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.)
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Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 11:47AM by Nathaniel R
Suddenly we're feeling quite prophetic in expecting News of the World to receive a multitude of Oscar nominations. Universal has finally given us more than just a film still and the western drama looks exciting and robust. Check out the trailer and Yes No Maybe So after the jump...
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 9:00AM 
Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s last film, Fire at Sea, was released right around the time of the 2016 election. The Oscar-nominated film was a poignant and timely look at the implications of severely restricted immigration worldwide. Unlike popular recent documentaries like American Factory and Free Solo, Rosi’s work didn’t feature much dialogue or even a formed argument of any kind. Instead, plainly documenting what was happening was powerful enough to speak on its own. Rosi’s follow-up, Notturno, has a different focus but is much the same…
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 6:00PM by Nathaniel R
I had the pleasure of serving once again on Middleburg Film Festival's Oscar-discussion panel this past Friday. Jazz Tangcay, Clayton Davis, and I chose the name "Coffee & Contenders" because when we launched the event last year it was first thing in the morning in a cozy room designed specifically for group gatherings at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg Virginia. You grabbed your complimentary coffee and pastries on the way in. This year we were completely virtual and on Zoom but the title was still literal. Coffees in hand we discussed the race.
The race is a mess of possibility without much clarity. It's not that there aren't contenders or reason to celebrate film (see Juan Carlos' recent rant). It's that we're in uncharted territory given the pandemic and suddenly virtual nature of movies and campaigning; Publicists and awards strategists have their work cut out for them!
But let's talk about the winning film...
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 4:30PM • Deadline Stephen Daldry is leaving Wicked. Universal wanted to work faster than Daldry was willing but losing a director will slow them down anyway so why not meet his schedule?
• Variety The Avengers acting heroes want you to Vote Blue this election
• EW Jennifer Hudson fires up her second Oscar campaign (for Aretha Franklin biopic Respect) with an EW Cover and profile
Jeff Bridges cancer reveal, Disney news, Noah Jupe confession, Dirty Dancing tribute, Sigourney's Avatar training, and more after the jump...
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 1:30PM 
With the films of Steve McQueen's anthology, Small Axe, earning critical raves as they traverse through the festival circuit, it's a good time to remember some of his previous projects. While 12 Years a Slave was a great success that conquered acclaim and many awards, the rest of the director's filmography has been more polarizing and arguably underrated. It feels wrong, for instance, that his recurring muse, Michael Fassbender, got the first of two Oscar nominations for his least impressive contribution to McQueen's oeuvre. He was much more deserving two years before that best Picture winner, in 2011's Shame...
