Cinema Blend goosing the sales of True Grit (the novel)
Today One of the Fantastic Four will die in the comic's #587th issue. Does anyone still believe in these marketing ploys? I'm sure they'll come back to life within 3 years. That's how comics do.
MUBI The great Michel Piccoli is 85 today. Has anyone seen La Belle Noiseuse (1991)? That's such a good one.
CineEuropa international actor Armin Mueller-Stahl will receive a lifetime achievement award at Berlinale this year.
The Guardian talks to Andrew Garfield about Spider-Man (with audio)
Blog Stage an informative and weird animated bit describing what's going on with Spider Man's Broadway disaster.
Towleroad Mickey Rourke to pay gay rugby legend Gareth Thomas in a sports bio. We've had a lot of sports bios at the movies but you can't say we've had a lot of rugby films, gay or otherwise.
Scott Feinberg, fine Oscar pundit, delivers his top ten.
Finally, the New York Times has a totally bizarre article called "Hollywood Moves Away from Middlebrow Movies" which is about the new quality edict in Hollywood. I never understand these articles which seem to find all sorts of bizarre trends that the box office data doesn't actually support like "originality sells!" Er, no... I wish! I knew the article was in trouble when it says that Hollywood is going for quality and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is referred to as "arty" example of directorial artistry. Let me get this straight, in an article praising studio interest in Quality Original Films one of the prime examples is a messily 3D converted 2D film of a story that's been adapted literally dozens of times for the movies back to the days of silent film?
sigh
I swear to the cinematic gods that that one 2010 junkpile is going to be the death of me. It will not go away. I'll even have to be dealing with it in 2011 for the Oscars. Nooooooooooooooooo
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16 comments:
Does Mickey Rourke know that Gareth Thomas is a) Welsh and b) under 45? This sounds like the worst casting decision since Spacey in Beyond the Sea.
Ah, La Belle Noiseuse, what a beautiful film. I'd never have thought that the process of painting could be so interesting until seeing that film. 3 hours truly well spent.
If this makes any sense, I'm struck by the homophobia in Rourke's explanation of why "man who plays rugby who is gay" is less homophobic than "gay rugby player."
All right, just to clear this up, is it that you flat-out weren't a fan of the True Grit adaptation? Or is it your blind fury over Hailee's inclusion in Supporting Actress shortlists that's making you seem so grumpy-pants about the movie? Inquiring minds (who are deciding on whether or not to see the film) want to know!
Luke, it's half of both. I enjoyed watching the film but I would only give it a B or B-. I feel certain that had it arrived in March, it'd be suffering the same fate as The Ghost Writer now. As in people would bring it up and other people would go "oh yeah, that was good." and that'd be the end of that. :)
luke -- and as for Hailee. I thought she was good in a difficult role but it's a lead performance and she would not crack my top ten of female leads this year. Too many great or nearly great performances.
Perhaps those of us who survived Alice in Wonderland can form a support group of some sort.
I feel just as traumatized by it as you. Oh god, now I'm thinking of it!
It's not that ALICE IN WONDERLAND is bad.
It's that it was so visually bad I just wanted to put my finger through my eye and poke my brain to see if I could forget all about it.
I'm now fearing so much his next movie - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1142977/.
He and Woody Allen are joining the ranks of directors I can't stand watching a movie of without rolling my eyes a few times.
@will...i watched the alan carr show that Mickey was on and there was no homophobia in his statements whatsoever...he was clarifying that it wasn't simply a movie about a gay rugby player...it will be about the man Gareth Thomas and his struggles/trials of coming out while remaining an active professional rugby player...Mr. Rourke couldn't have been more nice when speaking about the subject....and i for one am calling it now that if the right director signs on for this film Mr. Rourke will finally get his Oscar!
Mickey Rourke playing Gareth Thomas? Oh my lord, what a ridiculous bit of casting. That's one case where I am quite certain nobody will be able to go "omgmickeyrourkeISgareththomas" since they look and sound nothing alike, the subject is younger than the actor and no matter how much people can "look past the plastic surgery" (and lord knows a lot of them can't, apparently, when it comes to women) nothing will be able to distract from the fact that Rourke looks revolting and Gareth Thomas is incredibly sexy. Stupid, utterly stupid.
Was Jason Statham not classy enough for the producers or something?
Ugh.
Troia: I'm sure that a lot can be deduced from tone, so you definitely got a better sense of what Rourke was trying to convey by watching the show. But my point was that I am suspicious of arguments that claim to challenge homophobia and "labels" by de-emphasizing a person's gayness. In other words, Mickey seems to be suggesting that there's something wrong with the (gay) host calling Thomas a "gay rugby player" because Thomas is actually a hard-as-nails athlete who just happens to be gay--almost assuring viewers that Thomas is still manly, tough, and a worthy subject of a biopic DESPITE being gay. I think we're on the wrong track when it is considered homophobic to identify a gay person as gay. All too often it seems that people who make these arguments DO think that there is something wrong with being gay--and judging from statements Rourke has made in the past, he seems to feel this way as well.
I hate to be that guy, but while I hated Tim Burton's version of Alice, I still wanted a different version of it. Instead, I wanted, and will continue to maintain, that David Lynch should have directed the film. Only he could make the film twisted and demented enough to be a true classic.
And I'm super depressed about the Fantastic Four becoming a "trio." I know that it's likely not forever, but it will certainly be for the next decade or so, I'm sure, and that's always been my favorite, favorite comic. I can't bear to think of which one it will be (though I'd imagine Sue Storm is probably safe).
After reading Scott Fineburg's list I visited some of the essays by "Deep Vote" the anonymous AMPAS member who is supposedly giving some "behind the scenes perspective" (albeit his own and not speaking for anyone else) as an AMPAS voter and - holy cow, did he bitchslap Rabbit Hole seven ways to Sunday.
@will...to reiterate my earlier point...Mickey made the point that it wouldn't just be a film about a "gay rugby player"..it would be about Gareth's years of struggles with self-loathing and lying to himself, his wife and teammates about his sexuality that led to him finally coming to terms and coming out....we all know Mickey has been a dick in the past but in this case he simply wasn't...Alan Carr the host of the show is flamboyantly gay himself and i doubt he would have stood for even implyed homophobia right to his face on his own show.
maybe you should try actually watching the interview before you spout off your ill-informed opinions :)
sorry to everyone else for the rant but that type of unfounded "omg he's a homophobe" finger pointing based on hearsay really gets my goat.
I think we have enough trouble in the world without starting it ourselves :(
I like the idea of a Gareth Thomas biopic, still I think Rourke would be rather miscast
Completely agree with GLENN on the whole "Mickey Rourke as Gareth Thomas" debacle. Am holding out that the producers or Rourke will come to their senses and give a more qualified applicant the job.
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