August. It's a Wrap

The "Summer Movie Season Without...er... Movies" is officially over. Now we move on to Prestige Film Season... hopefully With Movies but you never know. The dog days of summer are over but here were a baker's dozen or so key posts from the month at TFE in case you missed any of them.

Some Highlights
• French Exit Nathaniel suggests reading the book before the movie!
• When Tilda Swinton Went Mainstream - Sean dons the furcoat and angel wings
• The Australian New Wave - Glenn takes Criterion's journey down under
• The New Classics: Moonlight -Michael goes to the diner with Black & Kevin
• A Patch of Blue - Nathaniel gasps at Shelley Winters (second) Oscar
• The Furniture: The Poseidon Adventure - Daniel boards the (sinking) ship
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Nick for the 10th anniversary
• Revisiting Spotlight - Juan Carlos asks how the Best Picture has aged

Most Discussed
• Smackdown of 2005 - A banner lineup gets raves from our panel
• "Won & Done" - Baby Clyde on the curse of finally winning an Oscar
• Diaz in Malkovich - Cláudio takes a frizzy-haired request
• Emmy Lead Actress Drama - Abe considers this tough all-star race
• Yes No Maybe So: Ammonite - We're all in for this lesbian romantic drama 

Coming in September
Mulan, Tenet, and other new movies. Plus a deep dive into 1938 cinema for the Smackdown and well beyond. Definitely more Emmy talk, too, and the (virtual) ceremony. We'll hit Mickey Rooney's centennial and celebrate anniversaries of To Wong Foo, Se7en, and Mildred Pierce. And yes, updates to the Oscar charts even though the year still feels like end days. 

July. It's a Wrap

Will this hellscape of a year ever be over? Apparently it will because each month of the year has arrived and then departed even if they've been thrice as long as usual. Here are a dozen or so highlights from July that you might have missed!

• Costumes of Clueless 25 years later, Claudio feels they're even more iconic
• Mira Sorvino Mini-Fest  the actress programmed her own retrospective for us
• Let's talk about poop jokes -Michael's brilliant take on Bridesmaids (2011)
• 100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees -Sadly we had to update this recently
• Eva Green in Dark Shadows Jason considers when a bad movie houses a great star turn
• Smackdown 1957 some people say this is one of Oscar's worst lineups but it was still interesting to discuss
• Almost There: River Phoenix His performance in My Own Private Idaho remains a treasure both of promise fulfilled and agony of what could have been thereafter
• First on Vanity Fair Viola Davis's cover prompted a look back
• Bloody Nose Empty Pockets we keep hearing great things about this doc
• Lana Turner what star power!
• Hamilton on Disney plus

Most Discussed
• Smackdown 1991 Juliette Lewis vs Mercedes Ruehl in a photo finish
• Hamilton for the Oscars? The rise and fall and chaos of 'is it eligible?'
• Olivia de Havilland (RIP) the last superstar of Hollywood's Golden Age

Coming in August
We'll take intermittent trips back to 2005 (any requests?) before the next Smackdown which will feature reconsiderations of Amy Adams in Junebug, Catherine Keener in Capote, Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain, Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener, and Frances McDormand in North Country.

We'll also be celebrating the career of two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters (any requests?) for her Centennial. The rest will be a surprise to you AND TO US as we haven't planned much!  

Halfway Mark Links

A Must Read
• Tom & Lorenzo "One Iconic Costume" a fascinating funny and poignant piece on Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz

More Links
• Paper terrific piece on the new generation of queer comedy: Matt Rogers, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Alex English, Cole Escola, and many more. 
• Cartoon Brew despite Academy efforts toward gender parity the animation and visual fx industries are still struggling with inclusion of women. (Only 1 in 8 people invited to join the visual effects Academy branch are women this year.)

More after the jump including Hamilton, Netflix hit 365 Days, best of the first haf of the year and more...

Click to read more ...

June Wraps

In June we lost Joel Schumacher & Sir Ian Holm but the month wasn't all bad. The weather was beautiful, we got a new Spike Lee joint, and we survived another month of this very bad no good worst and quite movie-bereft year. Here are a dozen highlights from the month that was...

• Da 5 Bloods reviewed
• 200 Oldest Living Screen Stars a mega list. Appreciate 'em while they're here
• Spain's Mistake when they passed over Talk to Her
• King of Staten Island reviewed
• His & Hers Oscars - the 8 times both Supporting statues went to the same movie
• Janet Leigh in Psycho let's get her out of the shower
• The Furniture: Safe social distancing with Todd Haynes & Julianne Moore
• Viola's First Breakthrough before Doubt, a triple
• Disclosure Trans Lives on Screen reviewed
• Curio: Movie Loving Masks if it can't be fashion, make it film!

most discussed
• Ten Best Picture Nominees again!
• Smackdown 2002 those merry murderesses of Chicago...and an even merrier panel

Next Up...
Tomorrow we're turning the blog over to lyricis Tom Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) for a special guest blog movie-musical loving day. Then we're on to The Smackdown of 1957 so watch Peyton Place and Witness for a Prosecution won'cha?

Also in July
We'll celebrate Yul Brynner's Centennial, do a retrospective of the 1991 film year, and at the end of the month the 1991 Smackdown + the Emmy nominations hit.

May. It's a Wrap

Another shut-in month is coming to a close in this dread COVID-19 season. We're trying to keep you entertained without new movies in theaters. Here are a dozen key posts from the month that was in case u missed 'em.

• Down With Love - Costume designer Daniel Orlandi shares his memories of working on this one of a kind romantic comedy and 60s riff
• Nightmare Alley - The fine original demands rediscovery. The remake might be interesting
• How to Build a Girl -Beanie Feldstein's star vehicle reviewed
• Over & Overs: Anatomy of a Murder - this courtroom drama so rewatchable?
• The New Classics: Two Days One Night -sublimely truthful Marion Cotillard
• Hot Emmy Contest -Lead Actress in a TV Miniseries? Super competitive!
• Loretta vs Roz - Two friends vied for Best Actress 1947
• 5 Things I Learned from Bob Mackie - Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi shares career advice for young movie professionals
• Introducing Kathleen Turner -On one of the all time great film debuts

Most Discussed

• Smackdown 1947 - Gentleman's Agreement vs Crossfire. Celeste vs. Gloria
• Smackdown 1981 Maureen Stapleton (Reds) has unexpected competition!
• Did Hepburn deserve four Oscars? And if so for which films? 
• Who Will be Next to the Triple Crown - Eddie? Hugh? Laurie? Denzel?
• Ryan Murphy's Hollywood Unintentionally our three part / three author rundown divvied up neatly into Mixed / Con / Pro in that order.

COMING IN JUNE
New films Shirley and King of Staten Island, The 2002 Supporting Actress Smackdown (Chicago, The Hours) revisit, Paul Thomas Anderson's 50th Birthday, the quarter century anniversary of Todd Haynes's [safe], and maybe a little Ray Harryhausen for his centennial. Any other requests?