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.)
Alexa here. Every year I spot gifts that I can't quite find the right person for (oftentimes I just end up buying then for myself). This year I've spotted some truly clever film-themed gifts on etsy that simply don't work for anyone on my list. Is there someone in your life who fits these profiles? If so, support these independent sellers!
1. For the fan of creepy Javier Bardem, how about this porcelain bust of Anton Chigurh? Although I would love for there to be a companion bust of Silva, too. Bookends, maybe?
Dying to see it in the theater with an adoring crowd again. An adoring crowd of two at home results in off key sing-alongs and that doesn't have quite the same effect.
I have been remiss at sharing good stories and posts from around the web so I hereby return to it.
Pop Matters Jose takes another look at Marion Cotillard's work in Rust & Bone and contemplates Oscar Pop Elegantarium Alexa loves the screwball comedy of David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook Sam HitiOnce Upon a Time in the West fans should check out this artists tumblr The Hot Blog David Poland on the NYFCC winners Cinema Blend two Woody Allen classics coming to Blu-Ray this January
EW top ten lists from popular critics Owen (Lincoln @ #1) & Lisa (Zero Dark Thirty @ #1). They both choose one Oscar hopeful among their "5 worst of the year" lists, too. E! Online Rose McGowan is the latest actress trying to achieve Michelle Pfeiffer's now immortal Scarface look Antagony & Ecstasy wonderful piece on Life of Pi by one of the web's best critics The Carpet Bagger talks to the editor of Flight about the plane crash scene My New Plaid Pants who wore it best: animated decapitation In Contention I totally forgot to mention the Golden Satellite nominations. Lots of love for Les Miz but also weird nominations for films that never opened in the States like Kim Ki-Duk's Piéta so I'm not sure what their criteria is for eligibility anymore
Coming Soon Anne Hathaway recently burst into tears when asked about doing a Catwoman spinoff, adding
...assuming there was enough Kleenex in the world, I would love to do a spin-off
Vulture Speaking of Anne Hathaway. Sort of. a screening of Les Misérables that I would've killed to be it for Academy and Globe members. Hugh Jackman sang and lap danced for birthday girl Amanda Seyfried Gawker on the 13 most powerful images of naked celebrities for 2012 In Contention Pedro Almodóvar, as you know my favorite living filmmaker, will be getting an Academy tribute in London. I'm so jealous of Guy Lodge right now who gets to attend these London events Stale Popcorn Glenn on Australia's film award nominations (formerly AFI and now called AACTA) . The musical The Sapphires leads. Cinema Blend Casey Affleck stayin' creepy. He aims to play the Boston Strangler in a new film
Finally, Grease superstars of yore, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John made a new video together for their Christmas album.
No comment. My inner child loves Livvy & Grease too much to comment. (Other than that John Travolta who not so unrecently commanded $20 million a movie maybe could have spared two hundred thousand dollar bills so this didn't look like it was made for two!)
Amir here, to write about one of my favourite awards of the season: the SAG award for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture". I say "favourite" because, in principle, I love the notion of awarding actors who work together as a group to make a film tick. In my ideal world, the best cast award is more about collective achievements than multiple individual ones but over the years, SAG’s top award has sadly become synonymous with Best Picture. Genuine ensemble pieces have often been ignored in favour of Oscar’s best picture frontrunners or films with the highest number of nominees in other SAG categories. Yet, despite my disappointment, I can’t stop obsessing over this award or detach myself.
Who will follow the cast of The Help to a SAG cast win?
This year is bound to be a similar affair, with the three frontrunning Oscar films all poised to win SAG nods in this category. Nonetheless, let’s look at what will get nominated and what should.
Les Misérables I have yet to see Les Misérables, but the rapturous response from this week’s screenings (Nathaniel was at the first one) suggests that we will collectively forgive Hooper for stealing The Social Network’s thunder once we finally lay eyes on his newest film. (Though, I'll still begrudge The King’s Speech for winning the SAG "cast" award two years ago. Two great performances and one default “supporting wife” nominee don't merit a best cast prize, especially in the presence of The Kids Are Alright and The Fighter.)
Film.com Our friend Joe Reid debuts his Oscar column and explains why Oscars are good for us Winnipeg Free Press interviews Kim Morgan on her Marilyn Monroe essay for Playboy Huffington Post will Les Misérables virgins enjoy the film? Mike Ryan did. Actors & Crew the best iPhone apps for filmmaking Natasha VC Feel all your feelings about James Spader (now appearing in Lincoln) NY Times extensive audio & text piece on the sound design of Killing Me Softly. I love educational web goodies
The Atlantic worries that the conversion to digital will cost us deeply when it comes to the classics. Some of them may never look or sound the way they were intended to again. (With commentary from the brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker) In Contention Can Beasts of the Southern Wild return to the Oscar fray? In Contention The "Oscar Bait" got good Coming Soon photos from the set of R.I.P.D. with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds. They don't look much like zombie police officers to me? Movieline Did you know that Steven Spielberg was once turned down when he asked to direct James Bond!? The Carpet Bagger is back and looking at how the new Oscar schedule may change release dates and campaign strategies
Linds & Tricks Gawker the wordless acting of Lindsay Lohan in Liz & Dick TFEMean Girls predicted the future! PopWatch the best lines from Liz & Dick Huffington Post 100 Twitter Reactions... their layout is really messy/annoying but if you scroll down the post title can be found in a slide show that looks like an ad... but it's actually the content of the post after a long intro.
And no... I haven't yet watched Liz & Dick. I know. I didn't have the energy, wasn't in the right mood to see Liz defiled (easily among the top five best celebrities who ever lived -- in multiple senses of "best") and maybe you had to be there at the online viewing internet party anyway!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 10:19AM 
