Seven ways that waiting for a new James Bond is exactly like waiting for a new Woody Allen

 

1. You can expect that the locale will change. 

2. You know the title sequence will bring back memories like an old friend or comfort food. 

3. You'll see new faces mixed in with the repertory company.

4. You can place bets on how many and which younger women the protagonist will sleep with. 

Woody Allen as "Jimmy Bond" in Casino Royale (1967)

5. You're forced to admire the longevity because this all started in the 1960s!

6. You've learned to let go of qualitative expectations because it's a crap shoot...

7.          ...Otherwise you know exactly what you're going to get. 

James Bond goes To Rome With Love on June 28th and Woody Allen Skyfalls into Shanghai on November 9th. I got that right, right?

Thoughts I had while staring at the "Magic Mike" poster

• I see no magic being performed unless Alex Pettyfer is about to pull something out of that hat.

• If this movie had been made in the 1980s or by Nicolas Winding Refn the blue letters would've been in pink neon.

• I keep wanting to spell something out. If you squint, Matthew, Matt & Joe, and Alex are spelling out Y.M.A but Channing is letterless. Maybe if you flipped Channing horizontally he'd be an "R". What does it all mean? R. Y. M. A.?

• "work all day. work it all night" is kind of an awesome tagline. It's self aware. Movie, know thyself!

• If this movie shows less Joseph Mangianello skin than any random episode of True Blood, Steven Soderbergh has failed us all.

• That camouflage will only hide Matt Bomer if he's surrounded by thousands of male strippers in a muddy forest. Hmmmm. 

• Why isn't this opening for my birthday (June 6th) instead of June 29th?

The five most important things about this poster after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Box Office: Snow White and the Hulkman

Queen Ravenna and The Runaway as I prefer to call it seized the box office kingdom with ease this weekend. It helps when no other big movie dares question your right to the throne. Given that the last Snow White picture Mirror Mirror didn't open even half as well, it's left to us to wonder: What accounts for the fair princess's drawing power this time around?

Help us determine it!

poll by twiigs.com

Here's the estimated top ten (US) chart with discussables afterwards as to what people are spending their money on... and why.

TOP TEN 
01 SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN new $56.2 review tomorrow
02 MIB 3  $29.3  (cum $112.3)
03 THE AVENGERS  $20.2 (cum $552.7) Review
04 BATTLESHIP  $4.8  (cum $55.1)
05 THE DICTATOR $4.7 (cum $50.8)
06 THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL $4.6 (cum. $25.4) Review
07 WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING $4.4 (cum. $30.7)
08 DARK SHADOWS $3.8 (cum. $70.8) Review
09 CHERNOBYL DIARIES $3.0 (cum. $14.4)
10 FOR GREATER GLORY new $1.8

Drawing by NathanielDiscussables
• The Avengers has now whizzed past The Dark Knight and the last Harry Potter film to become not only the top grossing superhero picture of all time domestically and internationally but the highest grossing picture of all time not directed by James Cameron .. (both records *not adjusted for inflation*) . If you adjust for inflation its performance is still spectacular. It's just outgrossed the original Spider-Man (2002) and has only one superhero picture left to vanquish: The Dark Knight. It'll surely do so.

• Speaking of behemoths, The Hunger Games (reviewed) only just left the top ten list and is but one week away from reaching $400 million domestically. It'll be only the third movie to achieve that remarkable feat this decade after Toy Story 3 and The Avengers. 

• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (reviewed) continues to show terrific gams, picking up more theaters each week and barely dipping in occupancy (which makes you wonder if it can manage an Oscar run of some sort at year's end?). I attribute this, at least in part, to Downton Abbey Maggie Smith Fever.

• Moonrise Kingdom had the best per screen average by far. But despite the collected star power and Wes Anderson's fanbase it's only in very limited release still.

What did you see this weekend? If it was Queen Ravenna save your breath. We'll discuss her tomorrow!

Twins: "You and I... we're exactly the same"

Since we're celebrating twins until the stars move on from Gemini, I wanted to give a shout out to the figurative kind as well.

Due to sad circumstances offline I'm way behind on "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"  though I did watch Joan Crawford in Possessed recently to catch up. Crawford's camp icon status got me to thinking about the best camp masterpiece in the past 25 years, one that we already covered in the first season of the best shot series. (Showgirls is hard-wired into my neural pathways so it's very easy to access). The legendary so-bad-it's-good movie pits "Goddess" superstar Cristal Connors (Oscar-worthy Gina Gershon... and I'm 100% sincere) against naive crazyperson Nomi Malone (Razzie winner Elizabeth Berkley). Cristal insists repeatedly that they're one and the same, virtually identical. Nomi vehemently disagrees but the movie itself is in Cristal's headspace through and through.

The best shot from the movie? Cristal, Nomi, and Nipples after the jump...

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June is Gay Pride Month. Open Thread.

Show Me Love (1998)It occurred to me that despite all the series and theme weeks and whatnot that we do here at The Film Experience we've never really celebrated Pride Month. What movies or movie tropes with a queer bent or movie characters would you like to see discussed? We have so many things going on blog-wise but we'll try and squeeze a few in later this month.

Consider this an open thread. Go!