Monday, July 9, 2012 at 4:00PM Our Miss Hathaway and The Bening, both wounded!
Get well soon divas.
Anne Hathaway, Annette Bening Monday, July 9, 2012 at 3:30PM I'm debating whether Hit Me With Your Best Shot will get a season 4 but it depends on how the rest of the summer goes. If you've always wanted to join in, please do. The more the merrier... the more the essential actually as it's meant to be a film club conversation with all eyes on one movie, making a case for the movie's single best shot.
Wednesday July 11th
ROAD TO PERDITION (2002)
*10th Anniversary*
Sam Mendes' stately and self-conciously "best shoty" gangster drama, adapted from a graphic novel, won Paul Newman his last Oscar nomination, introduced many moviegoers to both Daniel Craig (now very James Bond) and Tyler Hoechlin (now very grown up on Teen Wolf) and won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. How has it aged? 117 minutes.
Netflix | Blockbuster | LoveFilm
Wednesday July 18th
PINK NARCISSUS (1971)
Black Narcissus was one of my top three favorite episodes of this series, so why not? Hee. This NSFW underground indie classic about a rent boy's erotic fantasies was shot almost entirely in the then "Anonymous" director James Bidgood's apartment over a seven year period. But it's quite a lot more visually resourceful than its undoubtedly miniscule budget would suggest. 70 minutes.
Netflix | LoveFilm (instant watch)
Wednesday July 25th
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001)
Moonrise Kingdom would be a great option for this series but it's still in theaters. (Go see it!) Instead let's revisit Wes Anderson's greatest film about a wealthy, artistic, incestuous, funny, idiosyncratic, intelligent, stylish and manically depressed clan. Yes, lots of adjectives apply... and maybe this noun, too: "Masterpiece". 110 minutes.
Netflix | LoveFilm | Blockbuster
Wednesday Aug 1st
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953)
*Marilyn Week*
The 50th anniversary of Marilyn's death (August 5th) will likely take up a lot of media space in August so we'll celebrate with one of her lightest confections, as three roommate friends (Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable) husband hunt in this Cinemascope comedy -- very widescreen for lots of actresslicious three shots. Why this one? Oh, I haven't seen in a long time. 95 minutes.
Netflix | Blockbuster | LoveFilm
Depending on how those go, we'll wrap up on the 8th, 15th, 22nd or 29th. How's that for decisive?!?
Monday, July 9, 2012 at 2:00PM Don't cry for these three readers who've won themselves a 15th anniversary Evita Blu-Ray. I asked contestants to submit a photo of themselves in the famous arm(s) up Evita pose if they weren't shy. It was super fun to read the stories of Evita moviegoing and musical obsession, so a big thanks to everyone who participated. I wish I had dozens more copies to give away.
The winners, drawn randomly, go like so...
TFE Reader Brian on the actual Casa Rosada !
Winner #1 BRIAN, NEW YORK
I had the privilege of traveling to South America last year, and in a two-week trip filled with "money shots" (Machu Picchu, Rio, etc.), the attached photo is probably the champ. It was taken of me on the actual balcony at the Casa Rosada. (Madonna popularized the neighboring balcony, inaccessible to tourists, but Eva used both.) I mean, come on. How much better does it get for an Evita/Madonna fan? I still get chills thinking about approaching that balcony.
-Brian
Wow! I never thought when I asked for photos that I'd get a real Casa Rosada shot for posting. Well done, Brian.
Winner #2 ROBERT, UTAH
I remember it was cold and snowing a little, and the line stretched out into the parking lot. Evita was important for me because it was when I fell in love with Madonna. Of course I had sort of followed her career, but I was young (12 in 1996) and I didn't really get into her until I got the soundtrack. As a kid I loved musicals and musical theater, so this was like crack. The curtains opened, the audience fell silent and they were enraptured for the next 2+ hours. I saw it two more times.
It's also just a very special memory with my family. That Christmas was ALL Evita ALL the time. My friends and I would stage "Buenos Aires" or "Another Suitcase" or "Don't cry for me Argentina" in my garage. Great times.
Winner #3 ALAN, CALIFORNIA
I was living in London in the 70s and was one of the lucky theater goers to first see Evita. London went wild over Elaine Page when she brought Evita back to life. I love both the theater and film versions. Madonna most captures the look and essence of Evita. Listening to the score always transports me back to that London night and the magic of Evita and Buenos Aires.
Congratulations to the winners!
DVD, Evita, contests, getting to know you, musicals Sunday, July 8, 2012 at 10:04PM I didn't cover the box office last weekend in one of it's most interesting episodes. What's wrong with me? So today in honor of Channing Tatum's third consecutive $35 million plus opening last weekend (expect him to be offered every part for a 25-40 year old man in the next year, even the ones he's totally wrong for) a Magic Mike themed box office countdown to kick off Stripper Week. I'm pretending that the nation's #1 movie featured a musical stripping sequences a la Magic Mike. Just go with it. (File under: Anything to keep the commerce part of movie-going interesting. Cuz that's so notthe interesting part!)
Inappropriate Spider-Man cartoon (I made it*!)
Box office chart after the jump...
Brave, Magic Mike, Nathaniel's Drawings, Spider-Man, Ted, box office, nudity, strippers Sunday, July 8, 2012 at 9:00PM The Oscar winning character actor, star of 1955's Best Picture Marty, died today at 95. His career was so healthy that his IMDb page requires much scrolling through 200+ titles. The prolific filmography obscures the fact that he didn't even get started until this thirties. Starting late isn't always a drawback when you've got the goods... particular for character actors; you can't have matinee idol looks and sell an everyman schlub like "Marty". Borgnine's career was so enduring that his latest completed role was a starring one: The Man Who Shook The Hand of Vicente Fernandez (2012) just recently debuted on the festival circuit.
A career that long is bound to have its rough patches, its controversies and divisiveness. Borgnine generated some deserved internet ire seven years back for publicly refusing to see Brokeback Mountain (2005) despite voting on the Oscars. [The Film Experience's position on this has always been that AMPAS members should be required to see all nominees in order to vote on a win in any particular category. Currently you have to for foreign film but most categories do not require that you actually watch the movies.]
Ernest Borgnine bullying Monty Clift in "From Here To Eternity"Borgnine had been very active for a 90something actor. In addition to Vicente Fernandez, he'd done a lot of television, voicework on Spongebob Squarepants and popped up in a memorable cameo in the action comedy Red (2010). But it's his work in the 1950s and 1960s that will be his legacy: McHale's Navy, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch and two best picture winners From Here to Eternity (1953) and Marty (1955) among them.
Have you ever seen Marty? What role first pops to mind when you think of Borgnine?
Best Actor, Ernest Borgnine, Marty, Oscar Trivia, Oscars (00s), Oscars (50s), RIP 