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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Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 12:31PM by Chris Feil
This year’s longlist of eligible Original Song contenders should be arriving right on schedule in a month’s time, so what better time to shed some light on a few under-the-radar favorites than the present! Conventional wisdom at this stage in the race is falling as it typically does: to big pop stars and returning songwriting champions...
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
Chris Butler (Paranorman, Missing Link)
When I met the talented Chris Butler earlier this year for the release of his second film Missing Link (2019), I was buzzing while he was crashing. I was thrilled that he’d just proved his Oscar nominated horror-tinged comedy ParaNorman (2012) was no fluke with his sophomore effort, a hilarious adventure comedy which wore its Victorian literature and adventure film influences all over its fussy colorful sleeves. He was suffering from a cold and ready for a much needed vacation after wrapping his second feature and hitting the publicity grind immediately thereafter.
As writer and director, he plays two very different roles on each film, one a solitary pleasure, but in the other surrounded by hundreds of people daily. He jokingly feared that he’d become misanthropic. “I need some space! ‘Chrisanthropic’ -- that’s what they call me!”
I flashed back to that interview recently given that year end awards and “best of” lists are upon us. If there’s any justice, Missing Link is being rediscovered right now on FYC screeners and Butler will be surrounded by hundreds of people again on red carpets. Here’s hoping that well-earned vacation was rejuvenating!
[The following interview has been condensed for clarity]
NATHANIEL: Audiences rarely think of animated films in terms of directors but studios… but your films originate with you.
CHRIS: Our process is probably different from the biggest studios. You know, I originally went to Laika to work for six months and that was 13 years ago! So yeah, clearly there was an opportunity there that was worth pursuing. What it was was absolute creative freedom...
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 1:35AM by Nathaniel R
Given the release of Parasite this very weekend, and Judy, Pain and Glory, Hustlers, also in theaters with Oscar buzz in various categories, it's safe to say that Prestige Film Season is more than underway. So we thought we'd update that calendar now. Here's how the schedule is looking for awards hopefuls in terms of important dates so mark your calendars...
OCTOBER
RIGHT NOW - Limited Release: Parasite (Bong Joon-ho's South Korean Oscar submission), The King (Shakepearian drama starring Timothée Chalamet), Missing Link (animated hopeful ) begins streaming on Hulu
NEXT WEEKEND - Limited Release: JoJo Rabbit (Taiki Waititi's Nazi satire), The Lighthouse (Dafoe's latest bid for gold, a black and white horror-tinged hallucinatory drama), The Laundromat begins streaming on Netflix
25th -Dolemite is My Name begins streaming on Netflix...
Tuesday, November 26, 2019 at 7:45PM by Nathaniel R
It’s strange to be entering an Oscar season where the Best Actor competition *might* be more thrilling than the Best Actress race. This never happens. At least not to us here at TFE where actresses are sacred and actors are, um, glorified seat-fillers...
