Super Mario Bros: The First Movie

by Cláudio Alves

The new Super Mario Bros. movie is upon us and some of the early reviews could hardly be more scathing. This Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy animated romp has sunk a few critics into pits of despair, with some unfortunate souls stating it's even worse than the 1993 flop. We won't know until we see it but one can envision it being a downgrade in terms of sheer lunacy.

Say what you will about the 1993 movie, but it's a fascinating piece of cinema worth revisiting, its abject failure never stemming from a lack of crazy ideas. A lack of conviction, perhaps, since you can smell the flop sweat of exhausted writers, not to mention the confusion of cast and crew and audience, too! It is one confounding mess, and to watch it is to sense one's sanity slipping away...

Click to read more ...

Winona Ryder @ 50: "Mermaids"

Team Experience is celebrating Winona Ryder for her 50th birthday this week

by Eric Blume

With more than a half dozen films behind her, this week's birthday girl Winona Ryder received her first major awards attention with 1990’s Mermaids.  This slight comedy-drama, directed by Richard Benjamin, garnered the young actress "Best Supporting Actress" from the National Board of Review and a Golden Globe nomination, too.  While that praise seems a little generous in hindsight, the film features some lovely work from Winona who is up against a very wobbly picture...

Click to read more ...

1986: Cathy Tyson in "Mona Lisa"

We're revisiting 1986 this month leading up to the next Supporting Actress Smackdown. As always Nick Taylor will suggest a few alternates to Oscar's ballot.

It’s been a while since I wrote about someone who had actual Oscar buzz, right? We can argue how Anna Magnani and Kimberly Elise should have contended in their years, but Cathy Tyson’s cryptic and involving turn in Mona Lisa definitely appears to have landed in the sixth spot of the 1986 Supporting Actress lineup. Tyson won LAFCA (tying with Dianne Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters) and was first runner-up with New York. She scored Globe and BAFTA nominations, as well, before missing out with Oscar. Given the strength of her performance, the degree of precursor attention she received, the way her role fits in well-worn paths for ingenue recognition, and the ... um... quality of some of the actual nominees, I’m surprised Tyson didn’t make the cut.

Tyson plays Simone, a high-class sex worker. Her shadowy employer suddenly gives her George (Bob Hoskins), a hot-tempered ex-convict fresh out of jail, as her driver/bodyguard...

Click to read more ...

The glory of Maggie Smith's "Judith Hearne"

by Cláudio Alves

Loneliness hurts. It infects body and mind, eating away at our sanity. We tell ourselves it's a voluntary thing, that it's a choice, but those lies can only work for a time. When self-delusion loses its power, desperation can set in, corroding the spirit and worsening it. Even in crowds, there's a sense of being alone and human touch becomes like bread for a starving man, a morsel feels like the world and its absence gives hunger pains. As time goes by, the will to get out of bed wains and constant bouts of crying can turn to self-hate and disgust. To cure the illness of lonesomeness is hard and some poor folk search for it at the end of a bottle. However, the prophylactic qualities of booze, like self-delusion, have an expiration date. The euphoria of drunkenness gives way to the shame of a hangover and the condition becomes unbearable. It's a chaotic spiral, out of control and ready to destroy our very souls.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (available on The Criterion Channel) is one of the best films about this subject…

Click to read more ...

Link Wars: Episode VII

For those looking for the new Oscar charts, I promise it's the top priority now once all this surprisingly busy April madness wraps tonight.

More Intelligent Life on badass Angelina Jolie and Maleficent
Press Play how modern actors struggle with Marlon Brando's legacy
The Perceptive Eye on military suicides, PTSD and The Hurt Locker 
Pajiba how many romcom tropes can David Wain shove into one movie? The trailer of They Came Together with Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd

Guardian on Bob Hoskins (RIP). "five foot six cubic and bursting with brilliance"
Variety uh oh. Harvey Weinstein and Olivier Dahan STILL fighting over Grace of Monaco two weeks before its Cannes debut
The Dissolve looks back at the 80s comedy classic A Fish Called Wanda
The Sheila Variations returns to Young Adult and Charlize Theron's brilliance therein
Boy Culture Tom Hardy's recent magazine pictorial (which we discussed) regif'ed
MZS. "Advice to Young Film Critics" good advice, too.
Coming Soon Fox has cancelled Almost Human, the cyborg cop show that I kinda liked. I never really wrote about it so I didn't have a chance to talk about Karl Urban's John Wayne voice. Ah well...
Queerty in literal cock-tease news, Zac Efron claims he's willing to show it all on film after all the wet underwear, and horizontal peeing and so on... I guess he's figured out what people like about him. (Save your money, Zac!)
Pajiba 'did someone call for a Tom Hiddleston puff piece?'
Rambling Film 7 things that should happen on True Blood's final season (the 7th). I stopped watching but I concurred with most of these even two years ago. Since Buffy also ended as season 7 is this now the standard for vampiric shows? Does this mean we can be rid of The Vampire Diaries in 2015?

Mean Girls Mania
'we're not just a regular blog, we're a cool blog'...

But we're not the only ones celebrating Mean Girls for it's 10th anniversary today. It's EVERYWHERE. On Amanda Seyfried's twitter feed (do you think Lindsay will mention it today on hers?), in a brief EW group oral history, Vanity Fair's best fashion moments, Boy Culture's reminiscence of interviewing cast members, and probably on any pop culture website you click on today. Important note... This wasn't planned since Netflix's Instant Watch service is all contractual based in terms of timing but the Tina Fey high school classic actually expires today. So it's 10th anniversary is the last day you can watch it on Netflix if you don't own it while listening to our Movie-Long Podcast Commentary while you're streaming it!

You go Glen Coco! 

Casting News
HitFix and every other site on earth has the news: the Star Wars Episode VII sausage party cast has been announced. John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow and since all visual fx spectacles are required to have him (well, he is awesome) Andy Serkis. Those newbies will join the old cast who are reprising their roles in capacities large or small. There is one new girl Daisy Ridley who we are unfamiliar with. Did she get the part Lupita Nyong'o was rumored for? The Guardian did some mild digging into this actress unknown and here's everything they found.

Today's Spotlight Illustration
Glen Hanson, one of my favorite illustrators, posted this on his Instagram. No idea what film he's doing costume sketches for but me likey...