Link Factory

• Mashable badly seeded March Madness brackets are terrible storytelling
• Film School Rejects picks the 18 best movies of 2018 thus far (weird-ass rankings if you ask me, especially with Isle of Dogs below A Wrinkle in Time... and the kind of obnoxious indie supernatural ovie The Endless)
• Decider looking back at an old Tiny Toons episode about representation in 1990
• Screen Crush man died when head got stuck in seat at movie theater (I'm going to have nightmares)
• E! Online Arnold Schwarzenegger has emergency open heart surgery

• Tracking Board  Twice delayed X-Men adjacent movie The New Mutants has been a nightmare to make; Fox keeps changing their mind about what they want it to be. While we all might complain from time to time about Marvel Studios (who are far from perfect -- especially in regards to gender) at least they seem to know what they want every time and how to get there. Even if what they want has been a bit formulaic until recently.
• Cartoon Brew it only took 32 years (oy!)  for a woman to get to direct a Pixar short
• AV Club here's another cute report about that movie which is called Bao and about a dumpling that comes to life
• My New Plaid Pants Klaes Bang, of The Square fame, made a gay short film
• Jim Carrey I somehow missed that in his spare time the seemingly retired movie star has become a political cartoonist. A pretty good one, too. This reminds me of the first time I saw him. Anyone remember his short-lived sitcom Duck Factory in which he played a cartoonist?
• Vanity Fair a good pilot season for South Asian actors - lots of roles in all sorts of shows
• Deadline the cast of Sex & the City supporting Cynthia Nixon's run for NY Governor
• Theater Mania Desperate Measures, which was so so wonderful in its premiere engagement (we talked about it here) is getting an open ended run off Broadway soon. Here's hoping the hilarious original cast is available.

Captain Marvel Begins. Infinity War Promises. Black Widow Waits.

by Nathaniel R

Brie Larson training with a real pilot

As you've undoubtedly heard given that half the internet (at least) is a conveyor belt for Marvel Studios propaganda news, Captain Marvel began shooting yesterday. Brie Larson headlines Marvel's first female driven superhero film. Despite the company's cultural prominence they didn't get to female heroes first. That honor actually belongs to the all but forgotten Supergirl (1984). If you only want to count the modern superhero film era (i.e. post X-Men, 2000) the honor belongs to the much-reviled Catwoman (2004), which was followed by the also-reviled Elektra (2005), and the also-also reviled My Super Ex Girlfriend (2006). If you want to only count the post-Marvel Studios world (i.e. 2008's Iron Man,was ground zero) they still didn't manage "first!" dibs but we shouldn't dwell on their priority problems. Thankfully Warner Bros / DC's Wonder Woman (2017) was beloved and hopefully signalled a turning point in the fate of the female hero subgenre...

Click to read more ...

Film Bitch Awards: Heroes, Villains, Divas, Thirst Traps...

by Nathaniel R

We're racing to the finish line for the 2017 film season. One more day until we can safely put that film year behind us and enter 2018 where y'all already are no doubt. Now we turn our eyes to the bold strokes categories. The men and women who inspired through heroics, were fun to hate, who preened fabulously, or (ahem) aroused us. So click on over to the Film Bitch Awards for:

• Hero of the Year
• Diva of the Year
• Villain of the Year
• Sexpot of the Year
• Movie Poster of the Year

Films honored include Thor Ragnarok, The Shape of Water, Spider-Man Homecoming, Colossal, The Ornithologist, Wonder Woman, mother!, Phantom Thread, andmore. Hope you enjoy and report back with your own thoughts on these "extra" honors!

Oscar Presenters Named Thus Far...

For your infotainment the Oscar presenters named thus far and our theories as to why they were invited. We don't need to mention diversity because that would probably read snarky when we don't mean it that way at all; we're thrilled Hollywood is making an effort! So we'll name the other possible reasons for the names. Presumably these choices are agonized over and debated at length behind the scenes since they're always so carefully representative of a wide range of celebrities appealing to all kinds of mainstream moviegoers from kids to grandparents to sophisticated cultural mavens to soccer moms. Etcetera.

Just about the only audience they don't cater to on the regular, probably because they'll watch anyway, are cinephiles and Old Hollywood loving film buffs. The Oscar producers often do a very crappy job of that (especially given how many elderly showbiz legends are still alive! I mean come on give us some Poitier, Lansbury, Rowlands, Connery, Redford, Belafonte, or Andrews or something). It's always a welcome shock when they actually do think about their rich industry history and throw us a Kim Novak for example.

The celebrities thus far (in alpha order)... 

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Black Panther (plus underseen gems)

With Nathaniel now ensconced in new digs, the podcast can resume. Up first a mini-podcast on Ryan Coogler and Marvel's Black Panther blockbuster with Nick Davis and Katey Rich. It's paired with a "deleted scene" from the last podcast as Nick, special guest Teo Bugbee and Nathaniel discuss favorites that were never really in the awards conversation but we hope people will find on streaming including super-hero adjacent Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. 

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? 

Black Panther and More