The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
Nathaniel reporting on the closing night film of the New York Film Festival
Don Cheadle has been an esteemed actor for a full twenty years now. His big reputation began with his breakout turn in The Devil with the Blue Dress (1995) and kept building. Somewhere along the way, despite a Best Actor nomination for Hotel Rwanda (2004) the leading man career didn't materialize (apart from his 4 time Emmy nominated gig on Showtime's House of Lies). The sturdy ensemble player attempts to right that wrong by producing, writing, directing and starring (whew) in a Miles Davis biopic.
Cue the trumpets!
And here we are. Miles Ahead was given the honor of closing this year's New York Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film.
It's tough to argue that Cheadle hasn't earned a spotlight as bright as this. [More...]
It's your weekend box office report. Both The Martian and The Intern experienced small drops from their previous weekends, reminding everyone that Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, who co-starred in Interstellar just last year, have always been fairly bankable. Their takes also indicate good word of mouth and leggy runs ahead in future weeks. The news was not good for Hugh Jackman and Pan however, perhaps reminding us that not every movie star can remain bankable when they're buried in silly makeup and made to look unlike themselves - not everyone can be Johnny Depp who people (for whatever reason) like to see buried in cartoonish makeup. Curiously Johnny Depp also once made a bad Peter Pan picture but that's another story...
BOX OFFICE WIDE 800+ screens (Oct 9th-11th) 01 The Martian $37 (cum. $108.7) Podcast, Matt's foot-in-mouth tour 02 Hotel Transylvania 2 $20.3 (cum. $116.8) Tim on the director Genny Tartakovsky 03Pan$15.5 NEW Peter Pan Movies 04 The Intern $8.6 (cum. $49.5) Review 05 Sicario$7.3 (cum. $26.7) Podcast, Emily Blunt 06 Maze Runner: Scorch Trials $5.2 (cum. $70.6) 07 The Walk $3.6 (cum. $6.3) Review 08 Black Mass $3.1 (cum. $57.5) 09 Everest$3 (cum. $38.2) 10 The Visit$2.4 (cum. $61)
BOX OFFICE LIMITED (excluding prev. wide) (Oct 9th-11th) 01 Ladrones (375 screens) $1.3 NEW 02 He Named Me Malala (689 screens) $.6 (cum. $.7) 0399 Homes (689 screens)$.6 (cum. $.8) The return of Andrew GarfieldReview 04 Steve Jobs (4 screens) $.5 NEW Review 05 Goodbye Mr Loser (51 screens) $.3 NEW 06 Grandma (205 screens) $.2 (cum. $6.2) Poster Blurb, Lily Tomlin's Filmography, Review 07 Goodnight Mommy (86 screens) $.1 (cum. $.6) Interview, Oscar Submission 08 Freeheld (51 screens)$.1 (cum. $.1) 09 Learning to Drive (71 screens) $.06 (cum. $3.2) 10 Labyrinth of Lies (16 screens)$.05 (cum. $.09) Interview, Review, Beauty Break
Meanwhile in select cities, business was solid for the heavily promoted human rights documentary He Named Me Malala and crazy robust for the Oscar Best Picture hopefulSteve Jobs which racked up some of the highest per screen averages ever in extremely limited release. The Michael Fassbender led drama goes wide next week.
Sadly, there continued to be a lack of interest in Julianne Moore & Ellen Page's lesbian drama Freeheld. It's grossed a tiny $140,00ish to date, despite four very well liked actors (Michael Shannon & Steve Carell are in the supporting roles). In truth the buzz hasn't been good on it (apart from a few vocal supporters) but still... I feel the guilt about not having seen it yet. In my defense, I have been totally sick as previously documented, so what little leave the house energy I've had has gone to the NYFF.
What did you see this weekend? Was it money well spent?
Lenny Amy Poehler interviews her teen fan, the Tony nominated Sydney Lucas who was so brilliant in Fun Home: The Musical (she just left the show *cries*) AV Club in terrifying news: Disney is fast-tracking a Cruella de Vil picture from the 50 Shades screenwriter called simpley Cruella The Guardian interviews Benicio del Toro on Sicario and music as part of his acting process
Playbill Broadway and music giants are uniting on December 3rd in NYC for a Centennial tribute to Frank Sinatra: slated to appear are Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Sting, and Christina Aguilera. More names TBA Comics Alliance & Superhero Hype celebrate the best Cosplay at New York Comic Con this weekend - that Marvel Girl is something else. Straight outta the X-Men pages I tell ya. Boy Culture cuteness - Carol Channing with teddy bear Pajiba yes, Natalie Dormer is aware that people think Kermit the Frog's new pig girlfriend Denise looks like her Detroit News my hometown paper interview Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie) for some reason so check that out Awards Daily Sasha on Aaron Sorkin and the art of the symbol in Steve Jobs Variety MTV's adaptation of Terry Brooks "The Shannara Chronicles" is coming in January. I read a couple of those books a million years ago and none of this even sounds/looks vaguely familiar. But maybe I just don't remember it? Variety ...and BBC is doing "The Last Kingdom" because YA fused with fantasy is hot right now after the cultural dominance of Hunger Games / Game of Thrones the past handful of years.
Eliza Dushku, Gabrielle Union, and Kiki are still sexy. And cute. and popular to boot. Okay maybe less popular (sigh) but still awesome. And to quote our friend Joe Reid:
Congratulations to Jesse Bradford, Nobel Prize winner in the field of Could Get It
Video Du Jour I'm sorry but Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman on the same couch being embarrassed about their childhood names? The Graham Norton Show is always a delight for actressexuals. Please someone gif the part w/ Meryl's glasses askew or any of Nicole's dorky grimaces.
And, because, a bonus video: Julianne Moore cracking us up doing Taylor Swift lyrics on "the Late Late Show"
Always the years. Always the love. Always The Hours Ladies.
Nathaniel returning to life, albeit to watch a film about someone who ends it, on the closing weekend of the 53rd New York Film Festival
If you believe in cinema as a reflection of reality then every college should offer at least undergraduate courses in Becoming an Assassin because that profession is always hiring! According to the movies, there are more assassins in the world than accountants. Full disclosure: I'm no fan of this overflowing subgenre. Assassin movies, like their counterparts Gangster Dramas and Serial Killer Thrillers, often glorify death-dealing or at least cast their protagonists as noble "anti-heroes" or admirably gifted / committed to their criminal art. [More...]
Manuel reporting from the New York Film Festival with an improbable prequel among this year’s selection.
No one does brooding romantic despair like the French. Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days, a pseudo-prequel to his 1996 My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument so revels in it that you could just as easily title it “The Sorrows of Young Esther.” And while yes, that title would be aping a German novel, Desplechin’s Esther (Lou Roy-Lecollinet) merits being name-checked alongside the most famous romantically bereaved character in all of literary history, and not only because Goethe’s novel, like Desplechin’s film, depends on the epistolary form.
Esther, who falls for Paul Dédalus (Quentin Dolmaire playing the younger version of Mathieu Amalric’s character from Desplechin’s earlier film), spends most of the time daring the camera to turn away from her sorrows, her tears, her despair, all of which she channels into the letter she sends Paul while he’s off at university in Paris. She cannot bear being away from him. Cannot bear her life without him.
Sunday, October 11, 2015 at 6:00PM 
Don Cheadle has been an esteemed actor for a full twenty years now. His big reputation began with his breakout turn in The Devil with the Blue Dress (1995) and kept building. Somewhere along the way, despite a Best Actor nomination for Hotel Rwanda (2004) the leading man career didn't materialize (apart from his 4 time Emmy nominated gig on Showtime's House of Lies). The sturdy ensemble player attempts to right that wrong by producing, writing, directing and starring (whew) in a Miles Davis biopic.
