Showbiz History: Sandra Oh, Operation Valkyrie, and yet more Batman?

Since the right now is so depressing let us look back into showbiz history for (mostly) easier things to think about then the here and now.

wee Natalie Wood with cat

11 random things that happened on this day (July 20th) in relation to showbiz history...

1930 Sally Ann Howes born in London. She starred as "Truly Scrumptious" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She's one of the 200 oldest living screen stars. Happy 88th, Scrumptious!

1938 Natasha Gurdin born in San Francisco to immigrant parents. Five years later she makes her screen debut as "Natalie Wood" and becomes one of the rare child stars whose fame only grows as she ages...

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Blueprints: Emmy Nominees for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Jorge has been taking a look at the Emmy history for this year’s writing nominees. 

Let’s take a look at the four shows that made up the six nominees for Writing in a Comedy Series, the only writing category this year in which there were repeat nominations for the same show. Remember that, just as in the Directing categories, individual episodes are honored rather than overall series. For the fifth year in a row network shows were entirely shut out of the comedy writing category. (In fact network television was shut out of all three narrative writing category this year, only showing up in "Variety/Special"). Two newcomer shows and two established favorites got the comedy nominations; none of the shows have ever won for their writing.

Let's see the elevator pitches and the stats (we love a good round of statistics) after the jump... 

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Fantasia 2018: Blue My Mind

by Jason Adams

There's a whole lot going on in Mia's life. She's moved to a new town, which means a new school and trying to make new friends. She's just had her first period, and that's got her on edge. Oh and her toes have suddenly grown webbed together, and she's got these strange appetites making themselves known. 

Blue My Mind is just the latest in a long line of girls coming of age through sloppy and terrifying means - the lure of exploring budding female sexuality through the prism of the monstrous has always been with us, from Medusa's slithering wig to Simone Simon's poolside purr. What feels different now, with movies like this (written and directed by Lisa Brühlmann) or with Julia Ducournau's Raw last year, is that it's finally women who are making these movies...

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Doc Corner: 'McQueen'

Of all the fashion designers who have been given the biographic documentary treatment in the last decade, perhaps none feel as appropriate for the cinema than the late Lee Alexander McQueen. There have been many designers whose work is in a way cinematic – including others from 2018 alone like Guo Pei (Yellow is Forbidden) and Vivienne Westwood (Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist), although the success of those films vary – McQueen the man is such a vividly big personality, even in his quiet and introspective moments, that a film about him is naturally going to boast a more broad appeal and intense fascination.

In McQueen we witness the boy who rose from working class roots in London’s East End buying fabrics with his government dole money to working on dozens of fashion lines a year for a variety of brands and world famous fashion houses.

Seen through personal tapes and footage from his increasingly elaborate and astonishingly striking runway shows, director Ian Bonhōte and co-director Peter Ettedgui assembles with beautiful clarity the essence of not just Lee’s work, but Lee’s humanity, too.

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Meet the Smackdown Panelists for 1943

by Nathaniel R 

The next "Supporting Actress Smackdown" arrives on Sunday July 29th so you have one last week to watch the movies / get your votes in! But before we get to that big event, it's time to meet this month's panel. We'll skip my introduction because you know me already but if you don't, here I am.

So without further ado, let's get to know the five panelists, most of whom are first-timers on the Smackdown!

PLEASE WELCOME...

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