Magic Carpet Link

NY Times talks to David O. Russell about Joy... which still is not screening. The mystery of it all
Playbill Aladdin flew through the streets of NYC on his magic carpet recently. How's that for marketing?
Gold Standard Character actors get their own award "The Carneys"... we wouldn't need this if the Academy remembered why they invited the Supporting Acting categories. The first recipients:  Bob Balaban, Michael Ealy, Bruce McGill, David Paymer and CCH Pounder
THR wishes Toni Collette a happy birthday with fun facts

/Film Jennifer Aniston hasn't made a good film in 10 years. Can What Alice Forgot change her course?
Guardian suggests that appointment franchise cinema will end with Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part 2. "IF ONLY!" says all of us who year for movies to be movies rather than expensive television series
Variety talks to Karl Glusman about his first day on the set of Gaspar Noé's Love -- they started with the ejaculation scene. Yikes
Variety interesting. The very talented Pablo Larraín (No) is making a movie about Jackie Kennedy and Natalie Portman stars with Peter Sarsgaard, and Greta Gerwig in support
Graham Norton talks to Maggie Smith who isn't sad to say goodbye to Downton Abbey 
Variety selects under the rader performances that "deserve" Oscar buzz. While it's nice to see more props for Kristen Stewart's great work in Clouds of Sils Maria, it's tough to take this seriously: Helen Mirren in Woman in Gold? Good god did she ever phone that one in! Ruffalo "reinventing" himself for Spotlight? Try repeating himself! 

Halloween Hangover
Crave Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) chooses the most stylish horror films from Repulsion to The Haunting
HitFix they polled several writers/directors/critics to list their fav horror films. Not enough actresses on the list but I LOL'ed that Elvira gave herself the #1 position
Gothamist photos from the Village Halloween parade
TFE Facebook / TFE Twitter  in case you missed it I was goofing with counting down my 15 favorite horror films last night from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? to Silence of the Lambs -- "it puts the fuckin' movie on the list. It does this whenever it's told."

Also if you aren't liking / following / sharing The Film Experience on social media... why you wanna hurt us like dat?

Finally... 
Did you hear there's a fully poseable Michaelangelo's David action-figure? Want! Also why is there not a movie about the creation of this work of art?  

Would you watch a movie about the making of Michelangelo's David?

Yes. I'm all about the Italian Renaissance

Entirely depend on the casting of David.

No. I'll just look at the nude gifs on the internet.

Poll Maker

208 Days Until... Cinema Ends.

We retitled the last one Eyesore in Wonderland since it was one of the ugliest and worst movies ever made. What shall we call this one? 

HBO’s LGBT History: Sex and the City (2008, 2010)

After a week off (festivals sure do take it outta you, but did you catch up on all of our fun NYFF coverage?), we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. Last we spoke, I howled in laughter watching Curb Your Enthusiasm’s “pre-gay” kid, Greg in that show’s current series finale (there’s always rumors they’ll make more episodes, but Larry David seems to be in no rush). This week, we continue looking at another HBO comedy staple, the endlessly parodied, needlessly dismissed Sarah Jessica Parker series, Sex and the City...

Click to read more ...

"Oh, what a tweet. What a lovely tweet!"

In case you needed another reason to love Edgar Wright...

Hey @TheAcademy, I don't even need the voting form. Put me down for 'Fury Road' in all categories. Even Documentary. pic.twitter.com/zg0MNPWA9Y

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 29, 2015

P.S. I know this is a terribly silly thing to worry about but I worry about it every day. Can Mad Max manage any Oscar nominations?

Mad Max Fury Road is a freaking miracle. Obviously a Best Picture nomination would be a lot to ask for (though deserved) and without precedent (No live-action sequel has ever been nominated for Best Picture unless its predecessor had also been... no not even The Dark Knight or Skyfall despite their abundant nominations elsewhere. And, no, Silence of the Lambs was not a sequel to Manhunter. The only sequel to win this honor was Toy Story 3... in an expanded field). But if Mad Max Fury Road isn't on track for cinematography and sound and editing and the like... what good are any of these craft branches at all since they're meant to recognized inspired work? 

McDreamy is Bridget Jones' Baby

Here's Murtada with some casting and sequel news.

Patrick Dempsey is joining Bridget Jones’ Baby, the third movie about the charming British singleton played by Renee Zellweger. Is this the first announcement about his movie? Filming starts pretty soon, October 2nd to be exact. Did we miss something? Is Zellweger returning to major movies and the headlines are about McDreamy? Both Zellweger and Colin Firth are expected back but not Hugh Grant hence Dempsey. Although there are no details yet on who Dempsey is playing, it’s clear from the casting this may be another love triangle.

Zellweger aside, are we ready for for Bridget to come back? It’s been more than a decade since the last movie. Are people really going to see this? From the recent long-after-first-few reboots and sequels people really wanted to see Jurassic World  while no one cared for the Terminator reboot. Like the latter the last Bridget was in the mid-aughts. Not a good sign. People who loved it at the time might not feel nostalgic for it yet while younger audiences wouldn’t care.

The first film, Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001), is a romantic comedy gem that came at a time when those were made regularly and some were made well. The book which of course came before the movie was a phenomenon. We loved Bridget’s self deprecating voice and wanted her to have the Elizabeth Bennet fantasy she dreamed of. Zellweger was aces in the part calming down everyone who was mad an American was cast as this quintessentially British woman. The second film, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) followed shortly. In addition to the preposterous title, it's a trifle. Coming with an unnecessary sojourn into a Bangkok prison (is this a remake of both Bangkok Hilton and Brokedown Palace?) it presented nothing new. Just went on repeating all the best beats of the original including the fun and childish rivalry between Mark Darcy (Firth) and Daniel Cleaver (Grant). Let’s just forget about it and watch that fight scene from Diary again.

Is Dempsey over Grant an upgrade? If we’re being shallow and judging just by how they look today Dempsey wins. However he’s not the caddish charmer that is Grant as Daniel and that's was proven way sexier. Remember his seduction of Bridget and the way he said “absolutely enormous panties”. Can Dempsey match that? Dempsey’s charm is different. Blandly handsome with no gravitas, i.e. the perfect foil for a Disney princess like he was for Amy Adams in Enchanted. He could lay on that wholesome charm but we all know everyone likes the bad boy more.

It’s clear where we stand on the Grant/Dempsey debate but tell us where you are and why.