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.)
In preparation for the next Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.
This photo is an instant serotonin hit.
By: Christopher James
Almost Famous is a love story. That’s not as a reference to teenage journalist wunderkind William (Patrick Fugit) and his love for legendary “band-aide” Penny Lane (Kate Hudson). It’s also not a reference to William’s adoration for the band Stillwater, which sets off the chain of events. Writer-director Cameron Crowe made Almost Famous as a love letter to professional passion. William loves music and just wants outlets to profess his feelings on the subject. Can a journalist be a fan? This is a question asked multiple times throughout the movie. In the end, the answer is yes and no. You have to love something enough to devote your life to it, but not so much that you get swallowed up by it...
Because we're having fun with this little feature we'll continue. On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1881 Ahead of her time Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross. She doesn't get a biopic because Hollywood is only interested in "Great Man" biopics 1916 Happy Centennial to author Harold Robbins who penned 25 best-sellers some of which became famous movies like The Carpetbaggers (1964), the Elvis flick King Creole (1958), and the notorious Pia Zadora Razzie winner The Lonely Lady (1983)
Rope (1949) and Swoon (1992) - two great movies inspired by the Leopold & Loeb case
1924 Chicago college students Leopold & Loeb murder a teenage boy in a "thrill killing." Their crime inspires the story of the gay deviants in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1949), the Cannes Best Actor winning Compulsion (1958) and is recreated in the New Queer Cinema classic Swoon (1992) 1926 Kay Kendall of Les Girls (1957) fame is born 1952 Two time Oscar nominee John Garfield (best known for The Postman Always Rings Twice and Gentlemen's Agreement though those were not his nominated films) dies unexpectedly at the age of 39. The stress from the blacklist and Communist witch hunts (he'd refused to name names) were said to cause his heart attack. 1959Gypsy opens on Broadway starring Ethel Merman. Mama Rose becomes the defining female role of musical theater, as Hamlet is to male drama thespians. Dozens of divas play her thereafter on stage, tv, and film. The best of them is Imelda Staunton, no joke.
1960 Jeffrey Dahmer is born in Wisconsin. Becomes an infamous gay serial killer in the early 90s just in time for America's obsession with serial killers to go truly perverse and mainstream. Within a decade or two they're the heroes on television shows for f***'s sake (This has always bothered me about showbiz - assassins and serial killers are professions as popular as being a doctor or a waitress.) Jeremy Renner plays Dahmer in the eponymous movie which yours truly has never seen. Have you? the general critical consensus is that Renner was very very good in it. But nobody was annoyed by his total franchise sellout-ness back then because it hadn't happened yet.
1970 FINALLY some role-model gayness for May 22nd, redeeming the day from infamy. Harvey Milk picks up Scott Smith in a subway station as a 40th birthday present to himself, as lovingly reenacted by Sean Penn & James Franco in Milk (2008) 1974 Fairuza Balk is born. As soon as she can speak she calls the four corners to insure that no other actresses gets her signature role in The Craft years 22 years later. 1979 "White Night Riots" in San Francisco because the gays are rightfully furious about the "manslaughter" conviction in the assassination of Harvey Milk 1980Star War: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) released in theaters. It's still the best one.
1992 Johnny Carson welcomes his last guest on "The Tonight Show," Bette Midler, after 30 seasons on air. She wins the Outstanding Individual Performance Emmy for this performance. Two years later she is nominated for Gypsy and loses. 1999 Susan Lucci spoils her fame-boosting status as the ultimate awards show loser by winning on her 19th consecutive Daytime Emmy nomination
Kieran, here. This past week, Andrew Fleming's 90s teen witchcraft flick The Craft celebrated its 20th anniversary. If you haven't already done so, do yourself a favor and check out the terrific piece over at Decider about the cult classic's enduring power, written by fellow Team Experience member Chris Feil.
One thing that I've always found interesting about the film, something that I've rarely seen discussed, is its racial politics and how they stand out among other movies released around the same time. The dynamic of "the black friend" is one not entirely alien to teen films and television, especially in the 90s...
By the power of three, Jason from MNPP here today to make you see, make you see. If you can believe it Andrew Fleming's 1996 teen witch classic The Craft turned 19 years old two weeks ago, and it celebrated the last year of its teens with the news that greets so many other movies of a certain age -- it's remake time! Leigh Janiak, the female director behind last year's sufficiently creepy film Honeymoon, is gonna find four new girls to make light as a feather, stiff as a board, for a whole new generation. For a subset of 90s kids, this is like blaspheming the great Manon himself - inconceivable! Star Fairuza Balk (who's celebrating her birthday later this week - happy birthday, Fairuza!) weighed in with wise words on it; we have yet to hear from "natural witch" Robin Tunney. But what do you guys think? (Also: WHO WOULD YOU CAST?) And most importantly...
Whose team are you on?
Team Sarah0%
Team Nancy0%
PREVIOUSLY Last week's Kramer vs Kramer poll stayed incredibly close the entire seven days, and in the end it was only seven votes that handed Joanna (Meryl Streep) the win. Obviously y'all were as torn up over choosing as was that little boy's home life. Said Mike:
"I can't even say enough about these two marvelous performances. Both Oscars were well deserved. Still one of my ultimate favorite performances given by Meryl."
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 6:16PM 
This photo is an instant serotonin hit.
