EDITORIAL
The Great Divide...
...When this year’s Oscars best picture envelope is opened, viewers might not be on the edge of their seat to see if “Nomadland,” “Mank” or “Promising Young Woman” — or another contender — is named. Instead, they might be scratching their heads. Although the pandemic has left households paying for more streaming services than ever, the majority of the best picture nominees at the Oscars are unknown to entertainment consumers. According to the survey, the most known best picture nominee was “Judas and the Black Messiah,” the HBO Max drama about Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, with just over 46% awareness. Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was second with 39% awareness, followed by Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” with 35% awareness. Less than a quarter of those surveyed were familiar with Amazon Studios’ “The Sound of Metal” (23% awareness) and the Hollywood valentine “Mank” (18%), also on Netflix...
Jean Constant
After more than 40 years, the passion for The Blues Brothers and its music remains stronger than the anticipation that many film-goers have for some upcoming 2021 movies they have already waited a while to see. Another legendary The Blues Brothers appearance is that of Ray Charles as a music shop owner who convinces Jake and Elwood to buy his keyboard by playing a rendition of "Shake a Tail Feather" on it so mean it gets strangers dancing outside. Funny thing about those dancers: they were really just strangers the crew found on the streets of Chicago. As John Landis explains in a video for the AV Club, since John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd were not great dancers, he figured he could make them look better by hiring non-professional dancers... 