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.)
Pt 2 is here now. Joe, Katey and Nick --soldiering on awesomely without Nathaniel at this week's recording session -- are talking Anomalisa, and streaming recommendations to complete your film year. I hope you enjoy their conversation as much as I did!
36 minutes 00:01 Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's Anomalisa has attracted obsessed fans. Do Katey, Joe and Nick number among them? Find out. 14:40 Reader Question: Great performances in not so great films? When actors do all the work themselves. 20:10 Catching up with 2015 films we missed. Streaming recommendations! 34:30 Goodbyes & Plugs & Happy New Year
Films discussed include but are not limited to: Phoenix, The Man From UNCLE, Blackhat, and Goodnight Mommy
Glenn here looking at each of the 15 Academy’s documentary finalists from which five will be nominated for the Oscar.
In the first part of this three-part series, we looked at social activists, rape survivors and famous artists in documentaries that took us from Pakistan to America to Britain to Africa. This selection of films is even more globe-trotting as we look at a group of documentaries that show us the conflict across several continents and the personal traumas that come with it. They include some of the best and worst films of the year.
WHERE TO INVADE NEXT Director: Michael Moore (one nomination, one win) Synopsis: In typically irreverent fashion, Michael Moore visits foreign nations in an effort to learn how they deal with social problems differently to the United States. Festivals: Toronto (premiere), New York, Chicago, Hamptons Awards: Chicago International Film Festival (Audience Choice Award), Hamptons International Film Festival (Audience Award) Nominations: BFCA, Austin Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, Houston Film Critics, Phoenix Film Critics, Satellite Awards Box-Office: Qualifying run; theatrical release in February, 2016. Review: Manuel was more forgiving, but I thought it was utterly disgraceful!
More about Invade plus we go to Ukraine, Mexico, Africa and the streets of Florida after the jump.
We've opted to do the home viewing news bi-weekly so as not to clog the feed up with lists of product. Some weeks are awfully spare. But here's what's new or newish on DVD/BluRay and streaming if your TV is big.
New DVD or BluRay • Ant-Man -In which Paul Rudd steals a magic suit and Becomes a Better Man. (Tim's review) • Downhill Racer -The 1969 Robert Redford / Gene Hackman skiing drama gets the Criterion treatement • Fantastic Four -If only it were streaming because everyone deserves the opportunity to see how terrible this is ...without paying for it. My only "F" of the year and that is not a cute play on the title. (Tim's slightly more generous review) • He Named Me Malala -Currently seeking a Best Documentary Oscar nomination. •Maze Runner The Scorch Trials-Please don't tell me that there are a ton of books and they're going to split the last one into two movies • Minions -Despicable Me sure created a monster. Well, millions of tiny yellow pop culture devouring monsters. (Tim on the phenomenon) • Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation-one of the year's most enjoyable surprises. Although we shouldn't have been surprised since Ghost Protocol was also topnotch. (Tim's Review) •Speedy- Harold Lloyd's last silent comedy gets the Criterion treatment • Ted 2 -Mark Wahlberg makes a sequel to his magic teddy bear blockbuster and curiously, despite slobbering all over the first one, no one cared
TV Seasons • Hannibal(S3 Final) in which Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen draw bloody hearts around each other's names in their notebooks • Extant (S2 Final) Can someone please stop the casting of Halle Berry in genre fare. Genre acting is not remotely within her acting skill set. Ladies and gentlemen, I present as evidence: X-Men franchise, Catwoman, and S1 of Extant. I rest my case. • Transparent (S2 on Amazon Prime Streaming) In which we return to the emotional chaos of the Pfefferman children and their trans father Maura (birth name Mort) played by Emmy-winning Jeffrey Tambor. Have you watched S2 yet? I'm trying to slowly savor it after loving every second of Season 1.
The endearing emotionally slippery family of Transparent
New Streaming on Netflix • Phoenix- One of the biggest German hits in recent years. Weird that they didn't submit it for Oscars last year instead of Beloved Sisters. Read Jose's Nina Hoss interview • The Ridiculous Six-- the first film in Netflix's mega multi-picture deal with Adam Sandler • Tangerine- the best comedy of 2015, regardless of what the Globes or Critics Choice claim. Watch it with friends and donuts over Christmas. You'll be so on trend. (Nathaniel's Review) • Xenia - Greece's LGBT Oscar submission about two brothers searching for their birth father
Playbill Reviews are in for Keira Knightley's Broadway turn in Therese Raquin Variety Nicole Kidman lines up a new thriller Silent Wife. The good news is the director is Adrian Lyne who is great with actresses: see Fatal Attraction & Unfaithful Just Jared Jonathan Groff dies of happiness when Beyoncé pays him a compliment
Brooklyn Mag pornish art films before Gaspar Noé's Love Pajiba Patton Oswalt ranks the GOP candidates with D&D statistics Pajiba Quentin Tarantino vs. Cops. Ugly business. My New Plaid Pants Rachel McAdams, Serious Journalist (via Spotlight)
The Superverse Variety talks to superhero loving TV megaproducer Greg Berlanti (The Flash and Supergirl are big hits ... but they aren't even his first superhero shows - remember that Incredibles/Fantastic4 ripoff called No Ordinary Family?) Empire lots of new Suicide Squad photos Coming Soon Matthew McConaughey turns Marvel villain role down - I mean wouldn't you? Their villains suck Tracking Board Li Bingbing (not to be confused with fashion icon X-Men actress Fan Bingbing) will supposedly headline a superhero film called Realm which is an original idea of Stan Lee's. It's a long ways off since the script isn't even written yet. Li Bingbing has previously appeared in action films like the recent installments of the Transformers and Resident Evil series
Oscar Mania Movie City News Why The Martian is the movie to beat for Best Pic at the Oscars Awards Daily Time to take Room seriously as a Best Pic winner? In Contention on the costume design Oscar race
Trailer Tease After lots of teasing -- and we're sick of teasing! -- a real trailer finally emerged for Netflix's Daredevil followup, Marvel's Jessica Jones starring Krysten Ritter. ICYMI it goes like so...
(On a personal note it'll be interesting to watch this one as for once I have no connection to the comic books. So much of contemporary comic book cinema and television is based on characters who've been around since before most of us were born. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman are practically octogenarians. Most of the Marvel superstars at the movies recently hit the half century mark. Etcetera. Jessica Jones didn't emerge in comic books until 2001 long after I had stopped reading them so I have no idea what to expect. )
Must See Mashup This one is from some place called "GumpTV" which I hope isn't inspired by Forrest himself (blech). The short is called "The Red Drum Getaway" and it pits Hitchcock's Jimmy Stewart against the sinister auteurism of Stanley Kubrick. Terrifically edited, well paced, and that finale. Wowee.
Showtune to Go Did you know that Oklahoma! (1955) is coming back to movie theaters for its 60th anniversary? Here's Kristin Chenoweth singing "I Cain't Say No" in celebration.
WTF w/ Marc Maron talks to Peter Bogdanovich Yahoo! has the first image of Michael Fassbender in Assassin's Creed but don't get too excited because it could be anyone, given that the character loves those face covering hoods EW everything Mads Mikkelsen wore on Hannibal thanks to costume designer Christopher Hargadon. So much fine suitage! Awards Daily Nicolas Hoult to play JD Salinger in a biopic Rebel in the Rye. Danny Strong is on writer/director duties VarietyPenny Dreadful S3 adds Wes Studi (remember how good he was in Last of the Mohicans), Shazad Latif, Jessica Barden, and Patti LuPone (!) as a regular now, albeit in a new role since her witch died last season
Deep Dish [nsfw] celebrates 66 factoids about Richard Gere for his recent birthday - I didn't know a lot of the off-movie stuff Tracking Board Michael J Fox is voicing a robotic canine for a new film called A.R.C.H.I.E. as befits an 80s sounding high concept comedy Empire Sam Worthington and Ruth Wilson to headline a new sci-fi picture called The Titan about a military family participating in an experiment in space Empire French filmmaker Pascal Chaumeil (Heartbreaker) dies at 54 Film School Rejects has a bathe with A Room With a View... such a great movie
We ♥ to Watch Gizmodo Amazon Prime now first subscription service to offer download / watch offline Cinematically Insane looks at the changes at TCM and what that might mean down the road. I'm so wary of this because even if they rebrand to be less about "old" movies then agreed upon "greats" how will we see the really old movies that are harder and harder to find with the death of DVD? I know I'm not alone among cinephiles in the desire to see less-than-great films regularly so as to get context for a career (director or actor) or timeframe at the movies /Films warns you about all the films leaving Netflix in September. (I'm so glad i never gave up my dvds since the range of their streaming options get grosser and grosser beyond their original content)
For LOLz The ToastA League of Their Own inspired thinkpieces. Inspired silliness. MNPP Michel Huisman strutting around New Orleans Back of the Cereal Box discovers an old Meryl Streep joke that still holds up
Off Screen Boy Culture a-ha's "Hunting High and Low" to receive 30 year anniversary rerelease. Such an amazing album - pity that people only think of "Take On Me" Playbill Jim Broadbent returns to the West End toplay Scrooge in A Christmas Carol this season Towleroad author Oliver Sacks who wrote Awakenings (which became an Oscar nominated movie) recently died (RIP)
Finally The trailer to the final season of Downton Abbey. So many big shows wrapping up lately.
Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 10:49PM 
36 minutes 
