Hello from your Friendly Neighbourhood Previously Editor! Daylight savings has really done a number on us. Losing an hour of sleep means I’ve entered zombie mode. So this edition is going to be short. I’m here with the news from last week and some quick thoughts on how the Academy Awards went down.
Previously on Comics: Awards and Calls for Papers
Good morning, everyone. It’s your Friendly Neighbourhood Previously Editor bringing you the latest news from the world of comics and entertainment. Some of it is distressing, but there’s hope to be found in the darkness. And isn’t that really what pop culture is, at its core?
Oscars Roundtable: Villains, Faves, and The Ceremony
It’s been a strange time for film-making — working around COVID protocols, virtual festivals, and audiences reluctant to head out to the theatres have all been obstacles no one has figured out how to circumvent. Even the Oscars got rescheduled, and while this year everyone was in the theatre and unmasked, the ceremony still felt…
Last Week’s Episode: No Disguise For That Wandavision
The Oscars are this weekend and I’m glad to soon be free of the burden of reading takes on any of the best picture nominees. #Bonghive baby.
White Helmets Cinematographer Barred from U.S.
Not even the Oscars are immune from American politics and some celebrities and other members of the film industry won’t be attending — and not all by choice: twenty-one-year-old cinematographer and White Helmets press officer Khaled Khatib has been banned from entering the United States and attending the awards ceremony as part of the White…
Oscar Animated Shorts: Birds, Booze, and Bands
The Oscar animated shorts category has a few familiar faces and one director who adapted his own graphic novel into an animated short. “Borrowed Time” (7 minutes) Andrew Coats, Lou Hamou-Lhadj (directors) USA This is a short, silent Western about guilt and grief and dads, and it does that very well. The animation is made…
Oscar Shorts: Singing, Baking, and Assimilation
One take away from the live action Oscar shorts this year is that they’re not really that short these days. Only one film comes in under the twenty minute mark. While a few of these films could have really done more with less, overall, it’s a year of strong contenders covering a broad range of…
Elle: A Study On Trauma
Content Warning: Rape and sexual violence. A film that is centered solely around rape will never be a film for everyone. Though as a rape survivor, I felt that every moment of Elle was made with me in mind. Paul Verhoeven’s study of a woman dealing with the aftermath of a violent rape in her…
Jackie: History Has Its Eyes On You
Jackie Pablo Larraín (dir), Stéphane Fontaine (cin) , Noah Oppenheim (wri) Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt (cast) LD Entertainment, Fox Searchlight Pictures September 7, 2016 (Venice), December 2, 2016 (USA) We are midway through Jackie, and Jacqueline Kennedy, standing in all black, is talking to a priest. “Was God in the bullet that killed my husband?” she asks, angry but still pointedly polite. When…
Oscars Welcomes Abusers Gibson and Affleck
Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault, racism and antisemitism. In July 2010, two women filed a $2m lawsuit against actor Casey Affleck, alleging repeated instances of sexual harassment from Affleck as they worked together on his directorial debut. The allegations included accusations of verbal abuse and physical intimidation, including one instance where a plaintiff…
A Lifetime on the Beach with The Red Turtle
The Red Turtle Michaël Dudok de Wit (director) Michaël Dudok de Wit & Pascale Ferran (writers) Studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch June 29, 2017 France, September 17, 2016 Japan The world has been loud and tumultuous lately–incoming news is coming in so fast it’s hard to keep up and what can be read feels overwhelming….
Review: Fences Is Heartbreaking and Hopeful
Fences Denzel Washington (dir), August Wilson (wri) Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney (cast) Paramount Pictures December 25, 2016 August Wilson’s Fences adaptation has been a long time coming.