Category: media

The LA Film Critics Association also awarded Best Director to Chloe Zhao for Nomadland with Frances McDormand, and Russia’s stark post-WWII tale Beanpole won Best Foreign Film. The rest of the winners – and it’s an interesting list – are at the link. – Los Angeles Times

Gemma Arterton’s first fame came from being a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, not long after she started a professional acting career. That’s a lot of sexism and social media control for a young actor to deal with. But things have changed. “In the past few years she has been noticeably vocal on inequality in the industry and she was instrumental in getting the Time’s Up campaign organised on the Bafta red carpet in London in 2018. ‘I’m a doer,’ she says. ‘I’m quite good at getting things done.'” – The Observer (UK)

Why would anyone want to join that schlocky tradition? Well, ask screenwriter Michael Varrati. “‘Movie Christmas is a lot different than real Christmas,’ Varrati said. ‘Not everybody has a great relationship with their family or has pristine memories of yesteryear.’ In holiday movies, he added, queer people ‘get to live in the Christmas they always wanted or didn’t get to have.'” – The New York Times

Honestly, the head of the hair department deserves several medals. “In my mind, it was close to human hair, and when I got that box, it was nothing like human hair at all. They tie thread from the top to the bottom of the tail, and they chop it off and mail it to you. And you know where that tail lies, there was manure and lice eggs. Nothing was alive and active, but it was crusty, wiry and coarse. … I ended up building that wig, strand by strand. And every time I pulled those little hairs through, I had to scrape off the manure.” – Variety

A show with 121 episodes? Sure. What’s going to interrupt you – your baking plans? In addition, of course, there’s the comfort-watch of familiar characters like the cast of Friends or Living Single. Then there’s the pleasant idea of things changing. “Character-driven shows about crime soon became my balm for the unrelenting sameness of daily life. These worlds follow a consistent storytelling logic. The plot changes as time moves along, and time—unlike in real life—always moves along.” – The Atlantic

Several shows got what might be called early Christmas holidays this week, with a side of positive coronavirus test terror spicing up those free days. – Vulture

And there are pretty clear indications that Cannes and Venice may – and probably should – follow suit. “‘There is a great desire to meet face to face,’ Mariette Rissenbeek, the festival’s executive director, said in a statement, but ‘the current situation does not allow a physical festival in February.'” – The New York Times

Trump has been a singular challenge for writers in the late-night landscape. An obvious target as a candidate—with his verbal gaffes, body language, and appearance contributing to facile impressions and shallow punchlines—he killed the joke when he won the White House. As president, he placed traditional late-night shows in “a rock-and-a-hard-place situation. – The Atlantic