Sundance: Another Inappropriate Relationship in ‘Palm Trees and Power Lines’

By Abe Friedtanzer

In film and television it’s very common to find a romance happening that probably shouldn’t be, with too wide an age gap that’s either just unappealing or actually illegal. That’s a central problem some have with Licorice Pizza. The Alliance of Women Film Journalists actually has a category in their awards titled “Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest.” Palm Trees and Power Lines is the latest reminder that if something feels off, there’s probably good reason to raise alarm…

Click to read more ...

1998: The Year of the (Blonde) Ingénue

Team Experience is revisiting '98 in the lead up to the Supporting Actress Smackdown on July 26th

by Mark Brinkerhoff

For as long as motion pictures have existed, ingénues have been central to Hollywood. Yet while pretty young things have never been out of style in the film industry, they do appear more dominant—or at least ubiquitous—in certain eras. And in 1998, ingénues, notably of the blonde variety, were seemingly everywhere in entertainment—on screens big and small...

Click to read more ...

Tribeca: "Anesthesia" and "When I Live My Life Over Again"

Pardon the onslaught but now that Tribeca has concluded we're wrapping up our coverage. Here's Abstew on two more star-heavy flicks. - Editor

Anesthesia 
Populated by familiar faces (Sam Waterston, Glenn Close, Kristen Stewart, and Gretchen Mol to name a few), actor turned writer/director Tim Blake Nelson (most recently seen as Kimmy Schmidt's bumbling stepfather on the Netflix comedy series) has assembled a multi-story film that revolves around a bloody mugging that happens in the first moments to Waterston's University Professor. As is usually the case with films that involved multiple storylines, not all of them are as compelling as others and some of them simply take too long to reveal how they connect to the main story. But Nelson, perhaps because he is an actor first, gives his fellow thespians meaty roles to play with such tough-hitting issues as drug addiction, self mutilation, infidelity, cancer, and even lose of virginity. But his hyper-intelligent dialogue often times threatens to overshadow the story he's telling (and sometimes reaches too far like a clunky bit that compares a character's wants to an everything bagel).

But it's the strong work of the actors that keep the story afloat...

Click to read more ...