Till the Links Roll By

Antagony & Ecstasy - churns up a summer appropriate top ten list: best performances in comic-based films. Impeccable choices really (especially the top tier) and fine write ups (especially the two on Superman).
MNPP wants this Fright Night remake (another vampire movie?) immediately thanks to the wonderful-on-paper cast
Erik Lundegaard - is making a thorough, interesting trek through past Robin Hood films. Something I wanted to do but never found time for. Argh.
Sunset Gun "How Little We Know" a fine piece on the cinema of Wong Kar Wai, Days of Being Wild specifically


/Film has a lengthy word for word interview with Justin Theroux. Sadly it's only about Iron Man 2. I hope he acts again. David Lynch where are you???
By Ken Levine "The Truth about Lady Gaga". This article makes me want to watch Man in the Moon again. Remember that one? The one that was supposed to net Jim Carrey an Oscar nomination?
Deviant Art has a pretty amazing Pulp Fiction graphic, displaying the film chronologically. Something the film never displays don'cha know
popbytes Cynthia Nixon covers The Advocate
Just Jared Winona Ryder and Channing Tatum to play lovers in Ron Howard's Cheaters. Hmmm, strangely I like the idea, well, except for the Ron Howard part
A Socialite's Life John Barrowman as Alladin? Fun pics but why no more Torchwood? *sniffle*
Boing Boing Here's an interesting one for you small screen enthusiasts. This is a list from a tv executive explaining 12 reasons why certain shows get picked up by networks.

my favorite goodbyes to Lena Horne
Guardian David Thomson refuses to talk about Lena for 671 words
The Sheila Variations wonderful personalized tribute to Lena here
Time Magazine Richard Corliss kicks off their tribute with a 'shoulda been' obituary
Variety Ted Johnson has the Obama family's statement
The Auteurs Daily collects the online tributes and obits

Best Supporting Actor Babies

Babies as in... when they were young.... when it all began.

For my weekly column at Towleroad I ended up in some sort of retro mental loop, obsessing about how the careers of the nominees kicked off. I restricted myself to Best Supporting Actor or I would've been typing for hours.

I also admit a wee perverse desire to see Dear John but so far I've stayed strong.

If you've seen any of the supporting actor nominee's debut movies, please speak up. I don't remember Matt Damon being in Mystic Pizza at all. Do you?
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Year in Review Part 2: Burn the Negatives!

The title of this post is indefensible, exclamatory (!) and puerile. But these movies piss me off and if they can be super obnoxious, so can I. Now, in truth, I probably never see the absolute "worst" of the movies that play in theaters since I can pick and choose my own film menu. My New Year's Resolution is to be more constructive when I criticize (I'm not giving up criticism. That's mother's milk). I'd also like to be more positive in 2010.

Thus, I retract the titular command: No negatives of the following movies and performances should be incinerated ... instead let them live on as cautionary tales to actors and filmmakers. People are watching. Try harder.

Worst Supporting Actor
I've already expressed my concerned about the "too much!" of Stanley Tucci's continually nominated performance in The Lovely Bones. I don't know what the hell Richard Gere was doing in Amelia, do you? And I don't want Alan Arkin to do what he was doing in Sunshine Cleaning one more time. You won an Oscar for that performance already. Move on! Other than his suddenly legal elfin beauty, I can't see what Colin Firth could have possibly seen in Nicholas Hoult in A Single Man. In the end though it was clear that this would have to be a group "honor". I considered giving it to Everyone in G.I. Joe, none of whom seem to nail the cartoonishly one-note style that the movie desperately needs (not that they're playing whole octaves either, mind). I wasn't entirely crazy about what Stephen Lang was doing in Avatar but it's exactly what everyone in G.I. Joe needed to be doing. But in the end I have no choice but to hand this to the Muggy McMuggerson twins Jae Head and Ray McKinnon in The Blind Side. I partially blame them for Sandra Bullock's sudden Oscar contention. Standing next to them (and the unfortunately blank Quinton Aaron as "Michael Oher") she looks like some kind of genius dramatist. I guess that's a new way to be a "supporting" actor.

Worst Supporting Actress
Rachel McAdams seems completely lost in Sherlock Holmes, doesn't she? I love Jenny Beavan's costumes in the movie but Rachel seems lost inside of them. I got nothing from that performance. Nothing! I can barely remember her in the movie and I saw it one week ago. It breaks my hard to express my dismay about Betty White in The Proposal ("too much!") because she's practically our collective grandmother and she's absolutely my favorite Golden Girl. But this dishonor goes no contest to Rose Byrne an actress I have never warmed too. That said, she's not usually flat out awful the way she is in her shrill performance in Knowing. [spoiler] I wasn't so sad when the world ended because at least that meant I was rid of Rose Byrne and Nicolas Cage.

Worst Actor
I dedicate this award to Nicolas Cage but I'm not actually giving him the prize for Knowing (in which he is typically terrible) because, he's won too many of these already. Plus I hear he's lunatic inspired in Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since Werner Herzog is directing him. Herzog is, as you know, quite good with certifiable movie stars (See also: Klaus Kinski). Larry David made me bonkers in Whatever Works because he doesn't modify his schtick at all to suit a different writer's voice and he's even less believeable as a romantic lead to young beautiful women than Woody Allen ever was. I wish Hugh Jackman had remembered to have fun as Wolverine in that X-Men Origins dirge. He was better the other three times he played the role. But the loser here is Channing Tatum as "Duke" in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra because I think he thinks that the movie was a drama. Oops. He is stupid hot. And I mean both adjectives emphatically.

Worst Actress
I seem to be in the distinct minority that would rather watch almost anything other than Kristen Stewart's mopey twitching ... even in Adventureland but I've already talked about that. It's too obvious to tell you that I thought Hilary Swank was embarrassing in Amelia but, so what, I did. She was stiff, stilted and sexless in a movie that needed an actress with spontaneity and fire. But this one is no contest: Hayden Panetierre plays the title role in I Love You Beth Cooper. Beth is a standard spoiled beauty who discovers that a less attractive 'loser' has real soul (funny how that's always happening in movies. I wonder who the movies are made for?) Panetierre can't even manage this stock character that thousands of actresses have explained how to play for the past century of film.

Hell's Multiplex

The Worst Pictures of the Year

10 Fighting
I still giggle when I think of Joe Reid's brilliant take on this Channing Tatum is a streetfighter drama. Is it really a comedy about retarded men having hardcore gay sex? If that's what the filmmakers intended maybe it's a masterpiece and it belongs on next week's Top Ten list?

Hugh gives Channing the beat down

09 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Greedily hordes all the well known pitfalls of inferior superhero movies like they're actually merit badges: operatically self important, humorless, needlessly complicated backstories, the introduction of so many characters that none resonate, battles for battles sake, invulnerable characters that rob fight scenes of any actual drama... Note to filmmakers: if people cannot be killed or even injured it is SUPER boring to watch them fight. Unless the set pieces are insanely creative or well choreographed and these aren't. I will always love the X-Men. I grew up reading them. But the past two pictures have unfortunately cured me of all desire to see them on the silver screen.

08 The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson's nadir. Garishly colorful when it needs the beauty of a simpler palette, entirely negligent about tracking the true heart of its drama (a family torn asunder), weirdly repetitive about its most obvious plot points, lazy with emotional shortcuts and telegraphed character details. In short, a disaster. Most hated moment: [Spoiler] Did we really have to equate Susie Salmon's cathartic posthumous first kiss (which she's happy about by the way) with the extended coundtown scene of her mutilated dead body being rolled towards a garbage dump? It's the worst and ickiest cross cutting I've seen in a movie since Eric Bana's orgasm in Munich but at least the latter made a solid narrative point.

07 My Sister's Keeper review
06 Knowing review
05 Amelia review

04 Push (Not Based on the Novel by Sapphire)
I don't often watch movies and think 'this would be way better as a TV series' but...yeah. Push spends a lot of time (a lot) setting up the mythology of an evil corporation that experiments and tries to control people with psychic powers. The prologue itself felt like it should have been extended by a half hour and function as a "pilot". But even accepting that they decided to make this convoluted premise into a stand alone movie, it's a huge inept mess. It rarely goes for laughs but I couldn't help laughing at one recurring gaffe. Every single time someone used one of their powers in a crowded room the extras mysteriously disappeared. I suspect they couldn't afford the extras for more complex special effects shots but you can't really show them in a scene and then make a quick edit to the same set with special effects occuring and remove the extras and not have the audience noticing the mass vanishing, you know? Worse yet this occurs in the climactic battle. A "pusher" is controlling a small group of armed men. It's actually a cool effect as she turns them like synchronized soldiers to attack any opponent. Then the emotional climax occurs. They're surrounding her like bodyguards in the medium shot, there's some close up drama and suddenly they're not in the scene any more. What... the... hell?

The third stupidest thing I saw in a movie this year: The recurring visual of a "bleeder", whose power is screaming really loud until people die from internal bleeding, removing his sunglasses so that he can scream (f/x magic makes his eyes crazy). Apparently you can't scream while you're wearing glasses. Who knew?

03 G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra
The stupidest thing I saw in any movie this year: constant fiery explosions UNDER WATER.
The second stupidest thing I saw this year (regarding movies): abundant people trying to make thumbs up excuses for this movie. Thank god that James Cameron finally came back to the cinema to remind people that action films can be thrilling and fun ... especially when you can actually follow what's happening and there's some beauty and style to the big booms.

02 The Ugly Truth
Over the past few weeks I've been trying to catch up with films I'd missed during the year. I've rediscovered something I knew already: it can be easier to watch mediocre or outright bad movies than quality films. I suspect this is why the box office charts are so often littered with disposable junk. Bad and/or unambitious movies require almost nothing from their audience. But if you're not in the right frame of mind, a quality movie's best attributes may slip right by you. I suspect this is why more complicated movies often get the dread "boring" tag from the general public. Junk is easy to engage with on superficial levels if you're feeling tired, stressed, distracted or not completely on top of your game... and who doesn't feel those things regularly? But when a movie is reallllllllly bad and offensive, none of this applies. It can prove very difficult to watch. I actually briefly hated the cinema (my great love!) when the credits rolled on this one.

Who knew that Tom Cruise's 'sperm receptacle' nastiness in Magnolia could actually be played straight for romantic comedy. And that audiences were expected to sign on and swoon? I'd name this the worst movie of the year but for the saving grace/problem of Katherine Heigl. She is actually a natural at romantic comedy but she's totally using her powers for evil. She called Knocked Up out on its sexism and then made this...?

01 I Love You I Hate You Beth Cooper.
I've already said my piece on Hayden earlier. But I would like to add that after the Home Alone franchise's elaborate pain-making slapstick and this movie's insanely violent "funny" moments (people wouldn't live through these things in real life) I do worry about writer/director Chris Columbus's sadistic streak. Maybe he should make a horror movie instead of all these sentimental pictures. He definitely likes to inflict pain.

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Whew. Got that out of my system. I'm nice from here on out as I pass out the FB Awards starting next week.

But before we get to the top ten movies of 2009 which movies made you crazy hateful this past year... which prompted your own berzerker rage? And if you love any of the movies I just barked at ... what's wrong with you? (Joking! Don't freak out) If you love any of these movies... teach us how to love them more.

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Channing "Russell" Tatum

This just in: Channing Tatum to star in a remake of Gladiator. "That movie is so old" a studio executive whined, "Time for a reboot!" The star suggested bringing sexy (shaved head) back but producers felt his skull wasn't shaped enough like Russell Crowe's so a pseudo caesar haircut would have to do!

Actually it's a still from Tatum's 2010 release The Eagle of the Ninth. I have no idea what it's about (I have no time to read... especially when there are pretty pictures to look at!) but like Ridley Scott's Robin Hood trailer it wants to remind you of Gladiator in a big big way. Are you not entertained ........ by the bald great-by-association ploy? More pictures including a strapping Jamie Bell here.
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Link it On

Risky Biz Young Victoria finally has a distributor (Apparition -- see previous post) but audiences just aren't going for costume dramas these days.
Cinematical good piece on contrasting trailers before the movie... and how much mainstream auds love baaaaad movies like Wild Hogs)
Erik Lundegaard on Stephen Sommers (GI Joe "director") and the 'courage of his cliches'.


Fin de Cinema oooh, pretty posters for Toronto and Venice films
My New Plaid Pants shares one of the best cinephile dreams I've ever heard. Every night I hope to dream about movies but I rarely do
She Knows is hosting a contest to win a Kindle. It's in promotion of a new supernatural-powered book called Seven Rays from the screenwriter of Bring it On therefore I love it already. Maybe. Okay I'm not quite that easy
Us Magazine unleashes that 11 year old video of Channing Tatum stripping the night away. But why release it if you're gonna edit / censor it? Not that I'm pervy for the Tatum and wanted to see everything. I have no feelings on this one way or the other. I am a completely neutral party, Channing Tatum means nothing to me


off cinema
TransGriot has a great piece on the racist self-defeating fears of these looney people attacking any efforts at reform in our country
Boy Culture also chimes in on the health care debate -- great post
pop hangover best reason to drive a Prius. Hee

anyway...
Enjoy this Coen Bros picture short making the rounds today on the web. It was for an omnibus film but it's never shown up on DVDs. So here it is. Starring Josh Brolin as well it should.

Link Code

AO Scott "spoon-fed cinema" on the infantilization of the cinema. There's no solution in this piece, just despair. But it's hard to argue with the points raised -- the box office does prove that even adults prefer movies aimed at toddlers and their "AGAIN!" refrain.
Roger Ebert is also exasperating by the dumbing down. Hey... might this have anything to do with GI Joe?
fourfour a 10 second review of GI Joe. Funny funny although I guarantee Channing has regular genitalia, having seen it.


Boy Culture Did you know that Channing Tatum was once a male stripper? Neither did I.
Edward Copeland commits heresy "a pox on all your awards shows"


Finally, if you've ever seen Mike Figgis's fascinating quartered-screen experiment Time Code (2000) you owe it to yourself to check out Nick and Tim's wordy, passionate, thorny, funny and appropriately confusing discussion for Nick's ongoing series Films of the 00s. Bonus points: Lots of love for Holly Hunter therein. Holly always carries bonus points with her.

Public Enemies

BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!

RAT-A-TAT-TAT

Christian Bale actually shoots my (guilty pleasure) Channing Tatum down early on in Public Enemies but I've totally forgiven him because I'm so pleased that he didn't shout at the camera with crazy eyes this time. I was getting so tired of that. My second favorite scene in the movie is totally his lone scene with Johnny Depp through the bars of a jail cell, both men subtly trying to come out on top of the verbal smackdown. Bale is totally intense in the scene without once doing his "LOOK HOW INTENSE I AM!" thing. Well played Bale, well played.

My full review of Public Enemies is up over at Towleroad. In addition to holding forth on Public Enemies (which I heartily recommend to some and not to others) my weekly column offers up new gay movie news and wraps up with the criminal cool of Bette Davis. So, go read it.

But back to PE...

I'm totally fascinated by the diverse opinions I've been hearing and reading. Rather improbably for a straightforward gangster story, it seems to be something of a rorschach test, people reacting to it in completely personal ways. How else to explain nearly exact opposite reactions such as 'this is a character study but the action doesn't work' vs. 'there is zero character development but the action scenes are well shot'.

It's for this very dichotomous reason that I don't subscribe to either of the Oscar race notions floating around out there: the pro 'The Oscar race has begun' or the con 'Dead on arrival. Look at the middling reviews!' It seems obvious to me that it's the type of picture that will need time to settle. I think that's a good thing. Too many movies are instantaneously celebrated or dismissed on their very first day in theaters (and sometimes before that). Christ, let them breathe a little.

But if you've seen it, do add your initial impression to the confusing dogpile. After all, gut reactions come before full digestion.
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Nailing Channing Tatum

Today's Must Read: Joe Reid spits out a brilliant piece on the simple-minded Channing Tatum vehicle Fighting over at Low Resolution. His thesis:

Fighting is a movie about hardcore gay sex. With mentally retarded people.

Heh. So wrong and true. I started using this trailer screencap to your top left as my desktop background (I switch it up bi-weekly) primarily because I enjoy the, um, ideas that come up when I look at it. Shut up! I can't help myself when it comes to the Tatum. I seriously can't.

Speaking of Tatum. Next up is a small bit in Public Enemies and after that, in his third of three '09 films, comes the role of "Duke" in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The G.I. Joe trailer is stoopid with bad CGI but normally I'd have to see it anyway on account of my helplessness in the face of the face of...

But, lo, a silver lining. Since everyone in G.I. Joe seems mummified by their costuming to the point of unrecognizable, and even the marketing suggests we shouldn't care who is inside each costume*, maybe this is my way out? Surely if I can't tell that it's The Tatum inside the rubber costumes (what are those costumes made out of anyway?), I can purge my self-destructive desire to see every frame of him his movies.

Anyway, read Joe's post. In fact, read it over and over again until 105 minutes have passed. I guarantee you'll have more fun than you will at the movie itself. The only enjoyable actualmoviething you'll miss out on is Altagracia Guzman's bossy Latino grandma act but you can see her do that with greater detail, comedy and pathos in Raising Victor Vargas which is 2,069 times better than Fighting anyway.

Altagracia Guzman gives Tatum her best right hook at the premiere of Fighting

I've been urging people to see Raising Victor Vargas for years now. People still give me blank looks when I mention it. Will no one listen? Rent it.

*Question: Why hire name actors who are expensive when you're just going to bury them in CGI, body suits, and masks?
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Tatumic Temptations

This week my Towleroad article is gauging the amount of heat in the room (or subway) for one Channing Tatum since Fighting opened today. Don't you love that Tatum's extending his pinky in the screengrab? It only makes me love him more. This article also covers the gay bits (there weren't many) from the Nashville festival.

After I wrote the piece I saw one more film that could have figured in. It was called True Adolescents. The movie was about a 30something rocker (Mark Duplass) with more than a little of the Peter Pan syndrome. His aunt (Melissa Leo) convinces him to take her son and her son's friend on a camping trip. The movie starts out all slackerish and obnoxious but as it develops it becomes unexpectedly sensitive, especially in regards to the subject of adolescent sexual confusion. Not a gay film but gayish. It's uneven but it redeemed some of its louder impulses with a subtly tough ending.

Happy Earth Day!

JA from MNPP here with a very important Earth Day message from a star: Channing Tatum would like to request that we all go outdoors today and plant or tree. If no saplings are available, Channing has his own solution, illustrated below:

Channing is planting himself in the ground, and from there a tree filled with Channings will rise, and from its fruit we will never go hungry again. Channing Tatum just solved world hunger, y'all. Respect.

For a more comprehensive, element-to-element appreciation
of our wonderful world, check this post over at MNPP.
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Emily/Victoria and John/Johnny

Biography movies will never die! Run for cover.

The NY Post blog PopWrap gave me a little chortle titling this premiere photo to your left "Emily Blunt: Boob Watch". If you were Emily Blunt wouldn't you stare at it, too? She's delicious and knows it.

It seems like years ago when we first started talking about her star vehicle bio The Young Victoria -- oh, it was -- and now the film is opening in the UK tomorrow and has an official site and everything but still no news about a US release. Surely there's an audience here of some limited release size. Why no distributor? Julian Fellowes, the Gosford Park screenwriter, is certainly excited about it. He quipped to a crowd on the promotional circuit that he told his agent

“If I don’t write it, you die.”

Here's the trailer. It does look a little, hmmm, lightweight... even lighter than The Duchess so maybe it only has a costume design nomination in it (Hi, Sandy Powell!) but you never know. "Don't judge a movie by its trailer," Nathaniel shouts to no one in particular. Nathaniel even ignores him.



There's also a new trailer to Public Enemies which is also not entirely enticing though Michael Mann films are so reliant on sustained mood and machismotic* grit that trailers are tricky. It occurs to me watching this and writing that Oscar post yesterday that Johnny Depp, who gained enormous fame and fortune creating indelibly weird originals, has actually done more than his share of real life impersonations. John Dillinger, the famous gangster he plays in this film, is his sixth biographical portrayal. Seventh if you count Hunter S Thompson's fictional alter ego in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.



It seems odd that this film's stacked supporting cast o' names isn't featured more prominently in the trailer. For example: If you have Channing Tatum in your movie, why the hell aren't you bragging about it?

* I made that word up. Sorry, but it seemed appropriate.
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We Can't Wait #12 The Hurt Locker

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce and Evangeline Lilly.
Synopsis An Army bomb squad in Iraq tries not to get blowed up.
Brought to you by Summit Entertainment
Expected Release Date Ummm...

Joe: The Hurt Locker is probably the 2009 title we know the most about, because it played the festival circuit pretty heavily, including Toronto, Montreal, and Venice (where it won an armload of awards, if not the big one). It even nabbed two Independent Spirit nominations. Early word is very good, and Bigelow, who manages to be artful even in her failures, is said to have put together a gorgeous action movie. Nobody will see it, of course, but we can all drive ourselves crazy talking about why!

Whitney: As much as I love that there is a prolific female director working in action, I'm so not interested in this movie. And even when Ralph Fiennes is in some really wonderful films, I just want to punch him in his ugly ugly face. That's right, RaLF!

Joe: Backing away. Waiting to see how JA responds.

Nathaniel: Is it time for the Bizarrro blog-a-thon again already? Yeah that Fiennes is a dog.
No, no, no. I can't do the Bizarro-thon. I can't. I can't.

See, Kathryn Bigelow makes me feel earnest. I love her. I can't entirely explain it. I like how deadly serious her films are, even when they kinda should be funnier (hi, Point Break). Okay, at least I love the idea of Kathryn Bigelow (stereotype defying action director) even when I don't love some of the films. She'll always have Near Dark and Strange Days! Thus, this goes on my list.

Fox: I side with Nathaniel on being a fan of Bigelow. As for the subject matter ("The Iraq"), I wonder how she'll handle it. Most directors screw it up, but Bigelow seems to be a mature, even-handed lady. I'll freakin' go to war for Point Break. That movie is a joy to watch. And Near Dark? Well, can we just say that it's probably a genre masterpiece? Come on Whitney, just say it! JUST SAY IT!

Whitney: I totally blanked on Near Dark. I'll give you that.

JA: Sorry, it took me a little extra time to get all my rings off so as to deliver a scar-free Ralph-defending righteous beat-down.

Ahem.

Did somebody just go bad-mouthing my Ralph? NUH UH. That's crazy talk. Not just crazy-talk, it deserves extra syllables. Kuh-Razy Talk. And on grounds of him being ugly? Ugly? Have you only seen him in the Harry Potter movies, Whitney? He has a nose in real life, you know - a regal, parochial nose* I want to make love to on its own, at that. Not just a pair of serpentine slits. But He Who Shan't Be Spoken Of, Ralph can defend himself. He's a big boy. A big boy with an oft-deployed serial killer's sexy come-hither-and-be-destroyed stare. Swoon.


This movie didn't make my list, because I am just so over Iraq movies. Unless they can beat Channing Tatum rolling around in his underwear for several minutes, I'm done for the time being. I need a breather. That said, I do like Bigelow, and Ralph (insert fist-to-chest "recognize" thump here), and if I keep hearing that Jeremy Renner - a wonderful actor that does not get the credit he deserves - is great in it, I'll probably see it too.

* Excuse me, in my thunder I named Ralph's nose after a boarding school. I meant "patrician's nose." Do carry on. It's early. Need coffee.

Joe: I kind of like the idea of Ralph having a parochial nose, though. What kind of a nose would that be? The kind of nose that only associates with other noses like it?

Anyway, I feel like I should stick up for Whitney since I too don't find Ralph quite all that, in the looks department. That's right, I'll bear my share of the blowback from this particular explosion, much like Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and co. will no doubt do in the movie.

And THAT'S how you bring it 'round full-circle.

Nathaniel: Ha! and indeed.

Readers, do I put too much faith in Kathryn Bigelow? Have you taken my unsubtle hints over the past few years and screened Near Dark or Strange Days? Has my unshakeable belief that action films peaked from 1986-1995 -- years which not coincidentally surrounded MIA auteur James Cameron's marriage to Kathryn Bigelow and included both of their best films -- confused my thinking? Do you have any desire to see this or are you, like JA, burnt out on Iraq movies? (Unless Channing Tatum strips in them)

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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Stop-Loss

What’s that great line from No Country For Old Men when Tommy Lee Jones’s Sheriff is asked if a multiple body massacre is a mess?

If it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here

When it comes to stories about America’s ill advised war in Iraq, it’s hard not to think of it is the real deal. You won’t have to wait for another to arrive. It’s a bloody unequivocal mess, no matter how much Orwellian spinning has gone on over the past five years in the nation’s media to convince us otherwise. If you’re a pessimist –or some would argue a realist, you may think this particular botch is forever, an intractable wreck that’ll only result in larger catatostrophes down the line. If it is, it’ll keep expanding till the other messes get here.

Stop-Loss, Kimberly Peirce’s first feature since her much heralded 1999 debut (Boys Don’t Cry), arrived in the marketplace last week like one of its weary soldiers. This would be yet another wounding tour through America’s seeming indifference to Iraq war dramas. Did anyone expect it to be a big hit? Most articles neglect to mention that only certain types of movies are critic proof. Those are the big-ticket genres like superhero films, action extravaganzas, animated flicks, big star driven comedies. When it comes to dramas aimed at adults, are any of them critic proof?

Read the Full Review @ Zoom-In
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We Can't Wait #13 Stop-Loss

Directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry)
Starring A who's who of young (male) Hollywood
Synopsis A soldier (Ryan Phillipe) who believes he's done with his tour of duty in Iraq is called back due to the Stop-Loss clause.
Brought to you by MTV & Paramount
Expected Release Date March 28th, 2008

Nathaniel: Joe wrote a good piece on why people (himself included) might actually want to see the Iraq themed Stop-Loss, media concerns be damned, by why are the rest of you anxious for Kimberly Peirce's soldiers inbetween tours drama? Is it the cast: Channing Tatum, JGL, the Ex Mr. Witherspoon, Victor "Vargas" Razuk? Subject? Director? All of the above? √

MaryAnn: Well, *I'm* media -- not huge corporate military- industrial- entertainment -complex media, but media nevertheless -- and I've been saying much the same thing for a while now, that it looks like Americans don't want to hear about Iraq, that we've stuck our collective fingers in our collective ears and are collectively saying "Nah, nah, nah, can't hear you!" I mean, since when do reviews impact movies starring Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon. They're two of the biggest movie stars on the planet, and if they can't put asses in seats, then I gotta conclude that means people do not want to hear about Iraq.

But I do, and I keep railing about how we all need to know what's being done in our name, and how it is affecting our soldiers, which is why I'm looking forward to this one. Plus: JGL is shaping up into the best young actor working today. And I've been dying to see what Peirce would come up with after Boys Don't Cry, which feels like such a long time ago...

Joe: There's a difference, MaryAnn, between "don't want to hear" and "shouldn't have to hear" and it's that difference that I was talking about. And while critics may not be able to keep people from seeing movies starring big movie stars, the constant drumbeat of the mainstream media dubbing those films failures before they even leave the gate sure can. And that's what I was talking about. If we all seem to be in agreement that the media shapes our perceptions when it comes to politics, I wonder why there seems to be so much resistence to the idea that they can shape our perceptions when it comes to the movies we want to see as well.

Anyway, hot boys destined to break my heart and a director whose return I've been longing for are why I'll see it.

Rob Brown, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum and Victor Rasuk [src]

MaryAnn: I agree that the mega-media shapes our perception in many things. But as you pointed out, the mega-media has told us people didn't want to see a lot of movies they ended up seeing in droves anyway. So where does that leave us? Are we capable of making decisions contrary to what the media tells us we're supposed to, and is there evidence to show that people do in fact do that, or not? Look, I'm the biggest cynic there is, particularly when it comes to the mass media and the idiocy of the average person, and in this case, I think it really is the idiocy and willful ignorance of the average person that is keeping mass audiences from movies about Iraq.

Gabriel: Aren't the gauges of success/failure a little different for Stop-Loss? There's no Cruise, Witherspoon, or Streep in this (mostly) young, mostly indie-oriented cast. I expect it didn't cost a lot to make, and therefore doesn't need to do as much to be "successful".

I'm hoping that Peirce -- who so eloquently and honestly brought the horrors of anti-transgender violence into the theaters of America -- can create a similar mix of controversy, storytelling, and young-turk actors that might jump-start a national conversation. Unlike the narratives of Rendition and Lions for Lambs and The Kingdom, the subject of overworked, over-used, underappreciated soldiers is one of the great unexplored tragedies of the Iraq War. I've got big, big hopes for this one.

MaryAnn: I've got big hopes for this one, too. Not big hopes that it will be a multiplex blockbuster, but big hopes that it'll actually be a powerful film.

Glenn: The reason, I think, for the failure of movies like Rendition, Lions for Lambs and so on is because they looked like awful movies. I saw an ad the other night for Rendition (it's only just being released here, natch) and it was snooooze central and Lions for Lambs? That just looked like people gasbagging for hours on end. I can't say I expect Stop-Loss to be a big hit, but the return of Kimberly Peirce, plus Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Abbie Cornish in her international debut (I don't believe I've heard of this Elizabeth movie you speak of) is enough to get me into the cinema. Channing Tatum (I'm sorry, but his face is like Crichton off of Red Dwarf - can I get a "hell yeah!"?) and Ryan Phillippe are not on my radar, sorry. By the way, do you think there's some mysterious reason why after getting a divorce both Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe decided to star in Iraq-themed films and then hook up with their respective co-stars. Weeeird.

Nathaniel: Rebound lovers and rebonding films: are they trying to make up through the power of the cinema?

MaryAnn: The thing is, though, that Rendition and Lions for Lambs were NOT awful movies...

Gabriel: Define "awful."

MaryAnn: I'll stick to these two movies. Rendition was pretty Hollywood but was an excellent introduction (or would have been, if more people had seen it) to very unAmerican injustices that are being done in the name of our supposed safety, things that Americans should know about. Lions for Lambs was talky, sure, but it presented a balanced, not-hysterical look at the deep mess we're in while also offering hope for fixing it. Both films were well produced and had good performances from appealing casts.

Maybe they were poorly marketed, and that's why no one saw them. I'd like to think that's the case, and not that most Americans prefer their ignorance. I'm not sure I can believe that, though.

Glenn: Since when has that mattered with the general public? From a quick look at the box office charts for any given year after 1980 and the successful films are hardly a barometre of what the quality films were.

MaryAnn: Well, that's what I've been saying. It hasn't mattered before whether movies starring Tom Cruise or Reese Witherspoon were *good,* people went to see them anyway. But not movies about Iraq. Which suggests that people really, really don't want to hear about Iraq.

Nathaniel: Whether or not they do I suspect the topic is to rich dramatically to deter filmmakers who can find patrons somewhere to fund it.

But back to the movie at hand. You'll remember we posted some anonymous positive test screening responses a couple of months back and the movie is but a month away from our hungry eyes. I should also note that Kimberly Peirce is actually blogging and answering questions about her new movie over @ the Stop-Loss site so check that out. I know I will. Think she'll answer why she took so awfully long to follow up her stellar and moving debut.

the countdown
#10 Sex & The City: The Movie
#11 The Lovely Bones
#12 WALL-E
#13 Stop-Loss
#14 The Women
#15 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Introduction / Orphans
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Stop-Loss Sneak

I don't normally share test screening buzz. Movies often change from tests to final product and it can be unfair to the movie in question --I'd hate people to judge rough drafts of anything I've written. But since this one is positive and since I know it's no studio plant and since it's about the new Kimberly Peirce film (so many reasons), I had to spread the good news. I know many of you reading are fans of her well observed, evocative work on Boys Don't Cry (1999) and the performances she guided including Hilary Swank (who won the Oscar), Chlöe Sevigny (nominated) and Peter Sarsgaard (still waiting for recognition, damnit). Pierce has taken nearly a decade to follow up on her debut hit despite, I hear, numerous offers and false starts. Here's what 'the unknown critic' has to say about her latest, an entry in the growing field of Iraq War related dramas:

The term "Stop-Loss" refers to a loophole that permits the military to retain soldiers beyond their required term of service. The film Stop-Loss tells the story of one man faced with just this situation. Following a brutal ambush that resulted in the deaths of several of his men, Staff Sergeant Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) returns home to his hometown in Texas, only to be told by his superiors that he will be required to return to Iraq. Understandably, he balks at the idea and runs out on the Army and embarks on a road trip to Washington, D.C., accompanied by Michelle (Abbie Cornish), the fiancée of his lifelong friend Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum).

I realize that the plot synopsis conjures up any number of formulas- the road movie, with lots of colorful characters and picturesque stops along the way; the
chase thriller, with Brandon and Michelle hiding out from the law; even the coming home story, with battle-seasoned soldiers uneasily returning to their old lives. But Stop-Loss doesn't really fit into any of these categories. The film isn't so much about a plot as it is about the characters who inhabit it.

Stop-Loss is neither an angry film nor a despairing one, although at times it appears to be both. Instead, it's a surprisingly clear-eyed film about a man whose life has been changed by his war experiences, for better or worse. Whether he likes it or not, the Army has shown Brandon that he’s a born leader, and the film demonstrates it not only by the respect he gets from his fellow soldiers, but also by how lost they are when he’s not around. Rodriguez (Victor Rasuk), severely injured in battle, spends his days in a military hospital. Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is prone to becoming drunk and violent. And Steve finds that outside the military real life makes little sense to him anymore.

As for the awards potential of Stop-Loss, I'd say that a lot of it rests on how it catches on with the public. The film is set to be released in March 2008, which rarely bodes well for a movie's Oscar chances. In addition, while all of the performances are solid, none is particularly baity. Even the showier roles- Phillippe, Gordon-Levitt, Rasuk- lack the big histrionic moments that tend to come with performances that get awards attention. But what the Stop-Loss lacks in awards-show-ready clips it makes up for in textured storytelling and detailed characterization. And the feel Peirce exhibited for small-town life in Boys Don’t Cry is in full flower here. Stop-Loss is a major achievement, sure to be a discussion point among astute filmgoers when it’s released in March.

Hearing good news about the film fills me with satisfaction. It's been a long time in coming. I think the move to March is a good thing for two reasons. First, it puts some distance between itself and all of these Iraq war films that are currently flopping. Second, we need more adult friendly dramas in the first quarter of each year. This year we got Zodiac. Maybe Stop-Loss will be 2008's quality sip of water in the usually barren sand of March. You should know too (just for giggles) that the unknown critic assures me that Channing Tatum is still allergic to clothing. What? I swear I didn't ask!

Oh, and here's the trailer which you may have seen already

Test your "NathanielQ"

How long have you been visiting The Film Experience? Consider yourself an expert on film or the proprietor of this site? Ready to prove it?

While he’s off working on personal matters, I thought it would be fun to test everyone’s movie-related “NathanielQ.”

1. Nathaniel hails from:

a. Kansas
b. A closed-door meeting between Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins and Natalie Wood. They were discussing a West Side Story sequel, but astutely realized Nat would bring more joy to the world
c. Michigan
d. A random thought that Julianne Moore had on a bright spring day during her childhood


2. Actressexuality is:

a. A tendency to sleep with actresses
b. Considered an addiction
c. A mild skin condition that can be cleared up with calamine lotion
d. Someone with a female actress preference


3. Nathaniel's favorite movie of all time is:

a. Moulin Rouge!
b. West Side Story
c. Shrek
d. Belle du Jour



4. “She who must not be named” is:

a. The villain from “Harry Potter”
b. Renee Zellweger
c. Hilary Swank
d. Too terrible to mention here


5. Nathaniel is sometimes mistaken for:

a. Lance Bass
b. Channing Tatum
c. Anthony Michael Hall
d. K-Fed




Extra Credit:

Nathaniel is given the opportunity to interview and have dinner with Michelle Pfieffer, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. He'll have plenty of time to chat and ask questions, but there's a catch: Beforehand he must spend 3 months on a deserted island with no movies except either the Hilary Swank or Renee Zellweger collection.

What would he do?
What would you do?

A Guide to Recognizing You're Channing Tatum

Are you confused about whether or not you are Channing Tatum? If so, here's a simple guide to help you recognize.

Are you morally, physically... aesthetically opposed to wearing shirts?


Do you actually look younger with your head shaved?

Would you rather be modelling??

Do the simplest things confuse you???


Do you find that you can make everything about you?
(Like, say, when you're helping your friend choreograph her senior dance project and you give yourself the big solo in the middle of it. Or like when you're merely a supporting player --excuse me-- playa in a movie starring another young rising star and a hugely acclaimed comeback actor and your part isn't really bigger than the other supporting players (a double Oscar winner and a nominee), and yet you still make the DVD menu all about yourself)


If you answered √ to most of these questions, you are probably Channing Tatum!
*

Beyond the Valley of the Stardolls

Say you have some time to waste and you happen to be a teenage girl (or just think like one) you can probably lose an hour or three of your precious life playing with Stardoll. I gave myself a strict time limit because I am a sucker for interactive goofiness. So here's my 30 minute red carpet creation.


On the left we have BFFs Salma Hayek & Penélope Cruz. You can't see that I placed them in handholding BFF poses because I also gave them unfortunately poofy matching dresses -- what's a BFF good for if you can't wear matching ensembles? I threw in Johnny Depp for some eccentricity... and while I was going there added Björk too. They did have a swan dress for her but why be so literal? Instead I just gave her a bathrobe with a tie and some edible accessories (dog bone and pastry hat for the obvious reason of: why not?).I already regret placing Anne Hathaway in a dress that's more suited for an aging goddess like Julie Andrews or Glenn Close but it's easy to imagine Ms. Hathaway on the red carpet when she's 60, isn't it? (The one major problem with this time sucker: 17 pages of celebrity paper dolls to choose from and not even that number of individual gown choices? Oh the humanity!)

I couldn't find a dress I liked for Beyoncé so I just made a slutty one out of shiny necklaces since it's that kind o' tacky that gets media attention. Perhaps I erred, Beyoncé being so shy and all? I finished the dress up game with Channing Tatum but I didn't think clothing was appropriate. Less is more.

Stardoll has *gasp* 5 million users. (It's not like they need me to point at them. But like I said: sucker for interactivity) That's a lot of pre teen and teen girl power. Apparently, based on polling, they're all rooting for Kate Winslet to win the Oscar. Poor things... Sunday night will be rough on them. Oscar breaks everyone's heart eventually.