"we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 links."

<-- poster for The American. I like. Do you?

links
Word Smoker I love this piece on Tangled and its evocations of "tentacle porn".
Some Came Running a piece on Cyrus which is quite a funny if inconsequential movie. Glenn Kenny is so fun to read.
Movie|Line Nicolas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising) on Wonder Woman and what he'd do with her in a movie. This is a pretty intriguing interview. I would love them to give this project to someone who has an idea, you know. Not just another generic superhero movie.
The Awl proclaims Toy Story 3 "totally bonkers" and the best movie of the year. Good piece
The Wrap I didn't know this: Influential guilds are rallying to have IMDb lose those birthdates, claiming it leads to ageism in a youth-obsessed business.
/Film A Toy Story short coming next year? Oh Christ Almighty. What happened to going out with a bang?

Psycho is 50
I really meant to commemorate it myself but until I do...
WSJ great piece on Psycho (1960) and the Bernard Hermann score
Sunset Gun "50 Years and a Remake Later". I love discovering that cinephiles I respect are also fond of the Gus Van Sant recreation. Throw your stones elsewhere I'm not the least bit embarrassed about it. I like cinematic experimentation.

and here's a YouTube video on shower scene parodies/homages/ripoffs (hat tip to JA)



off-cinema
Sociological Images fun art project visualizing "masculine" images through "feminine" processes. We need more of this since Toy Story 3, though often brilliant, continues Pixar's little boys rule / girlie things not as cool messaging.
Us Magazine Ryan Kwanten is writing a sex guide book. Anyone who has ever watched his sex scenes on True Blood will surely buy it. Best Seller!
Boy Culture Is Queen Latifah softening her stance about coming out?

finally, Rob Will Review top ten Glee performances season 1. But I really must take exception with Kurts coopting of "Rose's Turn" not being on the list. That's just crazy talk.

p.s.
I find it very annoying --and I wonder if any of you have noticed -- that blogger no longer has accurate comment counts. It's very annoying because I read every comment and if it's lying to me about when you're commenting, I might miss some. grrrr.

don't wanna link, don't wanna touch...

♪ ... just smoke one cigarette and hush
don't call my name, don't call my name, Roberto ♫

Stuff No One Told Me Love this. Disney and Porn = eternal human frustration.
MNPP Everything you ever need to know about life... you can learn from Psycho (1960)
Antagony & Ecstasy looks back at the evolution of Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy in a summer blockbuster history series
Cinematical Paul Rudd, soon to be the Idiot Brother, gets four fine funny actresses as co-stars

Emma Frost illustration by Adam Hughes

Movie|Line the angsty drama of 'how will Sandra bullock follow that Oscar?' Methinks her team is thinking too hard. Nobody wants her doing prestige pics.
Socialite's Life Matthew Morrison (Glee) recording a solo CD. I'd be thrilled to buy this (his voice is amazing -- check out the CD of Light in the Piazza for proof) but for the fact that he's gettin JustinTimberlakey with it. Yawn.
What's Good/ What Blows the dismaying punishment of Charlie Sheen.
Cinematical Michael Fassbender has his choice of two supervillain roles. Which will he go with? Either way he ends up opposite a fine actor (James McAvoy in X-Men: First Class or Jamie Bell in Spider-Man)
Empire speaking of X-Men... seems that Rosamund Pike may be up for the part of Emma Frost, the White Queen. Now that is a casting decision I can really get behind. Love both the actress and the character.
I Need My Fix True Blood season premiere brings the stars out. Is there a more attractive cast on television?
The Big Picture looks at the critic vs. audience divide on Splice.
Boing Boing more on recent silent film discoveries. I always get so excited to hear about found films
In Contention could "Shine" be an Original Song hopeful at the Oscars? I'm still struggling to understand what everyone else sees in that highly praised Waiting for Superman documentary (I didn't like it) but I agree that it's probably going to be up for the doc Oscar.

More on Lady Gaga's "Alejandro"
my piece yesterday in case you missed it
Low Resolution "Instantly Dated Thoughts"
The Critical Condition "Theft and/or Borrowing"
The Critical Condition ...and an interesting follow up piece about the cultural awakenings that happen in our youth.
Flavor Pill "Guide to Madonna References"
Rolling Stone director Steven Klein talks about the video, avoids the Madonna question.
popbytes (I do a brief weekly column here now). The video got me thinking about freaky movie nuns.
Guardian rounds up the groups claiming offense.
The Atlantic Katy Perry vs. Lady Gaga "The Battle of the Bras"

Hedwig and the Angry Link

Michael Reidel Hedwig and the Angry Inch made it from stage to screen and now it's going back again. [Insert a billion exclamation points here] The cherry gummi bear on top: John Cameron Mitchell will reprise his classic role. This show is a-ma-zing live. One of the best experiences I've ever had in the theater way back in 1999 or so. You must come to NYC and see it. Between this and Rabbit Hole, John Cameron Mitchell may have an incredible 2010
MNPP alerts us to the must-read sounding book "The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower". I already want this to be a movie.


MovieLine an imaginary apology from James Cameron for making you sit through Avatar
Cinema Blend Anna Faris to get all Goldie Hawn in a remake of Private Benjamin. Hey she sold Cameron Diaz with great flair, didn't she?
The Playlist has details on Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. The cast list is almost frighteningly A-list huge. Even if it's a disaster, it'll get a SAG ensemble nod.
Just Jared Reese Witherspoon in talks to play a country singer (again). If at first you do succeed...repeat.
Banana Penis [nsfw] Did this predate An Education or is someone using movies brilliantly for safe sex promotion?
Empire State of Mind pretty fun Star Wars by way of Alicia Keys video
Popnography skewers Miley Cyrus and The Last Song and suggests a gay alternative
Blabbeando If you're tired of catty remarks about Ricky Martin's coming out, try this on for size. Definitely something to think about.
(Le Sigh)... Isabelle Huppert to guest star on Law & Order: SVU. The apocalypse is nigh. Someone please shoot me!

Finally, remember that unusual zombie movie I told you about that won the Nashville Film Festival? It's called Make-Out With Violence and if you're curious about it you can now "save it" to your Netflix queue.

<--- poster design by Family Tree

If the movie gets enough 'saves' Netflix will purchase copies to rent out. I really marvel at how many ways there are to distribute movies now and how hard it still is for filmmakers despite all those channels, even when they have a quality movie on their hands. I don't think Make-Out is a perfect movie but it sure as hell was made by people with a filmmaking eye. And it makes you want someone to give the Deagol Brothers more money to make a second feature and see where their talents can take them. This is one of the obvious drawback of film festivals... you see work by all sorts of interesting off-the-map talent and then you return to the real world and notice how many hacks are so gainfully employed by Hollywood. Not that film festivals don't have their own "keep your day job" failures ... but this movie is definitely not one of them.

MM@M: The Apartment (1960)

Mad Men at the Movies: We've been talking about the movies and film stars referenced in the two-time Emmy winning (yay!) 1960s set series. Previously name-checked: Gidget,Wizard of Oz, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Natalie Wood, Joan Crawford, Marty and Grace Kelly

1.10 "The Long Weekend"
Sterling (John Slattery) proposes a public date with Joanie (Christina Hendricks) since his wife Mona will be out of town for Labor Day weekend. Sterling proposes dinner, naked. Joanie isn't playing this particular conversational foreplay game. Her frustration with their affair is starting to show.

Joanie: How about a movie? Have you seen The Apartment?
Sterling: I went last week with Mona and Margaret.
Joanie: I hear Shirley Maclaine is good.
Sterling: Oh please, a white elevator operator? And a girl at that? I want to work at that place!
Joanie: [turning on him] Oh, I bet you do. The way those men treated that poor girl, handing her around like a tray of canapes. She tried to commit suicide.
Sterling: So you saw it, huh?

At this point he realizes the conversation isn't strictly about the movie. Sterling tries to smooth things over.

Sterling: Oh, Red, that's not how it is. Look, It was crude. That's the way pictures are now. Did you see that ridiculous Psycho? Hollywood isn't happy unless things are extreme.
Joanie: It didn't seem that extreme to me.
Sterling: Are we actually going to get into a fight over a movie? You know Mona had a dream once where I hit the dog with the car. She was mad at me all day. And I never hit the dog. We don't even have a dog.

Later in the same episode we see that Joanie, who never intended to spend the weekend with her boss/lover, has also completely soured on seeing a movie. She makes plans with her best friend Carol (Kate Norby) instead.

Carol: All I want to do is sit in the movies and cry.
Joanie: No movies. Let's look for some actual bachelors, empty their wallets.

Since Shirley Maclaine has already been name-checked, you should know that we've moved on from the emotional volatility of The Apartment and we're now entering the subdued internal terror of The Children's Hour (1961). Carol is not so interested in the bachelors if you know what I mean.

Both Psycho and The Apartment, two "extreme" movies, premiered in the same week in NYC in June of 1960. They both became sensations, ending the year comfortably in the box office top ten. It makes total sense that people would still be talking about them in early September. Once upon a time movies were not "over" after opening weekend. They played for months and there was no such thing as DVDs. Opening weekend was the beginning of the discussion, not the end. [*wipes nostalgic tear for bygone eras away]. Months later both films were in play at the Oscars too, with The Apartment the night's big winner taking home Picture, Director, Screenplay, Art Direction (it beat Psycho in this category, what???) and Editing. It's also worth noting that Shirley Maclaine, so suicidal on screen in the early 6os, also had reason to cry offscreen. She lost the Oscar many initially thought she'd win to "the slut of all time" Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8, when Taylor was suddenly hospitalized.


Ever had an argument about Psycho or The Apartment? Ever had an argument about a movie that wasn't really an argument about the movie? Arguments in disguise. I can tell you that I have dreamed about a movie when I hadn't seen the movie. The picture was The Silence of the Lambs which starred in three (!) of my dreams before I ever saw it. How mental is that? I guess my subconscious isn't happy unless things are... extreme.
*

MM@M: A Mama's Boy and a Man's Man

Mad Men at the Movies: Talking bout movies and movie stars referenced in the '60s set series. Previously: Gidget, The Wizard of Oz, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Natalie Wood and Joan Crawford in The Best of Everything.

1.8 "The Hobo Code"
Inside ad agency Sterling Cooper, three operators connect calls and listen in. One of them Lois, played by Crista Flanagan (right) has developed a crush on Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), the firm's closeted art director.

Lois: "Ciao Ciao". [smitten] My stars!
Operator #1: Two weeks in, she's already a goner.
Lois: He talks to his mother a lot.
Operator #2: Because he's not married.
Lois: He's in the art department? Well, what does he look like?
#1: Did you see that movie Marty with Ernest Borgnine? He lived with his mother.
#2: Stop teasing her.

Marty, released in 1955, won Borgnine the Oscar for best actor but in this context it's a derogatory remark, "Marty" as shorthand for homely mama's boy. The sassy operator even manages to make the Italian-American connection. At least she didn't compare Salvator to Norman Bates, right? He was the most famous mama's boy 'round about the time frame of this episode.

Later in the episode, a gay client Elliott (Paul Keeley) who is staying at the Roosevelt dangles a carrot for Sal.

I was in the lounge last night... and I end up having a drink with Robert Mitchum! Actually many drinks. [laughter]

I have no idea whether Mitchum was a favorite of the gay community in the 1950s but it wouldn't surprise me to hear that he was. Either way, Elliott is luring Sal to his current night spot with an icon of taciturn masculinity. One episode, two suitors. By the end of the hour Sal has rejected both Lois and Elliott in his own frightened way. Sal has become the unexpected star of this 'Mad Men at the Movies' series, hasn't he?

other references in this episode
Cinema: The Wizard of Oz "I feel like Dorothy and everything just turned to color" and 42nd Street | Books: Atlas Shrugged | Politics: Joseph McCarthy | Music: Miles Davis

special thanks, as always, to Mad Men fansite "Basket of Kisses" for goading this series into being

April Showers at the Bates Motel

april showers, weeknights at 11:00


Today I was going to write about what might be the most famous scene in cinema, or at least one of the most written about. I chickened out.

(If there's a shower scene you'd love to see covered in this series, I'm open to requests)

Link Me Gently With a Chainsaw

Bad Taste pics of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Candy Kirby "George Clooney: The Other White Meat"
The Guardian is a fan of Mark Strong, supporting man
THR They're making Heathers into a musical? What rhymes with "F*** me gently with a chainsaw"?
Pop Elegantarium "Girl Power". So cute


The Film Doctor About the red herring opening act in Psycho. Basically, I can read about that movie every day of the week
Showbiz Cafe has a bunch of scenes from Almodóvar's Broken Embraces. I personally don't watch anything but trailers from a movie -- I like to keep the experience for the theater and in proper context -- but I realize I'm in the minority in online non-spoiler viewing habits)
Carla Gugino picks five favorite films. Barring Casino she has extremely good taste. I just expressed my love for her and now I must multiply
The Big Picture wonders, in the wake of Last House on the Left if the MPAA is ever going to be disgusted enough by rape to give a movie the NC-17 that they'll slap you with instantly if a woman actually enjoys consensual sex onscreen? See also: This Film is Not Yet Rated. No really, see it. My answer is not until American culture learns to love women more than they love violence against them and that seems a long way off... (sigh)
*

April Showers

To Link

some of these links might be a day or two old but I've been away. enjoy them again if you've already had the pleasure...

To Ponder
Slant Ed Gonzalez looks at film criticism, race, Barack Obama and politics. Heartfelt thoughtful stuff
The Projectionist on the (unfulfilled) talent of Anthony Minghella (RIP)

To Read
FourFour on the Madonna / Justin Timberlake collaboration
Self Styled Siren, who can always be counted on for a good movie star tribute, expresses love for the excellent and undervalued Joan Crawford
Movie Marketing considers the Flashbacks of a Fool poster (starring Daniel Craig)
Go Fug Yourself Juliette Lewis vs. Keira Knightley / Sharon Stone vs. Scarjo
PopWatch "Harvey Scissorhands" is at it again. This time with Fanboys. And they aren't happy about it. I know I've asked this question too much but why does anyone sell their film to him?

To Look At
Circus Hour Renée Zellweger lamp. teehee
Movie City Indie "Sometimes I Doubt..."
Everything Oscar Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Public Enemies
MNPP a very special Buffy reunion

Check this out, the Psycho shower scene back to back (or side to side rather, with the original Hitchcock and the Van Sant recreation) thanks to Dennis for the heads up...

AFI: The New Top 100 List

The Revised Greatest American Films List
I'm happy to see Blade Runner, Nashville, and Cabaret added. They all hold high rank in my own favorites listing. What say ye about this new lineup? (To be helpful I've added their previous AFI ranking to the right --big changes in bold)

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) same
2. "The Godfather" (1972) 3
3. "Casablanca" (1942) 2
4. "Raging Bull" (1980) 24
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) 10
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 4
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) 5
8. "Schindler's List" (1993) 9
9. "Vertigo" (1958) 61
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) 6


11. "City Lights" (1931) 76
12. "The Searchers" (1956) 96
13. "Star Wars" (1977) 15
14. "Psycho" (1960) 18
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) 22
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) 12
17. "The Graduate" (1967) 7
18. "The General" (1927) new
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954) 8
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) 11

21. "Chinatown" (1974) 19
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959) 14
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) 21
24. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 25
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 34
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) 29
27. "High Noon" (1952) 33
28. "All About Eve" (1950) 16
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944) 38
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979) 28

31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) 23
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) same
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) 20
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) 49
35. "Annie Hall" (1977) 31
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) 13
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) same
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) 30
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) 26
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) 55

41. "King Kong" (1933) 43
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) 27
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) 36
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) 51
45. "Shane" (1953) 69
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934) 35
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) 45
48. "Rear Window" (1954) 42
49. "Intolerance" (1916) new
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) new

51. "West Side Story" (1961) 41
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976) 47
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978) 79
54. "M*A*S*H" (1970) 56
55. "North by Northwest" (1959) 40
56. "Jaws" (1975) 48
57. "Rocky" (1976) 78
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925) 74
59. "Nashville" (1975) new
60. "Duck Soup" (1933) 85

61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) new
62. "American Graffiti" (1973) 77
63. "Cabaret" (1972) new
64. "Network" (1976) 66
65. "The African Queen" (1951) 17
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) 60
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) new
68. "Unforgiven" (1992) 98
69. "Tootsie" (1982) 62
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) 46 (i still don't understand how this one qualifies as American)

71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) new
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) new
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) 50
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) 65
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) new
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) 71
77. "All the President's Men" (1976) new
78. "Modern Times" (1936) 81
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) 80
80. "The Apartment" (1960) 93

81. "Spartacus" (1960) new
82. "Sunrise" (1927) new
83. "Titanic" (1997) new
84. "Easy Rider" (1969) 88
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) new
86. "Platoon" (1986) 83
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957) new
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) 97
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) new
90. "Swing Time" (1936) new

91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982) new
92. "Goodfellas" (1990) 94
93. "The French Connection" (1971) 70
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994) 95
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971) new
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989) new
97. "Blade Runner" (1982) new
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) 100
99. "Toy Story" (1995) new
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959) 72

<---they're tearing him apart: James Dean lost BOTH his spots on the top 100. And Monty Clift too. Argh. The films that fell out were...Doctor Zhivago #39, North by Northwest #40, Birth of a Nation #44, From Here To Eternity #52, Amadeus #53, All Quiet on the Western Front #54, The Third Man #57, Fantasia #58, Rebel Without a Cause #59, Stagecoach #63, Close Encounters of the Third Kind #64, The Manchurian Candidate #67, An American in Paris #68, Wuthering Heights #73, Dances With Wolves #75, Giant #82, Fargo #84, Mutiny on the Bounty #86, Frankenstein #87, Patton #89, The Jazz Singer #90, My Fair Lady #91, A Place in the Sun #92, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner #99

weirdest entry: Sophie's Choice... almost never listed in any "best of", apart from Meryl Streep's astonishing performance, is in the top 100 --They collectively name it the 6th best of the entire 80s decade. Whaaaa?

lesson learned: nothing below the top 30 is ever safe. It all depends on who they poll and which way the winds blow.

20:07 Twins (Psycho)

"20:07" Gemini Edition June 11th to June 20th
Twin screengrabs from the 20th minute and 7th second of related movies

Salesman: Go ahead spin it around the block.
Marion Crane: It looks fine. How much would it be with my car?
Salesman: You mean you don't want the usual day and a half to think it over --you are in a hurry, aren't you? Someone chasing you?
Marion Crane: Of course not.

Blogosphere Multiplex: Seth @ Defamer

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