Reader of the Day: Kyle

March is winding down. Only three more Readers of the Day. Please let us know if you'd like to see future Reader Spotlights, albeit less frequently, in some capacity. Today we're talking to Kyle by way of Ohio and now South Carolina.

Nathaniel: When did you start reading the Film Experience?
KYLE: I started reading in 2004. I appreciated your love for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Oscar coverage, witty writing, and overall admiration for cinema kept me coming back. I've visited the site at least once, every day, for the past six (almost seven) years.

I love to hear that. Okay, what was your first movie / movie obsession?
KYLE: The first movie I definitely remember seeing in a theater was Jurassic Park and I totally fell asleep! I remember my eyes slowly closing right after the T-Rex attacked the kids in the car.

I had several movie obsessions when I was younger, but two really stick out.  I would watch The Witches EVERY day when I was about four. I would put it in, demand to be left alone, and wouldn't budge until the end credits. My dad learned this the hard way, when after coming to pick me up (divorced parents), I refused to go with him until it was over. Don't come between me and my Anjelica Huston! My next major obsession was with Scream. Random I know, but I could recite the dialogue scene by scene when I was like ten or eleven.

 

Your three favorite classics and three favorite contemporary films. Spill.

Umm...toughest question ever? Okay first thoughts, or I'd stall all day. Classics: Halloween, Rear Window, Suspiria (I realize those are all suspense/horror, and I'm cool with that.) Contemporary: American Beauty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Interview with the Vampire.

These are a few of Kyle's Favorite Things...

Take away and Oscar and give it to someone else: Who, when, why?
Recently: Sandra Bullock. I'd love to just snatch it out of her hands (gently so not to harm him), and hand it to Abbie Cornish (I will always defend Bright Star, and how excellent every aspect of it was.)  I really do like Sandra, but her winning was so...wrong. Abbie wasn't even nominated but she completely moved me in that film.

 

The biopic of your life. What's it like?
It'd be called Who Am I Trying to Impress?, which is a saying I often use when I'm about to do or say something I know I shouldn't. It would obviously star me, and be directed by Darren Aronofsky.  I'm sure he'd make my nights of sitting on my bed, eating peanut butter, and watching American Idol seem way more interesting.  I just hope he'll make some creative changes and give me orange hair and add my very own lesbian sex scene.

 

First and Last, Wintry

the first and last images from motion pictures.

Can you guess the movie?

The answer is after the jump.

Click to read more ...

"Introducing" Winona Ryder. Here's to 25 Years in Movies

Congratulations to our Noni on a quarter century in the movies. Twenty-five years ago yesterday her first film (Lucas) hit movie theaters. Jump forward a quarter century and here she is again; Black Swan hits DVD today as if celebrating that very silver screen anniversary. People will be popping in the Black Swan DVD and Blu-Ray all over the place today and there she'll be, glass raised perversely. On her own behalf?

Oh sure, it's an in-character moment as "Beth", retiring prima ballerina, but don't think for a second that Black Swan's casting wasn't carefully orchestrated for the mirror affect of all those dark pale beauties not to mention the the cruel passing of the stardom and movie goddess batons.

I bring up this unpublicized anniversary because Noni could use a little public love... or at least Hollywood could use a public reminder that she still has many fans. When she's used correctly, as she was in Black Swan, she's really something else.

I fell instantly and madly in love with her the very first second I saw her in Lucas, which is as stated the first time anybody had the opportunity to see her onscreen. She was all of 14 but it wasn't pervy. This was 25 years ago and we were both babies... so age appropriate! Just look at her. This was the thunderous moment, burned forever into my brain.

I was bursting in my seat "who is this?!" Truth: This is the very first time I ever looked for a name in the movie credits. This was four years before IMDb even existed y'all. I memorized her name and hoped against all hope I'd see her again. Beetlejuice rescued me two years later. People kept calling it a "Michael Keaton Movie" and I'm like "WINONA RYDER! Squeeeee!!!" and everyone is like "who?" and after Beetlejuice nobody asked little me that anymore.

Lucas is a sweet movie but it fell apart right then and there because the whole movie is about how 14 year old Lucas (Corey Haim) has a crush on 16 year old Maggie (Kerri Green) and then THIS girl walks in, his friend Rina (Noni) and you immediately realize she loves him and he barely even notices her. So Winona is forced to look at Corey Haim (RIP) longingly for the whole movie. Like SHE is unworthy of him.

Oh, the humanity!

Do you remember the first time you saw Winona? And for those of you old enough to remember movie-watching before the internet (That would be 30somethings on up), did you ever have that "I must find out who this is!" credit scroll moment with anyone?

New to the Film Experience? Try us out for a few weeks to see if you like.
Related Posts of Note: Overheard: Black Swan, Sassy Gay Swan, Aronofsky's Favorite Actors

Curio: Liz Love

Alexa here.  In the tsunami of Elizabeth Taylor tributes this week, Nathaniel's 79 ways to celebrate stood out for me (I've done more than a few, including falling in love with Monty again). So I thought I'd add to the list, with the help of a few curios to add to your shrine.

Revel in her beauty again with the help of Tim Snyder's prints.

 Plan to send your mom this gorgeous Mother's Day card by Fortune Cookie Crafts.

Charitable baubles after the jump

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Link As We Know It

i09 offers a look at the clockwork man in Scorsese's The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Gold Derby wonders if Oscar winner Estelle Parsons (Bonnie & Clyde) has a Tony Award in her very near future.
In Contention Guy shares his review plans for The Tree of Life in light of its premiere plans. And the new poster. Why yes, reader, here it is. Enjoy.

Gold Derby Academy to honor Sophia Loren in May
Playbill Kristin Chenoweth is coming back to Broadway. Details are unknown but bliss will surely follow.
Self Styled Siren 10 Films that the Siren Should Love But Doesn't. What a fun idea for a list. It's not classics you don't like that everyone else does... it's films you should like, given what you typically respond to, but just don't.

Finally...here's the Onion's vicious but laugh out loud funny Katharine Heigl tragedy "In Freak Accident, 34 Katherine Keigl Films Released At Once." Thanks to Glenn for pointing it out.

In Freak Accident, 34 Katherine Heigl Films Released At Once

So so funny though that Venus & Mars poster / concept reads 100% like a real movie. For a second I thought it was. My favorite bit was the 700% rise in self-blindings and the stressed EMT.

We're doing the best we can out here but the movies are just coming out too fast.

In truth I am one of those rare souls who kind of likes Katharine Heigl. BUT here is how I escaped the hatred: I didn't see all these crappy movies she stars in and I only watched like one season of Grey's Anatomy because it was a shlocky gooey mess. If there is one star in need of saying "no" unless it's a prestige project with A list director next time, it's her. She has enough money. A hiatus until a quality offer shows itself is the only answer to turn this ship around.