Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 11:59PM 
A Scene From PRISONERS (2013)
It's David Dastmalchian! Perhaps you don't know his name yet but you probably know his face (The Dark Knight, Prisoners, TV guest spots and two movies this summer: Marvel's Ant-Man and the SXSW sensation Animals). He'll be here in a week or so taking over the blog for a day.
Please welcome this rising actor! Got any questions?
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 9:45PM MNPP reminds us that today is the 15th anniversary of American Psycho, Mary Harron's masterpiece. True story: I used to get her confused with Mary Lambert as if the same person made Madonna's "Like a Virgin" Hee!
WOW was Dennis Quaid losing his shit on a film set real or staged?
MTV Which Avenger deserves a solo film most? The answer is obvious and Joss Whedon knows it. Weird that Marvel doesn't
i09 the real reason we didn't get a third solo Hulk film has been unveiled
Comics Alliance the Avengers playing Family Feud on Jimmy Kimmel.
Awards Daily Director Michelle McLaren has left the Wonder Woman picture
Variety revisits the Sony Hack (remember that? seems so long ago) and the minefield of legal questions its opened up
I'm sorry there's so much superhero bizness lately but that's all the news feed is ever offering up of late
Biggest Tease
Josh Gad says he can't wait for you to "Be Our Guest"... yep, it's the cast of Beauty & The Beast (2016). Or some of them at least.
Is that Luke Evan with the suddenly pointy twink hair? If so he looks so different with shorter hair. No Audra McDonald (Wardrobe) or Emma Thompson (Mrs Potts) in this photo though. Grrrrr
Earth's Mightiest Illustration
Love this. Well done Stephen Byrne
Earth's Mightiest Hipsters #AgeOfUltron pic.twitter.com/BoMck8j61y
— Stephen Byrne (@StephenByrne86) April 14, 2015
On The Political/Theatrical Stage
BuzzFeed points out the delightful Hillary Clinton 404 page
MNPP as if those of us with tickets to this summer's Little Shop of Horrors event weren't excited enough. Jake Gyllenhaal is announced as Seymour!
Dissolve Magic Mike franchise may be heading to the stage next
New Hedwig <-- this is my favorite reaction to the first image of Darren Criss as Hedwig.
Small Screen
Must Love Movies the story of Daredevil's opening credit sequence.
The Playlist Cary Fukunaga doing The Alienist as TV miniseries. That book freaked my shit out back when it was a best seller but I am sad that we've lost Fukunaga (Sin Nombre, Jane Eyre) to the overworked land of the serial killer procedurals. Did he really need to do another after True Detective? David Fincher isn't likely to be dethroned as king of the genre so let's have some other genres for our talented rising auteurs!
Pajiba shares the VERY welcome news that Katee Sackhoff is taking her career into her own hands by creating her own series since Hollywood is far too stupid to notice her gargantuan charisma. It's called Rain and its sci-fi.
Madonna Screen (aka Nathaniel's Brain)
The Daily Beast surveys the rampant bald ageism and sexism that's greeting Madonna's every move this past week or two. It's all become very Freudian with the world's collective fear of 'all consuming female sexuality.'
Watch What Happens Live Andy Cohen invites Sandra Bernhard to watch the latest Madonna video "Ghosttown" (previously discussed) and it is a joy... especially when she sees Terrence Howard cooking beans and hunting Madonna with a rifle.
He's going to barbecue the bitch!
...Get me a rib. Get me a meaty rib"
LOL. Also on my 130th view I was looking around Madonna's beautifully lit apartment (with dirty mattress) and realized that we'll still have electricity after the apocalypse! Whew, that's a relief
Exit Video
This made me laugh so hard that I now feel bad about myself. Apologies world, I am terrible. (P.S. I'm really hoping Trixie Mattel is the queen that RuPaul brings back that shashayed away too early on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race)
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 4:00PM 
A 75th Anniversary Special
Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture winner Rebecca (1940), based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, is 75 years old this month. To celebrate, Team Experience is experimenting with something entirely new: a baton pass viewing of sorts. We don't even know how it will turn out so we hope you'll stick with it and enjoy. Five of us will be watching Rebecca in shifts. So we each get about 26 minutes of it to write about. As your host, Nathaniel, it's my duty to start running when the gun goes off. In this case perhaps lighting an Olympic flame and starting to jog is a more fitting analogy?
Flames... Breathing.... on the side of Mrs Danvers face...
Part 1. By Nathaniel
00:01 How I do love the MGM Lion roar. First some loud David O. Selznick fanfare in the form of a title card and then a Selznick pictures tag and later another Selznick credit. Guess who's paying the bills? And then a silhouette of trees, which hey, Isn't that how GWTW's title cards begin, too? Bragging much, Selznick?
Opening credits in old movies are always over so quickly. This one names only 35 people, and 5 of them are the writers. Can you imagine?
35 names wouldn't even cover the visual effects department credits on a remake of Rebecca from the fire sequence alone (this sentence was not intended to give Hollywood any ideas). Once Pandora's Box of Credits was unlocked, credits got longer and longer.
02:00 We begin on wrought-iron gates with one of the most famous of opening movie lines.
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
(Something no one ever said about Lars von Trier's Manderlay.)
In her dream state opening monologue our protagonist (Joan Fontaine's Mrs de Winter) mentions the supernatural. She drifts like a spirit through those gates, winding through fog and trees until she conjures up a silhouette of Manderley, "secretive and silent," which is just as well because the lies begin immediately thereafter. She tells us that "Time could not mar the perfect symmetry of those walls" but that's the end of any notion of immortality. More...
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 3:01PM Sebastian here, reporting some non-news that could turn out to be big news for a staple of Sunday night television.
What's on TV? Maybe not them.
The Simpsons has been on the air for over a quarter century, longer than any other U.S. primetime television series.* But every streak has to come to an end at some point, and it's possible that the end may come as soon as this fall.
As of right now, there has not been official word from Fox about a renewel of the show past the already ordered 22 episodes of the current production run. 15 of those will have aired by May 17, the end of The Simpsons' 26th broadcast season. That leaves seven episodes for a 27th season, and uncertainty after that.
How likely is cancellation? Website Dead Homer Society gives this analysis:
These negotiations have gone down to the wire several times over the (sigh) decades, and they always find a way to pull through because everyone involved keeps making money that way. Yes, the ratings get lower every year, but that’s true for network teevee in general; and for all its many (many) problems, Zombie Simpsons is still strong among the youthful demographics that advertisers pay top dollar to reach.
But that was a week ago. Last night, Erika Isabel Verga, on The Simpsons' animation staff since 2006, tweeted:
That moment when a director goes around saying good-bye to the remaining crew saying "See you next season, if there is one..." #TheSimpsons
— Erika Isabel Vega (@eiVega) April 14, 2015
Wether they get cancelled tomorrow or continue to run for another 30 years, The Simpsons have without a doubt earned their place in the pantheon of popular entertainment. For the sake of the many hard-working artists employed by the show, let's hope there will be certainty on this matter soon.
*) This post originally stated that "The Simpsons has been on the air longer than any other scripted television series in the history of the medium," which is not true.
TV, The Simpsons, Twitter, comedy Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 11:15AM Previously: Episodes 1 and 2 and 3 and 4...
In the next three episodes the tension really escalates as Fisk starts taking down his own accomplices and Matthew's life gets far more crowded with thorny alliances.
Great moments in set decoration. Check that anonymity pledge behind Daredevil's altar ego Matthew Murdock
1.5 "World on Fire"
An extremely busy and successful episode: Claire & Murdock get closer holed up in his apartment and then suddenly further apart. Fisk & Vanessa get closer on a second date. Daredevil realizes he's been framed for last episode's beheading. Nelson & Murdoch get a client asking them to fight their slum lord and Fisk moves against the Russians with things-go-boom devastation.
Major Characters Introduced: Elena Cardenes (Judith Delgado) the client in question. Marci Stahl (Ami Rutberg) Foggy's ex and a rival lawyer.
Crimes: Suicide Bombings, Mass Murder, Accidental Murder, Slum Lord Intimidation and Neglect, Police Brutality
Body Count: 5 blind Asians? 100 or so Russians? Guessing.
Cameo: Fun shout-out to superhero tropes: 'are you one of those billionaire playboys I've heard about'
More...
