"Of Interest" Draco Malfoy and Nicole Kidman
The Hot Blog Poland hates to be a dick -- but y'ar Blanche, y'ar. Why else would you imply that you can recommend a certain movie only to girls and "some boys" and then say it's not all that. The implications... oy
Dennis Cozzalio's "faces I love" column. Interesting look at actors
Empire Ridley Scott to take on the Gucci empire? What a glitzy art directed biopic that could be
NewNowNext Katharine Heigl thinks Knocked Up is "a little sexist" ... maybe I should reconsider a little Katharine Heigl
Yahoo has the first five minutes of The Golden Compass online. The "first (however many) minutes" movement in web sneaks is a good one I think, but it's not for every film. I'm not sure this will help this particular movie, since there's lots of exposition you have to get through early on. I remember when Dune came out in the 80s (god I'm old. sigh) and when I arrived at the theater (I had never read the book) they actually passed out a glossary sheet of terms you should know from the books. I was worried immediately... "I have to study before it starts?!?" The Golden Compass, I fear, might be impenetrable to newbies.
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17 comments:
Sasha at Awards Daily really understood Atonement - good on her. David Poland did not. Lisa at Schwartzbaum's EW review was a strange one - it seemed to really 'get' the more meta aspects of the film (which make it so unique for a romantic epic), but then she derided the film for those very things.
I fear, though, it is a sign of things to come - it's the release strategy's fault. Having been hyped to high heaven in the UK (deservedly so in my opinion), the scene has been set for a backlash when it finally opens in the US. Focus should've just done a simultaneous release.
On another note, I HEART Katherine Heigl's frankness in all she does. But there's also something else about her that really appeals to me and I can't put my finger on it.
I didn't read Golden Compass, but I followed the film ... about as much as I followed Lord of the Rings and Narnia (i.e. if you asked me what exactly happened, I could run down the plot as poorly as any other fantasy epic ... I'm just not very good with details).
I thought the Daemons were very cool. I enjoyed the special effects. The little girl was great. There was a lot of exposition and the movie appeared to be in a hurry to get a lot of the way, so it could move on to the second film, which, hopefully, will be more settled in itself.
But, for Nicole's sake, the bankability of actresses in their 40's, as well as future films about little girls, I hope the movie does well ...
And why does K Heigl have to look so cute? Argh! She's a smart businesswoman, you have to admit. If I'm not mistaken, she gets paid less than some of the other GA castmembers. She has probably been fed up with the show and saw KU as her golden ticket to hefty (at least, in the short-term) film career. As I marvel at her shrewdness, though, one has to ponder a little thing called integrity ... (?)
Well Media Outtake is not reliable at all, that's the same site that claimed Beyonce was 32. We all know the truth about Queen anyway.
wait Beyonce ISN'T in her 30s? coulda fooled me.
After reading Poland's qualms about Day-Lewis and even Laurence Olivier, his reaction to Atonement is no surprise.
He obviously likes complete naturalism, but Atonement is artifice and classicalism to its core (and its like that for a reason). You'll either love it or you wont.
Yeah, the interwebs just ran with the Latifah assumption. Just a couple months ago she denied being gay in Glamour, so I sincerely doubt she did an aboutface so quickly.
Speaking of open secret gays, anyone happen to see the pics of Latifah with Travolta and Jodie Foster at the Hollywood Reporter's Hollywood Women Breakfast? I was laughing my ass off, for obvious reasons. Apparently people are all talking about how Jodie thanked her "beautiful Cydney" when she received her leadership award. That's nice, I think.
I really hate to see Atonement described as a "romantic epic". I still haven't seen the movie, but I could tell from day one that making this novel a costume drama an absurd and idiot decision. I'll never forgive Working Title for giving this project to Wright. Why not a grown-up and experienced helmer, like Stephen Frears, or Kenneth Branagh (he would be perfect to explore the movie/novel meta aspects. Perfect)?
I hate to see a movie that could be a dry and breath-taking drama about guilty and impossible redemption to be taen to screen under this "Merchant-Ivory meets MInghella for girly and epic romance" pack.
Anyway, it could be a good epic romance, but I'll never stop thinking they were wasting an incredible opportunity to make a sour classic.
I'd really like to be wrong, but, not's not the vibe I'm getting from reviews.
(Let's be honest. Costume Drama is clearly a gay/girl demographic. That, of course doesn't mean gays don't like crime flicks or straight people can't love this kind of romance. I like a lot of them. But Atonement the novel was absolutely free of these stereotypes. It was not a novel you could point demographics. Now it seems it's just a costume drama. So, what's wrong with Poland's statement? It's not prejudice to say that a movie like Moulin Rouge or Marie Antoinette is likely to be adored by gay people)
- cal roth
the point is to claim something is inferior and then suggest that you could recommend it to women and "some" men suggests that if you've a big swinging dick you won't like it because well, you get that it's not great.
it's the age old women --and by extension... the feminine--- are inferior and they like silly frivolous things.
it just reads as tired patriarchal sexism is all.
there is NO reason why costume dramas should be considered for women and gay men only. no reason at all. it's like the musical being deemed gay. or action films being deemed for men. There are plenty of people who like movies of all genres. it's only absurd culturally reinforced stereotypes that keep these things in little boxes.
but cal you're putting an awful lot of stock in Poland's 'women only!' diss for someone who hasn't seen the movie. Maybe you'll like it.
I don't get it, is Latifah gay or is she not?
And I still don't get the Travolta thing, since he's married and has several kids. And has been for a long time, right? Is his life really THAT disfunctional? Why does everyone think he's gay? Cause he was in musicals?
I believe Latifah is Gay, but Missy Elliott (someone referred to her in the comments) is certainly not.lol.
Nat, are you reconsidering Katherine Heigl in positive ways or not? I didn't think she was great in Knocked Up, but since I do think you can see opportunities where she and Leslie Mann put more sympathy and roundedness into their characters than the script might have allowed, I think she did enough honest work to counteract the implicit sexism that she has the right to say what she said without being completely hypocritical. Plus, to get any of the kinds of roles where she can upend these stereotypes even more fully, she needs to be in some hits like Knocked Up. So I find it a little hard to fault her. Even though I find it hard to get really excited about her, either. She's like a slightly more fun and slightly less credible Sarah Polley, right?
I find it irritating that some critics who should know better are attacking Atonement just because it is a period piece. Wright, Hampton and the actors don't twist McEwan's book, or turn it into anything different - the film may be slightly more romantic, but that really is just down to the charisma of the Knightley and McAvoy. As soemone who adores both book and film, I think it is a brilliant adaptation that keeps what is tough and interesting about the novel and improves on it in certain areas ot make it more cinematic.
I predict there will be a lot of dick swinging because of the 'manliness' of films such as No Country and There Will Be Blood, and that Atonement will be classed as the girly-boy film that unserious people go for. You can already see the seeds of this in Poland's piece.
adam k.
i can't believe how naive you are. You should know that it is possible for a gay man to be married and have kids.
And those rumors started because of a pic where he kisses a man on the lips and because he's a Scientologist (they are known to have a "cure" for homosexuality)
Well of course you can be married and have kids and still be gay, but obviously most married men with kids are NOT gay. I guess I'm just of the opinion that you need more evidence than the fact that someone is a Scientologist in order to make a legitimate case that they're gay. Particularly when all the circumstances of their life suggest otherwise. Perhaps I am still naive about the pressures of stars in Hollywood, but I just get skeptical about all these stars apparently being gay just cause someone says so.
Tom Cruise's revolving door of marriages to actresses in need of career boosts is another story, and in a class by itself. But a guy who's been married to the same woman for 16 years and has two kids? And has felt comfortable enough with himself to do drag? I guess I never followed his pre-marriage personal life, but he just doesn't seem like a closet homo to me.
Though I could, of course, be wrong.
The Travolta rumors had been around since he became famous in the 70s -- It did not start because of the recent kiss with the manny. He's had similar problems to Cruise going way back with men going to tabloids or magazines to discuss affairs, etcetera... it's just been quiet for awhile.
but the mainstream media usually gives these things a pass --it's only in recent years where they've gotten a little more cheeky and nudgenudgewinkwink about it... and even then that's mostly through the magic of the democratization of the media due to the web.
Cal roth, considering McEwan himself said it was a love story, whats your damage? http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/magazine/02wwln-Q4-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
It didnt deviate from the book, at all. Its marketed as a love story like Cold Mountain, but even Sasha Stone came out saying its more like American Beauty than English Patient. Like the novel, its difficult to categorise what genre Atonement belongs to; wartime costume drama is just convenient.
David Polands statement is stupid, he clearly didnt understand what Atonement was about and cast it off as a womens movie because it wasnt butch enough. Plenty of male critics raved Atonement finding it a complex movie, and plenty of female critics disliked it and found it too simple! Theres no pleasing everybody.
Nathaniel, there shouldn't be stereotypes, but they do exist - not only sexual stereotypes, but age, political geek/non-geek, etc.
Now I see the point of Poland being patriarcal sexist, but the first time I saw I thought. Ok, old women/gays will like anyway. The same way average geeks will like Beowulf.
Mean, to like not only because it is a good movie/or not, but because I like the genre. I will like anything Michael Mann directs, but I won't find it any great if it's not great.
What I though when I read Poland's post is like - it's not great, but it will have its fanbase. The same you could say - don't like beowulf, but geeks will like. But you're right. Reading again, I see it's not only demographics talk.
Re: There are plenty of people who like movies of all genres. it's only absurd culturally reinforced stereotypes that keep these things in little boxes.
Yes, I also do! But lots of non-cinephile people I know do fit the sterotypes!
Re: but cal you're putting an awful lot of stock in Poland's 'women only!' diss for someone who hasn't seen the movie. Maybe you'll like it.
Ok, it's not only POland reviews - he also mentions Anne Thompson, and when you're gonna find any more reviews, lots of them me make thing the novel I loved from all my heart just became Merchant-Ivory.
Ok, there's some reviews around that say otherwise, so, I must wait and see. But this trailers, ads, and a leading role campaign for Keira Knightley for playing Cecilia makes me think they dis put the book's important things (maily the guilty and meta factors) aside to sell people an old-fashioned love story.
- cal roth
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