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.)
JA from MNPP here, with perhaps one of the least cut-and-dry editions of our "Beauty Vs Beast" competition yet -- in honor of Cate Blanchett being awesome at Cannes let us compare and contrast the beauties and the beasts (mostly the beasts) within the two wicked school-teachers at the heart of 2006's Notes on a Scandal.
Well which is it gonna be, folks? The flighty pederast or the cruel closet-case? Choices, choices, choices. And please let us know what your reasons are for choosing what you choose in the comments. It's an up-hill battle loving either of the ladies.
PREVIOUSLY Last week we we were riding in hot on the back of Zac Efron (full stop) ... and Seth Rogen in the comedy-hit Neighbors - where did your loyalties fall? At 60% of the vote we kept it high and tight and Hollywood pretty with Efron, although Seth definitely put up a good fight - he's got surprising stamina, that one. MeIAmMariahTheElusiveChanteuse (aka Greatest Name Ever) captured the crude center of the conundrum:
"My heart is saying Seth, but my hole is saying Zac. So conflicted."
abstew here. Dame Judi Dench returned to theaters this weekend with the Oscar-buzzing Philomena. (She gets Oscar buzz for nearly everything she's in. She even makes it happen with James Bond films!)
I had a teacher that used to say
Ask me my three favorite actresses and the answer is: Judi Dench, Judi Dench, Judi Dench.
And as great as Dame Judi is in the film, Steve Coogan (who also adapted the screenplay) is equally strong as the investigative reporter helping Philomena, Martin Sixsmith. The two play off each other well in a salty, sweet relationship.
There's a scene in the film which is bound to catch the attention of cinephiles...
They enter the convent where Philomena's son was taken from her ('The Sisters of No Mercy,' as Sixsmith snarkly calls it) to investigate what happened. On the wall in the waiting room is an autographed photo of actress Jane Russell. Coogan stares at the picture and when the Sister he's meeting with comes in, he asks, "What's Jayne Mansfield doing here?"
"I think you mean Jane Russell," the Sister corrects him.
They then have an exchange where Sixsmith tries to remember which one is which and ultimately remembers that Jayne Mansfield (not on the wall) is the one who got her head chopped off in a car accident. Which seems to be the only thing people seem to remember about poor Jayne.
But it all made me wonder: How well do you, TFE readers, know your Jane Russells from your Jayne Mansfields? Below are 10 factoids. Try to guess which fact is about Jane Russell and which is about Jayne Mansfield. After guessing, click on the read more at the bottom for the answers!
MANSFIELD or RUSSELL? TEN FACTOIDS Try to guess which fact is about Russell and which is about Mansfield. After guessing, click on the 'read more' at the bottom for the answers!
1. Born in Bryn Mawr, PA with the name Vera Palmer.
2. Was a Playboy Centerfold in the early years of the magazine and appeared in every February issue of the magazine for 4 consecutive years
3. A censorship debate with the production code about the amount of cleavage displayed in the film delayed the release of her film debut 2 years after it was filmed. It didn't get a wide release until 5 years after it was filmed!
4. Won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female
5. Known for her curvy figure, Bob Hope once joked, "Culture is the ability to describe <this actress> without moving your hands."
The look of disdain on Sophia Loren's face is priceless!
6. Starred in television commercials for the Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra and the 18 hour bra line "For us full-figured gals".
7. Both actresses were each married 3 times and mothers to multiple children, but she is the mother of the Emmy award nominated star of TV's Law and Order: SVU, Mariska Hargitay.
8. Formed a gospel singing quartet called The Hollywood Christian Group. Their song, "Do Lord" reached 27 on the Billboard charts.
9. Her signature color was pink. Her Beverly Hills mansion was painted the color and named "The Pink Palace". And long before Mary Kay representatives were doing it, she drove around in a pink Cadillac.
10. Has her feet and hands immortalized in cement in front of the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
And now, a musical break before the answers. It'll be the gayest thing you'll see all day:
This review was originally published in my column at Towleroad
Outsource your elders. Ship them off to India!
Though some media pundits scoffed last weekend when The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened for business the same weekend as The Avengers (previously reviewed) it turned out to be a savvy move. Where else were the spandex averse or Downton Abbey addicts to go? (Rather perversely, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel denies Abbey addicts additional showdowns between Lady Crawley and the Dowager Countess; Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith's stories don't intertwine much) In fact, this British retirees in India dramedy should have opened even wider since they had the nation's second best per screen average and could have cracked the top ten with far fewer theaters than the other movies.
But enough about money. Hotel manager Sonny Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) is a dreamer, not a businessman. His family is losing patience with his dream and time is running out for the hotel. It's running out for the guests, too, as they near the end of their lives. The name of Sonny's establishment is actually “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for Elderly and Beautiful People”. The movie's title lops off those last five words which only proves Sonny's business model's point: he believes that most countries don't care about their elderly so he'll outsource old age. Come to India and live out your autumn years. [More after the jump]
Dev Patel, drinking the hotel's entire coffee budget before each take.
Dame Judi Dench has been on my mind lately what with the eye condition, a new James Bond film coming and Marigold Hotel in theaters. So herewith an article from 2008. If you only started reading The Film Experience in the past few years, it's new to you! May is also Mental Health Awareness Month so let's appreciate some crazy bitches...
They always let you down in the end."
My contrarian opinion of Dame Judi Dench is that sometimes she phones it in. How many ways can one play the quippy unfazeable grande dame? But in Notes on a Scandal (2006), she's unimproveable. Faced with the atypical character of "Barbara Covett", Dench rises and soars. The film's politics are horrendous: boo hiss --an evil predatory spinster lesbian attempts to destroy a heteronormative marriage! But the actress is magnificent, giving the film a metronome precise drip drip of theatrical malice.
My favorite sequence in the film runs from Barbara's inconsolable grief for her lost feline, through the resulting perceived betrayal by Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), who doesn't have time to console her, to the exquisite sequence when she is confronted with another teacher with amorous feelings for Sheba. She boils with vengeance in mind.
You'd like me to ask Mrs Hart if she's inclined to commit adultery with you? I don't want you to suffer more than is necessary. No one should. I couldn't possibly speak for Mrs. Hart but instinct tells me you might not be her type.
"She's got a type, then?" is her co-worker Brian's sad response. The film has a few exquisite and small supporting turns and Phil Davis (also terrific as the husband to Vera Drake) is aces in this scene, all befuddled crush turned to shell shock.
Kettle's boiled. Dench likes her tea with bile.
Oh it's no reflection on your attractiveness. My impression is that her preference is for the younger man...surprisingly young; Boys, I'm told. Naturally she doesn't discuss any of this with me but I've been hearing some rather alarming rumors about one in particular.
Playground gossip, staffroom whispers and so on. You might know the boy in question. Ummm... Stephen Connelly."
Brian indicates that her tea is ready.
I think the kettle's boiled.
[V.O.] You say the words and it's done. Easy. Judas had the grace to hang himself. But only according to Matthew, the most sentimental of the apostles. Is this the last night of her old life? I wonder how long my messenger will take?
People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely but of the drip drip of long haul no end in sight solitude, they know nothing. What it's like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the laundrette or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.
Dench's every line reading is carved out of the tough bark of decades of loneliness and cynicism; if you could cut through Barbara's hardened shell, you'd see disappointment and repression expanding like rings in an ancient tree. As the words escape her, she sharpens them to a lethal point with fermented emotions and curdled wit, wielding them like weapons. Earlier in the film, Barbara refers to herself as a battle axe. For a woman drowning in self-delusion, it's a surprising lucid self-assessment.
I Need My Fix Michael Fassbender to appear tonight... any moment now I guess given the time difference...on Top Gear (in the UK) Movie|Line details all the messy pre-release problems surrounding John Carter. I hope to see it soon. I would so much rather see movies than hear about their production for months beforehand. Rope of Silicon 'the ABCs of cinema'. How many of these 26 movies can you name. I had a tough time since it moves so fast (one minute) but it's a cool animation. Coming Soon gets its hands on the diaries of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
Associate Press Dame Judi Dench is fighting blindness via macular degeneration :(. Having scripts read to her now. Guardian interviews BAFTA's rising star winner Adam Deacon who is an unknown on these shores. Serious Film our Michael C reveals his Best Actress ballot. We share three choices. Animation Mag the theatrical run of the Oscar Shorts package has grown 80% in attendance over the past 7 years. Good to hear. The Wrap shares the rumor that Jennifer Aniston nixed topless moment in the comedy Wanderlust out of consideration for new boyfriend Justin Theroux. I refuse to believe that Theroux is that touchy about nudity... especially since he's done it himself on my TV screen.
A Streaming Oscar Moment If you understood Carrie Fisher as a kindred spirit when she famously said "Instant gratification takes too long." you should know that there are two Oscar nominees currently streaming here at Netflix.
OSS 117: Lost in Rio is not a nominee but gives you a chance to see Jean Dujardin strut his stuff... with sound!
Kramer Vs Kramer in case Meryl loses again on Sunday and you need a good cry. That one's a multiple hankie effort and I know some of you haven't seen it because I read your Streep Ranking Ballots
And finally...
Oh damnit. I was going to list a Woody Allen documentary streaming on PBS but turns out it was only doing that for five days. This is the problem with "instant watch" anywhere and everywhere. SO inconsistent. It's always peek-a-boo. Clearly the distributing channels of entertainment have not quite caught up with audience's "gimmegimme" modern tendencies.
Finally... Appropos of nothing, I'm kind of obsessed with this music video at the moment Henry Wolfe's "Someone Else". Sure it's almost a year old but I shall not be constricted by currency with my flash obsessions.
The Actress Brit Marling (Another Earth) stars -- you'll remember she just made the Vanity Fair rising stars cover -- and it's directed by Terri's writer/director Azazel Jacobs. I love music videos that treat themselves like short films and get how to take snapshots of larger stories and condense them. Henry Wolfe is, of course, Meryl Streep's son; you can totally see it in his profile. It probably drives the children of famous people crazy that people always mention the famous person they're related to but I really love his music and I might not have ever discovered him if I hadn't been chasing Streep info one day a few years ago and chanced upon one of his performances.
Monday, May 19, 2014 at 7:06PM 
PREVIOUSLY Last week we we were riding in hot on the back of Zac Efron (full stop) ... and Seth Rogen in the comedy-hit Neighbors - where did your loyalties fall? At 60% of the vote we kept it high and tight and Hollywood pretty with Efron, although Seth definitely put up a good fight - he's got surprising stamina, that one. MeIAmMariahTheElusiveChanteuse (aka Greatest Name Ever) captured the crude center of the conundrum:
