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.)
The Oscar Nominee Luncheon -- which we must belatedly now obsess over -- is one of the greatest Oscar traditions, for a variety of reasons which have nothing to do with lunching. One of the secrets to its wonderfulness is possibly that it's not telecast so it still maintains some kind of insider cachet. Nevertheless the media are invited so it's not "private" per se. And even if it were, in our social media age the stars serve as their own kind of media outlet, too, with their selfie madness...
Surprise! The following podcast was lost after a recent move but has been recovered. This podcast was recorded over the Christmas break but the SAG part at least is hyper relevant to this weekend with the Screen Actors Guild Awards hitting tomorrow.
Nathaniel welcomes a particularly grouchy Nick Davis and new guest Teo Bugbee who had just pulled an all nighter to see Star Wars The Last Jedi. We discuss what the hell Laura Dern and Benicio del Toro are doing in it before moving on to SAG's "Outstanding Ensemble" nominees (and other ensemble films we like, too).
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?
This was originally published in Nathaniel's intermittent column at Towleroad.
There’s a bit of a macro and micro thing happening at the movies. I’m not talking about Disney’s new merchandising bonanza pairing those miniature “porgs” (think CGI puffins) with towering furry Chewbacca. No we speak of the wide release and limited release divide. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been filling houses at over 4000 theaters and is obliterating the competition (already number #3 of the year in just 10 days) while a bunch of Oscar contenders are playing, not so quietly, in limited release gigs in their pursuit of golden statues. We’ll talk about more of those again soon but first [cue yellow text crawl over space] Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
We now return to The Resistance (aka the proudly defiant “Rebel Scum”) who are even easier to relate to know in December 2017 when it feels like the world will be ending any day with each new disastrous move from our own evil empire. (Sigh) If they can just harness the light side of the force, break through that one gerrymandered code, save that one cornered group of people, fetch Luke Skywalker, they might live to see another day...
• RackedTitanic's necklace almost bankrupted a whole company! • My New Plaid Pants geeking out over Ms. Laura Dern who spoke to NYC at the Film Society of Lincoln Center recently • Deadline an interview with the great production designer Santo Loquasto on Wonder Wheel • Out Ryan Murphy's Boys in the Band Broadway Revival has cast a bunch of its players already and it's basically all the famous gays: Charlie Carver, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Zachary Quinto some of whom at least have stage experience. • The Muse talks to Glenn Close who has some interesting things to say about gossip, Harvey Weinstein, and being an older actor in Hollywood
• Indie Wire on the multi-pronged creative casting efforts for The Florida Project • Vanity Fair interviews Joe Wright of Darkest Hour, Atonement, Pride & Prejudice fame • Variety the Roseanne reunion sitcom will start airing March 27th. Wheeee • Mubi on the Berlinale lineup or February 2018 • / Film If you only think of Disney/Fox merger in terms of superheroes, you'll probably be overjoyed • Vox remembering what might be 2017's signature movie scene "No Man's Land" in Wonder Woman • Broadway World the cast of Cats posing with adoptable felines. Awww • Variety that young JRR Tolkien biopic starring Nicholas Hoult has wrapped. Biopics aren't always Oscar favorites anymore but we shall see. • Film School Rejects looked at new releases of old movies on dvd: Election, China Moon and more • Deadline TV/film producer Martin Ransohoff has died. Among his credits The Sandpiper, The Cincinatti Kid, The Beverly Hilbillies and Jagged Edge
Star Wars Time Again • The Verge thinks Rogue One is about net neutrality • /Film 10 the greatest female characters in the Star Wars universe (wait, there are ten?) • Vanity Fair the plea for LGBT characters in the Star Wars movies and why they've been ignored
Exit Video James Corden's Crosswalk the Musical welcomes The Greatest Showman's Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron
Did this really happen? If so how are we just seeing it/ hearing of it? An abbreviated tweet roundup today because everyone's been travelling and gorging and not tweeting. But tweets ahead on Aquaman, Thanksgiving, Lady Bird, and baby Bergman fans after the jump...
Friday, February 9, 2018 at 12:25AM 
photo via Rebecca Keegan
