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 New York Film Critics Circle are one of the two most influential groups who pass out critics prizes (the other being their Los Angeles counterparts the LAFCA) during Oscar's preseason. Today the 40+ New York critics made their choices which involve multiple rounds of voting and discussions among the critics attending in the room. They were wild for Roma giving the Mexican black & white memoir the top prize and giving writer/director/producer/editor/director of photography Alfonso Cuarón two additional prizes with Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Team Experience members were invited to give thanks this week so you'll be hearing from a few of us. Here's Jason Adams...
For all of the hairs on my head and the hours of sleep that I've lost in 2018 I do feel, just a little bit, as if I've traded them in for a couple of worthy life lessons this year. Enough to make up for the state of the world? Not for all the hair and dreams that have ever been or ever will be. But I will say that feeling in a near constant state of emergency has made me a smidge bit of a better writer, and it's nudged me ever so gently towards getting some of my shit together. To paraphrase Ryan Gosling's schtick -- one small step for me, one giant leap (into the abyss) for mankind. Helluva trade. Here's some of the great stuff I'm thankful for the nudges from...
• Moviepass burned high and too too bright this year, echoing our migraines, but I'm thankful to the service at its height for letting me see Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name in the theater a personal record shattering 18 times - in a crazy world those six summer weeks learning about love and peaches with Oliver and Elio and Elio and Oliver were the only thing that made any sense to me. For a film so warm and sunny I'll weirdly forever associate it with walking through cold weather in Central Park to get to or from the Paris Theater, "Love My Way" by the Psychedelic Furs blasting in my ears. (I rounded up most of my writing on the film right at this link.)
• Funny enough the end of 2018 belongs to Luca too, as the only music haunting my ear buds this Autumn has been Thom Yorke's by turns gorgeous, terrifying score for Suspiria. I'm thankful for that whole unholy beast of a film, bursting with ideas and emotions and Tildas...
• Feedspot This is nice. The Film Experience has been listed as one of the top 40 movie podcasts. • AV Club the Random Roles series grills Sarah Jessica Parker about her defining roles • THR goes deep on The Favourite's power plays • Rotten Tomatoes Ouch. Reviews for Fantastic Beasts 2 are brutal • Pop Sugar the casting of Nagini in Fantastic Beasts was controversial but here's where you've seen the actress before • Stephen Colbert Jude Law discuss fan nicknames for Dumbledore. Very cute
• Awards Daily Rob Marshall "wanted to bring a gift of hope into this climate" with Mary Poppins Returns • /Film the effort to save Filmstruck has now gotten some big name directors behind it • The Playlist opinions are divided in Hollywood about whether Netflix's theatrical play with Roma is playing by the rules or a con • Variety ...speaking of. Italy is cracking down on streaming service with new laws about theatrical windows • Film School Rejects Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud) lines up a biopic which could take her career to the next level • Coming Soon the Jack Reacher franchise is dead for now. They hope to reboot in TV series form with an actor who is more faithful to the character (who is 6'5"... nearly a full foot taller than Tom Cruise!)
Today's Must Read • Critics Notebook "The End of Endings" I bow to this great piece. And I worry like ∞
Stage Diversions • EW Tom Hiddleston will star in a revival of Harold Pinter's 70s classic Betrayal in the West End in the spring • PlaybillCaroline or Change returns to NYC at the Astoria Performing Arts Center next summer. I saw their production of Follies last season and it was really strong so I have high hopes that they'll do this great musical justice. I still think if they ever make this into a movie, whoever plays Caroline will win the Oscar. • Playbill Broadway grosses for the week: New shows Network with Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany and To Kill a Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels are already hits, playing to 100% capacity. The emptiest houses are unfortunately for the Go-Gos musical Head Over Heels (which we loved but which has been struggling to find its audience). Head Over Heels will be one of the Thanksgiving performances at the Macy's Day Parade so we'll see if that helps get them through the holidays.
Index (58 minutes) 00:01 The story of Gary Hart in The Front Runner starring Hugh Jackman 16:25 El Angel starring Lorenzo Ferro and Chino Darín which is Argentina's Oscar submission 27:22 Sidebar: My Fair Lady on Broadway 34:24 Best Adapted Screenplay: Bradley Cooper, Barry Jenkins, Gillian Flynn, Nicole Holofcener, Spike Lee, Armando Iannucci, Paul Dano & Zoe Kazan could all compete here but which of them will? 45:23 Best Original Screenplay: Roma, The Favourite and Green Book and...? 54:40 Beck claims he's recording a score for Roma... which has no score.
• /Film Michelle Yeoh may be headlining a Star Trek spin-offseries • Towleroad Greg Berlanti (Love Simon) plans to direct a Rock Hudson biopic • Variety This is so cool. The animation studio Aardman (Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, etcetera) is transferring its ownership to its employees. Peter Lord will stay on as creative director
• MNPP Raúl Castillo joins the already amazing cast of Rian Johnson's Knives Out • Awards Daily Adam McKay promoting Vice says something he might regret about the difference between Cheney and Trump • Playbill Did you hear they're releasing another album for The Greatest Showman? This one is all covers. Kelly Clarkson is doing "Never Enough" • Kinja great deal if you're a Potter person. All 8 Harry Potter films on bluray for just $40 • Cinema Eye Honors, which honors documentary films (we guess it's the week for that?), release their nominations for the year with Bing Liu's Minding the Gap leading with 7 nominations and Bisbee '17, Hale County This Morning This Evening and Shirkers each receiving 5. All are eligible for the Oscars this year, too. • Boy Culture what Matt said about this odd quote from Michael C Hall on his sexuality • The Guardian Controversy! German Playboy has published an interview with Ennio Morricone in which he trashes Quentin Tarantino. Now Morricone says he never gave that interview and will take legal action.
R.I.P. • Variety Stan Lee, Marvel's figurehead and comic book legend, has died at 95. One assumes we have four final Stan Lee cameos coming up, though. He gets a bit in Into the Spider-Verse (yes, I've seen it but we're not allowed to talk about it yet). And surely he'll be in Captain Marvel, Infinity War Part 2, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, since they're all in post production already. • The Guardian Douglas Rain, the voice of HAL in 2001 has died at 90.
Exit Video Here's another cover from The Greatest Showman Reimagined from P!nk and her daughter Willow Sage Hart
P.S. Alarming! Grammy winner Beck tweeted out that he was recording a score for Roma. Naturally this is upsetting because the movie has screened for months and actually has no score. The soundscape is so unique and immersive and tons of critics have praised the movie for this craftsmanship exactly. Why would they change it now after all the praise? I'm currently having nightmares of what happened to A Star is Born (1954) and The New World (2005) when the studio kept meddling after screenings with something that was already brilliant and perfect to the point where some people never could see the original version and in the case of A Star is Born it was lost for all time.
Thursday, November 29, 2018 at 12:33PM 
