The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Three years ago at the original blog, I created a series called 20:07 which became one of the most popular TFE features ever and spawned a slew of imitators 'round the web. Just for fun, let's resurrect that ol' pet for the remainder of Oscar season as we finish celebrating the films of 2010 before the new film year begins.
Screen capture: 20th minute and 10th second of Chris Nolan's Inception
Saito: Mr Cobb, how would you like to go home to America? To your children.
That Ken Watanabe (as Saito) is a sly fellow. He saves the juiciest dangling carrot for the moment he's about to lose the dream-hopper.
E! whaaaaa. No way. Natalie Portman doing "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret ... as a teenager! Serious Film Tilda Swinton as "the Anti-Streep" Inside Movies another look at how Oscar ballot counting works. Every time it's explained it sounds more complicated than the time before. But it's cool that EW staged a mock nomination with readers.
Towleroad me sounding off about the Oscars again. I can't shut up. I'm Unstoppable. I'm nominated for best Sound Editing, bitch. Cinema Blend Saoirse Ronan joins The Hobbit (but the book supposedly has no female characters. I haven't read it since I was like 11 and it bored the shit out of me. But then, if it didn't have any female characters that's probs why. Adrian's Film Music listens to Alexander Desplat's The Ghost Writer Gold Derby more on the Burlesque snubbing in Best Song. I'm still so pissed about this.What I don't understand about the music branch's voting structure is why it's practically an invitation to sabotage potential nominees if you hate them. In what other Oscar category can you vote AGAINST a potential nominee? That voting system needs serious rethinking.
Montreal Gazette has a fairly well reasoned piece on the lack of people of color in this year's Oscar nominations. I was just discussing this on twitter. My basic feeling on this, though I realize it's not a popular one, is that the Academy is unfairly blamed for this year in and year out. Too many people view "The Academy" as interchangeable with "Hollywood". But in truth the Academy is a tiny minority of Hollywood reflecting Hollywood back at itself with some deep filtering (i.e. favoring dramas, message movies, biopics, period pieces,). When actors of any color get good roles in the types of movies that everyone understands Oscar will honor, then they end up fighting it out for nominations.
"It’s the role that wins the Oscar, not the actor." -several smart people throughout time.
The problem lies in getting the roles in the first place. And that's where things gets complicated and worth arguing about. Too many great actors of color don't get the career opportunities their talent merits. But that's a different discussion than the Oscar nominations.
On a happier note to wrap up ~ the first Oscar Promo!
Jose here. If The King's Speech hasn't given you enough of socialite Wallis Simpson to last you for a while -- I personally thought Eve Best's performance was the best thing in the movie and she should be getting the praise HBC is getting. But that's a whole other matter. Back to our post -- all you have to do is remember that our beloved Madonna is making an entire movie about her.
The shooting has remained pretty secretive and other than a few pictures the paparazzi have snagged (like rising star Andre Riseborough as Simpson to your left), we don't really know what the thing's looking like.
Maybe we won't have to wait much longer. Madonna has decided she wants her film to be part of the Cannes Film Festival just a few months away. French newspaper Le Parisien is reporting that the pop iconplans to have her film included in the festival's official selection. This won't be official until festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux announces the official selection in April, so will the Queen of Pop be able to have her way this time?
The first official screening will take place next month when Madonna presents her second feature film to private distributors in Berlin.
Madge is no newbie to the Cannes Film Festival, just a few years back she presented her documentary I Am Because We Are, which didn't seem to make a huge impression but wasn't trashed either. She had more luck with the smash documentary Truth or Dare which made a huge international ruckus at Cannes in 1991.
Madonna at Cannes in 1991 and 2008
So we'll just have to wait and see how W.E. fares with the picky Cannes audience. Will New York icon and Jury President Robert de Niro feel swept away by this very American tale? Or will W.E. be too much Wallis, too soon?
I had a hankering for some truth-telling. Sometimes I wish all advertising would just tell it like it is. Wrap a golden lasso 'round all marketing departments and see what bursts forth. Herewith my (photoshopped) reinterpretation of two recent FYC ads: Roger Deakins who has yet to win and Oscar and Dame Helena Bonham Carter Burton:
What fun!
If only I had time to do this for every FYC ad. How do you think this year's nominees should be advertised?
Have you been exploring the new site? The "reviews" section contains indexes of recent reviews as well as a screening log experiment. I decided to record what I see in 2011 including movies, television and theater (that's Immortal: The Gilgamesh Variations - now playing in Brooklyn) to your left.
As for the reviews, I'm still having technical difficulty bringing past articles over to this new site so many links will take you to the old blog and other places. But hopefully more reviews will soon be imported to the site. Still unpacking boxes at the new home as it were!
Despite the boxes, I hope you're already feeling at home.
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 10:28AM 
