Almost There: Shelley Duvall in "3 Women"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series' temporary fixation on Cannes-winning performances continues with the incomparable Shelley Duvall. In 1977, when her sixth collaboration with director Robert Altman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Duvall took home the much-coveted Best Actress prize from a jury presided by Roberto Rossellini. The picture that earned such golden plaudits was 3 Women, a Bergman-esque exploration of juxtaposed and deconstructed identity that's also one of the best American films of its decade…

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The heartbreaking beauty of "Brief Encounter"

by Cláudio Alves

Ever since I listened to Robert Altman's commentary track on the Gosford Park DVD, I've bristled at the idea that someone needs to be a certain age to enjoy a film. In that bonus feature, Altman mentions that Gosford Park has nothing to offer to fourteen-year-old boys, and they shouldn't get to watch it. As a fourteen-year-old boy for whom Gosford Park was a favorite, I felt personally attacked. A bit more than a decade later, I've grown less annoyed at such blanket statements about age and movie appreciation. As it turns out, there are films that can gain something when the audience seeing them is more mature. You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with Brief Encounter or our 1946 celebration? Apologies for my long-windedness.

I'm trying to introduce a personal realization I had. While I might have loved Brief Encounter when I was a teen, I knew not of its power. Now, I think it's one of the best and most devastating films ever made…

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Showbiz History: Drew makes history on SNL and more...

6 random things that happened on this day, November 20th, in showbiz history

1982 Drew Barrymore hosts SNL in the year of E.T.'s mega-pop culture dominance. She's still the youngest host of all time. She was just 7 years old and one of the first jokes was about her famous family's alcoholism "Milk? I'm a Barrymore. Get me a drink... and make it a double!"  (Julia Louis-Dreyfus was on the show back then ?!?)

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The New Classics: Gosford Park

Hey everyone. Michael Cusumano here. If you've got to be trapped inside, why not be trapped inside with thirty or so of the greatest British actors ever? 18-year-old mystery spoilers ahead!

 

Scene: The Murder of Willam McCordle 
I don’t think you count yourself as having seen a Robert Altman film unless you’ve seen it three times, minimum. All great films expand on rewatch, but Altman movies transform, accumulating power as additional dimensions come into focus. In no film is this more apparent than his late-period masterwork, Gosford Park...

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Best of the "Whodunnit?" Genre (Part One)

by Eurocheese

Rian Johnson’s upcoming Knives Out is a thrill ride of a whodunnit, toying with one of the most enjoyable film genres. To celebrate, I'm sharing my all time list of favorite murder mysteries. Feel free to add your own in the comments – we could all use some good discoveries from any era or country.

Before we begin some whodunnit qualifiers to narrow down this list. The films must have: 

1. A set group of suspects, who we get to know through the film (disqualifies movies like Se7en)
2. An unknown culprit (knocks out most of Hitchcock)
3. Evidence, so the audience has some chance of guessing the final answer
4. ...And the identity of the culprit being revealed late in the film, either by a detective or the movie itself.

This should go without saying, but a whodunnit isn’t as fun when the answer is spoiled, so no spoilers in the comments (about any of these or Knives Out)!

TEN FAVOURITE WHODUNNITS...

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