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.)
Cannes is as high profile as film festivals get so your first starring role in a buzzy feature could really make waves. Consider... Karl Glusman. He's the male star of Gaspar Noé's Love, the already buzzy sex film that gets a special screening at Cannes. He has a few credits in shorts and several on stage, plus voice work in a Starship Troopers film but he's still an unknown quantity. 2015 will be his first year in the movies proper so it could well start with a bang.
...the collest actor I have ever met. He is daring, joyful and intelligent. He has love scenes throughout the whole movie. He is the ultimate 3D baby maker."
Deadline RIP character actress Elizabeth Wilson from stage, tv, and film (Roz in Nine to Five & Mrs Braddock inThe Graduate!) passed away at 94 Bryan Singer James McAvoy as Professor X finally going bald of X-Men: Apocalypse Towleroad Natalie Portman as Ruth Baader Ginsburg?! CHUD the ongoing drama of Jennifer Lawrence's paycheck for the upcoming Passengers, a sci-fi drama with Chris Pratt. She's not budging on her 20 million,which is double Pratt's salary though he's the lead. Will Sony cave to save face from all those wage disparity complaints after leaked emails? Boy Culture tells us about a new LGBT movie That's Not Us about three couples on a weekend getaway. Sounds good Empire Charlize Theron to star as a spy in The Coldest City, based on a graphic novel Pajiba highlights from the Alex Garland's Ex Machina AMA Antagony & Ecstasy another fine take on Ex Machina
Small Screen Coming Soon NBC picked up a series based on Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. I know it was probably impossible to top Samantha Morton's precog but the series will focus on a precog only a male precog zzzz. No offense Stark Sands who I've enjoyed in other things! /Film ... and that's not the only movie becoming a TV series. Next season will also give us serialized versions ofUncle Buck and Limitless
Cannes News Cannes Mother of the French New Wave Agnès Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond, The Gleaners and I)to receive an Honorary Palme D'Or. Yaaas. Film Doctor UK advice for filmmakers attending Cannes -- this is from last year but there are lots of practical thoughts that apply to any year, non filmmakers and other smaller festivals, too Guardian with Gaspar Noé's Love on the way a look back at the festival's history of erotic cinema Awards Daily Sasha geers up for Cannes but still seems hung up on last year's awards race dramas
Stage Playbill looks back at very tight Best Musical races from the past (West Side Story vs. The Music Man, etcetera) with Fun Home, Something Rotten, and An American in Paris battling it out on Tony supremacy this season Gold Derby Outer Critics Circle Awards. With Fun Home ineligible American in Paris snatches up trophies. Kristin Chenoweth prevails in the very tight Best Actress race (will Tony go for Chita, Cheno or Kelli O'Hara?)
Showtune to Go With American in Paris celebrating its Tony nominations, why not a little Gene Kelly to brighten your Monday? Here's Kelly doing "Tra La La." Hollywood never had a more cheekily charming male movie star, give or take Cary Grant.
Katey Rich rejoins Joe Reid and Nathaniel R to discuss Alex Garland's buzzy sci-fi artificial intelligence thriller Ex Machina, now A24's biggest box office hit. Amir Soltani, from Hello Cinema & TFE, guest stars.This podcast is filled with many spoilers about a surprising movie so please see the movie before listening, if you haven't made it to the theater yet.
Running Time - 43 Minutes 00:01 Intros, Randomness, Cannes project 06:00 Ex Machina - Misleading promos vs going in cold 11:22 [SPOILERS] - Mood versus Substance, sexual issues and slavery metaphor, Princess and Mad Scientist and Frankenstein Tropes, seduction and porn profiles. And we're split on the ending. [/SPOILERS] 29:45 What else we're excited about this summer 36:20 Reader Questions: Bald women, Oscar Isaac 41:50 Goodbyes
Please to enjoy and continue the conversation in the comments. You can listen at the bottom of this post or download from iTunes.
My mood of late has been 'fourgy with the cast of Ex Machina' That cast!Or at least a private moment with Oscar Isaac. When I'm not thinking of that movie I am thinking of The Avengers and when someone tweeted "Ava > Ultron" I immediately pictured a full two hour mash-up of those titles in which Alicia Vikander with all her little subtle whirring process noises seduces Scarlet Johansson in black leather and Mark Ruffalo in green muscles and Paul Bettany in fresh synthetic body and now I need a cold shower. My point is this: The Lusty Month of May is upon us.
In keeping with that mood, let's talk about the Penny Dreadful premiere tonight and5other not safe for work things after the jump...
While the competition & un certain regard films are the "star headliners" as it were, they aren't always the ones that garner the most critical buzz or sales or what not. So let's look at what's coming in the Director's Fortnight sidebar. While this section is non competitive, the films are eligible for the Camera D'Or prize if they are among the first films in a director's career, though that's tough to win since they're competing with first films in other sections, too. The last few winners of this prize were: Beasts of the Southern Wild (Oscar nominee Best Picture), Ilo Ilo (Oscar submission Best Foreign Film) and France's Party Girl.
Opening Film
In the Shadow of Women
In the Shadow of Women (France) dir: Philippe Garrel. A romantic drama about documentary filmmakers in Paris
Closing Film
Dope (US) dir: Rick Famuyiwa This action comedy about high school hip-hop fans who get caught up in a drug deal gone wrong was a huge hit at Sundance (our quick take). It has supposedly been edited since then, which would probably only strengthen it. It's very funny but a bit bloated.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 8:00AM 
