A Conversation About "Westworld" - Part 1

This week, Team Experience members Lynn Lee and Kieran Scarlett have tackled the first two episodes of new HBO sci-fi drama, "Westworld," which has captured the interest, fascination (or ire, depending on who you talk to) of audiences. Here's Part 1 of the 2 part discussion...

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

KIERAN: Watching the “Westworld” pilot and then the second episode, my immediate reaction—even in thinking that the pilot was relatively strong and an intriguing opening statement to the show—was that these two episodes should be reversed.   I might even go so far as to say that the pilot, with all of its beautifully creepy, world-establishing glory (more on this later) is missable when held up against the power (both narratively and stylistically) of the second episode...

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12 Questions: DVD & BluRay Releases

Twelve questions for you to answer (comment party!) inspired by this week's new DVD releases. Ready? 

7 Minutes Heist movie starring Jason Ritter, Kris Kristofferson and more
Q1: Do you follow Jason Ritter on Twitter, Instagram, and Vine? You should. 

About Elly Asghar Farhadi's pre-A Separation breakthrough, is finally out
Q2: Did you hear that Penélope Cruz is going to star in his next feature?

Boulevard (reviewed) starring the late Robin Williams as a closeted gay man. With Kathy Baker as his depressed wife and Roberto Aguire as his favorite rentboy.
Q3: What's your favorite Robin Williams performance?

The D Train (reviewed) button-pushing comedy. Jack Black, who can't let high school go, obsesses over classmate James Marsden, who made it to Hollywood. Geographically.
Q4: Have you ever obsessed over James Marsden? If so, when?

Face of An Angel  Daniel Brühl and Kate Beckinsale and a murder investigation
Q5: How many movies does Daniel Brühl make a year anyway?

Gemma Bovery  a "reimagining" of Flauberts classic with Gemma Arterton
Q6: Did you think Mia Wasikowska and Gemma are aware of each other?

Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me a documentary on the music icon
Q7: Don't you think "I'm Not Going to Miss You" (Oscar nominated) is a pretty song?

Good Kill (reviewed) Director Andrew Niccol and star Ethan Hawke reunite for this military drama
Q8: Remember Gattaca?

The Harvest Horror movie starring Michael Shannon, Charlie Tahan, and Samantha Morton, the latter reportedly in scenery devouring evil mode
Q9: When's the last time you saw Samantha Morton work her magic?

I'll See You In My Dreams (Performances of 2015) A retired widow considers dating
10: Would you go out for karaoke with Blythe Danner?

Mad Max: Fury Road (Podcasted, Reviewed, Obsessed Over) Director George Miller returns to his name-making franchise and humiliates his earlier self and most working directors with his Mad Skillz at age 70 (!!!). With committed work from: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and Nicholas Hoult
Q11: Are you joining us for Hit Me With Your Best Shot on Monday September 7th? PRETTY PLEASE!

The Turning
An Australian omnibus film with 17 directors doing little vignettes starring Aussie screen icons like Blanchett, Byrne, Weaving, Otto, and Roxburgh
Q12: Have you ever been to Australia?

TV Seasons
Castle (7th), Nashville (3rd), Scorpion (1st), Vampire Diaries (6th) 

A.I. "Robot & Frank"

We're going Sci-Fi (in part) and Artificial Intelligence especially in these last days of April. Here's Sebastian... 

Here's a film featuring artificial intelligence very much unlike those in theaters right now: Jake Schreier's Robot & Frank (2012) starring Frank Langella as an aging man reluctantly learning to accept a robot, voiced by Peter Sarsgaard, taking care of him when he begins to show signs of dementia. Robot & Frank garnered some critical acclaim but didn't make much noise at the box office. It's a quiet film, a deliberate one, set in "the near future" with a sentient, talking robot as a title character. It might be labelled as science-fiction but it isn't actually all that interested in playing to that genre's tropes and familiar storytelling devices.

The exact year Robot & Frank is set in is never explicitly stated, but it can't be too far off into our future from what we see on screen. In fact the technological advances shown in the film aren't so much future as they are extremely current present. The phones, screens, cars, and appliances in Robot & Frank are of our time, they're just not common in our time. Some of those choices are made out of necessity by the film-makers – it's cheaper to have characters drive the very latest car models than make up and build new ones – but it also serves to give the world of the film a rich, lived-in feel that wouldn't be achieved if every single thing in it was new and shiny and ultimately strange to us. [More...]

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Mom, James Franco & Jack Black Are Confused About Their Sexuality Again!

This article was originally published in a slightly shorter version in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

Nathaniel reporting from Sundance. One of the most interesting trends of this year's Sundance Film Festival is confrontational stories about people being pushed out of or willfully stepping away from their sexual comfort zones. The Diary of a Teenager Girl has earned the best reviews and the most press but let's discuss two films with more LGBT appeal.  I Am Michael, a drama about religion and homosexuality, and The D Train, a comedy about a high school reunion, both feature grown men whose lives spiral out of control when they stray from their true selves. [More...]

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Jessica Biel Speaking For Us All...

(a blog post title I thought i'd never write but... Gyllenhaalism. It runs deep)

The trailer to the long-delayed never-finished David O. Russell picture Nailed (2010) which is now called Accidental Love (2015) and debuts in February is after the jump.

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