Stage Door: The Father

Frank Langella is an imposing figure. Standing 6'4" tall, with a countenance absolutely befitting a man who has played both Dracula and Richard Nixon, the man simply looks like a force to be reckoned with. His sense of gravitas demands attention and respect. All of which makes what he does in Manhattan Theater Club's Tony-nominated production of Florian Zeller's play The Father even more impressive.

Langella plays André, an elderly man living in Paris with his daughter, Anne (Kathryn Erbe). At the start of the play, Anne is explaining why she has to get him a new helper: The last one apparently quit after André called her "a little bitch" and threatened her with a curtain rod. For his part, André at first denies the incident, then laughs it off, saying that he is perfectly competent to care for himself.

And here is where talking about the play gets difficult...

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On this day in history: The very first Oscars, Loving, and more...

Every once in awhile we do this to remind ourselves that this moment we're in is fleeting but time is infinite or something... and I'm not even stoned while typing this.

On this day in movie-related history...

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Beauty vs Beast: Daughter Dearest

Howdy, folks - Jason from MNPP here with this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" is which we'll be celebrating the 61st birthday of the great Debra Winger. I assume most of you, being right and proper actressexuals, have seen the terrific documentary bearing her name Searching For Debra Winger, but if not, get on that. I haven't seen it since it came out in 2002 and part of me wonders if it's maybe, hopefully, begun to feel a bit dated? That film feeling dated can only be a good thing because it means roles for actresses are getting better. If nothing else, Winger herself has been working somewhat steadily over the past few years with recent roles on In Treatment and the Netflix series The Ranch.

All that said, we're really here today for Classic Winger...

PREVIOUSLY Two weeks back we celebrated the sexy time that is A Bigger Splash with a glance back at its original (and also sexy) incarnation, 1969's La Piscine - stuffing the ballot box like he did those speedos, Alain Delon carried off about 80% of your votes. Said Steven:

"Alain Delon>>>>>>>every young pretty boy out there in Hollywood."

The Furniture: Deadpool's Junk

"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. Here's Daniel Walber on Deadpool, now available on DVD and Bluray

We tend to think of superhero movies as showcases for visual effects. Marvel, for example, has always been stuck in that one particular category at the Oscars. It can be hard to untangle CGI from physical sets, particularly when they're strung together by a deft editor. And if identifying individual elements can be difficult, assigning credit often seems even harder. As such, production design isn’t usually at the forefront of our constant national conversation around the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Yet sometimes, even in the murky waters of big budget spectacle, the physical set outshines its digital embellishment. That’s certainly the case in Deadpool, a superhero action movie that was perhaps forced into more terrestrial creativity by its low budget of $58 million. For context, Captain America: Civil War cost about $250 million. Inevitably some of the film looks a bit cheap, particularly when it comes to the CG. Despite the low budget, the studio still clearly felt some pressure to put on the same bombastic show of digital force that comes at the end of every one of these movies. It's a bummer, frankly, because the physical set could easily have stood on its own.

This final clash between Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Francis (Ed Skrein) takes place at a vast junkyard. [more...]

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Little Men: Poster and Trailer!

Manuel here. One of the films we're most excited about this summer here at TFE is Ira Sachs' Little Men. His last film Love is Strange was excellent. And think of how great his three new adult leads are.

Poster, trailer, and more after the jump...

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