Club Silencio "Diagnosing Jennifer Connelly"
Premiere Paul W.S. Anderson reveals how he got Joan Allen to star in Death Race. Among other things... But that's the important part, right?
ócio-pop intermezzo (yikes)
Acidemic pre-code Hollywood and Barbara Stanwyck in 10 Cents a Dance. (The opening photo is freaking me out since she looks too much like Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Hell on Frisco Bay on the new Korean queer film No Regret
Lazy Eye Theater "I Want Morgan Freeman to Deliver My Eulogy"
Barcelona Binging
Humanizing the Vacuum has a wonderful take on Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Have you seen it yet? You've been quiet about it people.
Cinephilia cracks me up. I won't give away the name she gifts Javier Bardem's "Juan Antonio" but it's choice.
NY Times Woody Allen's hilarious faux diary from the set
Scarlett came to me today with one of those questions actors ask, “What’s my motivation?” I shot back, “Your salary.” She said fine but that she needed a lot more motivation to continue.Olympic Hangover
EW casts Usain Bolt in 12 movies. Hey, are they reading TFE or something?
Daily Kos has some words for NBC. Notice how they skimped on the Matthew Mitcham bio coverage they normally dole out. The only "out" Olympian and he proves a major upset to Chinese dominance winning a gold medal and it's like he just didn't really exist for them. For shame.
Posts
6 comments:
Would've seen VCB.
Grumble grumble grumble.
No sign of a British release date.
Sniff sniff.
I guess the distribution companies are seeing if it really sells before making copies to send abroad.
humpfh.
Thanks Nat
And nice work on the headline.
Pour Me Another Link. I'm so easily entertaining.
So that's who that photo of Stanwyck always reminded me of! Thanks, Nat. (I also recall Olivia Newton-John sporting a similar hairdo in the '70's, in at least one photo, but without the smoldering-ness.)
I was wondering why I didn't hear a lot of VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA here. I've seen it and enjoyed it more than Allen's previous Oscar hit MATCH POINT.
When the film began, I was very much interested in where the film was going between Bardem, Hall, and Johansson. I thought Hall was excellent and Bardem was full of charisma. I'm not so sure about Johansson though. Her performance seems off to me. She's been giving odd performances lately.
But when Penelope Cruz enters the picture, I wished Allen would've featured her more in the film. She completely steals the show from the rest of the cast. She's hilarious, passionate, truthful, and seductive.
Once the film moves away from her relationship with Bardem, I became uninterested in where the film was going. It seems like Cruz was very much a background character. She seems to be the focus of the others, but we don't really get to see her on an intimate level.
That aside, the screenplay was lightly enfused with Allen's personal flare. And it was great to see Patricia Clarkson in that one scene of regret. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA should really excite Academy members, if they enjoyed MATCH POINT.
I quite liked Vicky Christina Barcelona, in a B/B+ way, but Match Point was an A- type film.
VCB has gorgeous photography, solid performances (and yes, Cruz was defiantly great. Whatever my feelings of her in Volver, it's true that that role definitely unlocked her as an actress). It was a good film that I doubt I'd pay theatre prices to see again, but I enjoyed nonetheless.
Match Point, on the other hand, is one of the most breathtakingly constructed films in recent memory (Hollywood style, anyway). The plotting is beyond brilliant, and the final twist is an applause moment (how rare is that?). While I think the performances were slightly stronger in VCB (Johansson is more relaxed, better at playing a neurotic sexpot when it's comedy, apparently). I rewatch MP more than any other of 2005's great films, and it remains Woody's greatest film since Husbands and Wives.
What I particularly like about both films is that the smaller characterizations are just spot on - Patricia Clarkson in VCB, Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton, Rupert Penry-Jones in MP (Goode and Mortimer are too important for the smaller characterizations designation, but are great as well).
Anyway, even noting that neither Scoop nor Cassandra's Dream were that great (nor that bad), it's nice seeing Woody Allen working in a new mode and getting results.
Vicky Cristina is great. And I hated Match Point. Never got around to Cassandra's Dream, that other serious picture of his it seems the world has forgotten about...
Cruz and Bardem's comic abilities totally balance out the overthinking Hall and Johansson, making it the perfect New Woody Serious Guy / Old Woody Funny Guy combo.
Post a Comment