[theavc]

Do the wrong thing: 90 years, 90 movies that should have been nominated for Best Picture

When Moonlight pulled a big upset and won the Best Picture Oscar a year ago, it felt like a monumental occasion—and not just because of the snafu that resulted in a different film briefly enjoying the honor. Yes, the Academy bestowed best-movie-of-the-year status on an actual, legitimate contender for the best movie of the year. That hasn’t happened too often over the 90 years the organization has been handing out awards. In fact, the Oscars often don’t just whiff on what deserves to win; they also frequently fail to even nominate the best movies, leaving some essential classic in the making out of the running entirely.

[theavc]

The worst things on the internet in 2017

If there was one unifying thread to being online in 2017, it was hating being online in 2017, a year in which the internet’s capacity for outrage calcified into a more neutral, but no less intense sense of scorn. The internet is full of bad things, but of all the many worthy objects of derision on the internet in 2017, these were the most deserving.

[theavc]

And, of course, Anal Trump: The year in band names 2017

As the year draws to a close and a weary world takes stock of the past 12 months, let us distract ourselves from the whirling sea of shit we continue to endure with a frivolous list of goofy band names. Because just as the sun rises and sets every day no matter what, creative people will always start bands with questionable names. I took a solemn oath in 2005 to compile them in a continually updated Evernote.

[theavc]

The latest episode of our Riverdale podcast is iconic and beyond reproach

Shit went down on this week’s Riverdale, and our very own Dial M For Maple podcast was there to try to piece together all the drama. From Betty’s killer admirer to Archie’s Sweet Pea haymaker, we’re picking apart every bit of Riverdale ephemera on our new episode, which is available both below and everywhere you can get podcasts.

[theavc]

The connections between It and The Shining could tell us what even Pennywise fears

With the release of It and The Dark Tower (and, hell, even Gerald’s Game), more and more casual Stephen King fans are hearing tell of the “dark universe” that connects so many of his books. Pennywise and the Losers’ Club, for example, not only appear in It, but are also either referenced or seen in King books like The Tommyknockers, Insomnia, 11/22/63, Dreamcatcher, and more. A new video essay, however, shows how a reference in It to yet another King book could provide some insight into what makes the children at the heart of the story so special.

[theavc]

Stranger Things dodges the sophomore slump by cribbing from the sequel playbook

There’s an invasion descending upon Hawkins, Indiana, and it begins with the big, glowering figure intruding on Stranger Things’ beloved opening title sequence: That giant “2” flashing into view just before the Stephen King-biting typography locks into place. As Entertainment Weekly reported ahead of the supernatural Netflix thriller’s new installment, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer “envisioned the return as not so much a second season but a movie sequel. To that end, when the show comes back it will have the cinematic moniker Stranger Things 2.” Never mind that this needlessly re-opens debates of primacy between TV or film, or that it re-inflames the inferiority complex underlining statements like “Game Of Thrones isn’t a TV show, it’s a 73-hour movie,” or that there’s precedent for this sequential naming convention in the likes of Prime Suspect or Blackadder. It’s obnoxious, but it fits: To follow up the sleeper hit of 2016, the Duffer brothers followed in the footsteps of other filmmakers attempting to top their own blockbusters.

[theavc]

Open Mike Eagle’s new album, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, is heavily influenced by the legacy of the Robert Taylor Homes, a former public housing project on the South Side of Chicago, which was unceremoniously torn down in 2007. (Today, all that remains at the site is a barren field.) Mike grew up in Chicago and often spent time with family living in the Homes. Upon revisiting the city and the former site of the Homes later in life, he was struck by the lack of commemoration for the thousands of residents who lived and died in the Homes. The realization that nothing remained in that space inspired the theme of the album. 

For the inaugural episode of AV Docs, The A.V. Club spent a day with Open Mike Eagle at the site of the former Homes in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, exploring its legacy to understand the inspiration behind his new album.

[theavc]

Here's why David Fincher makes his actors do 50 takes

“[David] Fincher is meticulous,” John Carroll Lynch, who co-starred in the director’s Zodiac told us during a recent Random Roles interview. “He’s after something. And it takes him 50 takes to get it.”

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The first official episode of the A.V. Club’s new Riverdale podcast is here

As you may have read on this very site last week, The A.V. Club has launched a brand new Riverdale recap podcast, Dial M For Maple.

If you want to scream at us about anything, from Archie’s abs to the show’s film-noir vibes, we’ll be checking #DialMForMaple on Twitter.

[theavc]

If you can still get up and keep joking and laughing with your friends and getting wrapped up in silly shit, that’s the life force affirming itself in a lot of ways.

Patton Oswalt

https://www.avclub.com/you-ve-got-to-walk-yourself-to-the-edge-patton-oswal-1819505442

[theavc]

The 35 best science-fiction movies since Blade Runner

The most widely admired science-fiction film to come out of the 1980s, Blade Runner reimagined the nocturnal, seductive, and pessimistic qualities of film noir and its ’70s derivative, neo-noir, for the paranoid cityscape of the future: a dark, rainy, multi-lingual Los Angeles where a detective in a trench coat trails a gang of biomechanical replicants who escaped from an off-world colony. Released during a rich period for sci-fi, fantasy, and special-effects filmmaking—the same weekend as the sci-fi horror classic The Thing, just two weeks after E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, with Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, Conan The Barbarian, and Poltergeist still in theaters—it was not initially a hit. But over the last 35 years and across multiple reedited re-releases, Blade Runner has grown exponentially in stature and influence, and and now looms over the genre, second only to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[theavc]

Here’s everything you need to know going into the Twin Peaks finale

Twin Peaks’ return has been strange and nightmarish, filled with insane, offbeat humor and creepy, bizarre moments of horror—basically, it’s been Twin Peaks. 

[theavc]

Welcome (back) to The A.V. Club

Hey, A.V. Club reader. This is it. Our site is now live on Kinja, bringing The A.V. Club into the same publishing fold as the rest of our new friends at the Gizmodo Media Group, and completing a transformation that has been many arduous, anxious months in the execution. We’re gonna try not to break it.

[theavc]

The entire first episode of SpongeBob has been compressed into a single GIF

At this point, SpongeBob is the binding material for the internet, a sort of permanently relevant ur-meme, primed alternately for subversion and heartwarming relatability.

[theavc]

How Game Of Thrones filmed a battle that’s never been done before 

In the newest video from The Nerdwriter, we see how every cinematic battle sequence in history takes from and builds on its predecessors.

Director Matt Shakman was able to create a battle that was not only emotionally gripping but easy for the viewer to follow.

[theavc]

The A.V. Club’s exhaustive guide to fast food sauces

The A.V. Club procured dipping sauces from the major fast food chains, separated by category, and taste-tested each one on a recent afternoon.

Check out the full review and rankings of Ranch, Specialty Ranch, Mustard, Buffalo, Sweet and Sour, Barbecue, Hot Sauce, Miscellaneous savory, and Specialty spicy sauces here.

Verdict:

Awesome sauces:

8. McDonald’s Sriracha Mac Sauce 7. KFC’s Creamy Buffalo 6. Chick-Fil-A’s Sweet & Spicy Sriracha 5. Arby’s Horsey Sauce 4. Taco Bell’s Diablo Hot Sauce 3. Popeyes’ Blackened Ranch 2. Popeyes’ Smok’n Pepper Jam Sauce 1. Chick-Fil-A Sauce

[theavc]

Our hearts will go on throughout The A.V. Club’s 1997 week

For the past few summers here at The A.V. Club, we have taken a week to look back at the corresponding year from 20 years ago. Not to disparage those other ’90s years or anything, but 1997 week is going to be off the hook. Honestly, even we can’t believe how much stuff we have lined up.