Review: The Secret Life of Pets 2

by Ben Miller (who has small children)

What do we want from a film when it is obviously not for us? If I'm watching an indie about a life experience that's in no way relatable to my own, I can still admire the artistry and the humanity. If I’m watching a film about talking pets specifically aimed at children, I can enjoy it... but what am I supposed to get out of it? Films like The Incredibles, WALL-E or Wreck-It Ralph are “for” kids, but non-children can enjoy them on a number of levels beyond the bright colors, fart jokes or action sequences.  Those films dug deep into issues about family, loneliness and friendship and had an overarching theme to bring everything together in a coherent way.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is not one of those films and doesn't try to be...

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Birthday-Month Fundraiser

We met Marcia Gay Harden last year during Birthday Month. What joy awaits this year? Happy birthday to us! (The royal "us" but also to our fellow twin Geminis!) The only thing we want for the birthday this year beyond good health (which only God or whatever Higher Power there is can grant without health insurance) and a new love interest (where are they?) is for The Film Experience to stay afloat.

Last week when we were down for a couple of days due to a hosting platform glitch, it felt like a miniature existential crisis in mini: Who are we without this website?

If you read the site daily, please consider a donation which can go along way towards stability / sanity.  For those of you who don't like the idea of monthly tips, please consider a one time donation (either option is available via the dropdown). It's difficult to monetize joy but put a dollar figure on what you get from TFE and then, um, subtract until you can afford it? (We're not greedy, just poor). And if you'd like to support a particular series you can do that this way. SO MANY OPTIONS xoxo

And if you're too poor this year and counting dimes with precision to pay bills, we wish you a sudden windfall (we've been there) and thank you again for reading even if you can't donate. 

Thoughts I Had... while staring at "Wonder Woman 1984" poster

You know how it works. The thoughts as they come with no second-guessing.

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Would you rather?

WOULD YOU RATHER...

• Admire phalli with Russell Tovey?
• Keep warm with Kristin Scott Thomas in Scotland? 
• Dance with Kaitlyn Dever & Beanie Feldstein?
• Stand in awe of plant-life with Diane Keaton? 
• Sip wine in a French cafe with Rachel Bloom? 
• Play with Jamie Lee Curtis and her action figure?
• Reinterpret Will Smith songs with Tom Cullen? 
• Kill time with Channing Tatum? 
• Go sight-seeing with Tessa Thompson 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

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The one that got away from Bruce Lee: Season 1 of "Warrior"

by Lynn Lee

Did you know that the 1970s TV show “Kung Fu” was based on an uncredited pitch by Bruce Lee?  According to Lee’s widow, Warner Brothers liked (and poached) his idea of a martial arts master wandering the American West but passed him over for the lead role in favor of David Carradine. Warner Brothers claims they’d already had the concept for “Kung Fu” in the works when Lee proposed his own series (called “The Warrior”) to the studio in 1971.  But even if you believe them, it’s hard not to wonder what a version of the show that starred Bruce Lee might have looked like. 

Nearly half a century later, Lee’s daughter Shannon, director-producer Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, various The Fast and the Furious installments), and writer-producer Jonathan Tropper (This is Where I Leave You, “Banshee”) have created a Cinemax TV series that attempts to realize his original vision while updating it for a new generation...

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