"Praised Be": Or, The Handmaid's Tale

By Spencer Coile

Mad Men ended almost two years ago. For many fans, it was the end of an era as we watched Don Draper spiral out of control, while Peggy Olson climbed the ladder to success. It was a story many of us cherished for its seven year run. Importantly, though, it was the series that catapulted Elisabeth Moss to stardom. Sure, she had stints on The West Wing and later found success in film and on Broadway, but it was Mad Men that helped pave the way for Moss to be where she is now. For many fans (myself included), we found ourselves wondering when Moss would claim another role that used her incredible, chameleon-esque acting abilities the same way Mad Men did. 

And then Hulu ordered a straight-to-series 10 episode adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, A Handmaid's Tale. After its premiere (today), it is safe to say that Elisabeth Moss is back. And better than ever. Of course, she is not the only stellar quality to the series. After the jump, a review of the first two episodes of The Handmaid's Tale. And boy, are they doozies... 

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Valentine's - Shakespeare in Love

The Film Experience is celebrating Valentine's Day! Here's Dancin' Dan on an Oscar-winning romance.

Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? Not its more common sister, lust at first sight, but real, true, struck-by-cupid's-arrow L-O-V-E at first sight?

It is a rush. A breathless rush when everything around you seems to slow down and disappear until the only thing you can see, or even care about, is this other person. It will cloud your judgment, and perhaps impair your ability to speak, but all your senses become laser-focused on the object of your affections, this perfect being for whom you have fallen head over heels. More...

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Agent Linker

W Magazine Rooney Mara loves the sex scene from Rust & Bone. Who knew?
Decider Joe Reid reminds you to catch up with the Golden Globe and Critics Choice winning Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 
Guardian wonders who historically accurate The Big Short is... this is such a predictable part of awards season, yes?
Guardian after a bit of rights shuffling the Little House on the Prairie movie is back on 
Coming Soon Spider-Man (2017) set for IMAX so you can see Tom Holland real big like when he swings and flips and supers around

EW Matt Smith and Zosia Mamet are going to star in a Robert Mapplethorpe biopic. This is not, as far as we can tell, an adaptation of Patti Smith's Just Kids book, that was supposedly going to be adapted. So perhaps there are competing projects? 
Awards Daily on why she thinks The Big Short is going to win Best Picture - short answer: PGA hasn't been wrong yet in this short "preferential ballot" era
MNPP have you heard about the bizarre sounding post 9/11 Michael Jackson/Elizabeth Taylor/Marlon Brando movie to star Joseph Fiennes, Stockard Channing, and Brian Cox respectively. It sounds too strange to be true but it is in fact true. Meanwhile...
Pajiba ... has been on a tear about the casting and shares a funny quote from Orlando Jones pitching Angela Bassett as Liz Taylor. YES PLEASE.
Pajiba on the joys (thus far) of Agent Carter Season 2 

Finally...
Ear Candy! The Motion Picture Sound Editing "Golden Reel" Nominations were announced today. No film really led the nominations since Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens all received the same amount of nominations (3). They are all up for both Sound categories at the Oscars, too. Bridge of Spies which was Oscar nominated for Sound Mixing received 1 nomination  and Sicario which was nominated for Sound Editing received 2. On the television side, Game of Thrones is the nomination champ. Here's one category I thought was fun to know about:

Feature Film — Music in a Musical
“Love & Mercy” (Nicholas Renbeck)
“Pitch Perfect 2” (Amanda Goodpaster)
“Straight Outta Compton” (Jason Ruder)

And in case you missed the Film Bitch Awards in the sound categories, announced a while back, they are located here.

Sundance: Strangerland, an Incoherent Sexual Mirage

Nathaniel reporting from Park City

Weaving, Fiennes, and Kidman on the set of "Strangerland"There are a lot of things that are unclear in Strangerland, secrets covered as they are in beautifully dangerous sandstorms, the warped image shimmer brought on by desert heat, and the nightmare visions of Catherine Parker (Nicole Kidman) a bored sexless wife and mother who can't sleep well since her new home lacks air conditioning. Soon her lack of sleep and her indifferent husband Matthew (Joseph Fiennes) will be the least of her worries as her children vanish into the night in the unfamiliar desert town her family's just moved to due to ____  [insert withholding of family secrets here].

What's also unclear is the poetic narration that begins the film and repeats throughout it.

Touch me in the night. No one can see"

Is it the daughter's voice? And why does it keep repeating throughout the film? And what kind of sexual touch are we talking about? That's actually important given the specifics of this narrative. [More...]

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Say What: Nicole Who Never Sleeps

This might sound strange to y'all given the common knowledge that I am a Kidmaniac but I have real trouble keeping up with her career. Lately it seems as if the Aussie/Nashville goddess lives, eat, drinks, breathes acting and exists not outside of film sets. In addition to the potentially high profile releases like the troubled Grace of Monaco, the children's film Paddington, and the biopic Queen of the Desert (which I wholly suspect will find a distributor since Werner Herzog movies are good and it has three famous men in support: Robert Pattinson, James Franco, and Damian Lewis) and the just announced Genius and Family Fang,  there are two more obscure titles on the way which both released stills this past week. One of them I hadn't even heard of and I pay attention! So here are two images for your "say what" amusement. Add dialogue or caption in the comments for a chance to win a walk-on part in Nicole's eighth 2015 release*

Joseph Fiennes & Nicole in "Strangerland"

Nicole in "Before I Go To Sleep"

After the jump, the winners from the last Say What contest!

* this is not a real prize.

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