July. It's (Almost) a Wrap

We started the month off wishing Olivia de Havilland a happy centennial. She's now our oldest living Oscar winner! Then we completed our our "halfway mark" year in review which is like a warm up for the Film Bitch Awards at years end. We'll close the month tomorrow with the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1977. Otherwise July has been the usual array of randomness. We like a good variety at The Film Experience as long as that variety includes lots of actressing and films from multiple genres and eras.

But about this era for a moment: the summer blockbusters have been a little rough this summer but find a smaller release to see this weekend: Miss Sharon Jones opened yesterday; do NOT miss Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic which added over 400 theaters yesterday (it's now probably somewhere near you) and lives up to its title; and you might also want an opinion on the new Woody, Cafe Society, which expanded by 400+ new theaters of its own.

7 Favorites
• Nicolas Winding Refn an interview
• Q&A Oscar Free Dames & Disney Films answering reader questions  
• Cast This Auntie Mame. Who should be the bosom buddy to Tilda's eccentric aunt?
• Judy: "The Man That Got Away" three filmed versions of the classic song 
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes sweet & sour 
• Three Women still can't get over this very 60s very honey-blonde photograph 
• Everybody Wants Some!! 70s sitcom style 

7 That Spurred the Most Conversation
• Trailer: La La Land (2016) yes no maybe so... or in this case yaaaaas
• Working Girl (1989) better than you remembered it!
• Garry Marshall (RIP) let's rethink that career
• Who Deserves an Honorary Oscar? an FYC list for the Academy
• Margot Robbie's Beauty and other hot topics
• Emmy Nominations same as it ever was i.e. mostly the same with a couple new flourishes wherever they were forced to make some changes due to departing shows
• Oscar Chart Updates the crystal ball is still cloudy

1977 Celebration to get you in the mood for the Smackdown tomorrow
A gallery of magazine covers from 1977, Diane Keaton in Looking for Mr Goodbar, revisiting childhood "classics" like Pete's Dragon, the Oscar beloved (but not) ballet soap opera The Turning Point, what did the Golden Globes love that year?,  Islands in the Stream starring both The Bahamas and George C Scott (in that billing order), the James Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me had a memorable villainous HQ, Great cinematography in Julia and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Olivia de Havilland appeared in the disaster flick Airport '77, and Oscar's animated short nominees starred a claymation Jimmy Carter. 

Coming in August
New Movies: Meryl & Hugh in FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS, the all star SUICIDE SQUAD, Laika's KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, and the reimagination of PETE'S DRAGON. Interviews: Diane Kruger, the Morris From America team, and hopefully more; Big News: the announcement  of the Academy's Honorary Oscar recipients for 2016; Restorations: HOWARDS END; Retrospectives: the films of 1984 (our "year of the month"), and a return to our "Swing, Tarzan, Swing!" series to wrap it up with three final episodes.

YNMS: Hacksaw Ridge

Murtada here. Brace yourselves, Mel Gibson might be trying a comeback. He appeared this past spring at Cannes with Blood Father, a violent revenge thriller that may be released later this year. And now a decade after Apocalypto (2006), we get the trailer for his next directing effort, Hacksaw Ridge. The film is based on the real life story of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector medic who served in Battle of Okinawa, refusing to take a gun and going on to save many lives.

A Venice out of competition slot, a November release date in the heart of fall season, a respected albeit young leading man (Andrew Garfield) playing a real life hero from WW2. A lot of signs indicating that this might be a major 2016 release. Are we ready to start seeing magazine cover stories about Gibson’s redemption? Before all that, let’s examine the trailer after the jump......

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HMYBS: Close Encounters of the Julia Kind

Best Shot 1977 Party, Finale
Julia Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe (2nd of 3 nominations)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond (1st of 4 nominations. His only win)

In case you missed our little Cinematography 1977 party we previously looked at the Oscar nominees Looking for Mr Goodbar, The Turning Point, and the little seen Ernest Hemingway inspired drama Islands in the Stream. Now that we're entirely out of time (SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN OF 1977 IS TOMORROW!) here's a quick look at our final two nominated pictures. This time we'll do it in the abbreviated spirit we always intended for the series but could never manage due to longwindedness: a single image and why we claim it as "best".

JULIA

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Review: Jason Bourne

It’s Eric, returning to talk about the fifth chapter in the popular Jason Bourne franchise.   Judging from the discussions I heard coming from the exit of an early screening of Jason Bourne, your enjoyment of this latest installment of the venerated action spy films probably rests in your expectations.  

Because the level of artistry involved with these films has been so high, some out there are naturally hoping that the creative forces behind Jason Bourne found a way to ratchet things up even further.  The main grumble outside the theater seemed to be that the films have gotten repetitive in form and content (Bourne finds himself in a huge public space, uses the natural crowd to escape, etc.).   

I find myself in a different camp:  to me, it’s exactly these set-ups, and specifically the skillfulness with which they’re executed, that fuel the enjoyment...  

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HMWYBS: A Sensational Diane Keaton in "Looking for Mr Goodbar"

Best Shot 1977 Party. Chapter 3
Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977)
Directed by: Richard Brooks
Cinematography by: William A Fraker

Finally with chapter 3 in our look back at the Cinematography nominees of 1977 -- a little prep work for the Supporting Actress Smackdown (last day to get your ballots in) -- a real threat to Close Encounter of the Third Kind for the Best Cinematography crown. Close Encounters won the Oscar, its sole competitive Oscar, but William A Fraker was more than worthy as a nominee for his evocative experimental work on Looking for Mr Goodbar. The cinematography (along with its swinging partner, the editing) are ready and able to capture the whirlwind moods, liberated momentum, self-deprecating humor, and multiple flashes of fear within this time capsule of the sexual revolution.

My only regret in showcasing the cinematography for this series is that good images are hard to come by. More (a little bit NSFW) after the jump...

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