June. It's a Wrap

2011 is now half over. [Gulp] Well that got away from us. If you were offline for June -- and if so my god why? -- please revisit some highlights from the month that was. 

• Peggy Sue Got Married holds up 25 years later... the first ⅔ at least.
• Top Ten X Moments the best moments in the Marvel's mutant movie franchise.
• Red Carpet "Voices of Reason and Flamboyant Firemen" -this was so fun to do.

• Unsung Heroes Michael on the "Origins of Love" sequence in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
• Curio gets its most popular ep' ever: "Do You Save Your Ticket Stubs?" 
• Dick Tracy 2? Alex attends the Warren Beatty Q&A in Los Angeles
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot: MOULIN ROUGE! It remains a "Spectacular! Spectacular!"
• Top Ten Ewan McGregor Have you seen Beginners yet? So glad he's back.

Most Discussed: 10 Best Picture Nominees... or Less 
Most Popular: X-Men: First Class Review
"Live Blog" Madness: MTV Movies and The Tony Awards
Series Debut: Cinema de Gym

COMING IN JULY:
New Oscar Predictions (next weekend!)... and there's a lot of new info to parse, Harry Potter "It All Ends", the Italian classic Rocco and His Brothers, summer's last superhero Captain America: The First Avenger, Cowboys & Aliens, New York City's Judy Garland's retrospective, and a 25th anniversary celebration of Lt. Ellen Ripley and Aliens (1986). "Get Away from her you bitch!" right here at the Film Experience and other participating blogs.

The Academy's Production Design Database

Did any of you catch that AMPAS has opened up a Production Design Database? It's just got two sample searches right now "Science Fiction" and "Wedding Clothes" and many of the items you still have to make appointments to actually see but what they do have up gives you a taste of their rich history. (It's better to search more generally -- like say by picking a year -- than to search for a specific film). Since I didn't do as much as I intended for the June Wedding theme here at the blog, I thought I'd share a couple of their illustrations for one last walk down an aisle (and to give you a taste of the type of stuff they have.)

The wedding search is more Costume Design than Production Design but those two departments are usually tight. In the picture above you see illustrations of stars Elizabeth Taylor and Olivia De Havilland in gowns they wore in real life (Liz's wedding to Nicky Hilton) or on film (that's Olivia's gown from My Cousin Rachel).

My favorite thing in their "wedding" database was this: a storyboard of one of the most hilarious scenes from Funny Girl (1968)

Fanny: I ask my looking glass what-is-it? That makes me so exquisite?
Chorus: The answer to your query, is come back dearie.
His love makes me beautiful, so beautiful. You are so beautiful
Fanny: I am so byootiful.

That scene makes me LOL every time, how about you? Barbra Streisand totes deserved that Best Actress statue. 

Eye Candy: Slave Boys, Female Heroes, Werewolf Routines

The Week in Eye Candy. You deserve it. It's almost the weekend. Soak up the color, the bods, the glamour. Enjoy the diva and the doodles. There's something for everyone unless you're so niche you're impossible to please in which case scroll quickly away (try puzzles or trailers or Oscar buzz)

Jamie the Slave Boy

The Eagle hit DVD (well apart from Netflix which is on a epically annoying month-delay now). Director, Please thinks the whole movie makes no sense on account of why would Channing Tatum spare slave boy Jamie Bell's life...unless there was lust involved. Well, yes. Fair point. But does audience lust count?

Lea Seydoux's Breasts 

She didn't get to roll on the floor or handle fire arms in Midnight in Paris (note that old vinyl records don't pack a punch) but she gets to do just that in the Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol trailer. Her girls look even better in action... 

Jude Law, Lady Gaga and more after the jump

Click to read more ...

Tony & Maria

June Weddings (from the TFE archives)

[Archived clipping from "The New York Times". There was some confusion as to who attended the closed ceremony. Sources claimed that Anita and Riff (RIP) had attended but no witnesses came forward to verify. The groom and his best man were also featured in the paper the following day, albeit in a different section of the newspaper.]

West Side Story (1961)

Actress Polling - Final Days

Only a couple of days remain to vote on the "Character" Best Actress Polls that were posted earlier this month.

If you haven't already voted on 1991-2000 in particular please do so. That decade's polls got far fewer votes than 2001-2010 and it'd be great if another 400 of you voted to even things out a bit. You can vote for five characters in each poll!  I mean I'm dying to know whether you think Cynthia "Sweetheart" Purley in Secrets and Lies is more memorable than, say, cross-dressing Viola in Shakespeare in Love. Or whether you love Louise but not Thelma (aren't you required to vote for both?) or if you'd vote for Senator Laine Hanson from The Contender but would never buy a house from Carolyn Burnham in American Beauty. Have you ever ridiculed Nell "tae in the win'" or sold your body to an alcholic like Sera did in Leaving Las Vegas.

Go and vote: Which Best Actress characters from that era do you think about the most?