A Memorial for "In Memorium"

One last piece on an individual moment from Oscar night?

by Baby Clyde

They couldn’t have started off the In Memoriam segment of the 96th Annual Academy Awards, in a more sober fashion. Recently assassinated Russian opposition leader and subject of last year's Best Documentary winner Alexei Navalny appears on screen, speaking directly to the audience. It’s a bold, surprising opener, somewhat at odds with the slick, professional and ever so slightly dull show that made up the rest of the runtime. This grim reminder of a world outside the Hollywood bubble gives absolutely no indication of the calamitous 4 minutes we're about to endure...

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Film Review: 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' Delivers More of the Same

Wherever the Minions go, mayhem follows.By: Christopher James

Everyone knows what their mileage is on Minions mischief. Since exploding onto the screen in 2010’s surprise animated hit Despicable Me, these goofy yellow helpers have become part of popular culture. Like demented, individualistic oompa loompas, the Minions do not need speech in order to win over their audiences. In fact, they hew closest to the Three Stooges in terms of their appeal. It’s pure physical comedy amped up by the frenetic dexterity that animation allows.

The newest entry, Minions: The Rise of Gru, doesn’t reinvent the wheel, to say the least. It’s broad, loud and frantic, barely stopping for a minute to craft a story. At 107 minutes, the energy sputters out, particularly in a rushed third act. Yet, the movie gives exactly what it promises, a fun ride full of antics galore...

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Emmy Review: Supporting Actor in a Comedy

Please welcome new contributor Christopher James to continue our Emmy analysis/review...

The new eight-wide field Supporting Actor in a Comedy field brought in some old and new faces. The incumbent Tony Shalhoub hopes to win his fifth Emmy (he won three times for Monk and once previously for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). However, there are plenty of people standing in his way. Both Harper and Levy contend for their show’s series finales. Oscar winners Ali and Arkin hope to add an Emmy to their respective trophy cases. Meanwhile, Emmy regulars Brown, Braugher and Thompson are hoping to be the David to Shalhoub’s Goliath.

Without further ado, let’s dive into a look at each of the nominee’s submissions (mild spoilers to come)...

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Oscar Trivia: Longest gap between nods... and who might return next?

by Nathaniel R 

Tie a yellow ribbon round the ol' Oscar ceremony this year. There are a lot of "welcome back" nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards since the nominations skewed towards senior actors as it occassionally does. Seven previous winners are in play again -- Bates, Theron, Zellweger, Pacino, Pesci, Hanks, and Sir Anthony Hopkins... all of whom have been missing in Oscar action anywhere from 15 to 29 years!  Surprisingly none of them are close to the all time record for “longest gap between nominations”.

Still, two decades is a big long stretch of time since most actors of either gender have all of their Oscar activity in a relatively condensed period of time; when you’re hot, you’re hot. Gaps over 20 years are uncommon. Even Lee Grant and Ingrid Bergman, famously blacklisted or exiled for a spell before returning triumphantly to Oscar’s good graces, didn’t have to wait that long. So herewith a list of the only actors who returned to the mix after a 20 year absence. 

The 25 Longest Gaps Between Oscar Nominations (for Actors)

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"Slums of Beverly Hills" Revisited

Chris Feil is looking back at the films of Tamara Jenkins...

Tamara Jenkins doesn’t get nearly the love she deserves as one of the most rich voices in contemporary American comedy. Though maybe we could blame that on her short filmography that nevertheless remains pristinely unimpeachable. Or maybe it’s because she leaves us wanting for painful lengths of time between films, and makes it worth the wait. Her newest, Private Life, arrives Friday on Netflix after more than a decade since she gave us The Savages. And before that there was another decade gap following her 1998 debut Slums of Beverly Hills.

The film is most notorious for being the breakthrough role for Natasha Lyonne as the film’s hilarious teenage heroine Vivian. She belongs to another of Jenkins’ dysfunctional but affectionate family units, carted around 1970s California with her shifty father Murray and two dumbass brothers. Hers is a summer of firsts - her first bra, her first period, her first lay and first orgasm (separate, of course) - but Jenkins and Lyonne make it not-so-typical compared to less sharp coming-of-age tales. Opposite Alan Arkin as the father and Marisa Tomei as her fuckup aunt, Lyonne is a natural, exhaling comic brilliance by simply existing in Vivian’s restless malaise.

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