February. It's a Wrap

Eeeeeeeeeehhhhaaaargwhoohoo. We're about to enter final month of the 2021 film year with SAG tonight (foolish predictions here!) and Oscar night looming. We hope you're voting daily on the Oscar charts and investigating all the trivia and 'how'd they get nominated?' theorizing. Here are a dozen highlights from the month that was in case you missed 'em...

• Why can't the Oscars love themselves? -The Academy self-sabotages yet again
• Why can't we have Jonathan Bailey in the movies? - An appreciation of the Olivier winning Bridgerton star
• Almost There: House of Gucci Cláudio talks Lady Gaga's star turn
• Best Shot: Nightmare Alley - our once-signature series returns for a reboot season. Thank you for attending, especially those who played or commented!
• Film Bitch Nominations - Nathaniel's awards ballots revealed
• Kristen Stewart can still win -Despite a rocky precursor season a Best Actress win might happen
• Oscar and LGBTQ actors -Evolution of (slow) acceptance
• Death on the Nile- a power ranking of the suspects
• One for them One for Me: Nicole Kidman - remembering the goddess' 2004
• Nathaniel's Top 10 List - from Petite Maman to Power of the Dog
• Martha Plimpton interview - thank you to Abe for speaking to one of our favs
• LGBTQ Representation on TV - GLAAD's annual report
• 12 Takeaways from the Oscar Noms - What stood out?
• Oscar Nom Reaction - the team shares their highs and lows

COMING IN MARCH
Obviously there will be much Oscar hoopla including Honorary Oscar miniseries on Samuel L Jackson and Liv Ullmann and the first episode of the new season of Supporting Actress Smackdown. You can also expect discussions of new films The Batman, After Yang, Turning Red, and The Lost City. As far as older films to check out to maximize your reading pleasure here: queue up Romancing the Stone (1984), The Godfather (1972), and The Conversation (1974). ANY REQUESTS?

Film Bitch Awards ~ Oscar Parallel Categories Complete!

by Nathaniel R

The Oscar-adjacent portion of our annual Film Bitch Awards is complete (i.e. if Nathaniel had a ballot)... 

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Nathaniel's Top Ten List (Best of 2021)

by Nathaniel R

Movies are not quite keepsakes anymore with physical media dying. Yet they remain emotional treasures to return to or reflect upon as real as any beloved mementos you could place in a keepsake box. For awards and list obsessives they take on extra-meaning as stand-ins for each calendar year as well. We have to have a gimmick for the top ten lists each year, else the task of putting so much love into words becomes too daunting.  So this year we've chosen memorable objects as a frame with which to remember the year's best. These great films were filled with fawned over items and knick knacks from "purty" paper flowers to restless coffee cups, from razor-sharp seashell bracelets to winning lottery tickets, from horny religious figurines to magical belts.

20 HONORABLE MENTIONS

So that you don't immediately ask "WHERE IS  ____?" here are the 20 films outside of the top 10 list that were loved and/or deeply admired. Plus, in keeping with the chosen theme, the visual object we most closely associate with them... 

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2021 is a wrap (sort of). Hello 2022!

HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVELIES!

As longtime readers know our new year literally begins now but figuratively we're still in 2021 until the last Oscar is hadn't out on March 27th, 2022. Then a 'happy new film year' can truly begin. But in case you've been away and our just rejoining us in the thick of precursor season, here are...

10 highlights you might've missed from December
• Steven Spielberg's 10 Best Films the whole team sounded off
• FYC Simon Rex his motormouthed brilliance in Red Rocket 
• Mike Faist Interview How the new West Side Story's "Riff" found the intensity for reinvention
• Discussing the Endings of Passing and Power of the Dog
• Young Adult at 10 Mavis never grows up but her film does
• Which countries have been waiting for Oscar nominations the longest? None of the "top ten" made the finalist list again. When will Oscar notice them?
• Yes No Maybe So The Northman Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård get their Viking on
• Year in Review List-Mania - we did team lists of Onscreen Chemistry, Entertainers, Best Animals, Movie Posters, and Thirst Traps of 2021
• Spider-Man Best Picture - that weird media push to nominate it 
• Cate Blanchett in Talented Mr Ripley - an episode of your favourite "Almost There"
• West Side Story Oscar Journey x 2 - a handy comparison chart as we move towards Oscar nominations
• Best Supporting Actress -who gets the fifth slot?

Previous wrap-ups if you're just rejoining us...
Oscar 2020 Wrap | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov

COMING IN JANUARY 2022
Nathaniel's top ten list + The Film Bitch Awards, and the Team Experience Awards. Plus lots of interviews for Oscar hopefuls and a conversation with a secret SAG voter. We'll hit new films including A Hero, The 355, Scream, Belle, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. We'll have virtual Sundance Film Festival reviews. And finish up all the Oscar charts (2/3rds done now) in the next two days only to redo them once SAG nominations hit on January 12th. And if they ever reschedule those Honorary Oscars (meant for this month), we'll launch those half written weeklong celebrations of Liv Ullmann and Samuel L Jackson.

Year in Review: 2021 Entertainers of the Year

by Team Experience

Olivia Colman photographed by Amelia Troubridge from The Guardian

In our final "Team Experience Year in Review" post before the 10th annual Team Experience Awards and Nathaniel's own Film Bitch Awards (both in January), we wanted to pay tribute to the stars who worked overtime to keep us smiling, crying, laughing, and altogether wide-eyed in 2021. We asked contributors to cite ten choices as "Entertainer of the Year". The catch was the celebrity in question had to have had more than one project during the year. Quantity and Quality.

Names that didn't quite make the list but are nevertheless worthy of our sincere gratitude include actors Olivia Colman (Landscapers, Mitchells vs the Machines, The Lost Daughter, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley, Licorice Pizza), Vicky Krieps (Old, Next Door, Bergman Island), and auteurs Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), and Ridley Scott (House of Gucci, The Last Duel). Technically speaking both Jamie Dornan and Oscar Isaac  made the following list but since we already sufficiently highlighted them yesterday in "Thirst Traps of the Year" we've ceded their spots to others. Spread the wealth is always our motto...

"ENTERTAINERS OF THE YEAR"
(a dozen wonders in no particular order) 

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