Review: "Bird Box" on Netflix

by Eric Blume

The new limited-theatrical-release / now-on-Netflix movie Bird Box is a puzzlement. It’s a post-apocalypse thriller directed by Oscar and Emmy-winner Susanne Bier, and stars Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Jackie Weaver, and Trevante Rhodes as survivors of a world-ending crisis.  A lot of talented people are involved in this film, so it’s a true curiosity that the whole thing ends up a gigantic shrug.

The details of this apocalypse are a little murky, but it goes something like this. Scary creatures (which we never see) are appearing around the globe, and they tap into your deepest fears somehow(?), and cause you to immediately commit suicide...

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President Cinephile?

President Obama (god how we miss him) randomly named his favourite movies of the year today on Instagram. Turns out he's been keeping up with critical recommendations because look at this list which is a nice mix of foreign, docs, indies, Hollywood, and Oscarables!

You can also see his favourite songs of the year on the same post. 

Our Favorite Line Readings of 2018

Every day a new Year in Review round-up as we joyfully bid 2018 adieu...

For today's entry we asked Team Experience and a few of our friends to share their favorite line reading of the year. No one was assigned anything so these are direct from our faces to your faces. Yes, Toni Collette's towering work in Hereditary is on our minds lately. Remember that gem? 

And all I get back is that fucking face on your face."

Or these:

I am your MOTHER." 

I did everything they told me not to do, but it didn't work. I'm happy it didn't work.

So, that was my mom’s life.

God she's extraordinary in that new horror classic, isn't she?

Okay, ready for more actorly gems as actors elevating specific lines or sometimes whole films. Here we go...

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Which classic musical should be made (or remade) into a movie?

by Nathaniel R

With the news that a recent stripped down experimental version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! was coming to Broadway in April 2019, we thought it might be interesting to look at the "Most Often Revived Musicals on Broadway". The list is as follows: 

1. Porgy & Bess (8 times)
2. Threepenny Opera (7 times)
3. Showboat (7 times)
4. Peter Pan (6 times)
5. Pal Joey (6 times)
6. Guys & Dolls (6 times)
7. Fiddler on the Roof (6 times)
8. Carousel (6 times)
9. ... and Oklahoma! will be joining this list in a handful of months.
10. It can't really be a top ten since a plethora of shows have been on Broadway 5 times.

More on that list and movie versions after the jump...

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Doc Corner: From the Short List - 'Free Solo'

By Glenn Dunks

Easily queasy viewers beware – Free Solo can be a daunting prospect to watch. And not just for the extraordinary climb that the film is all about, but if even just the poster churns your stomach, it’s probably not for you. Directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin follow up to Meru (of which I was less a fan for reasons I honestly don’t even remember – I watch too many movies to remember these things, apparently) charts Alex Honnold, the world’s most famous free solo rock climber, as he sets out to conquer his biggest feat yet: El Capitan, the 3000-foot vertical rock face, a granite monolith that has loomed over Yosemite for millennia.

The why of Alex’s mission remains a tantalizing carrot that dangles in front of the audience through his death-defying stunts.

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