Reader Spotlight: Ziyad

In this Reader Appreciation series we're getting to know the Film Experience community, one person at a time ;) Today's interviewee is Ziyad who was born in Barcelona and is currently in Tel Aviv. He's truly international.

So let's jump right in.

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first filmgoing experience?
ZIYAD: Beauty and the Beast, I was 5 years old, the whole family (my parents and 2 brothers) went to a late showing, I fell asleep after 5 minutes and I woke up after in the ending credits, I got so pissed they didn't wake me so I forced my parents to take me again the next day.

Dedication. I love it. When did you start reading?
Around September 2004, I was checking if Javier Bardem had a chance at getting nominated for The Sea Inside, I loved the "actressexuality", bookmarked it instantaneously and since then visited on a daily basis. My favorite part: Film Bitch Awards -- I owe you copyrights for doing my own with your extra categories as well, EVERY YEAR, the difference is that I do it for myself and have no place to share it.

3 favorite actresses. Go.

Julianne Moore, she is my goddess, my face glows by just seeing her, in anything;  Meryl Streep... "She could play Batman and be the right choice"; And a tie between Carmen Maura, Hiam Abbass, Susan Sarandon, Bette Davis, and Kate Winslet. SORRY! Right now Emma Stone is everything to me. Every time I watch Easy A I fall a little bit more in love with her.

Um this is less of a "tie" than an ensemble film!

I'm horrible at following orders.

Take one Oscar away from something and give it to something else.
I'm going to have to do two. I take Angelina Jolie's Oscar for Girl, Interrupted and give it to Julianne Moore for Magnolia (god, it HURTS physically that she wasn't even nominated). I think I could take every Oscar and give it to Julianne Moore.

All the Oscars Belong To Her.

The second one, is actually a movie... I would take A Beautiful Mind's and give it to Amelie. Best Movie Ever.

What's one movie you're super ashamed to say you haven't seen and why is it taking you so long?

The Godfather Trilogy. I'm just lazy.

Previous Reader Spotlights:
Andrew, Yonatan, Keir, Kyle, Jamie, Vinci, Victor, Bill, Hayden, Dominique, Murtada, Cory, Walter, Paolo, Leehee and BBats

First and Last: The Lumberjack's Abandoned Shoes

the first and last images and dialogue from motion pictures.

the images

the dialogue for a second clue

first: Your bible. Don't lose it now.
last: Home.

ANOTHER CLUE? This film stars two of the biggest stars of the 50s, one of them is in the shot above and the other left her shoes on the road. It was not nominated for any Oscars.

Can you guess the movie?

See the answer after the jump.

Click to read more ...

DVD: Gwynnie, Kate and Dolph?

Today's DVD releases cover a lot of ground. But let's start with the most amusing. Two collections arrive today. One, Tracy & Hepburn the Definitive Collection, collects every film that co-starred Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn, one of moviedom's most legendary couples both onscreen and off. The other is Dolph Lundgren Triple Threat. Hee. Because my movie-addled brain is always mushing things together I couldn't help but imagine a Lundgren/Hepburn series for a split second. What kind of movie could they possibly have made together?

The Lundgren triple doesn't even include any movie you've heard of. It's mostly post 90s stuff. Unfortunately none of the films are musicals despite the title of "triple threat" . When you hear triple threat you automatically think of a actor/singer/dancer, right?  Make your next straight-to-DVD action pic a musical, Dolph.

The best of the new releases is Claire Denis's typically hypnotic and disturbing White Material, which I wrote briefly about in January and the worst is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 which I'm off-trend about it because it got wildly thumbs up reviews but I think it's easily the worst Potter feature  (give or take the Chamber of Snoozing) and aside from that admittedly stellar animated sequence, it was the most cynical (and successful) cash grab of 2010. The debuts  I haven't seen: the Gilles Marchand thriller Black Heaven starring Grégoire LePrince-Rinquet (Love Songs) and the acclaimed documentary Marwencol, about a brain damaged man recreating a World War II era town to 1/6th scale.

Finally, Country Strong also debuts on DVD today. But since we've heard Gwyneth's lovely voice crooning the  tracks, is there any reason left to see the movie? Have any of you?

I feel a poll coming on...

poll by twiigs.com

Curio: Poster Designs by Matt Needle

Alexa here. Matt Needle is a freelance designer living in the UK with a knack for poster design. I've been following his work since last year, when I was on the lookout for cool indie posters for Inception.  Lately he's added so many new designs to his portfolio that I can barely keep up! Here are some highlights from his film poster collection; check out his flickr to see more, including some great music and television posters (and a very cool Don Draper).  All are available for purchase from his bigcartel shop.

Click to see Hitchcock, Miyazaki and more...

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April Showers: Will Smith's Morning Routine

waterworks each weeknight at 11 pm

Be like Will Smith this week by practicing this I Robot morning routine: 8 easy steps.

1. Experience recurring dream in which you are rescued from drowning by a robot. This will be hard to do unless you're lucid dreaming, but if you're lucid dreaming take it there. Aren't lucid dreams trippy?

2. Wake up at 7:30 AM

3. Sit up in bed and massage your injuries. Will sometimes does this flesh rubbing with a loaded weapon but I would use something normal like your hand. Safer.

4. Play "Superstitious" by Stevie Wonder on your iTunes or last.fm as you...

5. Eat cold pie for breakfast*

three more steps after the jump

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