Tweetweek: Sleepovers, time loops, and one very gay summer

First, two tweets that stunned us in their perceptiveness. Exactly right on both counts.

Long overdue rewatch of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and it occurs to me that the exact same narrative material that is dealt with here in 96 minutes would now cover five seasons of a ‘prestige’ streaming drama.

— Jeff Billington (@faces_of_jeff) June 30, 2022

the multiverse and time loops displaced time travel as a genre bc we no longer agree on the past or believe in the future, just infinite minuscule variations on the present

— Tony Tulathimutte (@tonytula) July 5, 2022

More curated and mostly amusing tweets for you after the jump featuring George Clooney's batsuit, Barbie sleepovers, a perplexing Dianne Wiest situation, Alien  & Predator trivia, the summer of 92 at the movies, and more ...

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William Hurt (1950-2022)

by Nathaniel R

Hurt as I remember him.

I read with total shock yesterday the news that William Hurt had passed away of cancer. There's something about growing up watching famous actors that ties your own ideas about time to their legacy, however loosely. When I heard the news I thought "Noooo he was so young!" before realizing that he was just shy of his 72nd birthday and not the handsome entirely fictional thin-haired 40something actor that I realized I pictured him as, a slightly aged version of his smoldering but callow young beauty, perhaps informed by the wearier sinister bald character actor of his later years. But William Hurt was actually 71 when cancer took him. So why had William Hurt become frozen in time for me? The answer lies not just in my own cinephilia but in the very distinct phases of his career...

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Vintage '05

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 2005 is just a week away so get your votes in! Before we get there it's time for more context of that year in showbiz history. Ready? 

Great Big Box Office Hits:
Franchises of multiple kinds dominated the box office with Harry Potter 4, Star Wars Episode 3, and the launches of Chronicles of Narnia and Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy as half of the top ten list that year. Other huge hits were the romantic comedy Hitch, the Brangelina pairing of Mr & Mrs Smith, the remakes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, War of the Worlds, and King Kong, and the comedies Wedding Crashers and Meet the Fockers.

Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: 
In the mid-Aughts the Oscars were veering away from big hits in their Best Picture lineups (to eventually rule-changing results) but Brokeback Mountain was the most successful of the lot with $178 million globally...

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99¢: Boogie Nights, First Reformed, Heathers, A History of Violence

Heads up on these great deals for four truly awesome movies on iTunes. iTunes deals expire quickly so if you've always wanted to see or revisit any of these they're only 99¢ this week.

• First Reformed - The nomination leader at the Gotham Awards and we still think Ethan Hawke could nab a Best Actor Oscar nomination for it. 
• Boogie Nights - The film that made Paul Thomas Anderson famous, and delivered Julianne Moore 'the foxiest bitch in the whole world' her first Oscar nomination (which she should've won). 
• A History of Violence - David Cronenberg's masterful adaptation of a graphic novel nabbed two Oscar nominations for its screenplay and for William Hurt's late film curtain chewing but it started the season with lots more Oscar buzz. It should have been up for everything, especially the big four: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress. It did really well at our own Film Bitch Awards that year winning several medals including the gold for the frankly scorching sex scene between Viggo and Maria Bello in her all time best screen performance. 
• Heathers - 'Fuck me gently with a chainsaw...' it's the high school black comedy wherein Winona Ryder's  'teen-angst bullshit has a body count'.

Great... Train Robbery, Detective, Balls of Fire

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

1859 Arthur Conan Doyle is born. Probably rolls over in his grave 150 years later when Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes premieres and the great detective becomes a slo mo action hero
1868 The Great Train Robbery happens. It's the subject of a highly influential 10 minute silent film (embedded above) as soon as people figure out what to do with cameras and celluloid in 1903. Cross-cutting, breaking the fourth wall, inventing the western action movie genre? It's all happening right here. 
1907 Laurence Olivier is born. Not yet a "Sir" but already expecting a cooing audience
1945 Paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren are married. They become the fab Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson in The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016) 

1958 Jerry Lee Lewis tells the world he's married his 13 year old cousin Myra. Later they look just like Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder in a movie
1967 Brooke Smith, the girl in the pit, is born
1973 Nikolaj Lie Kass, Danish actor of underappreciated hotness (Brothers, The Idiots), is born 
1998 The Opposite of Sex hits theaters, Christina Ricci gets a well deserved Golden Globe Best Actress nod for her inspired star turn 
2005 The razor sharp Cronenberg film A History of Violence was stiffed of any prize at the Cannes Film Festival despite a strange round of winners which at least included Michael Haneke as Best Director for the brilliant Caché. Both films went to to make the Best Picture lineup right here at The Film Experience.
2016 The 69th annual Cannes Film Festival closes. Awards ceremony tonight in France so come back for the winners in the late afternoon!