Judge Jenny

Is Jennifer Hudson qualified to judge the art of acting? I have to ask.

She is among the newest invitees to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscar voters) which means somewhere down the road, Jennifer Hudson will help determine if the next challenging virtuoso turn (like Naomi Watts's in Mulholland Dr or Isabelle Huppert's in The Piano Teacher) is shunned or honored. She'll judge whether or not Meryl deserves her third Oscar or Kate Winslet her first.... and both of those women will undoubtedly have tough competition in future races. They'll certainly be up against some media friendly babes frumping it up for attention: the "Jessica"s are only five to seven years away from seeking out those "deglam" opportunities... mark my words.

I don't mean to rag on JHud. I love her I do. She's my favorite person to ever emerge from the otherwise bar lowering entertainment phenom known as... never mind. I'm sick of saying the name. I can't wait to buy her first CD. She's certainly a better choice as an Oscar winner than several before her. But I think it's worth discussing: Is she qualified to know who is and isn't crafting delicately nuanced portraits or boldly stylizing their star turns?

[I'm playing devil's advocate here --we all feel qualified to do this or else there wouldn't be so much discussion about who is or isn't deserving. But shouldn't the Academy have to be more qualified ;) ]

Does she know the difference between a performance that just underlines the script or one that elevates the material? I have to ask because she has almost no experience. (Note: They did not invite Michelle Williams or Rinko Kikuchi, recent nominees who have been acting a lot longer.) Yes, Jenny just won the Oscar ... it makes Academy sense. But I'm just saying.

She might excel at the job. She's risen up to other tasks. But, to me, Hudson's co-nominee Adriana Barraza (the nanny in Babel), who was also invited to join the ranks, makes more sense as a voting member. I hope she accepts their invite. She's a well regarded acting teacher when she isn't onscreen. My guess is she has practice discerning the success of various components within any given performance. If she doesn't her former students should ask for their money back.

In other invitation news... The rest of the AMPAS newbie list reads like their usual mix of apologies (sorry Daniel Craig! we love you we do), celebrity worship (Jennifer Aniston --an Academy member? WHY??? Seriously. What would the reason be?), people you thought were already members (Christopher Plummer), head scratchers (Peter Berg in the directors branch after only a few pictures and only one of them, Friday Night Lights, gets talked about. J.J. Abrams in the writing branch when his chief claim to fame is Lost --a television series. There's another Academy for that, people. Geez) and extremely random if not unpleasant names (William Fichtner, Maribel Verdu).

You can see the whole list at Awards Daily. It's fun to see these lists but it sure does make you wonder about the Hollywood networking game...

Tuesday Top Ten: Women of Summer

I pretty much ignored the 'Lusty Month of May' and now it's June (My brain is on fast forward. Excuse) I'm already sweating from the humidity and abusing my air conditioner so I know that summer is here. Last week I celebrated the men so now it's time for the ladies who'll be raising the screen temperature from June thru August. Before we begin, this disclaimer: I know you're supposed to have Jessica Alba on lists like this. She'll be around again, all wooden and unfortunately invisible in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. But until she removes that awful Sue Storm wig, until she tries to act with her face... I aint goin' there. Gripe all you like in the comments if you're an Albaniac.

Top Ten Women ~ Summer Movie Season 2007

La Pfeiffer - Stardust and Hairspray
She's eternally #1 but she's also a perfect 10 at any age. So this is more of an honorary nod. You know I'm f***ing celebrating when these movies finally arrive. Until then I'll shut up.

10 Joan Allen -The Bourne Supremacy
What? I have a thing for icy older blondes. Shut up. Pamela Landy will cut you.

09 Anna Faris -Smiley Face
Because she's willing to make a fool of herself for our amusement. This comedy is too stoned for a solid release date. Who knows...

08 Katherine Heigl - Knocked Up
As much as I hate Grey's Anatomy as a whole, the individual actors don't bother me so much. Heigl's "Izzy" makes me dizzy -enough with the tears and the George cockteasing, please! Yet as an actress she obviously has talent. I'm excited to see this pregnancy comedy (mostly on account of the creative team behind it). Plus, she's one of those rare generically gorgeous blondes that isn't boring to look at. Yay.

07 Demi Moore -Mr Brooks
Demi is my favorite movie star who can't act. I know it's wrong to love her but my cold jaded heart gets smooshy and warm when she's around. I blame this on the potent successive combo of St. Elmo's Fire + Bruce Willis x Vanity Fair³.


06 Claire Danes -Evening and Stardust
I've loved Danes ever since I first laid eyes on Angela Chase in my so called life. I'm not sure that she can do "sexy" per se... but don't you wish she'd try? I wonder if she'll reveal new charms in either of these pictures. For now the wondering is enough. Deliver, Claire, deliver. It's time.

05 Liv Tyler -The Strangers
I can't say that I'm looking forward to seeing Liv and Scott Speedman (the screen husband) terrorized in this thriller but at least they'll make a beautiful couple. When I heard she had a new movie coming out I realized those three years in gelled closeups as Arwen had earned her a tiny enduring place in my heart.

04 Ellen Barkin -Oceans 13
I'm hoping that she'll have enough to work with in this cool caper comedy that younger audiences will discover her weirdly compelling beauty and talent for themselves. Plus, in real life she's Julianne Moore's best friend. So: points for that.

03 Lindsay Lohan -I Know Who Killed Me
I've been trying to ween myself away from this wildchild. It's starting to work. I'm just so tired of the idiocy of this girl. All that talent going to waste. Still: if she has to alienate me and everyone who responded to her early promise, at least she'll go down in the kind of flames that prompt much posthumous writing: she's doing some sort of weird meta commentary on her own life with the movie roles... chucking talent aside for shallow pursuits (Mean Girls) , death wish (Prairie Home Companion), wild and vulgar (Georgia Rule), and now she's playing a stripper. Oh Lindsay... didn't you see what Striptease did to Demi? I know you were only 10 at the time but can't you do your movie homework?

02 Maggie Q -Live Free or Die Hard
Back when I was doing last year's film bitch awards and talking about performances that caught my eye that weren't at all foregrounded by their films, I noticed Maggie Q love in the comments for her cool M:i3 turn. This summer she's back in action with Bruce Willis. May she turn heads again.


01 Anne Hathaway -Becoming Jane
If Hollywood held a pretty party, I'm pretty sure she'd be the prettiest pretty princess, the fairest of them all. That's all.
*

Next. How Fitting is That Title?

So I've been studying up on what's heading our way in 2007 for future "most awaited" countdowns and I stumbled across this. Here's a production still from Next which stars Nicolas Cage and, um, someone else. It's about a man who can see briefly into the future and he's trying to escape the government. It's based on a Phillip K Dick story "The Golden Man" so it might be good. Dick stories have made films both spectacular and not



So, I don't wanna slam a movie I haven't seen from a director (Lee Tamahori) I'm not truthfully that familiar with but WHY is whatshername STILL signing up for mall pictures? Where are the heavy emotionally nuanced dramas she's so perfect for? I'm sorry but I don't buy her holding a gun and being badass. She's so beautiful and tiny --that translucent skin and that spindly Safe frame... they just don't say: action star. I dealt with it in Hannibal (2001) because back then --you know, benefit of the doubt. She deserved it. But why, now, still in 2007? And mostly I'm just sad because she's starring opposite Nicolas Cage...which means I gotta watch him again. I have successfully avoided 13 of his last 15 pictures and I believe that my life is the better for it (apart from the Scorsese outing Bringing out the Dead which I should have seen).

The preview blurbs for this action/sci-fi thing are a little confusing. The way they read it sounds like the woman in the photo above is not only Cage's pursuer that he's trying to escape but also his love interest and the future mother of his child (which he knows because he can see the future, get it?) but I'm willing to bet that the capsule descriptions are off since they sound so contradictory and that it's actually Jessica Biel who plays his love interest. Why do I think this? Two reasons but they're the same reason. The first: Both of the leads (pictured above) are in their 40s and Hollywood no like that. The second: Biel is only 24 which means she's young enough to be Cage's daughter and is therefore the perfect age to play the mother of his love child (sarcasm intended).

Your thoughts in the comments. Have any of you read "The Golden Man"?

A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse

I fear typing this. I have held my tongue for days. The fabric of the cinematic universe may tear at such a blasphemic utterance. And yet... I feel compelled to share my confusion. For I saw the dread event occur with mine own two eyes:


Jessica Biel out-acting Edward Norton.

Tags: Jessica Biel, Edward Norton,The Illusionist, films, movies

Fantastic 1.5

Though there be many ways to short-hand rank a film's worthiness (10 point scale, $ticket price, thumbs, apples, whatever) the 'classic' is the four star system. Me and Math? We're not close. But I can perform simple calculations. So, since four is the magic number for the latest comic book adaptation how do we rate Fantastic Four?

+2 movies start out even-steven then prove or disprove worth
+2 points for daring to adapt tricky but fun source material
-1 exhibits almost no tonal control over material (is "bland" a tone?)
+1 potential to be a visually exciting summer blockbuster
-1 exhibits little visual excitement -where's the "gee whiz" effects?
-1 wait -isn't that the whole raison d'etre of comic book films?
_________
=2 stars so far...but wait so much more to talk about.

+2 points for casting Chiklis & Evans
-1 The Thing's makeup. Should look like rocks. Not foam rocks.
+1 Gruffud is perfect for the Mr. Fantastic role.
-1 ...but he's not having any fun with it. Shame
-2 Invisible Girl: Spectacularly miscast.
-1 Plus an embarrasing Alba-esque performance.
-1 Oh, wait. That is Jessica Alba.
-1 Why does she always stand with face vacant/arms crossed?
+1 ohhhh...that's to emphasize the cleavage. Got it! Cleavage is good.
+1 The forcefield special effect is pretty good.
+1 so is the Human Torch effect. Even moreso
+3 Chris Evans in a towel
-1 Sloppy filmmaking. His underwear shows under it--Who wears both?
_________
=3 stars

+1 Dr. Doom's look is perfect. cloak. mask. I got a geeky thrill.
-1 But the character is boring.
-1 In fact most of the characters and the action are boring.
-1 I wish Peyton Reed hadn't been fired. He would know how to direct this.
________
=1 star.

I'll give it a half point for not being downright awful as I was expecting. Aren't I sweet?