Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 5:15PM by Nathaniel R
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1985 is our "Year of the Month", as we work towards the Supporting Actress Smackdown (Sunday October 1st!). We'll be periodically peppering the blog with takes on showbiz from that year. But first a "TOTALLY 80s" overview of the year that was in movies, music, theater, and tv after the jump...
Monday, September 4, 2017 at 11:42AM "The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.
Hi there! I want to talk to you about ducts.
I mean that quite seriously, though I’m also quoting the opening lines of Terry Gilliam’s wacky and wonderful Brazil. It’s a film with a lot of unique production design, for which art director Norman Garwood and set decorator Maggie Gray received an Oscar nomination. They lost to Out of Africa, but I find it helpful to pretend that didn’t happen.
It’s nearly impossible to choose a single element to feature. I’ve half a mind to simply post all of the bleakly hilarious propaganda posters that clutter the walls of the film’s dystopian metropolis. Another option would be the design of the dream sequences, which become increasingly majestic as Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) loses touch with reality.
But I still want to talk to you about ducts...
Sunday, September 3, 2017 at 10:30AM The 1985 Supporting Actress Smackdown is on October 1st. Which means you have one month to watch or rewatch the movies and vote.
We'll be announcing the panelists in a couple of weeks but you, the readers (collectively) are the final panelists. Your votes count towards the results. So get to rewatching or finally catching up with these four movies and send in your votes (from 1 to 5 hearts for each lady - only the performances you've seen please) with 1985 Smackdown in the subject line. You have until Friday September 29th to vote.
Oscars (80s), Smackdown, polls Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:22AM on this day (August 28th) in showbiz-related history, things get sweaty and hot hot hot... time to rub lemons all over our bare bodies.
1980 The 37th annual Venice Film Festival kicks off. The Golden Lion that year will prove to be a tie (!) with Atlantic City, starring Susan Sarandon and her lemons, and Gloria splitting the top prize. Atlantic City will go on to five Oscar nominations including Best Picture
1981 Kathleen Turner and William Hurt do filthy things to each other in the window smashingly erotic Body Heat brand new in theaters on this day.
1987 Dennis Quaid fingers Ellen Barkin in The Big Easy new in theaters. The orgasm is so explosive it rockets both careers to the next level instanteously.
1998 54, legendarily butchered in the editing room, attempts to chart the bisexual opportunist antics of Ryan Phillipe in his twink god years.
2009 Taking Woodstock opens in theaters with Emile Hirsch in his naked hippie mode and an early screen appearance by Jonathan Groff's crazy seductive bedroom eyes.
2014 Blake Lively attacked by bees!
Happy Birthday to Them!
Oscar Nominees: David Fincher, Quvenzhané Wallis
More Shiny Talents: Armie Hammer, Jennifer Coolidge, Jack Black, Jason Priestley, Daniel Stern, Luis Guzman, Billy Boyd, and Ai Weiwei
Les Chanteuses: Florence Welch, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes
Departed but Amazing: Artist Jack Kirby (how proud would he be of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?), genius cinematographer James Wong Howe, author Leo Tolstoy, actor Ben Gazzara, actress Helen Hayes, actor Vladimir Ivashov (BAFTA nominated star of a great Russian film Ballad of a Soldier)
Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 9:00AM On this day (August 24th) in showbiz-related history...
1890 "Father of modern surfing" and part time movie actor Duke Kahanamoku born in Hawaii. We've written about him before. Where's his biopic?
1967 The Whisperers premieres in London. It's about an old poor woman living in solitude who is beginning to lose her grip on reality. Dame Edith Evans sterling work was instantly lauded - she won Best Actress at Berlinale and from such disparate groups as the NYFCC, NBR and the Golden Globes. She landed her third and final Oscar nomination in the Best Actress lineup (sadly only the winner, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner's Hepburn, was less than superb in that shortlist!). At the time Evans was the oldest Oscar nominee of all time in any acting category having just turned 80 years old. That record has since been undone but she's still the third oldest lead actress nominee after Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (also 80, who won) and Emmanuelle Riva for Amour (who was 85). Have you ever seen The Whisperers? It's haunting and quite a time capsule of contemporary British cinema of the time. [And check out Nick Davis' 5 star review of this legendary performance]
1985 Huey Lewis and the News hit #1 with their theme from Back to the Future "The Power of Love". The music video had a cameo by the car and Christopher Lloyd's "Doc" though it was mostly just the band playing in a bar. Best Original Song was one of the film's 4 Oscar nominations (it won for sound effects editing). In case you haven't yet heard, 1985 will be our "year of the month" in September as we build to the next Smackdown.
2012 Remember that movie where Michael Shannon was evil (wait, that's not helpful) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a bicycle messenger (now that's more specific). Premium Rush opened on this day. Isn't it weird how some movies, like that one, feel much more ancient than they actually are while others from years earlier feel fresh as daisies?
Happy Birthday to Them!
← Oscar Winner: Usurper of Kathleen Turner's and/or Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress statue. More generously we must admit that it's super impressive that Matlin trailblazed by refusing to be a one hit wonder, turning that splashy debut into such an unlikely but full career. She's been working ever since!
Oscar Nominees: Ava DuVernay (13th), Anne Archer (Fatal Attraction), Ronee Blakley (Nashville), Robert Pulcini (American Splendor)
Cool Talents: Actress Elizabeth Debicki, Wit Stephen Fry, Auteur Takashi Miike, Novelist A.S. Byatt
80s Touchstones: Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Can't Stop the Music, and so many more) and Gordon Wanecke (My Beautiful Laundrette!)
