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 a sudden Glee reunion with Jonathan Groff & Lea Michele in NYC? ... school Matt McGorry on how to beach? ... read with Kathleen Turner, Rosie, and Broadway's delicious Max von Essen? ... stand for a good cause (Casting Directors Union) with Cheyenne Jackson? ... do a reverse Xanadu and becoming one with murals alongside Harry Shum Jr? ... take a singing road trip with Garrett Dillahunt? ... dream of tapdance lessons with Hillary Swank? ... make babies laugh for no reason with James Wolk? ... or talk to Virginia Madsen on a 16th century contraption. Something called a "landline"?
Pictures are after the jump to help you make this difficult choice...
Don't pretend like you wouldn't watch a movie in which Jessica Chastain sets Xavier Dolan up w Sebastian Stan and also Naomi Watts is there pic.twitter.com/0b4rokKPJf
You must click through every photo of that tweet. That whole moment in watching celebrities be themselves in real time with each other together as fans is funny heaven. "Yay, social media," which is something we can't always say as sane people.
Marisa Tomei earlier this year in LA. She is 50 years oldOnce the Rumor Spreads I will not be linking to anything Marisa Tomei as "Aunt May" in Spider-Man related until it is "official" -- and with the internet nowadays that line is always blurred since people report "in talks" as official when in talks only means a role is being discussed and contracts might be signed. Until this is not official, though, I'll be over here weeping in the corner as this possible tragedy befalls one of my favorite actresses who should NOT be rushing her "last fuckable day" to play a famous part that has for 50 years in pop culture, or as long as Marisa Tomei has been alive, signalled grandmotherly love and worry. Marisa Tomei is as sexy as ever. When people say that anyone is aging well they might as well be saying "they look pretty good for their age. Not as good as Maria Tomei does at 50 but then who looks that good?!?"
Links 429 terrific juicy interview with Jonathan Groff on Looking, celebrity, coming out, dating other actors, and more Grantland Mark Harris on Jake Gyllenhaal's incredible artistic growth of late, really upping of his game as an actor The Dissolve not sure why I didn't see this piece earlier but this a very heartfelt defense of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a film I did NOT respond well to, that is helping me see it a different light... though it sounds like the changes they made from the novel were unwisely reductive in terms of the film's reductive/protagonist's view Matt Zoller Seitz says goodbye to The Dissolve. I love MZS THR in terrible news Paramount and AMC collaborating on making theatrical window even shorter. It's like they want to kill moviegoing altogether i09 Elektra is official for Daredevil S2. The Greek assassin, easily the best of Daredevil related characters, will be played by Elodie Young who is of French & Cambodian descent
Elodie Young is on twitter and while I type this she has 5,766 followers (or like 1,000 more than me to show you how unfamously few). By the time you read this her numbers have probably skyrocketed to god knows what. Movie City News David Poland reacts with a partial history of the changes in the theatrical distribution model over the years Matt McGorry wants to #FreetheNipple PressPlay video essay on Shakespeare on the silver screen Pajiba looks at Adrien Brody's strange filmography of late. Bet you you've only heard of like one or two of them! NYT talks to Stephen Sondheim about Lin-Manuel Miranda's new Broadway musical Hamilton Comics Alliance awesome 15" sculpture of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman available for preorder -- sadly it's $270
Off Cinema Slate fascinating disagreements out there on whether cats are domestic or wild animals
Finally... I highly recommend checking out this tumblr "Every Single Word" which takes movies and reduces them only to lines of dialogue spoken by actors of color. I really hope they make more of these videos. Here are two examples: American Hustle and Enough Said... though I suppose Enough Said is more impactful if you've watched all of them.
How to Procrastinate Film Blogging? Live-blog a tv show.
Since The Film Experience has been in Viola Davis's corner for a dozen years now -- I gave her one of her first film prizes even if she didn't know it: a gold medal for best cameo in Antwone Fisher (2002) -- I felt obligated to watch her new headlining gig for at least a couple of episodes. I'm not remotely a procedural kind of person or a Shondaland person. Grey's Anatomy, her career-maker, had too much whining and Scandal is too hysterical and (worse) wildly uneven in its acting. Nevertheless I thought I'd live blog the first two episodes and see if it's fun enough to stay with (?) and largely to see if you are watching, too.
How To Express Your Feelings? Comment on said blog.
1.1 Pilot 00.01 Opening sequence is like those 'we're changing scenes and denoting the passage of time!' interstitials on Scandal but for like a whole interminable two minutes. Average Shot Length of .0001 seconds is not my speed. Some college kids are shouting about what to do with a dead body. Is it mine? Having died from seizures from the editing.
01.48 Tall cute black guy (who has the longest neck I've ever seen on TV) says that "tossing a coin" is OUR ONLY CHOICE. Thank god for coins because decision making, man. Tall cute black guy looks super familiar but I can't figure out why*.
03.33 Giggling that Wes (that's the tall guy's name) is told there's a seating chart in his class. He looks at it for less than .002 seconds while simultaneously swivelling his head around with that crazy neck of his to talk to all the other main characters (everyone with a line will surely be important)...and yet he knows EXACTLY where to sit. Psychic.
The Wire has a funny report on new Chris Martin / Gwyneth Paltrow rumors i09 the greatest Bride of Frankenstein poster ever /Film Andrew Stanton on the John Carter sequels that will never be My New Plaid Pants suggests that we all rewatch Alexander because Oliver Stone's new cut vastly improves it
Guardian Sigourney Weaver will appear in all three Avatar sequels continuing her fruitful collaboration with James Cameron CHUD on the Dumb and Dumber To poster Guardian the trailer to the beautifully shot Lilting starring Ben Whishaw and one of the most handsome actors you've never heard of (I reviewed it at Sundance) Antagony & Ecstasy one of our most loyal Best Shot supporters finally got around to Pocahontas! The Dissolve sees a statue of Napoleon Dynamite Vice's summer fiction issue features a short story about Lindsay Lohan by James Franco Empire Josh Brolin will co-star with George Clooney in Hail Caesar! a new comedy for the Coen brothers about 1950s Hollywood about scandal coverups of the stars /Film David Fincher and Rooney Mara may reunite for Red Sparrow, a spy thriller
Today's Watch Though perhaps you saw it late last week (what? I can't be everywhere at once). Matt McGorry, the adorable confused soon-to-be father from Orange is the New Black "auditions" for Magic Mike 2