Team Experience members were invited to give thanks this week so you'll be hearing from a few of us. Here's your host Nathaniel R...
2018 was an unusually hard year for your host, given that he was starting over in his offline life after a painful breakup so first things first. I'm so goddamn grateful for The Film Experience. Thank YOU all for reading (especially those who donate to keep us on life support- see sidebar) and for being such a faithful community. This labor of love site is a continual source of pleasure and stability for me personally and I always aim to make it so for you, too. Before I get to the individual entertainment gratitude I also want to thank the Team Experience regulars: Murtada, Chris, Jason, Glenn, Jorge, Lynn, Eric, Dancin' Dan, Spencer, John & Matthew, and those we don't hear from much at the moment (life is so rude like that) but who we're always happy to work with like Nick, Ilich, Salim, Tim, Deborah, Séan, Daniel, Ben, Katey, and Joe. And both warm hugs to those who've moved on and nervous waving at those yet to come; they're out there somewhere and must make themselves known soon!
I will now attempt to give entertainment thanks without completely repeating my esteemed colleagues in their fun posts even though I love several of the movies they already spoke of. Okay in 2018 I was ever so grateful for:
• The continual shapeshifting of A Simple Favor from comedy to noir to mystery to camp spectacle to romcom to satire. It was such a great film to take friends to since it was so funny and surprising and memorable with it genre juggling. And Blake Lively's ultra modern wardrobe paired with Old Hollywood star charisma was something else...
• The fight and stunt work in Mission: Impossible: Fallout. That poor decimated bathroom! That vertiginous cliff!
• The heist sequences in Museo, Widows, and Destroyer and everything Anne Hathaway in the heist movie that was Oceans 8, since she stole the whole goddamn thing.
• The animation style of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The illusion of paper texture, the Spidey sense squiggles, the sound effects visuals like a comic book is coming to life in front of you? So cool.
• That genius gag in Isle of Dogs where you realize the source of The Oracle's (Tilda Swinton) prophecies and wisdom.
• The year's most underappreciated good time movie was surely I Feel Pretty with its funny handling of an unusual plot catalyst (self-confidence as wildly attractive but destabilizing force), inherently positive messaging (embracing your body/beauty, whatever its shape/kind) and character quirks (bless Michelle Williams for that voice work)
• The absolutely risky, slow, maddening, but emotionally revelatory 5th episode of Wanderlust, which never leaves Angela's (Sophie Okonedo) therapy office as Joy (Toni Collette) fights against a breakthrough that's clearly coming. Okonedo is superbly patient, nuanced, and interior. And Toni Colette is simply at the peak of her (considerable) gifts at the moment. Both the creators of this fine series and the talented new director Ari Aster (Hereditary) were smart to trust their absolutely tricky material, which lives or dies by the female lead, to her formidable gifts. 10/10
• This video from Mark Kanemura which I watch whenever I'm depressed and it ALWAYS makes me smile
yep... it’s still #pridemonth AND it’s another beautiful #cuttothefeelingfriday HAPPY PRIDE MY BEAUTIFUL FRIENDS!!! 🏳️🌈❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🏳️🌈 #pride #loveislove #happypride #wig #sashavelour #carlyraejepsen pic.twitter.com/ifonXhrMrD
— Mark Kanemura (@mKiK808) June 15, 2018
• That the year basically started with Nicole Kidman accepting prizes and adulation for Big Little Lies. Kidmania forever.
• Alex Newell's "Mama Will Provide" in Once on This Island, Katrina Lenk's "Omar Sharif" in The Band's Visit, Bernadette Peters in Hello Dolly (for my birthday - thanks to my best friends ❤️), and the first act of the Bengson's Off Broadway experiment The Lucky Ones -- four musical moments or performances that were so transporting I didn't come down for hours afterwards. All were rejuvenating reminders of the bliss that musical theater is when the right artists are involved.
• That the death of The Vision in Avengers: Infinity War was as seismically wrenching as his birth in Avengers: Age of Ultron had been thrillingly energizing. It's one of the few moments in the new two hour commercial for the next Avengers movie that felt worthy of an 18 film epic build-up.
• The performative punk rage and sci-fi psychedelica of the "Eat Me Alive" sequence in How to Talk to Girls at Parties
• The way the geniusly crude Big Mouth expanded its point of view in Season 2 to flesh out its superb roster of supporting characters, all those confused young things struggling with puberty... but especially for Jay's non-discriminating horniness, Missy's "mons-pushing" shame, and Matthew's sudden self-doubt.
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Nathaniel R is the creator and owner of The Film Experience. He blames TV airings of West Side Story and The Wizard of Oz, the 80s filmographies of Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, and Woody Allen, and Oscar ceremonies for his actressexuality and obsessiveness. Later his writing career was Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights's fault. He is a member of the BFCA (Critics Choice Awards) and GALECA (Dorian Awards). Read more from Nathaniel