"When Captain America throws his mighty shield..."

"...all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield ♪ ♫"

He lost his headwings

Today Captain America: The First Avenger is supposed to start Principal Photography. Or that's what they were saying a month ago, June 28th. Just thought you'd like to know.

I'm still confused about the Marvel movie universe logic wherein Johnny Storm, "The Human Torch" is also Steve Rogers, "Captain America". Perhaps Chris Evans is like Sybil, Eve or (The United States of) Tara and he has multiple (heroic) personalities within? Maybe he should star in The Crowded Room next? That movie feels like it's never going to get made. Development hell for, what, 8-10 years now?

But... superheroes. Remember when they used to have to pad the superhero costumes so the actors looked cartoonishly fit/muscular? Now they just cast people like Evans and Ryan Reynolds. No special effects required.

On the less bulky front, over the weekend the finalist list for the new Spider-Man was talked up. Exactly how many times are we going to hear that there's a final -- this time they mean it! -- finalist list before someone is cast? This is, what, the third time? On that list we encounter the same Chris Evans multiple personality problem.

A type emerges...

I am apparently the only person alive still bothered by an actor starring in multiple similar franchises. They're considering Chekov/Kyle Reese, Percy Jackson and Kick Ass to play the webslinger here. When I go to the movie theater to see Spider-Man I don't wanna be thinking about Star Trek, Terminator or Kick-Ass. I wanna be thinking about Spider-Man! Why is this a difficult concept? It'd be like if Sarah Michelle Gellar was asked to star in a werewolf hunting role. No, no, no. She kills vampires, see? I'm fully willing to enjoy her as another character besides Buffy but not another powerful woman in some supernatural setting, you know?

This is why, as previously stated, I can't stand seeing Samuel L Jackson anymore despite once enjoying him. He's starred in so many actual or would be f/x action franchises now (10+ by my last count) that he takes me right out of whatever movie I'm watching, even non-franchise movies. He's a factory worker and all genre movies coming down the conveyor belt must be fitted with some Jules Winnfield before they are shipped out to the public. It makes everything generic/interchangeable.

So I'm rooting for Jamie Bell or Andrew Garfield as the new Spidey because they don't have much baggage and they only really make me think of Jamie Bell and Andrew Garfield and those aren't unpleasant reference points at all. Though if they wanna hand us Michael Angarano (who we were just watching) or Ehrenreich I suppose that'd be okay, too.

Deep Link: Aliens, Spidey, La Lohan and More

The Big Picture that Marc Webb Spider-Man reboot has narrowed the candidates down. I'm still not excited about a redo but I'm totally thumbs up on the idea of either Jamie Bell or Andrew Garfield... though it's weird to hear them referred to as "unknowns", you know? Alden Ehrenreich (Tetro), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) and Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) are also being considered.
Cracked "Which awful redhead stereotype are you?" Starring Lindsay Lohan"time bomb", Julianne Moore "sex fiend" and others. Poor gingers!


MTV Movies Logan's Run gets a new director in Erik Rinsch. It's so sad to me that the studio had issues with handing Alien 5 over to him. That's what that entire franchise thrived on... putting fresh visionary directors on the map before they were A list: Scott, Fincher, Cameron. If the Aliens franchise is about anything beyond the Ripley badassery and the acid blood beasties, that's what it's about. It's like the third most important element of that franchise. When you have the same story every time, you have to add the auteurial shakes up or you have nothing.
NY Mag sword and sandal epics and the evolution of Abs within them. Funny stuff
Vanity Fair has 30 portraits and profiles of Tony nominees for this past theater season including familiar faces like Jude Law.
Playbill Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch offered the CZJ and Lansbury roles in A Little Night Music on Broadway? ohmygodohmygod. Not that either of them would ever accept a "replacment cast" situation but if this happens a ticket MUST have my name on it.
Mental Floss '9 Copyrights Given to Charity.' Interesting list. I had no idea that Peter Pan was copyright free now. You'd think there'd be a sudden influx of Pan movies.
Just Jared more pics from the set of Mildred Pierce: Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood
Towleroad Madonna gets vampiric to sell sunglasses. It's very Deneuve/Hunger

Finally, the first pics of LL as LL have surfaced. Yes the alliterative Lohan/Lovelace porno biopic Inferno is coming your way... eventually. Oh No They Didn't posted the pics from photographer Tyler Shields who seems to have already removed them from his own website though there's still a lot of fun stuff there including a shoot with Glee's Jayma Mays, Zachary Quinto and plentiful rude portraits of Young Hollywood.

I'd love for Lohan to be able to pull this off but acting is like anything else. If you aren't committed to it, how are you going to get great at it?

Cannes: Rosengje's Top Ten and Miscellaneous Tweets

Our correspondent Rosengje caught 22 films during her Cannes trip. Before Isabelle Huppert's jury bestows the coveted Palme D'Or, I thought we'd let Rosengje offer up her own jury-of-one highlights. She had to miss Precious, Broken Embraces and Un Prophète due to time constraints.

Her five favorite films were...

1. Marco Bellochio's Vincere. More on this further down.
   
2. Alejandro Amenábar's Agora (previous post)
   
3. Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. This family drama was a major hit with the critics and could be up for prizes today. If Andrea Arnold sounds familiar just think Wasp, Oscar's 2004 short film winner about an irresponsible mother (Natalie Press) and her brood of babies. That was a stunning 26 minutes of film so I'm eager to see this one.
   
4. Quentin Tarantino's "kosher revenge porn" Inglourious Basterds
5. Jane Campion's Bright Star (previous post)
   

She also wanted to name '10 things that stuck with me most' with honorable mentions going out to Up's use of 3D (see post), Vincere's unapologetically dramatic score, David Lynch’s interview footage in Great Directors (see post), and the beauty of Alden Ehrenreich in Francis Ford Coppola’s misfire Tetro (see post). Now, on to her personal 'top ten'...

10 Eric Cantona in Looking for Eric
Soccer great Cantona’s presence in Ken Loach’s ebullient film avoids camp, instead elevating the fulfilling film into a strangely compelling absurdist realm. His scenes reliably brought the audience to applause, and one involving dancing had the entire Lumiere in hysterics.

09 Sound Effects in Thirst
As anyone familiar with Park Chan-Wook’s previous Grand Prix winner Oldboy can attest to, much of the director’s haunting power is drawn from what is not seen. The implication of horrifying action is nonetheless impossible to escape, primarily because of the explosive sound. This funny, gory Korean vampire flick ultimately delves into camp in its last third, but the grotesque noises accompanying scenes ranging from lovemaking to vampire creating made it a memorable film experience.

08 Brad Pitt’s accent in Inglourious Basterds
This had me concerned in the trailer, but Pitt’s Tennessee hick persona is crucial to the success of Tarantino’s latest. In the initial introduction to the Basterds, the portrayal seems over the top and cloying in its attempt to generate laughs. All is forgiven, however, later in the film. Adopting a phony Italian accent, Pitt’s Aldo Raine is introduced to Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa, and delivers an impeccable line reading that still has me giggling days later. Perfection.

07 Michael Fassbender
Pictured right with director Andrea Arnold --->
Yummy. I could not sit through the entirety of Hunger, which I found immensely disturbing, but Fassbender capitalizes on his breakthrough status in two Cannes films. He excels in Tarantino’s Basterds and in Fish Tank he is the perfect blend of charm and sleaze. He leaves the audience and characters confused about the character’s intentions until the very end. It's a credit to his screen charisma that I desperately wanted to believe in his sincerity until the last possible second.

06 Abby Cornish & Paul Schneider in Bright Star
05 Rachel Weisz in Agora
04 Liev Schreiber in Taking Woodstock
Discussed in earlier posts.

03 Giovanna Mezzogiorno in Vincere
Rounding out the impressive list of female accomplishments is Giovanna Mezzogiorno’s performance in Marco Bellochio’s operatic Vincere. She left me cold in last year’s Palermo Shooting but she shines as Ida Dalser, Il Duce’s lover during his rise to power in fascist Italy. When she is carelessly tossed aside by the ambitious politician, Dalser is at first isolated and then imprisoned in an insane asylum. Taking the abuse suffered by Angelina Jolie in Changeling to the next level, Mezzogiorno never loses the audience’s sympathy, even as she plunges further into despair. Many of Dalser’s statements against Mussolini remain in question, so the actress must constantly balance the character’s clear logic with the murkiness of her claims. If the film receives a considerable stateside release, I would not be surprised to see Mezzogiorno embraced by critics. The performance is more accessible than Marion Cotillard’s work in La Vie en Rose and the lack of public familiarity with Dalser decreases the burden of representation.

02 Technical accomplishments of Bright Star
Costumes, art direction, cinematography...

01 Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Without the success of his multi-lingual, comically terrifying performance the film would have failed. Oozing the debonair sophistication most would want to deny the vicious Nazi figure, Waltz makes an indelible impression in the film’s very first sequence that lingers throughout the film’s lengthy running time. He's completely deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

So much to consider. Rosengje's write up has me wondering if Mezzogiorno will one day expand her global fame (she's a regular nominee at the Italian Oscars) -- especially if Vincere tours. I expect Oscar buzz for Bright Star to follow the Cannes hoopla rather closely. I'm much much less bullish on Basterds. Rosengje obviously enjoyed the star turns a great deal but Oscar voters have long since cooled on Tarantino's style and, more strangely, seem to have turned a blind eye on his inarguable talent for tapping into the unique strengths of nearly every actor he works for.

The great thing about personal movie loves and communal movie discussion is that one man's treasure is another's... so I thought I'd include additional perspective. These four critics in particular were fun to follow during Cannes: Mike D'Angelo, Eugene Hernandez, James Rocchi and Karina Longworth. If you couldn't get enough Cannes coverage, click to embiggen for a few sample tweets on Basterds, The White Ribbon, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Face and sidebar films like Dogtooth.



Which Cannes film are you most longing to see at this point?
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Rosengje @ Cannes: On Tetro

Thanks to Rosengje for sharing her notes from Cannes. Here she is on Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro.

Tetro is, for lack of more eloquent phrasing, just not a very good movie. It follows Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich in his feature debut) as he attempts to reconcile with his brother Angelo (Vincent Gallo). After a stint in an asylum, Angelo has disowned his family and now resides in Argentina under the name "Tetro" with his almost-wife Miranda (Maribel Verdú).


The two brothers both suffer from the pressure of their genius composer father's expectations and betrayals. While the Oedipal issues at play throughout Tetro are intermittently appealing, the film suffers from Coppola's need to excessively explain the motives and psychology. Each revelation is played for maximum dramatic effect. Not only are we treated to various characters discussing each tidbit of information, but there are also accompanying film clips and ballet sequences as reminders. The modest, sincere appeal of the story of loosely connected family members trying to navigate evolving relationships is lost in the director's weighty treatment of the material.

The majority of Tetro is beautifully photographed though there's an over-reliance on visual motifs such as reflections in mirrored surface and the flashing of lights. The decision to shoot predominantly in black and white is mostly successful, but I was drawn out of the world during the garish color sequences and bothered by the insertion of modern devices as counterpoints. This fairly standard family tale is not necessarily tied to a specific time period, so the occasional presence of MacBooks seemed unnecessarily jarring.

And here we get to the element that's winning everyone over even if they're cold on the film, a new star in Aldon Ehrenreich.

Tetro's most appealing quality is its star. Ehrenreich resembles a divine hybrid of Leonardo DiCaprio, Emile Hirsch, and Matt Damon.


Every member of my demographically varied group was swooning over him (as do many of the women in the film). If the story of his discovery by Steven Spielberg in a bat-mitzvah video is true, he just becomes even more appealing. The role of Bennie doesn't require excessive emoting until a dramatic twist toward the end, but Ehrenreich maintains a casually charming screen presence. He keeps the camera's attention even when the story doesn't.

Leo, Emile and Matt conjoined, huh? How can all that starry goodness fit into one man? But more importantly, when will Francis Ford Coppola get his auteurial mojo back? Both Tetro and his previous picture, Youth Without Youth have disappointed the hopeful.