Watch at Home: Dumplin', Searching, and Leave No Trace

What's newly available for home viewing these past few weeks? We've neglected to keep you updated of late in the rush to awards season  but this is important since there are several awards contenders that are newly available.

DVD/Blu-Ray
[links to to reviews]
• The Little Stranger - Lenny Abrahamson (Room) returns with a ghost story costume drama.
• Lizzie - Kristen Stewart and Chloe Sevigny star in this lesbian drama about the infamous ax wielding Lizzie Borden
• McQueen - the acclaimed documentary about the fashion designer - it's eligible for the Oscars.
• Mission: Impossible - Fallout - the latest installment in Tom Cruise's evergreen franchise with death defying stunts, double crossing, and (this time) Henry Cavill's moustache and muscles.
• Searching - John Cho is nominated for Best Actor at the Spirit Awards for this sleeper hit about a man searching for clues online when his daughter goes missing

ALSO NEWISH: Peppermint, Smallfoot, The Equalizer 2, The Nun, The Happytime Murders, and Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days.

Great rental deals and streaming options after the jump...

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On this day: Vivien's Oscar, Kevin's Bacon, Carter's Write-Down

On this day in showbiz history

The Story of Miss Lonelyheart from Péter Lichter on Vimeo.

1913/1914 Did you know that Detective Doyle (Wendell Corey) and Miss Lonelyhearts (Judith Evelyn) from Rear Window shared a birthday? Now you do! (Uff, I love Rear Window so much)
1942 Rings on Her Finger, a screwball comedy starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney opens in theaters
1948 Gentleman's Agreement wins Best Picture at the 1947 Oscars but the enduring statues from that year are surely Edmund Gwenn's Supporting Actor win as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street and the Cinematography and Art Direction wins for the astounding Black Narcissus. What a picture! 
1952 Vivien Leigh wins her second Best Actress prize at the 1951 Oscars for A Streetcar Named Desire. Absent from the ceremony, Greer Garson accepts for Vivien...

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Black History Month: Morgan Freeman Enters The Conversation

Our celebration of Black History Month is, naturally, also an Oscar History Celebration. Today Nathaniel looks at Morgan Freeman's original claim to fame.

When you think of Morgan Freeman what's the first thing that comes up? Given his revered stature in contemporary cinema the answer is undoubtedly pulled from the following character types: wise mentor, savvy professional, trusted friend, quiet confidante, brilliant academic, noble leader. Freeman brings such natural authority and wise but warm old men sass onscreen that playing God in the comedy Bruce Almighty wasn't even a stretch but a light bulb "of course it's Freeman!" moment. So it's a little startling to remember or discover that his first of five Oscar nominations -- he's the most celebrated black actor in Oscar history outside of Denzel Washington -- and indeed his breakthrough in cinema does not fit the Morgan Freeman mold in virtually any way. 

This ho said you wanted to meet me so here I am. 

No, Morgan Freeman's original claim to big screen fame was as a vicious pimp named "Fast Black" in a largely forgotten journalist-plays-with-fire drama called Street Smart (1987). [More...]

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