Venice Diary #08 - "The Son", "Beyond the Wall", and "Dreamin' Wild"

by Elisa Giudici

Today on the menu in Venice, there is only one option: crying your heart out. You can choose which missing son and worried parent will tear your heart in pieces, though.

THE SON by Florian Zeller
Who is 'the son' of the title? That's debatable. There is the troubled teenager Nicholas (Zen McGrath) that Peter (Hugh Jackman) had with his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern). Peter also has a newborn son he is raising with his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby). Maybe Peter himself is the titular character? He's learning some hard lessons in being a father while struggling with what it means to be the son of Anthony (Sir Anthony Hopkins). I would say the latter, considering how this movie works best as a reminder of Hugh Jackman’s considerable acting skill...

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Review: "Jurassic World Dominion" Proves Franchise Charms Are Near Extinct

By: Christopher James

The wonderful teaser moment of a dinosaur walking through a drive-in... not in the final film.All that’s old is new again at movie theaters this summer. However, not all nostalgia plays are created equal. Top Gun: Maverick has successfully delighted audiences old and young, marrying nostalgia with strong storytelling and jaw-dropping stunts. The final chapter of the new Jurassic World trilogy tries to do the same hat trick. Bringing back the original trio - Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum - checks off the 90s nostalgia box. A doomsday plot around terrifying dino-locusts eating crops acts as the great thread bringing all our characters together. Finally, is there any spectacle quite as jaw-dropping as dinosaurs?

Unfortunately, all these elements sloppily come together in this letdown of a final chapter. Though it comes alive in fits and starts, the result is far less than the sum of its parts...

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Happy Birthday, Laura Dern!

by Cláudio Alves

Laura Dern has been blessing us with her existence for 55 years. The Oscar-winning actress started young, being the daughter of two screen titans in their own right – Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Indeed, one of her earliest big-screen roles was by her mother's side in Martin Scorsese's 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Since then, Dern has flourished into one of American cinema's most important modern performers. Often driven to auteurs with bold visions, she's a director's actress whose commitment to her roles is never in question. She's never in danger of dispassionate acting, giving it her all 100% of the time and often twisting her visage into terrifying extremes. She really is 'The Face.'

To celebrate the occasion, a list of favorite Laura Dern film performances…

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Would you rather?

happy Virgo season from Keke PalmerWould you rather...

• kiss puppies w/ Simu Liu
• hang on the sidewalk w/ Timothée Chalamet
• discuss the Virgos you know w/ Keke Palmer
• play a new card game "where do we begin?" w/ Marisa Tomei
• learn to bowl w/ Anya Taylor Joy
• hold your breath w/ Paul Bettany
• go axe throwing or clay pigeon shooting w/ Naomie Harris
• have a martini w/ Ten Tosatid
• fit a harness w/ Connor Jessup
• serve your guests margaritas w/ Jennifer Coolidge?
• walk the runway w/ Molly Shannon
• ...or have your calls ignored by Laura Dern? 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide...

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How Had I Never Seen..."Blue Velvet"

We're revisiting 1986 this month leading up to the next Supporting Actress Smackdown. 

by Ben Miller

I’m not a David Lynch person.  My first exposure to anything he made was The Straight Story, the most un-Lynchian thing he ever did.  I wasn’t around the people who cared about Twin Peaks the television show, the film or the subsequent revival series.  I enjoy the levels of surreal like David Cronenberg and Yorgos Lanthimos, but Lynch is a level of bizzare I wasn’t willing to commit myself to caring about.

But, being the Oscar completist that I am, I gave a shot to Mulholland Drive, and I really took to it.  It was during the viewing of Mulholland Drive that I realized what made Lynch different from other filmmakers...

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