Thursday, November 26, 2009

Nathaniel Thanks You

I am surely in a friend & food coma while you're reading this. Happily so! This Thanksgiving I'm grateful for all of you. You keep coming back daily to read the latest cinematic musings here at The Film Experience. Obsessing on the movies is really meant to be a team sport so I appreciate the fine company. They don't make movie theaters with one seat in them.

So thank you for being here daily from all over the world -- not just the States -- with an especially amorphous shout out to readers in Canada, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Mexico and The Philippines. You've always been supportive. And a big hug to my magical elves contributors who've really helped keep the blog going during a difficult year.

Normal programming resumes tomorrow but I must give thanks to the following sources of cinematic happiness at the moment: ambiguous endings, Liz & Monty, the canine ensemble in Valentino The Last Emperor, Colin Firth's spontaneous tears, Brad Pitt speaking Italian, cross dissolves, Viggo, Klute, Trudy Kockenlocker, Daniel Day-Lewis's salacious line readings in My Beautiful Laundrette "in my experience it's always worth waiting for Omar", Cary Grant, Alexandre Desplat, Penélope Cruz's breasts, "It twirlllled up!", Joseph Gordon-Levitt dancing, Gilda, that closeup of Jake Gyllenhaal, Heavenly Creatures' Mario Lanza fixation, Emmanuel Lubezki, Abbie Cornish's aggressive but amateur flirting in Bright Star, "Bingo!", Debbie Reynolds and cake in Singin' in the Rain, Nicole Kidman framed through the DP's camera in Nine, Dogville's set, that ornate black disc hat in Chéri, Tilda Swinton in black mask, the family cat in Mrs. Miniver, Ingrid Bergman's liquid closeups in Casablanca, the way Jeff Bridges runs his fingers through his hair or across his guitar or under Pfeiffer's dress, Meryl as Karen Silkwood, Paul Newman as Hud, silent film intertitles, The Awful Truth, "My Husband Makes Movies" and All That Jazz.
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21 comments:

ThaDropDownBear said...

And thank you good sir for being a non direct writing role model = ).

cinema adventures said...

Thank YOU, Nathaniel :D

Neela said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you Nat!!!
(although there's no Thanksgiving day here in the Phils.and "Maraming
Salamat")

badmotherfucker said...

Thanks for giving movie fans a place to laugh, cry and fawn over Penélope Cruz's breasts together.

Andrew K. said...

Thank you Nathaniel for continuing to be as ubiquitous, witty and as stubborn a blogger as few. Thanks for hundreds posts and for answering the millions of questions. And just to show how thankful I am, I'm going to ask another one. Are you seeing The Private Lives of Pippa Lee before the year ends?

Oh, and you forgot your Guyanese readers:) Just saying.

Agustin said...

cross disolves???
really???
I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE THEM
Whenever I see one it reminds me of a bad edited wedding video..
oh and though we disagree on this one, thank YOU nat! You sure know what your readers want..

Clarence said...

Thank you for making me enjoy coming to your blog and read what you have to say. You're always coming up with interesting things. I'm thankful that I found your website last year by accident and ever since, I've been obsessed. Thank you thank you thank you very much. I won't be a movie whore without reading your blog :)

Seeking Amy said...

Thank you for your awesomeness Nathaniel and your sense of humor. Coming to your blog always brightens my day.

Rich Aunt Pennybags said...

Happy Thanksgiving Nathaniel! I'm very thankful every year you decide to continue with your blog and website. I was having panic attacks earlier this year when your site was offline for a short time.

Also, I'm thankful that I found out this year that you don't like your name shortened. Sorry, I guess as a person who has went by a shortened form of her birth name for most of her life, I just automatically shorten other people's names when I can.

John O'Neil said...

Thanks for writing a film blog about movies, not franchises.

Glendon said...

Thanks for filling my queue at the library. Thank you for keeping me from being cinematically lazy.

BBats (aka Alex) said...

Thank you for this site. My favorite film readings are served up daily, fresh and always warm. Happy Thanksgiving Nathaniel.

Jim T said...

Oh Nathaniel, thank YOU! You can write about anything and make it an interesting read! You have been a wonderful addiction for almost two years.


PS: Greece also supports you (via me) even if you call FYROM Macedonia. I know everybody does it except us. :p

Unknown said...

When I'm at work and I'm stressed and tired I always find solace in visiting your site. Thank yoy for that.

By the way: when is Nine embargo over? You give thanks to 2 things Nine, Nicole close up and My husband...

john said...

As said by others Nathaniel you really should be thanking yourself for givng us a great blog and an ALWAYS interesting read...by the way are your thank-yous to your current cinematic happiness close to what your oscar acceptance speech would resemble???

Catherine said...

Thanks, Nathaniel, for giving me an cinematic outlet for when my friends start to tune out my ramblings. The Film Experience is easily my favourite place on the internet and has been for the past two years. (You also have fans in Ireland, don't forget!)

Things I'm also thankful for:

Woody Allen title cards, Patty Clarkson's voice, the way you never see photos of Bette Davis sans cigarette, John Huston's The Dead, Cary Grant's pratfalls, Barbara Stanwyck, technicolour, the All About My Mother score, Ann Miller "Shakin' the Blues Away", Irene Dunne's laugh, the rise-and-rise of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the kitty-cat in Bright Star, the "Tiny Dancer" singalong in Almost Famous, La Streisand, Meryl Streep's acceptance speeches, Laura Linney's wave in You Can Count On Me, Edward Lachmann, the way Ann Reinking's voice catches when she's upset in All That Jazz, "Four for you, Glen Coco" and 1930's screwballs.

Robert said...

Thank you Nathaniel for a great blog and dare I say, the smartest Oscar predix on the web.

Pablete said...

Thank you, Nathaniel! Happy Thanksgiving! Many Happy Years at the Movies!

Rebecca said...

I'm late to the party, but I give thanks for: Viggo; Peter Sarsgaard; big screen musicals; The Coen Bros, for their 3-year AMAZING streak; Peter Capaldi's foul mouth; waiting for the cream; the anticipation for 'Nine,' 'the Lovely Bones', and 'Up in the Air'; SWINTON; the underappreciated Jeffs, Daniels and Bridges; those great performances by unknowns Michael Stuhlbarg, Gaby Sidibe, and Sharlto Copley; the return to form of Robert Downey, Jr.; Richard Kind delivering half of a performance from behind a bathroom door; and moving on to TV, thanks in perpetuity for Arrested Development, and The Wire; thanks to The Simpsons for remembering movies from more than the past two years, and referencing them - especially that Hitchcock pastiche from this year's Halloween episode; those opening credits on True Blood; and Michael C. Hall, for being just continually amazing.

Caden said...

Thank YOU, Nathaniel. Your blog rawks and has helped make me more of a movie fiend this year.

Other things I'm thankful for: Melanie Laurent cackling on a flaming movie screen, Mark Ruffalo cameo in Where the Wild Things Are (and Mark Ruffalo in general), Rosamunde Pike, the spore thingies on Willem Dafoe's arm in that one scene in Antichrist, Sasha Grey's iPhone ringing in the middle of nowhere in Girlfriend Experience, the opening sequence of Julia, Frances McDormand, the prison cafeteria fight in Watchmen ("I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!"), finding out that the nerdy friend in (500) Days of Summer is married to Joan Holloway, the one shot of Paul Schneider's hairy chest in Bright Star, shamefully realizing that Jeff Daniels and Jeff Bridges are in fact different actors, Penelope Cruz barfing, "You've Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger," Dianne Wiest (for Synecdoche and In Treatment and so much more), Ballast on Netflix Instant Watch, Fat Damon, and the green chick in Star Trek.

NATHANIEL R said...

yay... i love all these thank yous. it's fun to hear the quirks of enthusiasm from each person.