Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
This post is in: Movies, Music, Open Threads
The full performance of “Golden” from ‘KPOP DEMON HUNTERS’ at the Oscars.
See the full winners list: bit.ly/OscarWins26— DiscussingFilm (@discussingfilm.net) March 15, 2026 at 10:03 PM
GOLDEN took the award, but it sounds like I LIED TO YOU won Fan Favorite for the evening…
if ya missed it…#Oscars
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dWV…— Bruce Warren (@somevelvetblog.bsky.social) March 15, 2026 at 8:46 PM
This post is in: Movies
Seven pm EDT, on ABC / Hulu:
parade.com/tv/how-to-wa…— Anne Laurie (@annelaurie.bsky.social) March 15, 2026 at 9:56 AM
… This year’s ceremony will feature performances of two Oscar-nominated songs—plus a few surprises that are most definitely heightening the anticipation.
= “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters—EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami (the singing voices behind HUNTR/X) will perform the nominated song. The performance will feature a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance that celebrates the folklore and cultural inspiration behind the animated blockbuster.
= “I Lied to You” from Sinners—Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform the nominated song, joined by Misty Copeland, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in what the Academy is calling “an homage to the film’s singular visual style.”…
And the moment everyone is talking about: Barbra Streisand is confirmed to appear as part of a tribute to the late Robert Redford during the In Memoriam segment. Whether she’ll perform “The Way We Were” live is still the biggest question mark heading into tomorrow night, but even the possibility is exciting enough on its own. She last performed the song at the 2013 Oscars to honor composer Marvin Hamlisch and it was one of the most unforgettable moments in recent ceremony history.
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan will also reunite to pay tribute to the late director Rob Reiner during the In Memoriam. Conan O’Brien—who was also friends with Reiner—has said the tribute will be a “powerful part of the show.”…
******
I haven’t seen Sinners yet; I’m waiting for it to stream, because from all reports I’m gonna need a lot of rewinding & rewatching to keep up with the story (and also, I’m a sissy about horror films in general). I have no interest in One Battle After Another, no reflection on its worth, there’s just nothing about it that interests me. But I thought this commentary was extremely interesting (& I’ve tried to keep the spoilers out of the extract). Mitchell S. Jackson, at Esquire — “Sinners Should Win Best Picture. It’s Not Even Close”:
… Critics have hailed OBAA as a “deeply humanist story of rebellion.” Proclaim “there is nothing trivial in [PTA’s] portrait of shattered lives and relationships and of an American society shaken to its core.” But I found those claims to be untrue. The film is undeserving of the Oscar for Best Picture, most of all because its portrayal of Black people is somewhere between insidiously problematic and flagrantly anti-Black…
OBAA portends itself a film about a government that has devolved into an authoritarian regime and its relentless persecution of immigrants, about humanity and the measures the people employ to fight oppression. But it’s hollow on those subjects. Beyond showing Bob half-watching The Battle of Algiers at home, Anderson shortchanges the history of revolutionary social movements. Politics are treated with a flippancy that undermines the import of radical action and the people who dare it—the pure antithesis of the message we need now. How could it do anything but fall short of satirizing a regime that has proved near boundless in its violence and corruption and blatant bigotries, that treats contrition as anathema. And if satire ain’t its aim, I can abide even less its antagonism toward my people, not to mention how it trivializes resistance. Plus, the film recapitulates Hollywood’s familiar message: The battle for the fate of America, often synonymous with the fate of the world, is at base a battle between white men, struggles that evermore foreordain a great white savior.
Sinners, the genre-bending horror thriller set in Jim Crow–era Mississippi, centers Blackness. It begins with Sammie (Miles Caton), a young blues-loving sharecropper from Mississippi being recruited by his twin cousins Smoke and Stack (both Michael B. Jordan) to play their brand-new juke joint. On the juke joint’s first night, white vampires surround it and prey on the patrons, setting off a battle for lives and souls…
While OBAA postures at it, Sinners is radical in that there are no white saviors, in that Black people are not the stock sidekicks of courageous white people but heroes at the heart of the film. In fact most of its white characters, including all who first surround the juke joint to prey on its patrons, are depicted as hostile to the Black community (as well as the Asian characters and the mixed woman who are its denizens)… And yet, somehow, Sinners is so soulful that the lead vampire, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), is imbued with more humanity than most of the Black characters in OBAA.
Then there’s the fact that Sinners is just all-around extraordinary movie-making. There’s the originality of Coogler’s Oscar-nominated screenplay. There’s Ludwig Göransson’s superb Oscar-nominated score. There’s the sublime one-shot scene in which Sammie’s singing conjures a journey (in which African times past, present, and future exist all at once) that not only sets the stakes for the main characters but, as Coogler has explained, features “ancestor spirits from both the past and the future” of Black music: African drummers, an electric guitarist, a hip-hop DJ and dancer, even Chinese opera dancers. There’s the indelible Oscar-nominated performance of Michael B. Jordan, a man who became two humans, each intimately connected and miraculously distinct…
Discuss amongst yourselves!
Open Thread: Anybody Gonna Watch the Oscars Tonight?Post + Comments (92)
This post is in: Black Lives Matter, Movies, Open Threads, Sports, Trumpery, War
This is the weekend when clocks move ahead, causing angst, lost sleep and health issues for many. Over the last decade, at least 19 states have passed laws to let them stay in daylight saving time if the federal government allows it.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 6, 2026 at 1:00 PM
61 years ago today at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama.
— Michael Li (???) (@mcpli.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 8:01 AM
A day after former presidents, sitting governors and local Chicago residents alike attended a vibrant, televised celebration for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the family and friends who knew him best hosted a more intimate gathering Saturday.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 7, 2026 at 7:00 PM
The Academy Awards are Sunday, March 15. That means time is running out to watch the nominees before the Oscars get handed out.
Here's a guide to finding the films on streaming or in theaters.— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 6, 2026 at 8:00 PM
The Winter Paralympics officially open on Friday and bring a record number of athletes and medals to the Milan Cortina Games.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) March 6, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Page One in UK:
@telegraph.co.uk— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 7:57 AM
I thought this was a parody of what he actually said but it’s a direct quote
— Jonathan M. Katz (@katz.theracket.news) March 7, 2026 at 2:48 PM
there is an extended bit on the sopranos about how everybody laughs at tony’s stupid fucking jokes because he’s the boss and a bully and he finally realizes it
let’s all try to be as self-aware as a make believe idiot mafia goon— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 4:30 PM
I think it's great that the president put on his most solemnly branded baseball cap to receive the returning coffins of soldiers killed in the unnecessary war he launched to distract from his failing presidency and pedophilia scandal.
Look at that gold-like letting. Classy as shit.— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 4:53 PM
This post is in: Absent Friends, Movies
Y’all notice how we’re not having the whole “don’t speak ill of the dead,” conversation about Robert Redford…?
It’s because he was an actual good man that left a positive mark on the world.
Far as I can tell, Robert Redford was:
* successful at everything he tried
* genuinely intelligent & insightful
* desired by women
* envied by men
* an absolute mensch to everyone he dealt with
* a tireless, lifelong philanthropist
… and he died peacefully in his sleep.10/10 life. No notes.
— David Roberts (@volts.wtf) September 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
As it was explained to me, that saying originally meant that A good person always dies too soon — no matter their calendar age.
RIP to Robert Redford, whose performance as Death in The Twilight Zone led to one of the show's most beautiful endings.
— Dave Capdevielle (@cadaverdave.com) September 16, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire — “This Lesser-Known Robert Redford Film Is as Relevant Today as Ever”:
… One of the lesser-known films on his CV is The Candidate, a shrewd examination of the birth of mass-media politics in the 1970s. In it, Redford portrays Bill McKay, the activist son of a crafty former California governor, who runs against a veteran senator. As the campaign grinds on, we see the process sanding down the sharp edges of the young McKay until, in the final scene of the film, on the night he has scored his upset win, McKay looks up at his campaign guru, played by Peter Boyle, and says, “What do we do now?” I’m not sure, 50-odd years on, that we know the answer to that yet.
In the best of his films, Redford played off his looks as a working stiff, albeit in very specialized jobs. In All the President’s Men, his Bob Woodward was a grunt on the metro desk of The Washington Post. In The Sting, he was a workaday grifter forced into a high-level con. In Three Days of the Condor, he worked for the CIA, but only as an analyst who read books until an internal plot turned him into a natural field agent. He was an everyman in his own distinct way, and he gave an honest day’s work. That’s not a bad way to be remembered.
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‘One of the lions has passed’: Meryl Streep leads tributes to Robert Redford– as it happened www.theguardian.com/film/live/20…
— carpenter22.bsky.social (@carpenter22.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 4:42 PM
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Julie Francella, at her SubStack The Fire I Keep, on “The Trailblazer Who Made Room for Others”:
Robert Redford was never the loudest voice in the room, but his presence was impossible to ignore. He passed with the same grace that defined his decades-long career in film, art, and activism… Redford’s legacy extends far beyond the silver screen. He wasn’t just a leading man; he was a builder of bridges, a quiet but determined advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental justice, diversity in film, and artistic independence.
A Lifelong Ally to Indigenous Peoples
Redford’s commitment to Indigenous communities wasn’t performative or passing. For decades, he spoke out about the historical and ongoing injustices faced by Native peoples in the Americas. He supported Indigenous sovereignty, treaty rights, and cultural preservation. He used his platform to shine a light on stories that Hollywood had long overlooked or misrepresented.His passion project Dark Winds is a testament to that legacy.
For over 30 years, Robert Redford fought to bring Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee novels to life on screen: a series centered around two Navajo police officers solving crimes in the American Southwest. Redford, drawn to the depth of the characters and the rich cultural setting, believed these stories offered a rare opportunity to portray Native characters with complexity, intelligence, and humanity; something rarely seen in mainstream media…
Redford didn’t just push for the show to be made; he helped shape its integrity. The show stars Zahn McClarnon (Hunkpapa Lakota) as Lt. Joe Leaphorn, Kiowa Gordon (Hualapai) as Officer Jim Chee, Jessica Matten (Red River Métis) as Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito and Deanna Allison (Navajo) as Emma Leaphorn. It also features an Indigenous writers’ room and crew, with filming on location in the Navajo Nation. His persistence helped usher in what has now become one of the most acclaimed Native-led series in television history…
Environmental Stewardship Before It Was Headline News
Long before the climate crisis was headline news, Redford was ringing the alarm. He fought against fossil fuel development in sacred and sensitive areas, especially the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and public lands across the American West. He lent his voice and influence to causes like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where he served on the board for decades.He was also a key advocate for clean energy, water protection, and preserving the natural beauty of Indigenous lands. Redford didn’t just speak at fundraisers; he testified before Congress, wrote op-eds, and consistently pushed back against political and corporate interests that threatened the planet…
Champion of Independent Film and Diverse Storytelling
With the founding of the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, Redford changed the film industry forever. He created a space for independent filmmakers to tell stories outside the control of Hollywood studios. He was especially committed to uplifting the voices of people of color, women, and emerging Indigenous filmmakers. Many careers were launched at Sundance because Redford believed in the power of storytelling to shift culture.He knew that representation wasn’t just about casting; it was about authorship. Who gets to tell the story? Who owns the narrative? Redford pushed for new answers to those questions and backed it with funding, mentorship, and access…
(Bonus G.R.R. Martin cameo at the link.)
===
RIP to Robert Redford, famous for some movies, but mostly for the origin of the Obama medal meme
— Wonderella (@wonderella.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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[Gift link]I think today I’ll be doing this – Robert Redford: 15 Memorable Movies to Stream www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/m…
— Marcus Kelson (@marcuskelson.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Robert Redford on Donald Trump
2019— Elon Musk ???? Parody (@elonmusk-parody.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
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When I was a movie obsessed kid, I thought it would be great to be like Robert Redford. When, later in life, he became a friend, I discovered I was right…but for reasons I could not have imagined. www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/why…
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 4:57 PM
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Robert Redford on Donald Trump: “It is painfully clear we have a president who degrades everything he touches, a person who does not understand (or care?) that his duty is to defend our democracy.
— Isabel Santos (@isabelsantos.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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Robert Redford has passed away at age 89.
In this short video he reflects on growing older.
WATCH:
#Resist— bmcarthur17 (@bmcarthur17.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 6:23 PM
On Robert Redford: <em>The Good Die Young</em>Post + Comments (44)
This post is in: Movies, Open Threads, Politics
The mayor of Miami Beach wants to terminate a lease and end funding for an independent theater that’s screening this year’s best feature documentary Oscar winner, No Other Land. The Miami Herald:
Last week, in a letter to O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell, [Miami Beach Mayor Steven] Meiner urged the theater to cancel scheduled screenings of the film, citing critiques from Israeli and German government officials. According to Meiner’s newsletter, Marthell initially responded that the theater would not show the film. “Due to the concerns of antisemitic rhetoric, we have decided to withdraw the film from our programming,” Marthell wrote in a letter to Meiner on March 6. “This film has exposed a rift which makes us unable to do the thing we’ve always sought out to do which is to foster thoughtful conversations about cinematic works.”
The next day, however, the O Cinema CEO reversed course. Marthell confirmed to the Miami Herald on Friday that the film would continue with its scheduled screenings. After receiving media attention for the film controversy, the theater sold out screenings and added two more dates later in March. “But let me be clear: our decision to screen NO OTHER LAND is not a declaration of political alignment. It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard, even, and perhaps especially, when it challenges us,” Marthell said in an email to the Herald late last week.
Well, not in Miami Beach. According to the article, city commissioners share the mayor’s view of the film.
“A religious Jew was voted as Mayor, along with a Zionist city council. Unlike other cities, we have zero tolerance for pro Hamas/ terrorist propaganda,” [Miami Beach City Commissioner David] Suarez wrote in a text message to the Herald. “The City of Miami Beach will continue to stand up for our Jewish population, home to holocaust survivors, and while most people use ‘Never Again’ as a platitude, we mean it.”
At least one of the commissioners, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, agrees in principle but believes canceling the theater’s lease and funding would subject the city to lawsuits that she suspects it would lose.
The Herald notes the two directors who accepted the Oscar for No Other Land are Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. From the speech:
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger,” Abraham said from the Oscars stage. “We see each other in the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, in the Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed. When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal.”
I haven’t seen No Other Land. The only Oscar nominated film I’ve seen so far this year was Conclave. I am not now and never have been a Catholic, but for some reason, I find movies and TV shows about Vatican intrigue fascinating. (The Young Pope and The New Pope on Max are both excellent!)
I wondered briefly what would happen if Catholic officials tried to punish a publicly subsidized theater for screening Conclave since it portrays the Catholic Church in a less-than-flattering light. Then I remembered reading about something similar that used to happen a lot in Massachusetts decades ago, only the targets were books, magazines, plays, songs, etc., that were considered lewd or otherwise offensive.
It was a cultural phenomenon known as “Banned in Boston,” and it didn’t go quite the way city officials hoped. The Warren Court had to sort that bunch out. I don’t know if the Roberts Court is up to the task.
Open thread.
This post is in: Movies, Something Good Open Thread
American Gladiator: Training Day pic.twitter.com/45GmjAArJn
— Lowkey Robinson (@iam__cking) July 4, 2024
(Lowkey Robinson’s impression here is damned good!)
I am not, generally, much of a Swords & Sandals fan, but I have a great weakness for Denzel Washington, so I’m looking forward to GLADIATOR II. Which I’ll probably end up streaming, because the Spousal Unit is already huffing about ‘gross historical inaccuracy’…
From director Ridley Scott, watch the new Official Trailer for #GladiatorII starring Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, and Fred Hechinger – Only in theatres November 22. pic.twitter.com/4BtyPbkGjd
— Gladiator Movie (@GladiatorMovie) July 9, 2024
A sensible person does not demand authenticity from a wide-screen epi twenty years in the making, and yet the arguments are already generating publicity for Ridley Scott…
I agree, Denzel should have had an authentic Roman accent while speaking the Latin I assume the entire movie is in. https://t.co/7sLuT3zNT3
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) July 9, 2024
look gladiatorial combat was a sadistic form of entertainment that played to humanity's worst instincts but let's face it nothing has ever been as intensely cool as naumachia were https://t.co/vSgeblegz9
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) July 9, 2024
What I can’t figure out is whether Netflix’s supposed Hannibal epic is still in production:
Denzel Washington's Casting as Ancient General Hannibal in Antoine Fuqua Netflix Film Sparks Controversy in Tunisia https://t.co/g3z2hhPCUN
— Variety (@Variety) December 11, 2023
Diversionary Open Thread: <em>Do You Like Gladiator Movies, Timmy?…</em>Post + Comments (46)
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Movies, Open Threads, Popular Culture
What will win the Palme d'Or? Cannes closes Saturday with awards and a tribute to George Lucas https://t.co/ZE9ETlOX8E
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 25, 2024
The world has indeed changed, because I can remember a Cannes Festival era when the phrase “a tribute to George Lucas” would’ve caused actual physical violence to break out amongst the judges…
The 77th Cannes Film Festival draws to a close Saturday with the presentation of its top award, the Palme d’Or, along with an honorary tribute for George Lucas.
The closing ceremony is set to begin at 6:45 p.m. local time, 12:45 p.m. U.S. Eastern time. It will be streamed live on Brut internationally and air on France 2 within France…
During the brief awards ceremony, Lucas will be given an honorary Palme d’Or. During the festival, Cannes gave the same tribute to Meryl Streep and the Japanese anime factory Studio Ghibli.
The real stars of Cannes may be the dogs https://t.co/s6jizpg1no
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 23, 2024
Me, I’d give an award to Xin, just on general principles…
… Swiss comedy “Dog on Trial” premiered in the Un Certain Regard section, directed by and starring Laetitia Dosch. Based on a real case, the French-language film tells the story of a defense lawyer who takes on Cosmos, an aggressive dog facing legal action, as a client.
The titular dog is played by Kodi, a griffon, who Dosch says is really the star of the movie. It was important to her that Kodi had his name on the credits and the film poster and would be by her side in Cannes. A comedy-drama with a feminist outlook, “Dog on Trial” is about exploitation, Dosch says — and she has an offbeat theory as to what women and dogs have in common.
“Dogs come from wolves and we have been sculpting dogs for 40,000 years to become our perfect friends full of love,” she explains in an interview. “We castrate them also, so they can be peaceful all of the time, so we manipulate them to fit and to be exactly what we need. So, if I replace the word ‘dog’ by ‘women’ and I say the same sentence, it also makes sense.”
Kodi, however, did not get the memo. He spent the interview humping Dosch’s leg and licking her face, sending her earring cascading through the slatted flooring and earning him an eviction from the interview. He was kept away from subsequent red carpet appearances…
Also competing in Un Certain Regard — which curates a lineup of original and daring films — is another dog-centered drama, “Gou Zhen” (“Black Dog”) from the Chinese director Guan Hu. In it, Taiwanese superstar Eddie Peng plays Lang, who’s charged with removing stray dogs from his hometown on government orders ahead of the Olympic Games. One particular dog has a profound impact on Lang — and, as it turns out, on the actor himself.
Peng built up such a bond with his canine co-star Xin, a Jack Russell-greyhound cross, that he adopted her after filming ended and credits her for changing his outlook on life.
“They act truthfully,” Peng says of dogs, on a stroll around the Cannes harborfront with Xin, who accompanied him to France. “They don’t, you know, they don’t put on the mask. They don’t care about who you are or whether you’re famous or not, how much money you make.”
When he comes home, she jumps up like it’s the happiest moment of her entire life: “I think that’s something that we all need to learn from.”
She’s also changed the way he approaches acting, abandoning much backstory and preparation.
“Animals are just so present, you know. It will be so obvious somehow, if you are overacting,” he says.
The “jury of reporters”, however, preferred the scruffy leg-humper:
Palm Dog: Kodi, star of 'Dog on Trial,' is the top dog of Cannes https://t.co/IY9FSbQmjP
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 24, 2024
Elsewhere…
Get an exclusive first look at Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's 'Time Bandits' TV show starring Lisa Kudrow. https://t.co/t1V5KKFkro
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) May 20, 2024
As an OG Time Bandits fan, I have to admit to a mild case of Hairy Eyeball here:
… Waititi and Clement created the series with Iain Morris, and when it debuts July 24, it will follow an 11-year-old history geek named Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) as he journeys through the centuries with a ragtag group of thieves.
Waititi and Clement tell EW that they’re both major fans of the original film, which starred Gilliam’s Monty Python costars John Cleese and Michael Palin, as well as Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, and Ian Holm. The longtime friends and collaborators remember seeing the original Time Bandits as young kids and getting hooked on its chaotic and darkly comedic tone…
The new Time Bandits reimagines the classic story over 10 episodes, following Kevin as he falls in with a group of marauders led by Lisa Kudrow’s Penelope. Waititi specifically says he’s wanted to work with Kudrow for years, and he and Clement have long admired her work from afar, particularly in HBO’s The Comeback.
“I just love Lisa Kudrow and thought it’d be awesome to see her leading a band of idiots through time,” Waititi explains…
That bigger budget also means that the show gets to travel throughout space and time — with a story stretching literally thousands of years. “There’s some you’d expect and some you wouldn’t perhaps,” Clement teases. “We go from prehistoric dinosaur times to the ‘90s. There are some medieval places like medieval England and medieval Africa. And we go the Ice Age. That’s a fun one.”
Time Bandits will premiere Wednesday, July 24, on Apple TV+.
Wouldn’t it be lovely to think so?…
Two hours of Blanc calling AG Sulzberger stupid. Sign me up.
— The Ghost Of Wade Boggs Goes Back To College (@ThGrsshpprUnt) May 24, 2024
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Entertainment NotesPost + Comments (163)