The New Classics - The Florida Project

Michael C. here. When I started this column I made a rule that anything less than two years old was too recent. So for the season finale let's go with a first round draft pic. 

Sean Baker and Willem Dafoe on the set of The Florida Project

Scene: Child Predator
There’s nothing that he can do about it. That’s the guiding principle that drives Willem Dafoe’s Bobby throughout Sean Baker’s heart-rending The Florida Project. He maintains the boundaries he needs to keep up the pretense that he is operating a motel and not a lilac-colored homeless shelter, but we can intuit that he would help more if he could. It’s all in the unnecessary helping of kindness and humor around the edges when he’s laying down the law... 

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Elle, Angelina, and somebunny we worship

How had I never seen... "Three Days of the Condor" or "The Parallax View"?

In this new series, members of Team Film Experience watch and share their reactions to classic films they’ve never seen. 

by Lynn Lee

The 1970s may have been a great era for cinema, but they were a pretty lousy time for faith in the great American experiment.  Between the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, the Church Committee reports, and of course Watergate, there were seemingly endless reasons to suspect the U.S. government and other institutions meant to serve and protect the public were instead covering up all manner of malfeasance—and that they might be watching you if they thought you were a threat.  This generalized paranoia found fertile ground in Hollywood, leading to a spate of conspiracy thrillers of varying quality and goofiness.

Until last month, the only one of these films I’d seen was All the President’s Men (unless you count Chinatown and Network, which I’d argue you could).  But something about the social and political tensions of today made these movies seem especially current again.  So it seemed like a good occasion to watch two of the most famous examples of the genre: Three Days of the Condor (1975) and A Parallax View (1974)...

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September. It's a Wrap

September was surely the fastest month of the year. Over in a flash and though we were just getting the hang of our new schedule (temporary corporate gig on the side for financial survival reasons) and posting was lighter than usual, we’re aiming for a more typically robust October.

Highlights of September
Remembering Jean Seberg - Mark offers up a primer before Seberg arrives
"Over the Rainbow" - a beautiful episode of Soundtracking to celebrate Judy
Reader Writes: Kris in Telluride - Let us know if you’d like to send a guest post!
The Irishman Jason reviews Marty's buzzy mafia epic
TIFF Awards - Chris & Nathaniel wrap up their coverage with personal kudos
How Had I Never Seen... M - a new series kicks off in which team members watch something classic that they've never before seen
I Am Love - Michael eats shrimp with Tilda for "The New Classics"
On Becoming a God in Central Florida have you watched Kiki's new series?
Horror Actressing Amy Irving in Carrie

Most Discussed Articles
She Had Oscar Buzz - Elie talks Kirsten, Scarlett, Emily and othes waiting on their first nomination
Celebrating JLo - Murtada wants to know what you think about when you think of the Hustlers star?

Coming in October: Joker, Pain & Glory, Parasite, Maleficent Mistress of Evil, Gemini Man, Celebrating the 2019 Honorary Oscar winners (Lynch, Davis, Wermuller, and Studi), and something spooky for the holidays TBD

Horror Actressing: Charlotte Burke in "Paperhouse"

by Jason Adams

Even though I've already admitted I can get pretty broad on defining movies as "Horror Movies" when other people might not consider them as such, I for some reason always hesitate when it comes to calling Bernard Rose's 1988 film Paperhouse a "horror film." The first two-thirds of the movie, yes, for sure. But -- without getting into spoilers because lord knows how many of you have had the luck to see this extraordinary film a first time yet -- the movie makes decisions, and comes to a point, that ultimately shows its intentions were not horror. 

That said there's enough of a Horror Movie in there for me to justify directing you towards one of the most foundational films and performances of my life, which I've just today discovered is available for streaming on Amazon here in the US. Rose directed Paperhouse two years before Candyman (a film we've already touched upon in this series) and you can see some of the same fascinations -- a female entering a Freudian Netherworld where her darkest fascinations consume her... just think of Paperhouse as Candyman Jr, I guess... 

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