Pixie Sticks and Cap'n Crunch. Holla.

It's Back to School Month at TFE

Hello, lovelies. Beau here, fixating on a tiny moment from one of my favorite films.

John Hughes was a Godsend to me growing up. From the ages of 14 through 17, hardly a weekend went by where I wasn't revisiting one of his key entries over the span of a twenty year career. These viewings alternated between Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club. It's remarkable to me that we've managed to survive over ten years of remakes and rehashes, and no one has dared  touch any of his material.

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Queer or "Queer": Newfest hits New York City

Glenn here discussing queer cinema. Or should I say “queer cinema”? The term has kind of lost its meaning these days where those words are used to describe anything with homosexuality at its core. Gone are the days of directors like Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes and Tom Kalin making confronting, even angry films about sexuality that were heralded under the banner of “New Queer Cinema”. As I discussed just last week, there appears to be less of a need for that type of transgressive filmmaking anymore in our culture (although I’d certainly take it over some of the films discussed below) so if society’s going to change then I guess cinema has to change with it. 

Beginning tomorrow in New York City is Newfest, the city's “premier LGBT film festival”. Just as an aside, wasn’t one of Gayby’s (mini-reviewed here) best jokes the one about the ever-expanding acronyms of gay culture? I think it was. Anyway, let’s take a look at a selection of titles screening for local audiences and which may be arriving at a queer film festival near you over the next 12 months (if not already). 

James Franco, Elizabeth Taylor (er) and Terrence Malick (umm) after the jump...

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Gods, Monsters, and Master Detectives

JA from MNPP here - want to feel old? Well here ya go - in two months time Bill Condon's Gods & Monsters is turning 15 years old. Fifteen! Some of you were probably barely even born, but I was in college working at the local movie-house and man, that movie bowled me over. It's easily my favorite thing that Condon's ever done, but then it was about movies, monsters, and prime Brendan Fraser's towel half falling off while he wore a gas mask, so it was pretty much made just for me. And remember how McKellen brought a hot young thing as his date to the Oscars? McKellen totally should have won the statue that year though. (Let us not speak of who did.)

Anyway I bring up G&M for a reason - McKellen and Condon are set to reunite finally! Next year they're going to make A Slight Trick of the Mind, which is an adaptation of a 2006 Sherlock Holmes book written by Mitch Cullin. It's about a long retired Sherlock who gets pulled back into a mystery that he'd never been able to solve. Have any of you read it? This will be Condon's follow-up to The Fifth Estate, the Cumberbatch-starring bio-pic of Julian Assange hitting this Fall.

Back "2" School Again!

Dancin' Dan here to welcome you all to 'Back To School' Month at The Film Experience! We'll be sharing our favorite moments from cinema's schools all month.

Has there been a better back-to-school anthem than the opening number of Grease 2? I just love it.

Of course, it was always my fantasy to return to high school on the first day back from summer break and have the entire student body descend upon the front doors with a crazily-choreographed, flawlessly-danced production number, but that's just me. I mostly just settled for a snazzy outfit instead. Usually with a bow tie.

Any fond memories of the first day of school you'd like to share?

Interview: Brie Larson Does Not Want Her Own Reality Show

Short Term 12 opens in 9 more cities this Friday and 30+ more the following week. Time to talk to its star Brie Larson.

This is not going to be one of those interviews where I describe what the actress is wearing. This is not going to be one of those interviews where I talk about what the actress was eating. This is not the kind of interview that The Film Experience does which is just fine with Brie Larson. As it turns out we're completely sympatico on the subject of actresses and fame. She loves the work and prefers retaining her mystery to indulging in her celebrity. Or as she puts it.

I enjoy being confusing."

But here's the catch. When you do consistently great work as an actor as Brie Larson has done in roles large (United States of Tara) medium (21 Jump Street, The Spectacular Now) and small (Scott Pilgrim, Rampart), and then you hit a new peak with a revelatory personal best (Short Term 12) celebrity will often follow.

Brie frames this rising stardom predicament more memorably than I could while munching on a very green salad in a very blue dress (oops) in a day full of interviews. Morning Joe and Sirius XM were also on the docket that day:

I think with my age and gender --  it gets very easy for the conversation to go in the direction of 'What is your summer salad?’ It doesn’t matter. It’s not important. If we’re going to talk about stuff, let’s talk about stuff."

Which is exactly what we did from her Short Term 12 triumph to the chameleon wonders of United States of Tara to her feelings about Best Actress Oscar buzz. We'll skip ahead past my incoherent gushing about how Short Term 12 is the besty-best to the rest of the interview after the jump.

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