The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
She's currently our favorite German actress and we want more after Head On (2004) and When We Leave (2009). Currently crossing fingers that the new exposure from Game of Thrones (she plays "Shae" the courtesan) will open up major doors for her.
Game of Thrones is actually doing all right by our favorite foreign actresses. Next season (two months away) The Netherlands' Carice Van Houten (Black Book) joins the cast as the frightening priestess Melisandre... The Red Lady. Here's a new gallery of photos from season 2.
I wish I liked the show more. (sigh)
Shae (Sibel) and Melisandre (Carice)
If anything can convince me to keep watching it's probably these two. We shall see.
Paramount had a big night at the Visual Effects Society awards. We knew that Hugo was bound to do well given that the VES Statue is already Papa Georges friendly (pictured left). But they won in other categories too thanks to Rango and Transformers. Will all three of those movies take home prizes at the Oscars? Transformers has the biggest hurdle there in all three of its categories but especially in visual effects since its battling Rise of the Planet of the Apes. "Caesar" is probably too agile to fall prey to "The Driller"
Visual EffectsRise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams Supporting Visual EffectsHugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy Visual Effects in an Animated FeatureRango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch Animated Character in a Live Action Feature "Caesar" Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds Animated Character in an Animated Feature"Rango" Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton Created Environment in Live Action"155 Wacker Drive" Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin Created Environment in Animated"Main Street Dirt" Rango: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul
Quick recall: I'm sure you remember Main Street in Rango since virtually all the action unfolded there. But if you need a quick memory nudge "155 Wacker Drive" is the building that took such a brutal beating in Transformers, an action sequence that theyused so heavily in commercials since they correctly guessed that "The Driller" was their biggest WOW. In fact that action sequence was so memorable that it appears that Battleship wanted nothing more than to remind you of exactly that in their 'Transformers Jr.' Superbowl commercial.
Rango in the Dirt Saloon
Virtual Cinematography in Live Action: Hugo: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla Virtual Cinematography in Animated"The Dirt Saloon" Rango: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker Models"Driller" Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia Compositing"Skinny Steve" Captain America: The First Avenger: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh
The rest of the awards were for television and commercials. Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Terra Nova (is that cancelled or not? Confusion) took home most of the prizes. You can see a full list of winners at the VES Official Site. And just because we love it so much, and its such an actressexual fix, let us all gaze once more upon the great "Dior J'Adore" which won Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial.
Remarkably Charlize Theron's beauty is not computer generated but an actual thing that exists in nature (Good job God!) but mixing in those famous immortals required computer assistance.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is on his way to becoming an actor/director. His first dual effort behind and in front of the camera will be a romantic comedy. Interesting choice and one we applaud because lord knows that genre needs fresh voices. Scarlett Johansson is his co-star of choice though apparently there's a second female lead (as yet uncast). JGL will play a lothario. Will ScarJo or the other leading lady reform him? Hopefully this one will skirt the misogyny that was the only thing really dragging the otherwise charming 50/50 down.
I'm hoping Joe and ScarJo will find a way to sing together since it's the one thing they totally have in common besides being, you know, gorgeous movie stars.
Initially I had trouble picturing the two stars together given that he is slim and long and she is short and voluptuous. I'm use to picturing her with much much beefier men (like her shortlived marriage) but after my initial shock I'm liking the idea. Contrast can be very attractive...
On the other hand it may be tough to top his more twinnish love pairing with Zooey Deschanel. [I am always rooting for a "Zoooey" reunion --where are we at with (500) Days of Summer right now? It went through such a weird love/hate thing with the internets -- but with "New Girl" a hit on TV, there's little chance of her returning to the big screen in major roles anytime soon.]
The film starts shooting in April. I wonder if she's still in for that John Carney (Once) movie that was supposed to start shooting this summer called Can A Song Save Your Life? Two movies in a row where Scarlett may actually be acting instead of just posing?! Exciting. Maybe But never fear. Lots of posing coming up as well in The Avengers (2012) -- recently discussed -- and Iron Man 3 (2013).
JGL stars in Premium Rush which hits theaters a month after The Dark Knight Rises
As for JGL, he's about to have a Jessica Chastain crazy year. Scratch that. A bigger year than that. In addition to directing his first feature he's co-starring in five more, three of them among the year's most anticipated features: Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.
The Film Doctor makes a passionate case for Hawaii and The Descendants... but I'm still having trouble. I just don't think it's very good. And also it's hard to be receptive to the arguments when they start by dissing The Artist. 'Can't we all just get along?' That said I do agree that the final shot is pretty wonderful. Just wish the rest of the movie was. They Live By Night Awww, there was an Amadeus Blog-a-Thon and I didn't even know about it. Blog-a-thons just don't have as much outreach as they used to. Totally would've done that one. The Awl (speaking of the 80s...) remembers The Thorn Birds in a funny piece. OMG. I was so into priestly Richard Chamberlain when I was a wee boy. Cineuropa Iceland's Volcano didn't go the distant with Oscar this year in the Best Foreign Film Category but it's doing very well at home to augment its critical reputation. 14 nominations at Iceland's own Oscars!
Coming Soon. So wait let me get this straight. Will Smith turned down Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) but signed up to work with M Night Shyamalan? Has he never seen these things we call movies? Here's Will & Jaden on the set of After Earth (formerly titled One Thousand Years A.E.). They're filming in beautiful Costa Rica.
Oscar 2012/13 Notes (Too Early?) PlaybillLes Miserables... will all the Oscars belong to it. Apparently they have their sights set on Best Original Song as well. They're giving Hugh Jackman a new number as Jean Valjean. Empire Tom Felton of Potter/Malfoy fame will play another spoiled kid, Glenn Close's in fact, in Therese Raquin. Now that Close is about to tie Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter for Most Losing Oscar Nominated Actress (6 times) ... I am kind of excited for her to try to beat Peter O'Toole (8 times. no competitive wins). Think she can win attention again for this classic story? I know SHE would prefer to win but it's kind of exciting for US to have someone fighting for these records. Kind of. I mean, we still feel for her. Don't misunderstand
Goings about town(s)...
Los Angeles Readers Recover from the Oscars in a couple of weeks with some classic animation. On March 7th-11th, the LA Animation Fest happens and there's special screenings of The Iron Giant and Akira, two unmissables. Both are presented by Sean Lennon who is this year's artistic director. Would that the Akira screening could convince Hollywood to abort their current plans and only pursue this live action adaptation madness with Asian leads. More on the fest at its official site.
New York Readers This Friday the Film Society of Lincoln Center starts a four day tribute to 70s sex symbol Raquel Welch. The brunette bombshell will be appearing at some of the screenings over the weekend. The big ticket is undoubtedly bizarre cult camp object Myra Breckinridge this Friday. She'll be interviewed by Simon Doonan (!) after the screening. No word yet on whether actor turned critic Rex Reed will appear but it would be kind of hilarious for Raquel and him to pose for a photo op I think. The actress will also be at the One Million Years BC, Last of Sheila, and Three Musketeers screenings. You can read more about Welch's allure and legacy at the New York Observer.
Need a suggestion for next weekend? You can't really go wrong with a Barbara Stanwyck Double Feature. Author Dan Callahan (full disclosure: a friend) just released a new book on the legenadary actress and he's introducing two of her most beloved films, the screwball comedy The Lady Eve (heaven) and the western Forty Guns.
Have you had a chance to see any of Oscar's short film nominees yet? The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmoreis available for the iPad in interactive format but it's also viewable in its original form here as an animated short. It's a beauty.
The fifteen minute short, well worth a quarter hour of your time, starts with a hurricane and Mr Morris Lessmore is yanked up into it along with his stack of reading. The words are literally blown off the page. Not that the short is literal. (More after the jump including the full short)
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 2:00PM 
Shae (Sibel) and Melisandre (Carice)
