Beauty vs Beast: Love Among the Dino Droppings

Jason from MNPP here - before I saw Call Me By Your Name in theaters 18 times this past winter the movie that held my personal record of "seen the most times seen in the theater" was Jurassic Park, which I saw in the theater 15 times in 1993. Meaning I can place where I was exactly 25 years ago today, since today's the 25th anniversary. I can also place where I was tomorrow 25 years ago, and the day after that 25 years ago, and the day after that 25 years ago... I saw it every single night for a straight week. It was my Star Wars.

Every progressive sequel's dulled the impact a bit more but that first movie, man I can still feel the tingle up my spine the first time the camera panned up that brachiosaurus and John Williams' music swelled and Spielberg cut to the distant dinos bathing themselves in the sparkling sunlight... it was like the four walls of the house my imagination lived inside of were kicked down all at once. Utter movie magic. Every kid that ever smashed their little dino figures together felt it. And yet the human characters kick ass too. With actors like this around...

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PREVIOUSLY Last week's Interview with the Vampire race stayed tight and vacillated often but it was Tom Cruise's Lestat who crawled out of the swamp and unto victory over Brad Pitt's Louis at the end. Said Jaragon:

"Lestat is a lot more fun and he gets the last bite."

Beauty vs Beast: Queens of the Night

Happy Tuesday, Jason from MNPP here with our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fun - the year of movies in focus for June is the year 1994 thanks to the Smackdown (Nat just introduced you to the panelists) and so I'm going to take you back to a movie of 1994 for this week's poll... namely Neil Jordan's Interview With the Vampire, which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as his blood heir Louis locked in a battle of diabolical foppery from the story by Anne Rice.

Handily this is also a film that works thematically for Gay Pride Month too, although lord knows it should've been far, far gayer - no doubt the forthcoming TV series rights that wrong. But whose side will you take today? The unrepentant and giddy evildoer, or the sad romantic that looks like Brad Pitt in 1994? As Lestat says, "Don't be afraid, I'm going to give you the choice I never had..."

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PREVIOUSLY Most of expressed feeling bad that you were voting against Christina Ricci in our Opposite of Sex poll from two weeks back but that sure didn't stop you - Lisa Kudrow's Lucia trounced her with almost 80% of the vote. Said James From Ames:

"Have to give it to Lucia. They've both overbearing as hell, but at least Lucia's comes from a messed-up sense of protectiveness, right? One of my favorite movies of all time, and Ricci's best performance in my opinion. I don't remember when exactly I first saw it -- but I never was the same again after that summer."

Stream This: Young Adult, Saved!, Weiner-Dog, and more...

It's that time again. Let's look at what's new to streaming on Amazon Prime this month, by random screengrabs wherever the scrolling bar drops us in the movie...

Oh Mary, please don't tell me you're a lesbian."

Saved! (2004)
I've never seen this Christian high school movie but given how often its devout fans bring it up or quote it perhaps I should? 

Please help us...

Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Don't do it, Brad! Kiki is BIG TROUBLE even though she comes in a tiny cute package. 

six more movies after the jump...

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Throwback Fun: Favorites of 1994?

Tuesday's revisit to the essential and apparently sorely underseen Queen Margot (1994) and the comments thereafter had me thinking about favorite films from 1994. This website wasn't around back then of course (I think the internet was just in listserv mode at that point?) but I was already making lists. So what would I have nominated had our Film Bitch Awards been around back then? What would you have nominated had you had an Oscar ballot?

The answers (fluid as they are should rewatching ever occur) are after the jump...

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#Links

CriticWire this ongoing conversation about what critics should review is troubling/interesting
i09 seems we're getting a new Interview with the Vampire movie
Variety on what's holding Hollywood back from putting gay characters in franchises. I mean imagine if this hashtag were successful...
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend for Frozen 2. It's what the fans want and the narrative really calls for.
Pajiba omg. There's a kickstarter for a deck of "woman cards" which has awesome illustrations including Hillary, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Beyoncé

EW Congratulations to Colton Haynes, he of bolting from TV series just when everyone is falling in love with him (Teen Wolf, Arrow) and amassing a massive Instagram following. He is officially out of the closet after years of rumors and hints and non-denials
New Yorker Kiki & Herb are back after 8 years! My favorite cabaret act of all time
Final Girl looks back at James Whale's The Old Dark House. That's a fun ol' horror flick for Whale while he was warming up for Bride of Frankenstein (1934) 
TV Line I was never into the show Alias (Jennifer Garner has never done it for me with the exception of Juno) but if you were you'll probably like this oral history
Awards Daily Alicia Vikander sets up her own production company - first project is called Euphoria and Eva Greene is her screen-sibling co-star
Towleroad Channing Tatum introduces the Men of Magic Mike Live. (I thought they were doing this as a Broadway show but it looks more like it's going to be more of a Las Vegas revue thing.) 

Yes I will review Captain America: Civil War but until then...
Here are some articles on Avengers 3...
Games Radar 26 easter eggs for comic fans in the new movie
E! News 20 (fawning) questions you'll have after the movie 
Comics Alliance schools Emily VanCamp (Agent 13, Cap's current love interest) on the world of "Stucky" fan fic. How did she not know that fans obsess about Steve & Bucky being in love? 
Screen Crush all the Captain America: Civil War rumors that turned out to be false and the sites that published them. Haha. Another reminder of how useless the internet is when it comes to obsessing over things that don't exist yet!  

Finally because I couldn't unsee it...

When Posters Collide pic.twitter.com/Hej8wERYKi

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) May 6, 2016