The Best Costumes of 1986

by Cláudio Alves

At last, we must say goodbye to the 1986 cinematic year. The Supporting Actress Smackdown was a blast and, before moving on to 1937, there's one remaining matter to take care of – the Best Costume Design Oscar race. Just like Dianne Wiest won the first of her two Academy Awards at that ceremony, so did Jenny Beavan. The British designer dressed the likely runner-up for Supporting Actress, Maggie Smith in A Room with a View, delivering a dream of Edwardian fashions with the help of fellow costumier John Bright. Indeed, all of the nominees that year were period pieces, ranging from 1500s Venetian tragedies to a time-traveling misadventure through 1960's suburbia. The contenders were:

• Anna Anni & Maurizio Millenotti, Otello
• Jenny Beavan & John Bright, A Room with a View
• Anthony Powell, Pirates
• Theadora Van Runkle, Peggy Sue Got Married
• Enrico Sabbatini, The Mission

First, let's examine the winner, our favorite and much-dissected Merchant-Ivory classic. I promise this is the last time I write about A Room with a View…

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Anthony Powell (1935-2021)

by Cláudio Alves

Just the other day, I was writing about Peter Ustinov's Poirot movies, praising their sartorial exuberance, their delectable Oscar-winning costumes designed by Anthony Powell. Not long after publishing that, while perusing Twitter, I encountered unexpectedly sad news. According to some of the stars he dressed, like Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley, the great Anthony Powell died at 85 years old. It happened just the other day and, while most movie sites seem to be ignoring the tragedy, here at The Film Experience, we couldn't let the news pass by unnoticed. Powell was one of the most fabulous costume designers in recent Hollywood history and one of the most generously rewarded, with three Oscar victories and three other nominations. Throughout his career, he dressed numerous stars and even more iconic characters…

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121 sea-faring days 'til Oscar

Oscar night will be here before you know it! It's time for your daily Oscar trivia. Today's is Biblical epic style... sort of.

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
-Genesis 1:21

Oscar's favorite sea-faring and/or sea-creature adventures are after the jump but soon we will have to add The Shape of Water (now opening December 1st -- one week earlier than as originally planned) to this list. Where do you think it will land in the following list:

OSCAR'S DOZEN FAVORITE 
SEA-FARING or SEA-CREATURE MOVIES

01 Titanic (1997) - 14 nominations | 11 wins including Best Picture

02 Life of Pi (2012) - 11 nominations including Best Picture | 4 wins

03 Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - 8 nominations | 1 win for Best Picture (and by extension it's remake Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) 7 nominations including Best Picture...

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The Honoraries: Maureen O'Hara in Black Swan (1942)

Drum roll please...

Welcome to our miniseries "The Honoraries". From now until November 8th when the Governor's Awards are held, we'll be celebrating the careers of the three Honorary Oscar recipients of 2014 (Maureen O'Hara, Hayao Miyazaki, Claude Carriere) and the Jean Hersholt winner (Harry Belafonte). Because I am behind  schedule and sniffly and sneezy we'll start with a reprise repurposing of a look back to the super entertaining swashbuckler Black Swan starring matinee idol extraordinaire Tyrone Power (who so deserves a biopic) and the woman we've campaigned to receive a Honorary for years and years now. The Academy finally listened and Maureen O'Hara, Queen of Technicolor, we'll finally get her golden due on November 8th. 

Herewith a look back at Black Swan which the Portman/Aronofsky drama was NOT a remake of. Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara don't see themselves in mirrors or have hallucinatory mental breakdowns scored to Tchaikovsky in this swashbuckler. But cinephiles with good taste in Old Hollywood beauties may feel like they're hallucinating when looking at Tyrone Power or Maureen O'Hara in Technicolor. [more...]

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"That was a tough summer for me and Modine"

GEENA DAVIS. God, we haven't seen her in way too long.  Here she is poking fun of her movie past (Yes, you were Thelma!) and a fun shout out to Matthew Modine, too.

Geena Davis Archery Tricks from Geena Davis