National Pet Week: "Jiji" from Kiki's Delivery Service

Team Experience is celebrating pets at the movies (and in our homes) for a couple more days. Here's Cláudio Alves...

Me and Maggie

In my family, the history of our pets tends to be linked to a sense of loss. Through my early childhood, we had two dogs, a beautiful Cocker Spaniel called Gigi and an English Setter by the name of Minnie. Gigi had been my mother's dog and she, unfortunately, died while I was still very young, but Minnie was born the same year as me and we grew up together. That is until she got sick when I was nine, cancer quickly making the lively companion become lethargic and in constant pain. She was put down before the suffering continued and I was heartbroken. Seeing that, my mom, who had a lifelong distrust for cats due to some unfortunate experiences as a child, put her bad feelings aside and decided to adopt an adorable little kitten I had grown fond of in the weeks before Minnie's passing…

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1981: Modern Romance

Please welcome new contributor Nick Taylor who is providing us with extra Supporting Actress supplemental pleasure inbetween the Smackdown events...

Modern Romance (1981) begins with its main couple breaking up in a diner. Or rather, Robert Cole (actor/writer/director Albert Brooks) has decided to break up with his girlfriend Mary Harvard (Kathryn Harrold), because something in his life has felt off lately. He thinks it’s their relationship. She’s justifiably annoyed with this, particularly since they spend a lot of time breaking up and getting back together, and barely believes him when he says they’re not coming back from this. The only time Robert seems hesitant about ending it (this time) is when she says something that reignites his paranoia, making him think she won’t mind them splitting and is already having an affair. Mary leaves the building so quickly she doesn’t even have the chance to ask to get her order to go, then tells Robert to drop dead and gets in her car. 

This scene lays out their relationship pretty concisely, though it’s not immediately obvious how Kathryn Harrold’s performance is responsible for its effectiveness. Modern Romance never feels clearer or more insightful than when Mary and Robert are together, in no small part because it has more to say about toxic relationships than it does about shitty men...

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Emmy Watch: Contenders for "Limited Series"

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

We’re turning today to a new category of Emmy races: limited series and TV movies. Limited series is an entirely different ballgame, though changing rules and eligibility make this category just as fascinating as any. For instance, Big Little Lies, which won this prize three years ago, is now a potential contender for Best Drama Series. A number of shows featuring different storylines and characters each season, including American Crime Story, Fargo, and Genius, continue to be nominated, though all three of their latest iterations won’t premiere until after this season ends as a result of delays in filming and postproduction. American Horror Story earned four bids here before its eighth season got reclassified as a regular series with overarching threads. With no high-profile returning shows eligible this year, we have a whole slew of new contenders… 

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When Oscar met Razzie

by Cláudio Alves

Founded by Mo Murphy and John J. B. Wilson, the Golden Raspberry Awards, more commonly known as Razzies, are the evil twin to the Academy Awards. Instead of celebrating the best achievements in world cinema, they award the worst, ridiculing them in the process and daring anyone to go accept their gold sprayed statuette in good humor. They've been handed out since 1981 when Xanadu and Can't Stop the Music battled out for the title of Worst Picture. Since then, the Razzies have made many controversial choices, showing an especially troubling fondness for lampooning female-centric stories or examples of campy entertainment.

Today we'll be talking about two instances when the Oscars and the Razzies tastes diverged so much they ended up nominating the same performances…

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Curio: The Adventures of Indiana Jones

Curated by Nathaniel R

Illustration by J Scott CampbellSince we're celebrating the 1981 Oscars this coming weekend with the season premiere of Supporting Actress Smackdown it's appropriate to look at the movie from '81 that's inspired the most fan art over the years: Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Steven Spielberg's best film (what? Fight me) introduced one of cinema's greatest heroes, the stuffy professor / snake-phobic but otherwise fearless adventurer Indiana Jones. Jones has gone on to multiple sequels and will surely be rebooted at some point (sigh) with a lesser being than Harrison Ford in the leading role.

Some incredible artwork inspired by the original film and resulting franchise are after the jump...

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