Linksicle

up
In Contention on Up's "Russell" and his voice actor Jordan Nagai
Wired Science wonders if you really can lift a house with balloons
/Film details inside jokes within Pixar's UP
Pixar the first teaser for Toy Story 3

down... all around
Stale Popcorn I love this "Movies in Movies" series, don't you? Wish I'd thought of it!
Just Jared Nicole Kidman on Rabbit Hole set. Also refuting baby rumors
NY Post French Oscar nominee Betty Blue is getting a rerelease with 65 additional racy minutes of Jean-Hugues Anglade & Beatrice Dalle thrown in. Mon dieu
Rants of a Diva names the 25 best performances of the TV season
My New Plaid Pants somewhat echoes my feelings about the new Verhoeven with Halle Berry (!?) in the starring role
Cinema Blend Lucy Punch replacing Nicole Kidman in the next Woody Allen film. I like Punch so it's good to hear she's catching a break. We still know nothing of the role, though
The Big Picture on the orgasmic (?) Drag Me to Hell poster
Daily Mail and Pop Hangover - Lick Daniel Craig! He's only 100 calories


Just in time for summer!
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63 Finalists for that Subtitled Oscar. But No Lust, Caution

Just a heads up that 63 finalists for this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar are now official. You can see details at these links

Argentina to Finland * France to Mexico * The Netherlands to Vietnam

Only three of the previously announced films got the boot: Bolivia was dropped, Israel had to discard English speaking The Bands Visit and Taiwan was also forced to pull a switcheroo by the nit picky Academy. Why Lust, Caution Ang Lee's latest (and dependably terrific) drama was disqualified is a mystery to me at this writing. [Updated: Rejected due toNationality issues as suspected below -read on...] The Academy has often made strange rulings as to eligibility in this category but Ang Lee, Oscared himself, has usually escaped their elaborately excused banishment.

I'd blame it on Tony Leung Chiu Wai's furious naked thrusting (it upset the MPAA) but the Academy's foreign committee nominated the French scorcher Betty Blue back in its day and that film opens with Jean-Hugues Anglade thrusting away atop Béatrice Dalle so it's not that. They don't outlaw content.

Maybe Tang Wei's mesmerizing flexibility (her leg is where now?!?) reminded them that they don't like productions that stretch across too many borders and Ang Lee's films always do. His three previous nominees were all submitted by Taiwan (and accepted by Oscar) but Ang Lee can't stay put: The gay romantic dramedy The Wedding Banquet took place in New York, Eat Drink Man Woman cooked in Taipei and the third, foreign film winner Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon flew all over China --borders, international financing, indigenous languages and "country of origin" concerns were just about the last thing on its mind as it balanced serenely on leafy branches between rounds of ass kicking.

Speaking of... who wants to kick the Academy's?