Review: Mary Queen of Scots

by Murtada Elfadl

The story is familiar. We’ve seen it many times on both film and TV. The queens are familiar. We’ve seen them being embodied by many actresses we love and admire. Now it’s time for Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie to play Mary and Elizabeth I in Mary, Queen of Scots. Familiarity can breed contempt. We’ve seen this before so why do we need another version? But familiarity can also help us absorb a story when we know the beats of its narrative. We can take in the performances, the costumes, the setting and not worry about following the plot. Director Josie Rourke and screenwriter Beau Willimon understand that they need to freshen up the material, give it a new spin. And so they try.

Their story concentrates squarely on Mary and starts with her return to Scotland from exile in France, threatening Elizabeth’s reign because of her strong claim to the crown with Elizabeth being unwed and childless...

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Glenn Close 'very gratified' by career honors

by Nathaniel R

Glenn Close, a moment before we spoke on Monday nightThe Film Experience was honored to be invited to attend the Museum of the Moving Image's tribute to the career of Glenn Close this week at the elegant 583 Park Avenue venue, just days before her Golden Globe nomination. Attending the festivities were politicians, actors, industry vets, and museum officials and honorees including a whole excited table nearby mine of teenagers from Queens, where the museum is located, who collectively gave one of the night's most amusing speeches about MoMI's community outreach programs and youth engagement.

We spoke briefly to the woman of the hour, Glenn Close upon her arrival at the gala. The story of The Wife, an arthouse success this summer, is about a woman whose genius goes unrecognized...

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Months of Meryl: Ricki & The Flash (2015)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

 

#49 —Ricki Randazzo, a rock singer who returns home to the family she abandoned.

MATTHEW: Throughout his eclectic and gloriously unpredictable career, the late Jonathan Demme paved the way for peak performances from actresses as disparate as Mary Steenburgen, Melanie Griffith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jodie Foster, Oprah Winfrey, Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Debra Winger. Like George Cukor before him, Demme was devoted to telling stories about women, which comprise the bulk of his narrative output. The director committed to shaping these narratives with the same heady, inquisitive vigor and nonjudgmental consideration that electrified all of his subjects, from Anthony Hopkins’ lip-licking Hannibal Lecter to David Byrne, who indelibly bopped around the stage in a business suit at least six sizes too big during Demme’s landmark concert documentary Stop Making Sense.

Ricki and the Flash, Demme’s final narrative feature, sometimes conjures the capricious, loop-the-loop feeling of a concert documentary in its depiction of the type of story that Demme loved to tell, that of an unorthodox woman shouldering her burdens and confronting any and all perils as she forges ahead with the life she has chosen to lead...

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The Golden Globe Nominations!

by Nathaniel R

HFPA president Meher Tatna introduced Terry Crews, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann, and Christian Slater to announce the nominations for the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards. We didn't quite get the shakeups we wanted for players that needed the high profile boost of the Globes (like Toni Collette or Carey Mulligan) to boost their dark horse Oscar prospects but the Globes gonna Globe and there's as much to praise (Charlize Theron!) as their is to shake your fists at (Bohemian Rhapsody in Best Picture, wtf?).

In not so great news (unless you love it of course) Vice led the nominations with 6 honors, with The Favourite, Green Book, and A Star is Born tied as runner-up to most nominations with 5 each. UPDATE: We've shared Team Experience reactions to the snubs and nominated directors, and talked the fate of First Man and Widows, but here was our first quick take on the nomination after the jump along with some commentary...

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Kevin Hart is Oscar's Host

by Murtada Elfadl

It has been a whirlwind 24 hour news cycle for the Oscars. First The Hollywood Reporter published a report that no one wants to host the show because it’s a thankless job. That article is irrelevant now, except for some prime shade at Neil Patrick Harris. Then reports started appearing that if he can fix scheduling with an upcoming movie, Kevin Hart is the designated host. Hart himself confirmed he got the job on Instagram a couple of hours later. Then almost immediately there was backlash because of homophobic jokes that he had made in the past. He has said in interviews after he was taken to task about the jokes that he won’t make them again.

This will mark Hart’s first time at the helm of the biggest show business awards ceremony, though he has previously hosted ceremonies like the BET Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the MTV Movie and TV Awards. He has been lobbying for the job for many years now. Frankly I have no opinion on Hart as a comedian and host. I have not seen any of his films and the few times I saw him as a presenter on the Oscars he seemed to have lots of energy though most of his jokes were about being short. Hopefully he can find a few other topics for this year’s big show. I think that he is a safe choice for The Academy because he’s both a comedian and a movie star (his movies make money), though definitely more exciting than another late night network star.

Tell us what you think about Hart as Oscar host?