IT: A Monster We Can All Believe In

by Seán McGovern

At some point in our lives, we all saw something that we weren't old enough to see. In the case of movies, they were ones late at night, at a friend's house, or when your folks were out. The 80s was a decade filled with monsters who bled into the 90s - Freddy, Jason, Thatcher - and their names and faces were etched into our minds. The 1990 two-part TV adaptation of Stephen King's novel IT was memorable more for Tim Curry's Pennywise, than for how good it actually was (and the less said about Part 2, the better). The fervour for Andy Muschietti's remake is not down to nostalgia, but to be reacquainted with a monster that really knows how to scare us...

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would you rather...?

This edition of our silly 'imaginary hangs with celebrities' goes out to gorgeous ladies who woke up like 'dis. So would you rather...

... get windswept on the rocky shore with Nora Zehetner?
... kiss Mandy Moore's black eye better?
...visit a majestic Redwood with Michelle Monaghan?
... have a cup of joe with Kylie Minogue?
... spot wildlife with Blake Lively?
... work out in slo-mo with Liv Tyler?
... foster a batch of kittens with Amanda Seyfried?
... hot-tub it with Laverne Cox?
... shapeshift with Doona Bae?

pictures are after the jump to help you decide

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And the Honorary Oscar Goes To...

Jason from MNPP here -- the four fine movie folks being given Honorary Oscars this year have been announced and they are (drumroll please) the actor Donald Sutherland, the directors Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep) and Agnès Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7), and the cinematographer Owen Roizman (The Exorcist). You can read the statement from the Academy right here, which dives into each of this exemplary quartet's many many accomplishments...

... but can I just get a rowdy huzzah for Donald Sutherland in particular, who has long been the recipient one of my fiercest "HOW HAS HE NEVER BEEN NOMINATED BEFORE" battle cries? (I mean Six Degrees of Seperation alone.) And heck the 82 year-old actor is still turning in fine work, so perhaps he's still got a shot. Somebody give this truly grand actor a truly great role again, please. (And now that he's off the checklist maybe next year they'll get around to Mia Farrow?)

So what do we think of this foursome?

Julianne in Venice: Suburbicon, Woodshock, Three Billboards...

by Nathaniel R

This lovely photo was taken by longtime Film Experience reader Ferdi in Italy where the Venice Film Festival is ongoing. Isn't she a vision in gauzy red? One more photo of Julianne and more about several Oscar hopeful festival premieres after the jump...

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Soundtracking: "Almost Famous"

Chris Feil's weekly series looks back at Cameron Crowe's rock opus...

Of everything that Almost Famous gets right about our relationship with music, its richest insights come from how it explores the importance of music in adolescence. Cameron Crowe is telling his own story of his teenage music journalism days in the film, but that’s not solely why the film feels so personal. It’s personal because it’s about that time in our life when music is never more personal.

When Crowe stand-in William Miller is gifted a treasure chest of vinyl from his sister Anita she isn’t just handing over the greats, she’s tasking him to find himself. At that age our musical taste is a vessel to both define ourselves and connect to others, to develop some kind of community or shared experience. It’s in the background of every heartbreak and happy memory, even if it just played in our heads. Through music, Crowe makes the intensely personal into something universal. Just like a song.

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