Thursday, February 26, 2009

Link With a Stranger

Empire new character shots from Up (so cute!)
Mike Leigh's Oscar Diary fun stuff. Like this
At one, weird moment, some strange force suddenly convinces you that you're about to win, while you affect to look benign and generous for the camera that's suddenly in your face; then you don't win...
I love him. But I don't think he's ever going to win.
Filmbo's Chick Magnet asks if John Williams is a douche
Twitch
First look at Zhao Wei as Mulan.


Socialites Life Katie Holmes films a crying scene. They totally neglect to mention that Paul Dano is her screen partner. Try not to get blown off the screen Katie. He held his own with Daniel Day-Lewis for chrissakes. You're toast!
Towleroad Gay Oscar speeches censored in Asia
NYT Great piece on the always thorny / fascinating Rupert Everett. The reporter follows him apartment hunting in NY
“It’s like a place for orgies,” Everett murmured, being led through it. “Thank you very much, it’s very nice, but I don’t think I could really live in it,” he said. Once in the car, he laughed. “Can you imagine having Angela Lansbury back there? I don’t think so.”
I meant to link that over the weekend. Oops
/Film Denzel Washington still from The Book of Eli. Geez how many post-apocalyptic movies are there going to be in the next few years? Hopefully by the time they all arrive we'll all be so optimistic that we can ignore them and chalk them up to a very negative very sad 8 year downward spiral that is OVER.
Defamer on that horrible idea to remake the NeverEnding Story

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the new international trailer for 'The Boat that Rocked? Thoughts?

Music sounds great and i'll watch anything with Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh. Tom Sturridge is cute! Has he actually done anything since Being Julia? He was great in his scenes opposite Annette Benning.

Its also refreshing to see Hoffman take on a role that wont become an automatic Oscar bait.

Peter Chan said...

is it just me or does Katie Holmes looked too much like Angelina Jolie in 'Changeling' in that scene?

Anonymous said...

Nat, do you think you will interview Nicole this year.

gabrieloak said...

I really enjoyed that Mike Leigh diary. Who knew he had such handsome sons? I hope Leigh does get an Oscar someday. He deserves one.

Anonymous said...

Mike Leigh's diary entry is funny and informative, I don't think he'll go Oscar-less forever though. Intrigued about Zhao Wei as Mulan, have heard that she's one to watch out for. Dismayed about the possible re-imagining of "Neverending Story", the original actually has dark and at times scary/sad moments which causes it to stick out. With our current infantalized movie culture is that acceptable to producers and consumers? Will they downplay the menace? Hate to see a personal childhood treasure remade as tripe just to make some bucks.

NATHANIEL R said...

anon 6:30... i can dream.

peter... i thought abotu mentioning that but yeah.

gabriel... and that his sons love going to the Oscars!

Anonymous said...

Nat, I think Kris did a phone interview with Nicole about 5-6 years ago. I'm sure you could too! That would be an interview of EPIC proportions!!

NATHANIEL R said...

i will try. I think she's in the Angelina camp of impossible to get unless you're with a major organization. I work for myself (barely) so this might be difficult.

adam k. said...

I love Mike Leigh's diary. And I love how he's totally willing to put it out there that he thinks Sally was robbed, and is better than any of the nominees. And that he's glad Ben Button only won techs (aren't we all).

He's just such a cute, jolly little old British man that nothing he says could ever come off as mean.

Anonymous said...

There will be post-apocalyptic films for as many years as it takes us to heal from the apocalypse that was eight years of the Bush administration. Which means for a long time! ;)

Anonymous said...

Nat, you're much too modest! If Kris could get a phone interview with Nicole than I know you could! What would you ask her!?
That interview would be bliss!

Brian Darr said...

Whoever at Empire wrote that Up is "the world's first balloon-based Amazonian adventure" needs to watch Werner Herzog's terrific the White Diamond, for my money his best nature-related documentary in recent years (apologies to Grizzly Man and Encounters...)

Anonymous said...

^Nat, don't forget to mention you've interviewed Nicole's Margot at the Wedding costar, JJL. That will earn you big brownie points. I bet that you and Nicole will get along famously and become good friends

Alex Constantin said...

Mike Leigh needs to keep working. A 5th writing nomination WILL bring him the Oscar. Would they let a writer wait that long for his first win?!
And all his 4 (6) nominations happened in just 12 years.
I have a bigger problem with Woody not winning anything for the past 22 years.

Nick M. said...

So, where can I sign up to be adopted by Mike Leigh?

Anonymous said...

Isn't Mike Leigh awesome? It's too bad that it does seem like he'll never win his Oscar. Sally Hawkins was so screwed over.

Anonymous said...

God I love Mike Leigh.

Nathaniel, since you're a comic fan, wanted to send along this link about comic book films that should be made.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1550-Seattle-Movie-Examiner~y2009m2d25-Top-10-comics-that-would-make-great-movies

Anonymous said...

The saddest part for me that that great director never won the damn thing after 6 nominations and will probably die without an Oscar and I have yet to read an article about him being overdue.
While Kate Winslet at age 33 somehow is overdue, as if it was her last chance to win.
As for Hawkins' snub (my #3 female performance of the year) I really don't know what to say - her snub is unprecedented. I never believed in her win, but the fact that she wasn't even nominated is a complete travesty.

Anonymous said...

Katie Holmes looks like she's trying to copy the wonderful performance of AJ in Changeling: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/1/full/1233792673_6.jpg

Anonymous said...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/1/full/1233792673_6.jpg

Anonymous said...

Okay, I keep trying to post the whole pics... http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/1/full/1233792673_6.jpg
But for some reason it doesn't work/

Anonymous said...

I guess I don't see enough movies, but I quite like (post)-apocalyptic stories. Something about the idea of the starting over on a massive scale, the solitude, the sheer devastation - hits me. I think it's an idea better explored on television, admittedly, but if we get another film like CHILDREN OF MEN, I won't complain.

Anonymous said...

Wayne B., if they actually do what they've said and really stay closer to the book this time around, the new version of "The Neverending Story" should actually be quite a bit darker and a LOT smarter than the first one.
I loved the film as a child, but the novel simply is so much better. They left out or changed a lot of the best stuff, the author, Michael Ende (who is pretty much a legend in Germany), was so disappointed with the film he asked for his name to be removed from the opening credits.
Also, the first film only covered the first half of the book and the sequel only took bits from the second half (the third film isn't based on the book at all), so there are many many elements from the book that haven't yet been used for a film at all. With the right director, this has the potential to be great.