"You Might Know Her From" Alert!

by Nathaniel R

Heads up that yours truly did a guest stint on the wonderful actressexual podcast "You Might Know Her From" last week which is up just in time for the Oscars.  "You Might Know Her From" is hosted by queer comedians and best friends Anne Rodeman and Damian Bellino. For their main episodes they interview character actresses. Recent guests have included Tony winner Cherry Jones (The Handmaid's Tale, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Oscar nominee June Squibb (Nebraska, Thelma, About Schmidt), and other fun guests like Dana Ivey (The Color Purple, Addams Family, The Help), and Wendi McLendon-Covey (Bridesmaids, Reno 911). But they also have sidebar "extra" episodes, with non-actresses like myself or to discuss tv shows or cultural happenings.

We talked about this year's Lead and Supporting Actress categories -- I shared why I think Amy Madigan should win for Weapons but it's obviously a tight race --  as well as sidebar chatting about Oscarless 80s and 90s giants like Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Annette Bening. I had so much fun talking to Damian & Anne. Here's an excerpt from the episode.

Review: Shouldn't "The Gorge" be more fun?

by Nathaniel R

My invite arrived in February. So what if I finally walked in? I'm late to the party, true, but it's doesn't appear to be much of a shindig and it's still going on over at Apple TV+. Party planners director Scott Derrickson and screenwriter Zach Dean have done the bare minimum and way too much, respectively, to prep for their big event...

Click to read more ...

Best Actress in the 80s: An Alternative Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

With one win and five additional nods, Meryl Streep was the Best Actress queen of the 1980s. Will she be similarly dominant in my ideal Oscars ballots? Come find out.

Nathaniel has shared some of his annual top ten lists from the 1980s in honor of the site's special theme for November. Now, it's time for me to present some lists of my own. Rather than my favorites from each year, let's consider one of the readership's favorite Oscar races, instead – Best Actress. Only, instead of the Academy's choices, you get to appreciate or disparage my picks. From 1980 to 1989, I compiled what my ballots would look like, selecting these dream nominees from the pool of eligible films for each year. This is another glimpse into my personal Academy Awards, that gigantic spreadsheet, with bonus honorable mentions, ineligible performance shout-outs, and some titles still on my watchlist, waiting to be seen…

Click to read more ...

Ranking the Alien Franchise, from Classic to Calamity

by Cláudio Alves

They call it a perfect organism. The beast brings forth destruction like nothing else in the universe, designed for maximum lethality and single-minded bloodlust. It slays and reproduces, only ever caring about the perpetuity of its kind over other living creatures. There are many ways for it to come into the world, whether through a mysterious black liquid or intelligent spores, an infection, or insemination by a violating face hugger. It is the product of mutation, ravaging existing beings as incubators or raw material for a further step in monstrous evolution. So, is it perfect or just good at killing and hard to kill? Is it perfect or an abomination? Am I talking about the xenomorph or the franchise that birthed it?

Through transforming genres and crossbreeding with other movie legacies, through artistic inspiration and corporative rot, through thick and thin, masterpieces and mediocrities, the Alien movies have persisted across decades. With its ninth installment now in theatres, it's a good time to take a look back at the saga and rank its nine films...

Click to read more ...

You got to love that "Master Gardener" wallpaper

by Cláudio Alves

If you've read my thoughts on Decision to Leave, you might have realized I'm obsessed with wallpaper as set design. Indeed, one of these days, I might do a Top Ten best wall coverings in Park Chan-wook's filmography, for he remains the king of wallpaper cinema. Not that the Korean master is the only cineaste to dip their toes into these pools of scenographic goodness. Recently, one can think of the nauseating renovations in Zone of Interest, the autumnal florals in Killers of the Flower Moon, Priscilla's pretty pastels, and Cobweb's domestic nightmare.

Still, in 2023, one film utilized wallpaper like no other – Paul Schrader's Master Gardener, with sets designed by Ashley Fenton…

Click to read more ...