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Screen Queens: Best of the Gay Aughts
2 hours ago
MattCanada here with a bit of an overview and Best-Of Gay films for the last decade.
Gay cinema over the last ten years has been intrinsically tied to both the political gains made by gay activists and the intense battles surrounding everything from the worldwide fight for gay marriage to nationally specific issues like America's Dadt and Doma, and Britain's repeal of Section 28. The relationship between the political and the cinematic is always most pronounced in the medium's relationship to minority groups and their texts.
The Aughts have seen gay-rights become the most visible"social values" issue in America, and this has been reflected in a number of high profile American films dealing frankly, sexually, and politically with what it means to be gay in America. Milk, Far From Heaven, and Mysterious Skin employ gay filmmaking traditions, like those of Affirmation Documentaries (Richard Dyer's term), Sirkian melodrama, and New Queer Cinema, …
- CanadaMatt
Mélanie Manly Laurent
4 hours ago
Inglourious Basterds was always a conversation starter. But we didn't expect it to start this conversation. Mélanie Laurent is actually a man!
Actual screenshot (with web menu removed, highlight and "oops" added)
Best Supporting Actor, eh? We always thought it was an odd strategy to position Laurent right out of the Oscar race by vying for Lead Actress. But this is even crazier gambit. Oscar voters do have eyes, you know!
I'm joking. As far as I know Mélanie is still a woman but thanks to readers Rj and Jim T for pointing out this error on theWeinstein Co website. I'm sure someone will fix this pronto but for now let it stand as an amusingly literal and/or satiric demonstration of the absurd modern flexibility for Oscar categorizations. …
- NATHANIEL R
Halfway House: Mercury Poisoning
11 hours ago
halfway through the day, stop a movie halfway through. What do you see?
About 45 minutes into the soon-to-be Oscared documentary The Cove, we pause for a lecture on mercury poisoning. Basically it goes like this: dolphins swim in a toxic dump site, their bodies have too much mercury in them, it's not safe for us to eat them. Ewww times two. I don't like to think about toxic dumps or dolphin-eating.
I totally didn't need to know that dolphin meat was poisonous to be convinced that they shouldn't be eaten, thank you very much.
I have all sorts of issues, defendable and otherwise, with documentaries each year. It's difficult to explain but I'll try. With narrative filmmaking I feel like I'm mostly aware of what I'm watching and of how the movie is choosing to approach its subject and tell its story. With documentaries I often feel like I'm behind …
- NATHANIEL R
The Best Actress Five. Is Anyone Vulnerable?
20 December 2009 6:01 PM, PST
At first I was a bit weirded out that SAG nominations could no longer work as a bellwether of shifting awards-season winds since all of the precursors were mashed together into one week's time. But what winds could shift anyway? Though we won't see the results until February 2nd, Oscar ballots go out to AMPAS members next week. With no real time lag to speak of (we hear that most Academy members return their ballots quickly) I don't think we should expect surprises, particularly because there was so very much agreement between the precursors.
~ Streep | Mulligan | Sidibe | Bullock | Mirren ~
three real life characters and two fresh young actresses. typical!
That sort of kills the suspense in Best Actress (I've thought the "win" was settled for quite awhile -- Streeps third -- but I did expect more drama as to who the final five would be) but not every year can be exciting. …
- NATHANIEL R
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