Emmy FYC: D'Arcy Carden for "The Good Place"

Team Experience will be sharing FYCs as the Television Academy votes on Emmy nominations over the next two weeks. Here's Eurocheese

First thing’s first: If you haven’t been watching The Good Place, you’ve been missing out. The comedy is one of the most creative shows on TV today, where every episode feels like it can head in absolutely any direction. It’s genuinely surprising, fun, inspired, and a complete mind-fork. If you need to binge watch a show that will bring you pure joy, this is it. I say all this because this plea will have *spoilers*, so if you know nothing about the show, please just watch it.

The third season took a little bit of time to get going, but focusing on the “test” put before our heroes opened up a lot of opportunities for character growth...

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Review: The Hustle

by Samantha Craggs

The late great Gene Siskel had a litmus test: is this movie more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch? In the case of Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson in The Hustle, the answer is a resounding no. The material keeps Hathaway at a fraction of her potential wattage, and Hollywood doesn't quite know what to do with Rebel Wilson yet.

The Hustle, in theatres now, is a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, although the earlier film isn't required viewing. Hathaway plays Josephine Chesterfield, a skilled con artist with a too-affected British accent who uses her natural charm and willowy figure to swindle men out of money in a little French Riviera town. A police sergeant works with her – for a price, of course. And Chesterfield can pay it. She's made millions doing this.

In comes Wilson's Penny Rust, playing what we've come to know as the Rebel Wilson role...

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Aladdin Pt 2: Manic Magical Improv, Sight Gags, and "Prince Ali"

In Part 1 of our re-watch of Disney's Aladdin (the proper one, from 1992, not the live-action thing coming out this weekend) Ben got us through the introductions to good-hearted "street rat" Aladdin, frustrated princess Jasmine, and up to the mouth of the Cave of Wonders. We enter as Aladdin takes his first step into a whole new world…

Part 2 by Tim Brayton

0:28:04 – Let's take just a minute to appreciate the atmospheric concision of this descent into the cave. First, we had a shot of Aladdin stepping over the tiger-god's teeth, dissolving into this beautiful wide shot of him (below) at the top of an impossible flight of stairs, a tiny bright dot in the overall gloom that shifts from cold blue to hot, threatening red as our eye glides down the lines of the composition.

Then another dissolve takes us to the foot of stairs, with Aladdin about to step into the heart of the cave. It's a swift, visually-driven way of taking us down into… Hell? It's hard to say just yet, but it creates a terrific sense of mystery, both promising and foreboding...

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Showbiz History: Valentino's Wedding, Shirley's Discovery, Frasier's Ending

Six random things to celebrate on this day (May 13th) in showbiz history...

1919 It's the centennial today of the silent film Broken Blossoms starring Lillian Gish (which you can watch in full on YouTube), an interracial weepie romance with Richard Barthelmess in "yellow face" as a Chinese Man that Gish falls for. Some critics consider it D.W. Griffith's best film. 

Valentino and Rambova

1922 Silent film superstar Rudoph Valentino, who made millions swoon all over the world, weds costume and set designer Natacha Rambova at the age of 27. Valentino would then be arrested for bigamy since he'd been divorced for less than a year at the time (which was legally a no-go back then in California)...

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"Wine Country" on Netflix

From new contributor Samantha Craggs

In theory, there's a lot to love about Wine Country. It's two whole hours devoted to women in their 40s and 50s, an often invisible demographic in film. What's more it's rarely about typical topics like marriage or children. It stars watchable and funny women. It passes the Beschdel Test in spades. 

But with Wine Country, sadly, the result is as bland as the biscuit and asparagus tones that permeate the backdrop...

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