Blue Jasmine @10: Confessions of a Blanchett Agnostic

by Cláudio Alves

It's been ten years this week since Blue Jasmine arrived in theaters, kickstarting one of the most unwavering award sweeps in living memory. After a period where she dedicated most of her attention to the theater, Cate Blanchett returned to big screen leading lady status with Woody Allen's San Francisco-set Madoff-inspired spin on A Streetcar Named Desire. Her Jasmine is a modern Blanche Dubois bedecked in Chanel, a showcase for thespian pyrotechnics so immense nobody can be left indifferent. No wonder so many count the performance as Blanchett's best and one of the top Best Actress winners of the 21st century. I understand and even grasp the grandeur that enchanted Oscar voters, critics, cinephiles everywhere.

And yet, I can't deny a certain skepticism when faced with the achievement itself, finding it highlights many of the issues I often have with Blanchett on screen. Maybe I am a Blanchett agnostic…

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Almost There: Mia Farrow in "Broadway Danny Rose"

by Cláudio Alves

When presenting his list of new streaming titles for July, Nathaniel paid special attention to the 1984 Woody Allen comedy Broadway Danny Rose. It was the first Allen film he ever saw, and the first time Mia Farrow got serious Oscar buzz for her collaborations with the director. Previously, her closest brush with the Academy Awards had come with Rosemary's Baby, way back in 1968. But, of course, as we know, that buzz never materialized into an actual nomination, and Farrow remains Oscarless to this day, despite a filmography full of incredible performances. Indeed, this series could have an extensive miniseries dedicated exclusively to the actress, so vast is her number of "Almost There" cases.

That miniseries might happen one day, but, for now, let's focus only on Broadway Danny Rose and Mia Farrow's brilliant work in it…

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Vintage '86

The Smackdown of '86 (with special guests) arrives in just 9 days. Before we get to the main event let's talk about what people were talking about that year in film, television, stage, music, and books... 

Great Big Box Office Hits: Movie stars rather than IP still ruled so the top ten made room for Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, and Bette Midler vehicles along with just 3 sequels (can you imagine a top ten box office of the year with just 3 sequels nowadays? It's hard to do). Military men and women were also the rage with the marines of Aliens, the airforce bros of Top Gun, and the traumatized foot soldiers of Platoon all extremely popular with moviegoers.

1. Top Gun (military drama)
2. Crocodile Dundee (comedy)
3. Platoon (military drama)
4. Karate Kid Part II (sequel)
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (sci-fi sequel)...

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7 days until Oscar. 7-time Best Director nominees

It's seven sleeps until Oscar night so today's magic discussion number is SEVEN! Exactly seven directors in history have received seven (or more) nominations for Best Director in the Academy's 93 year history. For fun we've listed that magic seventh nomination below, though coincidentally none of these directors won their seventh time in the race (all had already won). They are, in alpha order:

 

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Doc Corner: 'Allen v. Farrow' & 'Framing Britney Spears'

By Glenn Dunks

How do you go about making a film or a series about celebrity scandal let alone writing a review of those very projects? It’s difficult. It is virtually impossible to not bring one’s own history and baggage to a work like Allen v. Farrow or Framing Britney Spears. And then there are the works themselves, both of which confront subject matters that demand the audience assess—or re-assess—their own thoughts and responses to damaging events in the lives of the rich and famous that played as entertainment for the masses in less enlightened times of media representation.

Arguably the two biggest works of documentary to have arrived in the first quarter of 2021, I actually don’t think either of them really work. They sure are thorny works, though, that push the viewer into murky areas that need to be explored.

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