JA from MNPP here, checking in with some movie news while Nathaniel heads off to fair Nashville - have you been following the progress of David Cronenberg's next film, the one called Map to the Stars? He's been speaking of making this movie, apparently a Hollywood satire of some sort, since way back in 2006. His then-muse Viggo Mortensen was going to star; as time passed it looked like it would be Viggo alongside Cronenberg's now-muse Robert Pattinson, with Rachel Weisz as the female lead. About a month ago Weisz dropped out and we were worried that the movie might not be happening (especially since Cronenberg's trying acting again in Luca Guadagnino's next flick)...

... but fear no more! Deadline's got word that the goddess Julianne Moore and the, uh, not-goddess John Cusack have now joined the film, and that it will be filming in July (in Toronto, of course). Julianne Moore in a David Cronenberg movie just about makes me wanna click my heels together and perform a dance routine down the street, and is plenty to overcome my, uh, apathy, regarding Cusack. And yes, it does seem that Cusack is replacing Viggo in the picture, so it will be Robert Pattinson and John Cusack as the male leads. I'm sure some of you will not take kindly to that; I personally thought Pattinson was fantastic in Cosmopolis, though.

Also on board is Sarah Gadon - if you've seen anything made with the name "Cronenberg" on it in the past three years, you have seen her. She played Michael Fassbender's wife in A Dangerous Method, and Robert Pattinson's wife in Cosmopolis, and she was the virus-stricken celebrity at the center of David's son Brandon Cronenberg's body-horror piece Antiviral (which I just reviewed the other day). These fellas sure do love them some Sarah Gadon, it seems.

Tim Brayton here, to talk to everybody about something particularly close to my heart, and particularly useless even in the grand scheme of cinema: the crushing lack of artistry and personality in American horror movies these days.

The issue is brought to mind by the release this week of The Lords of Salem, the fifth film directed by sometime heavy metal rocker Rob Zombie. I have not, at this writing, seen The Lords of Salem, and based on Zombie’s previous work, it’s very likely that I’m going to think it’s pretty terrible. But I am, anyway, more excited to see this than I have been for any other wide-release film in 2013, no matter how bad it’s going to be, because Zombie the filmmaker has consistently been responsible for horror films of the rarest sort: ones where you can actually tell how much the person making them cares about the work.

JA from MNPP here - according to JustJared, everybody's favorite (heh) Oscar host Seth MacFarlane has been asked to return to host the awards next year. It's not terribly surprising since the ratings were great and that's what most matters to the people who run this televised spectacle, but I have a feeling that those of us who were critical of Seth's performance won't take too kindly to this news. MacFarlane is on the record as not wanting to do it again, but who knows? Now that the offer's on the table he might just have spent the past few weeks thinking up new lyrics to rhyme with "boobs." So... what do we think about that?

Glenn here. Given my penchant for poster goodness I figured I'd pick up Nathaniel's regular "posterized" feature. A fun series that can time to time shine a curious light on the way films are marketed and how certain actors or directors can find themselves in a so-called "marketing rut" where it's the same thing over and over. Think of a Will Smith movie and don't you just picture his smug mug staring out at you in mid-range closeup? Even that one about selling his organs to Rosario Dawson (or whatever Seven Pounds was about - I've sure as hell forgotten!)

This week I've chosen François Ozon - and he's having a helluva week. Not only is his latest (un/lucky number thirteen) film, In the House [Dans le maison], getting a release in America, but his next picture, Jeune et Jolie, was just chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Well done, Mr. Ozon! Still, don't the words "A film by François Ozon" feel like they should carry more weight than they do. Perhaps, but his career is too all over the place to give him the title of auteur and his films frequently go theatrically unreleased in western countries without a major star (Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling for instance) at the center. 

Combien avez-vous vu?

Sitcom (1998) | Criminal Lovers (1999) | Water Drops of Burning Rocks (2000)

Okay, I have no idea what it's about but that poster for Ozon's debut, Sitcom, is fabulous. 

 Under the Sand (2000) | Swimming Pool (2003) | 8 Women (2002)

more after the jump 

Mysjkin with Woody Allen. As close as she fears she'll get to him!We're getting to know the Film Experience community. Should this be a weekly feature? Today we're talking to Ann-Mari from Norway who goes by "Mysjkin" in the comments.

Quick what's the last movie you watched before I asked you to do this reader spotlight?

MYSJKIN: I finally got around to watching Let the Right One In after finally having read the book. As a librarian I am intrigued by how page translates to screen. It's impossible to completely capture a novel, choices need to be made. Let the Right One In was to me a really well judged adaptation, focusing on what I found to be the heart of the novel; the relationship between Eli and Oscar and their fragile, violent and compelling coming-of-age.

When did you start reading The Film Experience?

MYSJKIN: I discovered TFE back when IMDB had links to fun stuff at the bottom of their page and I clicked to read Unsung Heroes: The SFX of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that being one of my favourite films. After reading that post and several of your own, I felt like I had discovered a treasure chest of cinematic goodness!

I was so sad when IMDb stopped that link feature but I'm glad you stayed - that was just before the site overhaul.

MYSJKIN: I love the mix of old and new and the unabashed obsession with actresses and Oscar! All your contributors are excellent and reading the comments is highly enjoyable, that last bit is in itself a rare online treat. But most of all, it's your writing, your warmth, wit and creativity that keeps bringing me back.

Tusen takk! Do you remember your first movie?

No, but I remember my first movie obsession. It was Pete's Dragon. I would watch that video tape (<3 the 80s ) over and over and over. Whenever someone claims to have seen something weird, "A dragon, a dragon, I swear I saw a dragon!" is the first thing that pops into my head.

Let's move on to more adult matters. Have you ever broken up with someone because of a movie?

Three favorite actors?

Since I speak a little broken Norwegian tell us which 5 Norsk movies readers should check out? 

I'm so happy about your love for Joachim Trier, because I think Reprise and Oslo, 31. August are perhaps the two best Norwegian films ever made! ...and third place goes to DeUsynlige (Troubled Water). For some vintage spookiness, watch De dødes tjern (not sure if there's an English title, but it translates as Lake of the Dead) and to tap into the Norwegian Heart and Soul, watch Flåklypa Grand Prix

Finally, we need to talk about Elling! Not only is this a good, heartwarming film, but it also features yours truly as an extra! Yup, (as you will see from the attached picture) that's the back of my head right there! I'm only visible for a few seconds, but it was enough to secure the film an Oscar nomination! ;D

LOL. kjempe kul.

previous reader spotlights

David here, with a review of this week's biggest super-massive release, Oblivion, while Nathaniel's off in Nashville.

"Seconds left on the clock. So Hubie throws a Hail Mary. Touchdown!" He may be seventy years in the future, and one of only two humans currently living on planet Earth (maybe), but Tom Cruise is still Just Like You. Cruise’s Jack just a regular Joe who likes baseball, Conway Twitty and younger women. Not only has he got one back at base – Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) is his partner on their mission monitoring the planet and repairing the drones roving the barren planet – but he’s got one in his head. Images of the world that was haunt him, as he dreams constantly about Julia (Olga Kurylenko) atop the Empire State Building. When the woman herself crash lands on the planet, impossibly replicated from his dreams, Jack’s uncomplicated life starts to disintegrate.

Oblivion’s title promises the vast grandeur of the most epic blockbusters – the mononymic title booms out of the dark to a blast of noise that’s somewhere between the Inception meme and the THX blast on the aggressive-noise scale. More...

 Andrew here with an April Shower to pass the evening.

I’ve always gravitated towards film scenes incorporating water. Often it does not transcend the aesthetic (water on screen just looks pretty), but even as downpours – natural or man-made –are often utilised as read-made ways of attuning the audience to moments of sadness, it’s great when filmmakers utilise it other ways. I say utilise with slight hesitation because in a film where Minghella seems to be telegraphing nodes and nodes of information, the rain scene in The English Patient comes off as especially slight.

The titular patient (formerly known as Count Laszlo de Almásy) has been severely burned across the body and confined to a bed, remembering ghosts of his past. He is dying, and convivial Nurse Hana – running from ghosts of her own – is keeping him comfortable in his last days in an abandoned Italian monastery as World War II draws to a close. They are joined by mysterious thief Caravaggio and sapper Kip and his Sergeant Hardy. A few moments before the rain is released, an agitated Hana bicycles out to find Kip, her new lover. He is busy defusing a bomb which has his name written on it. Literally.

 

 [more]

All male periscopes down!"

Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #2,029

"Mean girls" have been around forever in High School Movies and then they weren't always the villains -- take Grease 2 for an example. The Pink Ladies are such bitches!

Dancin’ Dan (or, as you might know me from the comment section, denny) here, with a special Dance on Film edition of April Showers for your weekend.

 You all know the feeling, right? The project you’re working on is sunk because one of your partners is an idiot (a beautiful, blonde idiot with a nasally squawk of a voice). After a late night brainstorming session with two of your other partners, you come up with a brilliant solution to your problem. How do you celebrate?

If your immediate answer to that question was not “take the partner that I have a crush on home, then wave the cab away so I can walk home in the rain, giving away my umbrella to some random stranger on the street,” don’t worry. It just means that you’re not a Hollywood star of the silent screen played by Gene Kelly in a 1950s musical. 

And in real life, such a response would be crazy, most likely getting you nothing but a nasty case of pneumonia. But on the silver screen, it feels perfectly natural, an explosion of joy… a glorious feeling!

Jose here. From its start, the new production of Lyle Kessler's famous Orphans, has been plagued with controversy and an aura of pure chaos. First, Shia LaBeouf infamously quit the play during the first week of rehearsals leading members of the press to wonder exactly what had gone wrong. While some blamed Alec Baldwin for his notorious bad temper, others wondered if there was indeed more than met the eye. LaBeouf was handily replaced by Ben Foster in the midst of a Broadway scandal that combined leaked emails, unexpected theater appearances and juicier drama than anyone in Smash could ever come up with.

Glenn here, one of the few remaing Smashites who will be with this dear show until the bitter end. I'm not going to mince words here: "Opening Night" was the best episode of the season so far. This is for a multitude of reasons that we'll get in to briefly, but mostly it's because "Hit List" barely factored. And when it did it was in the shadow of "Bombshell", the musical gets hailed the hit of the season. Too bad they didn't get that "love letter from The Times" that Liza so beautiful sang about a couple of weeks back.

2.12 "Opening Night"

This week is "Bombshell" heavy as opening night occurs and all the anticipation and exhiliration and drama and disappointment that comes with it. This is a good thing, folks, and "Hit List" thankfully takes a sidestep (although the show's writers can't help but force it upon Smash even when there are far more important things to be worrying about).

Ivy is naturally worried about the reviews, but never more so than when she overhears two patrons on the street call her the ultimate diss - "a chorus girl". Ugh. Ivy, and by immediate association Megan Hilty, is not a chorus girl. Even when the show finally clues into itself that Hilty is the star they keep finding ways to remind her that she's perhaps not that good. Poor girl. 

Still, she's got nothing on Julia who has a falling out with creative partner Tom. In a curious bit of... well, I'm not sure what it is (cross promotion? fortuitous symmetry? obvious cashing in?), Julia decides to revamp an old idea to turn The Great Gatsby into a Broadway musical now that the publishing rights have lapsed (she discovers this thanks to a surprise return of recent The Place Beyond the Pines Star and season one hate magnet Emory Cohen) only to discover via a bizarre Rosie O'Donnell cameo that Tom has decided to take upon another directing job. This leaves Julia in the dust and suitably miffed, but her growing relationship with off broadway producer Scott Nichols (Jesse L Martin, still not singing in each and every episode - what gives, Smash writers?!?) may just provide the answer. Well, that and a suitable end to the Julia/Tom relationship that could make for cathartic end in the inevitable series finale. I'm tearing up already, okay?

Lastly, Derek finally got a bit of what's been comin' to him and Karen realised she was never better than Ivy. It's about time! Sadly, the Karen V Ivy at the Tony's thing is really a thing that's really going to happen. I just don't think my heart can handle the disappointment when Karen wins the Tony and is crowned the Queen of Broadway (pigs blood is the only natural response, surely).

Best Bit: Megan Hilty slaying everyone. Could your fave? From dissing Derek for his rampant infidelity, to her triumphant rendition of "Don't Forget Me", to doing the best acting of fake modesty you will ever see in her duet of "That's Life" with Karen... she is FOREVER! Am I the only one who's enjoying Daphne Ruben-Vega as the hard-edged Bombshell publicist? Given how often they try to pass of "Hitlist" as a "Rent" for a new generation, it's nice seeing her run circles around Katherine McPhee, too. Still, McPhee was the best she's been. Away from the stage she is a casual presense and her backstage chat with Hilty was lacking the self-important that so frequently takes over her performance.

B♡BBY: Just one brief moment as he tries to break Ivy's "self-imposed media blackout" while wearing a brown turtleneck. Of course.

Most Confusing Moment: Oh, SMASH! You were doing so good and then you went and turn the very end into some bizarre misognyistic throwdown between Derek and an actress who accused him of sexual harrassment. Not only does she apologise for something he very clearly did wrong (victim blaming is so hot right now!), but he then cracks a smile and she goes home with him! I choose to believe this scene never happened because I can't fathom how anybody could write such garbled, offensive nonsense.

Gay Gay Gay: Well, there were cameos by Smash songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, as well as Rosie O'Donnell and even Edward Hibbert and Donna McKechnie in such tiny roles that they're not even listed on IMDb! But also, hey guys, were you aware Tom and Kyle are gay? Apart from a stray glance here and there, it's as if their homosexuality has been entirely erased from their personalities (well, apart from the fact they both write musicals). This week the writers found out how to work it into the script: alcohol and depression! Well, it beats Grindr. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda dug the pick up scene between these two. Tom finally got to express his sexuality again, but did so in a forward almost predatory fashion. Kyle, meanwhile, was all about the cougar appeal and jumped at the chance.

You go glen coco! Plus Andy Mientus has never been cuter, agreed?

I liked this episode very much. I give it a B+, although that scene with Derek and the actress is very damning. Let's just ignore it, shall we. But tell me, readers: was Megan Hilty's performance of "Don't Forget Me" her last ditch effort to make sure casting agents remember her? How did you find the Bombshell opening night?

The new poster for Before Midnight has just been released via EW, reminding us all that the next chapter in the lives of Celine and Jesse is only 32 days away.

Are we all excited yet?

Also: for anyone living in the L.A. area, the LA County Museum of Art will be hosting a double feature of the first two films, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset on Friday, May 17th. Tickets are available here starting Thursday at 5:00, and at $10 for both films on the big screen, it's not even a bargain anymore. It's a freakin' steal.

Get them, lovelies. 
-Beau

Hello, lovelies. Beau here, filling in for Nathaniel on this week's Monday Monologue, featuring a film that is packed full of them.

Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married was, for my money, the best film of 2008. (Nathaniel shared my sentiments, though we don't always see eye to eye: note our complete polarized responses to the masterful Cloud Atlas last year.) That's not a title it earned easily, considering that it was also the year I was exposed to Charlie Kaufman's brilliant Synechdoche, New York as well as Christian Mungiu's Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days, a film I lovingly referred to as 'that Romanian abortion picture' to friends who recoiled and cocked their heads at the thought of sitting through something like that.

No, what moved me the most, what hurt me the most was this small, intimate picture filmed on digital with many striking nods to the Dogme movement of the nineties, (filmed on location, hand-held, diegetic music) and providing a piercing, at times intrusive look at the lives of this shattered family. In it, each actor does the best work of their career. [more]  

Hello! Deborah from Basket of Kisses back for another movie-free week of Mad Men at the Movies. In this week's Mad Men, actors and television figure prominently, so we'll have lots to talk about.

Episode 6.04, To Have and To Hold takes us (among other places) backstage of the soap opera where Megan has a growing role. The episode itself has a frothy, soapy sensibility, full of illicit goings-on and secrets revealed.

Don Draper: Does he look like James Garner to you? 

Soap opera trivia and Broadway Joe Namath after the jump.

April Showers semi-daily @ 11
(Tonight's edition is a rerun dedicated to Ms Reese Witherspoon) 

Hello?

So I have never seen I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) all the way through but here's my question. If you were spying on Ryan Phillippe in the shower, wouldn't you forget to carry out your dastardly deed? Who could concentrate?

So Ryan wraps himself in a towel (shame) and moseys on over to his locker where he sees this photo.

You should complete the sentence in the comments.

"I know ______________________ ."

Happy Earth Day! (It's April 22 where some of you are, still.)

 Andrew here. Isn't it s a shame that even though the earth is made up of so many natural, renewable resources we tend to get so few films about characters who are particularly interested in it? Lawyers, doctors, nurses, writers - those jobs tend to roll of the tongue easily from movie scripts. Environmentalists? Umm, not so much. When you think of how to celebrate Earth Day through film there doesn’t seem to be a large pool of cinematic options to choose from. Every now and then an An Inconvenient Truth type film will appear tackling earth related issues, but it’s not just the films completely devoted solely to the earth that telegraph the message of caring for our environment best. Oftentimes, an incidental character trait revealing an appreciation for the earth can do wonders.

Here at The Film Experience we all worship the deity that is Actresses (we're not very picky, good actresses all are welcome) and what better way to celebrate Earth Day, original Mother Earth Day than by recognising three women to celebrate both our Actressexual urges and our love for the Earth which the live on?

Julia Roberts in ERIN BROCKOVICH

An excellent popcorn thriller/workplace drama/ et al, Erin Brovkovich benefits form successfully merging various aspects of itself – it’s a s semi-biopic, something of a legal drama, and a fine example than when left unaddressed the film’s heart is in the right place re the environment. Even though at Erin’s major hurdle is the more mercenary aspect of attaining a settlement for her clients it's a battle which emanates from an awareness of the way PG&E is distorting natural resources for sinister reasons. Part of Erin's appeal is that only happenstance leads her to the problem, but just the simple fact of Erin’s highlighting of the harmful effects of the company’s pollution on the water ways is the best endorsement for Earth Day we could hope for.

Sigourney Weaver in GORILLAS IN THE MIST

Animal’s role in Earth Day celebration sometimes tend to be downplayed. The term Earth day itself seems more devoted to appreciation of the flora than the flora and Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist has more to worry about than whether all groups are well represented by the celebrations. Still, from her devotion to finding a better life for her primates to her research in Rwanda Fossey is a fine indication that in caring for the earth appreciation for animals is as much a part of earth day as is caring for pants. Nature encompasses both aspects of natural life, and assisting in animal conservation and protection is as worthy of Earth Day accolades as much else.

Barbra Streisand in ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

"Hey buds bellow, up is where to grow. Up with which below can’t compare with…”

Does this choice seem to be something of a head-scratcher? Chain-smoking, clairvoyant Daisy Gamble finds former iterations of herself while in therapy and at once little of the film seems analogous with Earth Day celebrations. And yet, the opening title track is the perfect recitative for the day. For capricious Daisy has the ability to make plants grow remarkably well and in the opening track she urges them to sprout – “Hurry, it’s lovely up here” she tells them. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli isn’t a much remembered outing, but it’s especially memorable. Daisy’s easy innocence in urging plants to grow is notable, especially when – regardless of where you stand on issues like climate change – one realises that it’s not all “lovely up here” for the things and creatures of the earth.

And what a gift package of shower, sun and love

You'll be met above everywhere with,

Fondled and sniffed by millions who drift by,

Life here is rosy - if you're a posy

Hurry it's lovely here!

It’s an especially innocent turn of phrase, and it’s a shame that appreciation for the environment is not a character trait more characters don’t exercise as readily. Sometimes being an Earth Day ambassador could be as easy as helping flowers to grow, even if you can't talk to them.

And, here are three other versions of the plant loving track – Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth and original performer (Tony nominated performance) Barbara Harris.

__________

To celebrate Earth Day at The Film Experience, take a page out of any of these ladies books - let's call them Champions of the Earth in their own ways or find an actress Earth Day Ambassador of your own. Which character from the actressexual within you would you choose to celebrate Earth Day?

Alexa here. Julie Alberti is an artist who watches a lot of movies and loves unique faces. She works in porcelain, paper and clay to create some really clever pieces that celebrate her love of Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Shelly Duvall, Buster Keaton and Cole Porter, among others. 

She reuses old porcelain tableware like a master; I've fallen hard for these Steve Buscemi plates. Click for more including a Peter Lorre doll, Buster Keaton pendants, and Christopher Walken teapot!

Variety are House of Cards and Hemlock Grove and other new instant watch series the saviors of Netflix? I sure hope so. I shudder to think of a world without Netflix and I've been very surprised at how gleefully people have watched its fall. Wake up cinephiles: there are so few services left that give us this much variety in movies. I mean do you really want to rely on Redbox if you want anything other than the latest blockbuster?
Bold Hype Gallery I'm so sad to hear about this Scorsese Tribute here in NYC after the fact (and so annoyed that it was only up for three days -wth?) but look at these amazing paintings from the just closed installation,
Inside Movies new pics of Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan in Spider-Man 5 (which is called The Amazing Spider-Man 2)

Awards Daily Vertigo and Kim Novak are guests of honor at Cannes this May
Advocate Darren Criss sings the gayest cover of "Call Me Maybe"... I bet you thought covers of that song were over?
Hammer and Thump will Spring Breakers continue to change minds about Harmony Korine's shock-friendly filmography? 

Ed Douglas (photo via BadAss Digest)Finally... And Quite a Lot Importantly.
[soapbox] Though I'm loathe to remind my fellow US citizens that we live in a selfish self-sabotaging world where 50% of the country thinks "we're all in this together" equals weakness (or, even more misguidedly,"evil") and thereby punish themselves and others by fighting against universal healthcare, I must. Ed Douglas, who writes for Coming Soon and who has been nothing but sweet to me my whole career (others say the same which proves he's a truly nice guy), was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Like many film journalists he is without healthcare so if you have it your heart or pocketbook to donate, join the fundraising effort. The goal was raised from $10,000 to $50,000 due to the immediate and very heartwarming response from the cinephile community but if you've ever seen a hospital bill you know that that kind of money can be gone in all too quickly (another reason we need to cut out the parasitic middle man known as the insurance industry whose profits are directionally proportional to blocking our access to healthcare... or just jacking up the prices for it if they can't find ways to block it) and just pay for healthcare for everyone. [/End soapbox].

Hey everybody. Michael C. here. Growing up in the dark days before Twitter, back before I could get my Oscar gripe on 24/7, I had to focus all that emotion on Siskel and Ebert’s annual "Memo to the Academy" special. Watching year after year, one of the refrains the duo drilled into my head was that the Academy should expand their idea of what constitutes an Oscar-worthy performance. Don’t lazily jot down the names of those appearing in best picture contenders. Evaluate each performance on its own merits, apart from the film that contains it. They were adamant on the subject. 

Or at least they were, until the 1998/99 episode when Gene found the limits of Roger’s open-mindedness by suggesting James Woods receive a Best Actor nod for John Carpenter’s Vampires. After Gene went on for a bit about Woods’ talent for commanding the screen, Roger demurred, “Yeah, but if you’re gonna nominate someone for Best Actor you kinda want them to be in a little better movie, don’t you think?”

Gene wasn’t having it: “No. I want the performance. I don’t care about the movie.” 

This altercation zeroed in on a question that has always nagged at me. If even a harsh critic of stodgy thinking like Ebert has to draw the line somewhere, is the issue that cut and dry? Is it really possible to separate the performance from the film? [more]