Reader of the Day: Dominique

For today's reader interview we have the lovely movie-mad Dominique who lives here in New York.

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first ever moviegoing experience?

DOMINIQUE: The first film I remember seeing in theaters is Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I would've been a little over 5. My dad had been reading an abridged version of it as a bedtime story and so I kept wondering how they could make a whole movie out of a ten-page picture book. I guess I assumed the film would be pretty short or something. Naturally, I was blown away and it remains a favorite film of mine until this day.

When did you start reading The Film Experience?

I think it was around 2007.  I'm attracted to how unpretentious the site is. All the writers and collaborators seem to genuinely love film and I can feel that in every article. I also love random features such as First and Last or April Showers/May Flowers... Just little tidbits of cinephilia that are always refreshing. Also I'm an Oscar nut.

Have you ever dressed up as a movie character for Halloween? 

I am a Halloween lover and have been dressing up as pop culture characters for the past few years: Mia Wallace, Becky from Sin City, Holly Golightly, Joan Holloway, Sherrie from Rock of Ages and this year Lisbeth Salander.

Want Pictures! Which film genre do you think needs a little time out and why? And the inverse: What kind of movie do you wish they'd start making more of?

I'm not sure what genre needs a time out. I'm pretty open to everything and I think some great filmmakers can convince me to watch something I assume I won't like. If anything, maybe certain filmmakers need to take a little time off. Tim Burton, anyone? (Here's another reason I will keep reading this site: no one managed to describe why I hate Eyesore in Wonderland quite as well as you did, Nathaniel.)

What I want to see more of are good musicals. I have always loved musicals and I am thankful to live in New York where I always have the opportunity to go see something great on (or off) Broadway. But what about in film? Is Burlesque really the best we can do? It was silly, but it was no Moulin Rouge! and that's what I want more of. Something epic. If the godawful Glee can remain this popular, can't musicals have a comeback with a film that's actually good?

I'm a film student and they always tell us to make the films we want to see. Two years ago I wrote and produced a musical comedy short and my thesis project which I will be shooting later this year is a dark musical. So at least I'm trying to work on the problem.

 
Best Wishes... sincerely. Let's end with your three favorites actresses. Who they be?

Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck and Kate Winslet. Of course, ask me any other day and my answers would probably change.

I just love women who don't take shit from men. And then seduce them.

Film Bitch Awards Continue

Our annual awards jamboree went into an unexpected coma due to Oscar exhaustion but the film bitch awards are back as we try and really not just sorta wrap up the 2010 film year. So here are BEST POSTER, SEXPOT and DIVA OF THE YEAR featuring achievements from Cher, Joan Rivers, I Am Love, Fish Tank, Burlesque, Love and Other Drugs and yes even Alice in Wonderland (among other films).

 

So that's six pages down. One more to go. Woohoooooo almost finis! (Just in time for the NEW Oscar predictions for 2011 which always kick off in some form on April 1st ). We'll fill in the BEST SCENES next (final page) but I'm still debating various efforts, like this number below for Best Musical Number in a Non Musical Film.

Since not many of you saw Hrithik Roshan in Kites here's the film's best scene. Someone told me it was edited out for the US version of the movie (they released three versions I believe) which is in-san-it-y since there's plenty of unnecessary filler elsewhere in the movie (seriously you could lose like 10 minutes simply by shaving of 10 seconds from every scene involving long soulful gazes between Hrithik and Barbara Mori there are so many of them) and this is Hrithik's only musical number. And don't people buy tickets for his movies because of the dance numbers?

I could watch him dance for hours. So it's kind of annoying that the editing is so hyperactive. I mean his body is all the hyperactivity one needs, always locking, shaking, popping, flipping, swaying, slinking, swerving, slurving (I made that last word up) and busting out all over.  Hrithik just missed the sexpot list. The sexiest people are, generally speaking, the ones who just exude carnality (Mila Kunis in Black Swan and Tom Hardy in Inception, hell-O) without every noticeably forcing the point. But since Hrithik is basically a superhero made flesh, one forgives most of the oversized everything so... almost! Here's hoping he gets another chance headlining an international effort like Kites, just a better one next time.

So, what'cha think of them divas? And I'll gladly take recommendations for the final categories: Action Sequence, Musical Moments, Kiss & Sex Scenes, Opening & Closing Scenes, Credits and just Best Moments in general.

Link in Sixty Seconds

Carpetbagger Oscar envelopes get a makeover. Er... it looks like McDonalds is handing out the prizes.
AV Club Michel Gondry is adapting Philip K Dick's Ubik. I predict that before the end of civilization every sentence Philip K Dick ever wrote will be put on the big screen.
The Wrap Adrianne Palicki will be TV's next Wonder Woman. I wish nothing but happiness and success for everyone who has ever been on Friday Night Lights. I do.
Just Jared another collaboration for Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. They just won't stop!
i09 Zach Snyder's Superman may be in trouble.
fourfour "wagon wheel watusi" Oh, Burlesque.
My New Plaid Pants the moment I fell for.... Andrew Garfield
Scott Feinberg is still pushing Melissa Leo for the gold. Here are some statistics to consider.

Finally Empire Online is hosting a "Done in 60 Seconds" contest in which readers have submitted one minute films spoofing some of hte greatest movies of all time. There are 20 finalists, one is even made by a regular Film Experience reader (who alerted me to the contest -Congrats!). Quite a few of them show real ingenuity but my favorites are the ones that don't merely recreate but remold the film in some other image. There's a spoof of The Terminator that cleverly uses Toy Story characters. It obviously cost nothing but, then, neither did the original Terminator. Ghost is similarly lowfi with teddy bears but totally works and I loved the voicework even if it did seem to be taking its cue from those 30 second bunny films.  The Wizard of Oz short is really more of a redo of a trailer of a hugely popular 90s movie (I'll leave you to guess which one). And there's two Social Network films. One of them (contestant #9) is an amusing send up of Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher rather than the movie itself.

Did you like Benjamin Button? Do you wanna go back to that?

It totally had me giggling. The last musical cue is hilarious. So, that's the one I voted for. Are you going to vote?

Ear Candy: Best Sound, Score, Songs of 2010

I really am trying to get a move on with my Film Bitch Awards. If you're new to The Film Experience that's this site's annual awards. We've been doing it for (gulp) 11 years... Each year I promise myself to spend more time listening to the movies since my eyes are so greedy and always want to watch watch watch. But movies are not only eye candy. They can also provide significant aural pleasure. 

Some films that sound gooooooooood

So I've now announced the nominees in all the sound categories. mixing, editing, original song, original score and my own special category "best adapted or song score" which is a highly necessary category given that  so many films now use a mix-tape approach rather than relying on one person to provide the music. This weekend we'll try to wrap all the other "standard" i.e. Oscar categories -- as well as do final Oscar predictions -- since that's all gotta be out of the way before Oscar nomination morning. (I don't expect my lineups to match Oscar's much in sound and score but they rarely do so I won't be hurt too much on Tuesday.)

Come back and let me know what you think of the soundscapes of movies like Black Swan, I Am Love, Salt, The Social Network, The Ghost Writer, Burlesque and many more in the comments. (My ears are not as well trained as my eyes but each year I think I listen a little better. Progress)

After the Oscar nomination brouhaha winds down late next week, we'll hit the "fun" categories like Diva, Villain, Best Action Sequence. You know how we do.

Famous Amos Linkies

Movie Stuffs
Because that's what we like best.

Cam Gigandet's Cookies

• A Socialite's Life celebrates Cam Gigandet's Burlesque nude scene with hilariously blurry photos. (seriously, why even bother?).
• Cineuropa on the big Danish weekend in Hollywood. I hadn't even made that Scandinavian connection yet.
• Social Network Daily I mean Awards Daily... oops. Has a nifty chart illustrating the unprecedented dominance of The Social Network this awards season. Only Brokeback Mountain came this close,  although we know how that ended.
• Serious Film's Most Anticipated Movies of 2011
• My New Plaid Pants celebrates Jim Carrey's birthday, claims he saw him first in 1985's Once Bitten. Sorry, got you beat JA. I watched Duck Factory (1984) WHILE IT WAS AIRING because as a kid I wanted to be an animator, y'see?

Off Cinema
Because once in a while you should rest your eyes... by, uh, looking at other stuff.

• Design Work Life "Dancers Among Us" really cool photo series.
• Bully's Comics "If I Wrote Aquaman" Maybe you have to be a comics nerd to love this but I do.
• People It's official. Anne Hathaway to play Chris Colfer's lesbian aunt on Glee. Hey, if they won't make movie musicals, at least we have Glee for better and worse. Sometimes worse sure but at least.

Okay enough of that!
Back to the movies. Or at least the Golden Globes.

• Vulture has a funny "Best Celebrity Reaction Shots" slideshow from the show last night including La Pfeiffer's traditionally icy hostility. We love her for it. Actually we think Pfeiffer is probably not at all hostile. That's just her face. It's always been so sharp she will cut you.