Equality Issues Intro for March 16, 2021 Dear Gossips, The Oscar nominations yesterday revealed that the Academy still gets hard over movies like Mank (auteur, black and white, Old Hollywood) and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (film critic Rad Simonpillai told me yesterday on etalk that there could be a comparison here between Brokeback Mountain and By Lainey • Mar 16, 2021 09:21 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is adapted from August Wilson’s play of the same name, written for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and directed by George C. Wolfe. It feels very much like a play, with a staginess to the setting, especially early on, and long, unbroken monologues that By Sarah • Dec 17, 2020 12:05 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Welcome to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was always going to be an award season contender, being a lavish adaptation of an August Wilson play produced by Denzel Washington and starring Viola Davis, but as it is now, sadly, Chadwick Boseman’s final performance, the film carries extra weight and expectations. The By Sarah • Oct 20, 2020 10:35 am
Movie Reviews and Previews THE Suicide Squad lines up for roll call The DC Fandome event gave us plenty of new trailers and teasers to goggle at, from wishful Wonder Woman to samesies Justice League to weirdo Goth Batman, but one of the more promising teasers comes from The Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s soft reboot of the 2016 Suicide Squad. Though By Sarah • Aug 25, 2020 12:16 pm
Emmy Awards 2019 Kerry Washington & Viola Davis: Black and White at the Emmys Let’s start with Kerry Washington because sometimes, with some outfits, they can do 90% of the work on their own. And with other outfits, it all depends on the person to sell the sh-t out of it. This is what Kerry Washington did last night on the Emmys red By Lainey • Sep 23, 2019 08:30 am
Movie Reviews and Previews THE Suicide Squad The cast for James Gunn’s THE Suicide Squad mulligan has been taking shape for the last several months, including additions of Taika Waititi and Idris Elba (now playing an unknown role, as apparently Will Smith wants to hang onto Deadshot in case Gunn successfully reboots this franchise). Friday afternoon, By Sarah • Sep 16, 2019 12:21 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: Widows To call Widows a leap forward for director Steve McQueen, or to otherwise imply this is some kind of improvement on his already capable and distinct style, is not fair to McQueen or a good assessment of his previous work (Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave). However, there is no By Sarah • Sep 12, 2018 04:43 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Widows Slay Steve McQueen hasn’t made a feature film since 12 Years a Slave, but he returns this fall with Widows, a film that could not look more different from 12 Years if it was shot on the moon. The first trailer has been released, and I immediately watched it three By Sarah • Jun 04, 2018 12:31 pm
Oscars 2018 Viola Davis wows in pink Have I mentioned that I worked the Oscars this year yet? I’m super chill about it so I don’t think I have. Well, I was there and in our production truck, when Viola Davis showed up, there were “wows” out loud from some of the men in the By Kathleen • Mar 05, 2018 09:15 am
Equality Issues Intro for January 22, 2018 Dear Gossips, Viola Davis won the Best Supporting Actress Screen Actors Guild Award last year for her work in Fences and she went on to win the same award at the Oscars. Viola was not at the SAGs last night but she spoke in LA on Saturday at the Women’ By Lainey • Jan 22, 2018 06:59 am
Golden Globes 2018 Viola Davis & Helen Mirren: Globes Best Duo Viola Davis and Helen Mirren hadn’t even started reading the teleprompter yet and Twitter was already writing their buddy cop comedy. Viola and Helen together is a pairing I didn’t expect but in hindsight, it’s perfect. They’re both legends. They both can give a singular look By Kathleen • Jan 08, 2018 06:57 am
Music For Whitney Viola Davis walked on stage at the AMAs to a standing ovation, as she should, to pay tribute to Whitney Houston and introduce Christina Aguilera. Viola Davis hadn’t finished speaking and I was already crying. The tribute marked the 25th anniversary of The Bodyguard and its soundtrack, the best-selling By Kathleen • Nov 20, 2017 09:41 am
Oscars 2017 Viola Davis: Most Anticipated Oscar I didn’t think the show last night felt long. Don’t get me wrong, it was—but because of last night’s tight races and unpredictability, the time seemed to go by quickly, unlike other years where it’s just an eventuality for a win. That made Viola Davis By Duana • Feb 27, 2017 02:40 pm
SAG Awards 2017 Denzel up, Casey down It was supposed to be a foregone conclusion: Casey Affleck, Best Actor Oscar. Until it wasn’t. The Screen Actors Guild honoured Denzel Washington’s performance in Fences instead. And it was an upset. He might be Denzel Washington, a legend in the business, but Casey had basically taken every By Lainey • Jan 30, 2017 10:10 am
Chinese Squawking Chicken Intro for January 17, 2017 Dear Gossips, There was a new interview with Viola Davis in The Guardian the other day. She is, as she always is, so articulate and so passionate, I feel like I could read a 500 page book of Viola Davis interviews and not get bored. My favourite part though, and By Lainey • Jan 17, 2017 09:36 am
Golden Globes 2017 Viola Davis: Golden Globes MVP You know what I mean by MVP, right? There are others who will get the label ‘best dressed’ (though for me, this yellow column came very close. Davis always does colours but this was the best and it’s only January!) and there are others who were arguably ‘bigger’ winners, By Duana • Jan 09, 2017 01:32 pm
