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.)
I've been holding on to this picture of Sigourney Weaver as "Tuya" from Exodus for a couple of days without any idea what to say about it other than 'thank god Sigourney's signature directors still love her'. Between Ridley Scott (Alien) and James Cameron (Aliens), Lt. Ellen Ripley will always find her way back to decent roles on the big screen.
But I don't understand the casting of that movie at all. Everyone is SO white, like pasty white. Especially Joel Edgerton as Ramses. In The Ten Commandments that role went to Yul Brynner. Though Brynner was also white, a white Russian to be exact though that sounds alcoholic and we're not talking about how drunk looking at Yul makes me, he had that exotic visual flair that had Hollywood casting him in every conceivable ethnicity. Kind of the way Ben Kingsley who is Indian British is used now, only sexier.
Let's stick with the sexy. The Film Experience loves a good headdress on the big screen. Here are some of the best.
Clara and soldiers in "WINGS", the first Best Picture winnerThe Film Doctor offers 7 notes on J Edgar (mostly in relation to two time jumping powerful men classics it attemptes to emulate: The Social Network and Citizen Kane... both recently discussed right here.) I particularly like thought #7. ⇚ Rope of Silicon the first Best Picture winner Wings is finally coming to DVD/Blu-Ray. Yay. Loves that movie, I do. Coming Soon Tim Burton may be doing an adaptation of the children's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children after The Addams Family.
Little White Lies interviews Paul Feig on the success of Bridesmaids. Hollywood Reporter on 7 films that could be looking at SAG Ensemble nominations: Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, and The Artist are the more comedic possibilities but will SAG take comedy seriously this year? Super Punch Calling all artists who read The Film Experience. Super Punch is hosting a James Bond art contest if you're 007 inclined. Animation Yes, it's true. They're going to make an action movie set in the world of Legos.
Go Fug Yourself Lisa Rinna at The Muppets premiere. LOL. Grantland Mark Harris on the multiple Davids and three Goliaths (Leo, Brad, George) of the Best Actor race. In Contention the Vanessa Redgrave AMPAS tribute Pajiba on classics of Lady Porn and the men of The Immortals.
Not since the costuming department of “Mad Men” got ahold of Christina Hendricks has a pair of mammaries been so lovingly showcased. In fact, the accentuating bronzer is liberally applied not only on Henry Cavill’s heroic bosom, but also Luke Evans’ grimly clenched ab muscles and Stephen Dorff’s morally questionable obliques.
If only their budget on the show was as high as their advertising budget ;) "Go forth and be sickening!" LOL. Quick head count: how many of you watch this show? Am I speaking to deaf ears whenever I mention it?
Tarsem Singh's muscley superhero dieties may have topped the box office charts but you could say that the big stars of the weekend were Jack & Jill twice over. Perversely interpreted fairy tale "Jack & Jill" (as voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris) from Puss in Boots and twinned Jack and Jill as "acted" by Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill together grossed over $50 million. Jack & Jill is getting the maximum critical bile a movie can get but Sandler remains critic proof; his movies always open.
Jack & Jack and Jill & Jill
Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar (reviewed) opened fairly well for a long obviously dour drama -- DiCaprio & Eastwood both being bankable draws -- but it's true test will be in the next few weeks. Can it stick a landing after the non-emphatic box office and confusing critical reception, the latter which could be likened to a shakycam... it's all over the place!
Box Office (U.S.) Top Ten -Estimates 01 IMMORTALSnew$32 02 JACK AND JILLnew $26 03 PUSS IN BOOTS $25.5 (cum. $108.8) 04 TOWER HEIST $13.2 (cum. $43.9) 05J EDGAR new $11.4 [review] 06 A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS new$5.9 (cum $23.2) 07 IN TIME$4.1 (cum. $30.6) 08 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3$3.6 (cum. $100.8) 09 FOOTLOOSE$2.7 (cum. $48.8) 10 REAL STEEL$2.0 (cum. $81.7) 11 MONEYBALL$1.1 (cum $71.8) [review] 12 COURAGEOUS $1 (cum $31.5) 13 THE IDES OF MARCH$.9 (cum $38.3)
Limited Release Sundance darlings Martha Marcy May Marlene (which we've been obsessing over and riffing on)and Like Crazy both earned another ½ million each with sizeable expansions. The Brazilian Oscar submissionElite Squad the Enemy Within had the week's third highest per screen average.
The highest per screen average when to Lars von Trier's Melancholiawhich grossed a quarter of a million in its first real weekend though it's release strategy has been... bizarre (what with the Oscar qualifying -- we understand it had one? -- and then a VOD release preceeding this theatrical release.
What did you see this weekend?
If you saw Jack and Jill did you feel unclean afterwards?
If you saw Immortals do tell... I didn't get around to it but am curious... given the visuals in Tarsem's The Fall.
MUBI James Benning is experimenting with John Cassavetes Faces (1968) for a "remake" installation. Antenna has valid thoughtful concerns about both of the new fantasy series on TV, Grimm and Once Upon a Time. Many good points are raised but I can't take them completely seriously since Once Upon a Time is one of the single gawdiest and most ham-fisted things mine eyes have ever witnessed whereas Grimm was surprisingly rich in potential and beautifully made (yummy production design) and they imply that Once has more potential? Yikes.
"greens greens and nothing but greens..." Grimm's are alive. Once but dead props.
Towleroad cutest thing Zac Efron has ever done? He did Halloween as a Reno 911 officer Go Fug Yourself Heidi Klum went as a cadaver! Heidi Klum is the most awesome Halloween party ever. Every single year she turns it out.
Dark Eye Socket this is really cool: 5 Scary Movie Masks in Non-Scary Movies Ultra Culture the shortest review you will ever read of Tower Heist and also probably the best one; it's a Venn Diagram! Movie|Line Naomi Watts to star in the most depressing movie indie ever. I guess she didn't read our Red Carpet Convo with Guy Lodge when we worried for the perpetual worry lines of her career.
Nathaniel: Naomi most certainly needs to shake off all the dour miserabilism. People have been filming her with grimy 'THIS IS DEPRESSING!' lighting for so long that I have no idea what she'd look like if she was having fun! Guy: Well, at least Watts is coming up in J. Edgar. A Clint Eastwood movie is just the kind of fun frisky change of pace she needs.
Socialite Life Leonardo DiCaprio looking dapper on the set of The Great Gatsby. This will possibly be just what he needs after all the aging prosthetics of J. Edgar. Hollywood Reporter interviews Michael Fassbender about his very sexual year with Cronenberg and McQueen Cinema Blend Hilary Swank has fired most of her management team over the scandal that erupted when she attended (paid) that birthday party for the Chechnyan President. South Asian Film Festival, about to kick off here in New York, will open with the Oscar submission Abu, Son of Adam. Broadway World Julie Andrews honored tonight in NYC Threadless "one cookie to rule them all" [see pic below] LOL. I had to share since we were just talking about The Lord of the Rings here.
Oscar in Brief Today is the due date for all Animated Feature contenders to submit their paperwork for the Academy. So soon we'll know just how many nominees we'll get in this category which can range anywhere from 2 to 5 nominees depending on the number of submission. Meanwhile, The Wrap and In Contention both have new pieces up on the Academy's Best Foreign Language Film category. More from us here soon as we screen more entries ourselves.
Finally... This commerical for The Immortals which I've never seen --and I've seen plenty of advertising for it -- it can't be real can it?
Yes No Maybe So is a series in which we divvy movie trailers up into three categories so as to manage our expectations and combat Huzz (Hype + Buzz). Huzz isn't a real word but it should be and we'll keep using it until it is. The point of the series is this: We will not be slaves to the Masters of Marketing! Except, of course, by giving them the usual free publicity that they have craftily convinced all citizens of the online world to regular deliver unto them.
The problem, we've noticed with trailers, is that they all tend to arrive at once and how does one keep up unless one merely just posts the trailer which is basically like posting a free advertisement and pretending that advertising IS content which so many websites do is just yuck. That's not a yes, no or maybe so equation. That's just a full on No, yo.
ANYWAY... today we're doing a short form genre threesome: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, Rise of the Apes and The Immortals in an effort to catch up. If you haven't seen the trailers they're all after the jump, along with listy yes, no, maybe so bullet points. You know you wanna keep reading so do it.
Friday, July 4, 2014 at 10:00AM 
