Horror Actressing: Marcia Gay Harden in "The Mist"

by Jason Adams

If you've ever been a big fan of a book that's been turned into a movie then you have probably known the eyebrow-singeing sensation of a book character getting cast by an actor that seems so correct, so perfect for the role, that it astonishes. Think of Alan Rickman playing Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, or of Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter in the admittedly ill-fated Golden Compass movie -- these actors were already the faces you were picturing when you read the book, and seeing the movie get it right this way, it's always a buzz.

I both did and did not experience this sensation when Frank Darabont hired Marcia Gay Harden to play the character of Christian super-bitch Mrs. Carmody in his 2007 adaptation of my all-time favorite Stephen King story, The Mist.

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Happy birthday to all our Gemini readers!

by Nathaniel R

Today is my birthday! I don't want anything this year beyond these three things. 1) Safety and continued stamina for all the Black Lives Matter protestors. 2) Good health and continued stamina for the essential workers and anyone battling COVID-19. And 3) Strategic genius and continued stamina for anyone involved in the upcoming elections who wants to right this ship and get that family of narcissist sociopaths and (just as importantly) their legion of enablers out of office. A big ask, I know, but if you dont ask for what u want, how u gonna get it? 

OH NO WAIT I DO WANT ONE MORE THING. FROM YOU.  In the comments please tell us the very first time you realized you loved an actress too much*.

Reading these over the weekend will surely put a huge smile on my face. Happy early or belated birthday to all you Geminis reading, too! Twin power!

* There is no such thing as "too much" but you know what I mean.

Links: John Boyega's activism, Criterion Channel says "Black Lives Matter," The Eisner Awards and more...

We're always behind with our news roundups. Forgive. It's such a difficult time out there. We know we aren't the only people struggling to concentrate...

• THR A personal history of queer cinema by critic David Rooney with Dirk Bogarde anecdotes
• Vulture the 100 best movies on HBO Max
• The Guardian for our UK readers, Guy Lodge points out the awesome movies from RKO pictures that you can stream online there now

After the jump John Boyega's activism, Criterion Channel on Black Lives Matter, the Oscars of comic books', theaters opening in time for Tenet and more...

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A moment of contemplation and anger. What will future movies say about this time in American history?

by Nathaniel R

I've hesitated writing anything about the current state of the US since this isn't a politics site but a film site. But it's naturally been difficult to concentrate on movies these past few days. You may have noticed the postings were fairly sparse after our big Friday event (which was recorded a couple of weeks back). The real world is definitely burning. Sometimes you can only stare at the flames and wonder how much they'll consume. And wonder what is your individual and/or collective place in stoking them or extinguishing them, because aren't we always doing one or the other if we're not preventing them in the first place?

The US is a scary place right now. It's an especially scary time for black people of course. Black Lives Matter. That should be obvious to everyone. It's soul-crushing that it still apparently isn't to far too many people. The US has an anger problem (in general) but in this case the anger fueling the protests is entirely justified...

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Centennial: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)

by Tony Ruggio

1920... Eerily and surprisingly, wasn't so different from 2020. A new generation had upended social norms, a deadly pandemic had spread throughout the world, and a major western democracy was in the throes of a post-war identity crisis. A country in search of a tyrant, Germany was a mere decade away from learning the name Adolf Hitler, and the nation’s artistic output reflected as such. 

It’s astonishing to realize that feature films have been around for more than a hundred years, that our grandest medium of pop art has endured for so long. The cinema has persevered through war, competing technology, and economic calamity. Such questions of perseverance are ripe for discussion again in the midst of our current pandemic, one that has shuttered movie theaters around the world. A film like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,  currently streaming on Criterion and now 100 years young, makes clear to us that movie-making will never go the way of the dinosaurs...

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