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.)
As you surely know by now the Academy held the annual Governor's Awards last night honoring directors Agnes Varda and Charles Burnett, actors Donald Sutherland, and cinematographer Owen Roizman who we've been celebrating here on the blog this past week. The giddiest moment was surely Angelina Jolie and Agnes Varda doing a little dance when the Mother of the French New Wave was presented with her statue, complete with spins and everything.
As something of a surprise to yours truly (did I miss a press release somewhere?) they also honored director Alejandro González Iñárritu with a special Oscar for an experimental VR project...
Time for another edition of our fantasy life instagram game (with a few tweets we couldn't pass up thrown in). The circles we all travel in (virtually) these days! So, would you rather:
... proofread Agnes Varda's Honorary Oscar speech while she naps? ... design lingerie with Megan Fox? ... contemplate the newly chilly weather with Jharrel Jerome from Moonlight? ... look at baby photos with Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan? ... hang out with Rebel Wilson & Anne Hathaway on the set of Nasty Women? ... model perfect jackets with Taika Waititi? ... indulge in a plushy moment with Jesse Bradford? ... hike and rock-hunt with Goldie Hawn? ... get your hair did with Jennifer Ehle? ... do some Mission Impossible stunts with Henry Cavill in glorious Norway? ... sing with Chris Evans' dog? ... or walk an impromptu runway with DJ Lina Bradford and the legendary Candis Cayne?
Audrey Hepburn giving King Vidor his HonoraryThe Honorary Oscars, which will be given out again tonight to a very deserving quartet (Donald Sutherland, Owen Roizman, Agnes Varda, and Charles Burnett), have always been a curious and quite arbitary distinction. Like competitive Oscars the timing has to be just right. You have to be on people's minds. You have to have a cheerleading section in the right places within the Academy. You mostly have to be of a certain age (so if you die before you're 75 or so, forget about it!). Curiously, though, you don't have to be overdue having lost a bunch of previous Oscars. This year's recipients fit into the tradition of "overdue because they've been under-honored" but this is not always the case. The Honorary Oscars, even since the beginning have often gone to people who've won competitive statues. That's a strange thing, if you ask us, since shouldn't the point be to cover your bases? Quite a few great stars who have never been the single best in any particular year so the Honorary is a perfect way to honor them. At the very least it's a better way to honor them than a competitive statue in a year where they don't really deserve one (and that's happened so often!)
At the 1978 Oscars the 111th through 114th Honorary Oscars were handed out and they illustrate this confusion as to the award's purpose...
Tonight Tiffany Haddish will be hosting Saturday Night Live in what some are hoping will be the beginning of a Best Supporting Actress campaign for her breakthrough role in Girls Trip. While it’s been unclear if the studio would be campaigning her, Haddish deserves the kind of groundswell effort that makes awards groups take notice.
How likely are her chances? Melissa McCarthy’s Bridesmaids nomination has been the obvious comparison, at least in terms of recent Oscar history - summer hit, female ensemble comedy, a presumptive “unlikely” narrative. But in her performance I see much more than that. To this viewer, she recalls the hilariously warped pathos of Madeline Kahn, the lovability of Octavia Spencer, and the imposing confidence of Rita Moreno. That’s high praise for sure, but gets at the full spectrum of her work that I’d wager hasn’t been fully explored...
Salon Sandra Bullock to play Texas senator Wendy Davis, who famously filibustered an anti-abortion bill for 12 hours. Oscar #2? Variety interviews actor/playwright Tracy Letts who is really having a good year you must admit. Lady Bird is a hit in theaters and his new play just opened in Chicago Hollywood Reporter has a good interview with Steven Soderbergh Instagram Lupita Nyong'o loves her natural hair and is upset with a magazine for airbrushing it away Variety Replacing Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World is going to cost at least 2.5 million MNPP Do Dump or Marry: Thor Ragnarok edition
Stage Deadline this is a surprise the Tony Awards have declared the recent production of "1984" ineligible for prizes. They have not stated why exactly. Playbill reviews are in for Broadway's new musical The Band's Visit, based on the Ronit Elkabetz film of the same name if you remember that one Theater Mania photos of Kelli O'Hara and Patrick Wilson rehearsing for Brigadoon. Hope it's swoon-worthy Playbill Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) joining Kinky Boots on Broadway next year. Damn, I guess I'll have to see it a third time
Harassment Epidemic Updates AV Club on Hollywood's long overdue moral reckoning New Yorker Emily Nussbaum has a terrific piece on Louis CK's comedy through the lens of recent allegations New York Times Louis CK has confessed to the claims against him "These stories are true" Medium Actor Anthony Edwards has come forward to say he was molested by a producer when he was underage Guardian Ellen Page has detailed homophobic remarks director Brett Rattner made to her during the production of X-Men: Last Stand Washington Post showing their utter depravity GOP officials are now citing the bible to justify Roy Moore's sexual assault on an underage girl. And just think, last month they were slamming Hollywood for its depravity with Harvey Weinstein.
Oscar Campaigns Heat Up Awards Daily Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) to receive Rising Star award at Palm Springs Variety Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) to receive Vanguard award at Santa Barbara
And cheeky Meryl Streep met with Anna Wintour (who she sent up in her Oscar worthy work in Devil Wears Prada) to promote her new star vehicle The Post
Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 10:55AM 
Varda & Jolie dancing
