Happy St Patrick's Day!It hasn't really felt like that holiday without bars open, has it?
Time for our bi or tri-weekly listing of new titles to DVD and BluRay... plus a little new-to-streaming thrown in for good measure. Given that most of us are trapped at home withe coronavirus pandemic blu-rays and streaming are necessary.
New(ish) to Blu-Ray and DVD • Black Christmas - horror remake • Bombshell - Oscar winner for Best Makeup • Charlies Angels - another iteration • Dark Waters - Todd Haynes legal drama • Jumanji the Next Level - hit sequel • Queen & Slim - polarizing crime romance • Richard Jewell - Eastwood dud • Spies in Disguise - animated • Uncut Gems - critical darling • 5B - a doc on the AIDS crisis in 1980s San Francisco.
New to streaming recently We've freeze-framed a few titles at entirely random places...
This David Poland interview with Melanie Lynskey is fun to watch so soon after her warm and movie-lovin' guest blogging right here. My favorite part is when she talks about being stuck between "leading lady" and "character actors" (3:33) and Nina Arianda fans will be happy to know that she also compares Nina's magnetism to Kate Winslet's way back in Heavenly Creatures in that it was obviously and readily clear that the only life outcome for certain actors is major film stardom.
Later in the interview she also reconfirms that she's a geek for film critics, citing Mary Pols and Glen Kenny ("so grumpy") as two of her many favorites. So, yes, unfortunately we don't have her all to ourselves here at TFE. But scratch "unfortunately" as we don't want her to hide that light under a bushel anyway -- happy to share her with the cinephile world.
Hello everyone! My little guest blogging stint has come to an end.
It has been really fun, and I want to thank Nathaniel from the bottom of my heart for entrusting me with his wonderful blog for a few posts.
"Hello, I Must Be Going" September 7th in theaters!
So, right now I am preparing for a movie that I'm shooting in October, and one of the things I always do to prepare is to create a playlist for my work. It's a collection of songs that will bring up specific feelings for me, or music I think the character would like, or songs that have an energy to them that feels right for the tone of the film. I usually find that while we're shooting, I will start to listen to one song from the playlist kind of obsessively, and that song will be my "theme song" for the movie.
When I was shooting the strip club scene in Away We Go, I listened to the Band Of Horses song "No-One's Gonna Love You" so many times that it became the number one most played song on my ipod the next day. Doing The Informant! I only listened to music from the soundtracks to 80s movies. "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" became my song for that one. I have also noticed that I kind of do that same thing in my life... my theme song for the summer has been Conor Oberst's "Lenders In The Temple". I just keep going back to it right now. And crying, because it's gorgeous, and heart wrenching.
the strip scene in "Away We Go"
My favourite thing about this little guest hosting thing has been interacting with all you smart, funny, film lovers in the comments.
So for my last post I would love to hear any and all of your stories about theme songs! Perhaps your life has a theme song right now? Maybe you like to listen to music at work, like I do, to get you in a certain frame of mind? Maybe there is a movie that uses music in a way you have really loved? My two favourite directors soundtrack-wise are Sofia Coppola (I lost my mind when The Cure's "All Cats Are Grey" started playing in Marie Antoinette!!!) and Wes Anderson (Nico in The Royal Tenenbaums comes immediately to mind). Or, we can be negative too! Maybe there's a song you hate that is used all the time in movies? If you have a story, or even just a random thought, I want to hear it. And ask away in the comments if you want to know what my song was for any particular movie. Thanks for reading everyone and thanks again Nathaniel!!!
[Editor's Note: Today's guest blogger is the actress Melanie Lynskey. Her new film, the Sundance hit "Hello I Must Be Going" opens on September 7th. Don't miss it! -Nathaniel R]
PHOTO TIME. I'm sharing photos (see part 1 for Venice with Peter Jackson and the upcoming feature Teddy Bears)
This photo above is of me saying "How in the hell did I get so lucky?" It is from the set of They Came Together, which is a romantic comedy that was written by David Wain and Michael Showalter and directed by Mr. Wain. Back row L-R: me, Amy Poehler, our first AD Lyda Blank, Paul Rudd, Erinn Hayes, Cobie Smulders, Kenan Thompson (on arm of sofa) Front row L-R: Michael Showalter, Ed Helms, Jason Mantzoukas, David Wain. Funny funny funny people!!
You may have noticed I've been short on time -- apologies! -- so herewith, a speedy very random assortment of...
10 FAVORITE THINGS OF THE PAST WEEK
10 Bunheads Song & Dance. The extremely odd ABC Family show in which the great Broadway star Sutton Foster plays a former Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively marries and ends up teaching ballet in a small town called 'Paradise' doesn't always work. But even when it doesn't it's compulsively watchable. It's so very much itself. And it's wonderful that that self is veering more towards song & dance, with three recent somewhat nonsensical musical interludes. Kudos to the show for casting actresses who don't require body doubles for the dancing.
09 Beau on stage. (When good things happen to good people part 1) Beau, one of our newest contributors, has been acting in a stage play in California and he's won great reviews. This one compares him to John Malkovich (Malkovich! Malkovich! Malkovich!) and this one just raves about his work. Congratulations, Beau!
08 United States of Tara. I finally finished the series thanks to Netflix. I'm only a year late. The final season wasn't as strong as the first two but I love the Gregson family so much. Toni Collette and Toni Collette and Toni Collette and Toni Collette and Toni Collette and Toni Collette and Toni Collette were awesome for those three years, don't you think.
07 Monty Cuddles my evil ornery cat cuddled up purring for an entire 1½ hour nap the day after a very tough day. Is there such a thing as being possessed by good spirits?
06 "Oops" - Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, caught in the act. And also: Anne Hathaway in general and in perpetuity. Sorry haters!
Saying it was 'high time to take action against the number one cause of violence in America,' the National Rifle Association issued a statement today urging a sweeping ban on movies.
Tracy Klugian, an official spokesperson for the gun-lobbying organization, said that the N.R.A. had taken this extraordinary step because it 'could not stand idly by and watch movies tear apart the fabric of our civil society...'"
This satirical piece in The New Yorker (AKA Best Magazine in the World) was just what I needed after that horrifically depressing weekend in which an actual tragedy was followed by the not at all surprising (and even more tragic for its endless consequences) American pattern of insane* shock and political stupidity / apathy post gun violence.
*isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Gun massacres should not be even remotely shocking to Americans. Unless we change laws, this is the bed we make for ourselves and we shouldn't complain about the state of the sheets. The statistics from all around the world paint an indisputable picture that gun control prevents gun violence.
03 Saw Bachelorette with Joe Reid. (When good things happen to good people part 2) I probably shouldn't review it proper since my friend Leslye Headland made it but I'll say more when it opens. I'm predisposed to root for it on account of a) friendship b) the amazing fact that Leslye managed to channel one of our shared movie loves into a great casting coup -- Kirsten Dunst plays the Queen B in this very dark comedy about post-collegiate mean girls who can't quite let their high school selves go.
02 Cooked dinner for friends. Look at me! Boiling water is hard for me so this was akin to a Summer Event Film chez moi. I made meatloaf and corn on the cob. Friends claimed it to be delicious so I either lucked out or I have good friends.
01 Melanie Lynskey in Hello, I Must Be Going. (When good things happen to good people part 3) Or... "When good roles happen to deserving actresses!" It's so rare to see supporting actresses in their 30s get a first real moment in the movie sun (yes, there was Heavenly Creatures but teenage debuts are a different animal) and Lynskey runs with the plum opportunity. Bonus points: the trailer doesn't give away all the best parts though it does lean on the bouncy comedy and the movie is closer to a drama with smart bits of character comedy.
In short -- more when it opens -- she's very good in the film. I've always said that depression is really hard to act without flattening your charisma or the character's psychology but Melanie manages multiple layers and you can actually see her bloom rather than the easier 'snapping out of it' as she has an affair with a 19 year old and she works her way back to life post (bewildering) divorce. If they filmed out of sequence, her performance is even more impressive.
What were a few of your favorite things this week?
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 10:30PM 
Time for our bi or tri-weekly listing of new titles to DVD and BluRay... plus a little new-to-streaming thrown in for good measure. Given that most of us are trapped at home withe coronavirus pandemic blu-rays and streaming are necessary. 
