April Wraps

April was a little odd for your host here offscreen and onscreen... well, April was a bit of a dead month wasn't it? We're giving it a gentle shove out the door this morning though there's a full day of it left tomorrow. But we still found cinematic pleasure where we could, whether that was covering the Tribeca Film Festival or making those Foolish annual first Oscar predictions. 

A dozen highlights of April... 
Betty Buckley Interview - on Split and her new CD. She's not a nostalgist
Corporate Afterthoughts in Toni Erdmann - all those oddly "decorated" spaces
Fast and Furious Rankings - Ranking the similarly titled movies
A Star is Born - yet another version. Thoughts on the first image of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga
Jonathan Demme's Favorite Actors - an appreciation and farewell 

Cannes Lineup / Jury - excited to experience the world's most glamorous fest in May? 
Grindhouse 10 Years Later - looking back on the double feature that looked back 
Three Fittings: Fantastic Beasts - on that surprise Oscar win for costume design 
Big Little Lies / Kidmania - 7 hours of awesome / Nic retakes her throne
Marsha Mason a look back at her career for her 75th birthday 

COMING IN MAY
Cannes glamour, New seasons of Twin Peaks and Sense 8, reviews of new releases like Alien Covenant, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Baywatch, new to DVD discussions of The Red Turtle, Get Out, and Oscar wining The Salesman, anniversary celebrations of Sister Act and Ladyhawke, and a week long Pedro Almodovar Party. Plus more episodes of all your favorite series including Three Fittings, The Furniture, Pfandom, and The Smackdown. Maybe even Hit Me With Your Best Shot (we're trying to decide).

C O N S I D E R - Favorite Actresses of 2017, 1st Qtr

With the year's first quarter over, here's a listicle of noteworthy performances we'll eventually compare to what's to come. We've already listed fav male performances and favtechnical achievements thus far - from screenings and releases as of March 31st. Herewith the 17 best female performances from the year's first quarter, divvied up into three categories. Did these women speak to you?

Disclaimer: I missed The Last Word, United Kingdom, and Wilson  which all have prominent female roles for talented actors. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out in the comments. 

6 LEADING ACTRESSES

Paula Beer as "Anna" in Frantz

16 more talented women after the jump...

Click to read more ...

C O N S I D E R - Favorite Actors of 2017, 1st Qtr

With the year's first quarter over, we're listing our favorites in multiple categories. Why? Well, each month of the year tends to contain good work so why pretend otherwise when Oscar season rolls around and only 3 months worth of releases are considered? (We already listed best technical achievements)

Here are the 17 male performances (divvied up into 3 categories) that I was most taken with in the first quarter of 2017. For your consideration...

7 FAVORITE LEAD PERFORMANCES

Paul Hamy as "Fernando / António" in The Ornithologist
(would also top a "sexiest" list were we doing one) 

16 more talented men after the jump...

Click to read more ...

C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 1st Qtr

It's April already! We're too impatient to wait for the "halfway" mark for year in review listicles. So why not do it each quarter to encourage more moviegoing? Unlike many critics orgs and the Oscars, The Film Experience believes that moviegoing is a 12 month long activity and each month can hold worthy efforts.  Here are 3 (or 4 if we're torn) highlights of what we've seen thus far this year per Oscar category in alpha order. How will they measure up to what's still to come? (We'll hit favorite performances on Sunday or Monday)

Key films I missed in the first quarter that I might try and catch up with later: Cure for Wellness, The Great Wall, Staying Vertical, T2 Trainspotting, United Kingdom, and Wilson

PICTURE / DIRECTOR / SCREENPLAY

FRANTZ (François Ozon, written by Philippe Piazzo & François Ozon)
FUTURE PERFECT (Nele Wohlatz, written by Pío Longo & Nele Wohlatz)
GET OUT (Jordan Peele)
PERSONAL SHOPPER (Olivier Assayas)

The Future Perfect doesn't have distribution yet but you'd be crazy to miss the other three which were the most all-around well realized of 2017's releases thus far, from concept to execution on all levels. MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

Click to read more ...

March. That's a Wrap

The first quarter is done. Wheeee. We didn't escape the post-Oscar malaise that hits every year just after all that golden hoopla so we spent most of the month obsessing over Feud and Big Little Lies but hopefully we'll be roaring back to creative life in April. Here are a dozen highlights from March in case you missed any of them.

Grease 2 (1982) random thoughts on a bad movie we love
RuPaul's Drag Race goes Gaga
Three Billboards Frances McDormand slays in the trailer
The Glass Menagerie the classic reinvented, new Broadway run
Animated Tease will it be a rough year for Animated Features?
Interview: Melissa Leo on playing 'the most hated woman' 

Beauty & The Beast (1991) ranking the songs
Buffy's 20th Manuel's instagram project 
Three Fittings: The Pirate (1948) a hallucinatory musical
Interview: Celine Sciamma on her rich coming-of-age screenplays
The Furniture: The Love Witch (2016) a cohesive vision 
Barry Jenkins his follow up project to Moonlight 

Coming in April: Nathaniel and Jason at Tribeca Film Festival, Anne-Marie returns via the TCM festival, revisits to Ladyhawke (1985), Tom Jones (1963), Election (1999), and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964). Plus Feud's conclusion, Celeste Holm Centennial, The Fate of the Furious, Free Fire, Smackdown news (once we nail juries down), Pedro Almódovar, Barbra Streisand's 75th, and a special mini-series on rising young actors (as a brief break from always focusing on actresses).

89th Academy Awards. That's a Wrap

Another Oscar season wraps up. It's all over but the memories and the future debates. Here is a complete guide to our coverage in case you missed any of these pieces...

• New Facts & Trivia Interesting developments
• Twist Ending & The Winners List Surreal but fascinating
• Jimmy Kimmel  How'd he do as host?
• Emma Stone ♥︎s Moonlight In the press room
• Pic / Director Split Is this the new normal? 

• Moonlight's Missing Speech What we lost in the snafu
• Oscar Packages they really biffed the craft presentations this year!
• Viola's Speech Great or too much?
• Best Oscar Tweets Fun 140 character reactions
• Oscar Stage Design They're obsessed with art deco

• Warren vs Faye Reader poll - VOTE
• Only one "Woke" at a time - Oscar = always problematic
• Faces in the Crowd  So much variety in the surprise looks
• 5 Most Handsome Men Chris, Riz, Mahershala, Ryan, Dev
• Kevin O'Connell Wins! It only took 21 nominations

• 13 Fav Photos Celebrity beauty & randomness
• Random Leftovers Screengrab thoughts
• 10 Best Gowns from our fashion guru Jose 
• Podcast The Season Finale 
• The Oscar Charts in all categories 

and yet another set to add to our imaginary doll collection

AND OSCAR WINNER INTERVIEWS

• Asghar Farhadi merging theater and film for The Salesman
• Krystof Deak preps for a big career with the little Sing
• Robert Legato putting exotic animals out of business with The Jungle Book
• Rich Moore on the global resonance of Zootopia 

UP NEXT
Don't go away! We're more creative off season when we don't have so many golden statue deadlines. Pleaes like us on Facebook, sign up for a newsletter (it'll start going out weekly in March), and consider being a patron saint so that we can keep doing this.

Coming in March, the 1963 Supporting Actress Smackdown, Michelle Pfeiffer and the costumes of Scarface, Logan and King Kong and Belle and Gaston all return to the movies (so much nostalgia at the multiplex), thoughts on Big Little Lies, Jake Gyllenhaal in Life, and the 50th anniversary of Thoroughly Modern Millie... "Rasberries!". And on April 1st, new predictions for the 2017 Oscars (yes, the 2017 Oscars. Don't get it twisted like the rest of the internet)