ICYMI, A Smackdown Addendum

Busy busy week but that was mostly the team running around catching Tribeca Screenings. (We'll finish the write-ups very soon). But other than the film festival, I hope you didn't miss these five key posts from the week that was.

A Year With Kate reaches the Spencer Tracy years
Podcast Gets Under the Skin the gang's all back to discuss Noah and Under the Skin 
Looking Back at Pocahontas Disney's ambitious epic 
April Showers: The Piano Holly Hunter was the surprise star of the week because we also finally got to...
2003 Supporting Actress Smackdown Renée vs. Shohreh vs Holly vs Patty vs. Marcia Marcia Marcia. (What a strange Oscar year that was)

Film Bitch Addendum
For those of you wondering which actresses I voted for back in 2003 (many of you weren't around these parts in those early early days), here was my ballot which only had a little Oscar overlap. FWIW, David Cronenberg's Spider got a one week qualifier in 2002 but back then I went only by NYC release since I wasn't privvy to Academy screeners. Of course AMPAS ignored it as they do most one week qualifiers but Miranda Richardson was all kinds of haunting in it x 3. Curiously my finalists list suggests that I thought The Lovely Laura Linney was equal to Marcia back then within the confines of Mystic River. No more. The only part of the movie that's aged well for me at all is Harden's performance.

 

Today's Retro Watch
Given the 2003 Smackdown discussion, it's a great time to look back at this classic Cold Mountain sketch from French & Saunders as they poke fun at Nicole Kidman's whispering & posing and the Zeéeeee's overacting in the Cold Turkey DVD commentary track

Smackdown: Internal Dramas & DVD Death

Just to give you all a sense of the challenge of the Supporting Actress Smackdowns, I thought I'd share some behind-the-scenes notes. A lot of prep work went into the years we've covered (1952, 1968, 1980, and 2003). Only one of them was difficult to stick with (that'd be 2003 because the movies stunk). Of the years not yet covered (StinkyLulu hosted a lot of them) there are 39 years still aching to be Smacked Down!

1937 • 1938 • 1941 • 1943 • 1944 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 
1951 • 1954 • 1957 • 1960 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1970 •
1972 • 1973 • 1977 • 1979 • 1981 • 1984 •  1986 • 1987 •
1989 • 1991 • 1994 • 1995 • 1997 • 1998 • 2000 • 2001 •
2002 • 2004 • 2005 •  2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 

But here's where it gets tricky....

Click to read more ...

ICYMI

For those who don't check in enough, don't miss these highlights from the week. It was a slow week, I know, but next week will be madness: the Podcast returns, the Smackdown (finally), The Letter (1940) for "Best Shot" (join us!), a cool behind the scenes interview and more for Easter Week including the beginning of the Tribeca Film Festival.

• "Poor Ivy" Andrew on August: Osage County's MVP
• April Showers wanna shower with young Josh Brolin? Patricia Arquette does
• Home on the Range Tim on the death of traditional animation
• Decoding Annie Parker Samantha Morton is back
• Colin Firth has six movies out this year. 40+ before that; How many have you seen?
• 1963 Oscar Flashbacks to Tom Jones and Oscar night glamour
• TCM Festival Anne Marie & Diana hit the opening night premiere

...and the previous week's highlights

Mark Your Calendars

Here's what's coming up for the rest of April in which I try to finish everything pending and deliver two festivals and new Oscar predictions. It's going to be an exciting/jampacked three weeks...

April 10th TCM FILM FESTIVAL BEGINS
Anne Marie & Diana will be reporting from Los Angeles

April 15th Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The Letter (1940)
Bette Davis stars in this classic noir nominated for 7 Oscars. Which shot will you choose? [Available on: Netflix | Amazon | iTunes Rental]

April 16th TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL BEGINS
Nathaniel, Glenn, Andrew, Jason, & Diana reporting from New York

April 20th SMACKDOWN 2003. Happy Easter!
This is my new deadline. I know it's been months

April 20th PODCAST RESURRECTED. Happy Easter!
Nathaniel, Katey, Nick, and Joe begin another chatty season with Noah and more [iTunes]

April 22nd Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Pocahontas (1995) 
Revisit Disney's undervalued 1995 musical for Earth Day. Which shot will you choose? [Available on: Netflix Instant Watch | Amazon Instant | iTunes Rental]

April 24th-30th Mean Girls 10th Anniversary Theme Week
Daily lunches with the plastics at North Shore High

April 24th-30th APRIL FOOLISH Oscar Predictions
New charts coming in all categories to start our wild-eyed golden lusting all over again for the new year. Who will compete this year? We'll know in the fall but will take some wild stabs now.

Open Thread & Vacation Time

What's on your cinematic mind? I was worried you were all thinking about the exact same thing that we had neglected to write on until I realized the comments were malfunctioning. FIXED. So now that you can comment again, please fill it up the blog with your movie-addled thoughts. I'll be reading them and letting them marinate for inspiration as I soak up the sun... 

I'm always totally burnt out post-Oscar, so it's time for my annual off the grid rejuvenation. Only a long weekend but it'll help. I plan to be in the water as much as possible and when I come back I'll hit the ground running, tie up all loose ends (the smackdown I know I know) and get to those April Foolish Oscar Predictions so we can start all over again. In the meantime I know the team has some goodies planned for you.

xoxo - Nathaniel