The United States of Gosling

Craig here, with a brief birthday big-up.

Ryan Gosling, dressed for birthday (and Oscar?) success

Ryan is the big three-o today. It's a big birthday - I hope he's celebrating in style.

With All Good Things and Blue Valentine both on the brink of release in the US (Dec 3rd and 31st respectively), it's never been a better time for Mr. Gosling. The year ahead, his 30th, could be his best. He's already chalked up one Oscar nom, for Half Nelson in 2007 - could January's nominations see another one for either of the two movies above? What do you think, readers? And whilst you're at it, give your answer to this question as a gift to Gosling today:

What is your favourite Ryan G performance?

Posterized: Coen Bros

An Asian remake of the Coen Bros' debut Blood Simple hit theaters this weekend. It's called A Woman a Gun and a Noodle Shop. So let's mark the occasion of their first remake (unless I missed one?) with a look back at the peaks and valleys of the Coen Bros. They're consistently interesting filmmakers and often inspired (see Robert's 'Directors of Decade' column) but have you seen their whole filmography?

Here we go...

Blood Simple (1984) | Raising Arizona (1987) | Miller's Crossing (1990)

Barton Fink (1991) | The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) | Fargo (1996)

The Big Lebowski (1998) | O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) |
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Intolerable Cruelty (2003) | The Ladykillers (2004) | No Country For Old Men (2007)

Burn After Reading (2008) | A Serious Man (2009) | True Grit (2010)

How many have you seen? How would you rank them? It's a pretty consistently fascinating filmography, percentage wise. Well done, Joel and Ethan. Do you think Oscar was correct to focus mostly on Fargo for the 90s and No Country for the Aughts? And am I the sole person alive who wishes Holly Hunter were nominated for Best Actress for Raising Arizona in 1987 instead of Broadcast News?

I'm getting more curious about True Grit (2010) as we near its release. That Carter Burwell evening I attended helped stoke my interest and then of course there's the cast and general quality of their filmography to recommend it, trailer unseen. Perhaps I should read the novel. Have any of you read it?
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My New Paralyzing Fear

This pic of Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) and Penélope Cruz at an Oscar after party is my new favorite picture ever. Are they about to reenact the Vicky Cristina Barcelona darkroom moment? The Spaniard definitely has a drink in her and The Alien Goddess is arguably the movie world's most famous polyamory advocate, so...

This photo also reminds us that for two consecutive years the FB Award and the Oscar have honored the same Supporting Actress! Even before my own awards existed in their public form two years running agreement in any category is rare. It's something to celebrate. Which means we're due for something truly disheartening or terrifying in 2009... like another Cold Mountain or A Beautiful Mind sitch. You know the kind: The Supporting Actress Winner is either embarrassingly over the top or harmless / completely bland but either way she's the worst of the five nominees. She sweeps the year's supporting honors anyway.

I must steel myself for something hideous in 2009.

My 2009 Oscar predictions arrive on April 1st but we'll do a little build up to that in late March. I hope you're sticking around. Who are you imagining in the 2009/10 race. Have you thought of it at all? Or perhaps you'd prefer to wait like a more sensible person? I've heard they exist.
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A Conversation With Amy Adams

The Light in Her Heart

"There are people who go after your humanity, Sister James. Who tell you the light in your heart is a weakness. That your soft feelings betray you. Don't believe them."

Those words are spoken to a meek nun who is uncomfortably wedged between two very potent personalities with agendas in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt. The film version is nominated for five Oscars, including one for Sister James herself, Amy Adams. If the movie star in this nun's cowl has ever had any similar doubts about her own "soft feelings" it isn't showing. She knows they're no weakness but a strength. She's been spreading joy in movie theaters like there's an endless supply of it. If there's a current movie star who embodies "the light in your heart" isn't it Amy Adams? She seems content and grateful for this particular persona. As she told me in our conversation, she doesn't feel the need to step away from the cheery innocents just yet. "I'm not really interested in doing something just so I can prove I can do it. I really enjoying the roles I'm doing." In short, she has no immediate plans to dim the light.

Even before she became a household name for her cheer and comic gifts, Amy had specialized in madly grinning perky girls. Think of her exuberantly comic beauty queens in Drop Dead Gorgeous or Psycho Beach Party or that metal mouth cutie in Catch Me If You Can. Those were small roles but she was shining in them. It all came together for the gifted actress when she got the part of the very pregnant meercat-loving Ashley in 2005's Junebug. A well received Oscar nomination followed. Two years later she became a major star when she aced the animated princess as flesh and blood role of "Giselle" in the smash hit, Enchanted. She missed out on an Oscar nomination for the latter but she still ended up at the big show anyway, terrified and singing a wordy song to Hollywood's biggest names. "People will forgive me if I'm not a perfect singer, I'm an actress." She remembers, laughing. "These were the lies I told myself... among others!"

Her ascendance in Hollywood the past few years seems like a fairy tale itself -- all sudden and complete, glamorous and, well, happy (though an ending is thankfully nowhere in sight). The public rarely notices the years spent building up to these breakthroughs but the Princesses of Hollywood are usually ladies in waiting first. Amy was game to talk about those less lucrative years, too, fielding fannish questions about guesting on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that rarely discussed through line in her career: she also took over a Sarah Michelle Gellar role early on and her next film with Meryl Streep Julie & Julia is based on a book with frequent Buffy obsessing in its pages. Amy sadly informs that the book's Buffy musing get the axe in the film version. And yet, even with this supernatural diversion to the conversation it all keeps coming back to the Disney princesses. Her most vivid memory from the Buffy set is singing The Little Mermaid on a lunch break with Joss Whedon.

Despite all those years in the trenches of TV and bit parts, her career is the stuff of fairy tale princesses now, especially since she got there playing Giselle. In grittier terms I wonder if she's feeling like a rock star what with the mass love and adoration -- I'm guessing she could fill stadiums. "I don't know if rock star is the right word..." she counters, "but I'm having a good time."

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.

Enjoy, discuss and please do share your favorite Amy Adams related moment in the comments. It's hard to choose just one, isn't it? If the mere thought of narrowing down your favorite Amy memory is exhausting, please feel free to nap in a nearby meadow or hollow tree.

We understand.
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In 55 Days...

These four actors must pass on their crowns -- er, statues. Figuratively speaking...


But who will each of them present the new trophies to?

My new Oscar predictions are up in all four acting categories: ACTOR, SUPPORTING ACTRESS, ACTRESS and SUPPORTING ACTOR (plus Best Pic & Director). But winners? That's another story entirely...
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Milk, Finally Spilled

the trailer



Sean Penn looks and sounds pretty great, right? Oscar Nom #5 coming right up. But between this and W., is Josh Brolin planning to be the most despicable person alive this fall (onscreen I mean)? Perhaps he got jealous of Javier Bardem's malevolent awards spree last year.
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Great Moments in Cinematic Adultery

"You know, I... I really... I don't need to be hearing about your wife's cervix right now!"
-Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) in The Savages

You know, Laura Linney does more with each and every scene in The Savages than most actresses get around to doing in entire movies. That's not hyperbole, just observation. She's both hilarious and heartbreaking. If I were to ever have the time and patience for a top 100 comedic performances of the Aughts, she'd be an easy top ten'er. Wendy Savage might be the most entertaining Manhattan-based screen neurotic outside of Woody Allen's oeuvre.
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Golden Fevers

I've gone Oscar crazy this week. First I had to update my predictions (ongoing discussion) then, well --next week, less 2008 Oscar chatter. I promise. It's not truly time yet.

BUT... as you may remember I'm launching a new Best Picture History series this coming Wednesday the 18th. The motivation behind the launch is a selfish one: to fill in gaps in my movie history knowledge and refresh memories of things I haven't seen since I watched them on TV as a kid. The new series was created in tandem with Goatdog's Movies and Nick's Flick Picks. We joked about calling it Like a Dagger Pointed at the Heart of Oliver! as we're aiming straight for that hungry orphan. You see, we'll be looking at every Best Picture winner but we're not counting backwards or forwards, we're counting toward the middle. We start on Wednesday night with the first and the latest: Wings (1927/28) and No Country For Old Men (2007). Some fun and truly odd showdowns are in store.

To get myself psyched for the series, I started working on a decade by decade feature for my site, starting with 2000-2007. But this is not part of the new series. I live to confuse you! Click on that link for a brief rundown of the Best Picture races from 2000 through 2007, all ranked and graded. There's also polls for you to vote in.

Enjoy and comment to your gold grubbing content.

Naked Gold Man: Doubting December

On Sundays we talk Oscar!

For what it's worth, and if you haven't heard, Miramax is now repositioning John Patrick Shanley's Oscar hopeful Doubt into October --it was previously slotted for December. That's a smart move and it's now as good a time as any to discuss the release date shuffling that's happened. Those Oscar predictions I made back on April 1st are already obsolete (as they always are within a month or two) and will be updated on June 1st with all of these new fast-tracked contenders deciding for 2008 instead of '09.

Doubt's repositioning is a smart move. December is always over-crowded and at least on Broadway, Doubt was the sort of water cooler phenom' that benefited from audiences talking about incessantly. One of my favorite and most aggravating aspects of the Oscar game is release dates. I'm obsessed, as you well know, with complaining about the all December habits of studios... It definitely teaches serious moviegoers to only enjoy the cinema for one quarter of the year and that aint right.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner!

I am hopeful that the strategists start looking more closely at 2006 when audiences had a lot more time to see the eventual nominees before Christmas and even take a peak at 2007 . It led us us right back to old "dump it at Christmas!" habits, but in both years one of the earliest releases among the nominees won the big prize. The Departed (2006) and No Country (2007) had significant head starts winning over the voting bodies. (One wonders if There Will Be Blood would have put up more of a fight for critical prizes had it opened as early as No Country For Old Men)

Anyway, those years are over --LIVE IN THE NOW, NATHANIEL! With Doubt moving the expected major 2008 players are now looking fairly spread out... or at least as spread out as it gets with Oscar strategies these days.

August Vicky Christina Barcelona
September Blindness, Happy-Go-Lucky
October Body of Lies, Doubt and Miracle at St Anna's , W (moving up from 2009. It will be released while George W is still in office. Very odd)
November The Road (pictured right, moving up from 2009), Australia, The Soloist and Milk
December Frost/Nixon, Seven Pounds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Other Man, Revolutionary Road and Defiance
"TBA" (a cute nickname for December): Che (in some form or another), Chéri (moving up from 2009), Brothers, Changeling (or The Exchange), The Reader and The Young Victoria

All of which brings to mind the question: Which films do you think are heading for a nomination come January? Make a wild guess. Five of them.

more at twiigs.com...

Top Ten x Three (Box Office)

It's hard to avoid the continual reportage of which movies are opening huge or flopping. Box office is more important to moviegoers than ever. One assumes at some point this fascination will turn back to the actual content of the movies but until the happy day when the pendulum swings, here are three top 10 2008 lists which are all box office derived -- if not the kind you are usually subjected to.

Top Ten Foreign Language Releases

01 Under the Same Moon (Mexico) $12.3
Almost 3 times more successful than its nearest rival. We can attribute this 1) the large Spanish language speaking population in the US. 2) For whatever reason, arthouse auds love foreign movies about little kids on journeys. 3) Touching but not gag inducing [my review]
02 The Counterfeiters (Austria) $4.8
The Foreign Oscar winner. This sizeable gross is why distributors wait until after Oscar noms are announced to release their damn movies. Unfortunately that causes two major problems: a glut of quality foreign language pictures for one month. And worse: movies that don't get nominated sometimes get shelved.
03 Jodhaa Akbar (India) $3.4
Bollywood movies --this one featuring superstar Hrithik Roshan --are the only kind of foreign offerings in the States that need absolutely no media attention to win big numbers.
04 The Band's Visit (Israel) $2.9
05 Priceless (France) $1.4
Audrey Tatou apparently has a loyal following in the States since Amélie. Her movies always see release and usually do decent business.
06 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania) $1.1
Release date woes. I remain convinced that if this movie had opened when it originally planned to (November 2007), the Oscars would have been guilted into paying it more mind because the critical outpouring would have been even bigger. And the gross would have been higher, too, with year end top ten lists and awards pre-season providing it free advertising. It's on DVD now. Why haven't you seen it yet? [#4 on TFE's 2007 top ten list]
07 U Me Aur Hum (India) $1.0
08 Caramel (Lebanon) $1.0
09 The Year My Parent's Went on Vacation (Brazil) $.6
These last two were also failed Oscar submissions. 60+ films submit each year. They all can't be nominated.
10 Roman de Gare (France) $.4
Claude LeLouch's new thriller starring Fanny Ardant. (my review)

Top Ten Biggest Budgets
Because this makes the usually reported top ten of the year
less gargantuan looking in their imagined profits.

01 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian -Budget $200.
Is that really all onscreen? It opened well below the first installment's bow. Will the worldwide box office also be slipping? And if so what happens to the other three movies.
02 Iron Man Budget: $140.
The year's #1 film, earning $223 thus far and still flying. How sturdy are those jet pack legs? Are we talking Spider-Man franchise grosses of the mid to high $300s? (prev post)

03 Speed Racer Budget: $120.
The gross so far is $30 million. Oops. (my review)
04 10,000 BC Budget: $105
If it costs so much to make why does it look so invariably cheap and tacky? One of the dumbest movies ever made is #3 of the year thus far.
05 The SpiderWick Chronicles Budget: $90
It earned $71 at the box office, the 9th biggest grosser that 2008 has seen so far... but low for a franchise hopeful
06 Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who Budget: $85
Second only to Iron Man at the 08 box office sweepstakes with $151 in grosses stateside.
07 Jumper Budget: $85
Gross: $79. Franchise hopes will depend on how large the worldwide cume is but if there's a sequel, it seems probable that it'll be a cheaper rehash of same. Maybe fewer name actors. Although what does that even mean when jumper #1 Hayden Christensen is about 100 x more famous than jumper #2 Jamie Bell who is 100x more talented. It's bizarro world at the movies.
08 Fool's Gold Budget: $70
Damn. Kate + Matthew don't come cheap. The movie has earned $70 @ the B.O. (#10 of the year thus far)
09 Leatherheads Budget: $58
That $30.9 gross is why period stuff is always considered risky. It's a budget upper without bankability booster like, say, visual effects. People love their CGI. A great costume is totally a visual effect for me... but I'm not >ahem< normal when it comes to moviegoing
10 Rambo Budget: $50
Is anyone more devoted to his own franchises than Sly Stallone? This is the 4th Rambo (and lowest grosser among them with only $42.7) and he's already done how many Rockys... six?

Top Ten Movies with Actresses (leads or co-leads)

01 27 Dresses (Katharine Heigl) $76.7
02 Fool's Gold (Kate Hudson) $70.1
03 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour (Miley Cyrus) $65.2
04 Step Up 2 the Streets (Briana Evigan) $58.0
05 Baby Mama (Tina Fey & Amy Poehler) $47.3
06 Nim's Island (Abigail Breslin & Jodie Foster) $45.2
07 College Road Trip (Raven Simone) $44.0
08 Prom Night (Brittany Snow) $43.4
09 Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (Angela Bassett) $41.9
10 What Happens in Vegas (Cameron Diaz) $40.3

Someone kill me now.
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A Blog And Its Links

Bauer Griffin Woody Allen makes a good point
Awards Daily Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart for 2009. Is Oscar #3 in her future? god help us all. Anyone remember when Julianne Moore was supposed to do this?
The Movie Blog speaking of downgrades. Emma Watson (Hermione) is replacing Scarjo in the film Napoleon & Betsy. I know Scarjo has her detractors but if you lift the cloud of Potter fan-tinted glasses and Hermione as loveable character fact, you'll notice that Watson probably cannot act. Good luck Movie!
New Now Next Firefly/Serenity's Alan Tudyk (me likey) just got the lead in the new sitcom from Will & Grace team

Speaking of gay... Have any of you seen this clip from VH1's Viva Hollywood that's making the blog rounds. It's so ridiculously offensive.

This guy is in an acting competition and absolutely melts down when he's asked to do a gay scene. In other words: not a real actor. I wish pop culture could get away from all the wannabes that reality TV keeps pushing on the public and find a way to celebrate real talented up-and-comers instead. To add insult to injury the scene they're asking him to play requires him to REJECT the gay man. So he has to struggle through his homophobia to do the scene which then rewards his homophobia. And then the homophobia is quadrupled because the show rewards these guys with the win for being brave. There is nothing brave about pretending to be someone other than yourself. If you're an actor that's your f***ing job! Ayiyiyiyiyi. What a world. And what a completely useless wuss this guy is. If this show had any integrity (I know that's asking for a lot out of reality TV) they would have just booted him off the show as soon as he refused.

PopWatch an excerpt from the awesome Battlestar Galactica panel I attended at Comic Con --definitely the frakkin' highlight of the convention
Culture Snob has a great (but NSFW) post on Kubrick's The Shining
A Socialite's Life Blanchett honored by Jackman. Pics of new baby
USA Today Harrison Ford disses Han, prefers Indiana
Reverse Shot gushes about Yentl (1983). For real

and finally...
Man vs Horse has an interesting piece on structural problems with the screenplays of a few films from the Oscar crop of 2007. I don't necessarily agree on all of these --particularly when it comes to No Country For Old Men which I think has a phenomenal ending, couldn't be better actually --but it was a good read. No word on whether the horse liked the Oscar nominees better than the man (Dante)

Fashions & Split-Screen Madness

<--- Anne Hathaway applauds with joyous relief --the film year is finally over. Is she thinking "I'm gonna own this place next year as a nominee!!!"?

'Finis'

You wish. But we're almost done. In fact I am done... but I guess we're not done until you've read and commented. It's the back 'n' forth beauty o' the web.

Oscar Review is Complete
Page 1 Oscar Hangover (in case you haven't read it yet)
Page 2 (NEW) Fashions: The Good, The Bad and the Neither
Page 3 (NEW) Split-Screen Madness. Loving those 'win or lose' actress boxes.
also a new poll --who is least likely to return to the Oscars?

Return and gab in the comments. That's how we do. It's the last Oscar post for the 07/08 race so celebrate accordingly in the comments. And remember, The Film Experience is year round (it just gets rather Oscar whipped from Dec-Feb)




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"I'll Never Let Go. I'll Never Let Go, Jack Josh"

OK... how soon until we get some slash fic for the Josh & Javi celebrity love parade that's been building from Cannes onward, sending bloggers into fits of ecstacy? Any guesses... or has it already begun?

sigh...man kissing
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very very very last Oscar post will be up shortly.

Links, Caution

If you've ever wondered how I choose my links...
It's mostly general surfing + what people send me using the e-mail link to the "tips, suggestion" in the upper right hand corner + regular favorites from my rss feeds. I will be revamping my link lists / subscriptions soon... eager to find new stuff. So if you'd like me to notice your blog or any blog you think does great work, send it to the e-mail with "FYC" in the title field.

Miscellania
Trading Faces funny popculture genealogy for 'Project Runway Too Gay'
Slant Magazine goes to NY Fashion Week. Asides to Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, and Sex & The City: The Movie for you tv maniacs
Seriously? OMG! WTF? Natalie loves Scarlett's twins
Culture Snub investigates credible motives and character flaws in There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton. I beg to differ on a couple points about the latter, but a good read
Jezebel Sex & The City trailer. Lots of plot reveals.

Pfun with Pfeiffer
flickr Attack of mega giantess Michelle
Personal Effects LaPfeiffer's new movie has a trailer. This is the one with Ashton Kutchner-Moore
Coraline teaser. OK, strictly speaking this has nothing to do with Michelle Pfeiffer. But she was originally supposed to play "Mother/Other Mother" when this was going to be a live action film. And now it's animated and it's... um... Teri Hatcher.

DVD Land

Bluegum on The Darjeeling Limited & Nu Orientalism. Interesting piece
also relatively new on DVD: Lust, Caution (winner of 1 gold, 3 silver medals and a bronze in the 8th annual film bitch awards), American Gangster (meh), Michael Clayton (hell, yeah), Margot at the Wedding (Kidman was Oscar nom' worthy), Beowulf (my review), In the Shadow of the Moon, Death at a Funeral (my review), Slipstream and 30 Days of Night (don't do it. worst of the year)

still hung up on Oscar?
...and you've (almost) had enough articles on the Oscars but I just want to share three quotes that I really enjoyed from Rob Scheer, Nick Davis and Jeffrey Wells

"I've got to say, it still makes no sense to me that this movie is an Oscar winner for Best Picture. It's too challenging, too cerebral, too symbolic, too meditative, too cynical, too phenomenal. It doesn't make sense. This is the award that's supposed to go to movies that say racism is bad or wittily hypothesize the backstory of writing of "Romeo and Juliet" or commemorate the Holocaust. It's not supposed to go to morally murky, violent Coen Brothers movies with abrupt, thought-provoking endings that basically impart the message that society is quickly going to shit. What the fuck has happened to the Oscars? I have no idea, but whatever it is, it's something worth celebrating."
-Rob Scheer on No Country For Old Men's win

"Swinton didn't win for a single reason other than her performance, with the slight exception of Michael Clayton's shutout in other categories. Even there, plenty of well-liked nominees go home empty-handed every year ... Otherwise, though, the critics didn't help her, beyond the rave reviews from several months ago: somehow, when prize season arrived, they only had eyes for Amy Ryan. She didn't have a Globe or a SAG. She isn't, remotely, a Hollywood elbow-rubber. She isn't "owed" in any way the Academy recognizes (and certainly not the way Ruby Dee is). She isn't the young thing of the moment. She didn't play a likeable character. She didn't play the character in a simply digestible way. Her part wasn't showy, though it was generously featured. The general public has a dim sense of her as the White Witch of Narnia, but little else. Why did she win? It's the performance, stupid... Good enough to persuade voters on its own terms once they got around to seeing it, and good enough to qualify as the best winner in this category since the proximate wins of Peggy Ashcroft and Dianne Wiest in 1984 and 1986—if not the best since Vanessa Redgrave won in 1977, and in virtually the same dress, plus a left sleeve. For all the well-earned reputation of insiderism and errant, delayed sentiment that the Academy has accrued over time, they don't always vote that way, and when they don't, it's glorious."
-Nick Davis on Tilda's win

"These are some of the best movies that the filmmaking culture is turning out now. Every year there are at least 20 or 25 films that are somewhere between excellent, very good or good enough to watch and think about later. If regular people in Boston and Saskatchewan are living such insulated and cut-off lives that they can't be bothered to go to some of these films unless it has an advertised 'happy pill' vibe then the hell with them. They're children. I have no time for childishness, and neither does anyone else of any worth. Life is short."
-Jeffrey Wells on the same dumb knee jerk 'why haven't I heard of these films?' inexplicable whining that I was bitching about yesterday. [Go get 'em Jeffrey!]

Strike A This Pose

It's the pose of 1,000 starlets.


Some hang left. Some hang right.

Laura Linney just hangs. Look at those arms just plain as can be, refusing to perform for the paparazzi. She won't win an Oscar until she learns how to do it. Laura look around you. Talent isn't everything. Why aren't you posing?

"I'm late walking into the Kodak now y'all. See you in 2012"

I mean you're just being your same old fabulous/unfabulous great actress self. Same 90s hairdo, same everyday pretty. Oh Laura... the Oscars don't want great consistent actresses... they want bubbly couture princesses. You're not even trying to be 25! What's wrong with you? [/sarcasm]

Back to the posing. The A listers find the pose of 1000 starlets so natural they develop their own signature variations on it.

Here we see Amy Adams in perfect form, demonstrating the double akimbo tuck. Cameron works her patented chiropratwistic single so effortlessly it's like she came out of the womb this way. Painful for her mother surely but there's a price to pay for all that fabulous.


Thank you Billie... you paid it forward.

oscar night in review in three parts
live blogged five hours o' fun. what was I thinking?
Oscar's declining ratings what it doesn't or shouldn't mean
Fashion Review the good the bad and the neither
Split Screen Madness watching the nominated faces in the boxes. It's great drama

I'm taking a long weekend ... call it the post Oscar crash. It will involve some sleeping. Possibly a massage. And definitely the finishing of Kathleen Turner's Send Yourself Roses. Bitch has me flipping pages like you wouldn't believe. I have no idea why. It's not literature! But please come back on Monday, now, you hear? THE FILM EXPERIENCE operates year 'round. We just like the Oscars a lot. A whole new year* of movie obsessing awaits.

[*you're aware that Oscar night is New Year's Eve, I hope. Only now are we in the first week of 2008 ;) cinematically speaking...]

Marion Cotillard is Dangerous!

Why do I feel like Marion Cotillard is going to swing that at me if she sees me..."Who will pay me to heet Nathaniel for talking merde!?"

I'm experiencing post Oscar delirium. Surely that's it. I swing from wildly happy to depressed to angry to inexplicably fond of people I hate (and vice versa) why just this morning I was marvelling at the cuteness of Marion in all those backstage clips when she says 'I am sparkles and fireworks and all those things that go ... pow pow pow.' Now, I am begging myself to leave the Oscar behind. Tonight. I'll wrap up tonight. Tomorrow morning at the latest. Then on to new things. Like sleep.

more at twiigs.com...

Oscar Reminds Us

Four things I forgot about until Oscar reminded me

1. 1. The great Sarah Polley would be @ the Kodak theater. More camera time please.
   2. Casey Affleck is Joaquin Phoenix's brother-in-law. And Summer Phoenix is deliciously busty. Like Madonna @ Golden Globes for Evita busty. A very good thing
2. 3. Hal Holbrook is married to Julia Sugarbaker.
3. 4. Josh Lucas = ohmygod
   

I've always wanted to have an Oscar...

... but now I want to be an Oscar.
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"sometimes my arms bend back"

...excuse the obscure Twin Peaks reference but Nicole Kidman is freaking me out. Something seems wrong here, structurally/ anatomically speaking. Is she auditioning for Death Becomes Her 2? You tell me

more at twiigs.com...

Oscar Hangover

Part 1 of 2, Oscar Review
a rant about the way the media will continue to treat Oscar's declining ratings

It began with a hangover. Don't judge. Last night was Oscar night, who didn't have one too many? Something had to keep me going through the most conservative fashion show I can recall ever seeing on Hollywood's High Holy Night. The theme was either 'risk free" or they were all wearing black in mourning for Heath Ledger. But if so, I think it a poor tribute. He would have liked a spot of color. I mean, you saw the socks he wore to the Berlin Festival last year, right? You saw Michelle Williams dress on Brokeback night. This was not a conservative star and color is good. So, I frantically typed for 5 hours straight. What's wrong with me? I can't win an award for doing this. No shiny gold men for me. Why these enormous tasks I set myself? The hangover proved short lived and I trotted off to the other job... running a little late due to things like ironing, trying to find my keys, obsessing about the color of Tilda Swinton's eyes; you know, daily routines.

For what it's worth, they're very very green.

READ THE REST ... for anger-inducing misleading memes about Oscar's obscure favorites and the endless (context free!) desire the press seems to have to make the Oscars more like the People's Choice Awards.
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