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.)
Here are 10 things worth celebrating on this day in showbiz history, May 20th.
Federico Fellini and Jeanne Moreau were both winners at the 1960 Cannes festival but they look none too happy about it!
1891 Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope gets its first public display (to the National Federation of Women's Club). Could any of them have imagined the colossal artform that would spring forth in those early days?
1960 The 13th annual Cannes Film Festival wraps up with Federico Fellini's masterpiece (well, one of them at any rate) La Dolce Vita taking the Palme d'Or. The competition lineup was insanely rich...
5 random things that happened on this day, Sept 25th, in showbiz history
1954Exactly six months to the day after winning Best Actress for Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn marries fellow actor Mel Ferrer in Switzerland. They would divorce the year after her final nomination for Best Actress in Wait Until Dark (1967), her hit film that he produced...
10 random things that happened on this day, August 25th, in showbiz history...
1885 Silent film master G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box) born in Germany.
1918 Today is the Centennial of composer Leonard Bernstein. We've been posting a three part West Side Story tribute that I hope you will all read and comment on! Part 3 later today, apologies for the 24 hour delay. (Oh, and check out today's Google Doodle in his honor)
←1939The Wizard of Oz arrives in movie theaters. Though popular in its initial release, the 9th highest grossing film of its year and a Best Picture nominee, the budget was high enough that MGM recorded a loss of $1 million...
The Ringer Who is winning the Chris wars: Evans, Pine, or Hemsworth? /Film Stranger Things will get a sequel season, Netflix confirms. I'm a bit disappointed honestly because I thought an anthology approach would be more satisifying, with a whole new story. Season 1 was resolved satisfyingly. Who needs every story thread neatly tied up? Boo. The Metrograph has a Madonna week in August which will include a Q&A with Truth or Dare director Alek Keshishian - alas, the latter is already sold out. They also have a fun series in a week called "This is PG?!" featuring movies from the late 70s to the mid 80s when the MPAA was pressured into adding "PG-13" (I really have to get better at this Metrograph thing. They're big nights with Q&As seem to sell out instantly so I keep missing them.)
IGN interviews Joss Whedon at Comic Con. They talk Buffy comic book, secret projects, and whether a Black Widow movie would lure him back to Marvel EW on the pilot for Riverdale, the new CW series that will rethink the Archie comic books. Unfortunately it sounds like all TV high school dramas mixed with Twin Peaks (???) and not much like Archie apart from the character names. The New Yorker has a really interesting review of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie The Hairpin on the 20th anniversary of Fiona Apple's awesome "Tidal". Fun read. Current Affairs isn't happy that our political leaders love Hamilton the musical
"New" Musicals and Plays Playbill This sounds interesting -there's a new stage musical in readings called Flying Over Sunset about Hollywood's LSD craze in the late 50s the main characters are Claire Booth Luce, Aldous Huxley, and Cary Grant. Good luck casting Cary Grant! Playbill another movie to stage adaptation - the animated feature The Prince of Egypt has been adapted into a full musical and gets a free concert next month in Sag Harbor, NY Variety wonders if the new Harry Potter play is the next Hamilton. It's sold out in London and expected on Broadway eventually
Trekkies Rejoice Coming Soon Bryan Fuller, who makes such good television (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls) has two new series coming up in 2017. The first Star Trek Discovery, due in January, now has a visual teaser. American Gods has no air date yet but is also expected in 2017. Forbes argues that Star Trek's movie franchise division would be smart to go smaller for bigger payoffs at the box office: Agreed. Space a Star Trek art exhibition called "Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years" debuted at Comic Con and will now be touring conventions and museums, including NYC's Paley Center for Visual Media in September THR Gene Rodenberry's son is playing release rare unseen footage from the original Star Trek series
Today's Watch This reworking of the Cheers theme song by K Anderson & Rosered to celebrate LGBT history is really cool and poignant. [Hat Tip: Towleroad]
GQ an oral history of the great sitcom Cheers /Film first looks inside Darren Aronofsky's Noah's Ark via the great cinematographer Matthew Libatique. They should've filmed this under the pseudonym Snakes on a Boat and surprised us all with a Noah's Ark movie. Indie Wire talks to the director of Room 237. Is the documentary, a compilation of theories and obsessions surrounding Stanley Kubrick's The Shining a celebration or a critique of film critics? I'm dying to see this even though I'm no expert on The Shining.
NY Post the Self Styled Siren takes on Brian de Palma's Passion, a remake of the french thriller Love Crimes which starred Ludivine Sagnier (interviewed). Oklahoma is excited about the stars of August: Osage County in their midst (reminder: filming has begun!) There's a few blurry pics of stars (as well as some clear ones) and one of Meryl Streep doesn't look much like her but I'll take their word for it given the blur. Hollywood.com wonders if audiences want to be challenged at the movies. A question posed through the film Compliance (which you'll remember I wasn't crazy about though I do love a good movie challenge.) Now Toronto Rian Johnson talking about his fine Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis The Film Doctor notes on The Master In Contention wonders if Skyfall could land a best picture nomination Hollywood Elsewhere Guillermo Del Toro on Ken Russell's great film The Devils
Finally... Do you all follow the Vanity Fair tumblr? It's fun. I love this Bruce Handy quote they recently featured:
“PARKER POSEY IS SCARY AND ANGULAR AND LOOKS LIKE SHE COULD SAY SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT YOU IN BED. SHE’S TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO CATHERINE KEENER. ZOOEY DESCHANEL, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO MY LITTLE PONY.”