Winona Ryder @ 50: "Mermaids"

Team Experience is celebrating Winona Ryder for her 50th birthday this week

by Eric Blume

With more than a half dozen films behind her, this week's birthday girl Winona Ryder received her first major awards attention with 1990’s Mermaids.  This slight comedy-drama, directed by Richard Benjamin, garnered the young actress "Best Supporting Actress" from the National Board of Review and a Golden Globe nomination, too.  While that praise seems a little generous in hindsight, the film features some lovely work from Winona who is up against a very wobbly picture...

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How Had I Never Seen... "Splash"

by Cláudio Alves 

From time to time, there's talk of creating new Oscar categories. Just this year, Brad Pitt spoke about the need to give stunt coordinators some love and appreciation during his acceptance speech. Maybe he's right, maybe there should be a stunts category. Another arguably necessary addition is a casting award that reflects that job's importance in creating the movies we love – it's much more crucial than original songs, for instance. Casting is not just a matter of hiring good actors, but the challenge of getting the right people for the right roles. It's knowing how to capitalize on a star's persona and energy, the performer's fame, the tonal register they bring and the audience's perception of them. In the right circumstances, a limited actor can be a better choice than a consummate thespian with a greater range.

Ron Howard's delightful Splash (available on Disney+) is a pertinent example of the importance of good casting for a movie's success, humor, and dramatic functionality. With different performers, it probably wouldn't work half as well as it does…

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Streaming Roulette May: Burning, Mermaids, Hairspray, and more...

As is our practice we've selected several random titles and frozen the films at utterly random moments without cheating (whatever comes up comes up!) for this quick preview. At the bottom of the page, check out full listings for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO for the first half of May 2019. Please do let us know if you're dying to discuss any of the films.  Okay, let's go...

Was there a well here a long time ago? A well deep enough to fall into?

Burning (2018) on Netflix
So good.  Still bummed it didn't make it to the Oscar nomination in best foreign language fi-- excuse me "best international film"

Please God, don't make me fall in love and want to do disgusting things.

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Did you enjoy 'Mermay'? A few words on "Splash" and "Siren"

by Nathaniel

You guys. I only just recently learned about "Mermay" in which you celebrate mermaids during the month of May. How did I not know about this? We could have been celebrating mermaids in film and television all month long! The least we could have done is pay tribute to Tully's mermaid dream imagery. Because that film did NOT get enough attention. Jason Reitman + Diablo Cody + Charlize Theron = dream team (see also: Young Adult)...

I thought I could whirlpool up a top ten list of movie mermaids but realized I hadn't seen some key texts like Mr Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), Night Tide (1961), the silent film The Mermaid (1904) and a few others. Sadly merman films seem all but nonexistent... 

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Happy 25th "Mermaids"

Rachel Flax would never approve of anniversary postings.. But Rachel Flax, portrayed by Cher at the tail end or her weirdly brief A-list actress run, didn't always know what was best so celebrate we shall after the jump...

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