Annette Bening, Queen of Santa Barbara

My loyal subjects, Since I know each and every last one of you will want to stand and wave to our procession as we receive the "American Riviera Prize" for our invaluable contributions to the cinema, we wanted to give you ample warning. [We're told you don't have private jets (?) and will need to plan ahead?] The blessed event will happen on January 28th. It's a fitting prize since the American

Streep Nom #15 & #16: Sister Aloysius Beauvier & Julia Child

In an off blog e-mail correspondence earlier this week, one of my fellow movie bloggers said to me "The best thing about this year's Best Actress race is that Streep isn't in it." That's funny. It's true that her ubiquity can be exhausting. It must especially feel like a relief for other Tinseltown goddesses in those rare years when she isn't in play. More room for them. But since Streep at 60, a

Nathaniel's New York Film Festival: Coming Soon

The New York Film Festival starts officially on September 24th. Critics screenings have already begun but so far I've been in absentia. I have my reasons though the selection committee and certain cinephiles would surely scoff at them so they will go unnamed. This morning I picked up my credentials but opted to skip Carlos the Olivier Assayas film about Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramirez