Tuesday, July 15, 2008

You Link Up My Life

Welcome to LA thinks Woody Allen ought to be getting Clint Eastwood sized plaudits for his career resurgence
<--- MNPP asks if Jan Hooks' "Tina, the Alamo Tour Guide" is the greatest cameo of all time. I didn't even think this was up for debate. The answer is cleary yes. For a thousand different reasons. All of which I will explain to you right now...
Twitch My Neighbor Totoro inspired charity. Help them if you can
Some Came Running funny (if negative) notes on Mamma Mia!
Daily GreenCine looks at the "monumental" pan-Asian epic Red Cliff

Pop Matters Matt Mazur on Pfeiffer as a pfeminist and I Could Never Be Your Woman
Empire They're going to have to retitle the musical Nine to like Sixteen. The list of household names in the cast just keeps growing.
Hola México a new film festival @ NYC's Quad Theater starting next week. Some strong features here including cinephile favorite and Oscar submission Silent Night and two features my World Cinema jury gave awards to at the recent Indianapolis International Film Festival (the comedy It's Better if Gabriela Doesn't Die pictured right and the sibling drama Burn the Bridges which took our Best Actress award)
Defamer a chink in The Dark Knight's armor. I love this "first negative review" phenomenon of Rotten Tomatoes. It cracks me up. It usually results in hate mail, panic and a mix of disbelief, conservativism and scapegoating (omg... someone isn't towing the line. They'll disrupt the fragile pop culture ecosystem and WE'LL. ALL. DIE) ... it can be viewed in miniature at this very website or others when the author isn't completely consensus. The angry cries of "your opinion has no credibility [unspoken part] because *GASP* ... you have your own. [/unspoken part]
Stop it!"
Gallery of the Absurd
a shrine for the Brangeloonies. I fear that I may be one!

10 comments:

Billy D said...

I just noticed your new pic in the right column, and, at the risk of sounding sycophantic: CUTE! And the scruff, tres butch!

Runs Like A Gay said...

Good point, well made.

NATHANIEL R said...

its' the only thing butch i have going on. ha ha. so maybe i should keep it. ;)

Anonymous said...

"Defamer a chink in The Dark Knight's armor. I love this "first negative review" phenomenon of Rotten Tomatoes. It cracks me up. It usually results in hate mail, panic and a mix of disbelief, conservativism and scapegoating (omg... someone isn't towing the line. They'll disrupt the fragile pop culture ecosystem and WE'LL. ALL. DIE) ... it can be viewed in miniature at this very website or others when the author isn't completely consensus. The angry cries of "your opinion has no credibility [unspoken part] because *GASP* ... you have your own. [/unspoken part] Stop it!"""

Speaking from experience, I presume? ;)

What has been your most unpopular movie opinion so far, Nathaniel? I'm sure you've received your share of hatemail... Let me guess: Not falling head over heels for Marion Cotillard's performance in La Vie En Rose?

I'm already sick and tired of The Dark Knight and it's fanatic fans, and it hasn't even been released yet... :(

NATHANIEL R said...

oh i've had plenty.

Marion Cotillard is the most recent... but my unappreciation of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's body of work is probably the biggest one. I tend to think he's a showboater and not really in the scene with his fellow actors. But you're just not supposed to question his greatness

;)

I understand the trap I fall into there but I just don't see the point in writing opinion oriented material and avoiding actual opinions of my own. :)

The off-consensus thing though is speaking VERY generally now usually a result of me appreciating movies that one might describe as girlie ;) the bulk of people who mouth off on the internet about movies prefer male-oriented films and respond more to violence than I do. I like Raging Bull just fine for example... but is it really the best movie Scorsese ever made or is it just the one that pushes the most buttons as to what people want from him as a director? I prefer both King of Comedy and Taxi Driver without hesitation.

anyway... examples are endless but another really quick way to notice the women's picture disconnect is to see how often ALL ABOUT EVE, CABARET or THE PIANO are ignored in "best movies ever" polling on the internet. Is this because those aren't great motion picture?

Hell to the no.

Jason Adams said...

"I prefer both King of Comedy and Taxi Driver without hesitation."

A thousand times in agreement with ya there, Nat. All I ever want to pay attention to in Raging Bull is Cathy Moriarty...

Sam Brooks said...

I was really interested in the Red Cliffs movie, being a geek on that period in Chinese history in general, and particularly because of an interesting cast. But from all accounts, it looks like a flop. Which is distressing, because I generally enjoy John Woo no matter what.

Anonymous said...

Nate,

Try catching Silent Light (if I remember correctly, you haven't seen it. With Tartan shutting down, it's probably not going to see the light of the day in the US and it deserves to be seen on a big screen.

-Jason

NATHANIEL R said...

i'll take that into consideration. Of course teh Quad Cinema is really stretching the definition of "big screen" ;) ... still, it is bigger than my tv set.

Glenn said...

"I prefer both King of Comedy and Taxi Driver without hesitation."

Same here.