Olivia Newton John (1948-2022)

by Nathaniel R

Olivia receiving an award in 2019 for her philanthropy. [image via.]

Heaven is one angel stronger today. The iconic 1970s superstar Olivia Newton-John passed away earlier today at age 73 after her fourth bout with cancer. Our thoughts here at The Film Experience go out to her surviving loved ones, husband, siblings, and daughter. More pointedly they go out to her legion of fans since yours truly counts myself among them. If you're in that group, you're surely hurting, too. You see, dear reader, Olivia was my first love. Like everyone who came of age in the 80s, the trio of Grease and Xanadu and "Physical" were impossible to escape. Nor did young Nathaniel want to! I can't remember where I even first learned her name or heard her sing. She was just always part of the world...

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Yes No Maybe So: Baz Luhrmann's 'ELVIS'

by Nathaniel R

Baz Luhrmann's career began explosively with two of the most endearing, unusual, and entertaining films of the 1990s (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet). His promise as a Great Showman was realized with his masterpiece Moulin Rouge! (2001) which was only his third feature. Unfortunately in the 21 years since that very modern movie musical revitalized its genre, he mostly vanished from movie screens. He's made only two features since, the disjointed epic Australia (2008) and a box office hit adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013). Nearly a full decade later we finally have a sixth feature. His latest, which was untitled long enough that its official title Elvis is hysterically anti-climactic, is a biopic of the rock n roll superstar. The movie hits theaters on June 24th, so let's break the trailer down with our Yes No Maybe So™ system...

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"Nitram" leads the AACTA Nominations

by Travis Cragg

Controversial character study Nitram, which you'll remember took the Best Actor prize at Cannes, leads the pack for this year’s Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) awards with 15 nominations. The nominations were drawn from a list of 33 official submissions, and they honour Australian film (and television and digital entertainment) performances and technical achievements. 

The complete list of nominees, plus trivia and a couple of opinions, is after the jump…

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2020: Essie Davis in "Babyteeth" and "True History of the Kelly Gang"

by Nick Taylor

Been a lot of chatter about this year’s supporting actress race. You can check out the comments section of any given post on this site over the past year and probably find this category poking its head into an entirely unrelated conversation. Can’t imagine why! To give a quick word on the race, I think this is a remarkably strong lineup, boasting five incredibly talented women who tangibly elevate their films. The sheer number of contenders popping up at other ceremonies makes these nominations feel truly earned - no one coasted to their slot, and the variations of genre, roles, career trajectory, and screen time are delightfully eclectic. A film or two may be sketchy, but the work isn’t, and every one of those actresses would make a fine winner. 

As per the tradition of my companion pieces to the Supporting Actress Smackdown (coming in a week!), I’ve decided to bypass anyone with visible buzz in favor of an actress whose work I loved and wish had gotten more attention than it did. This category‘s already had plenty of airtime lately, so I’m sticking to just one write-up. Luckily, my favorite supporting actress of the year gave two performances worth talking about...

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"Babyteeth" and "Invisible Man" win at the AACTAs

by Travis Cragg

Eliza Scanlen (21) and Toby Wallace (24) won the lead acting trophies for "Babyteeth"

The AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) awards were handed out over two COVID-normal ceremonies in the past week. Kudos to the Film Experience commenter last month who correctly predicted that Babyteeth (streaming on Hulu) would win all the “above the line” awards – it went home with Best Film, Direction, Screenplay and all four acting prizes, as well as Original Score and Casting. The rest of the craft categories were split between The Invisible Man (streaming on HBO Max) and True History Of The Kelly Gang (available to rent online). A full list of cinema winners (and a little commentary) after the jump...

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