Link, Don't Kill My Vibe

AVClub Ingmar Bergman's Persona (1966) finally comes to Criterion
/Film who is Holly Hunter playing in Batman vs. Superman. Speculation continues
Empire Wither Cate Blanchett post Blue Jasmine. After Carol it looks like The Dig is it, an archeological period piece true story based on the novel by John Preston. Directed by Oscar-winning Susanne Bier (Brothers). Yay!
THR nasty legal battle between an actress who felt coerced into nudity and Cinemax. Wasn't she aware of their nickname "Skinemax"?

Film School Rejects on Drew Goddard and Sinister Six (which groups all of Spider-Man's greatest villains together). FSR are predicting the inevitable collapse of the superhero genre and it certainly does seem like oversaturation is arriving by 2016 or 2017 at the latest with no less three studios fast-tracking multi-film super universes to attempt to compete with Disney/Marvel's gazillion dollar franchise
The Guardian Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reuniting on the bigscreen for The Nest. My best friend still quotes Amy's line from Baby Mama all the time "You don't know my life!"
Variety talks to Roman Polanski about Venus in Fur, his actress wife, and why he won't be retiring 
Playbill Shirley Maclaine joining Glee. Too bad I haven't watched in years but I'm not about to return now. Sorry Shirl, love you!

'Run Away!'
Both of my former arch-enemies have new films on the way 
Empire Daniel Craig suddenly drops out of Renée Zellweger's possible comeback vehicle The Whole Truth, which was supposed to start filming right now. The Zeéeeee is still having trouble getting back out there.
In Contention Hilary Swank has not one but two Oscar plays for 2014: You're Not You (in which she plays a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease) and The Homesman in which she transports crazy women across the States in the western helmed by Tommy Lee Jones. I'd bet on the latter (if not for Swank since the showy roles are probably the crazies) and if You're Not You is any good I'll steel myself for absurd category fraud since it sounds like Emmy Rossum is definitely her co-lead.

Today's Watch
Miss Anne Hathaway returns to us in all her singing starry glory, comically revamping hiphop songs lounge lizard style...

Mickey Rooney (RIP)

I came to the news of Mickey Rooney's passing late due to my offline vacation but it wouldn't be right to not mention it here at the musicals-loving The Film Experience. My first exposure to Mickey Rooney, as far as I remember, was Babes in Arms (1939) for which he was Oscar nominated at 19. I think my parents took us to see it at an awesome revival house in Detroit. Tweens and teenagers, who always fear being uncool, aren't supposed to love old black and white movies made many decades before they were born but cinephiles and/or musical-fanatics are a different breed and I had no shame whatsoever about seeking them out. [More...]

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"Poor Ivy”: August: Osage County’s Underappreciated MVP

Here's Andrew to celebrate the release of last year's embattled August: Osage County newly arrived on DVD. Significant spoilers ahead.

Each year there's at least one film which wins middling to good reviews and manages Oscar nods but is promptly forgotten as soon as it's released. August: Osage County was 2013's victim of that unfortunate annual tradition. Sure, it earned those two acting nominations it seemed assured early on but no one was particularly interested in talking about any aspect of August: Osage County, but for its Oscar belly-flop elsewhere and the Oscar queen at the centre. Perhaps, it was an automated response to Meryl Streep usually being at the centre of films with little else to offer than her star turn (The Iron Lady, Julie & Julia, Music of the Heart, etcetera). It's a shame because the former awards’ hopeful had so much more to celebrate than just the fire-breathing matriarch in the middle.

The strongest asset was undoubtedly that excellent cast. Aside from Streep and Roberts, only a few players picked up significant praise and even then the one most deserving was the one afforded hardly any attention: Julianne Nicholson as middle-child Ivy.

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ICYMI, Which *I* Did

Hello my beautiful cinephiles. Nathaniel, back from my rejuvenating weekend. It's possible that you haven't missed me since the team has been doing a great job but I missed you. 

For my annual post-Oscar getaway I took my first cruise. On the left you'll see me finishing up some cherry & umbrella accented cocktail. That said I wasn't very boozy at all because cruises are cheap but they find other ways to charge you (aka alcohol). I brought no internet screens because cruises are cheap but they  find other ways to charge you (aka wi-fi at 75¢ a minute!). The break was good for my eyes and soul so I'm excited to talk movies again (where do we even start?). The break was not, however, good for my skin; I am an unholy mess of three colors (blinding white, near-bronze, and cherry red) because I am not accustomed to sunlight. Sunscreen is, as ever, an imperfect science when applied by human hands. Right before I left Florida I caught a brief bit of news that they were expanding their insane "stand your ground" law rather than repealing it as they should so it's a good thing I made it out alive. (Florida's politicians and electorate seem determined to remake Florida in the image of a lawless saloon in a Western with gunfights at every plot point. Shameful.)

If you've been elsewhere like me, catch up as I just did on the week's offerings...

The Great Beauty an Oscar-winning sensory experience from the Criterion Collection
One From the Heart and Dracula - Celebrate Francis Ford Coppola's 75th
Heath Ledger would have been 35 this year. What might have been?
Michelle Williams on Broadway in the Sally Bowles role in the revival of Cabaret
Jezebel and Bringing Up Baby - revisiting two Old Hollywood classics 

Divisive Listings
10 Greatest Working Cinematographers - our opinionated team chose two consensus giants (Lubezki & Deakins) up top, but the other eight are more surprising. It's interesting how few of them have won an Oscar, right?
Many Faces of Jude Law - more a chameleon than he's given credit for but people never seem to agree about him... 

And finally...
Things were super. Marvel's patriotic hero Captain America was a consistent talking point in review, the greater context of the Marvel Universe (how many have you seen?), and the box office where he unsurprisingly reigned. Scarlett Johansson is bereft of actual superpowers as The Black Widow but she makes up for that in the Lucy trailer. 

Top Ten: Lars Von Trier's Actors

Jose here with your weekly top ten.

Visionary. Lunatic. Nazi. Enfant terrible. Misogynist. Genius. Poseur.

Lars Von Trier is called so many things that we often forget that he's a terrific director of actors. With his strange sense of humor and world views, his films are often as alienating as they are enlightening, but actors seem to die to work for him. He's led three of his actresses to wins at the Cannes Film Festival and has injected new life into the careers of actors like Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe and now Uma Thurman. Whether you're a fan of his films or not, his contributions to directing actors are incomparable. Now that both of his Nymphomaniac volumes are out in theaters (reviewed), it's a great time to look back

Ten Best Performance in Lars von Trier Films
(after the jump)

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