DVDs: Disgusting Orcs, Hallucinated Iguanas, and Magical Oak

I haven’t had time to rescreen An Education yet for that article you voted on last week in the weekly DVD/Blu Ray roundup. But just load me up with more work, sadists! Which of these new or remastered/rereleased thingamoviejigs are you hankering to read Nathaniel’s take on?

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in which Nicolas Cage sees reptiles for crazy man Werner Herzog. This sounds kind of interesting but I can't escape Cage this week and that is *not* a good thing


• The Lord of The Rings (animated!) in which Ralph Bakshi attempts to shove several epic books into two hours of cartoonage


• Dirt! The Movie Jamie Lee Curtis tells us all about the magical powers of earth in this documentary


• The Natural (director's cut) Robert Redford's golden baseball drama from 1984. With Glenn Close, Barbara Hershey and Kim Basinger


• Jade Warrior some Finnish (?) martial arts epic

poll by twiigs.com

You chose BAD LIEUTENANT. Here's the Write Up.

Wild Link Tamer

Towleroad my weekly column on this week's releases. I'm excited for Where the Wild Things Are but I want to see this Jonze doc on Sendak (it might be up for the Documentary Short Oscar) and I don't have HBO. Curses

In Contention Guy Lodge looks at Oscar's racial, gender and sexual orientation divides. How have things changed over the years?
/Film Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination picture The Conspirator begins filming: James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long and Robin Wright Penn star
AfterElton Frank Anthony Polito (author of Band Fags) remembers Jon-Erik Hexum. If you grew up in the 80s, you'll remember this TV actor. If you didn't, never mind


Cinematical Penélope Cruz and Liza Minnelli join the cast of Sex & the City 2. It's not like I wasn't going to buy a ticket already. Save the money for a tighter/funnier script this time. I don't need any "special guest stars" if they're going to be as useless as Jennifer Hudson last time around. Now I love Cruz and Minnelli to scary lengths but I see Sex & the City for Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, Charlotte, Steve and Mr. Big (and in that order, too)
Just Jared Naomi and Liev on the town. I feel like we never see Naomi anymore... I mean, other than on that horrible commercial which I shouldn't even bring up because she's just totally selling out one of her best performances (King Kong). It's not quite as depressing as that time when Catherine Zeta-Jones gave up becoming a better actress post-Oscar to be a telephone salesman but it'll do for now
Oscar Submission List The Foreign Film race is on. I've still got a few touchups in store for this chart but everything is now "official". Enjoy

And finally, Awards Daily follows up the Gold Derby story on Oscar's Best Animated Feature race. As you no doubt know, this cute ghetto category can be 5 films wide or 3 depending on how many animated films are eligible. It's not always easy to know since some foreign titles you've never heard of crop up as crazy longshots each year. There are supposedly 15 films in the running which means there'll only be 3 nominees. Fighting it out for the nominations (links go to trailers) are the blockbusters (A Christmas Carol, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters vs Aliens), the pedigreed efforts (Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo), the oddities (The Princess and the Frog, 9, Planet 51, Battle for Terra), the greed-fueled toss offs (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure), the foreigners (Astro Boy, Mary and Max) and the eventual winner (Up).

Which toons do you think will get the call on February 2nd? And why isn't Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel being considered. Wait, don't answer that. Even though that would make it 16 eligible films and a 5-wide category.
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"Your Girl is Lovely, Hubbell"

Robert Redford is in the air. He hasn't dissolved into something atmospheric (stop being so literal!) but his name keeps turning up. Last week his two early sexually fluid performances opposite Natalie Wood (This Property is Condemned and Inside Daisy Clover) were playing here in New York and next month in Brooklyn BAM Cinema hosts a retrospective. It culminates on September 13th with four films and the Sundance Kid himself in person. For whatever reason they've narrowed down the final four to Redford as romantic figure, often paired with true giants among actresses.

On the last day they're screening...

• Out of Africa (1985) The Best Picture winning bio in which Redford can't be tamed by Meryl Streep's author/heroine but gladly offers up shampoo and stud services.
  
• The Natural (1984) this prestige pic is a mythic baseball drama. Redford and cast are bathed in Caleb Deschanel lensed sunshine and the lovely ladies include then rising stars Barbara Hershey, Glenn Close (Oscar nominated here... though I'm still not sure why) and Kim Basinger.
  
• The Electric Horseman (1979) Redford and Jane Fonda fall in love at the rodeo. And compete in a Best Feathered Hair competition.
  
• The Way We Were (1973) in which Barba Streisand falls hard for Redford but McCarthy era Hollywood tears them apart
  

Here's the difficult part: You can only choose one. They screen simultaneously, somewhat staggered due to running times, and then the man himself appears to talk about his career to the moviegoing crowd. I'm tempted to go Horseman (the only one I haven't seen) but The Way We Were is easily my favorite among those films. It's so underrated and much more expansive than its veneration as Classic Chick Flick suggests. If you ask me, Barbra Streisand deserved the Oscar in 73. Her chemistry with Redford is every bit as remarkable as you've heard. No wonder Carrie Bradshaw obsessed so.
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Beauty Break

I'm having a retro moment. I blame Jane Fonda gearing up for tonight's TONY Awards. Let's go 1960/70s. Mmmm, hairy.


Catherine Deneuve, Racquel Welch, Jane Fonda (the culprit!), Robert Redford & Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Steve McQueen, Pam Grier and Jacqueline Bissett. Mmmm⁹

DVD: Natalie Wood 6 Times!, Nick & Norah

Collections ~ It's Tuesday so there are new box sets available highlighting everything from tired hockey masked killers (you know who) to highly respected thespians (Peter Sellers and Alec Guiness) but the big ... make that B-I-G... deal for The Film Experience is the "Natalie Wood Collection" which includes six films. I haven't seen Bombers B-52 or Cash McCall but even if they're bad you still get to stare at her for two hours. Her beauty justifies most any running time.

Natalie Wood *swoon*

The other four are more notable players in her filmography. There's the Edith Head costumed Helen Gurley Brown comedy Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and two true classics: the musical Gypsy (1962) and the legendary 'Warren Beatty Destroys Lives!' teen angst of the unbeatable Splendor in the Grass (1961). Adventurous movie fanatics might be most interested in getting a good long look at the underseen and idiosyncratic inside Hollywood drama Inside Daisy Clover (1965) from director Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird). Natalie, 27 when the film was released, was too old for her role as an ascending teenage starlet, but Robert Redford is just right as her undeniably breathtaking but possibly gay lover. Ruth Gordon is her crazy mama (and strangely Oscar nominated though she's barely in the movie). Inside Daisy Clover's true Best Supporting Actress is Katharine Bard (someone I'd never heard of) who plays a slightly "off" Hollywood wife named Melora Swan. I was riveted every time she appeared. She was apparently a television actress and only made two feature films after this one. I guess nobody noticed how terrific she was. Shame.

From the Vaults ~ Being There (30th Anniversary) is sitting on my TV waiting for me to screen. I love Hal Ashby movies and I've never seen it. Oops. It stars Peter Sellers as a gardener who becomes a political advisor. Shirley Maclaine co-stars and they get Oscar winning support from Melvyn Douglas. When I wrote up that piece on The Little Mermaid two years ago, Bruno Paxton reminded me that I was giving it a teensy bit too much credit as THE comeback for Disney animation since Oliver and Company was a hit the year before. So yeah, 20th anniversary DVD for that cute 2D kitten. Finally Babs somehow found the time to return to her musical Yentl for an "Extended Directors Edition". Would that she would return to acting instead.

Newbies ~ Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in which Michael Cera moves on from Juno (not the town in Alaska) and into Kat Dennings. Sweet funny movie with stellar comedic support from Ari Graynor. Can I see her in another movie NOW (previous posts)? There's also the Southern girl-fest The Secret Life of Bees starring actresses Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Dakota Fanning and singers Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, Space Buddies which I'd really rather not type about... moving on! And Zack and Miri Make a Porno which I have yet to see. Worth a rental? Help me out.
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