Reader's Choice: Voyage of the Damned (1976)

Last week by popular vote you selected this streaming film for screening & discussion...

by Nathaniel R

It lasted 30 days... You will remember it as long as you live."

So went one of the chief taglines for the Oscar hopeful Voyage of the Damned (1976). It reads like a threat -- when taglines attack! -- this promise of a long unforgettable sit. Having only viewed The Voyage of the Damned for the very first time this weekend, it's too soon to say if we'll remember it for as long as we live, but the other part of the statement is accurate. We won't make a snarky comment about the running time (too easy!) but the titular passage was indeed a month long moment of intensely shameful global history. 

For those unfamilar with the history it goes, very briefly, like this...

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Best of the "Whodunnit?" Genre (Part One)

by Eurocheese

Rian Johnson’s upcoming Knives Out is a thrill ride of a whodunnit, toying with one of the most enjoyable film genres. To celebrate, I'm sharing my all time list of favorite murder mysteries. Feel free to add your own in the comments – we could all use some good discoveries from any era or country.

Before we begin some whodunnit qualifiers to narrow down this list. The films must have: 

1. A set group of suspects, who we get to know through the film (disqualifies movies like Se7en)
2. An unknown culprit (knocks out most of Hitchcock)
3. Evidence, so the audience has some chance of guessing the final answer
4. ...And the identity of the culprit being revealed late in the film, either by a detective or the movie itself.

This should go without saying, but a whodunnit isn’t as fun when the answer is spoiled, so no spoilers in the comments (about any of these or Knives Out)!

TEN FAVOURITE WHODUNNITS...

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How had I never seen... "Three Days of the Condor" or "The Parallax View"?

In this new series, members of Team Film Experience watch and share their reactions to classic films they’ve never seen. 

by Lynn Lee

The 1970s may have been a great era for cinema, but they were a pretty lousy time for faith in the great American experiment.  Between the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, the Church Committee reports, and of course Watergate, there were seemingly endless reasons to suspect the U.S. government and other institutions meant to serve and protect the public were instead covering up all manner of malfeasance—and that they might be watching you if they thought you were a threat.  This generalized paranoia found fertile ground in Hollywood, leading to a spate of conspiracy thrillers of varying quality and goofiness.

Until last month, the only one of these films I’d seen was All the President’s Men (unless you count Chinatown and Network, which I’d argue you could).  But something about the social and political tensions of today made these movies seem especially current again.  So it seemed like a good occasion to watch two of the most famous examples of the genre: Three Days of the Condor (1975) and A Parallax View (1974)...

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Showbiz History: Faye's win, Winona's debut, Gaga's birth, and Angelina's first nuptials

7 random things to celebrate on this day in showbiz history...

And the winner is... Faye Dunaway in Network

1920 Silent superstars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford marry. Their marriage last only 16 years but their only child together is still going strong: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! We kid sort of. They were the two most famous of the 36 founding members of the Academy, originally the brainchild of producer Louis B Mayer though the Oscars were not initially the main idea of the group...

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Beauty vs Beast: Queen Anne's Choice

Happy Oscar Nominations Eve, everybody! Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" which this week shall tackle one of the probable juggernauts nomination-wise tomorrow, or so we hope -- Yorgos Lanthimos' giddily profane The Favourite boasts a triumverate for the ages, with Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) sitting astride two wars, the more interesting one between her comely, craven subjects Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and cousin Abagail (Emma Stone). Everybody's predicting richkly deserved nominations for all three (while simultaneously bickering about their Lead vs Supporting placement) but we're more interested where you'd come down from Queen Anne's place...

bike trail guide

PREVIOUSLY Last week you guys wisely took Joan's advice and didn't fuck with her, fellas - Faye Dunaway's stark-raving turn in Mommie Dearest trampled through the roses to a win of just under 80%. Said Roger:

"I love MOMMIE DEAREST. In terms of Oscar eligibility, Faye Dunaway absolutely should have won the Oscar. Her performance is incredible and almost experimental. I think this is a rare example where the overused remark of losing one’s self in a role is warranted. The line between Faye Dunaway and Joan Crawford is blurred beyond distinction. Both actresses are so enthralling that seeing one as the other, Dunaway as Crawford, is so electrifying it borders on hyperreality."