How I Came to Write Musicals

IT'S A SPECIAL GUEST STAR DAY!

We are thrilled to turn The Film Experience over today to Tom Mizer, one half of the songwriting team Mizer & Moore (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel). In addition to his many career accomplishments, he happens to be a longtime TFE reader! Please give him a warm welcome - Nathaniel R.

by Tom Mizer

It’s a little disturbing to discover that the best way to introduce myself to you, good readers, is by having you meet 10 year-old me. During a lockdown cleaning binge, I found a stack of “scrapbooks” I made as a kid out of construction paper and newspaper clippings. The extreme Tom-ness of who I was and who I’d become is all there. I mean, look at just this one page.

First, note the slipshod but intense workmanship. I have not a crafty bone in my body and clearly needed to avoid the visual arts...

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Almost There: Sidney Poitier in "In the Heat of the Night"

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, we took a look at the cast of A Raisin in the Sun for the Almost There pieces. Among that quartet of fabulous performances, Sidney Poitier's Walter Younger stood out as the most overwhelming one, so full of energy that the claustrophobic set seemed incapable of containing him. This week, we're again exploring the filmography of the first Black man to win the Best Actor Oscar, giving him a solo opportunity to shine. You could actually do an entire miniseries about the many times Poitier might have come close to an Oscar nomination and failed:  A Raisin in the Sun, Edge of the City, Porgy and Bess, A Patch of Blue.

Today, however, we'll be looking at Poitier's 1967 Oscar bid, when the actor starred in three hits, two of which went on to be nominated for Best Picture. Of them, Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night went on to win the big award and features what is probably the best performance of Poitier's career…

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June Wraps

In June we lost Joel Schumacher & Sir Ian Holm but the month wasn't all bad. The weather was beautiful, we got a new Spike Lee joint, and we survived another month of this very bad no good worst and quite movie-bereft year. Here are a dozen highlights from the month that was...

• Da 5 Bloods reviewed
• 200 Oldest Living Screen Stars a mega list. Appreciate 'em while they're here
• Spain's Mistake when they passed over Talk to Her
• King of Staten Island reviewed
• His & Hers Oscars - the 8 times both Supporting statues went to the same movie
• Janet Leigh in Psycho let's get her out of the shower
• The Furniture: Safe social distancing with Todd Haynes & Julianne Moore
• Viola's First Breakthrough before Doubt, a triple
• Disclosure Trans Lives on Screen reviewed
• Curio: Movie Loving Masks if it can't be fashion, make it film!

most discussed
• Ten Best Picture Nominees again!
• Smackdown 2002 those merry murderesses of Chicago...and an even merrier panel

Next Up...
Tomorrow we're turning the blog over to lyricis Tom Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) for a special guest blog movie-musical loving day. Then we're on to The Smackdown of 1957 so watch Peyton Place and Witness for a Prosecution won'cha?

Also in July
We'll celebrate Yul Brynner's Centennial, do a retrospective of the 1991 film year, and at the end of the month the 1991 Smackdown + the Emmy nominations hit.

The Gesture: Merrit Wever in "Unbelievable"

Having long been fascinated by gestural movements in acting, we thought we'd try a series on it.  - Ed. 

by Nathaniel R

There is no one working like Merrit Wever. She's so real, so in the moment onscreen, that you can sometimes flash to one of her scenes like its pulled from you own very human memory. No matter how outlandish (Run) or specific (Unbelievable) her situation, you're in the space with her, living it, no cameras in sight. Queen of naturalism!

Take this diner sequence from Unbelievable...

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What did you see this week?

I miss going to the movie theater so much that I ache sometimes. This week inbetween work and stress and social-distanced social activities (sigh), I finished Normal People and Love Victor. Then I made time for Hannah Gadsby's Douglas which was brilliant. Somehow she nailed the very tough follow-up expectations set by Nanette -- I'm still giggling hours later about "Karen's handful" and women's hobbies during the Renaissance.

Finally we screened Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Regarding the latter, my best friend and I had heard great things but save Rachel McAdam's usual magnetism and Dan "I've got range!" Stevens' pompous hilarity as a seductive Russian pop star, it was dreadful. About 40 minutes too long (no really), predictable at every turn, with death rattle pacing, and Will Ferrell continuing to be the least funny of the successful comic film stars.

What did you see this week?