Streaming Roulette, March: Drive my car by the west side, Peggy Sue

by Nathaniel R

Before we begin we should note that between HBOMax (Dune, King Richard, Drive My Car, West Side Story), Netflix (Power of the Dog, Don't Look Up), Hulu (Nightmare Alley), AppleTV+ (CODA) and VOD (Belfast, Licorice Pizza) all of the Best Picture nominees are or will be available to watch at home this month before the Oscars (March 27th). 

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming titles by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and just sharing what pops up. No cheating*!

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"Where we are now on TV" - annual GLAAD report

by Nathaniel R

Yellowjackets helped Showtime stay on top in terms of LGBTQ representation

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has released their annual WHERE WE ARE NOW ON TV report. The report looks at LGBTQ+ representation via series regulars or recurring characters on scripted television shows across the three platforms: broadcast, cable, and streaming. It covers shows airing between June 1st, 2021 and May 31st, 2022. The shows that haven't aired yet are stastically factored in only when casting has been confirmed by content providers (Notably Apple TV+ AND Disney+ declined to confirm when it came to unaired shows) so the report might have discrepancies.

Herewith are 10 notes on the report, in no particular order...

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12 takeaways from this morning's Oscar nominations

In no particular order - see the full list of nominations here.

1. BEST ACTRESS IS, TWO YEARS RUNNING NOW, A CHAOTIC NAIL-BITER
Last season provided us a rare nail-biter as different women kept winning lead actress at the televised shows: Andra Day, Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Carey Mulligan. This year the nominations themselves have been routinely surprising. In fact the only woman to hit *every* key precursor was Lady Gaga but when the nominations were announced this morning she was the most shocking snub. Meanwhile, Penelope Cruz who'd only won the Volpi Cup and Kristen Stewart, who had struggled in the precursors despite year long "she's going to win!" hoopla both showed up. So we currently have NO idea who is going to win. You can make a case for any of the nominees. And, once again, none of them are in Best Picture nominated films.

2. QUALIFYING RELEASES ARE ALIVE AND WELL (SIGH)
Norway's incredible film The Worst Person in the World scored a surprise nomination in Best Original Screenplay (well deserved) despite only playing for a week unadvertised in theaters to qualify...

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Monica Vitti (1931-2022) What makes a great actor?

by Timothy Lyons

This year’s Best Actress discussion / post-BAFTA nomination shake-up has reached a new height of confused scrambling. Things have, for now, refocused on the single consistent presence throughout precursor season: Lady Gaga as the murderous Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci. When watching the film, it became clear to me how much Gaga’s distinctive visage bears striking resemblance to that of the great Italian star Monica Vitti. This came into sad focus today on my learning of the legend’s passing on Wednesday at the age of ninety from complications related to Alzheimer’s.

I will get quickly back to the subject at hand but to help in drawing out Vitti’s unique gifts, a little more on Gaga in Gucci as a comparison…

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Sundance: More ‘I Love Lucy’ with ‘Lucy and Desi’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 Have you noticed that, when there’s a major scripted film about a real person from history, there’s often a documentary to go along with it at the same time? One of the very first articles I wrote for this site was about RBG and On the Basis of Sex, where the former was clearly the superior product. Recently, Being the Ricardos opened in theaters and then quickly to Amazon Prime. The movie looks at a (fictionalized) tempestuous week for the TV power couple. The documentary on the same couple, from director Amy Poehler, zooms out to look at their entire story, offering a good amount of added context.

This film’s title gives away its focus, which is that the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were so intertwined, even after they were no longer married, that it’s impossible to truly separate them...

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