Thursday, August 26, 2010

Links: One Hendricks, Two Goslings, Multiple Albees

Have you seen that Christina Hendricks is the new face of London Fog? Such a delectable woman.

I caught the commercial to the new Katharine Heigl movie Life as We Know It (2010) recently in which Hendricks dies and Heigl, her best friend, turns out to be the "raise my child" choice in the will. The whole time I was watching the short film (I'd say "trailer" but it contains the whole movie. No need to buy a ticket) I kept thinking 'Wait. You're going to tease me with Christina and then make me watch Katharine instead for 2 hours?' And bear in mind, I like the oft-hated Katharine Heigl. Honestly, sometimes Hollywood is really slow on the draw with what the public responds to. People are nuts for Christina Hendricks. Look around the web. Where's her big movie role? It's not like Mad Men doesn't have long hiatuses.

Film Brain Jean Luc Godard's no show letter for a career honor in 1995. Think he'll show up for the Governor's Ball in LA? I don't.
Film Business Asia Monga will represent Taiwan for this year's foreign film Oscar race. Yeah yeah, I know I need to update the pages.
Village Voice fun interview with Edward Albee who has a new play Off Broadway. You have to admire his self regard...
The world would be a better place if theaters were filled with my plays all the time.
because, you know, he's right about that!
Washington Post Bernadette Peters in Sondheim's Follies. Holy ____ Consider my ticket bought.
Guardian Gerard Depardieu doesn't get the fuss over Juliette Binoche
Movie Dearest reviews the first season of Cougar Town
Gawker "Anne Rice Quivers with Delight" at...


Drive in Double marquees for the win!

MNPP who wore it best? confident men in pink bathrobes. Hmmm, I wanted more options. Didn't Grant or Hudson don one, too?
The Wrap Anthony Mackie for MI:4? We keep rooting for him. A big budget action flick probably couldn't hurt.
/Film All Good Things starring Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling will get a tiny limited December release. All the better to compete directly with Ryan Gosling's other tiny limited December release Blue Valentine. I seriously don't understand movie distributors.
MCI Scott Pilgrim vs. The Matrix
Boing Boing not cinema but this "Tom the Dancing Bug" cartoon about evil fetuses is hilarious especially if, like me, you need to laugh to stop from crying about what's happening in America right now.

26 comments:

Bill_the_Bear said...

I've seen the trailer for Life as We Know It several times in theatres, so how did I never notice that Crhistina Hendricks is the mother who dies?

Nat, I'm with you: I like Katherine Heigl, too. However, I have no idea why.

She's cute, but not gorgeous. She's perky...but perky can be overdone.
She's certainly not a great actress.

Yet...I still like her.

Robert Hamer said...

"Gerard Depardieu doesn't get the fuss over Juliette Binoche"

Gerard Depardieu can go fuck himself.

Taylor said...

Bernadette+Sondheim cannot be compared to anything else in the world. Nothing can top it. Everyone should be dropping whatever they're doing and immediately buy tickets to A Little Night Music while she's still there. Consider me sold on Follies.

But if you do want to get in comparisons Juliette>Gerard any day, and he's just making that choice easier.

Alison Flynn said...

Bernadette+Sondheim cannot be compared to anything else in the world.

Word, Taylor.

Although I did always love Lansbury+Sondheim too. :)

Eddie said...

Get that Emmy Sunday night, Ms. Hendricks!!!!

That is all.

NATHANIEL R said...

Taylor -- if i had the cash i would GLADLY go see her again. But i am proud to say that i've seen her every time she's made herself available to me in NYC. which is unfortunately not often.

but her SEND IN THE CLOWNS just killed. me.

killed me dead. i am now a zombie typing this.

Eddie -- crossing my fingers but totally not expecting it. That'd be too much of a good thing.

Jorge Rodrigues said...

Hmm Nathaniel I really think Hendricks is a strong bet for the win.

Rose Byrne is out. And Panjabi and Baranski too since they 1) will probably split votes, 2) they are not strong enough competitors to win and 3) the series is all about Margulies.

Moss and Gless are the only real opponents to Hendricks. Gless is a veteran and her nomination came out of nowhere - and this category loves to bring up surprises. I hope that doesn't happen. Of course Moss would be the most likely winner since she was graceful enough to drop to supporting and her episode choice is very good but Hendricks has a lot of good will and industry adulation going for her at the moment. And that sometimes helps winning.

NATHANIEL R said...

I'm going to guess Christine Baranski because they like her and that show seems like a middlebrow procedural that could become an annual statue hog.

Castor said...

I hope Mackie gets to join Renner in MI4. As far as Heigl is concerned, I'm mostly indifferent to her, she certainly needs to start doing something other than those all those rom-coms and Life As We Know It is just another very close variation of what she has been playing since Knocked Up.

Jorge Rodrigues said...

I don't know what else can I say to defend Katherine Heigl's career choices...

After an Emmy win what do you do? Hit breakout movie role. Good choice. But then what? Awful comedies and poor movie roles, thrashing colleagues and screenwriters and bosses in national television, leaving Grey's Anatomy profiting from its decline (but creating a huge mess in the process)...

I don't know if she isn't beyond salvation at this point.

Notas Sobre Creación Cultural e Imaginarios Sociales said...

Christina for the win!
I'm dying to see what she'll wear...

Also:
http://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2010/08/20100825_hendrickslf_560x362.jpg

Anonymous said...

Oh no he Depar-didn't! That Gerard just went down a couple of notches in my book.

And I like Katherine Heigl too, I just hate her movies.

Bill_the_Bear said...

How about Len Cariou + Sondheim, to go back a few decades. How I'd loved to have seen him in A Little Night Music, instead of just swooning over the record.

cinephile said...

WTF?!? It's disgusting how Gerard Depardieu is talking about La Binoche.

She is not just, as the Guardian article points out, 'one of the foremost French actors of her generation'. She is one of the foremost actors of the world, of any generation, and one of the foremost French actors of all time.

Depardieu should be rather proud to be from the same country as this breathtakingly talented, amazingly beautiful actress.

Burning Reels said...

Now now, I dont agree with the words he used (and who knows how he said these things) but Gerard has the right to express his opinions - she's clearly not 'nothing' but I can understand one's frustration when some artists dont get the credit they deserve.

jess said...

Last Night opens Rome Film Fest
RABBIT HOLE screens in competition
Best Actress Award for Nikki ?

cinephile said...

Yeah, of course he can express his opinion, but not with the 'words he used', as you said. That's the whole point. And only because he is frustrated he is not entitled to insult one of the most acclaimed actresses of the world. BTW he is an Oscar nominee himself. Maybe he should just start making better movies again to win back the "credit he deserves".

Cluster Funk said...

Mark my words: Binoche spurned Depardieu's unwelcome advances at one time or another; that's why he spites her. Seriously, it's textbook (and ludicrous).

Glenn said...

I saw the trailer for Life as We Know It and was completely surprised. I'd never heard of this movie at all. Where has it been hiding? You are right though, the entire film is in that trailer!

Taylor said...

Len Cariou on the original Night Music soundtrack is GORGEOUS, but I don't know if I buy him in the other work he's done with Sondheim. George Hearn, maybe Mandy Patinkin, and definitely Angela are up there with Bernadette.

But Bernadette will always have my heart. When the tears started rolling down her face during Send in the Clowns, I had to will my heart not to stop beating. I'm with Nathaniel in the land of the undead over here.

Paul Outlaw said...

- Len Cariou IS Sweeney Todd!

- Need Follies. Need Peters in Follies. Need Jamie Lee Curtis, Carrie Fisher or Bebe Neuwirth as Carlotta ("I'm Still Here"). Interesting tidbit: The original Sally, Dorothy Collins, and the original Carlotta, Yvonne DeCarlo, were both over ten years younger than Peters when they created the roles in the 1971 production.

- I loved Heigl on Roswell and I would have liked her more on Grey's if Shonda's writing style didn't make almost every character (especially Izzy) insufferable. Have never seen a single one of her movies.

- I'm predicting Moss for the win (but I'm scared of The Good Wife).

Taylor said...

@Paul Outlaw-Vocally Len's tough to argue with, but I have to say, I am quite partial to George Hearn's Sweeney. As for Carlotta, I would DIE for it to be any of those women, Bebe especially.

And at 62, Bernadette Peters may be older, but thanks to what I'm assuming is either magic or daily baths in the blood of virgins, she looks about 35.

Paul Outlaw said...

Taylor, the tricky thing about Carlotta is that the lyrics to "I'm Still Here" were tailor-made to the career of Yvonne DeCarlo (or Alexis Smith, for that matter). Now that the show has become a period-piece-within-a-period-piece, there's no actress who can sing "In the Depression, was I depressed?/Nowhere near/I met a financier and I'm here" with the same meta resonance, but you definitely need someone with Hollywood/Broadway pedigree and longevity. I think Carrie Fisher would be a hoot.

DeCarlo was only 48 when Follies opened, but she had lived quite a life. Of course, age 48 in 1971 was the equivalent of age 65 in 2010 (whether you bathe in the blood of virgins or not).

(Oh, and I just have a weakness for Len Cariou--in any role. All the way back to Applause.)

Taylor said...

Oh you'll never hear me argue Yvonne DeCarlo as Carlotta. There's actually a wonderful youtube video of her talking about the role and then singing the song and she's marvelous (even while forgetting the lyrics).

I agree that the role needs someone with gravitas, but does Carrie sing? Bebe would be able to nail the song,and she has been around for quite a while. In recent productions, Carlotta has been an old old-timer but I think it works better with someone a bit younger, though still distinguished. Gives her a bit of kick I think.

Nice Monty Clift icon btw. Aka my first movie love.

Paul Outlaw said...

Can Carrie Fisher sing?

Can she?

;-)

Monty: my first, my last, my everything...

NATHANIEL R said...

taylor & paul -- yay actual conversation. I'm not so much joining in as enjoying. but i hope to see you all in DC for the Follies.

City Center did it a few years ago with Donna Murphy & whatshername and I really loved it and have been dying to see it again. They should basically just have revivals of every Sondheim show every year so that I can see all of them again and again (except for maybe ANYONE CAN WHISTLE since once was pretty much enough)