SAG Awards - a brisk bellwether for Oscar night

by Nathaniel R

Did you watch the SAG Awards last night? Apart from one surprising win on the television side (an inebriated, honest Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us) it was a night of frontrunners, continuing to run so far front that their competitors are all well out of focus. Honestly at this point, all the suspense of Oscar season has entirely dissipated (but we'll get to that soon). Given the lack of interesting narrative curlicues and detours and the same faces delivering the same kinds of speeches, the highlight for yours truly was in the presenters.

The grandest entertainment came in the form of a fashionable reunion for the stars of The Devil Wears Prada...

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Barbenheimer - Ten Great Box Office Showdowns

by Christopher James

This is the summer of "Barbenheimer". What started as a rivalry has morphed into a marketable double feature. In a way, they’ve hyped each other up, making this past weekend (July 21st-July 23rd) the most exciting and anticipated movie weekend of the summer. Both movies exist at opposite poles of the gendered film divide to a comical degree - the hot pink colored Barbie against king of the film-bros Christopher Nolan and his three hour 70mm extravaganza, Oppenheimer. The ultimate winner is the audience, who get two big-budget auteur-driven swings in one weekend. (Barbie won but both movies had huge opening weekends which will talk about tonight when the actuals come in)

This isn’t the only time counterprogramming has pitted a “boy movie” and “girl movie” against each other for a star-studded showdown. Here are our top 10 box office showdowns that served as fabulous precursors for Barbenheimer...

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9 Links

• Vanity Fair first images from the miniseries Welcome to Chippendales starring Kumail Nanjiani, Murray Bartlett, Juliette Lewis, Dan Stevens, and Annaleigh Ashford
• People Anne Heche in stable condition after a car crash / fire. Our thoughts are with her in recovery. Such a great actress but she's had many personal issues and troubles
• Variety a Jennifer Coolidge with a hilarious admission about American Pie benefitting her sex life

More after the jump including a Star Trek kiss, a buzzy Beyoncé / Madonna remix, looking back at The Fugitive, and stage productions of Cats and Devil Wears Prada...

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Almost There: Emily Blunt in "The Devil Wears Prada"

by Cláudio Alves

After over 100 write-ups about performers that came close to Oscar glory but failed to secure a nomination, it's time to discuss Emily Blunt in the Almost There series. Perpetually snubbed, the English actress has been part of the awards conversation since the mid-00s, but the Academy refuses to pay her any attention to this day. Even when her projects are otherwise embraced, Blunt's name is never there on Oscar nomination morning. Though this is her first time in this series, it's certainly not her last. There were at least five other occasions when she was in serious contention for Hollywood's most coveted trophy– going as far as winning the SAG and nabbing nods for all the important precursors. Since there's no better place to start than the beginning, let's delve into Blunt's first brush with Oscar buzz.

Back in 2006, The Devil Wears Prada was a smash hit with audiences and critics alike. Playing a character with her first name, Emily Blunt proved herself a comedic scene-stealer. And just like that, a star was born…

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Gay Best Friend: Nigel in "The Devil Wears Prada"

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

With the release of The Prom this Friday, people have been talking about the ethics of straight men taking on gay roles. As Nathaniel noted in his review, James Corden’s limp wrist and flouncy take on Barry is a tone deaf disaster. A large part of this comes from him, a straight man, constantly feeling like he must don exaggerated gay affectations rather than actually sketching out a three dimensional character. In 2020, we are in a place where we do have big name, openly gay actors more than qualified to tackle the gay roles that Hollywood writes.

While queer people should be prioritized when telling queer stories, there are many great gay performances by straight men. Perhaps one of the strongest examples is Stanley Tucci as Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada. While it’s clear from the jump that Nigel is gay, Tucci doesn’t “play” into the stereotype. Instead, his first point of reference for Nigel is a driven professional who is comfortably hyper-confident in his field...

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