Near, Far, Wherever Comments Are...

I just wanted to take a moment out to publicly thank those of you who take the time to comment. I do read them all. Comments aren't exactly a reliable gauge of how popular a post or "series" is, but they're fun to read nonetheless and can help with motivation on darker days. Some time ago I had to switch to "moderated" comments for any article that's not on the front page to prevent the spambots from touching the film experience in its private places -- No means no! -- so I read all those, too. Just for fun a few notes on brand new comments from old posts.


Robert T is, like me, rattled that Disney is always trying to put Princess Aurora in a pink dress after the fact. It's just so wrong. Blue!

Sachin shared an alternative top 10 once confronted with the Top 50 Female Performances of the 00s. Hilary Swank shan't be denied her fans and Amy Ryan's Gone Baby Gone still has proponents. I've actually been thinking about the latter performance this week. I was wondering if anyone in Ben Affleck's The Town is going to seize awards traction by the balls the way Amy did in that earlier Affleck effort. [tangent] And I also saw the trailer to Jack Goes Boating wherein she romances Philip Seymour Hoffman. From the looks of the trailer she's playing this one in inverse noise proportion to her work on Gone Baby Gone. That's probably a smart move since PSH is directing and probably wants all the attention. He's purposefully making himself look even schlubbier than usual. Why must the cinema torture me with its sexism? They'd never let an actress equivalent of PSH anywhere near a camera, even if she was twice as talented as he. He gets lead roles and then purposefully looks worse than he needs to. If they need a woman to look "unattractive" they just hire someone breathtaking and forego makeup or they do prosthetic work to really drive the point home and win the gorgeous actress prizes for hiding her light under a bushel. (Nerve, touched.) [/tangent]

Finally, Derek added his voice to The Devil Wears Prada love from last Tuesday, calling Streep's work not just the best of 2006 but Best of the 00s period.

P.S. Hope you had a great holiday weekend or a weekend that felt like a holiday if it wasn't one for you.

P.P.S. Oscar prediction updates tomorrow.

P.P.P.S. Do you like the new banner? Now that it's up I'm totally wondering which of the six movie peoples will take my call. One Ringy Dingy. Two Ringy Dingy. Pick up!

Streep Nom #14: Miranda Priestley Forever

What we have here my friends is multi-tasking on fire!!! It's a tuesday top ten, it's a new episode of Great Moments in Screen Bitchery, it's the latest episode of "Streep at 60" which we're going to wrap up this week (at least in this format). It's all of these things simultaneously.

Ready? "Why is no one reh-dee?"


GIRD YOUR LOINS!

Ten Best Miranda Priestley Line Readings

10 "My flight has been cancelled... "
How incredulous and put out she sounds without even raising her voice. The way she says "school" when referencing her kids recital which she's desperate to attend is giggle worthy, too. So childish. Translation 'How could such a thing happen to the center of the universe... me?'

09 "There you are Emily. How many times do I have to scream your name?"
'Actually my name is Andrea.' Oh shut it Hathaway. She doesn't care. She will call you what she likes and you'll come running. Streep's double sided reaction to this interruption is A+ perfect. She's almost delighted that someone is talking back to her -- the novelty! -- stifling an awkard smile/laugh. But then immediately reasserts control with a list of demands. The silent hanging punchline is so choice "And Emily..."

[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #211, The Devil Wears Prada]

08 "I agree. No business tonight. Enjoy"
I couldn't include only her bitchiest quips! Thrown by the appearance of her rival Jacqueline, Streep gives us just a peak at Miranda's vulnerability in the gala sequence. Her boss doesn't want to discuss her cryptic reference to a note. She acquiesces by pouring the charm on a little too thickly, a little too needily. Everyone has a boss... even bosses from hell.

07 "And you can do anything... right?"
She wants the Harry Potter unpublished manuscript for her twin daughters. Normally Miranda's bitchy lobs are masked as power displays or excusable from a certain kind of 'Do your job' angle. But this time she's pissed. This one is a direct and purposefully impossible challenge. It's a gauntlet thrown down. For once she doesn't pretend otherwise.


06 "The truth is there is no one who can do what I do."
This line is uttered in the middle of her final monologue in which she is both rationalizing her own actions and chastising Andie on her holier than thou perch. The line is true enough of the character. But it's also not directed at the woman she's speaking too but to herself. It's a pep talk for a narrow escape from the competitors nipping at her heels.

And yes, the line is also true enough of the actress.

05 "You have no sense of style or fashion... No, no. That wasn't a question."
This isn't the first laugh Streep wrings from the lengthy opening act interview scene which introduces all four principals but it's her first "joke" in the movie as Andie's (Anne Hathaway) interview wraps up. I still remember the peals of laughter in the theater.

04 "Why is no one reh-dee?" AND "By all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me."
So quotable. These two lines are fraternal twins though they are separated by the bulk of the movie. They both spin their comedy from Miranda's exasperated and exasperating impatience. The second impatient quip is uttered when she is at her weakest, determined to work and succeed even in the face of another divorce. The breathy weariness that she employs when annoyed is suddenly not an affectation but the reality.


03 "This...stuff?" (aka the "Cerulean" monologue)
This whole speech, in which Priestley schools her clueless new assistant, is gold. We've written about it before. What's truly remarkable about the scene, which I'd name as the best in the film, is that it's madly multitasking. It brings all four principles together and underlines their place in the narrative while showing us not just workplace politics but actual work (a rare site in movies!). It's a showboating monologue that doesn't interrupt the flow of the storytelling but is the story.


We already know that Miranda Priestely is an über bitch and a major success, but suddenly we're forced into reconsidering our own ideas about the value of what she does and why she's so good at it; it's not just Andie's education but ours. Miranda is working during the whole speech -- "I think we need a jacket here" -- and teaching us the business. The speech, beautifully written and exceptionally delivered, is actually full of hostility and condescencion but somehow we emerge from the other end of it not hating being dressed down but enjoying our own comeuppance. Plus it's "sort of comical" to borrow from the fashionista headmistress herself.

02 "That's all."
It's not that it's her signature catchphrase. It's that each and every time those two syllables slip from her mouth, they carry different weight and meaning. And yet, it's never so simple an actor's trick as varying the punctuation mark. "That's all" is always quiet and simple like a period. It's never an exclamation point, question mark, or even ellipses. So how does she do it? We don't know. It's a magic trick from a seasoned confident showman. Professional magicians don't give away their best secrets.

01 "So often they turn out to be dissapointing and... stupid." AND "I said to myself 'Go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart fat girl.'"
These twin lines in which she brutally crushes both Emily (stupid) and Andie (fat) are SO mean. But the brillance of Meryl's delivery is that though the text is actually about Miranda admitting fault the delivery is anything but that. She's coddling herself throughout, gently coaxing herself to 'take a chance' and forgiving herself by blaming both assistants. The self regard is as tall as the office building and as transparent as the glass behind her. It's funny, too.

[Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #12, The Devil Wears Prada]

Listen, it's true that any number of actresses would have been great fun in this role. But Meryl Streep isn't just playing the caricature but a character. She's finds abundant shade and multiple gradations of color. Other actresses would have been blue; Meryl Streep is turquoise, lapis and cerulean.

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Which brings us to Oscar nomination #14. We're almost done surveying the Streep Oscar fields, how about that?

And the nominees were...

• Penélope Cruz, Volver
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Helen Mirren, The Queen *winner*
  
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada *Nathaniel's vote*
  
• Kate Winslet, Little Children
  

Other women for context
Probably Came Close: none; Traction Trouble: Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby)... but what a performance! Her best outside of Happy Endings I think. I wish I'd nominated her for my own awards.; Low Impact (Not Necessarily Their Fault): Annette Bening (Running With Scissors), Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette), Ivana Bacquero (Pan's Labyrinth), Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page), Laura Dern (INLAND EMPIRE), Naomi Watts (The Painted Veil); Box Office Queens: Beyonce Knowles (Dreamgirls), Jennifer Aniston (The Break-Up) and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine)

What's your favorite Streep moment in Prada? And now that we have four years worth of hindsight, what do you think of the 2006 field but more specifically, what do you make of the absolute lack of competition both in who the final five would eventually be and in who won?

if you liked this post, try also... Streep at 60 or 10 Best Pfeiffer/Catwoman Line Readings
return to full blog for fresh posts

Meryl Streep's "Iron Lady" and Her Political Films

Received a message on Twitter this morning requesting my thoughts on Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. Seems she's in talks to star as the Iron Lady herself in an early 80s set film about the lead up to the Falklands War. [src]

My thoughts, eh?

Me think about Streep? Never! But with Great Hope Springs and this one, it seems that the two-time Oscar winner will just keep reaching for the bait until a third is hers.

Though I can already sense that the rest of the internet will be gung-ho about this idea, I would urge caution. Perhaps it's silly to get caught up in any "Meryl will win her third Oscar for Thatcher" speculation.

The rest of the internet seems to have forgotten that this film will supposedly reunite Meryl with her Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd. Since Lloyd couldn't even manage the basic building blocks of film in Mamma Mia! (camera placement, editing, etcetera) and since there'll be no buoyant ABBA tunes to gloss over film weaknesses, and since Thatcher won't give Streep the opportunity to win shocked/amused hearts by jumping around with boundless 'can-you-believe-I'm-practically-a-senior-citizen?' energy ... well, I can't really see this as a crowd pleaser or a serious Oscar bait project. Yet.

The cynicism comes from another more political place, too. Though I greatly admire Meryl Streep's political activism offscreen and love it when she gets political in her acceptance speeches at awards shows, I'm not sure she's a true fit for political films. The last time I saw Streep playing a conservative politican (The Manchurian Candidate) I found it to be one of her hammiest and most predictable performances. And the great actress's other recent political films Lions for Lambs and Rendition didn't interest the public or Oscar voters. In point of fact, none of her political films have.

from left to right: The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Plenty,
The Manchurian Candidate, Rendition, Lions for Lambs

Zero Oscar nominations for a movie set in the political world probably doesn't sound that shocking until you stop to consider this second fact: Meryl Streep has appeared in 43 pictures and she has been nominated for 16 of them. That 37% nomination ratio beats just about anyone in any field (save James Dean of course). Yet, this seems to be the genre that wins her no love.

But then there's the biopic factor. And that's significant. That could change things.

I am sad to imagine that Streep would have to resort to mimicry to win (For all that she's given the cinema, to use a commoner's tactic?) but it may come to that since they never have time for her as a "winner" and they always have time for biographical performances. Thatcher is certainly a well known figure with an instantly recognizable voice that people will love hearing Streep nail in the same way people loved those flouncy vowels from Julie & Julia. [Note: Julia could, come to think of it, destroy my thesis since she plays a government official's wife in that one and was nominated. But the kitchen is that film's true location, not the government.]

Here's a few pie charts I whipped up about the past decade in Oscar acting winning character trends: real people in blue, fictional characters in red.


One could argue that the Academy voters can only choose from what films are made and released and women are the leads in fewer pictures than men. It's possible (though I'd like to see statistics) that they get more "true story" opportunities than not because you can't exactly change someone's gender in a biopic for better bankability (let's leave the hugely depressing 'men are more bankable' factor out of the conversation). But regardless, it's clear that when it comes to the Best Actress category itself, The Academy values character creation less than character recreation. That totally disturbs me though I readily admit it disturbs me far more than it does your average Oscar watcher and more than once I've been told to shut up about it already. Maybe it's just a personal hangup.

So this is why I was rooting so hard for Meryl Streep to win in 2006 for The Devil Wears Prada and Johnny Depp to win in 2003 for The Pirates of the Caribbean. Creating a perfectly realized instantly classic character that people will obsess about for years to come, even if you're creating it from bits and pieces of real life figures of your choosing, is far more of an imaginative creative feat for an actor than recreating the vocal cadences and posture of a famous person.

"I said to myself. 'Go ahead, take a chance. Hire the smart fat girl'"

That's all.

Are you excited to see Streep as Thatcher or do you wish she'd hook up with a true auteur who would challenge her mightily. Was Adaptation (2002) the last time?
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Stanley Tucci Rising "Gird Your Loins!"

On the same day I sat in the presence of Tilda Swinton (which I already told you about), I also attended the similarly formatted Stanley Tucci event at the New Yorker festival. You can read my article about the experience over at Tribeca. I love that they festooned it with an old Levi's ad of Tucci's. So weird to see him like that.

As you may have noticed in past conversations, I'm fairly fond of Tucci and I've been happy to see his (supporting) star rising. I knew nothing about him personally so the event was my first reveal of what he was like off stage: serious but funny (and punny as the case may be). He's often referred to as a Character Actor which he dubs a

redundant term. What they mean is you're not a leading man. It's like saying that someone is heavyset or 'she's a handsome woman!'

That perception frees him up since he doesn't have to worry about the parts drying up with age. "It's like I feel very fortunate in a weird way that I lost my hair." he told us joking "I had it all plucked. It was a conscious plucking."

Tucci & Streep as co-workers in The Devil Wears Prada
and spouses in Julie & Julia. Here's to team-up #3. His
comments on Streep are in the article.

When it came to the very standard topic of straight-man-playing-a-gay-man (zzz, why is this still so amazing to people?) as he did in Prada, Tucci was relatively inoffensive although he couldn't resist joking about his (late) wife ribbing him about it "Well, that was pretty easy for you wasn’t it?". He told a great story about the making of the film involving his famous "Gird your loins!" line, which marked the impending arrival of Miranda Priestley.. Maybe this is on the DVD commentary -- I haven't checked -- but each take the director had him utter a different line to keep the cast on their comic toes. One time, Tucci recalls laughing, he even yelled...

'TITS IN!' which doesn't even make any sense!

'Gird your loins' for that Oscar campaign, though. The New Yorker event showed a lengthy clip of Tucci as George Harvey from The Lovely Bones. The clip wasn't exactly what you might call "subtle" -- Peter Jackson not being a demur director -- but it showcased Harvey cleaning up after the murder of Saorsie Ronan and frantically 'straightening up' his place (chillingly not in the way one would normally straighten up, quite the opposite) when the police come knocking.

Do you see Tucci as being in play for Oscar... or are you holding out for the actual film evidence?

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Think Penn.

Jose here.

With the death of iconic photographer Irving Penn earlier today I began to wonder exactly how much are movies indebted to fashion and the other way around.

This was also sparked by my viewing last night of R.J. Cutler's "The September Issue" (my review here) which deals with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (not played by Meryl Streep this time).

Penn was a key photographer of the magazine in the 1950's, along with legendary figures like Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon. Together they showed that there is something that fashion can bring to art. Penn, in fact was one of the first portraitists that used the blank background to shoot his subjects, technique which is as relevant today as it was groundbreaking fifty years ago (can you imagine Beyoncé's "All the Single Ladies" video with a faux-forest background?).

But Penn is also important because he was one of the first photographers to try and give depth to celebrities. Classic Hollywood shoots exploited the glamor and unattainability of people like Garbo and Clift. Penn on the other side let them open up to his camera and seem alive (just see his portrait of Rudolf Nureyev above).

This reminded me of something "The September Issue" stresses about Wintour. The fact that "she trained a generation of celebrities to want to be supermodels". This sounds shallow if glanced upon lightly, but really when there was people like Penn doing that kind of art in photography (and being featured in a fashion magazine!) can you really blame Charlize, Gwyneth and Sarah Jessica for wanting to be on the covers?

While you think about that I leave you with yet another proof of the delicious connection between fashion, photography and cinema (just ignore the Italian dubbing and move straight to the musical part).

60 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Meryl Streep Month

Happy 60th Birthday to Meryl Streep

1. Be your very best
2. Be dramatically potent.
   
3. ... then unexpectedly hilarious.
   
4. Fake a new accent every hour.
   
5. Imitate the dial tone on your phone.
   
6. Run around like a joyful madwoman with your hands in the air, stopping only to kiss people.
7. Run around like a joyful madwoman whilst singing your favorite ABBA song.
8. Accentuate your WASPiness... (or fake it).
   
9. Stay married to the same person for decades, confounding Hollywood protocol.
   
10. Pretend your significant other is a sculptor, make them use their hands.
11. Befriend Cher.
12. Watch Kramer vs. Kramer again.
13. Watch Angels in America again.
14. Consider yourself overrated... "but not today!"
    
15. Be highly quotable.
    
16. Memorize the entire Miranda Priestley "Cerulean" monologue.
    
17. Ask your best friends to call you "Mary Louise" for the remainder of the week.
18. Stweep!
19. Give to charities.
    
20. Sing more spectacularly than is humanly fair considering all of your other talents.
    
21. Watch Julia to see how it all began.
    
22. Say "That's ridiculous" with a Polish accent all day.
23. Visit Simply Streep and Meryl Streep Online.
24. Idolize your mama.
25. Make out with someone who looks like Robert Redford, Bobby DeNiro, Kevin Kline, Kurt Russell or Alison Janney
26. Send mixed messages to someone who looks like Jeremy Irons
    
27. Enjoy Silkwood all over again.
28. Flash your left tit and laugh about it.

29. Appreciate one of her rare underappreciated performances like the one in A Prairie Home Companion.
30. Stare off into space while dreaming of that farm in Africa, the French Resistance, your life as a singer, Virginia Woolf, the drugs you wish you were on or that French Lieutenant who will never return.
31. Wear a Vassar t-shirt.
32. ...or Yale paraphernalia
    
33. Pretend you've won an Oscar.
34. ...and another.
    
35. Pretend you've won a third since you deserve it.
36. Polish Meryl's star at 7018 Hollywood Blvd.
37. Stare at the sea provocatively whilst practicing "Obscure Melancholia"
38. Speak highly of New Jersey
    
39. Take your family white water rafting.
    
40. Watch Out of Africa again (you haven't seen it since the 80s).
    
41. Lighten the room when you walk in.
    
42. End your conversations with a dismissive "that's all".
43. Work towards making lots of "All Time Great" lists in whatever it is that you do.
    
44. ...actually deserve the honor.
45. Don't take yourself too seriously.
    
46. Proclaim "the dingoes got my baby!"
47. Have some cream of watercress.
    
48. Mix a drink for your friends (or frenemies) and pretend it's an immortality potion.
49. Be a legendary household name whilst avoiding any personal drama.
50. ...stop to consider and then appreciate how truly difficult that is to do.
    
51. Read up a little on the amazing Julia Child before Meryl's next picture Julie & Julia arrives.
52. Take a hot bath and fantasize about Clint Eastwood.
53. Make your significant other wash your hair outdoors.
54. Play dress up like Sophie or Kate Gulden
    
55. Be proudly liberal and politically active.
    
56. Make the world a better place.
    
57. Inspire future generations in your field.
58. Raise talented children
59. Age more spectacularly than a good wine.
    
60. Share this tribute post & video with Meryl-loving friends!
    

THAT'S ALL.
Click here for full blog / fresh posts
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A Listers and Franchises. There Are No Streepquels.

Remember a couple weeks ago when we joked about Hollywood's endless reboots, remakes and sequels... Vera Drake 2: Jail Break! Well it's on everyone's mind this summer what with Star Trek rebooting and Terminator probably collapsing: first Sarah Connor gets cancelled and now T4 can't beat the $ of T3. Ouch. Bless Movie | Line for doing some investigating about A-Listers and their relationship to franchises. It's a fact of life for the top moneymakers. Or is it?

In this chart "near franchises" is a subjective number, referring to films

that were obviously intended for / or completely natural fits for sequels
if the star had wanted it or if the first film hadn't flopped

It turns out not all of the A-Listers believe in repetition. You may already know that our June subject girl Meryl Streep has never made a sequel but it was interesting to note who else has never done double or triple duty versus those who have done them regularly. Read away

As much as I tire of the franchise looping, I must admit it's fun to think of Streep recreating one of her characters. It would be such a novelty. Which film would you most love to see her make a sequel to: Kramer Vs. Kramer (what could they go to court about in their 60s?), The Devil Wears Prada... Again, The River Wilder, Adaptation 2, Death Becomes Them Still?

Forbes 100: On Actresses and "Power"

As you may know, the annual Forbes 100 is out. This 'Celebrity 100' list is also referred to as "World's Most Powerful Celebrities". Which... well, I wonder. The list ranks the celebrities based on their media visibility and earning power. Media + income = power. All lists are subjective but it seems strange to assume that visibility equals power. It can but I doubt it automatically does. Is Lindsay Lohan a powerful person because the paparazzi follow her around? If so, what does she hold sway over... legging trends? Can she get movies greenlit? She didn't make the list but it's just an example.

Another funny/strange thing: It only goes to show you that becoming enormously popular at one time in history can keep you on these lists in perpetuity. Witness the staying power of Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford on lists such as these.

Here are Forbes top movie actresses...

01 Angelina Jolie
There's no disputing her fame. Would that her influence was as indisputable. Celebrity philanthrophists are often subjects of loathing from many pockets of the media and various segments of the general populace. Why that is I'll leave it up to social theorizing in the comments [A History of... Angelina Jolie]

08 Jennifer Aniston
She was my favorite member of Friends back in the day but I realized as soon as she transferred to the cinema that I was a fan of "Rachel" rather than Jen. Sometimes when thinking of Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox in tandem it becomes clear that Brad Pitt is to blame for her ubiquity. But then I think of my beloved Juliette Lewis and... well, the world isn't fair.


58 Sarah Jessica Parker
Sometimes Square Pegs only need to ignore the round holes and find a new board on which to play. What a difference HBO and "Carrie Bradshaw" made. [More on Sex & the City]

64 Meryl Streep
Her top earning status as she enters her 60s fills me with utter glee despite the fact that Mamma Mia! was terrible. Once, long ago, (very early 90s to be more precise) the same media that now kisses her feet used to belittle her for speaking out about the inequality in pay between actors and actresses.

71 Reese Witherspoon
Earned $15 million last year. Usurping all of Jake Gyllenhaal's time? Now, that's power.

73 Cameron Diaz
Forbes is pushing the notion that we should have her on our Best Actress Oscar lists for My Sister's Keeper. What say ye?

74 Nicole Kidman
She takes a beating in the American media but she's still an international draw. Plus she's, you know, awesome if you care about the cinema rather than just 'the movies.'

85 Anne Hathaway
She only made $7 million for Get Smart? For some reason I thought she pulled down more than that already.

87 Drew Barrymore
Still a double threat as Producer/Actress. Every time we hear about Drew's next project, the roller derby film Whip It!, it's mentioned in connection to Ellen Page's rising stardom post Juno. But have you checked out the supporting cast and their character names? Drew as "Smashley Simpson", Kristin Wiig as "Malice in Wonderland", Juliette Lewis as "Dinah Might", Eve as "Rosa Sparks". I only hope the movie is half as fun as the milieu and moniker imply.

92 Sandra Bullock
Forbes implies that her return to romcoms justifies her placement. Is she headed for a major comeback this year with The Proposal and All About Steve?



Most random finding on this list: Jennifer Love Hewitt is at #99. Other than her power to stay on television year after year after year after year (Jennifer Love Hewitt in the reboot of Murder She Wrote... coming your way in 2038!) I had no idea that she wielded any, let alone that she was the 5th most powerful TV actress . I didn't know that she was more powerful than three Desperate Housewives and that Gossip Girl... more powerful yet than Eliza Duskhu who is infinitely hotter and shares Hewitt's power to stay on the airwaves.

You know what I'd like to read? A list that seeks to quantify the overall influence of celebrities as opposed to their income or household name status. Who has trickle down power? I always think of that "cerulean" scene in The Devil Wears Prada when I think of cultural influence.

This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.

You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

Wouldn't more specialized celebs like, oh, Parker Posey in the 1990s or Björk or Tilda Swinton make lists that quantify cultural influence? They're famous, referenced, idolized, admired, stolen from, imitated and occasionally worshipped in fashion, music, media, cinema. They're not interchangable with the next up and coming starlet. But, alas, they aren't ... Jennifer Love Hewitt.
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Now Playing: Hockey Masks and Shopaholics

links go to trailers

L I M I T E D
Gomorra The Italian hit finally opens proper, without the intended Oscar nomination it expected to be promoting itself with. I thought it was good but I don't totally understand the fuss, I must confess. If you like hyperlink mosaics or mafia films you could certainly do a lot lot worse. It has its moments.

Two Lovers I keep thinking this movie opened already but such is the fateful pattern of distribution for small actor's films. Only in this case it's more like actor (singular) since that's not what Joaquin Phoenix is anymore, you got it? See it for Gwynnie. Didn't you realize you kind of missed her when she showed up in Iron Man last summer?

W I D E
The International Evil banks vs. the world. How timely! But how did they get permission to shoot up the friggin' Guggenheim? (I never use the word friggin but the doubled double 'g's were too much to pass up). That's all I can think of when I watch the trailer because despite the presence of a director I once loved (Tom Run Lola Run Tykwer) and actors I admire it seems so, what's the word, "standard"? We'll see.

Confessions of a Shopaholic In which two time Oscar nominee Amy Ad-- I'm sorry in which Isla Fisher (the other one was on my mind, that's all) tries to carry a girlie hit all by herself presumably targeting the huge Devil Wears Prada audience. Notice the helpful hint "You speak Prada?" in the trailer. Although do we really care what Hugh Dancy speaks so long as we are able to read his lips? Do you think the female audience will ever tire of being portrayed as insatiable brand-crazy consumers?

Kristin Scott Thomas also appears in this one and we'll be talking about her again in a couple of weeks when I've Loved You So Long hits DVD. I'll share my interview then.

Friday the 13th I have no idea what number this is the endless bloody stream of Jason pictures, but the title suggests it's a reboot. Not a rethink! How can one rethink "Kids go to Crystal Lake, get slaughtered" I saw the first five minutes of this at Comic Con (not by choice! they sandwiched it between two things I wanted to see so I couldn't give up my seat). In the first five minutes of the picture, young pretty people get killed in increasingly gruesome ways. Sorry to go so heavy on the spoilers. Did I ruin the movie for you? What surprised me is how many people got killed in those five minutes. I counted five. The movie is 97 minutes long. I guess I'd see 92 more murders if I purchase a ticket? Slasher math.

True story: One of my friends is hosting a Friday the 13th party tonight in which apparently a bunch of the movies are going to be screened in marathon succession --how does one tell where one film ends and another begins? Hours upon hours of grisly murders. Another friend keeps bugging me to go. Don't they know I would just curl up in fetal position? That's no way to behave at a party and it's also not conducive to hanging out by the food, my preferred party position. It's hard to reach for chips and salsa when you're hands are hugging your knees.

Seeing anything this weekend?
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Hump Day Hotties: Emily Blunt and The Young Victoria

Remember when The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) was filming and people were so excited about how gorgeous it was going to look? Italian locations, Anthony (English Patient) Minghella in the director's chair, Law & Paltrow & Blanchett & Damon as the luscious quartet in front of the camera (only PS Hoffman was spoiling that particular pretty party). The finished film looked even more scrumptious than a lot of people were hoping for once it finally arrived. I'm not quite sure why my mind leapt back there while looking at the cast list of 2008's The Young Victoria --aside from a quartet of attractive actors, the projects aren't similar -- but it did so I decided to go with it...


I hope The Young Victoria is worth waiting for. She stepped before cameras last week. I'm not normally wild about biopics but I do enjoy a good costume drama. More to the point I'm eager to witness the gamble whenever an actor I like a lot --in this case 24 year-old Emily Blunt of My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada fame -- makes their first big leap into star vehicles.

Those two films suggest that Emily is a young actress of fine range, at home in both sensual drama and bitchy comedy. In the next few years, make or break ones for her, she'll have ample opportunities to prove her worth elsewhere too. She's got seven films coming out in the next couple of years.


There's more on Blunt in the new issue of Mean magazine if you wanna read about it.

But returning to The Young Victoria, this royal beauty won't have to carry it alone. She'll have handsome older men swirling around her supporting some of the weight. Thomas Kretschmann (45) who excelled as an unexpectedly humane Nazi in The Pianist and got smooshed by dinosaurs in King Kong will play Victoria's uncle. Paul Bettany (36) will play Victoria's advisor. I'm happy he's getting to play something other than the creepy villain role but I do hope someone gives him another chance at light romantic dramedy. He was better in Wimbledon than he gets credti for.

Finally there's Rupert Friend (25, left) as Prince Albert, Victoria's eventual hubby. Chances are you won't actually see the 'prince albert' on Rupert but the rest of him is worth watching anyhow, wouldn't you say? We last saw Rupert as the romantic red herring in Pride & Prejudice. In real life he wasn't such a red herring for Keira Knightley

Around the edges of this fine quartet, even better actors are lurking. TFE favorite Jim Broadbent appears as does the woefully underutilised Miranda Richardson. It pains me greatly to see her in hideous thankless roles like Mrs. Claus in Fred Claus (coming soon. I must have been naughty rather than nice). How can Hollywood continue to waste the woman who can do what this woman did in Dance With a Stranger (1985), The Crying Game (1992), Damage (1992) and Spider (2003)? An Oscar nomination for the latter was never going to happen given the nature of the film and that idiotic one week qualifying release in LA in 2002 but please know that her work ran circles around most of the women that were nominated that year. Ugh. Let's not even discuss it!
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Tues Top Ten: Funny (?) Girls

for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

Today is the birthday of both Barbra Streisand (the Funny Girl herself) and Warren Beatty's Sister (like Babs, expert with the comic timing) so in honor of them and other funny ladies of yore (I'm partial to Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne and Judy Holliday) I thought I'd do a list of female comediennes. The only trouble was that once I started to form it I realized that I don't see a lot of what passes for comedy these days (mostly because it's male driven and those comedy stars aren't always that funny to me and some I'm straight up allergic to: David Spade and Jon Heder for example) so my list would have too many glaring omissions.

So, rather than do a list of the "funniest women", which might include a few SNL or sitcom alums or even Charlies Angels if I'm generous and would include everyone who works with Christopher Guest, I thought I'd do a list of people I wish would yuk it up more often on the big screen

Actresses Who Should Do More Comedies

10 Jamie Lee Curtis. It pains me greatly that her career ended with Christmas with the Kranks and not the one for which she shoulda been Oscar nominated: Freaky Friday. She never got the credit she deserved during her acting career. She was nearly always much better than she had any right to be given the films and the roles. Such a funny and unique talent. sigh. Well we'll always have Halloween, True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda and Freaky Friday

09 Anna Faris Perhaps I should have said "actresses who should do more good comedies" --I think she's quite funny in the bit roles in which I've seen her but it's not like I'm going to sit through most of the dreck she finds herself in to see if she's as funny as she seems. Can't someone who writes intelligent comedy (f.e. the Coen Bros, David O'Russell, Christopher Guest, Woody Allen, or Alexander Payne) get her some better material?

08 Christina Ricci. Now that she has taken a step back towards recovering her screen mojo (Black Snake Moan), I'd love to see her seize a comedic role with the same intensity and enthusiasm that she did back in her Addams Family Values days. That'd be off the chain. Get it? Um... Black Snake Moan plus... oh never mind.

07 Holly Hunter. More on Holly's best work here.

06 Rachel McAdams. I sometimes get the sense that we're all holding our breath for nothing. It's clear that should she want it, huge stardom is hers. But her career is awfully quiet in proportion to the enthusiasm from moviegoers. She proved she could carry films with Red Eye and The Notebook but my favorites in her filmography are in comedic supporting roles: the caustic sister in The Family Stone and that already classic queen bee in Mean Girls ("I know right?")

05 Meryl Streep. Last year's twofer (Prairie Home Companion and The Devil Wears Prada) confirmed what Streep fanatics have known for a longtime: her legend was built from drama but her delicious silliness deserves its own act in her career.

04 Lily Tomlin. Never mind those Huckabees videos... what matters is what ends up onscreen and Tomlin always delivers. So why is it that one of the best film comediennes only gets teensy roles once every three years or so? Huckabees, All of Me, Nine to Five and Flirting With Disaster are lonely for company in the great comedies playroom

03 Joan Cusack. She's the only female Saturday Night Live alum to win an acting Oscar nomination, two of them in fact (Working Girl and In & Out), marking one of the rare times that Oscar voters have really been wise to the skill and inspiration a comedic performer has brought to the filmmaking table. I wish she'd make more movies. It was good to see her again in Friends With Money.

02 Laura Dern. She's a subtle hoot in The Year of the Dog as an overprotective suburban mom. Pair that with her brilliant film carrying work in Citizen Ruth (1996) and be forcefully reminded that there's much more to this undervalued actress than playing formidable muse for David Lynch.

01 Reese Witherspoon. She's following up her somewhat divisive Oscar-win for Walk the Line with another teary drama (Rendition) and I get the sense that that's the direction she's headed in in general. But she's a spitfire in a good comedy, elevating both Legally Blonde movies and selling the heck out of her career breakthrough in Election. I had to "Pick Flick" for the top spot.

Who would you like to see in more comedies?

Film Bitch Awards 2006. That's All

Whew

Every year I tear out my hair trying to decide what I'd vote for if I had an Oscar ballot. I make it more difficult by adding categories. Juggling 100 movies and private delights into something public in 8 pages of awardage and commentary in 40ish categories is not easy. But I hope it's fun to read. Every year I think 'this is insanity -- can't do this no more!' but in the end I guess I think of it as scrapbooking, like a journal of moviegoing. I may not always agree with what I once felt. Hell, I may not agree with a few of these tomorrow. But it's there for time capsules sake and, as always, to further suss out my feelings about the cinema. So maybe it is worth all the work? I hope you get something out of it, too: Rental ideas, entertainment, fodder for discussion.

Page 1 Films, Directors, Screenplays
Page 2 Performances
Page 3 Visuals
Page 4 Sound & Music (and Traditional Oscar-Awards Statistics)
Page 5 Performances (Extra Awards)
Page 6 Extras (Miscellania)
Page 7 Favorite Scenes
Page 8 Favorite Scenes and Awards Statistics
Page 9 Readers Polls: 2006

Volver and Children of Men ended up ahead of the pack with 9 medals in various categories. The Devil Wears Prada, Marie Antoinette, and The Departed were close behind with 8 each in what was essentially a strange year, with no films ever becoming as dominant in my heart as past favorites like Brokeback Mountain, A History of Violence, or Moulin Rouge!.

With my own awards out of the way, only Oscar remains. Up next: 13 more 2007 Movie Previews and the Oscar Symposium. Stay tuned.

Tuesday Top Ten: Oscar Talking Points

Tuesday Top Ten! ~a new weekly feature. For the listmaker in me and the list lover in you

Ten Talking Points Re: Oscar Nominations
10. Click can now call itself an "Oscar Nominee" (curse the makeup branch!) That sound you hear is figure eights and triple lutzes from Hell's new ice rink.

09. Oscar continues to strengthen its ever growing love affair with placing lead performers into supporting slots. Thelma Ritter, Jason Robards, Fay Bainter, Walter Brennan and all sorts of acclaimed character actors (RIP) may feel free to turn over in their graves. At the rate this trend continues to grow with almost no one batting an eyelash at category fraud but merely accepting it or even defending it, their modern counterparts will soon never have a shot at even one Oscar nomination, let alone frequent honors.

08. The Cinematographers and the Art Directors are thinking for themselves. What's up with that? They've freed themselves from the shackles of the Best Picture field. It's rather shocking when you stop to consider how long it's been since they ignored the big dogs. That hasn't happened in either category in the past 40 years (anyone know how far back you have to go to find another instance?

07. The Oscars will have performances from at least two beloved lesbians: Ellen DeGeneres is hosting and Melissa Etheridge will presumably show up to sing the Best Original Song "I Need to Wake Up" nominee. No word on whether or not Jodie Foster will be a presenter.

06. The costumer designers finally woke up and smelled the value of contemporary films in their midst. It's not like The Queen has 'period' costumes and The Devil Wears Prada --can I explode with glee? Patricia Field (previously of Sex & The City fame) is a genius. And let's hear it for Marie Antoinette's Milena Canonero who joins the top ten costume designers of all time (in terms of nominations) with her eighth nod from the Academy. She's now tied with Jenny Beavan (a snubee this year for her work on The Black Dahlia)

05. Kate Winslet is now a five-time Oscar nominee. At only 31 years of age she has now entered the top twenty-six most nominated female actors of all time. Only three others in that list (Thelma Ritter and Deborah Kerr with six nominations & Glenn Close with five) are Oscarless.

04. No Casino Royale anywhere. Not even in the unhyped tech categories. And that complete snub came after an astounding showing @ BAFTA and gigantic box office and pop cultural success. The Academy liked it less than a few other Bond films ... imagine that.

03. A great year for Hispanic filmmakers. Unless your names start with Pedro and ends with Almodóvar (He was shut out of Best Director -damn, Best Screenplay -shame, and Best Foreign Film for Volver -heresy!) But the Three Amigos (Gonzalez Innaritu, Del Toro, and Cuaron) were all nominated in one way or another. Good on them and a nice semi rare rather widespread acknowledgement from the Academy that you don't have to be American to be a mover and shaker in the cinema.

02. Is Letters From Iwo Jima the lowest grossing Best Picture nominee ever (at the time of nominations)? It's certainly one of them. To date it's earned only $2.5 million. That's well under the totals for other late blooming BP finalists like Capote, Life is Beautiful, In the Bedroom, and Cider House Rules which were all nearing $20 million when they were boosted by AMPAS. In recent years only Million Dollar Baby, The Pianist, and Secrets and Lies were under $10 million and all were bigger moneymakers than Iwo Jima prior to their lucky day. Calling all box office gurus: Is Letters From Iwo Jima actually the lowest grosser ever (pre-nominations)? Help us out.

01. Dreamgirls gets the most nominations (8) but is shut out of Best Picturewhich has, according to preliminary research, never happened before. The picture that still holds the record for the most nominations ever without a corresponding Picture nod, is They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. It received 9 but no best picture but it was not the nomination leader in its year.


FULL NOMINATION LIST HERE

Previous Tuesday Top Tens (New Series):
Alexander(s) The Great
Best 2006 Movies from The Departed (sure) to Marie Antoinette (you heard me)
Movies by The Three Amigos Best of Cuarón, González Iñárritu and Del Toro


Tags: costume design, movies, Oscars, Academy Awards, cinema, Film, cinematography, costumes, Kate Winslet, Clint Eastwood, Casino Royale, Melissa Etheridge, hispanic, Volver,Dreamgirls, Pedro Almodovar