The Links Are Alive...

In Contention Tapley's review of Conviction.
New York Magazine Mark Harris great piece on The Social Network in case you haven't read it yet. "I poked Aaron Sorkin..."
Cinema Styles "Coming Home to Tango" a look back at two seminal 70s films and how they age when you age. Interesting stuff. For the record I love Coming Home and don't care for Last Tango in Paris but saw them both in my early 30s.
MUBI remembers Arthur Penn (RIP) We've lost another film great. Time to watch Bonnie & Clyde again.

 Flames... on the Side of My Face pays tribute to the late Madeline Kahn, for whom the blog is titled, on her birthday. "Taffeta, darling"
Ruchome Obrazki late addition to the 'Best Shot' party featuring David Fincher's Se7en (1995). Check it out.
Some Came Running has a wonderfut bit on Sally Menke's eye for shots juxtaposed.
Movie | Line offers up my favorite title about the Star Wars in 3D news.
Serious Film 8 voice performances that were worthy of acting nominations.
IGN offers up some mainstream "summer movie awards" as we head into fall.

And finally, Playbill delivers Holy Playclothes-Made-of-Curtains shocking news. The cast of The Sound of Music is reuniting next month on Oprah !!! This will be epic even if we have to hear Ms. Winfrey screaming...

"Julieeeeeeeee AaahNDROOOOOOoosss"

...over and over again. Are you dying out there?  Now I'm going to have "The Lonely Goatherd" stuck in my head for the rest of the day because this is always what happens to me when someone mentions The Sound of Music.

La la la la la la, Smurf the whole link long.

/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.
**

Remembering Madeline Kahn

Occasionally I'll look through my 'labels' in the internal machinery of this blog and think "my god! I never talk about [insert actor's name here]. Why? What's wrong with me?!?" Yesterday was such a day. The great Madeline Kahn would have celebrated her 67th birthday had she not left us far too soon, ten years ago in fact. Sniffle.

"Here I stand the goddess of desire, set men on fire... I have this power.
Morning, noon and night it's drink and dancing, some quick romancing...
And then a shower."

Team Experience
So, with fond memories of the genius comedienne on my mind, I asked a couple of my guest bloggers to tell me they're favorite Madeline Kahn moments. I need help you see. Obviously I haven't expressed enough love for her right here on my own. The damning evidence: No label before today.

Jose from Movies Kick Ass perked right up at the mention of her name:

Even if she was Oscar nominated two years in a row (for two comedies! One made by Mel Brooks!) my favorite thing Kahn did was her uptight, annoying Eunice in Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up Doc? Her exchanges with Babs are terrific and how she kept a straight face is miraculous. When she has gone through all the screwball hell Streisand subjects her to-including mistaken identity- it's priceless to hear her declare "I am not "A" Eunice Burns, I am "THE" Eunice Burns!" Only she could make disdain so funny and even lovable.

Everyone falls in love with Barbra Streisand in that movie. You're not supposed to root for Madeline Kahn's character but you simply can't go against her.

Glenn from Stale Popcorn starts down a familiar path and switches course

Is it too cliched if I say "Flames... on the side of my face," from Clue? It probably is, isn't it? However, if I truly must choose something that not every blogger in the known universe as quoted at some time or another, then I will go with Kahn's performance in History of the World: Part I. Her Empress Nympho is almost (repeat: ALMOST) as quotable as her Mrs White. If I had to choose just one moment though it would be her hilarious reading of "MY TITS ARE FALLING OFF!"

Kahn had such a way with line delivery, didn't she? I haven't seen it, but I'm sure she even got a few choice lines in when she did voice work in My Little Pony: The Movie. Oh yes, I'm sure she did!

Oh please, Glenn. You totally own that DVD. ;)

For my part, I always claim that my favorite Kahn lady is "Trixie Delight" in Paper Moon. Come to think of it, I bet Kahn's filmography rivals anyone's as character names go. Think about it: Eunice Burns, Empress Nympho, Lola Hopper, Lili Von Schtupp, Victoria Brisbane, Mrs. White, El Sleazo Patron, Estie Del Ruth, Trixie Delight. You need a fearlessly big talent to create characters worth of those monikers.



So, I always say it's my favorite but the competition is stiff and in truth I haven't seen Paper Moon since I was, like, 15. It's definitely time to revisit.

Paper Moon was only Kahn's second feature film but it brought her the first of two consecutive Oscar nominations. She lost to her co-star Tatum O'Neal, the lead who was slumming in the supporting category since she was only 10 at the time. O'Neal remains the youngest Oscar winner ever and her performance was a thing of natural beauty. But history-wise it still makes me a little sad for Madeline. Do you think she was jealous?

"I hated her sooo much, it, it the, it, flame, flames, FLAMES on
the side of my face, breathing, breath...heaving breaths, heaving"

What's your favorite Madeline Kahn performance?
And have you, like so many of us, quoted "flames... ", more times than you can count?
*

He's Not That Linked To You

Club Silencio Was Tony Leung placed in movies by the tobacco industry? A totally believable conspiracy theory!

European Films has a review of the Palme D'Or winner The Class (Entre les Murs)

<--- Purse Blog Kirsten Dunst's MiuMiu campaign. Not new but we've been neglecting Kiki. In other news the 'sphere is attacking her for claiming she went to rehab for "depression". Either way, I applaud her
ONTD Zooey Deschanel is touring this summer
Low Resolution makes an important clarification about TV ladies

StinkyLulu hosts the Madeline Kahn Appreciation Day. If my computer weren't on the fritz I was going to write about Paper Moon
Getty What to make of Sex & The City's box office prospects?
Hollywood Elsewhere on Sex & the City

The first hour especially is as garish and putrid and spiritually repulsive as can possibly be imagined without throwing up.

Is there ever this much vitriol for films about men?

Goatdog has seen almost every Best Picture nominee. Crazy
Fabulon, a great actressexual hangout, barely knows who Jessica Alba is. I am amused. (Incidentally I will be their guest blogger on 06/15)

Huh?
Why am I posting the trailer for upcoming rom-com He's Just Not That Into You? Search me. Perhaps it has something to do with Ginnifer Goodwin getting a big role and my short-term (I hope) crush on Bradley Cooper and the outside shot that for once we'll get to see a Jennifer Connelly performance that doesn't involve moping and crying.

Pretty please.
*

Linkrise: A Post of Too Many Links

Self Styled Siren "In Defense of Melodrama" Tom O'Neil's diss of Sunrise just won't die on the internets, but the Siren is always a great read. If you haven't seen the film in question, queue it. I'd devote a whole week to silent movies if I thought any of ya cared enough.
Egotastic More Julianne Moore in Paris Vogue. Too bad she doesn't get this naked in the movie she's promoting
Village Voice's Tribeca coverage includes an interview with the quotable Guy Maddin on his film My Winnipeg
Empire on the upcoming (still) DVD release of the Kill Bills fused together. I'd like that to come out as much as anyone but it actually angers me to read about all the extras QT is writing/making for it. Make another film damnit! Quit jabbering away to anyone who will listen and make some damn features. So freaking slow that man. So much talent going to waste
Flick Filosopher one of my Manhattan movie buddies, enjoyed Comic Con more than I. She has abundant photos to prove it. Speaking of Comic Con, here's a pic I took that I forgot to post. I promise it's my last superhero reference until Iron Man opens. Here we see bitter enemies Emma Frost (The White Queen) and Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix) hangin' together like old friends


Why do I have this inexplicable desire to show this photo to Famke Janssen when I meet her @ the Indianapolis Film Festival? Or bring along my X-Men: Dark Phoenix compilation for her to sign? (She can't be scribbling on the original issues but I got those, too)

Where were we... yes, yes, more links
StinkyLulu is planning a Madeline Kahn Appreciation Day. Mark your calendars.
My New Plaid Pants Adrian Barraza (so great in Babel) goes back to hell
Boy Culture on the Broadway adaptation of Cry Baby
Crazy Days and Nights on Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman's son Conor making his movie debut. Snarky but there's a choice LOL line about sunscreen
If Charlie Parker... Almodóvar helps his mom with her knitting
Vanity Fair David Poland and Elizabeth Hurlbut discuss the peni' in Apatow films

and finally
<--- Bauer-Griffin takes a well timed look back at Robert Downey Jr & Sarah Jessica Parker in the 80s. My how things have changed (and changed ... and changed) for both of them and their careers since. Should be a big summer for them, separately of course. (Calm down, Matthew!) Unless Iron Man is cameo'in' for Sex & The City too! Could you imagine? Methinks the haters would be happier if it was The Incredible Hulk who tore through the cosmo-logged metropolis of the four sexy/funny ladies, though.
*

Dustbowl Dreams

Hey gang, this is Thombeau, visiting from Fabulon and Arcanta. I'll try not to be too pretentious or annoying!

It wasn't until the mid-1960s that a new generation of filmmakers was ready to address "The Great Depression" in more artistic terms than the backdrop for the struggles of the noble Joad family. Though the cinematography may be beautiful in these films, giving a haunting, almost romantic feel, the barren landscapes and weatherworn faces of the poor provided desolate images of loss and despair. It is in the midst of dusty towns and rural environs that the following three films are set. You have probably seen them all, as they are universally acclaimed and considered modern classics by many. If you haven't, you really should, and if you have then you just might want to experience them again.

By far the most popular, and arguably revolutionary, of this trilogy is Bonnie and Clyde (1967). The beauty and charisma of its leads, the great ensemble acting, the sass and violence, all make for a rollicking good time with an overtone of serious issues. However fictionalized, this was based on events that actually took place. Hovering around the periphery is the constant reminder that these were hard times; people had lost everything and were just trying to get by. Robbing banks may have been a fun and easy way to get money, but most of those banks were near empty. The famous scene where Bonnie reunites with her elderly grandmother, on a windswept hilltop, is striking for summing up the era in a few short minutes with the eyes of an old woman who has seen it all.



Seldom taken as seriously, Paper Moon (1973) is not only a great comedy, it's a fantastic evocation of a time when pleasures were simple and money was scarce. The use of period music ("Let's have another cup of coffee"), or, conversely, the silence that fills the background in many scenes, plus the attention to detail in the prop, costume, and makeup departments, create a very definite time and place. Long dirt roads and wide open spaces provide a vast context for the tiny dramas of the lead characters. Once again, a windy hilltop comes to mind: when Miss Trixie, after going winky-tink, approaches young Addie and tells her what her plans are, the desperation and determination are obvious.



The incredible Days of Heaven (1978), though portraying a slightly earlier time, fits in well with the above-mentioned films. Much has been written about the fabulous, dreamlike cinematography. The vast and endless plains seem to swallow up the characters and their intertwined destinies. The sound of the wind is almost another character. The gypsy lives of migrant workers is shown without explanation; it's simply a given. Again, people are doing whatever they can to get by. This movie, more than most, is so image-driven that it is difficult to choose only one that sums it all up. If ever possible, see this on the big screen. Please.

Other recommended films that display an essence of the era are They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) and Bound for Glory (1976), but this list is far from complete. Any additions that you're crazy about?


As a footnote to this post, I simply must add that each of these films has a fantastic supporting cast. Estelle Parsons won a well-deserved Oscar for her hysterical (in every sense of the word) performance in Bonnie and Clyde. Paper Moon would not be the same without the fabulous Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight. Also, P. J. Johnson's performance as Imogene never fails to amuse! And Days of Heaven would not be as strange and wonderful without the phenomenal narration of a young Linda Manz. Great stuff!

via thombeau

Blogosphere Multiplex: Arden @ Cinephilia

Season 2 of the blogosphere interview series arrives....now. I had fun last year with a dozen bloggers of various topic persuasion and it's time to reboot. I'm dusting it off with Arden @ Cinephilia. She was a rowdy guest at the Oscar Symposium this past winter, she wrote a hilarious play (I saw it), she guests @ Gilded Moose for film reviews and best of all: she is certifiable when it comes to the cinema. Thems the best kind of people.

10 Questions with Arden @ Cinephilia

Nathaniel: So, Arden, how often do you go to the movies?

Arden: Lord. I used to go all the time. Like I would go every night. Midnight screenings on Thursdays. Sometimes I'd see two movies back to back if I was trying catch up on reviews. I saw Casino Royale twice within a 12 hour span. But since I've started this gig as an assistant to a pretty high-profile film producer, it's been difficult. Readers razz me about the lack of reviews and I'm like "When you're stranded in Sundance, flagging down a local with a $100 bill so you can hitch a ride to the Variety Directors to Watch party and deliver a cut of a film you're not supposed to have to someone who probably wont even watch it.... it's hard to make time to see Dreamgirls". So nowadays I've resolved myself to one movie every 10-15 days.

Nathaniel: I love that you've numbered the days between cinematic hits. But Arden, I suspect a lot of people would love to have that 'holding the goodies' problem. Although some of those people would end up in prison! Is pirating films the worst problem Hollywood faces or what? They're obsessed.

Arden: The studios freak out over piracy when they started the epidemic in the first place. Unlike another art form where the original is tantamount and considered the work of art, the business of cinema is based on reproduction and distribution. If I made a whole bunch of little Van Goghs in my apartment and sold them off, no one would pay me a million dollars because they know that I'm not Van Gogh. The 8,000 copy of 40-Year-Old Virgin is just as profitable as the original canistered print. Wide release and the advent of DVD emphasize that. In an effort to make as much money as possible, Hollywood used technology to lessen the originality of film and now audiences are using technology to steal from Hollywood.

To combat this problem, Hollywood MUST acknowledge that wide release is failing. That the only films that make their 100MM are films that cost 200MM. They are losing money more often than they are making it. Many "blockbusters" have to overperform on DVD to recoup and a lot of stars (on the backs of whom the studios sell most of these films) have gotten the wiser and a request backend on DVD sales up front. This is why Tom Cruise got fired. Not because he jumped on a couch.

Nathaniel: Totally agreed on the reasons Tom Cruise got dumped but the media loves distortion. Couch jumping rifts in sanity being inherently more interesting than profit sharing. Not to dwell on Tom Cruise but let's segueway: Apart from Cruise which celebrity meltdown troubles you most or do you find most revealing about fame/showbiz AND/OR (this question is so incoherent --I'm melting down too!) What complete breakdown do you find most fascinating in an actual movie?

Arden: Britney Spears is hands down phenomenal. I couldn't write that. If I wrote that, no one would buy it. She lived it. It's positively Greek. It's like teen pop version of Medea. In fact, I think "woman scorned" breakdowns are the best. Whether its Glenn Close over top psycho or the quiet savage defeat of Isabelle Huppert, it gets me every time. The most fascinating cinematic example of this is Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass. My God. A broken heart melting into mental instability. The scene where she reads Wordsworth in class is a work of genius. Even the usually composed Elia Kazan has to adjust his tight shot to capture her fantastically real moment.

Nathaniel: We both love that movie ---ahhh my heart shatters when I watch that. And I actually think that I first discovered your site when you posted about Warren Beatty circa 1961 (the same film obviously) How did you discover him? And why do you suppose he never works? It's not like the other Old Hollywood guys have retired.

Arden: My crush on Warren Beatty is a perfect example of what I define to be Cinephilia. It's not simply loving or appreciating film. It's when the line between your reality and a cinematic reality no longer exists. There was a period of time where I was actually dating Warren Beatty via film. I felt a stronger connection to him onscreen than to a breathing guy lying next to me. So I wrote my script and started my blog. I don't think Warren Beatty works that much anymore because I think he's too smart, a perfectionist and an overachiever. He's a sick person and a control freak. He has final cut for practically every movie he's worked on whether or not he actually directed it. Bonnie and Clyde was his movie. I love him and no one really thinks of him as an important filmmaker because he was a movie star. Beatty is the only person other than Orson Welles to receive Oscar nominations in the same year for acting, directing, writing, and producing, and he did it twice, in 1978 and 1981. Reds is a genius movie. Definitely in my top 3.

Nathaniel: Which begs the question: What are the other two?

Arden: Haha. Favorite films are a touchy subject. Usually film elitists use this as an opportunity to show off how smart they are. I would categorize "favorite" as a film that seriously altered my life. Kubrick's The Shining was that film for me. Is it a flawed film? Is it Kubrick's "best" film? It doesn't matter. It changed me. In one viewing I felt I had been exposed to a truth about myself. I personally identify with that film. I have "redrum" tatooed on my back. It's A Wonderful Life is a close second. The ghosts of that film are with me in practically every major decision I make.



Nathaniel: Beautifully stated. I so respond to passion about film --to cinephilia as you define it. Some people think that that blurring of reality is a problem. But I actually don't trust people who don't get a little wild-eyed about something. I don't care if it's movies, knitting, cooking, synchronized swimming... if you're not obsessed with something I have to ask: what's wrong with you?

Arden: I agree. Cassavetes has this great quote which is that the most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. I think everyone is obsessed with something and I think everyone goes a little crazy sometimes. But I think everyone is living under this assumption that if they just keep it together for another 24 hours there will be some sort of pay-off. Believe me, there's no pay-off for pretending to be like everyone else. You are better off just admitting you're bat-shit crazy.

Nathaniel: Yep. Speaking of crazy: describe the following Warren Beatty conquests lovers in five words or less: Julie Christie. Diane Keaton. Natalie Wood. Madonna and Annette Bening.

Arden:

Julie Christie - independence never looked so co-dependent

Diane Keaton - more of a Nicholson girl

Natalie Wood - too fragile to resist breaking

Madonna - boring girl, great blow jobs

Annette Bening - I mean... better than Capshaw...

Nathaniel: lol. You kill me. What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (or near you) at a movie theater?

Arden: Probably having my boss lecture me outside a screening at Sundance in front of a bunch of people. The lecture began with "Let me tell you something...I didn't write the Bible... but I know everything." That was embarrassing. Also, I went on a blind date to Miike's Audition at the New Beverly in LA. Its just the worst date movie. Especially with someone you don't know. I never saw that guy again. He probably thought I was going to saw his foot off with a piano wire.

Nathaniel: Oh dear, yeah. Especially if you picked the movie. Which leads me (I'm so sorry to segueway from pianowire to this. I truly am) to the topic of sex. Your play Cinephilia is rather hormonal... you don't seem like a shy girl. What do movies get wrong and right about sex? Favorite sex scenes...?

Arden: I like being provocative and discussing sex because it's like licking a battery. I just feels titallating on the tongue. I think its because in mainstream film sex is really boring and not at all representational of the human experience. So going into any detail at all is fun for me. Sex is usually a narrative beat (...and then they had sex) and never explored further. I like sex scenes that involved real characters and not airbrushed cartoons. I really liked the oral sex scene in Gallo's Brown Bunny. I love Joe Swanberg's Kissing on the Mouth where all the girls have cellulite and pubic hair and sex is portrayed as what it's become to the post-collegiate set: a casual sport. All of Last Tango in Paris. The scene on the stairs in A History of Violence. Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham's sex scene in Two Girls and a Guy.

Nathaniel: God, I'd forgot all about that one. I remember that gave the MPAA heart palpitations at the time and if I recall they barely take their clothes off. You like the grittier realism. Everyone who does should see Late Marriage (2001). The sex scene is like a whole act in the film and it's brilliant. You learn everything you need to know about the relationship.

OK Final Question: They make a movie of your life. Who plays you? Title? Rating? Tagline?

Arden: oooo! It would be a brisk romantic dramedy in black and white called Imitating Life. I want Madeline Kahn circa 1974 to play me. Written by Elaine May and directed by Mike Nichols. It's defintely an R (for the smoking and the multiple uses of the word "fuck"). Tagline: "It's her world. You're just making a cameo."

Nathaniel: I've already bought my ticket and I've already handed the Oscar to Madeline Kahn posthumously. Thanks Arden!

*

READERS: Share your thoughts about this exchange in the comments. Also, if you'd like to suggest some underappreciated blogger or rightly celebrated web celeb for me to toss 10 questions at, do so there as well.