BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Will Smith, King Richard

BEST MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

West Side Story (20th Century Studios / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Rachel Zegler, West Side Story

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick…Boom!

BEST MOTION PICTURE – ANIMATED

Encanto (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

BEST MOTION PICTURE – NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE (FORMERLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Drive My Car (Japan / Janus Films)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE

Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE

Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

TMZ is reporting that Full House‘s Bob Saget has died. He was only 65, and in the middle of a multi-city tour and, to go by recent tweets, having a great time. “Multiple sources” have told TMZ that Saget passed late this afternoon (Sunday) at Orlando’s Ritz-Carlton. Quite unexpectedly. Very sorry.

Loving beyond words being on tour —And doing an all new show of standup and music. Hope to see you out there. More dates being added continually as we go further into 2022… For tickets, go to: https://t.co/nqJyTi0Dbk pic.twitter.com/ECSOpGt1K0

— bob saget (@bobsaget) December 9, 2021

Lewis Allen and Richard Sale‘s Suddenly (’54) has been in the public domain for decades. I’ve seen different versions maybe five or six times. They’ve ranged from mildly tolerable to better-than-decent to good to first-rate. Plus I own what I believe is probably the best-quality Bluray version. But I honestly believe that the GoldenAgeClassics 4K UHD version, which was posted on 1.6.22, is the best I’ve ever seen.

The detail is exquisite, and the monochrome tones and shadings are as rich and natural and un-pushed as anything I’ve ever seen via streaming. I’ve mirrored this version on my 65-inch and it looks great. Plus the corners of the 35mm image are rounded, which indicates that every square inch in every shot has been rendered — no cropping whatsoever. Acres of head room. Hats off to the Golden Age guys…excellent work as far as it goes.

…and perhaps even breathtaking happened in my head when I accidentally mis-titled Jane Campion’s 1920s Montana western. All I knew was that the attitude suggested by The Power of the Doug felt curiously liberating. If the first name of Benedict Cumberbatch’s smelly, snarly, well-educated, self-loathing gay guy had been “Doug” instead of “Phil”, the whole package would have radiated a different mood or tone. Just don’t ask me to explain.

…about being blissfully and contentedly ignorant about movies. To hear it from Alia Shawkat, there are definite generational differences between Zoomers and Millenials (including sexual histories).

Dwayne Hickman, forever and indelibly identified as the star of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (September ’59 to June ’63), passed this morning at age 87. Hugs and condolences to friends, fans, family, former colleagues.

And by “former colleagues,” I’m partly referring to Dobie Gillis costar Warren Beatty, whose path and potential in life led to historic accomplishments, Oscar nominations and wins, and the altering of cinematic culture. During his heyday Beatty was an extraordinary, legendary, real-life hound while Hickman only played one, and the kind of hound, by the way, who never really experienced an erection (even an erection of the mind) or coped with primal lust and longing and hot blood.

For Dobie Gillis‘ romantic passion was more in the realm of Percy Bysshe Shelley than Lord Byron — he sought love and assurance and the perfect mating with a sister of the spirit — a soul priest in search of the perfect nun. It’s not that Dobie tried and failed to get laid during the four-year run of the series — he never even seemed cognizant of the idea. Wokester prudes can point fingers at Beatty’s off-set behavior in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, but at least he was alive and pulsing on the planet earth.

But Hickman’s Dobie was kind and considerate and thoughtful — he believed in middle-class values (the show was one of Hollywood’s final expressions of the sleepy and hermetic 1950s, ending only a few months before the murder of JFK and the onset of ’60s social turbulence) and he identified, remember, with Pierre Auguste Rodin‘s “The Thinker”.

Born in 1934, Hickman costarred with the recently departed Dean Stockwell in Joseph Losey‘s The Boy With The Green Hair (’48) and was, at the time, considerably taller than Stockwell.

Hickman’s first big score was a recurring role on The Bob Cummings Show (’55 to ’59). He also played a Marlon Brando-like rebel in Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! (’58). Hickman began playing the teenaged Gillis at age 25, and with blonde hair yet. (His hair reverted to brown in subsequent seasons.) His biggest post-Gillis score was the role of “Jed” in Elliot Silverstein‘s Cat Ballou (’65), along with costars Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin and Michael Callan.

Incidentally: Hollywood Elsewhere has always identified with Bob Denver‘s Maynard G. Krebs, the difference being that while Maynard was known for freaking out whenever he heard the word “work”, HE freaks whenever anyone mentions the word “woke.”