The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Rebel Wilson recently took to Instagram to reveal the title of her latest film, The Hustle. Originally named Nasty Women, this female-led remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will star Wilson and Anne Hathaway as two con-women who team up to scam a tech billionaire (Alex Sharp) out of all his money.
Originally slated for an August release, Wilson also declared that The Hustle will be out early on June 29, writing:
Get ready for this beaut... The CON is ON xx
This Chris Addison directed comedy has so much potential to be a summer hit, but we're still buzzing with questions: Will Hathaway and Wilson have chemistry? Will the material feel fresh? And perhaps most importantly, will this inspire another stage musical adaptation?
Screen • Forbes a theory as to how network TV could survive the exodus of both Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy • Film InkLady Bird was forced to make cuts and dub dialogue to get an M rating in Australia (essentially our PG13). That Playgirl magazine scene really upset the board that much? Ugh. I guess puritanism isn't only for Americans. • /Film The Duplass Brothers have signed a four film deal with Netflix. This makes so much innate sense to me because their work always felt very televisual. •/FilmBond 25 is taking an awfully long time to come together. Danny Boyle and the screenplay still aren't even done deals • Pajiba Disney's upcoming streaming service and the possibility of more Muppets • Decider Joe Reid reveals his obsession with To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar
Black Panther Mania • The Atlantic "The Tragedy of Erik Killmonger" • Shadow and Act Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan's next project together, their fourth, is Wrong Answer a true story about an education system scandal. • MCN David Poland persuasively argues which ways Black Panther will change things in Hollywood and which ways it won't • Coming Soon Lupita Nyong'o will costar in Born a Crime, based on the memoir about the childhood of The Daily Show's Trevor Noah. She'll play his mother
Off Cinema • Playbill watch highlights from a reunion concert of Thoroughly Modern Millie starring Sutton Foster and Gavin Creel -when is someone going to give Sutton a movie musical. She's great on camera (see Bunheads and Younger) and a bonafide Broadway star. • The New Yorker a thought-provoking piece on the official Obama portraits in case you missed it • W Mag Greta Gerwig directs Florence Welsh in a photoshoot • W Mag Jordan Peele directs Janelle Monae in a Hitchcock inspired photoshoot • W Mag Luca Guadagnino directs two models in a desert photoshoot • Playbill Santino Fontana (Crazy Ex Girlfriend!) taking over for Gavin Creel in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway. Apparently Gavin Creel is having back surgery? Ouch.
Exit Video Keala Settle and Pasek & Paul are all still out there campaigning for The Greatest Showman's Original Song. Pasek & Paul were just interviewed by Variety and Settle just performed "This Is Me" this time on Ellen. I love this song even though you hate it. Sorry not sorry.
That said, I still haven't decided if it's going to win Pasek & Paul a consecutive Oscar (they won last year for "City of Stars") or if Oscar voters will be more partial to honoring Mary J Blige (given the Mudbound fanbase and her double nomination) or if Coco will mean more to voters than just the mandatory check mark for Best Animated Feature.
Thoughts? Sing your Original Song prediction in the comments.
Did you see Jennifer Lawrence's jaw-dropping Versace at the London photocall for Red Sparrow? Apparently when the photo came out social media erupted, articles were written, etcetera (somehow I personally missed this but blink-and-you'll-miss-a-controversy). People were outraged on her behalf about the sexualization of women while the men stay dressed and all that (we've seen a million examples of this happening so it's easy for all the very dumb to spot now). Some of the people who called it out did have a good sense of humor about it -- suggesting that Jeremy Irons wear assless chaps? Hee!
(But, you know, he probably would if you asked him. He hasn't actually been shy about his own beauty onscreen. Look it up.)
Still instant outrage is usually problematic. The world's highest paid female movie star is pissed that people made a big deal of it, writing on her facebook account...
For your infotainment the Oscar presenters named thus far and our theories as to why they were invited. We don't need to mention diversity because that would probably read snarky when we don't mean it that way at all; we're thrilled Hollywood is making an effort! So we'll name the other possible reasons for the names. Presumably these choices are agonized over and debated at length behind the scenes since they're always so carefully representative of a wide range of celebrities appealing to all kinds of mainstream moviegoers from kids to grandparents to sophisticated cultural mavens to soccer moms. Etcetera.
Just about the only audience they don't cater to on the regular, probably because they'll watch anyway, are cinephiles and Old Hollywood loving film buffs. The Oscar producers often do a very crappy job of that (especially given how many elderly showbiz legends are still alive! I mean come on give us some Poitier, Lansbury, Rowlands, Connery, Redford, Belafonte, or Andrews or something). It's always a welcome shock when they actually do think about their rich industry history and throw us a Kim Novak for example.
Seán McGovern's continued reporting from the Berlin International Film Festival. Click back to part one if you missed it the opening film "Isle of Dogs". Here are notes on four more films playing at Berlinale 2018.
Shakedown (dir. Leilah Weinraub, 2018) This slightly chaotic documentary charting the history of a Los Angeles lesbian dance club in the early Aughts is dope-tempered and energetic. Leilah Weinraub's confident and assured filmmaking features several years of footage of Shakedown's nights – the women who performed and the women who watched. There are plenty of anthropological documentaries about queer subcultures, but Weinraub's doc is anything but...
Thursday, February 22, 2018 at 2:28PM ;)
