Yes No Maybe So: Billy Eichner's gay rom-com "Bros"

by Nathaniel R

You've all heard about Bros by now, surely. It's the first major studio romantic comedy about two men. The first major studio gay male drama was way back in 1982 (Making Love) and it only took another 40 years to get a romantic comedy. So, yes, it truly feels like an event! After the jump at statement from Billy Eichner and we'll talk about the trailer, too...

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Cannes Diary #1: The festival opens with zombies... again

Elisa Giudici reporting again from Cannes!

Cannes is back again trying to rewrite its new normal. After the skipped 2020 edition and the anomalous summery one in 2021, the 75th Cannes Film Festival is has kicked off with the Croisette in full blossom. Masks are almost gone in theatres (even if before every movie a recorded voice “strongly suggests” to wear one), Marché du film (the huge Film Market's event in Cannes) has ended a period of crisis and low presence. COVID-19 changed the French festival and some changes are here to stay...

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Almost There: Audrey Hepburn in "Charade"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series continues its traverse through the Criterion Channel's May offerings. After Cher in Robert Altman's Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, and Ida Lupino in Vincent Sherman's The Hard Way, it's time to look at Charade, directed by the incredible Stanley Donen. The rom-com spy thriller  was a critical and commercial success upon its original release, and its reputation continued to grow with time. Featured in multiple AFI Top 100 lists, Charade is beloved by many a classic movie aficionado, as well as Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn fans.

The stars are in top form, delivering blinding charisma and irresistible charm. So much so that one has to wonder how close they came to Oscar nominations. Especially Hepburn, who was at the peak of her popularity…

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Revisiting 'A Beautiful Mind'

by Patrick Ball

Young Patrick and his favourite (at the time)

In the winter of 2001-2002, I was a plucky 8th grade “star” of my basketball team, son of a football coach, and an emerging film fan obsessed with all things James Bond, Star Wars, and Tom Cruise. A blissful innocent, bumbling around the world in a haze of All American normalcy. It would be my final year of innocence.

That following winter I would be clutched by the gay agenda, indoctrinated into a world of actresses, wig styling, and the unending delights of the beleaguered 1950s housewife. I would be snatched out of the closet by the twin hands of The Hours and Chicago, never to return. But as much as my love of film would come to be irrevocably shaped by a Zeta jazz square and a stroll into the river Ouse, one film lingered in my memory from the before times. I carry it with me to this day as a fond curio, a faded photo from the old country; That movie was A Beautiful Mind...

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FYC: 20 People Who'd Make Great Honorary Oscar Recipients!

by Nathaniel R

Over the years The Film Experience has provided the Academy with brilliant ideas for Honorary Oscars that they've ignored until it was too late and the worthy recipient died. We're talking luminaries like movie stars Max Von Sydow, Albert Finney, and Doris Day, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and voice artist Marni Nixon. (At least they heard us on Maureen O'Hara, Harry Belafonte, Liv Ullman, David Lynch, and Angela Lansbury in time!). So here we are again trying to sway them. They make such strange decisions. Why did Sophia Loren who was already a (deserving) Oscar winner, need an Honorary when she was only in her fifties? Why did they refuse to honor Doris Day because (the rumor is) they knew she wouldn't show but then went ahead and honored Jean Luc Godard who they also knew would never show? 

For our suggestions we're limiting ourselves to people over 70... though you could make valid cases for several late 50something or 60somethings if you wanted to like Michelle Pfeiffer, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Grant, directors Sam Raimi and Todd Haynes, producer Christine Vachon, or craftspeople like costume designer Sharen Davis or composer Marc Shaiman.

20 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE HONORARY OSCAR...

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