"Parasite" is the mashup of "Shoplifters" and "Burning" we never knew we wanted

by Lynn Lee

For a 132-minute Korean film that isn’t yet in wide release, Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is already one of the most talked-about movies of the season, and for good reason.  Alas, most of the reasons can’t really be discussed without major spoilers – but that’s all the more incentive to see it as soon as it hits a theater near you.

When I saw it, I loved it, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting considering I hadn’t been a fan of either The Host or Snowpiercer, arguably the director's most popular films.  Despite its run time, Parasite is tighter than those films, and its tonal shifts and genre-melding smoother.  It's also more focused, its treatment of one of Bong’s favorite themes – class disparities – razor-sharp yet also oddly compassionate, ultimately condemning the system rather than any individual players.

Parasite, which took the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, also felt to me like the deranged evil twin of last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters...

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Saturn Nominations 2019: Endgame

by Nathaniel R

Avengers Endgame dominated with 14 nominations

The Saturn Awards, which used to be held in June each year are moving to September which means the nominations have been delayed for some time now and the eligibility period for the 2019 nominations covers a 16 month period from March 1st, 2018 through to July 7th, 2019. Moving forward, the eligibility should revert to a July to June basis with the ceremony in September (September 13th this year). They're also soon announcing a streaming partner so it will become a televised ceremony starting this year.

We love the Saturn Awards in concept -- it's a worthy goal to honor genre films (fantasy, horror, action, thrillers, and sci-fi are the pet causes) because any genre is capable of greatness -- but they've never quite been able to get their act together and each year's nominations are always agonizing or inexplicable in some way or another...

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Winners of the 34th annual Independent Spirit Awards

by Nathaniel R

Richard E Grant getting his supporting actor trophy from Glenn Close at the Spirit AwardsBy the time the Spirit Awards roll around each year we've completely forgotten about their nominations. They're the group with the the longest annual stretch between nominations and trophy handouts each year! As a reminder We the Animals led in number of nominations this year despite not showing up in the top category. Unfortunately it was entirely shut out of actual wins. The nomination leaders within the Best Feature category were Eighth Grade, First Reformed, and You Were Never Really Here, which all at least won something.

After the jump the winners list and cute photos and such...

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Podcast Special: Lots and Lots of Reader Questions Answered

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl answer your questions this week

On this special edition of the podcast we ONLY answer reader questions. As many as we could get to in an hour. We had soooo much fun doing this one so we hope you enjoy, and thank you for the diversion.

Index (60 minutes)
00:01 Who will win SAG's Supporting Actress + fixing category fraud?
06:50 Original screenplay nominations + buying DVDs
12:00 Characters wardrobe, female directors, and films that define 2018
22:30 "Shallow" + "If you saw this... than why?" + replacing Oscar lists
31:35 Nominee presentations + Oscar Hosting 
35:45 Ben is Back and Roma questions
41:40 Nomination balloting procedures + Fav scenes of the year
52:00 Mandatory Best Actress diversion
57:00 Changing opinions on previous top 10 lists?

Further Reading / References
• Nadine Labaki (Capernaum) interview
• Smackdown of 1943
• Oscar Charts
• Kyle Buchanan on the hostless Oscars article

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Special Episode: Reader Questions!

Podcast: Sorry to Bother You about Oscar's fifth spots!

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl and Nick Davis talk Oscar races

Hello! No new movies to review but plenty to talk about.

Index (56 minutes)
00:01 Glenn, Regina, Olivia, and Patty saved the Globes
05:16 What we've been watching lately: Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother, plus Support the Girls, Minding the Gap, Eighth Grade and A Star is Born (again).
18:00 Supporting Actress / Actor: Foy or Robbie, and King? Sam, Sam, or Timothée?
29:22 Actor & Actress: Hawke or Washington? Blunt, Aparacio, or Kidman?
35:45 Screenplay confusions / Score weirdness
42:30 Foreign Film: Never Look Away or Burning?
45:50 Nick is thumbs down At Eternity's Gate
47:20 Director / Picture and Pawel Pawlikowski and Spike Lee
55:00 Wrap-up

Further Reading / References
• Oscar Charts
• Golden Globe Speeches
• KCRW's "The Business" interview with Spike Lee
• Nathaniel's Ben Foster interview

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Sorry to Bother You about Oscar's fifth spots