Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I Link to Link

Salon on the "Magical Negro," the offensive movie cliche that just won't die.
pullquote the Cinetrix appreciates the mise-en-scene of a unique triple feature: Pee Wee's Big Adventure, In the Mood for Love and Metropolis. Three great disparate movies. If I lived in Boston I would surely love the Brattle.
IMDB Penélope Cruz' rep makes it official: She's pregnant. The world will get the genetically blessed spawn of Cruz-Bardem in January or Februaryish.
Sina Tony Leung Chiu-Wai snapped leaving a noodleshop. Wait, isn't Maggie Cheung supposed to be the one fetching those? I can't believe he's nearing 50.


Critical Condition "the mysterious case of the disappearing 80s movies". This is a good read but I disagree with the resolution. I don't actually think modern technology will prevent films from becoming lost. I think the constant succession of new technologies will only acerbate the problem. Notice how many thousands and thousands of films that were available on VHS are not on DVD and now Blu-Ray is taking over.
Nicks Flick Picks
has a thoughtful reaction to the Venice "scandal" and its weird jury presumptions.
Kenneth in the (212) Madonna: "Most Likely To Direct". Hee.
Vanity Fair Natalie Portman on her role in Black Swan
ticklepickleme has 10 thoughts on those Rabbit Hole clips we were just watching.
Empire James Cameron's True Lies may become a tv series. Can Eliza Dushku reprise her role please?
Hollywood Reporter Toronto's "It Girl" is Brit actress Andrea Riseborough who stars in three films.

Finally, here's Julianne Moore politicking. Good on her.

10 comments:

aclp said...

How impossibly beautiful will this Cruz-Bardem child be???

City_Of_Lights said...

Wow, Pee Wee and then In The Mood For Love. Fits my eclectic tastes perfectly!

IslandLiberal said...

The Cruz-Bardem child will marry one of the spawn of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. That child will glow pure celestial light and blind the unworthy.

Castor said...

Nice list of links. The first one is definitely worth a read and I also expect big things from Portman in Black Swan.

IslandLiberal said...

"Magical Negro" is such a massively overused term that it's lost most of its effectiveness to me. The writer of that article uses it to describe Morpheus, which (as numerous people in the comments pointed out) is blatantly wrong; and it's regularly lobbed at, well, almost any character Morgan Freeman plays, particularly in "The Shawshank Redemption", which so completely misunderstands Red's role in that movie that you'd wonder if people were even paying attention. Much of the time, people seem to think it means "black person in a supporting role".

Supporting roles very often don't have any independent motivation, etc., the things that people usually assign to the prototypical MN. You can name innumerable white characters that fit the same profile as the Danny Glover character the article talks a lot about. These days, the phenomenon to me seems mostly to be a case that black actors now work quite a bit, but are still usually not the lead characters.

Danielle said...

Keira Knightley's also getting rave reviews for Last Night - one calls it the best performance of her career.

Christine said...

Penélope Cruz and I are due about the same time. Penélope, feel free to call if you want to set up some playdates for the kids.

I also agree with your assessment of the Critical Condition piece. The main reason I keep my old battered VHS player is because so many good films are available in VHS only (including The Devils, which you can actually rent in VHS form from places like Facets.)

/3rtfu11 said...

Speaking of Magic Negro(s) I sought out Places of the Heart (84) because Nick Davis had Sally Field’s 2nd Oscar win rated at Flotsam.

I wanted a good laugh to see if he’s correct -- well the movie is awful in its causal racism and Sally Field is as engaging as a plastic bag floating in the air.

A black cotton picker (Danny Glover) teaches a white, windowed, mother of two (Sally Field) how to pick cotton in order to save her home.
To think that bullshit won an original screenplay Oscar!

Blinking Cursor said...

Nat,

That link to the Tony Leung pics actually has a chinese article that mentions Maggie Cheung, too. It's just some old gossip saying that Maggie and Tony were once romantically involved. I've read though that Maggie and Tony have stated that they could never be lovers because they're too different. Which, when you think about it, makes their acting all the more impressive. Because seriously, every time I see them acting together, I think that they *should* be a couple. It's crazy the chemistry they have. ::sigh:: I think it's time to re-watch In the Mood for Love and/or Hero again.

MRRIPLEY said...

julie good on ya!!!! will you be tying the knot nat.