Cory Monteith (RIP)

Cory Monteith's twitter profile photoWe've lost another Young Hollywood star too soon, apparently to personal demons though the cause of death is "not immediately apparent" according to news reports. Cory Monteith, aka "Finn" from Glee, died last night in a hotel room in Canada. Our hearts go out to Lea Michele and his family and friends.

He played the befuddled singing jock well, with a sweetness of spirit and refreshing modesty. And you know how The Film Experience treasures singing actors.

I had long since stopped watching Glee which proved to be one of the smartest television decisions I ever made. When I started to hate the show during Season 3 I abruptly quit and now the only memories I really have of it are good ones. So this morning I'm replaying one of my favorite TV experiences ever, the Glee pilot. Like the rest of the world when Rachel & Finn spun around each other as "Don't Stop Believin'" kept building my heart soared and I couldn't wait to fall in love with them and the series, too. Glee was one of the great debuts of television history, full of energy, heart and promise. And that's a feeling to hold on to.

RIP Cory.

A Link Odyssey

The Flick Filosopher "my back let me show you it" on the faceless objectification of women in movie posters
Pacific Standard investigates what's going on with all those shlocky monster movies on Netflix Instant Watch. One studio is just churning them out by the dozen!
Splash Page Andrew Garfield wonders why we can't have a gay Spider-Man 

Vulture does some mathematical analysis from 1989-to-Now and, nope, Hollywood just doesn't make movies about women anymore
Deep Dish (site is NSFW) picks the best (& worst) of the season. A lot of Nashville, American Horror Story, and Downton Abbey but Don & Betty win "best sex" for Mad Men. I concur.
Hollywood in this week's Truly Tasteless News, they are already planning a movie about the Boston Marathon Bombing. It might be well-written -- the guys from The Fighter are onboard -- but still... a little time to heal people. 

Finally, Jose from Movies Kick Ass never cared much for Stanley Kubrick while still respecting him (he and I are similar that way) but Jose was finally converted to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by way of this week's big screen viewing at BAM in Brooklyn as part of their Big Screen Epics series. And how!

Coincidentally I was also there and the size of the screen, the beauty of the theater (thanks BAM) and the immersion of the sound also made me a new and real convert. It was as if I'd never seen the film before. Suddenly so many movies... so many movies seem like they owe their best moments and even their existence to it. (Hi, Tree of Life!) I suddenly need to reevaluate every Kubrick on the big screen. In fact, the only film of his I've seen in the size it deserves is Eyes Wide Shut (1999)... though in that case, size didn't matter. I was unmoved. 

How Many Biopics is Liz Going To Get?

Late last year Lindsay Lohan did her best Elizabeth Taylor for Liz & Dick on Lifetime though by all accounts her best wasn't very good. Now BBC is getting in on the action with the far more respectable Helena Bonham Carter as the movie star of movie stars. This will be Helena's most challenging role in a good long while, don't you think? [More after the jump...]

Helena as Liz & Liz as Liz; she did love her caftans!

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Visual Index ~ American Graffiti's Best Shot(s)

Where were you on 7/2? Hopefully watching American Graffiti (1973) to better appreciate today's edition of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", our collective series in which we invite anyone who loves movies  'round the web to select their favorite image from a pre-selected movie. [Next Wednesday we'll be discussing the brilliant and disturbing Dead Ringers (1988) so do not miss that.] This week we return to simpler times...

1962 by way of 1973, in point of fact, courtesy of George Lucas's first Best Picture nominee, the very fine nostalgia fest American Graffiti which we thought an appropriate choice for the 4th of July Holiday. more...

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Linky Together

The Awl has a good piece on the metaphorical zombies and in blockbuster cinema
My New Plaid Pants a delightfully unexpected list: 5 tertiary characters from Paul Thomas Anderson movies deserve their own spin-off. I totally forgot about Brad the Bartender with Braces in Magnolia!
Atlantic prompted by all the "legacy" talk of TV after James Gandolfini (RIP) & The Sopranos... "where is the female Tony Soprano?"
HitFix David Chases' full eulogy for James Gandolfini

Coming Soon Sir Ian McKellen has wrapped filming The Hobbit trilogy, never to return to Gandalf the Grey (or White)
In Contention's wondering about Foxcatcher in Sony's Oscar Hopeful slate
Hollywood Vin Diesel meeting with Marvel Studios. Hmmm, I can't really see him as any of the characters mentioned beyond Thanos 
Exploding Actresses on Tumblr. You will cry. Or laugh. Possibly both depending on the movie.
Antagony & Ecstasy has a well thought through piece on Joss Whedon's tossed-off Much Ado About Nothing

Today's Watch
Filmmaker IQ's John Hess on Aspect Ratio in cinema. 18 minutes long but well produced and worth it, if your understanding of Aspect Ratio is, like mine, limited to Almost Squares vs Various Shaped Rectangles and trivia knowledge of gimmicks like "Cinerama." Watch it, it's Edumucational!

The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio from FilmmakerIQ.com on Vimeo.

Belated Tony
Filmsploitation Check out this wonderful photo and quote from cinematographer Christopher Doyle about set photography and the making of Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together (1997) which I had just been thinking of for no apparent reason (since I used a different photo for The Film Experience on Facebook... a page you should obviously "like", duh)

And while we're on the subject... Happy (belated) birthday to Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Lust Caution, In the Mood for Love, Hero), our favorite Asian movie star who celebrated his 51st yesterday. His wife Carina Lau posted this picture of him eating cake. 

You missed the thumb Tony. Let me get that for you...