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.)
15 is today's magic number. As far as I can tell -- though I am not Pope-infallible-- 15 women have been Oscar nominated over the years for playing nuns or nun apprentices... what are they called, novitiates? novices? problems-like-Maria?
Let's pray for them together after the jump. Which of these nominations do you most approve of and why is it so hard to win for playing a Sister or Mother Superior?
Alanis Morrisette had a baby daughter. Named her "Onyx Solace" MNPP Chris Hemsworth's Australian commercial Film School Rejects Where is Shelley Duvall? Coming Soon First photo of Colin Firth on the set of Kingsman: The Golden Circle Christian Siriano of Project Runway fame, got married in black - guests (a celebrity who's who including Danielle Brooks and Christina Hendricks) wore white Revelist on Poussey & Soso's relationship in the new season of Orange is the New Black (spoilers)
Mike's Movie Projector remembers Deborah Kerr's iconic nun characters Towleroad apparently Christoph Waltz kissed Tarzan in the original cut of The Legend of Tarzan. Test audiences were perplexed i09 Kiefer Sutherland takes a supporting role in the remake of a film he once starred in, Flatliners (1990) Pajiba whiny women-fearing Ghostbusters haters are still at it, giving the movie a 3.5 rating on IMDb before the pubic has seen it Times of Israel talks to Quentin Tarantino about his career. Sadly he's still planning to quit after a 10th movie so we only have two left. I hated The Hateful Eight but I'd rather not see him quit altogether Interview Jon Favrea (The Jungle Book) talks to Idris Elba about his career thus far Theater Mania Marisa Tomei is starring in The Rose Tattoo at the Williamstown Theater Festival. If only she'd get roles that good in film! (Christopher Abbott co-stars) Michigan Avenue Scarlett Johansson was recently honored in Chicago with a "Renaissance Award" and talked about her love for her job and for playing The Black Widow AV Club looks at the collaboration of Woody Allen & Scarlett Johansson in their "Together Again" series /Film Carrie Coon will play the chief of police in the third season of Fargo. Ewan McGregor co-stars. I guess I have to start watching.
"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. Here's Daniel Walber...
In movies, if perhaps not in life, people can be driven mad by mountains. In films by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, they can be driven mad by paintings of mountains.
Black Narcissus is the story of a group of Anglican nuns who trek up to an abandoned cliffside palace in the Himalayas to establish a new convent. Deborah Kerr, cinema’s most consistent nun, is Sister Clodagh, the young mother superior. Her mission is doomed from the beginning, of course, though not necessarily because the locals reject their presence. Rather, it is the landscape that overwhelms their emotions and breaks their faith and their vows.
Powell and Pressburger did not shoot on location in India, however. The set was built at Pinewood Studios. [More...]
Tis I, Jason from MNPP, here, with another week's new edition of our "Beauty vs Beast" series. So over the next several days The Film Experience is going to be diving into the cinematic realm of Artificial Intelligence (known as "A.I." to people in a hurry and Haley Joel Osment fans), and to get the ball rolling I figured we'd make ourselves like science-fiction and hop in the way-back machine to the year 1927, when a little chap who went by the name Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, known to his friends as Fritz, made a little movie called Metropolis. In case you don't know the story, it goes like this: Boy meets Girl, Girl Gets Clones Into Evil Robot, Dystopian Nightmare Explodes, and a Kiss, The End. Somewhere in there dancing happens, and it is crazy awesome.
But thanks to a ferocious performance from actress Brigitte Helm you really couldn't get more of a clean split between the two Marias to choose from - Original Maria is all Goodness and Light, while her robot counterpart is Sex and Chaos. But what Sex and Chaos! Where does your heart belong?
Whose team are you on?
Team Maria0%
Team Robot-Maria0%
You have one week to vote!
PREVIOUSLY While I was out of town last week Nathaniel took the chance to sneak a musical (a genre I'm somewhat allergic to) in - can I just tell you that even though I've lusted for The Ten Commandments era Yul Brynner a'plenty I've never seen The King and I? So I'll be damned if I know the right choice for this round, but y'all went with Anna (Deborah Kerr) by only a slight margin (54%). Said Jija:
"I'm maybe biased because I'm Thai but I find Yul's performance ... irritating. I don't expect accurate history or anything. It's a very lovely musical but I can't get past his overacting, silly gestures and ..that accent. He's very cartoonish. Deborah Kerr, on the other hand, is everything."
Every Monday morning I wake up excited to see what face-off Jason has challenged us with so I thank him as ever for this series. But he's out of town so I'm filling in. Let's go with a musical since he's unlikely to pitch them. A Tony-seeking revival of The King and I is currently in previews on Broadway (we're seeing it next week!) starring Kelli O'Hara, who is The Deborah Kerr of the Tonys (she always loses).
Whose team are you on?
Team Anna0%
Team King0%
Yul Brynner or Deborah Kerr? All westerners who are funny, young lovers, and everyone else should vote. Does your vote change if we replace this with different actors in different adaptations (Chow Yun Fat & Jodie Foster, anyone?). Make this impossible choice and explain yourself in the comments. It's a puzzlement!
Last Week Paul Rudd's Andy thanks you for your votes, all 57% percent of them over besting that task-master Beth (Janeane Garofalo) who made his eyes (and torso) roll in Wet Hot American Summmer to hilarious effect. He'll make out with you so long as you don't taste like burgers. We can't wait to see Beth and Andy again when this funny movie becomes a series... with the original cast no less.
SanFranCinema spoke for many when he said:
Paul Rudd has been the Object of My Affection for as long as I can remember. You'd have to be Clueless to vote against him. Paul, I Love You Man!
Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 12:20PM 
