Is 2012 The Year of Divisiveness?

Hello, loves. Beau here, considering something I've been knocking around in my head for the past week. There has yet to be a film that's been released this year that has garnered widespread acclaim from all viewers (critics, audiences, and bloggers alike). At this point last year, we had a few already that we could point to: Midnight in Paris, Bridesmaids, Harry Potter had all done beaucoups bucks at the box office, and garnered more than respectable responses from the general public and critics alike. But this year... what?

LAWL.

The Hunger Games, The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises have made the most, but each inspired a heated dialogue about some element of the filmmaking. Examples: The Hunger Games 'should not have been PG-13'; 'bland, dull, watered-down'; The Avengers 'fan-fiction cum brand/merchandising cash cow' and 'Didn't move the genre forward'; The Dark Knight Rises 'nowhere near as good as The Dark Knight'; and 'WTF with the Bane sound design? the politics?')

Prometheus was enormously divisive, and Brave was widely regarded with a shrug. The critical darling Beasts of the Southern Wild didn't quite crossover. It's made $10 million so far but it's a fairly straightforward narrative, however poetically delivered, that elicits warm feelings and it made less than something as abstract, obscure and strange as Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. (The latter had the advantage of starring Brad Pitt, but even so, people don't always follow the movie stars - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford made a paltry $4 million back in 2007 as well.)  More... 

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Unmissables I Nearly Missed on Vacation

Nathaniel, here, returning to home base. I'm baaaa--aack. Did you miss me? I shan't take another day off until late October so I'm all yours again! But before we get started again, hugs and kisses and floral bouquets and firm handshakes to Leslye, Melanie, Beau, Jose, JA and Matt for filling in for the week.

The internet moves with such speed -- except while visiting relatives in internet challenged rural Utah -- that if you're gone for a week you can totally miss seismic events. Here are some webthingies I'm so so glad people alerted me to so that I didn't miss them in my spotty connectivity travels. I'm sharing them on the off chance you missed them. No one should have to!

Revenge came out on DVD! - a magical elf in PR made sure I received mine. Thanks you! The cover of the Season 1 box is Emily in her promotional thematic thorn dress but we all know the true magic of the best nighttime soap in decades and decades is Madeleine Stowe's icy glares... deadlier than any thorns have ever been! If you have any love for Stowe's early 90s heyday (Short Cuts, Mohicans, Blink - holla!) or the art of the prime time soap opera, you owe yourself this series. The first handful of episodes are a bit too procedural repetitive for me but once the gears catch... oh my diva, this is an addictive series. Madeleine Stowe for the Emmy! Damn. She wasn't even nominated. #unforgivable. 

Cooler Cinema on the Sight & Sound List - This handwringing discussion of critical failure online is yet another example that that S&S List is proving to have an unusual shelf life in terms of continually trending topics. While it reads a bit to me like too much complaining about the lack of "instant classics" on the list -- I'm personally glad that canon lists focus on the past as that's what canons are for, to give you a foundation of cultural literacy rather than pat you on the back for your pleasure in the world's current favorites -- there's much food for thought here.

AO Scott's Review of The Oogieloves and the Big Balloon Adventure - Speaking of instant classics -- this review! The punchline is The. Best.

Karen O's Best Original Song Contender "Strange Love" - If Tim Burton's animated expansion of his early short Frankenweenie is as weird/cute/fresh, he might really have something. As usual Rich Juzwiak says it best:

I don't know whether Karen has lost her edge or merely child-proofed it, but the song is pretty fucking adorable.

David Fincher: A Film Title Retrospective - his films always have great credit sequences, don't they? This interview and wonderful quote only add to their appeal.

I don’t know how much movies should entertain. I’m interested in movies that scar.

Finally... two things I forgot to write about that I had totally planned to before I left. 

I had the scoop on the Before Sunset sequel prior to anyone in the States and I stupidly forgot to post anything in my rush to pack and fly (Sorry Manolis!) so The Playlist got their first. Good on them. Word is Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke are already filming their third romantic duet and Before Midnight might be the title. I love that series so much. If it's as good as Before Sunset several cinephiles could well experience the rapture and vanish from the Earth.

Finally Finally there's one more week left in a peculiar challenge set by Lars von Trier who is asking young filmmakers to choose from one of six masterpieces

• James Joyce's work Ulysses
• August Strindberg's famous play The Father
• The Zeppelinfield in Nuremberg, created by Hitler's main architect Albert Speer.
• Paul Gaugin's painting Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? 
• French composer César Franck's improvisations. 
• Sammy Davis Jr. (in general)

...and create a short film inspired by it but NOT too obviously/directly. A collaborative film will be built around the submissions by female director Jenle Hallund in a project they're calling Gesamt. Sounds interesting/weird/Five Obstructions Von Trier'ish. If you're all "why didn't you tell me this two weeks ago, Nathaniel ?!? I could have created a masterpiece" just think of yourself as a reality TV show contestant. They never give them any time to speak of and they manage. Create quickly by the seat of your pants. Create all the (possible) way into Danish film history.

Sharp Funny Obsessive Individual Voices Wanted

Look at this cute photo Glenn took, inspired by my "Ruby Sparks" note-taking post! It's his actual notes scribbled during Ruby Sparks (which he just reviewed)

"Funereal typewriter". "leggings". "Manic Pixie Dream Girl: The Movie" "5 enya candy"

5 Enya Candy??? hee

Which brings me to the next point. Do you like writing about the movies? As we move into the fall film season, The Film Experience is tidying up backstage and getting ready to put on its brand new show(s) i.e. the usual show with a few tweaks and new series, and thinking about Fresh Voices for special one-off articles, temporary short-term guest blogging or more regular contributions. Our Movie (and real life) Buddy Kurt has, as you probably know, been snatched up by Slant. And after two auteurist series ("Modern Maestros" and "Distant Relatives") Robert has retired from blogging. I already miss both of them!

The Film Experience could particularly use fine correspondents who are living in Major Metropolises outside of New York like Chicago, London, L.A., The Emerald City, Atlantis, Cloud City, Mt Olympus, Hong Kong ... you get the picture.

Would also welcome writers who are actual ladies since there are plenty of ladyboys in the house already. If you think your voice is a good match for The Film Experience, and your interested in doing something other than traditional reviews (that's the request I get most often but not a type of writing I need for the blog), send me an inquiry. 

'Til Link Do Us Part

The Film Doctor usually finds interesting angles. For Hope Springs he interviewed his signifant other on the depiction of marital turmoil and therapy therein.
Final Girl this one is for you horror fans, a funny mashup of The Human Centipede with slasher icons.
The Playlist 15 new stills from P.T. Anderson's long awaited scientology drama The Master
Coming Soon Life of Pi will open the New York Film Festival and...
Awards Daily Flight will close it. (Will Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington and Ang Lee all be returning to Oscar's good graces?)

In Contention You've probably read Guy Lodge's Sight & Sound top ten list by now but in case you haven't it's interesting from top to bottom. Somehow I hadn't completely registered that Guy shared my love of Colorogy. So much green and red happening here!
Guardian so Jennifer Aniston is engaged and there's a whole new round of false romcom press narratives happening
NYT interesting observations on the trainwreck spectacle of online confessional blogging
AV Club Jodie Foster to direct a female-led mob drama on Showtime. Interesting... but I sure wish she'd rediscover her love of bigscreen acting instead. There are a lot of directors who are good at helming TV series. There are very few actors who can be Jodie Foster on the bigscreen.
/Film lately I actually forgot Ron Howard existed but they've reminded me that he is making a movie with Chris Hemsworth and the adorable Daniel Brühl called Rush
Film Junkie has behind the scenes photos from 12 Years a Slave 
Pajiba on 8 memorable marital fights on TV

Ruby Sparks and The Case of The Unintelligible Scribblings

Behold ~ my favorite piece of movie swag thus far this year.

Movie swag -- It isn't just for clutter anymore!

Nothing beats useful movie swag. When the notebook first arrived I thought, 'What a thematically appropriate gift and how perfect for the movie blogger. I can't wait to take notes on her about her own movie.' But then Magic Mike broke her hymen and strangely the invite to her own screening never came. Now even Total Recall has had its way with this formerly pristine book and I still haven't seen Ruby Sparks (!) despite really wanting to. 

Last night I saw The Odd Life of Timothy Green and its plot, like Ruby Sparks's own, involves a real human life springing from fantasized words on the page. If my own notes, scribbled in the dark of movie theaters, ever took human shape, the inky actressy monstrosity that emerged would not be pretty. She would sport bizarre squiggly features which occassionally reshaped themselves into rectangular recreations of movie frames. The ink monster would be weirdly silent but for Tourettes-like outbursts wherein she would shout out only half-remembered movie quotes or long unintelligible sounds (I cannot read these notes). Once every half hour or so she would achieve a moment of lucidity and, without so much as a 'spoiler alert,' she'd calmly reveal a major plot point of a movie she'd just seen.