John Waters @ 75: Hairspray (1988)

by Cláudio Alves

As Oscar fever dies down, we return, here at The Film Experience, to the John Waters retrospective in celebration of the director's 75th birthday. I'm immensely grateful for Nathaniel, who invited us each to choose a movie, since it gave me a grand opportunity to dive deep into the filmography of this auteur. Before this month, I had only seen three of Waters' movies, but now I've watched most of his features, including five of the projects he did with legendary drag queen Divine. The picture I'm here to explore is fundamental in the legacy of both artists. Hairspray was to be Divine's last movie before a tragic death at the age of 42…

Click to read more ...

My complicated feelings toward Frances McDormand's third win

please welcome new contributor Timothy Lyons

she likes to work

Frances McDormand’s performance in Nomadland was my favourite of the year. Full stop. Both the film itself and McDormand’s work as Fern blew me away with their deceptive simplicity quietly revealing hidden depths of feeling. Why oh why then did I feel such a crushing sense of disappointment when McDormand took her third Best Actress trophy at this year’s Oscars?

Click to read more ...

Happy Pfeiffer Day!

by Nathaniel R

Just trying to get some work done. TGIF 😼

Happy birthday today to the goddess Michelle Pfeiffer. She's turning 63, so we'll hopefully get an Instagram post but until then please enjoy this photo of our pfavourite Catwoman "at work". She has actually been at work though, oh happy days.

Next up is the TV miniseries The First Lady which we've discussed previously in which she'll play Betty Ford. She completed filming her scenes a week ago, letting us know with this Instagram photo / caption...

Click to read more ...

Anthony Hopkins' shocking win shouldn't have shocked anyone.

by Baby Clyde

Thank you all very much. I really did not expect this.

I watched the last 20 minutes of the 93rd Academy Awards with a sense of impending doom. The disastrous decision to cynically rearrange the final awards in the hope of ending the night on a contrived ‘high’ immediately struck me as problematic. Whilst back in the day Best Picture wasn’t always given out last, it’s been that way for nearly 50 years and changing the order this year was clearly done for one and only one reason. The emotional finale meant to honor Chadwick Boseman with a posthumous award was something the hapless producers couldn’t resist, and it infamously backfired. A slow moving, gold plated car crash ensued as Sir Anthony Hopkins was declared the winner. With no back up plan, no Zoom speeches allowed and no host to close the show the evening ground to an unceremonious halt. If only they’d asked me, the day could have been saved.

I’m not a great Oscar predictor. Every year I seem to get 17 or 18 right. Usually tripped up by the Shorts, even if I’ve watched them all --no, especially if I’ve watched them all! But this year I did manage to successfully predict both Lead acting races, despite them both supposedly being "shocks".  Best Actor was less clear, yes, but I put Hopkins in the #1 spot back in September and never moved him. I’ve been Oscar watching a VERY long time (When I started Glenn Close only had Supporting noms) and sometimes you just get a feeling about a particular race. For example, I never once thought Stallone was winning back in 2015 and I’m still puzzled when people insist Meryl’s third was a surprise as it was inevitable. I felt exactly that way this year and as the season went on (and on and on) there was plenty of evidence, I present six pieces, pointing in that direction...

Click to read more ...

What's next for this season's Oscar-celebrated directors?

Chloe promoting The Eternals at comic-con

Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of color to win Best Director. We don't have to wait long for her Nomadland follow-up. Next up: Her fourth film -- a huge change of pace from her three quiet earthy features -- is Marvel's gargantuanly budgeted sci-fi superhero film The Eternals which hits theaters on November 5th, 2021. She has two more projects in development that aren't very far along. There's another take on Dracula supposedly coming and a directing gig (but not writing) on a period biopic about the first black US Deputy Marshall Bass Reeves, who was born into slavery, and later arrested thousands of dangerous criminals working in the Oklahoma territory in the 19th century. That latter might certainly be a fascinating movie...

Click to read more ...