TV @ the Movies: "The Americans"

NEW SERIES! Since our eyes always flash and a smile spreads when a movie is referenced on a tv show we're watching, we've decided to make it a habit to share these cross-platform romances with you. Whenever we see one worth discussing, we'll share it. To kick things off, here's Andrew binge-watching The Americans...

The Americans follows the machinations of two KGB spies living in the US posing as Americans in the early 1980s during The Cold War. Like Mad Men (the genesis of The Film Experience’s TV at the Movies love affair), the show does some impressive things when playing with the period, while never going overboard. Key cultural references from television to film to music (a significant scene was set to Yaz’s “Only You”. Remember Yaz?)

This movie moment from “Stingers” (S3E10, a series best from the show) is too good to pass up...

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Review: Pixels

Tim here. There's a good movie to be made out of Pixels, and it would be the easiest thing in the world to get there. First, keep all of the visual effects setpieces from the movie as it exists, for they are surprisingly beautiful and convincing considering how much lower the film's budget than the usual summer tentpole. Second, make exactly the opposite choices that the filmmakers actually did, because there's literally not one thing about the plot, characters, tone, morality, or basic comprehensibility about Pixels in this form that works.

The film began life in 2010 as a lovely little conceptual short by French filmmaker Patrick Jean (which you can watch here, and have a far more enjoyable 2.5 minutes than anything in the lugubrious 105 minutes of the feature), whence it was almost immediately nabbed by Adam Sandler, who wanted to transform it into a feature. And that's really sad, because of all the changes that would have clearly benefit Pixels at some stage in its development "don't make it an Adam Sandler vehicle" is unquestionably at the top of the list. [More...]

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Remember When... (via Australia)

...Heath Ledger (sniffle) and Naomi Watts were a thing? 

at the premiere of The Ring (2002)

Aussie movie stars really have been ubiquitous for a long time. Though there were important actors before our contemporary time that hailed from the land down under (Erroll Flynn, Judith Anderson, Coral Browne to name a few), the Australian takeover really began in the mid-80s when, in the space of just a few years (1983-1986), Mel Gibson ascended, Bryan Brown had a mega TV hit, Judy Davis snagged a surprise Oscar nomination and Paul Hogan wrote and starred in his own blockbuster. Australian actors have only become more ubiquitous since with more of them coming to prominence each decade.

*Oscar nominated (or winner)

1980s: Mel Gibson*, Paul Hogan*, Judy Davis*, Bryan Brown
1990s: Nicole Kidman*, Toni Collette*, Russell Crowe*, Rachel Griffiths*, Geoffrey Rush*, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Anthony LaPaglia
2000s: Cate Blanchett*, Hugh Jackman*, Naomi Watts*, Heath Ledger*, Eric Bana, Abbie Cornish, Ryan Kwanten, Isla Fisher, Simon Baker
2010s: Jacki Weaver*, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Rose Byrne, Jason Clarke, Chris Hemsworth, Joel Edgerton, Sam Worthington, Ben Mendelsohn, Mia Wasikowska, Liam Hemsworth. If you include New Zealanders in the mix (Lynskey, Neill, Paquin, Lawless, Urban) it's even more crowded! 

Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson on the set of The Year of Living Dangerously -released in 1983, the year the Aussie invasion truly began

Who is next? Besides Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby) and Sarah Snook (The Dressmaker)... anyone have any suspicions about the next wave?

Curio: Evanimals

Alexa here. I was thrilled to see the announcement today that Evan Yarbrough is having his own solo show at Gallery 1988.  I've posted about Evan's prints before; among other things, he specializes in letterpress portraits of pop culture animals (hence his Twitter handle).   The show continues this theme, and opens this Friday.

Evan has been offering some tantalizing sneak peaks on his Intagram, making for a fun game of guess-the-film... After the jump, some peeks at a few 'Evanimals'. Which do you recognize?

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TIFF Galas Announced

Backstage I'm trying not to panic as I've lost my lodging in Toronto (damn you stranger who cancelled my airbnb!) and so many places are already full. But as I try not to panic and calmly search for other places to crash, TIFF has announced their gala and special presentation programs. "Even if you have to sleep in the street, Nathaniel," they taunt me with this fatefully timed announcement, "you'll still want to come."*

(The initial list of films is rarely fully complete one but here's the bulk of what they'll be premiering)

GALA PRESENTATIONS
These ones get the full red carpet premiere treatment

Jake Gyllenhaal in "Demolition"

• Beeba Boys (Deepa Mehta, Canada)
• Demolition (Jean-Marc Vallée, USA) starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an investment banker who can't deal with his grief and starts destroying things. 
• The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia) starring Kate Winslet
• Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood, UK) starring Helen Mirren & Aaron Paul
• Hyena Road (Paul Gross, Canada) 
• Forsaken (Jon Cassar, Canada) father and son Don & Kiefer Sutherland star
• Freeheld (Peter Sollett, USA) starring Julianne Moore & Ellen Page
• Legend (Brian Helgeland, UK) starring Tom Hardy as the twin Kray brothers
• Lolo (Julie Delpy, France) Julie Delpy still doing everything for herself! 
• The Man Who Knew Infinity (Matthew Brown, UK) starring Dev Patel & Jeremy Irons

• The Martian (Ridley Scott, USA) starring Matt Damon
• The Program (Stephen Frears, UK) starring Ben Foster
• Remember (Atom Egoyan, Canada) starring Christopher Plummer
• Septembers of Shiraz (Wayne Blair, USA) starring Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek about a jewish family during the 1979 Iranian Revolution
• Stonewall (Roland Emmerich, USA) on the 1969 riots 

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Leading filmmakers in some cases. But in some cases they may have played elsewhere but they're still billed as premieres of some kind (North-America premiere or what have you)

Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl are trapped during a Chilean coup in 1973 (Colonia)

• Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) oooh, it's stop motion animation from Kaufman
• Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga) before its Netflix premiere I guess
• Black Mass (Scott Cooper, USA) starring Johnny Depp
• Brooklyn (John Crowley, UK) reviewed at Sundance
• The Club (Pablo Larraín)
• Colonia (Florian Gallenberger, Germany) starring Emma Watson & Daniel Brühl
• The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, UK) starring Eddie Redmayne & Alicia Vikander
• The Daughter (Simon Stone, Australia)
• Deephan (Jacques Audiard, France) the Palme D'Or winner this year
• Desierto (Jonás Cuarón)
• Families (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, France) starring Mathieu Amalric

Jason and Nicole are grown siblings moving back in with their eccentric parents (THE FAMILY FANG)

• The Family Fang (Jason Bateman, USA) starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman
• Guilty (Meghna Gulzar, India) starring Irrfan Khan
• The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad, UK/Palestine)
• I Smile Back (Adam Salky) starring Sarah Silverman, played at Sundance
• The Lady in the Van (Nicolas Hytner, USA) starring Maggie Smith
• Len and Company (Tim Godsall, USA) starring Rhys Ifans
• The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) premiered at Cannes
• Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
• Maggie's Plan (Rebecca Miller) starring Greta Gerwig, Julianne Moore & Ethan Hawke
• Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhang-ke, China)
• Office (Johnnie To, China/HongKong) starring Chow Yun Fat
• Parched (Leena Yadav, UK)

Brie Larson in ROOM (and Short Term 12 proved she's great onscreen with child actors)

• Room (Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland/Canada) starring Brie Larson 
• Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) starring Emily Blunt
• Son of Saul (László Nemes, Hungary) Hungary's Oscar submission. Premiered at Cannes
• Spotlight (Tom McCarthy
• Summertime (Catherine Corsini, France)
• Sunset Song (Terence Davies) 
• Trumbo (Jay Roach, USA) starring Bryan Cranston & Helen Mirren in a Hollywood blacklist drama
• Un Plus Une (Claude Lelouch, France) starring Jean Dujardin
• Victoria (Sebastian Schipper, Germany) previously discussed by our German correspondent
• Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA) 
• Youth (Paolo Sorrentino) the Cannes hit

Which movies are you most curious to read about?