Oh • Yel • LINK • Oh!

Gurus of Gold a new chart reflects the PGA nominations
Variety talks about the lack of screeners for Selma
NYT great profile of Patricia Arquette. People are laying the tributes on thick now for the Oscar campaign. 
THR you know it's Oscar season when people get fired for "smear campaigns" 
The Guardian exchanges pleasantries with Sienna Miller (Foxcatcher, American Sniper):

You've made a good movie for once."  

The Dissolve on the Razzie shortlists - nominations soon
i09 52 years of Spider-Man's mask a spiffy quick visual
Hollywood Elsewhere Josh Gad may play Roger Ebert in Russ & Roger Go Beyond
i09 Eddie Redmayne shares details of his audition for The Hobbit
Playbill Into the Woods breaks into the Billboard top 20 
Film School Rejects on How the Disneyfied Into the Woods loses its allegorical power, especially in regards to the AIDS crisis
Vulture how Looking is reinventing itself for Season 2 (premiering on Golden Globe night, fyi) 
Pajiba on an amazing Boogie Nights story involving Burt Reynolds 
/Film Matthew Vaughn, promoting Kingsman: The Secret Service thinks people have had enough of Nolanified superhero films and want more fun
Playbill god help us all. Cats is returning to Broadway. There are still so many 1980s musicals on the boards here. Wish we could have more originals and fewer returns. P.S. Cats is the first Broadway show I ever saw so I have a certain affection. But still...
Australia Womens Weekly Russell Crowe saying annoying things again. This time knocking actresses for wanting better roles when they're older
In Contention North Texas critics like Boyhood and the usual supporting players. Gyllenhaal & Pike for leads

List-Mania
Variety on ten big spenders. See the insane amount of money the studios spend on ads for their movies. Godzilla tops the list spending big to make big but The Judge also wasted a small fortune 
/Film a grab bag of lists about the film year
Vox Todd Vanderwerff's top ten list   
Adam Male 5 gay men share their top ten LGBT movies list (well, there unfortunately isn't much in the way of "L" here). Interesting to see so little overlap. Nobody ever interviews me for this sort of thing but my list would contain a few of these. 
Comics Alliance best comic books of the year 

How to Pronounced David Oyelowo
There's finally video of Brad Pitt schooling us all on David Oyelowo's name. Here you go!

 And while we're on the topic, Interview did a Q&Andy with him. On why he left the UK and came to Hollywood:

I had a very nice career in the U.K., but heroes of mine are Daniel Day Lewis, Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and when I looked at the zenith of what they do, it came out of Hollywood. So my wife and I took the risk in 2007 of leaving the U.K., coming here, and hoping that I could scale those heights. 

Dizzying heights indeed but Selma's a great step up.

And Finally...
For those of you just returning from a long holiday, don't miss... 

#20-11 Best of the Year, (now updated with honorable mentions)
#10-01 Best of the Year, Nathaniel's List 
Unjust Pride DVD Sony has put the gay heroes in the closet 

..and more interviews with:
Costume Designer Michael Wilkinson Before Superhero Glory, Noah
Actor Finn Wittrock A Brief Scene in an Elevator
Actor Oscar Isaac  A Most Famous Year... Coming Soon
Cinematography Yves Belanger The Man Who Shot Reese 

Happy New Year!

 Skål *takes drink* 

Party safely tonight, drink lots of water to avoid hangovers, and choose a designated driver. Always.

It was a challenging year at TFE and I'd like to thank my small team and all of you for sticking with us. At the movie theater 2014 was an especially good year... compiling the 'Best of ___' lists that are on the way has been a joy. Here's a list of various year-in-review goodies published thus far ICYMI. (We're not quite done of course. Oscar Night is when the film year really ends.) 

Year in Review Goodies
Screen Cats from Felix to Hairy Baby
Tilda Swinton vs Tilda Swinton Madame D. or Minister Mason?
Try Harder Next Time 'Worst of the Year'
Scarlett Johansson x 4 This year's MVP
Stocking Suffers gift ideas, real and otherwise 
Fashion red carpet divas of 2014
Alternate "Entertainers" - who wowed no matter the medium?

...more "Best Lists" to come including the top ten of the year when the FiLM BiTCH AWARDS start on Friday January 2nd

Other Recent Highlights
Anna Kendrick, Interviewed on her movie musical frenzy
Timothy Spall, Interviewed Mr. Turner talks fathers & sons
Missi Pyle Celebrity Guest Blog Extroardinaire!
Reviews Selma, Into the Woods and more
A Year With Kate the finale!

If you love The Film Experience...
Sign up to our new mailing list (we won't inundate you - no more than one e-mail per week if that) and consider a small donation (see right hand sidebar) as a 'Thanks for [whatever you loved most this year]' gift!

The Year in Review: Orphan Posts

This episode of year in review is super-needy and self-indulgent. You have been warned!

While we can generally count on you, the devoted readership, to comment at least a little bit on everything, mysteriously these written efforts went unloved.  At least visibly. Perhaps you loved them in silence? Or maybe you just missed them. If little orphan Annie can get a makeover and third filmed chance to find her sugar daddy (warbucks/stacks) these posts deserve a second chance!

• James Chinlund, Visionary Designer he made the ape forest in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the tree spaceshipwhatsit in The Fountain. He is genius.
• Hong Khaou on Lilting I suspect this beautifully lensed and touching LGBT film starring Ben Whishaw hasn't yet found its audience because we posted about it a few times and always *crickets*.
• Beloved Sisters Germany's 3 hour Oscar submission is a romantic costume drama about an unconventional love triangle. It actually opened for Christmas just after missing the foreign film Oscar finalist list
• Blow-Up's Best Shots my favorite series to run is "hit me with your best shot" (returning in March!) but I'll admit I never have a clue which episodes will really grip you. I thought for sure this Michelangelo Antonioni episode would be a hit and it was very nearly the least popular Hit Me selection in years.
 

• and a few posts each from...
Tribeca & Sundance & TIFF & NYFF but, then again, commenting on film festival reviews is always lighter. This might not mean anything since those films are completely unknown entities when they are first written about. Even the ones that later spark much conversation like Obvious Child. Do you like the film festival coverage that we've really amped up the past two years? Please do let me know as it is a budget point for the site and money is always tight.

Finally... sometimes I think these two posts here and here were my favorites of the year which is perhaps not a good sign as to my mental health. But thanks for commenting on them!  No, no. I amend: This was actually my favorite post of the year. It shoulda gone viral. *sniffle*

Farewell to Hepburn Tomorrow

Don't cry just yet, Kate the Great fans. While it's true that there is only one wrap-up episode left TOMORROW in Anne Marie's mammoth undertaking "A Year with Kate"* in which she reviewed every performance in Katharine Hepburn's fascinating career, we have exciting news. We're making it into a book! Details are not yet concrete but if you would like to be included in updates about pre-order and other 'Don't Miss It' news, please fill out this form at our Facebook page!

Anne Marie's last episodes airs tomorrow Wednesday December 31st. But until then... take a peak at any you missed. Some chapters will be substantially rewritten for the book.

1930s: A Bill of Divorcement, Christopher Strong, Morning Glory, Little Women, Spitfire, The Little Minister, Break of Hearts, Alice Adams, Sylvia Scarlett, Mary of Scotland, A Woman Rebels, Quality Street, Stage Door, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday,

1940s: Philadelphia Story, Woman of the Year, Keeper Of The Flame, Stage Door Canteen, Dragon Seed, Without Love, Undercurrent, The Sea Of Grass, Song of Love, State Of The Union, Adam's Rib

1950s: The African Queen, Pat & Mike, Summertime, The Iron Petticoat, The Rainmaker, Desk Set, Suddenly Last Summer, 

1960s: A Long Day's Journey Into Night, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Lion in Winter, Madwoman of Chaillot, 

1970s: Trojan Women, A Delicate Balance, The Glass Menagerie, Love Among the Ruins, Rooster Cogburn, Olly Olly Oxen Free, The Corn is Green

1980s: On Golden Pond, Grace Quigley, Mrs Delafield Wants to Marry, Laura Lansing Slept Here, 

1990s: The Man Upstairs, This Can't Be Love, Love Affair, One Christmas

* "A Year With..." was such a success we will be returning to it annually albeit not always in strict One Writer / One Actress / One Whole Career Mode. Finding subjects easily divvied into 52 episodes isn't as easy as it was with Kate (who made exactly 52 films!). Anne Marie is taking a well deserved month-long hiatus but she will return with a less ginormous undertaking in February.

The Less Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Or, "Try Harder Next Time You Talented So & Sos!"

Our Worst of the Year feature "Cinematic Shame" has shrunk in size. This is not because movies are better. This is because your host (Nathaniel R) has somehow become less jaded and more appreciative of the cinema over the years. In fact, he often can be seen crinkling his brow when faced with reminders that a lot of people who write about the movies don't like very many of them. Even more casually evident: lots of people who write about awards season don't like awards season. (A solemn promise to the disgruntled: there are plenty of other topics worth writing about - pitch those to your editor and TRUST that this topic will be amply covered, and all over the place, in your absence!)

But let's not distract ourselves.

 In the lists that follow as we gently spank famous people on their virtual bottoms we remember that they can turn right around the following year and wow us, thereby humbling us for doubting them. History is full of examples. We all have our "off" years or... um...decades. 

Uncomfortable segueway to Tim Burton...  [*cough*]

But look how cute this Big Eyes sketch he drew is! [Tomato stained lists are after the jump]

Click to read more ...