Can You Ever Link Me?

• In Contention Alfonso Cuarón could tie Walt Disney's record this year for most nominations for a single person in one year (six). And he could break the record for most nominations for a single person from a single film (four)
• /Film Katherine Langford (Love Simon, 13 Reasons Why) added to the cast of Infinity War's sequel
• Variety Extremely sad to report that Filmstruck is shutting down next week. It had become the go to streaming place for cinephiles once Netflix started having such crappy movie selections
• Next Best Picture if you're not sick of hearing me rave about Can You Ever Forgive Me? yet, I'm the guest on this podcast doing that again.

• TFE in case you missed it, our podcast on the same movie
• The Daily Beast hateful conservatives now targeting Netflix's brilliant Big Mouth series which is all the more reason why all of you should watch it. It's awesome.
• /Film this is kind of non-news given the caginess of the statements but TriStar is still hoping to mount a Labyrinth sequel with Jennifer Connelly reprising her role 30+ years later
• MNPP 13 moustaches of Halloween - fun series, now with more Sam Elliott and Vincent Price
• /Film to celebrate Dario Argento a ranking of his features. His most famous film, Suspiria, is NOT number one!
• Next Best Picture on recent under 15 minute performances nominated for Oscars with some possibilities this year like Sam Elliott and Daniel Kaluuya

Off Screen or Behind the Scenes
• Wall Street Journal thinks there is an atmosphere of fear at Netflix with their quick firings
• Variety Boy George interview as Culture Club releases their first album since 1999. It's called "Life" -- ftr I think "Colour By Numbers," their 1983 album is one of the most perfect albums ever recorded
• Playbill 10 plays and musicals that only require 2 actors
• Playbill Wicked is about to turn 15. Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel are sharing two things they added to the musical that weren't in the original script/score.
• Fast Company examines the state of Hollywood's middle class. Turns out the proliferation of content isn't good for everyone and the reasons why aren't all that apparent from the outside (shouldn't more content mean more job opportunities?). Note: this website has annoying ads that are confusing to get out of in order to read the article (hint) scroll down without hitting that scroll down sign! 

99¢ rentals to fill in the Oscar gaps

UPDATE 10/23 Sadly these deals have all expired and they're back up to $3.99 per film.

While we wait (impatiently) for the major Oscar contenders to show themselves to general audiences, why not check out an older Oscar nominees for kicks and to fill any gaps in your Oscar knowledge. Here are a few that iTunes is offering to rent for just 99¢... naturally I have to share the posters for the ones with exclamatory taglines.

• Sunrise (1927)/ Street Angel (1928) for Janet Gaynor, the very first Best Actress winner and the only Best Actress winner to win for multiple roles simultaneously (they changed the rule thereafter)
• In Old Chicago (1938) Tyrone Powers in a six-time nominated film which won Alice Brady supporting actress
• The Rains Came (1939) starring Myrna Loy and up for six Oscars
• Blood and Sand (1941) this torreador drama starring Tyrone Power won Best Cinematography
• This Above All (1942) a romantic drama starring Joan Fontaine and Tyrone Power received 4 nominations and a win for Art Direction
• The Snake Pit (1948) Olivia de Havilland in an asylum (!) in one of the original 'deglam' roles. Six nominations including Best Picture
• Pinky (1949), a racial drama about a woman who can "pass" as white received 3 acting nominations

• Come to the Stable (1949) a comedy about nuns which was up for an inexplicable 7 Oscars losing all of them -- we recently wrote about it
• The Young Lions (1958) three nominations including cinematography for this Marlon Brando / Montgomery Clift World War II picture.
• The Best of Everything (1959) three nominations including costume design for this Joan Crawford picture that January Jones hated so very much in that one episode of Mad Men

Netflix in October: Big Mouth, The Shining, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share! 

What does Netflix offer us for free viewing this month? Let's survey...

Well, personally I think teaming up with a Chinese-American was good for the department's image.

The Dead Pool (1988)
Not to be confused with Deadpool. It's Clint Eastwood in his fifth and final Dirty Harry movie, this time paired with Evan C Kim. This line reading is really weird though out of context. I've never seen this but there are lots of stars before they were big: Jim Carrey six years before superstardom, Patricia Clarkson ten years before her critical breakthrough, and Liam Neeson just as he was breaking out. Weirdly even though this movie was a hit it didn't budge the needle on Eastwood's screen partner Evan C Kim's career. He did lots of TV guest spots before it and lots of TV guest spots after it. 

Click to read more ...

Prime in October: Pushing Daisies, Gods and Monsters, The Cell

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share. No cheating.  What does Amazon Prime offer us for free viewing this month? Let's survey...

Wasn't your old dog named Digby?

Pushing Daisies (Seasons 1 and 2)
In case you wanted something actually worth binge-watching. This series is so perfect, from its macabre plots, to its quirky romance, to its colorful design, through its curiously moving musical numbers. I miss it so much. Maybe we should watch the entire series again?

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But why is it called "Bleach"?

by Nathaniel R

boys and their toys... i mean, superpowers.

How often do you have random streaming adventures where you watch something you've literally never heard of? This week on Netflix I caught a new Japanese flick called Bleach (2018) though for the life of me I can't figure out what the title means. It's one of those movies that's 1000% obviously based on a manga because it throws lots of random names, superpowers, and world-building terms and rules at you and assumes you'll be able to keep up. But nowhere in the entire picture does the word "bleach" factor in. I've turned it over and over in my head and unless I blinked during a crucial subtitle the title makes no sense whatsoever.

It was a fun popcorn watch but I had to share one moment near the beginning that had me howling...

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