Merry Christmas from The Film Experience!

Happy holidays to you and yours from the Nathaniel and team here at The Film Experience!

We'll be back tomorrow and you'll have way too many gifts to unwrap from December 26th through Oscar night (March 2nd) as we bring you Awards show coverage, Smackdowns (sorry for the wait), the film bitch awards (starting tomorrow!), a dozen more interviews, symposiums, podcasts, and a more detailed investigation of 2013's finest.

2014 coverage will start sooner than you're expecting, too. I want to say a big thank you to the studios advertising here this year: Disney, Paramount and the Weinstein Co. With their support and your subscription dollars (see sidebar) we have a higher budget for 2014 and Michael, Glenn and I will hit the Sundance Film Festival!  So be here daily for all the fun.

If you could have any actress hand-deliver you a gift today, who and what would it be? 

Reviews: Walter Mitty & The Wolf of Wall Street

'Who can keep up during Christmas?' I asked in my column over at Towleroad yesterday and after some mumbling about mystifying release strategies for platforming properties (read it if you can't get enough of me) I got to the heart of the matter with two wide releases.  They are reprinted here with a bit of embroidery to fill out my thoughts...

Click to read more ...

Year in Review: The Bad, The Worse, and the Ugly

I used to make a big fuss over my CINEMATIC SHAME list but this year I'm mostly just feeling the love (see also that "most moving" list share). Nevertheless tradition is tradition, so herewith a few dubious "honors" and outright dismissals from the worst of 2013

WORST MAINSTREAM FILMS
One can avoid a lot of dross if you select your own movies rather than have them assigned to you by an editor. But true terror always finds a way. Let's call this a three way tie. Identity Thief is so stuffed with uncecessary scenes and filler -- the stars don't even meet for half an hour! -- it's practically built to be ignored on cable for decades to come while you putter around your house with your phone in hand and your mind entirely elsewhere -- at least until you notice some bright color combination on Melissa McCarthy and chuckle at a line reading or two before instanteously losing interest again.

Unfortunately there's more. The Counselor, Oblivion, Diana, The Lone Ranger, Jodie Foster and more dishonors after the jump... 

Click to read more ...

Christmas Goodies at the Multiplex

I may have mistaken my latest FYC screener for more chocolate but in my defense American Hustle is yummy. I want to make out with it at the dry cleaners or take it dancing in a slutty dress. I know opinions vary considerably on this one but I'm a sucker for movies which let (multiple) movie stars be sexy and funny and complicated all at once so I'mma watch it again over the holiday break (not that there's ever a break from Oscar blogging)

I used to always go to the movies on Christmas day but lately, it's tougher to convince friends to head to the theater after all the food gorging. They're always like "bring a dvd".

But are you seeing a movie in theaters?

poll by twiigs.com

If not, what's your holiday movie tradition? Do you stay in and cuddle up with TCM? Head to the movies? Do you watch DVDs with friends or navigate complicated 'something for everyone' decisions with family members? I'll keep posting because there is so much to discuss (Wolf of Wall Street review tonight) but if you're offline for the next few days...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

On a final lump of coal note, I'm sad that August: Osage County opted out of its planned Christmas opening. I can't figure why they didn't want to counter-program all the boy movies?

Also they ruined that gif I made earlier in the year by pushing back to Friday but not really arriving until January. Boo. People who really love to see dysfunctional family movies with their dysfunctional families have no other options now!

Merry Link-Mas

Grantland Mark Harris on The Good Wife and Scandal and TV trends in 2013
Variety on that misleading marketing campaign for Frozen and how it paid off. I feared this would happen, not the success but the "our lie worked!" part. I firmly believe that the movie would have been just as successful if they hadn't lied about what it was. Any movie that drops in the low teen percentile from week to week at the box office was going to be a huge smash hit regardless. People love this one and are either returning or telling all their friends that it's great.

Fun 2013 Lists!
The Wire talks the 13 best SNL skits of the year. I rarely watch the show so this all felt new to me!
The Playlist Redbox's most rented titles in 2013 reveal the immense popularity of Melissa McCarthy. I wonder what she's charging now per film?
Junkee Glenn looks at the best of Queer cinema
Towleroad I neglected to share it but I love this 'most powerful coming out stories of the year' and how did I not write about Maria Bello!
The New Yorker's 13 most read posts
Huffington Post Huffpo reviews the year and all the things white people stole from black people from Miley Cyrus twerking to Julianne Hough's Halloween "black face" and dubs this 'the year of cultural appropriation.' Oh, HuffPo, that's EVERY year in our regurgitated pop culture 

And Check This Out...

click to enlarge

The most popular TV show set in each state as determined by Business Insider. Hat tip to i09 for this juicy discovery. A lot of it is just as you'd expect (The Golden Girls for Florida!, Seinfeld for New York!) but others are more surprising or like memory jogs. If you're from the States do you like your state's representative show?