The long reach of 'Nosferatu,' now 100 years old

by Brent Calderwood

A century after its March 4th, 1922, premiere in Berlin, F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu remains a truly chilling classic. It’s widely acknowledged that Nosferatu and other German Expressionist masterpieces were influential not only to the development of Hollywood horror, but also to film noir and other genres. Nothing demonstrates the shadowy reach of Expressionism quite so strikingly, though, as its prevalence in the first wave of Walt Disney’s full-length features, which quoted heavily from Murnau and his contemporaries...

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'The Godfather' returns for its 50th (and a Best Shot episode)

by Nathaniel R

If you haven't yet heard Francis Ford Coppola's classic epic The Godfather has been meticulously restored and is returning to theaters this weekend for its 40th anniversary. They even renamed a street "Francis Ford Coppola Ave" in Hollywood in its honor.

This is as good a time as any to tell you that we'll be doing the film for our Best Shot series. Here's the schedule...

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50th Anniversary: James Bond 007 in "Diamonds are Forever"

by Deborah Lipp

If you have clicked on this 50th anniversary commemoration of the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever, you are probably eager for a takedown. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) is a movie fans love to hate. But get your tomatoes ready to pelt me at me instead because I will be doing no such thing. I love this movie and I’m fully prepared to defend it...

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25th Anniversary: "The Portrait of a Lady"

by Nick Taylor

Happy Holidays! We are celebrating a very dear, tumultuous season - awards season - and the current wave of critics prizes has left us with some very exciting developments. It’s perhaps not the biggest shock that Jane Campion’s austere, sensual Western The Power of the Dog has become such a critical darling. It’s the first time in nearly two decades that one of Campion’s phone is in serious consideration but the film’s remarkable showing with awards bodies and the sheer number of Best Director wins she’s accrued are both tremendously deserved and, given the overall trajectory of her career, something of a surprise. 

Releasing her first film since 2009’s Bright Star (and after showrunning the acclaimed series Top of the Lake for two seasons), Campion’s favor with the Academy and critics at large has shifted wildly over the years. As rapturously as The Piano was received, her 1996 bold, purposefully hard-edged adaptation of Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady scuttered a lot of that goodwill, and as abrasive as that film is, I can’t for the life of me understand why this torpedoed her prestige reputation so badly...

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Christmas today and Christmas back then...(at the movies)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

This picture has nothing to do with the post but it's Nicole Kidman three Christmases ago. Cheers!

Years ago it was decided that we couldn't be celebrating movie anniversaries with utter randomness at the Film Experience so we committed to 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th, and 100th parties. We stray often, especially if we're busy on "projects" like a Smackdown or what not, so this decision was useless and we'll probably drop it next year. Broader movie culture wouldn't play along anyway, celebrating all sorts of odd anniveraries (17th! 36th!) in order to just keep celebrating the same things over and over again. This is all a long way of getting around to the conceit of this post (GET ON WITH IT) which is

On this Christmas day in showbiz history, what was going on...

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