David here, looking back at one of 2006's most contentious films ten years down the line.
I don't imagine many of us have watched United 93 more than a couple of times in the ten years since it debuted. Five years on from 9/11, it felt painfully raw and keenly sensitive, its depiction of the tragic events rendered with a wrenching immediacy borrowed from the handheld footage that had dominated the news coverage of events. It was, gruesomely, a cultural moment that instituted the world of smartphones and social media, news bursting from unpredictable sources, the traditional media outlets left as responsive collators of private material. United 93 showed us the reality of events with such intimacy that cinema's own mannered approaches towards realism rapidly became outmoded.
Obviously actresses are superheroes, so after going the traditional route today (National Superhero Day apparently, yes it's news to me too) by celebrating superheroes I loved to draw as a kid and those that made me quiver under my bodice, I couldn't stop tweeting. It was time to celebrate the greatest superhero team of them all: The Legion of Best Actresses.
We'll start with Tilda but there are more super-actresses after the jump...
Guardian Glenn on 10 best Australian documentaries ever including Canes Toads (in 3D) a film I saw at Sundance years ago that freaked me right out The Tracking Board Martin Scorsese might make a George Washington biopic. Hmmm, how does Leonardo DiCaprio look in a white powder wig? Oscars.org Los Angelenos readers take note. Alan Menken and Angela Lansbury will be taking part in a 25th anniversary screening of Beauty & The Beast on May 9th. You can buy tickets at the link. MNPP Jason attends a special Aliens screening and Q&A with Sigourney Weaver (who is still looking incredible) Awards Daily thinks Passengers (the sci-fi film starring Chris Pratt & Jennifer Lawrence) could be one of our Best Picture nominees
The Playlist new images from The Neon Demon. Can't wait to see this New Yorker Richard Brody provocatively argues that film critics and publications need to move beyond "theatrical release" or "festival" when considering what makes a movie worth writing about Variety more Cannes news. While we've already discussed the main jury, they've announced the sidebars. All three will be presided over by women (!): Actress Marthe Keller for Un Certain Regard; Director Naomi Kawase for Short Films; Director Catherine Corsini for Camera D'Or Coming Soon has a new Kubo and the Two Strings trailer if you're interested (my general personal rule of thumb now is to stop after the first teaser or trailer so nothing is spoiled). Laika makes such great movies I don't even need a trailer. I'm always in. /FilmThe Jungle Book has a how-they-did-it visual fx reel going around i09 the X-Men finally get to wear costumes that are a smidgeon like their comic book origins at some point in X-Men Apocalypse (hopefully not just at the end) Interview talks to programmer Thomas Beard about the current Film Society program 'Queer Cinema Before Stonewall ' FSLC ...and there's a few more days of that program left if you're in NYC
Provocative Thought O' The Day Uproxx "Are more famous people really dying in 2016 or does it just seem that way?" which delves quite a lot into the 1980s as relevant cultural force
Off Cinema Drama Desk Awards The nominations are in. Hamilton was eligible last year (since Off Broadway productions factor into these awards) which is why it's not up for anything. The revival of She Loves Me (with two of musical comedy's greatest stars: Laura Benanti & Jane Krakowski) leads all productions with 9 nominations. American Psycho wracked up the most nods for a new musical (well, it's tied with Steve Martin & Edie Brickelle's Bright Star) EXCEPT the big one: Best Musical. Weird, right. That's gotta sting even if the high nomination count isn't any sort of axe to the head for the show. Famous TV & Film actors nominated this year for their stage work include: Jessica Lange, Michael Shannon, Michael C Hall, and Frank Langella. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, who has been much-buzzed for her performance in Eclipsed, was not nominated this morning. Hmmm.
Today's Watch Chase Whale interviews Key & Peele about their kitten heist movie Keanu. Fun bit.
Taika Waititi on setAs the bells of Captain America: Civil War consume the airwaves, the name Taika Waititi tends to ring more recognition as the director of the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok than for his most recent film. Playing like gangbusters at both the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals – check out Jason’s positive review here – Waititi’s kid adventure flick Hunt For The Wilderpeople is primed to warm and race hearts as he zips across the New Zealand countryside with an adorable ragamuffin and a grizzly Sam Neill.
Fans of Waititi’s previous film, the vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows, will be glad to know he’s got another zany, zesty romp under his belt before he applies his comic panache to the latest Thor movie (an underrated chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the most potential for silly fun). After breaking box office records in New Zealand last month, its American trailer has arrived...
Tribeca Film Festival wrapped this weekend and I want to hear a huge round of applause for Manuel Betancourt and Jason Adams who filed so many reports. The festival's main narrative competiton was juried by Anne Carey, Chris Nashawaty, and the actors James Le Gros, Mya Taylor and Jennifer Westfeldt. Additional juries handled documentaries, new directors, and international narrative features.
this Persona-riff won Best Actress for Mackenzie DavisFestival Winners Reviewed Dean (Manuel) -Best Narrative Feature The Fixer (Nathaniel) -Best Actor Dominic Rains Always Shine (Jason) -Best Actress Mackenzie Davis Women Who Kill (Jason) -Best Screenplay Ingrid Jungermann Contemporary Color (Jason) - Documentary Cinematography Jarred Alterman and Documentary Editing Bill Ross Madly (Manuel) - Actress in an International Feature Radhika Apte in "Clean Shaven,"a segment in Madly
P.S.We'll have more on Strike a Pose (2016), the documentary about Madonna's dancers from Truth or Dare (1991) that Manuel reviewed, in a couple of weeks. You know we can't pass up the opportunity to celebrate Truth or Dare's 25th anniversary in style so we'll have a "blonde ambition" theme week (May 8th-13th) with Madonna madness and other cinematic blondes to mix it up. (We're now waiting impatiently for news about a proper release for Strike a Pose)
Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 7:20PM 
