You Will Link a Tall Dark Stranger

Scott Feinberg points out that Sony Pictures Classics is the first studio out of the gate with Academy screeners. This is a good strategy as I've noted previously. I am anxious to watch Please Give again (very funny movie with delightful actressing throughout... in other words: my kind of movie). I haven't yet screened You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger but shall very soon now that it's here. I am feeling the fan guilt as it's one of only two Woody Allen movies I missed in theaters since I saw my very first one back in *gulp* 1984. No, Woody has not always deserved my slavish devotion... but he came very very close twice in the last decade to giving me what I needed from him (Match Point & Vicky Cristina Barcelona, duh!) so there's still a sliver of hope each year.

In related news: Animal Kingdom! I know I've been mentioning that one a lot but I keep hearing from disgruntled moviegoers who missed in when it hit their town. Don't let this happen to you.

Julianne Moore for Allure

LinksPopWrap Julianne Moore "the hundred year old model"
Film Biz Asia It's hard to keep track of all the Asian film awards but the APSA nominations are out. Three Oscar submissions were nominated for their Best Picture prize: Aftershock (China), Monga (Taiwan) and Bal / Honey (Turkey).  Poetry, which should-have-been Korea's Oscar submission (it's so good), was also nominated.
Awards Daily State of the Race and the Winter's Bone boost. People were bitching at me for believing in this movie as a Best Picture contender and the Gotham Awards have gone and illuminated my foresight. That loud smacking you hear is me kissing my own ass. Someone's got to do it!
Journalistic Skepticism compares 70s stars to arguable modern counterparts. Interesting comparison though I had to take issue with the idea that DiCaprio needed Scorsese... DiCaprio was a big deal long before Scorsese adopted him. I've never seen the media fawn over a teenage (male) actor the way they fawned over him in the early to mid 90s. It was like he was the media's only begotten son, they had already set up a trust fund and they had big dreams for him. He could be a doctor, an astronaut or the President!

Leonardo & Hilary in the 1990s.

Antagony & Ecstasy I know I link to this blog a lot but it's because Timothy Brayton is such a damn fine critic. Here in the Conviction review, he provides the most plausible theory yet as to who is responsible for Hilary Swank.
OMG Blog Admit it. You've always wanted to photoshop James Franco to look more like a drag queen.
Empire John C Reilly has replaced Matt Dillon in Roman Polanski's God of Carnage. That's too bad. I thought that was a good get for Dillon. Isn't it weird that he never got that career uptick that usually follows a first Oscar nomination (Crash). Wonder why that was?

Off Topic
Here are a bunch of young'ish Broadway actors, banded together for a benefit song to help the very worthwhile Trevor Project that fight for LGBT youth.



All the suicides and bullying stories on the news lately are so sad. There has definitely been a resurgence in racism and homophobia and all the other uncomfortable isms and phobias and realities of life in the past couple of years -- and depressingly egged on by people in positions of power, too (shame on them) -- but the way I like to look at it is that it's the death rattle of very backwards ways of thinking. When people see their way of life dwindling -- even if its a hateful way of life/thinking that everyone (including themselves) would be happier if they let go of -- they get very scared and get loud. Change is difficult for people as is progress. But I'm drifting off of the off topic (!) The point is: I can take one moment in this post in case anyone reading is having it rough and say this: Hang on. Life has peaks and valleys but you do not wanna miss the peaks. God the peaks are good.

It's like when you see a terrible movie and you think "god, movies have gotten so bad!" and you think you're done with them and them, ta-da, some actress starts shimmering onscreen, some setpiece makes you wanna devour your entire popcorn bucket while cheering, or some director sums up his whole theme with one perfect shot, or you see a masterpiece and it's all magical again. You don't wanna miss the masterpiece movie on account of the crappy soulless ones. See, now we're...

...Back on Topic!
Here's the new trailer for The Fighter which suddenly renewed everyone's Oscar faith in the movie on Sunday night when it aired during Mad Men. I like the trailer and it does look like Melissa Leo & Amy Adams may hog 40% of the supporting actress category together... but what is with the total D-R-A-M-A of that painfully elongated ridiculously familiar phrase "Based on a True Story"? I can't recall ever seeing a trailer trying to make that as gargantuan a SELLING POINT as this one does.



I mean is there anyone out there who is watching going  "yeah, yeah, I like Amy Adams and Mark Wahlberg and boxing movies well enough. but OMG. it's based on a true story?!? Are you serious? Get me my credit card. I'm buying my ticket now!"