Thankful for... Jason Adams

This year for our "thankful for" column we're mixing it up a bit. Instead of asking our contributors to share a brief list of favourite things, I wanted to share with you, dear readers, why I love the team so and then ask them a few key questions so you can get to know them better. As you digest your Thanksgiving pies, consider JASON ADAMS!

I have been a fan of Jason's writing forever  -- My New Plaid Pants is literally my favourite personal blog -- and he has been contributing to The Film Experience for a good portion of its life. His first self-given assignment in our current iteration (since 2011) was to see all three of James Dean's films for the first time. He has done weekly series since then like Horror Actressing and Beauty vs Beast. And of course he writes personally evocative reviews. Ccurrent releases he's sounded off on include The Humans, C'mon C'mon, Drive My Car, and next week's not-to-be-missed Paul Verhoeven lesbian nun picture Benedetta.

A short interview follows!

When did you first fall in love with the movies?

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Showbiz History: Richard Farnsworth, The Women, Shirley Maclaine's daughter and more

8 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

1920 Richard Farnsworth, the very talented actor (Comes a Horseman, The Grey Fox), who started in film as a stuntman, was born on this day 100 years ago in Los Angeles. Happy Farnsworth Centennial.  Sadly he died 20 years ago, shortly after delivering his tremendously moving Oscar-nominated performancee in The Straight Story...

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How had I never seen... "Rear Window"?

by Chris Feil

Rear Window has to be one of the more embarrassing blind spots to have among the entirety of Alfred Hitchcock’s repertoire or as a Jimmy Stewart lover, but alas I had it. I know, I know.

Maybe the best thing I can chalk it up to is something that’s been in the ether of my lifelong Hitchcock consumption that’s kept me from the Happy Ending Hitchcocks. Things like To Catch A Thief stayed out of my orbit until adulthood without the veneer of morbidity to entice them to a young horrorhound. And rest assured that Rear Window ends as quaintly, if subversively sly, as any of his films. But like me telling myself I’ll eventually catch up to the film, Rear Window is itself about things we put off and avoid. It’s a movie about a man trying so hard to avoid commitment that he gets himself invested in a murder.

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Perfect Things Which Are Perfect. "Rear Window" Edition

by Nathaniel R

This past weekend Jason and I went to a big screen showing of Hitchcock's masterpiece Rear Window (1954). Or one of his masterpieces that is; has more than his share, that one. We went just because it was playing (bless you rep scene) and it was the absolutely best thing to see during an actual heatwave in NYC because it's set during one yet it's its own air-conditioning. It's utterly cool...

I love that so many characters in the picture but especially LB (Stewart), eternally in pajamas and broken leg cast, come across like the heat is wearing at their nerves, temper, and clothing. Except Grace Kelly as Lisa Carol Fremont, who just floats onto the screen in a cocktail dress, in slomo no less in one of the cinema's all time greatest entrances. Lisa always looks like she is immune to common people concerns like the weather. This only benefits the film because it plays deliciously to L.B.'s (James Stewart) conflicted perception of her as somehow both above the mortal world but also too fragile for it. He thinks his rough and tumble travelling photographer existence too much for her. But isn't the rich dichotomy of the film that she's actually braver than he is when all the dangerous seeds the picture so gleefully places, eventually bloom? 

I've seen Rear Window several times but somehow I always forget big chunks of it. Like that it was set during a heatwave -- how did I forget that? But the heatwave ready to melt me again once I left the theater is beside the point. As I sat there totally engrossed and then delighted and then tense and then elated, I was reminded of a simple fact: Oh riiiiight, this perfect thing is perfect.

COMMENT PARTY ☛ So my spread-the-good-vibes question to you is this. When was the last time you saw an old favorite only to be surprised anew at its total perfection? 

I'll link to that 🍸

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• EW celebrates the return of Will & Grace with a photoshoot

 

• Observations on Film Art wonderful piece on Dunkirk's emotional core (or whether it has one), color palette, and more
• Remezcla is the new Chilean film Hazlo como hombre (opening Sept 1st) homophobic or just making fun of homophobia?
• New Yorker Richard Brody is watching 80s action movies he's never seen before! Ha. Somehow the classic Die Hard (1988) had eluded him until now
• Self Styled Siren's bad movie double feature: The Legend of Lylah Clare with Kim Novak and Where Love Has Gone with Susan Hayward
• Coming Soon new clip from Marvel's Inhumans features Medusa's prehensile hair. Ugh, I want this to be good but it does not look good
• THR HFPA, the Golden Globe peeps, just gave away nearly $3 million in scholarships and grants to entertainment non-profits. Well done
• Variety interesting report on a working class actor running for the SAF-AFTRA presidency
• i09 12 things to love about The Lost Boys (1987) that have nothing to do with vampires
• Coming Soon several characters from AHS: Cult revealed
• NYT on the casting of indian actors for Taylor Sheridan's Wind River
• MNPP Hugh Jackman and trainer-in-speedo spend soooo much time at the beach. But the photos are inspiring

OffScreen
• Dress The Part if you have lots of extra cash, here are suggestions for how to 'shop the look' of  Atomic Blonde
• Business Insider fascinating study about decision-making and how who you spend time with affects your brainwaves
• Mike's Movie Projector Imelda Staunton never stops. Now she's rehearsing Follies