Thoughts and Questions about "American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare"

by Eric Blume

Despite five years of shifting locals and time frames and characters, American Horror Story remained essentially the same beast. Season 6 is shaking the formula up but I couldn't be more bewildered.  Here are three general questions. Perhaps we could work out the answers together?

01. What the hell is happening? 
We are meant to be watching a “true crime TV show” but what show like that looks like this?  When re-enactments are made in a show of this nature, they’re never dramatized at length like the extended scenes in My Roanoke Nightmare. Even if we grant them structural leeway...

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Melinkia

Variety Emmys are revoking Peter MacNicol's "Guest Actor" nomination for Veep since he appeared in 50% of the episodes (it's supposed to be under 50% a rule we support after years of abuse by studios and actors) but who gets his spot? Stay tuned.
Pajiba reacts with glorious schadenfreude to the news that Divergent is being demoted to TV for its final film
What Mama Said the best review of The Legend of Tarzan out there
THR the resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons in showbiz as geek culture reigns

Interview revives an old cover story from 1991 on Kathy Bates
Decider Who is the worst character on Gilmore Girls?
No Film School on AMC's giant purchase of Odeon (they're going to be way too powerful for one company in terms of how you see movies) -- and China's growing rapidly growing theatrical business.
Towleroad IFC picks up James Franco's latest gay endeavor, King Cobra, the true story of a murder in the gay porn industry 
Pajiba Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson have split up after 10 years. Sad face. So Pajiba looks back on their coupledom.
The Film Stage chooses the 50 best sci-fi films this century thus far. 50 is a lot for 16 years. The top ten feels substantial but I can't forgive them for having The Lobster so low it's practically sitting alongside those terrible Matrix sequels and Ex-Machina and Mad Max Fury Road not in the top ten feels... well, these lists are made to get people riled up (and clicking) so I'll stop there.
The Guardian interviews the undervalued Rebecca Hall 

Today's Watch
If you haven't yet seen this bit from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, you must. Longtime readers will know that TFE worships Broadway musical star Laura Benanti. Her voice is spectacular but her comic skills are just as strong. Here she is doing Melania Trump just one day after people noticed their resemblance. [Hat tip: Vulture]

And James Corden gets both FLOTUS and Missy Elliott in the car (Holla!) for some Carpool Karaoke and talk about "Let Girls Learn". Joyful. Inspiring. Just what we need right now. 

Girls Gone Wild -- Favorite Bad Girl Oscar Winners

Kieran, here. We've been celebrating Girls Gone Wild this month at The Film Experience. If you haven't already done so, make sure to check out Team Experience's wonderful relay-style Thelma & Louise 25th anniversary retrospective. 

As the month comes to a close, it felt fitting to take a look back at some of the Best Oscar-winning "bad girl" star turns. Here are 11 of the juiciest...

Honorable Mention:

Cristal Connors in Showgirls (Gina Gershon)

Should have been nominated. Very possibly should have won. Haters be damned.

Top Ten Oscar Winning Bad Girl Roles

10. Addie Loggins in Paper Moon (Tatum O'Neal - Best Supporting Actress 1973)

A charismatic yet unsentimental child performance that perfectly nails the tone of its film. The only complaint is that she wasn't promoted to lead Actress where (judging by that roster) she very well could have contended.

9. Barbara Grahame in I Want to Live! (Susan Hayward - Best Actress 1958)

Delightfully over-the-top and melodramatic. Barbara refuses to wear a nightgown while in prison for murder. She wants to "sleep raw!" 

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Beauty vs Beast: Everything's Coming Up Con

Jason from MNPP here with our weekly battle of the good-to-bad guys called "Beauty vs Beast" -- today I'm taking us deep inside all of the shades of gray in between. This past weekend marked the 25th anniversary of Stephen Frears' first US film, the electric noir The Grifters, which came out in limited release on December 5th, 1990. It is a very good movie! If you haven't seen it in awhile, you should. It was nominated for four Oscars -- Frears was nominated for Director, writer Donald Westlake got a Best Adapted nod, and the final two nominations went to the two lovely, too awful ladies making muck out of John Cusack's poor-sap-life...

PREVIOUSLY We're really loving on the year 1990 this month - last week it was Misery's turn, and with a swing of the sledgehammer Annie Wilkes took Paul Sheldon down for the count again, walking off with just over 3/4s of the vote. James Caan had his cheerleaders though (besides myself, even) - here's what brookesboy says:

"Kathy is so entertaining in this, but Annie is torturing some poor dude who does not deserve it one lil bit. And I don't know anyone who isn't fully delighted when Paul cracks her skull with that brass pig. Annie gets the bronze--where it counts; Paul gets the gold."

Beauty vs Beast: God I Love You

Happy Monday folks, it's Jason from MNPP back from the turkey dead and ready to "Beauty vs Beast" with you all again! Have any of you seen Laurie Metcalf and Bruce Willis doing Stephen King's Misery on Broadway? I have not but as a recently admitted obsessive over Metcalf's work on Getting On - also especially her wild-eyed turn in Scream 2 - I'm curious to see what she does with the role of number one fan Annie Wilkes. (Also please tell me they updated the play and made Annie have a Tumblr account.) The shadow of Kathy Bates' original performance looms large, and speaking of...

Rob Reiner's 1990 film is turning 25 today! The film was a big hit, making over 60 million bucks and earning its leading lady that most rare of rare Oscar wins - one for a horror movie performance. And she certainly earned it, but credit where credit's due: James Caan's performance is always over-shadowed and he's just as good, grounding the film (literally) with every hardworking bead of sweat chugging down his panicked face. The film wouldn't work without him; they play a perfect duet. That said...

PREVIOUSLY We celebrated the holiday last week with all the Christina Ricci Thanksgiving Speechifying you could handle, and y'all went straight for the dark meat - Wednesday Addams, much to her chagrin, is a winner at life! Said denny:

"Ricci's Wednesday Addams may be what turned me into an actressexual. I LOVED her. I think she was my first real actress crush. The Shakespeare scene in the first Addams Family movie was when I well and truly fell. By the time the sequel came out, I was madly in love. It's such a perfect performance. I really hope her show for Amazon as Zelda Fitzgerald gets picked up. I need more Christina Ricci. Lots more."