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Wednesday
Jul132011

Red Carpet: Emma Floats, Zoe Swims, Jennifer Drowns

For today's Red Carpet Convo, I'm joined by both of my usual coconspirators, Kurt and Jose. In this episode Kurt will lose all his motor skills, Jose will reveal psychic fashion powers, and I will prove my abject sports stupidity. Enjoy!

Nathaniel: W‪e'll start by pretending we're in London -- which none of us are (we've got the East Coast and South America in the house) -- to visit a BAFTA function‬.

Kurt: ‬ ‪I'm there -- un-straightening my teeth as we speak‬.

Jose: ‬ ‪it's rainy and grey down here so consider me in Sweeney Todd "no place like London" mood‬

CHENO, HER ROYAL ASSNESS, MRS BEN AFFLECK, NICKI, and MLP

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪At first I was all "Why are ALL the stars out for a "Brits to Watch" award -- the recipients of which (who?) are quite outshadowed by the starpower  -- but then i realized it was hosted by the royals Prince & Kate which explains it.‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪Hey, excuses to dress up... I thought for sure we'd be chatting up the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere.

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Patience, would be skydiver, patience.‬ So before we speak of individuals I must say that one of my favorite things is when all the beauties wear different colors. Rainbow is the absolute best red carpet color.‬ 

Kurt: ‬ ‪yes...lovely little spectrum here‬. Are we going to play Guess The Bum? Because my eyes can't focus on anything else

Jose: ‬
‪Someone should tell this to the Red Globes, the Purple Oscars and the Black SAGs‬

Nathaniel:
Exactly! And it's quite representative too. I couldn't spot any hive-mind aesthetic at the Bafta shindig‬

Kurt:
 ‬ ‪There i go again, getting ahead of things...we can stick with the color convo sorry‬ 

Jose: ‬ ‪I'm curious as to who chose the guests though, why the hell is Mary Louise Parker there and not Cate or Meryl or Kate?‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪I can't help you there. As to guess the bum. C'mon on. Look at it. Y'all know who that is.

Jose: ‬ ‪Her royal ass-ness‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪I figured‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Jenny's block has moved to London‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪Can we talk for a sec about her music? I'd like opinions from the group‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪i have none.‬ Jose?

Jose: ‬ ‪meh, it's fun when you're drunk‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪now there's a quote‬. put that on the album cover 

Nathaniel:  ‬ ‪Blurb Whore!‬

Jose: ‬ and 'my spinning instructor loves her too‬.'

Kurt: ‬ ‪hahaha‬. All i'm saying is, i'd have a hard time takin' criticisms from her assness, if i were an American Idol. the end.‬ but, she is stunning. that skin

Nathaniel: ‬ I always feel like JLo is always trying too hard. I mean that dress is SO busy with the cutouts and the arm decor.‬

Jose: ‬ ‪she is an American Idol though, she embodies everything pop music has become about: mediocre voice, crazy antics and lots of merchandise‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪oh yea her fashion is nuts...remember that thing from "Savage Beauty"?‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪I'd prefer not to.‬ Kristin Chenoweth's dress is reminding me of something and I can't think what for the life of me. That color combo...

Jose: ‬ OMG it's reminding you of Dazzler, just say it 

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪SHUT IT.‬ I have retired my Dazzler obsession. It was a weird K-Hole of spring 2011.

Jose: ‬ ‪Hahaha the moment I saw her, I thought of Dazz and I blame you Nathaniel!‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪again: RETIRED. much like Jennifer Garner until quite recently.‬

Jose: 
‬ ‪Cheno reminded me of when Nicole won the Globe for MR!

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Jose you have a sick memory.‬ Photographic so long as there's an actress and a dress

Jose: ‬ ‪I chose to take that as a compliment‬. My friends are annoyed by my fashion memory, they think I'm like a version of Lisbeth Salander who's into Vogue‬

Nathaniel: ‪Maybe Cheno's dress reminds me of some high-end old-school hotel ballroom corporate function draping? I dunno. it's really bugging me. It's so old money whilst being completely boring.‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪I'm getting lampshade-cum-business drape‬ 

Jose: ‬ ‪I kinda like it though, it's very Cher at Studio 54‬ but I think she needed higher heels to pull it off better.

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Hmmm. I can't imagine Cher in it unless there were like a headpiece with it.‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪i don't think chenoweth should ever try for cher anything‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪Cheno does "Half Breed". JUST IMAGINE IT.‬

 

 

Jose: ‬ ‪LOL‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪i am NOT feeling this bolt of fabric Jennifer Garner is rocking. my goodness‬. she's drowning in fabric. save her!‬

Jose: ‬ ‪you just broke my heart Kurt‬ J. Gar's YSL is the thing couturier wet dreams are made of. It's so simple it's just perfect‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪well let's get something straight here: in all likelihood you are a much better judge of fashion than me, but from this angle, I see a fabric attack‬

Jose: ‬ ‪but it's supposed to be about movement, it's very flowy and watery‬. Imagine some sort of Greek goddess thing going on.

Kurt: ‬ ‪i get that...your explanation is kinda working...‬

Nathaniel: ‬ ‪I was going to say that i love the color on Garner so much but maybe anything other than Elektra Red I love on her because I just can't... you thought i was obsesed with Dazzler? You dont wanna know about my Elektra thing. Hated Garner doing her so much.‬

Jose: ‬ ‪she pulls off color quite well, remember that crazy orange thing she wore to the Oscars?‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪that was gorg

‬‪Jose: ‬ It was! but it was such a crazy Fanta color that few people would've dared to use it. Sigh. I miss her at the Oscars, never knew what the hell she was doing there but she always looked stunning‬

Red is just easy I guess, like Halle and nude color‬

Nathaniel:  ‬ ‪or everyone in black.‬

Kurt: ‬ ‪oh god, i just finally caught the arm thing on JLo's dress. what is wrong with her‬?

But wait there's more! Nicole's goddess scoop, Nathaniel plays Marco Polo, Swoosie Kurtz is lactose tolerant, and Jennifer Aniston's secret messaging.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Jul122011

Open Thread

What's happening in your film world? We're buried in off-blog demands but sound off in the comments. Inspire us with your movie madness.

Tuesday
Jul122011

Curio: Crazy 4 Cult 5

Alexa here. It's that time of year: Gallery1988 in Los Angeles is holding its Crazy 4 Cult show, the annual exhibit of art inspired by cult films. The show seems to grow every year, and this year the number of pieces is staggering. The full gallery of original works and prints is finally available online, and they've also put a book together of work from previous shows. Here is a selection of some of my favorite original works from this year, but you must check out the galleries yourself, either in person or online. The show runs until July 30th. 

Veronica Fish, Mulholland Drive, gouache on coldpress paper, 11 x 14 inches

Sean Clarity, While Ferris Was Banging Sloan, acrylic on board, 18 x 12 inches

Jeremy Asher Lynch, Talking To The Trees Of The Cobweb Strange, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

Click for artwork inspired by Pan's Labyrinth, Donnie Darko and Fight Club...

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Jul122011

20th Anniversary: POINT BREAK (1991)

By the time Point Break emerged in the summer of 1991 I was already a fan of Kathryn Bigelow having obsessed over Near Dark (1987) on VHS in, I think, 1990? I was not disappointed since Point Break has at least a couple of sequences in it that made good on Near Dark's terrifying bar massacre for the sheer "finger lickin' good" adrenaline that pumps through them. When I think of great action direction the foot chase sequence in Point Break always comes to mind if I don't get stuck in James Cameron oeuvre. With the recent rebirth of both Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and Cameron (Avatar) perhaps there is hope for action cinema still?

Online searches for Point Break screencaps reveal yet again the dearth of movie images online from the early 90s (just before the internet took over, natch) so we can't marvel at Kathryn Bigelow's generous attention to Keanu Reeve's wetsuit ass or the way his wet bangs cling so perfectly to his forehead in slow motion as if entire action sequences were shot as frame-by-frame meticulously as any frozen fashion shoot meant to be blown up on billboards everywhere.

I asked Team Film Experience to share their most vivid memories of the one arguable classic in the pretty-FBI-agent-meets-new-age-bankrobbing-surfer-guru genre. Shut up! It is so a genre.

Kurt (Cinema de Gym): Collectively, my most vivid memory of Point Break is definitely the skydiving scenes. In my teens, I went through a phase where I was totally obsessed with extreme sports and extreme sports movies, perhaps because extreme sports don't exactly require the same hand-to-eye coordination of regular sports, which I extremely lacked. Point Break was one of my big, masculine extreme sports movies, along with Airborne and Drop Zone, the Wesley Snipes skydiving movie. I totally had it my head that I would skydive as soon as humanly possible, especially since my dad had done it back in the day. My thoughts have since...changed. Now I can't imagine just jumping out of an airplane. Maybe if I magically ended up in Point Break 2...

Editor's Note: If we get 150 new subscribers today (see sidebar for TFE's budget to 'dream a little bigger darling') Nathaniel will personally foot the bill to convince Kurt to skydive and share the video for your viewing pleasure. Kurt is very handsome so wouldn't you love to see him terrified and screaming in the clouds as he plummets to possible death?!? If we reach 300 paid subscribers this week (the goal) Nathaniel, whose father has also sky-dived and who is also terrified at the thought of leaping from a plane, will do it with him. Editor's Note Pt 2: The Film Experience accepts no responsibility if anyone dies while trying this.

Craig (Take Three): What I remember most is Kathryn Bigelow showing 99% of her action-filmmaker peers of the time exactly how action cinema is done 100% of the time. 

Michael (Unsung Heroes): All my strongest memories of Point Break involve Nick Frost's anguished Keanu interpretation in the movie Hot Fuzz, so methinks I may be due for a refresher viewing of Bigelow's surf/heist opus.

JA from My New Plaid Pants: I've been meaning to revisit it but I was never a big Point Break fan as a kid. Even back then surfer talk set my nerves on edge. But the first thing I think of is that post-coitus shot of Keanu and Lori Petty in bed where she's about a hundred thousand percent butcher than he is. He looked like a pretty porcelain doll and she was this motorcycle mama that was just gonna pick him up and smash him on the floor.

Ha! I love that image, too. Whatever happened to Lori Petty? Ah well. At least she'll always have the early 90s see also: A League of Their Own and Tank Girl.

P.S. Team TFE is looking for a couple of new members to gear up for Oscar season. If you consider yourself a fine writer who is able to get interesting fun points across in short bloggy doses (no current blog is necessary if you have samples), understand TFE's voice (i.e. you "get" and enjoy the site) and live in a major market (and can thus get to screenings or festivals), contact Nathaniel at film experience (at) gmail (dot) com. 

 

 

Tuesday
Jul122011

Secret Messages: "You Are Crazy"

secret messages from the movies...

Can you guess the movie? Check your guesswork after the jump.

Click to read more ...