August. It's a Wrap

Fall Film Season is here, guys and gals! It's finally here. So we'll start saying goodbye to summer, since Telluride, Venice, and TIFF are kicking off to make those newly updated Oscar charts potentially irrelevant. Here's a quick review of highlights from the dog days of summer. 

Ten Highlights
• BlacKkKlansman - Review
• West Side Story - a tag team retrospective
• Suspiria - are you excited for the remake?
• Blueprints: The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - were you hooked with the pilot?
• Crazy Rich Asians Podcast plus Glenn Close 
• The Wife - Nathaniel's poster blurb
• We the Animals - director interview
• Sharp Objects - the shocking series finale
• Cabaret - a tag team retrospective
• Beauty Break: John Cho - will Searching convince Hollywood?

Six Most Discussed Articles
• New Academy Category = Catastrophe - ARGH
• Oscar's Ten All Time Fav Supporting Actresses - from Amy to Thelma
• Oscar's Ten All Time Fav Supporting Actors - from Tommy Lee to Jack
• Oscar Myth-Busting - The Academy Doesn't... no they DO like popular films
• The Devil Wears Prada -Months of Meryl hits a reinvention peak
• 60 Reasons to Love Madonna - for Cinephiles

COMING IN SEPTEMBER
Joaquin and John are gunning for Jake and Riz in The Sisters Brothers, Emma Thompson returns in The Children Act, Blake Lively asks for A Simple Favor. On DVD and Blu-Ray we'll have a chance to check (back) in with Oceans 8, Hereditary, Hot Summer Nights, and Won't You Be My Neighbor? Nathaniel and Chris will be hitting Toronto for daily reports on that wonderful jam-packed film festival of foreign pleasures and Oscar hopefuls. And the month will end with the 1972 Supporting Actress Smackdown (sorry for the delay but now you have more time to watch all five movies).

Roma, A Star is Born, The Favourite... Will anything flop this festival season?

by Nathaniel R

So far so good for all the expected Oscar favorites. The First Man won (mostly) raves and the next three big premieres also did. Alfonso Cuaron's Spanish language black-and-white family epic Roma, Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga, Yorgos Lanthimos' comedy The Favourite with three great actresses... everyone seems to love everything! Are they all suffering from "first!" blurb whore fever or will the next wave of critics (coming soon at Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF) also fall so hard for these same pictures?

I don't personally read reviews before I see a picture (though sometimes I skim them) but if you do, here's what people are saying about these Best Picture hopefuls...

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Posterized: Glenn Close

by Nathaniel R

Glenn at the UK premiere of The Wife earlier this monthWith The Wife expanding to 78 movie theaters today, more of you will now have the chance to see the performance that's won Glenn Close so many raves. So let's consider this weekend the kick-off to what we hope will be a competitive but satisfying Best Actress race since Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) and Emma Stone (The Favourite) are in the process of making big splashes at Venice as we type this. To celebrate the Oscar campaign for Glenn Close, let's look back on her filmography, shall we? Balder & Dash beat us to a very fine essay about her whole career and we're glad they did because plans to do a whole Glenn Close Week here failed; weirdly  I discovered that a lot of members of Team Experience are agnostic about her! I have had an up and down relationship with this Connecticut-born Oscar favorite, myself, but I am most definitely not agnostic about her performance in The Wife. I think it's the best she's been in 20 years and I'm thrilled (and surprised) to be quoted on the poster for the movie.

Here is her entire feature film career via movie posters. We've mixed in a few key TV projects so that this will feel more comprehensive, since Close has spent major time there, as well. How many of these 51 Glenn Close performances have you seen?

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Venice: Think Pink!

by Nathaniel R

The stylists have (apparently) decreed it. All stars must wear pink or pinkish reds whilst attending the 75th annual Venice Film Festival this year. Lady Gaga has arrived, continuing and perfecting the trend. Her full gown after the jump plus more pink fashion from other beauties. Even the men have joined in...

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Happy Alan Jay Lerner Centennial!

by Nathaniel R

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Jay Lerner, one of the most crucial figures in the American songbook. The lyricist, librettist, and screenwriter was born in New York City. That's where he first made his mark, too, on Broadway with his first big hit Brigadoon in 1947. Soon he went Hollywood, working on original movie musicals as well as transfers of his famous work from the stage, and garnering 7 Oscar nominations and 3 wins (for his screenplays to Gigi and An American in Paris, and songwriting for"Gigi"). His career ended with The Little Prince (1974) but at the time of his death in 1986 he was working on a musical adaptation of My Man Godfrey and had started work on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, though his only efforts are in the song "Masquerade" (uncredited).

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to moderate a screening of My Fair Lady (1964) and my guest was Amy Asch who co-edited/annotated the book you see to your left here. So for fun today I thought I'd share a handful of favorite lyrics from his vast repertoire. 

You can sing along as you read...

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