The Surprising Year-End Aesthetics of John Waters

For a filmmaker whose movies are so instantly recognizably HIS and his alone, John Waters's annual top ten list adventure at Artforum is not what you'd expect... until you've followed it for a few years that is. It's not the crazy comic camp-fest his movies would suggest. There's usually a mix of outre movies, risque movies, documentaries, and the highbrow dramas. He's all over the place. Literally. Though the 66 year old director hasn't made a movie in eight years he recently hitchhiked across the country and is writing a book about it ("Carsick") to be published next year.

John ♥ Rachel

His number one choice is The Deep Blue Sea... and after Rachel Weisz's win at the NYFCC that movie is suddenly being talked up again.

1 The Deep Blue Sea
2 Paradise: Faith
3 Paradise: Love
4 Amour

Misery is really in this year. “Hurts! Hurts! Hurts!” yells out the dying elderly wife to her longtime-caretaker husband, and ticket buyers will agree. Makes Saw seem like a romantic comedy.

Hee.

5 Killer Joe
6 Beasts of the Southern Wild
7 Compliance
8 Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present
9 Beloved

Another crackpot Umbrellas of Cherbourg homage by the French director who adores unrequited love, cigarettes, Catherine Deneuve, and especially Louis Garrel. Yes, it’s L-O-N-G, but I wished the characters would have kept on singing in the theater even after the projectionist had gone home for the night.

I include this bit about Beloved because I was so curious as to what he saw in it. I tend to like Christophe Honore's films -- possibly because I share his love of love, cigarettes, musicals, and actresses ... but this film loses its way after a terrific start. Or maybe it finds too many ways after a terrific start. It's all over the place. Very first drafty, every idea included. 

10 The Imposter (on the documentary finalist list for Oscar)

Read John Waters top ten article here

November. It's a Wrap

Tough month. I'm crawling towards the finish line of 2012 wondering if maybe the Mayans weren't right after all? 2012 has been a fine year for cinema but a tough one for me personally. Now, my true year doesn't technically end until February 22nd, 2013 OSCAR NIGHT after which I can move on to 2013 but for now I'm just relieved that 2012, the calendar year, is almost over. But enough negativity! EXCELSIOR.

In case you missed them here are ten highlights from the month that was.

Golden Globe Musical Snubs It's not true that they always love musicals - they've ignored great ones
Chloe Moretz is Ruining My Life! The ubiquitous teen will star with LaPfeiffer...again! 
Is Skyfall's Oscar Buzz Real? Or just really convincing hype. Oscar doesn't much like 007 
Honicutt Enema iPhones must hate movies or something

Remember Moonrise a plea to AMPAS voters. Forget what feels IMPORTANT. Consider the likely longevity of this whimsical bittersweet film about lonely adolescence
Podcast Nick, Joe, Katey and I talk Lincoln and Skyfall 
The Masters of my Eyeballs on true oddities: Holy Motors and The Master 
First Look at August Osage County. A house! A synopsis.

Most Discussed: Our Kind of Voting. Naming favorites in divisive Oscar races of yore
Most Eyeballs: I Dreamed a Dream That the Film Version of Les Miz Would be Awesome ...it came true.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

It's a Wrap. October Highlights

We're doing this month's look back a bit differently. Though we wish all readers were year-round TFE maniacs, traffic always spikes during Oscar season so we welcome our fairweather friends back to us as we all link arms and beginning following that yellow brick red carpet road to the Wonderful Word of Oscars. In October we've been busy with plentiful limited series posts so here were some highlights from those batches.

NYFF
My single favorite moment of the NYFF is documented above. Shortly before The Paperboy screening for critics (with Nicole Kidman on hand afterwords to answer questions) the promo reel for the 50th anniversary of the festival froze on this image and stayed that way for minutes. I wasn't complaining. I like to look at her. As for the movies themselves, I was knocked out by three of the Best Foreign Language Films competing for Oscar: Austria's Amour, Chile's No and Bwakaw from the Philippines. Michael was dazzled by Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha with career best work from Greta Gerwig, and Denzel Washington's soon to be Oscar nominated performance in Flight. Meanwhile everyone was talking about Lincoln's Secret Debut "Secret" Debut including Team Experience on the Podcast.

007 Lists for 007 
Deborah has been getting us celebrating the 50th anniversary of the longest running film franchise with James Bond centric lists. Like her 007 favorite films or the *only* 007 femme fatales. And we're asking all of you to vote on your 007 favorites... LAST CHANCE. Voting ends tomorrow, November 1st.

Oscar Horrors
Team Experience was asked to choose from a list of every Oscar nomination bequeathed to the horror genre or thereabouts and write about it -- just one Oscar nomination per post. Pan's Labyrinth got you talking, Addams Family Values got us laughing again (I even watched it again because of the post), and we reminisced about creepy actressing in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Rebecca, The Spiral Staircase and Fatal Attraction to name just a handful of entries.

5 Random Favorite Posts
Which is Yummier?, "Lousy Lay", Guilt Trip Poster, Into the Woods reading and Monty meets Bernie

Happy November Everyone. Here's to the great (we hope) penultimate month of 2012 

September. It's a Wrap (Thank Goddess!)

Let September be the demarcating line for The Film Experience is BACK. Nathaniel is no longer plagued by summertime (begone humidity!) or pneumonia. We're officially in Fall Film Prestige Season and you're going to see it EVERY. DAY. Comment please for it be the coal in blogging engines and Awards Season is going to devour fuel. But before October's starting gun here are ten highlights from the scrap heap that was September (yes, there's a day and ½ left but let's pretend it's over with!), in case you're just returning to us for all the gold man fun.

Toronto Diary Amir meets Ewan McGregor and loves Frances Ha
Oscar Vintage 1975 Carol Kane lives on Hester Street
Summer Review Podcast Nick, Joe & Nathaniel discuss their favorite 2012 summer memories - two parts!
In Flight Movie Nathaniel watches The Avengers again: high altitude, tiny screen
Song Titles I Wish Were Movies a silly top ten list
Take 3: Samantha Morton Craig looks back on three key films from a truly gifted talent

Describe The Master in Three Words it's tough to do but you gave it valiant efforts in the comments
Interview: William H Macy of The Sessions on free passes, religion and "trying too hard" 

Most Discussed
Anything August: Osage County gets y'all chatting. Now filming!
Most Eyeballs
Emmy Live Blog though I should note that Melanie Lynskey's extra great guest-blogging in August was still attracting visitors well into September!

Coming in October: Oscar Horrors Season 2, Oscar madness, Oscar foreign film competition, Oscar party coverage and... well, you get the shiny golden hint. Plus: The Sessions, National Coming Out Day, Joan Cusack, Frankenweenie, Argo, Halloween Fun, more actressy goodness than you're expecting and the rest of the NYFF coverage.

Stay tuned.

Summer Survey. Katey & JA (Pt. 2)

To recap... now that summer movie season 2012 is a wrap, we're polling contributors, friends and YOU about your favorite and least favorite things of the summer. It's just a glass of something light and bubbly to raise, gulp down quickly and bring a little closure before the heavier stuff hits.

In Part 1, we heard from a few good men and here's two more voices for Part 2. Parts 3 and 4 are the podcast this weekend!

KATEY
who you know and love from Cinema Blend and the occasional podcast here...

Best Movie I Saw All Summer: 
I'm surprising myself by answering Magic Mike. It's got more confidence, more imagination and more willingness to let it all hang out than most anything else the studio system produced all year. 
Scenes I  ♥ So Much I Thought My Heart Would Burst: 
1) Natasha's interrogation scene at the beginning of The Avengers-- I've always been wishy-washy on Whedon but his feminist credentials are unbeatable. 2) Norman's confrontation with the witch at the end of ParaNorman, some of the most dazzling and daring animation for kids I've ever seen. 3) The completely insane vampire-chase-on-horseback scene in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a not-very-good movie that I admired for its insane ideas all the same.

Major Summer Crush(es): Emma Stone (she really can liven up anything, even something as ungainly as The Amazing Spider-Man), Michael Fassbender (that Peter O'Toole impression just slays), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (I stand by him being the best thing in The Dark Knight Rises), and Chris Hemsworth (he seems to be the only person with a pulse in Snow White and the Huntsman) 

Princess Merida, Katniss or Hawkeye? 

Merida! Brave didn't get nearly enough love for all the things it did really well
At Least The Theater Was Air Conditioned: 
Hit & Run. Bad, self-indulgent filmmaking coupled with an awful audience that laughed at every dumb joke that made me cringe. 
If Only "Hulk" Had Smashed...: 
Battleship, to save Taylor Kitsch from himself. 

 

Mash-Up ~Two Summer Characters I'd Like to Introduce: 
Hushpuppy from Beasts of the Southern Wild and Snow White from Snow White and the Huntsman, to teach her a thing or two about making your way through nature and asserting your power in a world that wants to shove you down. 

Best Old Movie I Saw For the First Time This Summer - Go Me! : Metropolis! When I found out the restored version was on Netflix Instant it seemed a crime to ignore it, and it turns out it's mesmerizing even on the tiny laptop screen. 
Rank the  "Magic Mike" Strippers:  
I actually wrote an article with this exact ranking!

Line Reading That Stuck In My Head...

 Jiminy Cricket, he's flown the coop!"
- Edward Norton in Moonrise Kingdom

 

JA of MNPP
Best Movie I Saw All Summer:
Moonrise Kingdom, which I only fell even more in love with on a second viewing. Everything feels just right, from Frances McDormand's sweater over house-dress ensembles on up. Or maybe Todd Solondz' Dark Horse, which broke my heart into fifty thousand little pieces.
Scenes I  ♥ So Much I Thought My Heart Would Burst: 
The Lovecraftian C-section to end all Lovecraftian C-sections in Prometheus and all of the stripping sequences in Magic Mike (although it wasn't really the "heart" part of my anatomy that was fit to burst....)  
Things I Actually Learned (at summer movie camp!)
1) Joss Whedon should direct every superhero movie from now on (I figured as much beforehand but The Avengers circled and underlined my suspicions)
2) Woody Allen should probably only make a movie every two years.
3) Prostate exams and currency debates can totally add up to sexy.
 

Princess Merida, Katniss or Hawkeye? 
Only one of these people twirled a dress right into flames, and as much as Jeremy Renner wishes, it wasn't him. 

Choose only one archer! Katniss, Princess Merida or Hawkeye

At Least The Theater Was Air Conditioned: 
The Dark Knight Rises

If Only "Hulk" Had Smashed...
Christopher Nolan's camera
Best Old Movie I Saw For the First Time This Summer - Go Me! : 
I bet this is the first time that David Lean's "Kate Hepburn takes Venice" movie Summertime has ever tied for anything with Squirm, the 1976 earthworms-run-amok flick, but that's just how I roll. 

Major Summer Crush(es):
BOMER. CHARLIZE.

Rank the  "Magic Mike" Strippers 
Mike beats Ken only because Channing can out-dance everybody else put together. From there it's The Kid, Dallas, Tito and Tarzan.
Mash-Up ~ Two Summer Characters I'd Like to Introduce: 
Bane and Jackie & David Siegel from The Queen of Versailles, for obvious reasons

Line Reading That Stuck In My Head...

I don't really like the word 'depressed'. I prefer to say I'm in a tailspin."
- Greta Gerwig in Damsels in Distress

And that's it for us until the podcast! If you have your own blog, answer the questions in a post and I'll link up. Otherwise, what do you think of JA's and Katey's summer summaries? The "Katniss, Merida or Hawkeye"? question is such a roscharch. No two answers are quite the same!