John Singleton (1968-2019)

by guest contributor Alfred Soto 

Few young filmmakers get their scripts approved and direct a film in which most things go right, and John Singleton did with Boyz n the Hood. The 1991 depiction of life in blighted South Central L.A. starring a mesmerizing Ice Cube became the kind of phenomenon that absorbs cultural currents and creates new ones; for a few years pop music and MTV took their cues from Boyz n the Hood. It made $60 million and, in one of the Motion Picture Academy’s occasional gob-smacking beau gestes, earned Singleton a Best Director nomination, the youngest in history and, more crucially, the first nomination for a black director. 

Please consider the times...

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Links: Madame X, Shelley Winters, and Martha Again

Link roundup starting with NEWS articles...

• NYT The great Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, a Bergman regular (Persona, Wild Strawberries) dies at 83
• Cartoon Brew Rich Moore, who delivered the Wreck It Ralph movies for Disney leaves to run Sony Animation
• Deadline Gabriel Basso (The Kings of Summer, Super 8) nabs lead in Ron Howard's movie adaptation of bestseller Hillbilly Elegy. Amy Adams and Glenn Close co-star.
• The Wrap talks to Ryan O'Connell, the creator and star of the gay & disabled sitcom Special on Netflix

Lots more after the jump including In the Heights, Bond 25, the influence of Big, new albums, declining sex in the cinema, and two must-reads online this past week in case you missed them...

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RIP Agnès Varda

by Anne Marie Kelly

Acclaimed godmother of the French New Wave and belated Honrary Oscar award-winner Agnès Varda passed away this Friday of breast cancer at 90 years old. The film community is in mourning for a singular and pioneering visionary, who treated film as art and famously declared that she refused to watch movies before embarking on her own career. In spite, or perhaps because, of this fact, Varda would go on to create incredible works across multiple genres and decades, creating unforgettable films that were personal, political, comedic, deeply poignant expressions of a spirit that never ceased being fascinated by the world around her.

We at Team Experience have long been fans of Varda, including her early work, famous films, late-career documentaries, and her unbelievable offscreen appearances as well. Her brusque presence and iconic style was a fixture at film festivals, where she had time for fans but never for praise. She will be missed.

What are your favorite Varda moments? What are you watching in her honor?

Jan-Michael Vincent (1945-2019)

by Nathaniel R

Some stars burn bright and endure, others flame out. The latter was the case with Jan-Michael Vincent, a rising  star of movies and television in the 1970s. He's best remembered today from his leading role in the TV series  "Airwolf" but afterwards it was low profile movies (the kind we used to call "straight to video" - there doesn't seem to be a unified term for those movies anymore) and an increasingly diminished profile, his last screen performance coming in 2002. He died in February at 73 years old and the news was only just released a full month later...

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Great Acceptance Speeches: Stanley Donen, Honorary

A big thank you to Dancin Dan, Chris Feil, Eurocheese, and Ben Miller who shared favourite acceptance speeches with us as we got hyped up for Oscar. There are so many more speeches we could have highlighted if we have more time or a bigger team, but well wrap up th speech appreciation with something that seems totally appropriate for a number of reasons: Stanley Donen's Honorary Oscar acceptance speech for, and we'll quote the Oscars here:

in appreciation of a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit and visual innovation.

The speech is a thing of complete and utter beauty and wit and gratitude and every time we see it we're reminded of how much Oscar night lost when it opted to no longer included the Honoraries on the broadcast. (Honestly we wouldn't mind half as much if they also televised those on a different night, but alas, they don't.)

As you may have heard cinema lost Donen this week at age 94. He was one of Hollywood's purest pleasure-makers, directing or co-directing musical classics like Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Funny Face. But that's not all! He also made beloved non-musicals with Audrey Hepburn like Charade and Two for the Road among other films. Donen is survived by his also brilliant partner of the past 20 years, the actress/director Elaine May (who just completed a much-raved Broadway run in the play Waverly Gallery so you might see her at the Tonys this year) so our condolecences go out to her this week.