New to the National Film Registry: Brokeback Mountain, Hud, etc...

by Nathaniel R

Each year in the thick of precursor awards season we are momentarily (and pleasantly!) asked to think about the entire history of motion pictures. Each December the Library of Congress adds 25 new movies to their list of American titles worthy of preservation. The criteria is "cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage."

The most recent inductee this year is Ang Lee's neo western gay classic Brokeback Mountain (2005) which is about as deserving as titles get for this honor. And we're personally thrilled to see the best movie of 1963, Hud, added. Here's the whole list chronologically...

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This & That: SAG fallout, Beale St agnosticism, Kidman's AACTA win

December is a bear, isn't it? It just keeps on coming at you and more intense as it goes, too. We're so far behind, we're just going to do this with no structure and no editing. Here is a list of lots of news-items or curiousities that are probably worthy of their own articles  but they aren't going to get them! We need a big staff (now seeking volunteers!) Okay, here we go...

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Christmas at TFE: "While You Were Sleeping"

Team Experience will be discussing their favorite holiday films! First up is Chris Feil...

One part of the tradition of revisiting Christmas classics this time of year is debating whether or not a film technically qualifies as a “Christmas movie”. These perceptions sometimes sway with the tides. Lately, the bros have won and conventional wisdom will tell you that Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie. Eyes Wide Shut? Welcome, but with reservations.

My personal “Yes it’s a Christmas movie” vendetta is While You Were Sleeping. The confirmation that this is the hill I will die (though perhaps not alone) on is of the unfortunately reductive sort. In my experience, other viewers seems all too appeased by considering Sleeping simply as a romantic comedy. But to consider it so simply is to ignore the central journey of Sandra Bullock’s heroine Lucy, and the kind of stories we revisit this time of year and why they resonate.

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Oscar's Foreign Race Pt 7 - Famous Auteurs / Frequent Oscar-Seekers

by Nathaniel R

On Monday the 87 movie wide official list of Academy Award Foreign Film submissions will be whittled down to 9 titles. It's a merciless cull  -- why aren't their 15 finalists as in Documentary?  -- and even more ignominious is the knowledge that less that 50% of those that are deemed finalists will be discarded at the last second before they can taste victory. At least with a 10 wide list, just one more title, it would be kinder, giving you a 50/50 chance. That would feel like a toss of the die and thus more whimsical than unkind in the long run. 

But nevertheless, until that fateful cull on Monday, all the competitors in the huge foreign film category can feel excited about their prospects. Here's a last look behind the scenes at the field.  We've previously watched the trailers, broke the list down by genre, and discussed the female directors, first time filmmakers, and international hunks. 

Today we conclude the general field coverage with the 11 directors who ought to be the most familiar with the game at this point...

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Review: If Beale Street Could Talk

by Murtada Elfadl

If Beale Street Could Talk starts with Fonny (Stephan James) asking his girlfriend Tish (Kiki Layne) “Are you ready for this?” I have been ready for a James Baldwin film adaptation for many years. Since I read "Giovanni’s Room" as a young teen and my mind was opened to queer stories. Since I was given "The Fire Next Time" to read as I made the decision to immigrate to the United States, so that I know what I was getting myself into. "Another Country" remains my favorite novel of all time. I am biased for Baldwin, for his writing, for his ideas, for his power, so I was excited for this film. I was also afraid. Will Barry Jenkins be able to interpret Baldwin’s howls of anger and despair as loud as I heard them reading Baldwin’s prose? I needn’t have worried.

Set in early-1970s Harlem, Beale Street is about how Fonny and Tish are separated when he’s arrested for a rape that he did not commit...

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