Months of Meryl: Evening (2007)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.  

#36 —Lila Ross, an old friend of a dying woman.

JOHN: While Meryl Streep is fiercely protective of her and her family’s privacy, she made no secret about what she got her daughter Mamie Gummer for her 24th birthday: Lajos Koltai’s Evening. Adapted from Susan Minot’s 1998 novel by the author herself, along with writer Michael Cunningham (The Hours), Evening follows Vanessa Redgrave’s Ann, an elderly woman drifting in and out of consciousnesses on her deathbed as she recalls a distant memory from her long-ago youth. That memory stars Claire Danes as a twentysomething Ann on the day of her best friend Lila’s (Mamie Gummer) wedding to a man she does not love. Ann, Lila, and the latter’s brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) are instead infatuated with Harris (Patrick Wilson), a strapping doctor that each will either screw or regret not screwing...

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Venice is First. And Opens with "First Man"

by Nathaniel R

First Man star Ryan Gosling and living legend Vanessa Redgrave were the toasts of Venice at the opening of the 75th annual Venice Film Festival...

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The Furniture: Camelot, a Silly and Furry Place

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Back in August, I wrote about two dramatically different ways of portraying Arthurian Legend on screen. To recap: the bright silliness of Knights of the Round Table (1953) looks like psychedelic compared to the bland grit of King Arthur (2004) and the gruff, imperial fantasia of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). But even these at least share a mild interest in engaging with English historical design. Camelot (1967), on the other hand, is a flighty fantasy of utter nonsense.

Of course, this is why it’s such a delight to watch. It’s a furry, oversexed epic that sends its glamorous cast out into magical forests to sing Lerner and Loewe songs at the top of their extravagantly-adorned lungs. The film won Oscars for production designer John Truscott, art director Edward Carrere and set decorator John Brown, with Truscott taking home a second statuette for the costumes. Lavishly made and lavishly awarded, it’s a classic of committed inspiration.

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50th Anniversary: the 20th Annual Cannes Film Festival

by Nathaniel R

Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave at Cannes '67Fifty years ago on this very day over in France the 20th annual Cannes Film Festival opened with the French film I Killed Rasputin directed by Robert Hossein. The jury was headed by the influential Italian director Alessandro and featured both Shirley Maclaine and Vincente Minnelli, two of our favorites.

When the festival closed that year the awards were spread out (as they should be) with lots of countries winning something. The Palme d'Or went to Michelangelo Antonioni's brilliant Blowup at the end of the festival (a film we tried to interest y'all in a few years ago to crickets. *sniffle*). Check out Vanessa Redgrave's frankly awesome full-body get-up on the red carpet with her then brand new lover Franco Nero (of Camelot fame). They finally married 11 years ago!

Both of the acting prizes went to young actors...

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Beauty vs Beast: Foes of the Vampire Slayer

Jason from MNPP here - I think we can get away with some more Buffy love this week, right? It's 20th anniversary might have been a whole several days ago but seeing as how we made it to 20 years and the internet still cared, and cared deeply (I can't be alone in having had my timeline entirely flooded with Sunnydale Fever), what's a few days?

Thing is we have devoted more "Beauty vs Beast" competitions to the show than any other single piece of entertainment - we've already asked you to choose between Spike & Angel and then also to choose between Faith & Buffy herself. But if there's one thing the Buffyverse isn't lacking - besides quips, chokers, and Xander Harris in a speedo - it's an endless supply of loveable mooks from which to love. So I went with my two favorite villains - Mayor Wilkins (Harry Groener) from Season 3 and Glory "Glorificus" (Clare Kramer) from Season 5. Raise your hand if you're invulnerable...

PREVIOUSLY Last week we said our prayers and sent our souls off to the hell of Ken Russell's making, taking on The Devils - for a quick minute I thought (my beloved) Oliver Reed might win it but Vanessa Redgrave's masochistically mad nun ultimately raved her way to victory with 58% of the your vote. Said thefilmjunkie:

"I bought a region-free blu-ray player for the sole purpose of being able to watch this movie and it was worth EVERY penny. I'd love to be able to watch it on the big screen. Of course my actressexual vote went to Redgrave, she really threw herself into this role in a way few actresses could/would have."