<-- Electronic Cerebrectomy has an ode to delicious Carla GuginoSlant Ed Gonzalez has apparently been saving up the funny bile for year-end Oscar contenders. Stand clear
European Film Awards The Winners!
NewNowNext is excited to see Savage Grace @ Sundance
Towleroad rumor about Tom Ford's Hollywood takeover plans
NY Times I think I have to read this book Zeroville. The first paragraph name drops Liz Taylor & Montgomery Clift. And tattoos them on the protagonist for good measure. Yummy
Reports from the Edge loves Paul Rudd... and apparently Julia Roberts does, too
short but sweet
Merlin Mann speaks a truth about The Bening & Sharon Stone
The Fabulon offers divine advice for any weekend [nsfw]
Reports from the Edge loves Paul Rudd... and apparently Julia Roberts does, too
short but sweet
Merlin Mann speaks a truth about The Bening & Sharon Stone
The Fabulon offers divine advice for any weekend [nsfw]
someone I don't give enough love to...
Boyd @ European Films is always doing a great job. But there's so much to cover, where to begin with the linkage. Tons of great reviews and coverage of foreign language offerings
I'm just asking...
Has Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters fame) been reading my 'As soon as the upcoming Oscars are over, they'll release...
A period comey with Amy Adams (doing Marilyn Monroe... sorta???) & Frances McDormand called Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. If Amy Adams can make this type of thing a hit, we'll know she's the next Julia Roberts or whatever the hell people are desperately wanting her to be...
Thoughts?
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Posts
30 comments:
Oh my God, Helen Mirren is still collecting Best Actress awards for The Queen.
Don't rule her out to be renominated at the Oscars this year and to probably win again.
Okay, Miss Pettigrew looks very similar to 'Mrs. Henderson Presents'... even the background color scheme and font on the titles is the same.
However, the acting looks pretty good, esp. by Frances. Oscar nomination? Amy Adams should be a major draw next year with two high-profile supporting turns in both this and 'Doubt'.
amy adams bears striking resemblance to nicole kidman. how had i not noticed that before?
I find the "Pettigrew" trailer oddly compelling, although there's no chance of it being any kind of a breakout hit. I doubt it's even going to see a wide release. But I am totally there.
That film just looks strange. McDormand and Adams (just putting their names together I realised they were up against each other for l'Oscar) look like they're firing blanks.
Also, I've never read Ed Gonzalez before - is he always like this? Is it like his trademark? Have to admit it did make me chuckle quite a lot, even if it can't really be classed as film criticism. All his capsule reviews seem to be written from the same mold with the same sentence structure, d'ya know what I mean? But still, funny. If for a minute or so.
Helen Mirren for the Oscar!
Also, I love Paul Rudd, but he has no shot at an Oscar nom, and only a vague one at a Golden Globe. No, not even then. Of the "Knocked" cast, Leslie Mann is the nominate-able one, but even that's a long shot.
Why do people think Leslie Mann can get an oscar nomination?
Anyway, I totally lost track of who's supposed to be British in this film...? Frances is, I think, but her accent seemed spotty at best. Adams I think is not, though she seemed to be attempting an accent in the first few clips. I'm so confused.
Re: Leslie, I meant more for Golden Globes. But a man can dream, can't he?
Whip-Smart: Amy also has Sunshine Cleaning out next year with Emily Blunt. From the producers of Little Miss Sunshine. So make that 3.
I'll always give Ed Gonzalez credit for one thing. At least his dickitude is consistent from year to year no matter what's on the Academy's radar.
"Mrs. Pettigrew" looks like it took every play out of the "Mrs. Henderson Presents" playbook, from the costumes to the cinematography to the art direction. That's right up my ally though, since I loved "MHP", especially Judi Dench's performance. The release date is problematic, but Frances McDormand and Amy Adams both look great in the trailer. I've been dreading seeing "Enchanted" for a while now, but it looks like I'll finally have to give in to it now.
Oooh, just a quick thanks for the Fabulon shout-out! Your page is terrific!
XOXOXOXOX
It would be so sweet if there was any chance of Mann or Rudd getting nominated for Knocked Up.
Nathaniel, totally off topic, and I know you're busy with awards season, but have you ever seen the Australian 80's new-wave musical "Starstruck"? Just rewatched it, and it's fantastic. Pretty simple plot, teen girl wants to be famous, but the cast, costumes, and colors are a riot. Here's a clip of one of the songs, kind of a Busby Berkley spoof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2peffXk_ux4
If Ed Gonzalez hates movies so much, why doesn't he find a new profession? His utter contempt for any film that remotely garners collective praise is, like...is he still a jaded sophomore at NYU? Because, if he is, he's headed for Dean's List and a spot on the writing staff of MAD TV (if that's still on, I'm not sure), but otherwise, it's just depressing to see someone hate their career -- one I and many would KILL for -- so damn much.
I've read the book of "Pettigrew" - and it's a wry, grown-up yet sweet version of Cinderella (Mcdormand's charcter is a spin on Cinderella, with Adams as the fairy godmother!). Add a great setting in the gin bars of London in the 20s (or 30s?) - if they don't f**k it up, it could be fantastic.
miss pettigrew will be great. why?
frances mcdormand.
duh.
she's not in anything that sucks - she's got a keen hollywood ear for that.
I know you Brazilian Girls were being hyperbolous, but I'd like to draw your attention to "Aeon Flux".
eww....good point.
Dear Mr. Rogers,
When are you going to watch Perfume: the Story of a Murderer?
Marcelo - Brazil.
Wow. An appearance by Jake Shears! Just when I don't think this blog could get any more enjoyable... :-)
anon --i know people like to think that Ed is just a contrarian but in truth he sees and reviews movies pretty early. So he's not really reacting to other people's reviews.
Jake Shears was clearly not reading the articles, or else he'd be naked.
DAMN.
I actually agree with Ed on how mediocre-to-completely lame Juno, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Gone Baby Gone and Michael Clayton are. There is a depressing Oscar season ahead.
amy adams bears striking resemblance to nicole kidman. how had i not noticed that before?
Nice point, avwalker.
It's a redhead thing, to be sure, but I swore a saw a little Suzanne Stone in Giselle from Enchanted. But it becomes more obvious once Adams taps in Kidman's Marilyn fixation (Satine from Moulin Rouge!, Norma Jean from Happy Feet).
Also, people who mistake Ed's vitriol for many films as hatred for his profession are way off. You can tell by the way that he incisively and comically analyzes film that he takes his job very seriously. He's much more of a film critic than, say, Peter Travers, who blindly praises films with a vague adjective or two. If anything, I'd say Travers has more of indifference towards film than Gonzalez, since he doesn't seem to be care about where cinema come from, what is currently happening, or what may happen in the future.
I'm not saying every critic should be as discerning as Ed Gonzalez or Walter Chaw, but they're definitely essential. Someone has to have high -standards in a world that will nominate Little Miss Sunshine (and a bunch of other trash) for Best Picture.
I completely disagree, Nick M. Ed Gonzalez seems to be writing a column more than he is film reviews. It's not at all discerning - it's blindly (to use your word) damning everything he watches for comic effect.
Peter Travers is a more optimistic, generous writer, but he seems in love with cinema. It truly excites him, you can tell from his comparatives and yes, his adjectives.
Although it seems this is just a matter of differing personal taste and styles. Reading some of the stuff on your blog, it sounds like you have a droll style in the vein of Gonzalez (I'm not saying you write like him, just that you are more him than Travers). Whereas I find it difficult (really) if I have to write negative reviews (I'm not a vry 'funny' writer). I much prefer to review films I really enjoyed or admire. And I love to read Travers' work for that reason, because I empathise with it.
I actually think there's more room in arts criticism for the Travers school of writing. It's so fashionable for reviewers to lambast all that they critique (especially here in the UK, and in the mainstream print media as much as anywhere else), that I think it's nice when writers point out the positives and make you generally excited to go and watch the film or play, or to read the book, or to buy the CD.
I really really detest Ed's writing and indeed all the film writing on Slant' site. There is such a disconnect between how they judge flms and music. The music writers are much more willing to enjoy the more ephemeral end of the pop culture spectrum. They are witty and fun but not pushovers. Ed and the rest of the film writers are good, but they remind me of little else but pissy, moany old men.
I never said that Ed Gonzalez doesn't like his job. I'm sure he realizes what a cushy position he has and how many of us would kill to be in his shoes. But the proof is in his writing that he rarely finds a positive word to say about anything, and it's so much more his cup of tea to write something petty and snarky and above the room just for the sake of doing it. You could have a drinking game of "let's see what films Ed hates this year" and be drunk on the first couple of clicks reading that crap. It's par for the course for Slant of all things, but nevertheless.
I think Ed Gonzalez is one of the most incisive film reviewers online - I don't always agree with his opinions but they're always well-supported and absorbing to read. And just because he hates some of the films I love - I don't think that makes him bitter or a bad critic.
And it's always encouraging to read someone who isn't afraid of putting something subtitled in his year-end Top 10 (and who has seen more movies than 85% of online movie critics put together).
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