The Actresses of 2019

by Murtada Elfadl

This year’s nominees for best actress do not offer much variety. Not in scope and type of role, not in diversity, not in film genre, and certainly not in quality of film. Only two of the five nominated films - Little Women and Marriage Story - have been recognized by the Academy for best picture, and the same two were the only ones to receive a metacritic average above 70. So how did we end up here when there other options that would’ve made the category stronger? Let’s take a look at what the film year offered...

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Fellini @ 100: "Roma" (1972)

A few volunteers from Team Experience are revisiting Federico Fellini classics for his centennial. Here's Cláudio Alves...

If Rome is the Eternal City, then Federico Fellini might be the Eternal Filmmaker. His cinema exists outside of time, both ancient and strangely new. A filmography that's a circus of pleasures where the grotesque and the beautiful are hand-in-hand, always dancing to a song of transgression and perversity. The faith of the church and the clown's laughter coexist too, precariously, but assuredly, and the images their communion produce are profane marvels. Like ancient frescos, there's a patina of age to these pictures, but they're bright as if they were freshly painted by master artists.

Perhaps no single film better exemplifies these wonderful contradictions than Fellini's Roma…

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Bombshell: Perfecting the Fox News look

by Cláudio Alves

Regardless of Bombshell's many problematic elements, there's one element that nearly everyone agrees is worthy of praise. We're referring to the astounding transformation of its cast into the famous faces of Fox News. Since the first teaser trailer dropped, many have marvelled at Charlize Theron's uncanny resemblance to Megyn Kelly. It's a remarkable feat of cinematic transfiguration that was made possible by the work of an Oscar-nominated makeup team as well as Colleen Atwood's clever use of costuming.

The movie has a limited view of the social and political insidiousness of Fox News, but, as it happens with many surface-level wonders, its look is on-point…

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Sundance World Cinema Preview

by Murtada Elfadl

Sundance is primarily a film festival for American independent films, however in the last few years it has made a concerted effort to include more titles from around the world. As the festival starts today in the snowy mountains of Utah, I thought I’d shed light on a few interesting international titles...

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The Film Bitch Awards Begin!

For those of you who haven't been around these parts forever, the title of our annual prizes is a bit tongue-in-cheek. We rarely feel bitchy about movies but instead live to praise them. The name comes from a roommate in college who, after hearing Nathaniel freak out when seeing a credit on the television and launch into feverish praise for an actor he'd never heard of said "you are such a film bitch"... the name stuck. This is our 20th year (gulp). Just to get us started each page is in tba form but we're ready to go with 3 appetizers (LINKS FIXED) for the 40 (!) categories...

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