Year in Review: 2021 Entertainers of the Year

by Team Experience

Olivia Colman photographed by Amelia Troubridge from The Guardian

In our final "Team Experience Year in Review" post before the 10th annual Team Experience Awards and Nathaniel's own Film Bitch Awards (both in January), we wanted to pay tribute to the stars who worked overtime to keep us smiling, crying, laughing, and altogether wide-eyed in 2021. We asked contributors to cite ten choices as "Entertainer of the Year". The catch was the celebrity in question had to have had more than one project during the year. Quantity and Quality.

Names that didn't quite make the list but are nevertheless worthy of our sincere gratitude include actors Olivia Colman (Landscapers, Mitchells vs the Machines, The Lost Daughter, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley, Licorice Pizza), Vicky Krieps (Old, Next Door, Bergman Island), and auteurs Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), and Ridley Scott (House of Gucci, The Last Duel). Technically speaking both Jamie Dornan and Oscar Isaac  made the following list but since we already sufficiently highlighted them yesterday in "Thirst Traps of the Year" we've ceded their spots to others. Spread the wealth is always our motto...

"ENTERTAINERS OF THE YEAR"
(a dozen wonders in no particular order) 

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What's Encanto's best song?

by Cláudio Alves

Just as they did with their last animated musical, Disney has decided to focus their campaigning on a single song from Encanto. In total, Lin-Manuel Miranda composed eight tunes for the feature, but only "Dos Oruguitas" will get a chance to compete for Oscar gold. Considering the risk of hypothetical vote-splitting, it's an understandable move though Disney hasn't always been the best judge of their songs' quality. So who's to say they know which song would make the best contender? With 2019's Frozen II, not everyone agreed with the spotlighting of "Into the Unknown" to the detriment of "Show Yourself." Does history repeat itself with Encanto? As with Frozen II, let's settle the matter through some list-making fun. In other words, a ranking… 

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AFI World Premiere: "tick, tick... BOOM!"

by Nathaniel R

Tiny gasps and squeals gave way to shrieking and thunderous applause at the world premiere of Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial debut tick, tick... Boom last night at the AFI Festival. And that was just from one of the numbers. We shan't spoil the surprises but let's just say that if you're a musical theater nut, you won't have a single greater high at the movies this year than during its "Sunday" setpiece. That song by Rent's gone-too-soon composer, Jonathan Larson, is a personalized silly riff on Stephen Sondheim's transcendent song of the same name from Sunday in the Park with George. 

For those who are unfamiliar with "tick, tick... BOOM!" in its original form, it was a rock monologue that Jonathan Larson wrote and performed a few times in the early 90s...

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Category Analysis: Who Will Take Home Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series?

The Film Experience Team is looking at the episode submissions for the major Emmy categories. 

Who will win their first acting Emmy this year?By: Christopher James

Yes, we at The Film Experience are often more focused on actresses than actors. However, how can you blame us when you look at the race for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie? While the Lead Actress category is filled with juggernauts, the Lead Actor category features two Hamilton performances, two stars of poorly reviewed series and a coattails nomination from a major show. None of the actors have won an Emmy before, though a few have decades long careers on film, TV and stage. It remains to be seen what voters will reward. Will they go more for an established actor they haven’t rewarded yet, or will they go for the biggest show? Maybe Hamilton will dominate the acting categories like it did at the Tonys.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie...

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Review: "In the Heights" sets the bar high for modern movie musicals

by Nathaniel R

A young man stares out of his bodega window, his favourite block coming alive in the reflection. This shot of Usnavi, our leading man and guide into the film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights is already beloved and with good reason. It gives you character (this man is something of a dreamer, caught between two places), world-building (the vibrant Latinx community of Washington Heights) and joyful genre specificity (the musical). It's not even the first clever moment in the movie at that, but something In the Heights builds up in its ever-escalating opening number after already providing you with gorgeous aerial shots romanticizing NYC as 'a city made of music', sounds from hoses, traffic, manhole covers, and alarm clocks as musical accompaniment, and introducing us to most of the main characters.

Above all else this visual beat as well as the larger song sequence that contains it, instills immediate confidence that the creative team, especially director Jon M. Chu (of Crazy Rich Asians fame) understand the oft-forgotten cinematic language of the film musical...

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