Friday
Dec022016
Open Thread
Friday, December 2, 2016 at 12:05PM
What movie were you thinking about right before you clicked over to TFE? And what else is on your cinematic mind?
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.)
Follow TFE on Substackd
We're looking for 500... no 390 Subscribers! If you read us daily, please be one.
THANKS IN ADVANCE
What movie were you thinking about right before you clicked over to TFE? And what else is on your cinematic mind?
Reader Comments (52)
"Hilary and Jackie" and how I must to rewatch it!!!
Just saw "Taxidermia"... still in my mind... difficult film, isn't it?
Is there a chance that August Wilson will receive a posthumous nomination or win for Fences? Or will the idea that he wrote the screenplay over ten years ago play against such a prospect? It would be great to see one of the greatest American dramatists so honored.
I'm thinking of "Jackie," and considering going into Manhattan to see it tonight. There have been so many awful performances over the years of JBK. Everything I have seen about Portman's interpretations is right on. The walk made me forget it wasn't JBK. And Greta Gerwig looks super.
Where Arrival would be placed in the paeon of great science fiction films, both contemporary and classic.
THE LOVE WITCH, nonstop
I've been thinking about Manchester by the Sea. I love it, but I've been wondering if Casey Affleck's history of sexual harassment would damage his march to Oscar victory in the same way Nate Parker's rape case helped damage his Oscar chances.
Passengers and how atrocious it looks and 20th Century Women because I need my Bening dose.
I recently treated myself to a double feature of 'Murder by Death' and 'Clue' - both movies I always loved, but for some reason never watched back-to-back (or even within a year of one another). And surprisingly to me, although I always had fonder memories of 'Murder by Death', I ended up enjoying 'Clue' even more.
By the way, these two make a really great double feature that I highly recommend.
About how I couldn't fully love Manchester despite its myriad admirable qualities bc there are still a few (but important) emotional beats that feel false to me, specifically in the flashbacks on the boat out in the sea and Lee at his home. The dialogue and surrounding bits have the beautiful offbeat organic sense that Lonergan's famous for, but the absolute lack of tension, revelations, or anything really that interesting comes forth about personal relationships and history made it hard for me to truly buy in. There's too much of this quaint, idealized, good 'ol days feel to it, and ends up feeling forced despite the abundance of detail.
@ Jesus Alons:
'Taxidermia' is a very weird film. I saw it only once, and it was year ago, but a few images from the film are still on my mind. 'Hukkle' by the same director (György Pálfi) is a masterpiece.
Miss Sloane....and how it always seems that each year there are good films that just fall through the cracks. A Most Violent Year won NBR and nothing else of note. Youth opens to fairly great reviews in Cannes and becomes invisible in awards season and box office. I wonder if it opens in the spring would Miss Slone get more oxygen...
Mahershala Ali's breakthrough, one of the few good things to come out of this wretched year called 2016. After a decade and a half of sturdy work in film and TV, it's been wonderful to see him garner praise for both Moonlight and Luke Cage. He's come a long way from Crossing Jordan.
I was wondering when LA Film Critics will announce.
The small cinema in my neighborhood (Kew Gardens Cinema) is showing the following: Allied, Edge of Seventeen, Loving, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Nocturnal Animals and Elle. Haven't seen any of them yet - Which should I see first?
1) This weekend I'm finally going to try a deep dive on early Almodovar.
2) How many Academy Award nominations should Catherine O'Hara have had by now? (Settled on probably 2, and yes that includes "Home Alone".)
Raul, that's a fair question but don't forget that it was the shittiness of Nate Parker's acting, writing and directing that destroyed his Oscar chances *in tandem* with his personal history.
His chances had nothing to do with the quality of his movie (since the movie itself has none) and everything to do with white guilt.
I don't think the film would've scored nominations either way (no one actually felt legitimately passionate about it) but Parker's personal history now just gives awards bodies an 'easy out' so they don't have to give any additional explanations.
Meantime - in terms of what film I was thinking about before clicking here > Divines.
Which I've just finished watching and which also happens to be a film directed by a 'person of colour' (god I hate that term), albeit an unapologetically feminist and spectacularly talented one. Houda Benyamina is her name. I suspect (and very much hope) she will be massive soon.
Also FYC Oulaya Amamra for Best Actress.
Sudden Fear, which was my favorite discovery for Noirvember. TCM is playing it this month and I'm considering watching it again.
Also impatiently awaiting the wide release of La La Land, I'm dying to see it. But I'm hoping to find some time in my busy weekend to see Moonlight as it's finally playing in one theater near me.
Aliens
Arrival
More Aliens
Especially the spoken language of the aliens in Arrival and how it's vowels-y, and the fact that humans are are more emotional towards vowels compared to consonants.
Jackie is not going to be the TOTAL critical darling I was led to believe it would be post-TIFF
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/jackie/critic-reviews
I was thinking about La La Land and how jealous I am of people that have seen it and how, even though it's still listed as going wide on Dec 25th, the tv spots have said that it goes wide on Christmas. NO. NINE EXTRA DAYS CAN'T DO IT.
Also, thinking about Marine which I watched for class this morning and how deeply uncomfortable it is.
I'm thinking that Hell or High Water is been overpraised wtf
I see myself sexually equivalent to Huppert's characters in The Piano Teacher and Elle. The exception on my end is I absolutely detest real life violence. No self-harm with sharp objects nor would I allow some man to repeatedly brutalize me with his fist or anything else he could use for blunt force trauma. But I understand the appeal whole heartedly of a masked man being your lover in kinky role play. Or a man denigrate you in a safe specific way. And no one in the world understand the frequency you're operating on.
I just finished up a month-long time-consuming project last night (no, I'm not talking about getting over the election, although THAT DIDN'T HELP), so I was literally checking times for "Moonlight," "Manchester," and "Arrival" for the weekend. Probably gonna have to go alone to the first, might get a friend interested in the second, and a couple people have already expressed interest in coming with me the third. "Arrival" really does have great word of mouth.
World War One is on the mind (always, but I'm also grading papers). On my mind cinematically is whether I should see fantastic beasts, moana, or edge of 17 during my next outing (I'm behind. See also: grading papers).
I've had "Drop Dead Gorgeous" on my mind for the past hour. Allison Janney doesn't get enough appreciation for her hilarity in that one.
The Hell or High Water phenomenon is bizarre to me, too. I think there were far better films released this summer. According to Metacritic it's the 12th best reviewed movie of the year which is... interesting.
Jackie, La La Land, Fences, 20th Century Women, all the movies coming out at the end of the year that my sister and I are dying to see together. Merry Christmas to us!
The movie I was thinking: Silence. Don't know why.
But what was in my mind was the question that u made Abou Pedro and Cate.
To be really frank with u all, more than the amazing actresses, Who Is really want to ser work with Almodóvar is...
OSCAR ISAAC!!!
FOR GOD SAKE, IN A ALMODÓVAR - SEX - THRILLER!!!
I need a shower now. 😂
Did we do the smackdown for 1963 and I missed it or did we pass it again this year?
The Case of the Howling Dog-It's the first time Perry Mason was portrayed on the screen with Warren William playing him. It's his birthday today and TCM ran it this morning. I DVR'd it and am just settling in to watch it
Love Warren William. Mary Astor is in it as well so I'm hopeful of an interesting view.
So before I clicked here I was over at Gold Derby. I usually only come to this site, but around December I start checking things there. What I don't understand, and was hoping someone could explain is what happened with the campaigns of Hugh Grant and Octavia Spencer.
I thought Hugh Grant would be a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor, but he isn't registering so far, and only 3 experts at Gold Derby have him in their Top 5. I've heard Octavia Spencer had a good chance for Hidden Figures, but no experts have her in their Top 5 and several have Janelle Monae. Usually I'm all for fresh blood, but the fact that only two African American actresses have more than one nomination, and NO black actress has ever been nominating after winning, well, those statistics really bother me. So I was rooting for Octavia or Lupita to get in this year.
So before I clicked here I was over at Gold Derby. I usually only come to this site, but around December I start checking things there. What I don't understand, and was hoping someone could explain is what happened with the campaigns of Hugh Grant and Octavia Spencer.
I thought Hugh Grant would be a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor, but he isn't registering so far, and only 3 experts at Gold Derby have him in their Top 5. I've heard Octavia Spencer had a good chance for Hidden Figures, but no experts have her in their Top 5 and several have Janelle Monae. Usually I'm all for fresh blood, but the fact that only two African American actresses have more than one nomination, and NO black actress has ever been nominating after winning, well, those statistics really bother me. So I was rooting for Octavia or Lupita to get in this year.
Sorry. I'm so impatient.
When I watching the Actors on Actors Roundtable with Tom Hanks and Viola Davis, I was thinking that they should do a movie together because they're both so likable and well-spoken. Maybe Viola Davis could be his new on-screen Meg Ryan.
Also, I'd love to see Rooney Mara, Rose Byrne, and Natalie Portman starring in a drama together.
Jennifer Jones in Ruby Gentry
Double standards, toxic masculinity, white privilege, Isabelle Huppert...awards season.
i saw Jackie this week - very good movie. Portman was fine. Better than the majority of Jackie's. She has the voice and voice pattern down - the hair and clothing. Jackie is simply an impossible person to recreate. Jackie had a magic quality that can never be captured. As simple as that. I don't think she should win an Oscar for this.
This Film experience blog has some of the best read and the most deep and profound knowledge of film backgrounds/history of any I have ever seen. So congrats and thanks to all of you for sharing that with all the readers. Here is a quirky question to all of you with that extensive backgrounds,which are some of your favorite holiday films?
That I am grateful for pleasurable shows like The Crown and Good Girls Revolt that take me far, far away from the election and current sense of dread.
That I have lost interest in the Oscar race because its covered into the ground for months and is largely anticlimactic. No offense.
That it's Friday! Toot toot hey, beep beep.
I watched 1969's "Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?" last night on YouTube.
A late entry in the aging diva demolition suspense derby, this one starring Geraldine Page at her most imperiously idiosyncratic and Ruth Gordon at her most scrappy. The two square off as a wacky widow who keeps financially afloat by killing her housekeepers...guess who's next?
The dramatics and the late '60s styles make this mildly entertaining. It's always fun to watch Page engage in highstrung hamming, this time sporting a wig that looks exactly like Elizabeth Taylor's Martha wig in "Virginia Woolf."
In fact, every woman in this movie seems to be wearing a wig! Except Rosemary Forsyth, who sports a short, slicked-back do that stands out in a sea of bouffants...and not in a good way.
" Moonlight" of course, have not been this engaged by a film is such a long time ....and the Cuban cinema classic " Lucia" (1969) directed by Humberto Solas
I just re-watched "Four Weddings and a Funeral". I wish to give a retroactive Oscar nom to Hugh Grant for one of the most perfect performances. I hope he gets at least a Golden Globe this year For Florence Foster Jenkins because he deserves a bit more credit for his work.
(side note- KST looks divine in big hats)
I just got out of seeing Jackie and am trying to decide if it's necessary to see on the big screen. It felt like snooping on a specific personality. The sound/music was terrific.
'Elle', was thinking about how great Isabelle Huppert was in 'The Piano Teacher' and how badly I want to see her last film.
Every time I read about "Passengers" I think of the Cordwainer Smith story, "Think Blue, Count Two".
A beautiful girl is woken up early from hyper sleep. This is a crime, to wake someone without their consent. The voyage planners knew this kind of thing could happen, so they provided the girl with a mnemonic.
"Lady if a man
Tries to bother you, you can
Think blue
Count two
And look for a red shoe."
The mnemonic activates the ship's programs, the virtual captain, deals with the awakeners, and puts everyone back to sleep.
Under his real name, Dr. Paul Linebarger, the author wrote the WWII US military manual on psychological warfare.
Just saw THE FOUNDER (it opened last week in Australia, for some reason) and I'm thinking there should be some kind of law against underutilising Laura Dern in a movie.
The China Syndrome and the blind item about Meryl Streep demanding a re-release because she wants Oscar gold. The image of her yelling at CAA over the phone like Miss Helen Lawson is priceless.
@ Steve G
Exactly what I posted here after I saw it a few weeks ago. Non-supportive wife role, indeed. Thankless.
Ashamed to say I only just saw Les Diaboliques for the first time last night and it's got a hold of me. Wow.