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.)
Have you ever gone back to visit the school you went to as a little kid and realized how small it all looks now? I think we've all had that moment - you walk down the hallway feeling like Godzilla; you'd have to get on your hands and knees to use the drinking fountain. And yet as goofy as it seems - and depending on your experience filled with conflicting emotions as it may be - it pulls at you anyway, yanks at your heart. It is part of you. The pictures might've gotten small but they have crawled inside and curled up and they're not going anywhere.
Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird - that is her given name; she gave it to herself - thrums with that strange and bittersweet nostalgia...
With Venice, TIFF, and Telluride passed, the Oscar races become clearer. Not crystal clear mind you but apart from films no one has seen (like Spielberg's The Post or Scott's All the Money in the World) we know which dozen or so actresses might want to start thinking about red carpet lewks if the tide turns in their favor. SUPPORTING ACTRESS CHART UPDATES
Ronan and Metcalf in "Lady Bird"
One new intriguing possibility is Tony & Emmy winner Laurie Metcalf in Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird. If she's nominated could she complete her triple crown with an Oscar win?
And I know we've asked this before but is Octavia Spencer the Thelma Ritter of her generation? She sure is reliable at warming up a film and giving it some salt of the earth wisdom and comedy, too. Guillermo del Toro's romantic fantasy The Shape of Water could be looking at a triple Oscar play in the acting categories with its mute heroine and her loyal mouthpieces. Both Richard Jenkins as Sally's neighbor and Octavia as her favorite co-worker defend our voiceless heroine and translate for her, too, in numerous scenes. They're an endearing unlikely trio of "little people" up against the goliath of big government, shady military operations, and the broad moustache twirling villiany of Michael Shannon.
One of the most heartening things about Greta Gerwig’s directorial arrival Lady Bird is how naturally it feels like an extension of her previous acting work. The film is modest, unpretentious in its intelligent character study of a high school senior facing the near-adulthood pressures of the end of high school and living in a poor family. Christine, redubbing herself Lady Bird, is just at the beginning of her own reinvention and the other one that the world has waiting for her whether she likes it or not.
After stellar performances in Greenberg, Frances Ha, Mistress America, 20th Century Women, and countless indies in the past decade, it was only a matter of time before Greta Gerwig got behind the directorial seat. Her debut film, Lady Bird, the story of a Sacramento teenager (Saoirse Ronan) who prepares to go to college in New York City has officially been picked up by A24 and is looking at a fall release. Co-written with frequent collaborator Noah Baumbach, Lady Bird also features Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, and Tracy Letts.
With any luck, Gerwig's debut will begin generating Oscar buzz already -- A24 has seen some great success in the past few years (one notable example being 20th Century Women and recent Best Picture winner, Moonlight). And although it is too soon to call the film's Oscar chances, one thought remains abdundantly clear: Greta Gerwig's career is at a steady trajectory, and we are just lucky enough to be witnessing it firsthand.
Pajiba gird your loins - Dan Stevens is in everything Tracking Board Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen to co-star in a comedy about a book club reading 50 Shades of Grey? This could be awesome or terrible...or both. Whichever way it turns out, we're there! Coming Soon Focus has acquired the new Jason Reitman / Charlize Theron collaboration Tully but we'll have to remove it from the Oscar charts. It's not coming until Spring 2018 now
AV Club NBC greenlights its first two series of the new year, one of them that used to be called Drama High (and sounds like it has potential) is now called Rise. Why does Hollywood love to go from specific to generic titles? Are their studies that show that generic titles do better or is it fear of specificity? /Film the first cast photo of Marvel's The Inhumans has been released and boy is it underwhelming. I've always loved Medusa but you really shouldn't be able to tell that it's such an obvious and stiff looking wig since the character is so tied up in her hair! I mean, couldn't they have gotten RuPaul's wig designers to do it if they wanted something both outlandish and real looking?
Tony Season Theater Mania hoping to dominate the original play Tonys next year, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has announced an opening for the tail end of eligibility in 2018 Playbill did you know that Audrey Hepburn won her Tony Award the same WEEK as her Oscar? Isn't that crazy? She won the Oscar for Roman Holiday on March 25th, 1954 and then the Tony for Ondine on March 28th! DeadlineAmélie, a New Musical, based on the Oscar nominated French classic, is the first casualty of the Tony nominations, announcing its Broadway closing date for May 21st after a short run and zero nominations. Broadway World Despite a disappointing Tony showing (2 nominations) Anastasia, based on the 90s animated movie musical,announces a world tour. It helps to have that known "brand" going in. (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was savaged by critics and received zero Tony nominations, is still doing well and the box office and is already working on the tour) THR Tony nominee anecdotes including Laurie Metcalf on the proposed Roseanna revival and Sally Field discussing the release she felt when she found her calling as a young girl:
It isn't something that I just decided one day or backed into it one day. I found a stage when I was 12 when I was lucky enough to be in a school that still had a theater arts department. And something inside of me changed, woke up, I could hear my own voice for the first time when I was onstage, and then when I would get offstage I had to be all the things that little girls in the '50s had to be, and all of that went back in the box. But when I got onstage I could be all the things I wasn't allowed to be anywhere else, so I could hear my own self.
Love ya Sally!
Exit Video Got 18 minutes? That might seem like a lot but this video essay really is compelling. It names a sci-fi fantasy trope that I haven't personally seen named before but which is as familiar as they come. He calls it "Born Sexy Yesterday" and it's all about the way genre fiction infantilizes women so that men are their natural superior.
At the very least it will make you rethink mermaid and sexy android movies, The Fifth Element and Splash a little bit.
Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 9:30PM 
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