantastic

Links and news bits collected for you

• And the Runner Up Is... I guest starred on this podcast episode about the 1978 Oscars: Coming Home vs. The Deer Hunter
• Cinematic Corner Sati has been counting down the days... or drooling down the days for Jason Momoa as Aquaman so here's her spoiler-filled review
• Variety what's behind the uptick in the US box office this past year?
• The Advocate counts down the 15 best LGBT tv shows of the year: Pose, One Day at a Time, and Schitts Creek more
• Vanity Fair Why you should root for Aquaman's box office success
• Vanity Fair Kevin Spacey's bizarre holiday video reprising his House of Cards character
• Deadline why did Welcome to Marwen bomb at the box office?
• Gay Body Blog [NSFW] counts down the best naked scenes of the past year or so. 
• /Film interesting thought experiment. Would Green Lantern (2011) have been well received had it premiered in 2006 or 2016 due to the changing nature of the superhero genre.

Today's Video
Behind the scenes of "Trip a Little Light Fantastic"

Do y'all think Mary Poppins Returns will manage two best song nominations? I think they're only going to get one but if this one gets nominated we'll get Lin-Manuel Miranda performing at the Oscars which would be sweet. 

Finally...
Redbox released their list of most rented titles of 2018. Apparently El Paso Texas is the busiest city for redbox rentals (who knew?) and Dwayne Johnson is the biggest overall draw. Ready for it? 

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
2. Rampage
3. Daddy's Home 2
4. Game Night
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I mean where's A Fantastic Woman or We the Animals? I kid I kid. Americans just aren't adventurous in their movie tastes, whether they're going to the movies or watching them at home. In both scenarios they want big muscles, big explosions, big laughs, and big CGI beasties. That covers most of it.

Posterized: Mary, Queen of Scots

For today's Posterized a little something different - rather than a star or director, a character. Here are all of the films that have told the story or a story involving Mary, Queen of Scots. The latest iteration, Mary Queen of Scots (which we just reviewed) starring Saoirse Ronan opened in movie theaters today. Saoirse's other two movies this year (On Chesil Beach and The Seagull) didn't really register with moviegoers so we're hoping for the best with the third given the Brooklyn/Lady Bird goodwill she's accumulated. But on to the royal question at hand...

How many Mary of Scots movies have you seen? Posters for all eight movies featuring the would be queen are after the jump.

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The Best of a Bad Lot: Oscar Winning Actresses in Bad Movies

by Seán McGovern

The shade of it all... the 1974 ceremony for the Best Actresses of 1973 (L-R from the bottom corner) Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson, Barbra Streisand

Christmas really brings out my contrarian side, and since it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (awards season), permit me to be a humbug. Those who truly appreciate the Oscars understand that sometimes it is about the politics and not the performance. Academy voters are not infallible, but we shouldn't underestimate their other important role in taking the cultural temperature to find out what and who was hot in cinema in any given year. Without getting into a discussion of who did and didn't deserve their award, there are definitely some great female performances honored in films that may otherwise not have been so deserving. Some potentially controversial opinions after the jump...

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