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.)
Two branches of movie craftsmen have sounded off now in what will soon be a deluge of guild announcements. The casting directors and the editors have spoken and they've rallied behind some Best Picture hopefuls (the three frontrunners: La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight are showing up everywhere) and passionate fanbase movies (20th Century Women, Deadpool, Captain Fantastic) ...and 'oh, they remembered that!' surprises (Hail, Caesar!).
Year in Review. Each day another different angled wrap-up.
Last year during our year in review roundup we did our first list of "best co-star chemistry" and it was such a fun way to pinpoint the intangible and often uncategorizable spark that ignites greatness in movies that we're doing it again. Want to capture lightning in a bottle in your movie? Hire the right casting director who will pair the right actors together. No special effect, setpiece, or plot twist can or will ever rival the amount of movie-long electricity that can be generated when actors are really sparking off each other and nailing whatever the roles their characters play in each other's lives simultaneously.
The list is presented without much commentary... unless we couldn't escape it. Chime in in the comments, won't you?
16 Chris Pine & Ben Foster, Hell or High Water (Brothers)
Less than a month after releasing his holiday-themed short film for H&M, Wes Anderson has gifted us another charming video that takes place in cramped spaces with distinct color patterns. But this time, it's to announce the official title of his newest animated animal caper - it's Isle of Dogs and, like Fantastic Mr. Fox, it's shooting in England- as well as the laundry list of actors that will comprise his next sprawling ensemble. On top of previously announced cast members Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, and Edward Norton (who pops up in the announcement tape as comic relief), we knew to expect Anderson regulars such as Tilda Swinton and Harvey Keitel to make the cut but fresh names such as Yoko Ono, Courtney B. Vance, and Greta Gerwig are certainly cause for excitement. Hopefully the animated canines they voice will receive luckier fates than most dogs do in the Anderson cinematic universe.
The narrative of the film still remains a mystery but there's one golden opportunity that Anderson makes clear: by donating $10 to Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation through CrowdRise, you automatically enter into a contest to voice one of the pups in the picture. So if you've ever wanted to simultnaeously portray a tweed-decked terrier while supporting film preservation, now's your shot!
Twenty five years ago, director Barbra Streisand delivered her big-screen adaptation of the Pat Conroy novel The Prince of Tides for Christmas. The film went on to win the Best Actor Golden Globe for Nick Nolte, as well as seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture (but famously not a Best Director nod for Streisand).
Looking at the film now, The Prince of Tides feels like a remnant from a lost Hollywood genre: the mainstream, gimmick-free adult drama. Streisand’s instincts lean to the commercial, and she’s fully devoted to the film’s rather banal psychobabble that purports how one good solid cry can heal a childhood rape. The script may be as deep as a raindrop, but it has its strengths as well, and they’re strengths that align with Streisand’s own...
Alex R Hibbert's omission from the nominated cast of Moonlight is one of the worst yet from SAG
For several years now we've highlighted a major problem with the Screen Actors Guild Awards that we hope their union will eventually address. The rule is that to be included in the Ensemble nomination you have to have your own title card (or share the first title card if the whole principle cast is listed on the same card as in Woody Allen movies). But the prize is meant to honor the whole cast and sometimes a less famous person can deliver in a big way in which the movie wouldn't be the same without. My fascination/aggravation with this rule and its collateral damage goes all the way back to The Avatior (2004) when I realized that Matt Ross (an actor who is now a director - see Captain Fantastic) was not included though he is terrifc in the movie and in a ton of scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio while Gwen Stefani, a very famous woman with only a cameo, was included.
So let's look at each ensemble nomination this year and figure out who has fallen victim to this aggravating rule after the jump...
Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 6:53PM 
