Beauty vs Beast: Burbank in the Bubble

Jason from MNPP here - just this morning I wished director Peter Weir (one of my favorites) a happy 73rd birthday on my own site, and it struck me that hitting up his 1998 classic The Truman Show (which at almost 20 years old can rightly be considered a "classic" now, can't it? God I am old) would make for a very fine installment of our "Beauty vs Beast" series. On the left we have Jim Carrey's second greatest performance as the manic man in the bubble Truman Burbank, and on the right we have one of Laura Linney's funniest supporting turns as his pretend wife turned hostage Meryl. And I know you all lean Lovely Linney (as a religion) but it's awfully hard to root for Meryl if you ask me...

PREVIOUSLY I'm actually a little bit surprised that you guys gave last week's Strangers on a Train competion to Farley Granger's Guy over Robert Walker's Bruno with 56% of the vote - Walker's sinister flamboyance is like oxygen to me personally! Said forever1267:

"That is a toughie, as this might be my favorite Hitchcock. I went with Team Guy, who's delusional in not reciprocating Bruno's desires, at least in the bedroom, but not at the carnival. Naughty Naughty! Ruth Roman is just sort of there, but Patricia Hitchcock and Teresa Wright should have teamed up to make a movie together where they solve mysteries while going Boy Crazy! Make it retro so!"

A Not-So-Bad Trailer for "The Bad Batch"

Chris here. Despite the largely negative response (including Nathaniel's take) that met Ana Lily Amanpour's The Bad Batch on 2016 festival circuit, color me still excited for the director's follow-up to A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. At the very least, I've been quite eager to get a look at how her visual and tonal stylings have evolved for this next creepfest - one of our many 2017 forays in cannibalism. However, glimpses at what Amanpour (reuniting with Girl cinematographer Lyle Vincent) has crafted have been scant until this just-released trailer.

The trailer promises ample grimness and Jason Momoa chest gazing between some pretty transfixing visuals. While the trailer focuses on its own star wattage (exciting Keanu Reeves character choice alert!), surprisingly it omits mentioning Jim Carrey's WTF role in the film. Or is that basically the film's worst kept secret? The Bad Batch opens on June 23!

Beauty vs Beast: Blessed Are The Forgetful

"Random thoughts for Valentine's day... Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap."

Jason from MNPP here, wishing everybody a happy Valentines (even if I do lean towards the incredulous sentiment expressed above). When you ask yourselves what the great romantic films of our times are, what answers do you come up with? Because I asked myself that question in order to choose this week's holiday-themed edition of "Beauty vs Beast" and it was Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (from whence that quote came) that was the very first movie I thought of...

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Link Street

Do you know what live streaming is? 

Vanity Fair celebrities react to Fathom Events Woody Harrelson Lost in London Live streaming experiment (which happens this week)
Interview Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) one of the "Faces of 2017" portfolio
TFE Happy birthday to Betty White and James Earl Jones both among the oldest living screen stars
Vulture in-depth interview with smart funny one of a kind Billy Eichner
This is Not Porn Jim Carrey impersonating celebrities in 1992 
Coming Soon new images from Netflix superhero team series The Defenders
In Contention Thelma Schoonmaker and Janet Ashikaga to be honored by the Editors Guild this year
Mind of a Suspicious Kind a reminder of the amazing cinematography of Wings (1927) with a funny anecdote 
Mike's Movie Projector two movie premieres of 1954: A Star is Born and East of Eden 

ICYMI
If you were away for the weekend... 
Team Experience Awards Moonlight, Arrival, Jackie, The Handmaiden, and more...
Nathaniel's Top 20 Sing Street thru La La
Pfandom Episode 2 Pfeiffer in 1979
Pablo Larraín we spoke with the director of the incredible Jackie about "curiousity, love, and rage"
Podcast in the two most recent conversations we covered Silence, 20th Century Women, Hidden Figures
Toni Erdmann's screenplay. Have you seen it yet? 

Odd Golden Globe Nominations This Century

by Brian Zitzelman

The Golden Globes take the spotlight again tomorrow night, however briefly. As the Oscars shine with prestige, the Globes remain its bratty little brother; he seems well behaved, but does enough wild things (drinks, watches too much tv, dresses down) that he'll never escape his elder sibling's shadow. And annually he let's strange nominees slip out the gate... 

This is not to say that Oscar doesn’t occasionally include films and performances that are immediately forgotten or unworthy, but nobody beats the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for oddball picks, both deserving and not. So, if you’re curious why the Globes are such an easy punching bag for movie hounds, while nonetheless being a delight for their originality, here are a few of the most peculiar nods of this century. Not all of these are laughably bad -some reveal a daring and interest in films outside the 'prestige' norm, yet in the world of film awards, they are indeed odd... 

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