(You're Gonna) Love it Again - Rocketman!

by Nathaniel R

Kudos to Paramount to beating the Rocketman drums again with a screening and performance in Los Angeles yesterday. Early releases require this sort of care and attention from their home studios, come awards season. Rocketman emerged in the giant shadow of Bohemian Rhapsody this past May, and though it is vastly superior to the Queen picture in every way, shadows are shadows and sometimes they obscure the light...

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Lunchtime Poll: Which Beatles song could you never forget?

This week's new titles on DVD or Blu-Ray are the remake of Child's Play (reviewed), the critically lambasted three generations of Shaft, Luc Besson's latest action flick Anna, and one of the year's true sleeper hits, Danny Boyle's Yesterday. In a freak occurence a failed songwriter (Himesh Patel) wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. He's the only one who remembers their music so he starts passing off their songs as his own and skyrockets to fame. Did you see it? Did you love it, loathe it, or fall somewhere inbetween (*raises own hand*)? Either way there's surely a Beatles song you couldn't ever live without, even if you had to make do with a cover version.

Today's Lunchtime Poll: Which Beatles song is most burned into your memory and which is your favourite? 

Merrily We Roll... and Roll... and Roll... Along

by Nathaniel R

Real life theater friends Ben & Beanie, doing a musical theater movie adaptation together. But they won't be done with it for another 20 years

While The Film Experience was in the pro-Boyhood camp in 2014 we were never among its biggest fans. It was hard to be in that club given the massive stanning for a movie that was winning Best Picture prizes left and right in its year. But today we love it more than we ever have now that it's given the king of longform cinema, Richard Linklater, the funding and confidence to attempt the coolest or most foolish movie musical ever. As you may have heard he's now embarking on an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's most beloved flop Merrily We Roll Along to be filmed over the next 20 (gulp!) years...

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Tweets: That sounds misérable and other observations

enjoy a curated sample of recent amusing or inspired tweets

my (60M) daughter (17F) has fallen in love with a guy she saw in the park (21M). he's at a barricade with 9 of his homosocial pals (21M-35M) & might die? i think i should save him but im also on the run from a beefy inspector (61M) since i broke my parole & became mayor. advice?

— class traitor tom branson (@combeferal) August 7, 2019

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Stage Door: "Moulin Rouge!" on Broadway

Stage Door is our intermittent theater review column, which might seem odd for a movie site, but we're headquartered in NYC so...

by Nathaniel R

Do you remember the sensation of watching Moulin Rouge! (2001) for the first time? I remember exactly where I was (the much-missed Zeigfeld theater in NYC)  and exactly how it felt as it washed, no, exploded all over me. Twas a dizzying overwhelming sensory experience from the moment the red curtain appeared. Moulin Rouge! (the movie) eventually calms down… or you acclimate to it (I’ve never known definitively which). The moment I gave in fully, convinced it was something emotionally special and not just a flurry of exciting images, was Ewan McGregor’s spontaneous inspirational belting of “The hills are alive… with the sound of music”. The moment the movie belonged to me, and I to it, was the entrance of the Sparkling Diamond herself, Satine (Nicole Kidman) descending on a trapeze to sing “Diamond’s are a Girl’s Best Friend”. 

These moments are dutifully recreated for the new Broadway incarnation. The experience is not quite the same. Some cinematic bliss cannot be easily transferred to a different medium. Nevertheless there’s still green fairy dust sprinkled on this musical. It just takes a bit longer to lift off...

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