Beauty vs Beast: Look Who's Still Here

Jason from MNPP with our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fun-time - I'm surprised it didn't occur to me to do this one at the start of this year when we were mourning the epic loss of both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (I even re-watched this film at that time) but perhaps the pain was too much. Anyway as Nat told you earlier it's Shirley MacLaine's birthday so the right time has revealed itself, and today we'll tackle Mike Nichols' glorious 1990 comedy Postcards From the Edge, starring MacLaine and some Meryl woman, based on Fisher's thinly veiled book about a drug-addict actress and her let's-say-ebuillent actress-mother. Mother-Actress? Actress-Singer-Mother? Well that's the question, isn't it?

PREVIOUSLY I'm shocked and flabbergasted by you people - hasn't Jennifer Garner suffered enough? We wished her a happy birthday last week with some 13 Going on 30 love and y'all rejected her star-making performance for Adorable Mark Ruffalo. I... well he is pretty damn adorable. Said Dave S:

"Ruffalo in this movie is top-tier among underwritten love interests; I think him ceding the stage for the female lead is actually a point in his favor. He gets to fill the somewhat vaguely defined dream guy role in a way we're more used to seeing actresses relegated to. See also: Aidan Quinn as the projectionist in "Desperately Seeking Susan"."

Spielberg Getting Topical with Streep and Hanks

Chris here, with one of the biggest powerhouse team-ups we've seen in ages. Steven Spielberg has signed up both Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks for The Post, a historical drama about the Pentagon Papers from a script by Liz Hannah. For the unfamiliar, the Pentagon Papers were classified documents used by The Washington Post to prove President Johnson lied to the public to advance the Vietnam public. So expect a solid dose of topicality to go with the star wattage, and do try to keep the Oscar talk at bay.

Can you believe this will be the first screen pairing of Streep and Hanks? Though Hanks is a Spielberg perennial, Streep has only done voice work for Spielberg on A.I. - it's somewhat depressing that it takes a project that reflects our own terrifying political climate to get this convergence of legends to finally happen. Without a start date announced, we can guess that we might be waiting a bit for the film considering Spielberg's packed schedule. A fifth Indiana Jones has been officially slated for summer 2019 with the director attached, plus Ready Player One in the can for next year and The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara set to shoot this year. The director isn't a stranger to jammed schedules, but he's about to be on his way to a well-earned nap.

Random Leftover Thoughts from Oscar Night...

by Nathaniel R

Yes, I'm trying to stave off the annual Post Oscar Depression. It's a real thing even if the medical community doesn't yet recognize it. So herewith some random final screengrabs from Oscar night and accompanying thoughts on topics we haven't totally covered yet over the past 3 days of Oscar reactions, recapping, post-mortem. (I promise we'll quit with Oscar 2016 by tonight and move on to other topics for those of you who've already moved on)

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Red Carpet: Best Dressed Women at the Oscars

Here's Jose with best looks from the 2016 Academy Awards...

And on Oscar Sunday Meryl said "let there be fashion", and then there was fashion.

The 2010's should not only be remembered for being the decade in which the greatest living actress earned her record-breaking 20th nomination, but also as the decade when she found a red carpet style that fit her iconoclastic image as both the Grand Dame of American cinema and someone who wants the world to think she "woke up like dis". In 2017 she even had her very first fashion feud (paging Ryan Murphy) when she had a PR battle with couture supervillain Karl Lagerfeld over a Chanel dress that was to be worn by no one (perhaps we will see Nicole wear it at Cannes someday?) In the end Meryl showed up in a statement-making Elie Saab couture creation in deep regal blue that combined pants with a ballgown, perhaps a nod to Hillary and the ultimate dig at T**** who believes there is only one way for women to "dress at work"? 

PS: She also forgave Karl.

Following in Meryl's magnanimity this year I present you my favorite looks from the Oscar red carpet unranked... 

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The Many Faces of the Shocked Oscar Crowd

Chris here, to help you finally digest the shock ending of the Oscarcast, even if Meryl is still frozen in place. And maybe we can get the jokes out of your system as well.

By now we've all dissected crowd photos and video footage of the stunned response of famous people in the crowd like it was our own little Oscar Zapruder film. But if there's a silver lining moment for Moonlight's moment being a bumpy one (the history books will always honor it, remember) it's all of the delicious face we were served, from a heart-palpitated Trevante Rhodes, to a Snapchatting Taraji P. Henson, to well, Meryl.

Luckily for you readers, The Film Experience has obtained exclusive audio files to tell you exactly how every star responded...

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