Best of Animated Features, Shorts, and Voice Work

by Nathaniel R

Wagner Moura and Antonio Banderas do fine voice work in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish"

For today's installment of Oscar talk and our own Film Bitch Award nominations, let's discuss cartoons. Our nominations are up for Best Animated Feature which you can see here and include the thoughtful eccentricities of Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio,  the witty propulsivesness of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and the strangely undervalued hormonal marvel that is Turning Red. Three clear worthies that are difficult to choose between! It's a more mainstream list than we usually have but that's the way the year panned out (and we only have 3 nominees each year due to, well, sanity).

Apologies to the punk riot of Inu-Oh which is an intermittent thrill. As for Marcel the Shell...

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Interview: Rising Star Boyd Holbrook ("Narcos")

Boyd Holbrook © Flaunt magazine, Fe Pinheiro, photographerI regret to inform you that I cannot begin this story with the sizzling lede I'd intended. But the redacted story, of where Boyd Holbrook called me from and the new project he's working on -- were nevertheless a good reminder that he's been an exciting talent to watch. That's not just because he's so engaging onscreen but because he doesn't want to get stuck in a rut; it's hard to guess where his creative muse will take him next.

So let's jump to our real topic. Boyd Holbrook was calling to discuss his role as DEA officer Steve Murphy in the Netflix series Narcos. The debut season was nominated for Best Drama Series at the Golden Globes and before its second season airs, it's undoubtedly hoping for Emmy to follow suit (balloting closes tomorrow). The story revolves around the drug lord Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura, Globe nominated for Best Actor) and the attempts of DEA agents Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) to bring him down. Though it's somewhat of a three-lead series, Holbrook and Peña are both on Emmy's Supporting Actor Drama ballot since Escobar is the subject matter. Holbrook's character is our window to the story and a handy historical reference guide as narrator. The early episodes have to impart a ton of information we couldn't be expected to know about both Colombia and the US in the late 70s and early 80s as well as technological limitations of the time in hunting and surveillance of your prey.

I talked to Boyd about the peculiar demands of the part, half-exposition and half-character work, but we begin with what I suspect is his multi-hyphenate inner artist [Interview after the jump...]

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IMDb's Top 10 Movers and Shakers of 2015

Manuel here. 2015 may be over but 2015 lists won’t stop for another week or two. This one comes courtesy of IMDB. In their own words, “the rising stars on this list experienced the largest increase in their best weekly STARmeter ranking in 2015 as compared to 2014.” If you’re like me and had to confirm what an actor’s STARmeter is, know that it basically calculates people’s awareness:

The primary measure is who and what people are looking at on IMDb.”

Testament of Youth co-stars make the 2015 list

It’s a fascinating list if one that skews young, white, and television-heavy. I have to admit I could only easily identify half the list and those are primarily the ones in the thick of awards conversation. From the 10 listed, we have 2 Golden Globe nominees, and 3 SAG-nominated actors.

Unsurprisingly, the list is full of pretty faces that you’ll recognize from established TV tentpoles like Fear the Walking Dead, buzzy Netflix series like Narcos, Orange is the New Black, Sense8, as well as big box office hits like Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Straight Outta Compton. Of course, 2015's “It girl”/ hardest working actress Alicia Vikander makes the list though she’s probably lower than we’d all have wagered. A reminder, perhaps, that prestige “rising stars” can sometimes exist in their own little critical bubble. [More...]

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