Who Cares About Link?

God bless V Magazine for their latest issue, "Who Cares About Age". Usually when the media decides to celebrate older women, we're only allowed one. Like the recent Streep Mania... or 2006 when Helen Mirren was all the rage. I've always had a thing for actresses of a certain age so I applaud them for multiplying the enthusiasm. I mean check out these legendary cover girls: Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, and Sigourney Weaver. yesplease³.

And as if that weren't enough, you've got Charlotte Rampling on the inside! A whole huge photogallery of her... "Charlotte in Couture".

The average age of these women is 66. The average fabulousity of these women is ∞. Just saying.

More links...
Scott Feinberg interviews Halle Berry
The Evening Class Liza Minnelli interviews and TCM schedule
Deadline Hollywood Toy Story Best Picture spoofing FYC ads. The first is to your left. There's more to come as they campaign for the big prize. I'm really hoping they do Amadeus, The Hurt Locker and West Side Story. Which Best Pictures would you like to see spoofed by the toys?
Man About Town interviews Ryan Kwanten... naked. Ha.
Shadowplay proposes a mid December blog-a-thons about the last films from directors. What a fine idea. Any suggestions you'd like me write about?
Just Jared Anne Hathaway is awesome. She's already dreamt up her own role on Glee and picking songs before they've even invited her.
Moviefone If Lindsay Lohan needs to hit rock bottom to recover maybe this will do it? Malin Akerman of all people is now considered a suitable replacement.

offscreen
Gabby's Playhouse brilliant cartoon about the progression of all "sexism" discussions on the internet
The Post-Game Show on "beefcake" comic art and how it differs from cheesecake...

And finally... 
What's your take on Christian Bale's Oscar chances for The Fighter?

I was discussing this with some peers earlier today. Some people feel he's too disliked to win an Oscar (after all, many below the line players vote on Oscars and we all know that Bale has a temper on set) others that "likeability" doesn't matter so much in the face of a certain level of performance. Esquire just published a thorny profile piece. Some journalists think he's an ingrate. Others, like Kris Tapley appreciate his rough edges. My take is somewhere in the middle. Likeability does matter in awards season (a lot) and though I appreciate honesty and strong opinions, I do find that it's incredibly narcissistic when stars of a certain level bitch about their duties as stars... like doing press. Basically they wouldn't have those duties if they weren't hugely successful. If people want to talk to you that means you're more successful. All jobs come with elements that are less joyous for the worker ... but very few jobs have the rewards that star actors receive. Bitching about a tiny amount of drudgery within a life filled with extravagant reward (the only reason that tiny amount of drudgery even exists is because you're successful enough to have been extravagantly rewarded) seems very very petty. So I'm torn. I find it distasteful but on the other hand I believe art should be judged without interference from the personality of the artist.

Bob Fosse, Posterized

Today would have been Bob Fosse's 82nd birthday if he hadn't smoked and sexed himself to death while choreographing dirty musical numbers and flirting with angels of death in Nineteen-Seve... oh wait, I'm thinking of Joe Gideon, his All That Jazz altar ego. Fosse died of a heart attack at 60 in 1987. He's best remembered today as the most important choreographer of the 20th century this side of Martha Graham, totally affecting everything that came after him. But he was also a brilliant film director and in the realm of cinema he rarely gets his due. When great actors die young they often become legendary. When great directors die after just a handful of movies, not so much... especially if they made their mark in the musical genre.

Fosse acted and danced in other movies but these are the six filmed entertainments he directed. All are worth seeing and two are among the greatest films ever made.

Sweet Charity (69) | Cabaret (72) | Liza With a Z (concert telefilm, 72)

Lenny (74) | All That Jazz (79) | Star 80 (83)

How many have you seen? If the answer is less than six, do yourself a huge favor, and put them on your rental queue. Have a Fosse completist festival at home. You won't be disappointed. And maybe you'll even wonder why he's not lumped in with the biggies when people talk about the great 70s directors. I know I do.

I like Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) just fine but it's hard not to think about what Fosse's version would have been like. And if they do remake Damn Yankees like they keep saying they will, will they keep his awesome choreography, or chuck it and go with unskilled dancers in the big roles?

God... it's so great when you can see entire bodies in dance scenes.
Almost no filmmakers understand this anymore.

If you've seen all of Fosse's films, why not a double feature of Damn Yankees! (1958) and All That Jazz. Think about it: In the former you can watch Fosse and the legendary Gwen Verdon together (like in the scene above) and then in the latter you can watch Roy Sheider and Leland Palmer pretend to be them, acting out their very difficult relationship with Oscar calibre aplomb.

As a takeaway please enjoy Bob Fosse doing a minute of Fosse-isms in 1953's Kiss Me Kate.



Incidentally, that musical was in 3D. I actually saw it in 3D the very first time I saw it at a special showing in the 80s (there was a mini 3D fad ... i think it lasted about a year and half round about 1984 or something?). I'm reading that 3D might die out again and am crossing my fingers that history repeats itself. I like my movies flat. The best performers burst out of the screen in multiple dimensions anyway. You don't need glasses to witness those miracles. Now if only they'd give me film grain back... if anyone ever tries to clear the grain from Cabaret it won't even remotely be Cabaret, you know?
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A New Link State of Mind

Eddie on Film is hosting a John Williams blog-a-thon. That man just doesn't get enough attention you know obviously I'm joking a few pieces are already up. More to come
ONTD hilarious bit on public reaction to celebrity sightings. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
Towleroad watch Sex & The City 2 in 60 seconds. Teehee
CHUD '50 Cent about to win Oscar' through the weight loss gimmick!
Arts Beat fans ask The Lovely Laura Linney questions. Our very own par3182 gets one in. Yes, that's right. I'm claiming TFE readers / frequent commenters as my own. You are all mine mwahhh haha ha ha


The L Magazine how have I never heard of this Liza Minnelli/Vincent Minnelli movie A Matter of Time (1976)? Is there a leak in my brain where I keep Liza?
Noh Way "How Carrie Got Her Groove Back." I suspect this is the most positive review of Sex & the City 2 that you'll read
The Stranger "Burkas and Birkins" I suspect this is the most negative review of Sex & the City 2 that you will read.
NY Magazine Joan Rivers doesn't hold her tongue

I feel so totally forgotten. The fucking New Yorker did this big piece on the genius of Rickles, who is brilliant but who hasn’t changed a line in fifteen years. Meanwhile, I am totally ‘old hat’ and ignored while in reality I could still wipe the floor with both Kathy [Griffin] and Sarah [Silverman].

...and sure is pushing this new documentary. I smell an Oscar nomination in January. Not for Joan Rivers exactly (she didn't direct it) but still.

Links, Episode #1,214

Daily Telegraph OHMYGOD. Did Russell Crowe finally get a sense of humor about himself? [hat tip to Sheriff George]
Mind of a Suspicious Kind "an image" in honor of Daniel Day Lewis
The Post-Game Show one of the best pieces I've read on the Disney buying Marvel deal
Risky Biz will Jason Reitman go three-for-three with Up in the Air?
The Cut thinks the Project Runway spinoff is awful. My take: It could use work but it's not without its moments
Urlesque claims that 09/09/09 will be "a day without cats" on the internet. If this catches on I'll just have to go offline in protest!
ioncinema first look beautiful pictures of Julianne Moore and Colin Firth in A Single Man


Nick's Flick Picks a 2009 Progress Report. Big props for The Hurt Locker and Julia among others
A Blog Next Door Nic and Eva: twin terrors and floating heads
Bright Lights is ruining my desire to stop thinking of Inglourious Basterds with this "anima & animus" article
Tractor Facts "Ghana is the New Poland" (on movie posters)

Madge Madness!
Movies Kick Ass TFE contributor Jose on Madonna's new video "Celebration"
Boy Culture how adorable! Madonna gets her kids Rocco and Lola onstage and dancing at her concert in Tel Aviv. Lola even knows the "Give it 2 Me" choreography. Rocco's dad is a filmmaker, Lourdes's dad is an actor and their mom is a global icon. Think these two will be performers when they grow up? Maybe Lourdes is the next Liza Minnelli? Not that there'll ever be another Liza Minnelli but you know what I mean...

Linker's Dozen

W Magazine Bruce Willis and his new wife star in quite a photo shoot. Is it weird that I totally miss Bruce Willis?
BlogStage Annette Bening as Medea at UCLA. I expect reports from California readers in September! Or maybe I should fly out myself? It's been ages
Kenneth in the (212) meets Susan Seidelman and talks Desperately Seeking Susan
Topless Robot 2,500 Smurfs?! Dear god
Planet Fabulon "what becomes a legend most" -- I haven't seen this ad campaign in so long: Natalie Wood, Bette Davis, Marlene Deitrich? Wheeee


Pop Seoul John Woo to choose between Rain and Won Bin for next action pic. Isn't that a win/win?
Russia Magazine Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Wanted) is making a movie that sounds suspiciously like Knight Rider. I guess that fits into his whole ouevre of bizarre action films that require 23 times the usual amounts of suspension of disbelief
Big Screen Little Screen how great is this Quentin Tarantino magazine cover from Germany?
Cinematical Michael Cunningham sells horror screenplay. Interesting... though with just minor tweaking wouldn't The Hours be a horror film of the soul?
Fin de Cinema Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching coming to DVD. Greenaway sure has had a hard time getting eyeballs since 8 1/2 Women.
Noh Way sad news for diehard Liza & Judy fans
Screen Rant Alexander Skarsgard talks about his near miss on Thor. I'm personally a little bummed he didn't get the role... not that I have high hopes for the movie.

P.S. It's only 95 days until Dollhouse comes back on the air. Wheeee

TONY Awards Round Up: Harden, Lansbury, Hathaway, Langella, Neil Patrick Harris

And now a pre-show moment with Martha Plimpton...

That's right. I was conceived because of the musical Hair. I wouldn't exist without it.

That's Plimpton sandwiched inbetween Broadway's Hair boys: my fellow BYU alum Will Swenson, who we've been drooling on for awhile and Gavin Creel (Love the... tie? scarf? tarf?). Plimpton was actually speaking the truth to the reporter. Her parents Keith Carradine (yes, the star and composer of one of the greatest song scenes in all of cinematic history, "I'm Easy" from Robert Altman's Nashville) and Sheila Plimpton met while performing Hair on stage in the late 60s.

I bring up this pre-show red carpet moment because Martha Plimpton is a handy human symbol of how much the mainstream media, and by extension the public, misses out on because they ignore theater and great actors who work in it. To the general public Ms. Plimpton isn't recognizable or, if she is, it's in a vague... hey, she looks like that 80s actress from The Goonies! The sad thing about the movies giving up on her is that she's not just a fine actress but a terrific celebrity. She is easy with the laughter and quick witted with reporters. My favorite Plimpton interview quip came last year when asked to describe what she does for a living, saying something like 'i put on a wig and shout at strangers for two hours'

Martha lost her category at the TONY Awards last night ...that's three consecutive losses, poor thing. But a lot of good people lost. That's nothing new.

Who won? Billy Elliott, Stephen Daldry's adaptation of his own 2000 movie, won nearly everything it was nominated for including Best Musical. Next to Normal, its only real competition, beat Elton John's Original Score and tied Elliott for orchestrations. The Norman Conquests and Hair were chosen as the best revivals and God of Carnage was named Best Play.

Random wrap up thoughts from the evening:

• <-- Harold and Kumar 2's add campaign asked "What Would Neil Patrick Harris Do?" In the case of the TONY Awards he would wear some sort of pleather (?) tux and be an amiable, funny but low key host. Some of his quips seemed to go unnoticed in the cacophony of the show (god, it was a mess). The structure of the ceremony didn't showcase his musical chops until the credits were rolling. What a waste. But give him another go at it, please.
• Lots of tech problems. Why can't they get this together? Broadway is in the business of live events. Why is live television such a hurdle for them?
• Geoffrey Rush's win for Exit the King makes him the the first new Triple Crowner since Al Pacino won his Emmy in 2004 for Angels in America. Rush now has the Oscar (Shine), Emmy (Peter Sellers) and TONY (Exit the King). He also gave an awesome acceptance speech which made me more fond of him that I'd ever been (which is to say I've never been)
• Marcia Gay Harden was also prepared, funny and articulate. Why can't more actors be like that when they win prizes? Marcia needs only the Emmy to become a triple crowner and the Emmy is the easiest prize to win. She could even get it for Damages in September. If she gets nominated that is... loved her on that show. As I announced on a Twitter, Marcia and I are to be married as soon as she is thrice crowned.
  
• If you got as confused as I did when they showed Oscar nominee Janet McTeer (Tumbleweeds) and you thought "my god, what happened to her?!?" you're forgiven. They just had the name wrong names typed up under the wrong faces. McTeer has not entered a witness protection program nor has she had a face transplant. She looks pretty much like she did in 1999.
• Shrek looked single handedly bad enough to destroy my faith in musical theater forever. It looked like something that belonged on the stage for free at a theme park. You know those hour long shows were you rest your feet and get some air conditioning before hitting the rides again? It should not be a high price Broadway show! Naturally, it's a box office hit.

• Sutton Foster and other unfortunates are wasting their talents to act-along with the Shrek movie onstage. Shouldn't this be left to children in the nation's living rooms with their worn DVDs? Still, Christopher Sieber's "Lord Farquad" got one of the biggest laughs of the evening... albeit from the mouth of Neil Patrick Harris hours later

  Chris Sieber, please. Dancing on your knees? That only works to win Golden Globes!

  No, NPH didn't shy away from ribbing his fellow gays.

• <---Angela Lansbury is now to the TONYS what Katharine Hepburn is to the Oscars (though she shares that distinction with Julie Harris and Hepburn doesn't share). She's now won 5 competitive acting TONYS. Lansbury was definitely feeling the love in the room and gracious enough to admit to her fellow nominees that it wasn't a fair contest. Her last trophy was in the 70s for creating Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd! (oh and we wish she'd let her hair go gray or white. Go the Judi Dench / Helen Mirren route, Angela)
• When I see Liza Minnelli in the same black sequined pant suit she's been wearing for years in front of a tacky set sign that says "BROADWAY' my heart leaps and I have to supress squeals of delight. It's true. "I am what I am".
  
• You know how I know I'm a musical theater geek? Whenever I see Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) I start singing Side Show's siamese twin ballad "I Will Never Leave You" at the top of my lungs. Every time. When is Glee coming back on?

• Anne Hathaway is rapidly becoming my favorite young movie star. She always seems so happy to be in showbiz... like 'these are my people' happy. There's none of that obnoxious: 'I'm too cool for this' attitude that plagues some members of Young Hollywood -- you know who I'm talking about. Translation: Hathaway isn't just in it for the fame and fortune and she's most definitely in for the long haul. You'll be hearing her name until you're dead, mark my words.
• Alice Ripley's best actress speech was... um, unhinged. Was she channeling her unraveling Next to Normal mom? She prompted my room of friends to start quoting Sandra Bernhard's classic routine "...don't you just love theatahhhhh people!"
• Frank Langella was hilarious whilst making fun of himself, his Oscar loss, and his TONY snub. Why can't more stars have a sense of humor about the whole awards show / campaigning / losing thing? This reminded me of reviews of his charisma during the Oscar campaigning for Frost/Nixon. Dracula still can work a room. I imagine if he's ever up for an Oscar again post Nixon he's going to nab it.
  
• I haven't seen Billy Elliott on stage and don't really have a desire to (the movie is great but that came out in 2000. It isn't even dust covered yet) but while I was watching the performances I was thinking how difficult that show must have been to cast. You have to find not one but three young boys who can act, sing and dance a very demanding lead role. Jamie Bell only had to do two of those three things. But he nailed them, so...
  
• Susan Sarandon is still a sex on a stick.
  
• Yes, the revival of Hair is as awesome as it looks. Go see it.
  

Okay, enough theater. Back to the movies!


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I Could Go On BioPic'ing

Clang! Clang! Clang! Variety is reporting that Anne Hathaway is going to become Frances Ethel Gumm (i.e. Judy Garland) in a biopic called Get Happy

When will the madness end? If the pop culture on pop culture on pop culture joke weren't overplayed already, I'd be peering out from under a bedsheet, mascara running face contorted screaming...

LEAVE JUDY ALONE!!!

Judy Garland is one of the film experience's sacred ten* and just as She Could Go On Singing, I Can Go On Bitching that she does not get the credit she deserves. Another biopic detailing her sad life probably won't do much for her legacy which should be one of enormous contribution to cinematic and musical culture rather than yet another recounting of her personal tragedies. See, they didn't call her "The World's Greatest Entertainer" for nothing. Can we please talk about that.

Judy G was the subject of a popular television biopic as recently as 2001. Tammy Blanchard played her as a young starlet. Judy Davis took over as she became a great star and netted AFI, Globe, BFCA, SAG and Emmy statues, a sizeable haul by any account, for her impersonation.

Now, it's no secret that my love for Anne Hathaway has been growing exponentially (she made me love her. I didn't wanna do it. I didn't wanna do it) these past couple of years but is she right for this? She keeps getting stronger as an actress and she can sing beautifully but, here's the catch: Would they really let anyone not lipsynch to Judy? (This isn't a Tommy Femia show! It's a movie) And if Hathaway is going to be in a musical I want to hear that showtune friendly voice of hers, damnit.


Hathaway turns 27 this year and even though I'm no great fan of biopics I must admit that it's probably the perfect age to play Garland. It's young enough to just barely get away with playing her as a teen star and it's old enough to play her at the peak of her movie powers (the Meet Me in St. Louis years of the mid 40s) followed by her quick flameout and first career ressurrection. I think modern audiences tend to think that Judy Garland's comeback in A Star is Born (1954) was the comeback of a middle aged star, regaining her luster for another iconic role (in the same category as Bette Davis in All About Eve for example). But it's not so. Garland was in fact only 32 when A Star is Born surfaced. Like the last inimitable iconic vocalist to get a biopic (Edith Piaf, who some consider the French Judy) she aged rapidly. That's what numerous addictions will do to you. (Let us pray they don't feel the need to scramble Judy's narrative)

Would Hathaway win a Marion Cotillard style Oscar doing this or is this just a bad idea all around? I suspect it's a moot question. Remember when various actresses were going to play Marlene Dietrich (Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc...)? That bio also didn't have a script or a director. It was merely a dream vehicle intended to drive someone towards gold statues. It never found keys for the ignition.

Updated to add ~ Paul Outlaw is right: Hathaway actually looks more like Judy's offspring Liza Minnelli



and she's never had a biopic. It figures. I have an unhealthy relationship to biopics and she's one of the only stars I'd love to see get one. Therefore it shan't happen. My love is a curse!

*for new readers, the other nine favorite actresses in alpha order: Deneuve, Davis, Fonda, Monroe, Moore, Pfeiffer, Streep, Taylor and Wood. But here's the top 20 and here's the top 100 ...because why stop at 10? There are so many actresses worth loving?

Mein Herr

There'll never be another Liza Minelli



Mein!

Happy 63rd birthday to the kooky wondrous enduring talented divinely decadent and inexplicable spawn of Judy G.

Breakfast With... Sally Bowles

Prairie Oysters, darling!


It's an egg with worcestershire sauce all sort of whooshed up together!

Sally thinks you'll adore them and she recommends them for sinister hangovers -- Not that you were out drinking last night dear reader!
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Personal Canon #74: Meet Me In St. Louis

This post is for my musical of the month party as well as the latest in my Personal Canon (100 favorite films). It's one of two entries in the countdown for Judy Garland, one of my top ten favorite actresses of all time

It's Summer 1903 in Missouri and the Smith family are buzzing about the World's Fair coming to their town the following spring. Teenage daughters Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Judy Garland) are dreaming about proposals from handsome men, the eldest son Lonnie (Henry H Daniels Jr) is off to college and the father Lon (Leon Ames), a junior partner at a law firm, is about to tell the family that they're all relocating to New York Ci -- oh, but let's stop there. For any plot summary of Meet Me in St. Louis does the movie a great disservice. This classic musical isn't plot driven at all so much as a series of three seasonal vignettes of family life: Summer, Autumn and Winter with the following Spring in 1904 serving as a coda. Almost all of what might be called "plot" in Meet Me In St. Louis is imagined. That is to say, that the story drivers are all in the future. One day the family will move to New York. One day Rose, Lonnie, and Esther will be married. One day St. Louis will catch the attention of the nation. In essence the movie is a lovingly rendered still life of a family (and town) on the brink of great changes rather than an animated portrait of the changes themselves.

St. Louis begins smartly in the kitchen, the heart of any home. Mrs. Anna Smith (Mary Astor) and her maid and cook Katie (Marjorie Main) are preparing ketchup. Katie thinks it's too sweet, Anna thinks her husband will like it that way. Various members of the cast scoot through the kitchen sharing their opinions, too. They can't seem to agree on the flavor: too sweet? too sour? too spicy? too watery? Vincente Minnelli the real gourmet cook in the director's chair doesn't have the same problem. He gets everything right.

READ THE REST...

All Personal Canon articles
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Meet Me In St. Louis

It's time for the "Musical of the Month" celebration. This month it's the Vincent Minelli/Judy Garland holiday spectacular Meet Me St. Louis (1944). Unfortunately something came up on my end so my article --incidentally another addition to my personal canon project-- won't be ready until tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime enjoy these Meet Me in St. Louis pieces from other MotM participants. I'll add more links if any come in...

• Gratuitous Violins sees this holiday classic for the first time and shares her thoughts (and a first name "Esther" with Judy's character. How nifty)
• Here and There and Everywhere CrazyCris loves Garland. What's not to love?
• Movies Kick Ass looks into the blossoming romance of Garland & Minelli behind the scenes. That led to Liza Minelli, so it's more than just a movie. It's an event.
  

Clang!Clang!Clang! Went the trolley...

Previous Musicals of the Month:
Velvet Goldmine, Cabin in the Sky, Little Shop of Horrors and Calamity Jane

Kiss of the Spider Woman Contest Winners

Monologue Monday (Interrupted)

This is where the important part begins. The part about the lovers...

William Hurt was named Best Actor @ Cannes and by Oscar, NBR, LAFCA & BAFTA voters

Lovers of actresses & cinema for our purposes today.

For the entire first reel (and then some) of Kiss of the Spider Woman, William Hurt's "Molina" tries to monologue his way through memories of a favorite film. He loves to perform but his cell mate "Valentin" (Raul Julia) never lets him get lost in his speechifying the way he plans to, continually interrupting him with requests, jokes, corrections and commentary. And so begins an odd couple film that wraps political idealogy, cinematic obsessions, and sexual identity into a memorable actor's duet with as much theatricality as Molina himself wraps his head while daydreaming of his favorite screen diva (Sonia Braga).

The Kiss of the Spider Woman was a best picture nominee for 1985. The other shortlisters were more traditional fare: a beloved novel adaptation The Color Purple, the romantic epic Out of Africa, the mafia black comedy Prizzi's Honor, and the contemporary hit drama Witness. Kiss... has since been the hardest film for younger Oscar completists to see but a 2 disc collectors edition is now out and I have four copies to give away, one for each of its nominations. But before I announce the winners (drawn randomly) I wanted to share some really fun contest entries. I asked contestants to throw a headwrap on and make like Molina, obsessing over a favorite actress/performance in their imaginary prison cell. Some of them even sent photos --can I just say that TFE readers are so awesome to play along!

Originally I was going to post my favorite entries but there were so many that I decided I had to limit the 'extra' sharing to the entries that came in with photos ;) The following contestants did not win the random drawing but but they are so awesome for playing along...

<--- Jonathan from NY

Meryl Streep. Sophie's Choice. Cliched? Perhaps. But can the others recite word for word, facial tic and intonation down pat, the scene where she struggles to tell Stingo about being sent to Auschwitz? Or what about that accent? And she's never been more sexually charged in a film. Best performance by any actor (that I've seen but no, I'm just going to say it, EVER) in history. Streep at her streepiest, and I've loved every 20+ viewings of it. Whoever's in that jail cell better know what I'm talking about when I reference the famous silent scream in the climactic scene, or else they'll be getting an earful.....

Brian in New Mexico --->

I would likely develop, and discuss at length, whose marvelous powers I most wished to possess on any given prison day. Would I want to channel Sissy Spacek's Carrie White and her telekinetic grudge match powers? Or would it Rita Moreno's Anita and her ability to deliver a scathing insult as though it was a love pat? Or would it be Meryl Streep's dexterity in self-transformation that I would covet? (Of course, on really bad days, I would likely pretend to be Hope Emerson and leave it at that...)

<--- JS in the Philippines

Anyone in prison would have to learn and emulate the virtues of Glenn Close's performance in Dangerous Liaisons because like her, you'd be in a similar environment where you would have to practice detachment, learn how to listen and deceive all in service of devising means of escape no one had ever thought of before. It's "win or die." :)

Mark in Manchester --->

I could have gone the easy route and picked Sigourney in Aliens but if I shared a cell i'd obsess over Brooke Smith as Sonya in Vanya on 42nd Street. I only saw this performance recently and was so moved we could act out her final monologue scene with the cellmate as Wallace Shawn.

<--- Cenzig in Florida

Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles. She oozes that Fosse sexuality that we all know and love. She captures our attention with "Divine decadence darling!" and holds it, even through the tears during "Cabaret" You root for her. You know the mess that is about to be WWII and you want her out, to live with Brian in delicious sin. She's Fun. She's Fabulous. She's Fucking Sally Bowles!!!

You know who is fun and fabulous? Everyone who entered this contest!
For those that didn't win or haven't seen the film, catch up on a little 80s Oscar lore by seeking it out now that it's available again for home viewing.

[drum roll please]

And the winners are...

Nick in Connecticut

I would talk with my cellie about Salma Hayek in Desperado, because, while the film isn't a masterpiece, she was INCREDIBLY sexy in that film. The way Rodriguez lit her, and her willingness to take part in that steamy love scene with Antonio, set my pulse racing as a 15 year old action-movie junkie. She's still one of the hottest women ever to grace the silver screen, and the way she looks in Desperado is the sort of thing that dreams are made of. Those sun-dresses, that long, wavy hair, her accent, her curves… man-o-man what a stunning creature she is.

Ben in Los Angeles

Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr, hands down. You get two characters to talk about individually, and then you get to talk about the two together. Plus, you can obsess over how overlooked she was in terms of bling for the mantle - no Oscar? Psh!

Dennis in Wisconsin

If I had to go with one performance, it would be Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind. That movie had such an impact on me when I first saw it at 12 years old. She rocked my world! I could talk about Scarlett/Vivien for days.

Chuck in Kentucky

Maria Falconetti. Perhaps it is unfair to choose an actress who appeared only in one film. Yet I believe that Falconetti's performance in Dreyer's seminal The Passion of Joan of Arc goes beyond a mere cineast obsession, and can be viewed instead as a sort of religious longing, a desire for emancipation, a devotion to something intangible and ethereal. Falconetti's struggle would be my own, and the haunting memory of her performance would move me more than any other celluloid creation. My memory of those tortured eyes would no doubt provide the sort of spiritual solace only found in prayer; she would be the single slash of light that cuts through the coagulating and ever-present darkness.

I hope you enjoyed reading about these personal cinematic obsessions as much as I did. And while we're on the subject of Kiss of the Spider Woman... you can check out my vague recollection of my favorites in 1985 If you have any thoughts to share on that 1985 Best Picture race, do so in the comments. Out of Africa, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor, The Color Purple or Witness? How many have you seen and what's your choice for "Best" ?

I Don't Care if You Think I'm Link

This Recording "in which it's really human of you to listen to all my bullshit" ... fun piece on 80s teen movies and geeky romance
i09 has the twitter feeds you must follow. The 'Michael Bay' excerpt is priceless
Big Picture negative / mixed reviews of W.
NYT I love this chart on Presidential Physique. Does Obama's slender frame work against or for him?
Trading Faces has a good solid piece on the most recent Presidential debate
Boy Culture delivers the most detailed review of Madonna's Sticky & Sweet you'll find. Even though it's very personal I agree with so much of it I'm not going to write a word about the tour. Plus, well: film blog (mostly) ... I'm trying to stay on topic ;)
Lazy Evil Eye Theater "the only thing more terrifying than the last 12 words of this post are the first 206!" -Piper is having so much witty fun with his rechristened blog!
Out1 Film Journal James doesn't believe in multiple film festival posts. He's going to tell you everything in one NYFF post that rivals Che in length
Coming Soon The Oscars are going to allow film commercials this year. WHAT? Why am I so averse to change with my Oscars?
Out in Hollywood Queen Latifah's latest 'I don't care if you think i'm gay' proclamation
Playbill Liza Minelli is returning to Broadway. "And the My World Goes Round"...
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TONY Live Blogging

Why live-blog? It's the only way I might get through it. Because...

8:01 In the very first minutes, we get a performance from The Lion King. Now, I don't have anything against this particular show --other than that it started the horrid wave of Disney thinking all their animated films should become stage musicals and we all see the dark places that's taken the American theater and... OK maybe I do have something against this show. But here's the point. It's like, old. TONY should be celebrating the "now" rather than admitting that the theater is dead. Lie, people, lie. Your livelihoods depend on it.

8:05 Whoopi is hosting.

8:08 Rondi Reed wins Best Featured Actress (i.e. "supporting") for August: Osage County. It's going to sweep. She beat Laurie Metcalf, who America will know as second banana "Jackie" from endless seasons on Roseanne and Martha Plimpton, who is quite a theater fixture in New York but is also beloved by most folks who have a thing for 80s movies and early River Phoenix... i.e. people in their 30s.

8:12 CryBaby. This performance is a disaster --it's all over the place --but my friend, who has a thing for dark haired pale men, just melted into a puddle since the entire troupe of dancing jailbirds seems to have been cast to look just like the lead guy who has been styled to look like Johnny Depp from the 1990 John Waters film. Not that you can be styled to be Johnny Depp. There can be only one.

he's the king

8:22 THE LOVELY LAURA LINNEY! She's only presenting (somehow she defied the gods of awards shows by not being nominated for playing the Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses). But for me her appearance is the first true musical number of the night. "why do birds suddenly appear... any time she is near" The supporting actor award goes to Jim Norton for The Seafarer. Raul Esparza gets snubbed every year. I hate the TONYs. Maybe they'll give him more to do guest starring on Pushing Daisies in the fall. Oh, you know you want his salesman back in the Pie Hole romancing Kristin Chenowith.

8:26 Passing Strange. That number did nothing for me.

8:37 John Lithgow. Usually at some point while looking him I remember that he was briefly threatening to be a regular Oscar fixture. But then it turns out to be just a two-in-a-row deal (World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment) and then he became a TV star and weirdly he still seems to be doing that character from that show about the aliens all the time as himself now. Was it always there? Best Direction of a Musical went to South Pacific (the revival).

8:41 Patti Lupone doing the famous 1st act closing number "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy. Is Gypsy to musical actresses what Hamlet is to stage actors? Seems to be. I liked that number well enough but I have seen Gypsy too many times. How do they fill the theater every 3 years when a new revival opens?

8:52 They just shared a bunch of awards that happened off-broadcast. I hate that part. I live in fear that the Oscars will eventually do that. Gives me award-junkie chills.

8:57 A rapped Latino acceptance speech for best score. I think that might be a first for TONY. Very cute. Loved the Sondheim shout out.

Sondheim I made a hat. Where there wasn't a hat. And a Latin one at that!

8:59 South Pacific. Another stage to movie back to stage affair. It's a medley. They start with "There is Nothing Like a Dame" which always cracks me up. Because it's never...butch. Although that was definitely butcher than the last version (that stiff Glenn Close TV version some years back). Now it's the Kelli O'Hara show. I wish I loved her because she keeps getting plum roles. Her voice is gorgeous but as a star... I can never quite bow down. She's just not an "it" girl for me, you know. These things can't be manufactured or rehearsed or willed. They either happen between performer and audience member or they don't. Sigh.

9:02 As we cut to commercial they showed Daniel 'Harry Potter' Radcliffe. Think he's trying to win friends and influence people early to prep for a Lead Actor TONY nomination next summer for Equus? Did that sound cynical? Oh you know they plan these strategies early...

9:08 Whoopi descended from the ceiling dressed as Mary Poppins. "I can watch your children" Hee. Segueway to Kristin Chenowith. [love!] This is Featured Actress in a Musical. And the TONY goes to... Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose Lee. She's wearing Nicole Kidman's Oscar dress from March 2003 only this time it's glittery and red (see for yourself, pictured left). She is so happy. But take it from me who goes to theater and who has been to a few of her shows. The reputation is earned. By which I mean: her understudies go on... a lot.

9:13 A performance from Grease. Everything (very) old is new again... on Broadway. Zzzz

9:24 I almost fell asleep (still sick. This damn sore throat is not letting up) during commercials but then I got a little e-mail compliment on my work from a writer/director who actually guided one of my favorite actresses to an Oscar nomination. That woke me right up. What a surprise. Boyd Gaines just won (his fourth win! Watch out Audra McDonald) for Gypsy. The show is two for two now acting-wise. Guess Patti's got her next TONY in the bag.

9:27 We're getting a little medley of the musicals that didn't get nominated this year. Hmmm. I thought the punishment was that they didn't get to hawk their show on this show?

9:40 Oooh, clips (and sets!) for the Original Plays. August: Osage County will win. First it wins Best Director.

9:53 Mary Louise Parker. MLP!!! We love her so much. We loved her before Weeds. And now there's even more to love. Best Leading Actor in a Play goes to Mark Rylance in Boeing Boeing. We've heard from multiple sources that that win is deserved and that he's side-splittingly funny in it. If you're asking "who?" just know that he's amazing and totally sexy to me (What? Shut up!) and he's often naked onscreen including in the devastating Intimacy (2001, my review) and Angels & Insects (1995). I didn't understand that acceptance speech at all.

10:00 Deanna Duagan wins best actress. She's the pill-popping mom in August: Osage County. As soon as they decide to make it in a movie, there will be a war among all your favorite actresses 'of a certain age' to get it. That is, if Streep doesn't want it. You know Hollywood always gives Meryl first dibs.

10:04 a number from the new musical In the Heights. Strong number. The show is already a hit and this performance will only sell more tickets.

10:12 Harry Potter and the teacher from The History Boys (both are in Equus) presented Best Play to August: Osage County. Tracy Letts accepts. Takes some (deserved) potshots at both television and Broadway. I love him. He also wrote Bug.

10:15 Before I moved to NYC I was one of those guys who watched the TONY Awards every year and dreamed about seeing things that I never got to see. Before I ever saw a Broadway show I loved Mandy Patinkin wildly. So I was never one of those people who was like "isn't that Inigo Montoya?" So for me it's always a joy to see him... although his beard freaks me out. He is accepting a Lifetime Achievement for Sondheim. Nice proxy speech. And now a number from Sunday in the Park with George. Such a brilliant show and this was a strong production. The music.... ah, so pretty.

10:28 Best Revival goes to South Pacific. Glenn Close presenting was kinda telling/tacky since she played Mitzi on TV.

10:33 Lily Tomlin struts out all seductively and says that that was her tribute to Marisa Tomei. I don't get it. But Marisa (my current movie girlfriend) is shown laughing so all is right with the world. Or maybe I'm happy because Lily is introducing the "out of their minds cast of Xanadu" OMG. Cheyenne Jackson. Swoon. Hollywood is so missing out on him. He could so easily be the first big out gay movie star. So talented, handsome, manly, tall, memorable, everything. Gah! But the real star of Xanadu is of course Kerry Butler who is laugh out loud funny throughout playing Olivia Newton John playing a Greek muse playing "Kira". High-larious. Watching her hobble around during the "Don't Walk Away" number on one skate is so funny. I know the whole thing is silliness but I deeply appreciate silliness and that bit of slapstick generously reminds one of Katharine Hepburn's great screwball moment

I was born on the side of a hill

When I laugh I forget that I feel like hell. I have now lost track of the show because I keep rewinding and rewatching the Xanadu number.

Olivia Newton-John with the cast of Xanadu: Kerry Butler, Cheyenne Jackson
and Tony Roberts (not from the TONY broadcast unfortunately)

10:something Rent anniversary. Wheeee. Anthony Rapp --still so adorable. I used to always end up at the same shows as him Off Broadway. It was uncanny AND... true story: that first crazy screening of Moulin Rouge! that I went to at Ziegfeld in New York? He was also there... just a few people away in line. The original cast is lined up which I think might mean that they're going to sing 525,600 minutes. Yep. Taye Diggs & Idina Menzel met on Rent of course and they're such a handsome married couple. This'll be on YouTube in seconds I'm sure.

10:something LIZA! She needs a big font, don'cha know. The Best Leading Actor Musical goes to Paolo Szot as Emil in South Pacific (pictured, right). I guess I need to see this show. Damn he's handsome. I'm really gaying out with this live-blogging today. Cheyenne, Anthony, Mark, Paolo... but it's the TONYs so what did you expect?

10:something David Hyde Pierce is here to present a trophy to Patti Lupone... I mean to announce the Leading Actress in a Musical. I only saw Jenna Russell in Sunday in the Park and Kerry in Xanadu and both were deserving. She says she's using an old speech and just changing the names. The TONYs are in some ways like an unholy but classier version of the EMMYs: i.e. some people win over and over again. Other people are strangely passed over regularly despite many honors and big careers. She hasn't won in 29 years. Jesus.

i'm just fastforwarding now Oooh, final award. Best Musical goes to In the Heights.

the award for best live-blogging DOES NOT GO TO ME. My apologies. I'm sick and delirious!
Good night.

further reading: complete list of winners * ModFab projects about the fallout from the winnings and losing *
more familiar faces @ the TONYs last night:


Lily Tomlin, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, Gina Gershon, Laura Linney, Idina Menzel & Taye Diggs, Mark Rylance, Daniel Radcliffe.
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