Mad for Mads: 10 reasons to love Mads Mikkelsen

by Cláudio Alves

Denmark's latest Oscar submission, Another Round, is now available to watch on VOD. The feature stars a cadre of stupendous Danish thespians, led by Mads Mikkelsen, one of the country's biggest names internationally. From his beginnings as a supporting player in indie flicks to mainstream gigs as portentous villains, the actor made fans of many a cinephile and charmed even more unsuspecting moviegoers. To celebrate the release of his latest project, I decided to take a look at the career and life of Mikkelsen, enumerating 10 reasons why I love the actor…

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The many faces of Hannibal Lecter

by Cláudio Alves

1991's The Silence of the Lambs won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, thus becoming the only horror movie to ever conquer that much-coveted prize. Still, overall, the film seems to owe more to the crime thriller, the police procedural and investigative manhunt than it does to the horror genre. However, one element plunges it right into the depths of cinematic nightmares. It's a character so malevolent that it often feels larger than life, like a primordial evil closer to the divine than to the human. We're talking about the monster that tops the AFI's greatest movie villains list, the role that earned Anthony Hopkins his Oscar and made us never look at Fava beans the same way ever again – Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter…

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Horror Actressing: Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs"

by Jason Adams

When I think back on Jodie Foster's Oscar-winning turn playing Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs in 1991 I tend to think of a overwhelmed young woman -- Demme is constantly framing Foster as the smallest person in the room -- but one who musters up unimaginable courage. She pushes deeper into that blacked-out basement as another young woman and an injured dog shriek from the bottom of a blood-streaked pit. And I tend to think of that same small and overwhelmed young woman standing in room after room after room of big dope-faced men staring down at her, eyes narrowed, disbelieving. 

What I don't particularly tend to think of first is Clarice Starling smiling. And yet she does... Often and broadly!

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Stream This: Two Mia Farrow Greats, Hannibal (S3), Terminator 5, Etc...

In the effort to stay au courant we'll alternate between Netflix and Amazon Prime for streaming news each week. And we'll freeze frame select titles at random places just for fun and see what image comes up. You know how we do. 

LAST CHANCE AMAZON PRIME

Amazon Prime has a far better movie selection than Netflix on a month to month basis but they are officially the worst streaming provider in terms of providing dates of expiration on their movies/tv shows. Sometimes the titles don't expire after they're marked for expiration and sometimes they vanish even if they haven't been marked. Sometimes without warning they suddenly cost money when they were once free. And they don't do press releases to announce expiring titles like the other services. So it's all rumors in a way. But supposedly they're losing these titles (among others) at the end of July and they're all worth checking out...

There's no reason why you shouldn't have complete confidence in your chances to come out of this alive and in one piece." 

Airplane (1980)
This smash comedy mocked the disaster epic genre and started the spoof craze. That spoof genre peaked early - maybe even here. It's kind of unreal how fast and quick the visual and verbal gags come. 

7 more freeze frames after the jump... 

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Best of '15: The TV Experience

Dancin' Dan here to take a look at 2015 on the small screen. When I moved to NYC late last year I thought that I would be going to the movies all the time. After all, so many more movies play here than my previous home in the middle of Connecticut! But the sheer glut of movies to see, both old and new, caused a lot of second-guessing and a bit of paralysis, leading to a less robust slate than I had imagined.

But the plentiful offerings of television were there for me in my indecisive, paralyzed state. I didn't watch everything, but I did watch a lot. And these are...

15 Favorite Things About TV in '15
after the jump... 

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