Real Steel opens in October 2011. A weird time for a summer movie to open. Except that it's a parody of a summer movie and not an actual summer movie, right? Right. Thought so. What? It's not? ohno. LOLZ
In Shawn Levy's Real Steel, Hugh Jackman builds giant boxing robots to carry on in his manly sweaty boxing footsteps. He now runs a boxing club for robots or something. Or maybe he just visits and trains them? Anthony Mackie plays some sort of mic-wielding emcee.
So let's give Real Steel the Yes, No, Maybe So™ Film Experience trailer treatment.
Yes. Moments worth watching in the Real Steel trailer: Hugh Jackman in slo-mo; Hugh Jackman talking. Close up of Hugh Jackman sweaty chest hair in black and white; Hugh Jackman punching the air; Hugh Jackman wearing a hoodie; Hugh Jackman "resting" on the pavement (ouch); Hugh Jackman Paparazzi!; Hugh Jackman "this is what it's all about!!!"; Hugh Jackman with remote control; Hugh Jackman in sunglasses; Hugh Jackman with sad face; Hugh Jackman shouting "Bring It!!!" no, wait. Nix the last part. He was trying too hard to be cool. That wasn't right. That's the take they used?
No. I don't wanna get too literal about this -- literal is lame when it comes to summer spectaculars -- but the premise doesn't work even by the standards of stoopidity. The popularity of Transformers aside, the reason people like watching boxing is because of the flesh but mostly because of the blood. It's a visceral animalistic thrill to watch people beat each other to (near) death. If there's no flesh and no blood why would feverish bloodthirsty crowds show up? Or is it like strictly the monster truck demolition derby crowd they're after and not a four quadrant kind of thing? (But even then there are actual people in the machines that might get squashed: therefore drama.) The concept would make more sense if the robots were like androids... but then this would also be a really gross trailer and the movie would be rated R and you can't have that anymore.
Maybe So. When you have the buffer of a movie star you love, braindead movies can be fun. Unless the dumbness makes the star look bad or like said star is trying too hard and then it just becomes sad.
Please don't try too hard Jackman. Please don't shout "Bring it!" any more. Or maybe whisper it or sing it if you're contractually obliged to deliver the line. That is all. ____- Signed, a concerned Jackmaniac
P.S. ...who would really like you to do a movie musical before you are 80 years old. WHEN?! Stop making stupid movies. *
Both of whom need better movies but whatever. Ewan at least is doing okay for himself this year. The Ghost Writer is excellent and I Love You Phillip Morris opens soon. (Finally)
On this very day in 1939, Australia's Northern Standard incorrectly assumed that The Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman) and her Drover (Hugh Jackman) had both perished in the Kuraman Desert!
Newspapers. They've always had it rough; The second you publish something it's ancient history.
Just as soon as this news was making the rounds the lady and her cattle driving man, rode into town in a cloud of triumphant dust and defeated their main rival. They won! Celebratoryparties, long delayed lovemaking and a return to the now thriving Faraway Downs followed. After a short orgiastic montage of Australia's natural beauty (the country's and the movie's), the epic movie ends with a speech by the young narrator Nullah (Brandon Walters)
Just like Drover say 'that rain make everything come alive.' The land it grow green and fat and we all go back to Faraway Downs. Mrs Boss happy. Drover Happy.
I hear for the first time that thing called Christmas. Then the rain, it stops. And then Drover, he go droving. The Mrs Boss, she always misses Drover. But I know, he's going to come back.
How perfect are these golden shots as closing romantic images?
Only there's no closing. The epic movie didn't end there, not on October 29th (and the cattle drive was already quite a movie) or with Nullah's first Christmas. Or even after the Drover went a-drovin' again, an amusingly brief montage which consists only of this leaving and returning, beautifully illustrating a family falling into its future pattern.
But there's a lot more adventure, World War II adventure, coming. There's roughly sixty more minutes of it. I've often thought that had Australia wrapped up with that three shot shown above and this clear romantic narrative about the formation of a family (after one hour and forty-three minutes of a rousing western adventure), the critics and audiences might have been kinder. Wasn't Australia's main sin only that it was desperately overstuffed, that it didn't trust that one adventure, one tone, or one lead character arc was enough and it had to pack in at least a few of everything? Sometimes less is more, even for gorgeous sun-kissed epic that aspire to the mythic.
Australia came out two years ago and though two years isn't a long time, you rarely hear people discuss this one anymore. Have any of you watched it recently? If you haven't seen it since its premiere, what is your most vivid memory of it? * * *
Y'all. I am so worried about the continued reports / rumors that Darren Aronofsky is making a superhero picture next. First they said he wanted the Superman reboot that now belongs to Zach Snyder. (Great, just what traditional placid loveably corny Superman needed... a tricked up slo-mo enthused "hip" director. Yikes!) Now, Vulture reports that Aronofsky is close to signing for Wolverine 2: No Longer Forced Into Awkwardly Origin Titling (2012).
Drawing by John Romita Jr. | Darren Insert by Moi
I realize that the Aronofksy/Weisz NYC lovenest probably doesn't come cheap. And I realize that after 5 straight winners showcasing your visual originality, gift with actors, and massive cojones, anyone would be tempted to cash in. But how exactly is that going to look on the filmography? Is he just hoping to get the acclaim that Chris Nolan has from the public by going more mainstream? (If you ask me he's a better director than Nolan but Nolan makes high tech sci-fi/superhero movies so naturally he's a million times more beloved.) Will this sequel be an unsightly blemish or am I just worried because of the permanent scarring from the 100% joy-free X-Men Origins: Wolverine?
Best Case Scenario: On the plus side the only way is up. Wolverine's Japanese detours in the comics are among the hero's most intriguing and could offer enormous possibilities for visual triumphs. Plus, if Aronofsky's filmography to date is any indication he is incapable of making a movie as dull as the first Wolverine, in which no action sequence could raise a pulse because nothing was ever at stake with invincible / indestructable people in every corner. In fact the only sequence that had any electric snap was the watery escape but that was entirely the fault of the mighty power of Naked Hugh Jackman and consider: Aronofsky got more indelible star mojo from that man when forcing him into pajamas and a bald cap.
So maybe it'll be great to see Jackman reinvigorated as an actor within his signature character? It is hard to give a bad or lazy performance in a Darren Aronofsky movie... and they're obviously comfortable with each other via The Fountain. Presumably a director is choosy about which actor he'll direct making love to his longtime girlfriend onscreen.
To make a long story short, this movie is bound to look rosy in comparison to the first Wolverine. And if anybody deserves some safety cushion funding for their next few weirdo projects, it's Aronofsky. So why not cash in?
Two Face: The Fountain and Wolverine
Worst Case Scenario: The homogeny-loving power of both suits and fanboys sap most comic book projects of any chance at originality and specificity, so what if Aronofsky's artistry is violently sucked from him, the tragic victim of status quo vampirism? What if he makes his first dud? That'd be so sad.
It's true that I haven't seen Black Swan yet and it's true that many people hate The Fountain (but you can't exactly knock it for being generic, can you?) so perhaps I protest too much. But from The Wrestler to Black Swan to... a sequel to someone else's vision?
I worry.
Maybe you don't. Are you already salivating to see the claws come out again or just to see this director/star pair reunited?
Shhhhhh. It's a day of rest and Hugh Jackman is sleeping. Let him be.
Wait. Anna!? What are you doing?!? Don't tiptoe up to deadly people while they're having nightmares.
AakHHGGGgghHNnnHhh! ouch
Well, don't say we didn't warn you. Anna Paquin is always hovering carelessly around killers, isn't she? Whether they be clawed or fanged. The girl can't help it.
The X-Men movie franchise was launched 10 years ago in July 2000 and I watched it again last week with the intention of celebrating it with lots of prurient screencaps of Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn and some discussion about the casting for X-Men: First Class (2011) aka Muppet Mutant Babies or "it's time for yet another reboot" but the time got away from me, it did. But better late than never for a couple of observations.
In some ways the original X-Men is a tentative mediocre movie: the budget limitations are obvious, Halle Berry is as lost as you remembered (though Storm is a strangely minor character), and the central evil plot is just dumb. But in other ways it's undervalued.
It makes smart choices about narrowing its focus for a first film (centering on Wolverine & Rogue) and the one character it totally reimagines -- that'd be Mystique -- is a major success.
What's more director Bryan Singer actually makes use of the widescreen in his mise-en-scène sometimes. Too few filmmakers do, just shoving everything into the center of the frame or shooting everything in relentless close-up. Even action sequences are shot with a preference for close-ups these days (see Inception for an up-to-the-minute example) but, much like musical numbers, they're more memorable and coherent when they include whole bodies in the frame. And even if some of Singer's tricks get a bit repetitive, such as the out of focus introduction of characters in the background, they're aesthetically pleasing.
X-Men was lensed by Newton Thomas Sigel, who is Singer's constant collaborator. This is my favorite shot in the whole movie, Wolverine lost in the X-Mansion, bewildered by the new sites.
Isn't that a beauty narratively speaking? And Jackmanically speaking?
P.S. The Film Experience will be back tomorrow with Craig's Take Three column. I'll personally be scarcer than usual in the next week (off-web deadlines) but there will still be daily postings. We'll figure it out. We just keep putting it out there even though we don't have the recuperative powers of Logan/Wolverine. We sure could use them.
/Film a remake of Citizen Kane? This satiric trailer savages our cinema today. popbytes Hugh Jackman trains giant robots to box in Real Steel. This sounds so terrible that I desperately want it to be a Bad Movie We Love. USA Today first look at The Smurfs (speaking of bad movies waiting to happen) Movie|Line alerts us to a new Chen Chang movie on DVD called Parking. We love Chen Chang. Towleroad something for the prurient among you: Kellan Lutz costume fitting for The Immortals.
CHUD & The Flick Filosopher are worried about movie geek tastes becoming so dull and unadventurous. What's happened? It's simple. Everyone became a geek. And once something's mainstream... Silly Hats Only hosted a White Elephant blog-a-thon yesterday. Participating blogs gifted each other with odd movies to write about. See the results. Low Resolution "She Should Work More Vol XXVI: Amy Madigan" Well stated, Joe. She should. My guess is she's not "soft" enough for what Hollywood wants even in "hard" women. Broadway Buzz under the 'life is unfair' umbrella add: I missed this Sutton Foster show. Why must I love artforms that are beyond my socioeconomic reach? Tabloid Prodigy an oral history of Showgirls. Heh. You said 'oral'. popbytes Taylor Lautner wants to model his career on Tom Cruise's huh. I have a number of problems with this and they are 1) Tom Cruise 2) a role model??? 3) Didn't Taylor want to be Matt Damon last year? Make up your mind! The Fug Girls commemorate the most awkward moment (ScarJo + Liev Schreiber and Ryan Reynolds) we saw at the Tony Awards with their infallible lip reading skills. Movie Addict a radio discussion of the funniest movie actresses of all time. The assembled panel is a wide mix of age ranges and the list they come up with stretches over the decades too all the way from Myrna Loy (who gets a ton of love) through Madeline Kahn and on to newbies like Tina Fey. Fey as an all time movie actress? Er... I love Fey but she's very TV. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If you ask me, though, a list without Carole Lombard in the upper rungs is insanity!
Finally if you choose to click on this link, a warning. "Now a warning?" That link will take you to the most horrifying thing you will have seen in weeks months. It's like Nathaniel's nightmare film world, visualized. Proceed at your own risk. **
For the final podcast, the original gang is back together: Nick, Joe, Katey and yours truly, Nathaniel. We'll be back soon for a new season but this time we close out the film year with the final discussion of Oscar's 2009/10 hoedown throwdown. You can download the podcast through Mediafire or Rapidshare. We're quite gabby this time (72 minutes) so bear with us as we pick apart the Oscar ceremony in our usual train-of-thought manner. Among the topics:
Neil Patrick Harris's opening number. Did it really happen?
George Clooney escape from his famous attractiveness
Secret love for Hope Floats
Smugand sour bitches
Up in the Air's shutout and Jason Reitman's Oscar future
Barbra Streisand's diva shit
Can loving Gabourey Sidibe be wrong when it feels so right?
Avatar in 20 years. Did the Academy dodge a bullet?
Shouldn't all of the acting presentations have been famous duos rather than current co-stars (like Pfeiffer & Bridges)?
Hidden satirical messages
Nick's competing Precious allegiances
Navigating the difficult post-Oscar period
Once you're done listening, continue the conversation right here. Are you glad "the ten" is booked for at least three years?
Damn. Hugh Jackman has turned down a second gig as Oscar host. At least for now.
I really wanted him to come back... had such a good time last year, I did. Especially when he & Hathaway forced fantasies of a co-starring gig in a future movie musical upon me.
But then I'm easier to please than your average viewer when it comes to awards shows. For example I've read a ton of bizarro world articles in the wake of the Ricky Gervais hosting the Globes news which seem to go along the lines of 'maybe it'll finally be a fun show'. Ummm... since when AREN'T the Globes fun? The celebrities are plentiful, drunk, squeezed next to each other in sometimes revealing or incongruous table assignments. I l-o-v-e it. The Globes have always been fun. Except for that incredibly lame strike-sponsored year but let's go back to pretending that didn't happen.
If they're bringing someone back for the Oscars, my vote is for Steve Martin or Ellen DeGeneres. My dream would be somebody movie-connected who is also hilarious and can sing. If the Oscar's dont mind sharing the EMMY Host, Neil Patrick Harris would work, too. I'm sure there are less obvious names that would be great choices too... Kristin Chenoweth? Tina Fey. Hmmm. Now, it's not exactly an enviable gig, this Oscar host thing, since no matter how well you do you'll get at least a few (okay several) savage reviews. But even if the media doesn't pat the hosts on the back for their efforts, I'm sure their bank accounts are ready with a bear hug. Who would you like to see hosting the Oscars?
...premiered in Hollywood. My how things have changed. Remember when we didn't know who Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) was or that Christopher Nolan would soon make one of the biggest hits of all time. Remember when people were still regularly talking about Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and everyone was still hugely fond of Christian Bale? Good times.
What kind of a blog host would I be if I didn't share my unusually star-packed weekend story with you? I'd already tweeted about it but there's only so much detail one can pack into 140 character clips with service interruptions.
Friday Morning I was up at the crack of dawn for Oprah Fridays Live two days back as they were broadcasting from Central Park. One of my closest friend's best friend works on the show, thus the invite. It's not like Oprah Winfrey knows who I am. I knew Mariah Carey would appear as guest but otherwise I went in to the event blind. I feared leaving deaf, memories of Mariah's ear-shattering top notes vaguely worrying me. I've never understood the appeal of that girlwoman and her butterfly / charm bracelet /sweet sweet fantasy / glitter world (is she 12? seriously) but the excitement about attending a live televised event was plenty to get me going and mimicking fandom during the "applaud now" moments. I ended up four rows back on the left side of the stage, with a great view of the Great Machine-like proceedings. Let's just say that Oprah's show is exceedingly well oiled.
Turns out going to a live taping is a long process: arrived at 6:45 AM, queued up, waited, ushered into holding area at 7:45, waited, seated by 8:30, waited, waited, at 9:30 came the crowd warm-up which largely consisted of a very chipper woman barking jovial orders at us. The live broadcast began at 10 AM. The highlight of the pre-show was a song and dance performance from a pack of four guys ("Mariah's BIGGEST fans") from Missouri who had been flown in by fairy godmother Oprah to see their idol. If you saw Oprah on Friday, two of the boys were invited up on the stage during the actual show when Oprah dropped yet more fairy dust on them: they would be appearing in Mariah's next video (understandably, they went berserk) and Oprah would also be flying them to Vegas for a concert. The Big O doesn't fool around with the gift-giving once she's become aware of your existence.
The highlight for me?
The show had just begun and Oprah was relaying the wonders of New York City: Central Park, shopping, Broadway. Suddenly there's orgiastic crowd squeals to my left and my head spins to see DANIEL CRAIG and HUGH JACKMAN --or as Oprah would say "Huu-ooOOO-oo JahckmnN'!" Yes, her voice is just as affected in real life -- who are mere yards away from me. They were walking swiftly together towards the stage. It was a total mindfuck blur of starpower. I'm sure I swallowed flies my jaw was so loose. Only four or five women blocked my ability to leap at the dream duo. For that I thank and curse them.
Other guests on the show were Mayor Bloomberg, Nick Cannon (who seemed more like Mariah's hyper fan than her husband although that's kind of cool. Maybe he's as trapped in his tween years as Mariah herself?) and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. In the audience, receiving much love from the stage, were Lee Daniels (the writer/director of Precious), the author of Oprah's new book club selection "Say You're One Of Them" and Oprah's gal Gayle King.
Oscar watchers should note that during the show I experienced a film-experience-familiar horror as Oprah raved about Mariah's "glammed down performance" in Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. Mariah, already campaigning for a supporting actress nomination, delusionally suggested that the makeup people were adding bags and dark circles under her eyes and even gave her a moustache. In no way shape or form does she look like that (!) was the gist of her self promotion. Methinks the woman has been famous too long.
Which is the realest Mariah?
I ask you with all sincerity, which is more real:
a 40 year old woman without glamour makeup under flourescent lighting or...
a woman surrounded 24/7 by a team of makeup artists, wardrobe personnel, key lights and photoshop airbrush expert whose job it is to make her look 18?
Though we were close to the stage we could barely see Mariah during commercial breaks as the makeup artists surrounded her completely for touchups each time. Despite my cynicism regarding the praise that's inevitably heaped upon every 'deglam' performance, I do think Mariah appears to be doing good work in Precious and she was surprisingly funny/charming on the show. That said, I needn't have worried about my ears. She was so heavily corseted that she was definitely having problems breathing and her voice came out a whispery falsetto. I'm sure it sounded better on television.
Mariah doing the foreigner hit "I Wanna Know What Love Is"
There's more to say but I could ramble for hours...
Once we were off air, Oprah thanked the crowd quite graciously before we filed out. Her final exit, waving to the crowd with her arm literally and awkwardly raised up behind her, never turning back around to look at us, made me laugh. It totally reminded of that choice revealing bit in Madonna's Truth or Dare where her childhood friend says "I love you Madonna" as they part. Madonna, slipping around the corner and out of the camera shot, never looks back. Her offscreen voice dismisses the woman with a rote "I love you, too."
The rich and famous have no time for you!
Friday Night Attended the Lance Horne show at Joe's Pub. The singer/songwriter is well loved by the Broadway crowd and Cheyenne Jackson, comedienne Lea Delaria (beautiful jazz voice. Get her CDs) and Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), among several others, were on hand to sing his songs. Alan Cumming (left, with Lance) was on stage the most singing about his recent marriage to his boyfriend as well as doing a funny duet with Cheyenne about condoms. The singer/actor/writer/cologne salesman / Nightcrawler will add recording artist to his resume next week when his CD is released.
The semi-famous were all on stage, except for N'Syncer Lance Bass, who was just a member of the audience. He walked right by us, some new arm candy hanging about him, to take a seat at a reserved table.
Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller (no relation) and their ex-lovers
Saturday Watched Sienna Miller (G.I. Joe) and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting's "Sick Boy" and television's Eli Stone) perform After Miss Julie on Broadway. For what it's worth Sienna plays sexually charged unravelling sanity woman fairly well. Who knew?
But their celebrity kept getting in the way for me. During every slow moment in the Strindbergh inspired production (and there were a few... it's curiously paced) I kept thinking that Jude Law, Sienna's on again/off again ex, was performing Hamlet in a nearby theater and I wanted to be there. At one point in the climax of the production, Jonny's face was smeared with blood. I could only think of Angelina Jolie and how she used to write his name on her shirt in blood back in the mid-90s. Don't you miss crazy goth Angie?
<--- Finally, all I could think of was Jonny and Jude snogging and I began wondering if they're still close? Sometimes it seems like the famous are so inbred, everyone dating, befriending and otherwise smearing their DNA on everyone else who happens to be famous.
Sunday I'm paying for all of this excitement. Totally sick... again (I hate you, flu!) so I guess I'm staying in to watch the EMMYS.
How was your weekend? Which celebs were involved in your activities be it on tv, screen or live? *
A tepid DVD release day unless you like 'em hairy. Links go to Netflix.
White Night Wedding was Iceland's Oscar entry last year. The comedy, which is supposedly a riff on Chekhov's Ivanov, is from the director of 101 Reykjavik and stars his frequent collaborator, Icelandic star Hilmir Snær Guðnason(pictured left in various films) who inspires indecent thoughts and creative pronunciations in his fans.
Grace has the ickiest horror premise I've heard of in a long long time. An unborn child with a bloody appetite. Ewww. In other words, I'll only see it if I hear that it's totally brilliant. It also has one of the fastest windows to DVD ever, having opened in theaters last month.
An American Werewolf in London (1981) and The Wolf Man (1941) both get special editions today although we're currently between full moons and we're still more than a month away from Halloween. Not sure what that's about. I'm planning to watch The Wolf Man soon -- maybe you'll join me? -- since I'm on a Claude Rains kick and I don't remember a lick of it and I want to be familiar before the remake arrives in February.
If you like your hairy beasts to remain bipedal once activated, there's also Hugh Jackman and his mutton chops in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I imagine the box office hit will be big on DVD because there's no accounting for taste and old habits die hard. I'll love the X-Men forever -- I almost can't imagine my childhood and adolescence without them -- but I love the cinema more and damn that movie reeked. It's not the worst superhero movie ever made but I firmly believe that it's the most joyless, give or take the craptacular Elektra. How do you make a superhero movie and forget to have fun? Even the heavy ones with the bat cowls feel somewhat buoyed by the joy of shooting and acting in them. Will anyone ever understand the leaden ugly weight of this thing now that they can skip chapters, freeze frame on Jackman's ass and watch it while they're playing video games? Probably not. I should stop. Yeah, I hated it, OK? You got a problem with that, bub?
But first... The Lovely Bones trailer with intro by Peter Jackson. Are you counting down the days? Have you read the novel?
Does this make you more or less confident in regards to its Oscar and/or box office potential? links... Cinematical Hugh Jackman to make a circus musical on P.T. Barnum. Anne Hathaway and Mika sought out for contributions? You don't say... Only Good Movies picks 25 must see military themed pictures -- nice variety of genres represented here. AV Club weighs in on the probably crappy GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra's decision to skip the usual screenings for critics. Nevertheless some critics in the fanboy community have seen it / like it. I wonder what will happen to film criticism in the long run now that the critical community is going to be even less diverse than it already was. Doesn't it seem like most people writing about movies these days are of the genre-loving geek variety? Nothing wrong with being a genre-loving geek but it doesn't seem like that makes for a good representative pool for critical discussions of film aesthetics you know? I'm just thinking out loud. Don't mind me.
/Films a new Little Red Riding Hood feature? Sure. Why not actually? Pop Hangover if plots reflected movie posters Kirk Demarais offers up "family portraits" of movie clans. I love it though I would've chosen different families had I come up with the idea myself. Cursed self! Where are those ideas this month? IndieWireYoung Victoria to close Toronto. My god that movie is taking a long time to get to America Kenneth in the (212) sticks it to the reliably dumbass "critic" Michael Medved in regards to those gay Sherlock Holmes rumors Strange Culture looks at Oscar statistics regarding first time director nominations. Which newbies in the race this year do you think have the best shot?
It's that time of year again when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka AMPAS aka The Oscars) invites more Hollywood peeps to join them. In Contention shares the list and rather than repeat the whole thing for you or reiterate last year's first time nominees who are mostly invited (you remember them), I'd just like to pinpoint a few random names I'm especially happy / surprised to see so recognized. They are...
Emily Blunt who should've been nominated for The Devil Wears Prada.
Hugh Jackman did such a fine job as host. Now that he's a member so there's one more vote for the next time Nicole Kidman gives a brilliant performance. Woot!
Jane Lynch is always a comic highlight. Her inclusion delights me
Jeffrey Wright still needs a movie role as good as his part in Angels in America
Howard A Rodman the screenwriter of Savage Grace. I liked that movie a lot but invitations such as this always remind me that one can't truly know the inner workings of the Academy unless you're working its inners. Who knew that anyone in Hollywood would watch that movie? Ah, he's currently a nominee for the WGA's Board of Directors.
Mandy Walker who lensed Australia and got the snub
Clint Mansell is one of the best composers working with two classic film scores already under his belt and his latest Moon currently in theaters (review). But they'll have to invite a lot more composers like him to get the music branch to open up their minds a bit. They're so averse to new composers, so strange in their rulings, and so "default nominee" oriented.
Thompson on Hollywood really cohesive Cannes roundup on buzz winners and losers EW funny stretch of a followup to yesterday's Buffy reboot news. What does Whedon think of it? <---Pixar an interview with Tim Hauser on The Art of UP Lazy Eye Theater "don't terminate until you can see the whites of their teeth" My New Plaid Pants a pearl of wisdom from The Others Risky Biz Blog the 2009 Oscar race. It's not off to any kind of real start The Evening Class on Latino images in film and Turner Classic Movies
These three go out to you Californians! Movie|Line on California's Prop 8 Disaster "J.J. Abrams to Revitalize Supreme Court Franchise" ... a stress release laugh Socialite's Life Colin Farrell to be best man at his gay brothers wedding. Awww. No wonder he was so sincere in that A Home at the End of the World movie. The Post Game Show "The Movement to Protect Singing"
I'm not an aficionado of hair, but his looks great.
I don't believe the pre comma denial, and I don't share the post comma sentiment.
No Sacred Cows a fine interview with Charlie Kaufman on Synecdoche New York. I'm warming to the notion of giving it a second chance. But currently I think it's a purposefully off-putting one note masturbation session. We'll see. Heroine Content has a pointed review of Star Trek and its use of gender and race. StarPulse on the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I'm so thrilled that Katharine Heigl is finally free of that particular ball and chain.
Finally, 3 videos of note
An oddly compelling, funny juxtaposition of Bambi imagery with Sir Ian McKellen discussing acting ???? For real (thx, Jeff)
HBO's preview for Hung, starring Thomas Jane. Doesn't HBO need a new zeitgeist hit in a big way?
First trailer for The Road (it's not a "thriller" per se and Charlize is barely in it, despite the marketing) but the imagery look better than when I saw the movie. I guess finishing the color corrections really makes a movie pop.
Just got back from the Kristin Chenoweth gala at City Center. Hugh Jackman and Kristin's Pushing Daisies co-star Swoosie Kurtz were there. Swoosie's hair is very red in real life. I thought I was going to have a heart attack throughout because I somehow convinced myself that Hugh Jackman was going to join Kristin for an impromptu duet. He did not. Coronary avoided.
Kristin told us her new TV pilot was not picked up. She's unemployed. This is rather shocking because I assume she's talking about Legally Mad ... the only new show I'd heard she was working on and that's a David E Kelley show (Michelle Pfeiffer's husband, don'cha know) and since when do hisshows not get picked up? Perhaps it's something else? Update: No, it's official. Legally Mad is DOA.
Anyway... Kristin. If you ever have the chance to see her in concert, do not pass it up. You'll thank me.
<-- Oscar Maximilian has a flower for his dad Hugh Jackman to smell. I can't tell what kind of flower that is but I don't think it's calendula or cosmos which are technically Hugh's flowers since he's an October baby. I was about to type a excruciatingly lame joke about everything coming up _____ for Wolverineat the box office ($35 million, first day) but I can't do it. The "May Flowers" series this month will not be this lame. I completely promise -- this is just a reminder that it's coming. I'm out of town is all. I don't even have access to Photoshop so I can't even doctor a photo and put calendula's in Wolverine's hair -- You could shove a lot of things into that big mane and those mutton chops. (It's true. No access to photoshop. I can feel the shakes coming on).
I wrote a smidge about Wolverine / Hugh fanaticism among other things for my weekly column at Towleroad. Regular ol' blogging resumes tomorrow but for now it's back to the airport and back to NYC.
I normally don't link to ohmygodhesnaked type posts but I'll make an exception this time because i'm exhausted, it was a long day, i love Hugh Jackman and... ohmygodhesnaked! At the very least this is a much needed encouragement to go see Wolverine because I am so worried about the quality of this movie. (I can't even get a bead on what they're trying to do with it in the various marketing spots... why are there so many characters? I thought this was Wolverine's show).
If you can't offer quality, at least provide eye candy. *
Nathaniel walks to the stage, tears welling in his eyes
Thank you so, so much. Whistle so I can tell where you are dear reader... There you are! Thank you for listening to our informal chatty awardsy podcast all season and especially for commenting so we know we're not talking into the great web void. I couldn't have done this without my beautiful co-stars Joe, Nick and Katey who always believed in me! I also must thank my accoun ---[drowned out by orchestra]
Enough hokey awards show humor. If you aren't already completely Oscared out (you're totally forgiven if you are), join the four musketeers for one last podcast pow-wow about Oscar night. The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.
Topics include but are not limited to:
Jessica Biel's napkin and Marisa Tomei's "envelopes"
Meryl Streep in the front row, Anne Hathaway singing, Hugh Jackman up on stage
Commie Homo Loving Sean Penn
Penélope Cruz Obsessions. Spreading like brushfire
Why is there no Oscar cable channel?
Somewhere round about the middle of the podcast (60 minutes this time. We had much gushing to do) Nick dropped an intriguing question for listeners/readers. What do you think is the Best Consecutive Run for Acting Oscar winners ever? Nick thinks it might actually be the last four years of Best Actor, great performances all...
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Sean Penn, Milk
Well done, AMPAS. I counter with a five year spread of Best Actresses in the 1960s that I think is unbelievably satisfying. Which consecutive string of winners thrills you most? We want to hear it in the comments. *
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