Animal Kingdom To Rack Up Awards (...In Australia)

Remember that one year (2001) when the list-happy AFI (American Film Institute) decided to compete with the Globes and the Oscars in year end prizes? No, that didn't last long. But there's another AFI, The Australian Film Institute, that has been around for a long time and is in no such danger of being a one-off. This year, they're all about the amazing family crime drama Animal Kingdom which they awarded with a record breaking 18 nominations. Sure, the film is in danger of being way overhyped for people who are coming to it late (which is just about everyone given the sorry state of international distribution for dramas of virtually any kind) but for those who can slough off the "omg" raves, I guarantee you'll think it at least an insinuating and well executed crime drama.

AFI Favorites with multiple nominations

Its main competition for the coveted prizes, if you go by nomination counts, is Bright Star (different eligibility calendar over there in Australia). I haven't really covered the Australian Awards before -- we lean on Glenn for that -- but since i've seen three of their Best Picture nominees this time around (the two leaders plus the aborigine musical Bran Nue Dae), why not?

Complete nomination list -- with more Oscar adjacent & actor related comments -- after the jump.

Read more »

Could Have Beens: Josh Hutcherson Parker / Toni Roxie Collette

Josh Hutcherson's Spider-Man screen test went up at Latino Review. Though I'm sure they'll be pulled soon it's fun to watch. It's actually interesting to see how much effort went into these screen tests. Wouldn't it be great to see all of them back to back? We're talking wire stunts, editing, scene recreations from the original Spider-Man. Everything. Plus, it's not one of those audition tapes that makes the actor look bad. Hutcherson looks like he'd be an excellent Peter Parker. All the press he got for even being in the running will surely do him good. Well, that and holding his own in the stellar The Kids Are All Right cast this summer. I see a SAG nomination come January 2011 (ensemble).

Here's the video and a few screen caps in case it disappears.




The online wailing about Andrew Garfield is a clear case of fear of the unknown. He's as solid a choice as any and probably moreso given that they went with him without any bankability whatsoever and him being older than they'd planned on going. In other words: they know something we don't, having seen his screen test.

But "could have beens" are fun, too. Every once in a blue moon I try to imagine Basic Instinct with any of the women who were considered or rejected it before Sharon Stone got it... and there were so many. I always wonder if Holly Hunter would have won a second Oscar for As Good As It Gets had she not priced herself out of the movie. Or I try to picture Rachel McAdams as Invisible Girl in Fantastic Four. Easy! Or Brad Pitt attempting an English accent for About a Boy. How weird would that have been? (That's why Not Starring is such a fun site to visit randomly.)

This topic also makes me think of Evita (1996) and how it might have been Streep or Pfeiffer (who recorded a demo) instead of Madonna in another iteration.

My saddest could-have-beens will probably remain Michelle Pfeiffer as Clarice Starling (Fact: turned it down) -- not because Jodie wasn't superb but because, well, Oscar! -- or Toni Collette as Roxie Hart in Chicago (Rumor: deemed not bankable enough despite being first choice). Both would surely have been excellent.



But maybe the Toni Collette as Roxie thing haunts me only because I l-o-v-e-d her in The Wild Party on Broadway so much. And because I wanted her to play Liza Minnelli for so long in a biopic. I'm dying to see Toni in another musical. Will it ever happen again?

United States of Tara and the Deceitful Netflix Envelope

I just received the second disc of Showtime's United States of Tara in the mail (I know, I know. Shut up. Better late than never) and noticed an odd bit of ad copy.

"Steven Spielberg created this wry cable series that follows Tara (Toni Collette)..."

Er... I know Ol' Spielberg is a beloved household name and all but bad form, Netflix copy editor types, bad form! While Spielberg's name is attached (Executive Producer), Tara is the brainchild of Oscar-winning Diablo Cody (Juno) and one ought to give credit where it's due.

P.S. I like the series so far with "Alice" being my favorite of Tara's alters -- is this because it reminds me of her slam dunk cameo in The Hours (2002)? -- and her son Marshall's "Hell House" experience being my favorite subplot. I'm enjoying the way Toni plays her multiples in a performative rather than strictly naturalistic way. This adds a nice layer to the larger thematic questions of identity building / role playing that the show appears to be building towards. I could be wrong, though. Just halfway through.

P.P.S. I find it unfortunate that after the one-two punch of Rachel Getting Married and this series that Rosemarie DeWitt may be forever typecast as The Female Protagonist's Resentful Sister Who Craves the Familial Attention That the Protagonist Wins via the Sheer Enormity of Her Mental Problems. I mean... that is a microscopic niche. That's even more problematic than Jodie Foster's narrow 'Female Protagonist Trapped In Confined Spaces' phase from a decade back. Good luck finding your next role, Rosemarie!

P.P.P.S. Now that I've seen 8 or so episodes, I'm dying to discuss it. Travel back in time a couple of years and discuss with me. Do you love it?

Where My Girls At?

A link roundup, actress style


The Classics
NY Times Douglas McGrath demands a special Oscar for Doris Day. Time to give her her due
Film Art "Tell, Don't Show" David Bordwell examines a great scene with Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Persona to illustrate the power of extended monologues
Gawker Susan Sarandon shtupping the ping pong kid?
The Independent Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds is still the top celebrity scent. Talk about staying power. La Liz has been raking in the dough from that single career move for almost 20 years now. How many diamonds has she bought with the haul?
I Need My Fix "Cher (!) Films Burlesque"... though be warned. 'Fix' gets the headline all fucked up and adds several letters inbetween "Ch" and "r"... confusing the true story here: CHER ! Making a movie again.
Style List Catherine Deneuve's 60's era magnificence is still inspiring fashionistas


The Now
contact music Toni Collette to be honored by Nicole Kidman at a special Aussie Expat event in LA on Golden Globe weekend
LA Times Julianne Moore, still hoping for Oscar nom #5, says you should never take employment for granted
Huffington Post I avoid the People's Choice Awards like the Bubonic plauge but Nicole Kidman looked so good. What ever possessed her to stay blonde for so long? So glad the red is hangin on
Pop Matters Big Love returns. It's Amanda Seyfried's last season. Sissy Spacek is guest starring

The Stage
London Travel Julie Andrews is doing a one-off show this summer
Theater Mania and Isabelle Huppert is doing Streetcar in Paris in the spring. I expect a full report from one of you French readers. Comprenez-vous?

Monday Monologue - Mariel's Lament

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JA from MNPP here. Over the weekend I went to a wedding and whenever I go to a wedding my brain becomes enveloped in thoughts of P.J. Hogan's brilliant 1994 tragicomedy Muriel's Wedding. 1994! It was released in Australia the last week of September that year meaning it just turned 15 years old. Happy Anniversary, Muriel! The appropriate gift for 15 years of wedded bliss is crystal, so what do you think? Maybe a chandelier? She's shown an affinity for wearing them on her head before...


Oh just look at him. You know, in the fifteen years that this film's been around I've watched it dozens of times and it still seems unnecessary to me that she abandons her green-card-husband David Van Arkle (Daniel Lapaine) at the end when she decides she needs to stop lying. What could one possibly be lying about, climbing into bed with this?

(more pics from this scene here)

I mean, really. But I'm becoming distracted! I really could spin off into a dozen different directions with this movie, but today I want to look at the "tragi" half of the film's "tragicomedy" because I think it's an aspect of the film that's often undervalued - I know that every time I sit down to watch the film I forget just how tremendously sad so much of the film is. This is a film saturated with loneliness and trauma. Just think of Muriel's mother, Betty (a wonderful Jeanie Drynan)...

... and you'll know I'm right. (Oh Betty!)

Or think of the moment when Muriel's friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) discovers Muriel (who has moved to Sydney and hilariously changed her name to "Mariel") has been sneaking out and getting herself photographed in wedding dresses and confronts her...

Rhonda: What is going on, Mariel? I've seen your wedding album. You've tried on every dress in Syndey.

Mariel: That doesn't mean I'm getting married.

Rhonda: What else does it mean?

Mariel: I want to get married! I've always wanted to get married! If I can get married, it means I've changed, I'm a new person.


Rhonda: How?

Mariel: Because who would want to marry me?

Rhonda: Tim Simms...

Mariel: There is no Tim Simms. I made him up. In Porpoise Spit, no one would even look at me. But when I came to Sydney and became Mariel, Brice asked me out. That proves I'm already different than I was.

And if someone wants to marry me, I'm not her anymore. I'm me.

Rhonda: Her?

Mariel: Muriel! Muriel Heslop! Stupid, fat and useless, I hate her! I'm not going back to being her again!


Why can't it be me? Why can't I be the one?"

The entire film pivots on this moment - her friendship with Rhonda, which until now had been her saving grace, is fractured by the revelation, leading Mariel to marry the speedo-clad David Van Arckle and abandon her friend, only to finally have all that fantasy come crashing down around her with her mother Betty's tragedy.

But what I find most striking about this scene is the fracturing it shows has already happened within Muriel. "Muriel" versus "Mariel" and all the "her" versus "me" talk; the way her entire sense of self has had to split apart in order to even continue functioning, and how that emptiness has opened up a vacuum inside of her that only the approval of others seems to fill. Only she thinks this will make her someone else, a beautiful girl in a crystal crown, a life as good as "Dancing Queen." But it's not until she stops running and faces the demons making her think she's not good enough - it's telling that in this scene she calls herself "useless," which her father calls her and her siblings and mother several times through the film - and realizes that Muriel Heslop is good enough, doggone it, that she's able to really leave Porpoise Spit and all the horrors ("And you three. What a bunch of cocksuckers.") behind for real.

"Goodbye, Porpoise Spit!"

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Ten Years Ago Today...We First Saw Dead People

Hello, all. Kieran here (aka the Know nothing Know it All). Ten years ago today, M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense hit multiplexes to massive audience and critical acclaim. Massive (it bears repeating). Shyamalan was essentially unknown, as was little Haley Joel Osment (the film's star, even though he landed a supporting actor Oscar nod). Still, the film spent five weeks at number one spot at the box office—no small feat these days for films not about Batman. 2009 is more than half over, and only two films have managed to remain number one for two or more consecutive weeks—Paul Blart and Transformers (yikes). The Sixth Sense achieved a lot of cultural capital.

Revisit it. It's still utterly watchable, not for the moments where it genuinely scares you (of which, there are plenty) but for its moments of true human drama. Plus, I love a film that's both a zeitgeist hit and a showcase for its actors. The scene where Osment talks to Toni Collette about her dead mother still brings tears to my eyes a decade later (and probably brought Collette her Oscar nod). Alas, Shyamalan has been struggling to find the magic again. He has yet to match its success, both critically and financially. Will he find it again? His next effort, The Last Airbender, due out sometime in July 2010 doesn't look promising. But who knows? The Sixth Sense showcased Shyamalan as a gifted storyteller, and though he may continue to disappoint, I'm thankful for an industry that allows him to try, rather than turning him into Michael Cimino.

Another 1999 horror offering, The Blair Witch Project, which had its ten year anniversary sometime last week, may not have aged as well, but they both remain clear cultural markers for the movie industry, n'est pas? Blair Witch is credited as the first film to utilize Internet marketing on a grand scale, and there was even talk of how said technology would reinvent the film industry (yawn). It definitely helps to spread the word about smaller films that might have been a just-miss otherwise, but viral marketing is now so commonplace that (like all marketing) it mostly helps those with a lot of money make...more money. Where were you in 1999 when you first saw The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project?

P.S. Can anyone think of a year in recent memory besides 1999 that was a bigger year for event moviemaking? 1999 brought us the two aforementioned hits, plus (deep breath now) Fight Club, The Matrix, American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia and the beginning of the new Star Wars trilogy, each cinematic events in their own right. Kind of makes you wonder how The Cider House Rules and The Green Mile managed to worm their way onto the best picture shortlist that year...

Movie Stars For EMMY

Since the EMMYs have 2,741 categories, we only focus on two things: first, how our favorite shows did and second, which big screen stars other than La Pfeiffer (she's always there with her television kingpin husband) will show up. Which of them got nominated for their small screen sojourns whether longform or more movie-like?

Speaking of which...

Drew Barrymore on the set of Going the Distance

Yes, you, Drew. But you knew she knew (everyone knew) that her affecting work in Grey Gardens as "Little Edie" was going to make the grade. "Big Edie" Jessica Lange also won a nomination for the narrative feature based on -- but also sort of jumping off from and commenting on -- the famous beloved documentary of the same name. I hope to have an interview with their director here soon.

Before we get to the rest of the big screen folks, here's the nominees in the big two categories

Big Love finally gets recognized. Strangely none of the actors do.

outstanding drama series (7 nominees. eep)

• Big Love (HBO)
  
• Breaking Bad (AMC)
  
• Damages (FX)
  
• Dexter (SHOWTIME)
  
• House (FOX)
  
• Lost (ABC)
• Mad Men (AMC)

No Friday Night Lights or Battlestar Galactica (sigh) but we expected as much. Some shows just aren't in the EMMY wheelhouse no matter how strong they are. The surprise here is definitely the exclusion of previous winner "24" which the EMMY's have previously loved in all its torture-approving glory.

Interesting note: Mad Men hogged 80% of the writing nominations with only Lost able to slip in there for the fifth slot. BOO! Rose Byrne's category fraud for Damages (she's competing in supporting) probably caused the snubbing of Marcia Gay Harden for that same show. Byrne is *not* a supporting actress on that show. Hello, it's a two-hander. I actually bet she has more screen time than Glenn Close not to mention that the story is usually told through her perspective.

outstanding comedy series (also 7 nominees)

• 30Rock
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• How I Met Your Mother
• The Office
  
• Weeds

Two and a Half Men's reign of terror ends at last. Rejoice. BOO: No Pushing Daisies again. TV did not do right by their wonderful "gone too soon" series. YES: Especially good news here for the other Krak addicts out there: Jane Krakowski wins her first EMMY nomination after multiple merciless snubbings. Interesting note: 3 time consecutive supporting actor winner Jeremy Piven is not nominated for Entourage. Does this mean Neil Patrick Harris finally gets the gold?

Movie actors for EMMY
The following races mostly lean towards silver screen thespians. This time they're competing for that gold and winged woman trophy rather than the naked guy with the sword.

Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie pits Oscar winner Kevin Kline (Cyrano de Bergerac on PBS) against Kevin Bacon (Taking Chance on HBO), frequent supporting MVP Brendan Gleeson (Into the Storm on HBO) and Oscar nominees Sir Ian McKellen (King Lear) and Kenneth Branagh (Taking Chance) are all competing for . Hey, no fair: Kiefer Sutherland's TV character Jack Bauer from "24" somehow slipped into this category, spoiling its silver screen style.

Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie features the Grey Gardens girls alongside screen divas Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby) and Shirley Maclaine (Coco Chanel). EMMY & TV regular Chandra Wilson (Accidental Friendship) rounds out that category.


Lead Actress in a Drama Series usually contains a few movie stars who have migrated to the small screen once Hollywood stopped offering them amazing lead roles. That's the big screen's loss, obviously. Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Glenn Close (Damages) and Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters) are competing once again with TV stars like Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men). Moss's character Peggy Olson is wonderful but she really should be competing in the supporting category where everyone but Jon Hamm belongs since the cast is so huge and screen time is limited. The other fine Mad Men women, January Jones and Christina Hendricks, were once again snubbed. This category is often frustrating. The brilliant layered work of Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) goes unnoticed again and Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) four season snubbing for her work as President Laura Roslyn will surely have to go down in television history as one of the worst 10 offenses that EMMY ever committed.

Miscellania Oscar winners Ernest Borgnine (ER), Ellen Burstyn (Law & Order), Dianne Wiest (In Treatment) and Oscar nominees Brenda Blethyn (Law & Order) and Gena Rowlands (Monk) are all competing in Guest or Supporting acting categories.

Bonus. What's the best category this year?
My vote for the strongest category this year goes to either Lead or Supporting Actress in a Comedy both of which have really strong lineups with no bad apples spoiling the bunch by snubbing far superior work. The nominees are...

Toni Toni Toni and Toni. Do you think she'll win?

Lead Actress in a Comedy

• Julia Louis Dreyfuss, The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
• Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Show
• Tina Fey, 30Rock
• Toni Collette, The United States of Tara
• Mary Louise Parker, Weeds

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

• Kristin Chenowith, Pushing Daisies
• Amy Poehler, SNL
• Kristin Wigg, SNL
• Jane Krakowski, 30Rock
• Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
• Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

What say ye? How well did EMMY do this year?

P.S. You can download a complete list of nominees here but be warned, it's 40 pages long.
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Care to Make Any EMMY Predictions?

If you're new here and click on the EMMY label below, you'll probably find a thesaurus worth of unpleasant adjectives about TV's own "Oscars". But to save you the trouble of clicking, it goes like this: I don't like them. There, that was short and sweet bitter.

Does another dark Emmy-less fate await Friday Night Lights?
What a great show. Why can't they see that?

The Academy Awards are often chastised for their obvious preferencing: Holocaust dramas, biopics, women who allow themselves to look frumpy ... but at least you can understand where they're coming from and why they go for those things even if you don't agree. Who can explain EMMY's deep love for Two and a Half Men?

When Oscar gets chastised for repeatedly ignoring a brilliant performer or filmmaker, they usually give in and do a kind of makeup 'yeah, we're sorry we ignored your brilliance!' nomination. When Emmy gets chastised for ignoring something awesomely good at what it does they just continue to ignore it (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Scrubs, The Wire, Friday Night Lights). So I'm not really hopeful that they'll suddenly grow a brain when the nominations are announced tomorrow but you never know. Occasionally they don't run screaming from true brilliance but fully embrace it (see: Mad Men, 30Rock) which makes their usual dimness all the more puzzling.

I couldn't find any info on "top ten finalists" this year (did they do away with that system? I can't keep track of EMMY's frequent rule changes) but there will be 6 nominees in each of the lead categories.

BEST DRAMA Which six will be named: (previously nominated series in red. winners with asterisks) 24*, Battlestar Galactica (final season), Big Love, Boston Legal (final season), Breaking Bad, The Closer, Damages, Dexter, ER* (final season), Friday Night Lights, Grey's Anatomy, House, In Treatment, Lost*, Mad Men*, The Shield, The Tudors and/or True Blood?

<-- Will host Neil Patrick Harris finally win supporting actor for How I Met Your Mother or will they feel the need to give Entourage's Jeremy Piven a fourth consecutive trophy? They do get stuck in ruts.

BEST COMEDY Which six: (previously nominated series in red. winners with asterisks) 30 Rock*, The Big Bang Theory, Californication, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, The Office*, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Parks and Recreation, Samantha Who? (final season), Scrubs, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty, The United States of Tara and/or Weeds?

Do you care?

Or are you just waiting for the news of which silver screen actresses will get nominated for their acclaimed detours into pay cable work? I think we can all expect Tara's Toni Collette and Grey Gardens' Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange to be there on the big night in their red carpet finery, can't we?

Mad Max

Glenn from Stale Popcorn here, taking a moment out of the roasting he is getting in his apartment - it's 44 degrees here, or 110 in crazy fahrenheit measurements - to bring you this post.

Anybody who reads my blog (hi... five of you!) will know I like to follow Australian film. I am from Australia and I am deeply connected to my country's industry. Thankfully taking a break from movies about drug dealers, drug users, wife abusers, crooked cops and philandering husbands (five of Australian film's favourite topics) is Mary and Max, a claymation film from Adam Elliot, the director of Oscar-winning Harvey Krumpet. It debuted as the opening night film at Sundance recently. Wallace & Gromit this is not. From the film's IMDb plot outline:

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

And that's just the beginning! It features the vocals of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (as Max), Toni Collette (as adult Mary), Barry Humphries, Eric Bana plus several others that only Australians will recognise (Renee Geyer and Ian 'Molly' Meldrum, anyone?) I, for one, can't wait to see what Elliot does and the trailer (below) looks wickedly dark and funny. Hopefully a distributer picks it up for international release. I wonder if the animation branch would respond to it like they did Harvey Krumpet or if they would pass by it for, oh I dunno, Lame Dreamworks Cartoon 7.

It is released in Australia in April.

Musical of the Month: Velvet Goldmine

It's Tuesday Top Ten AND November's musical of the month. When you overplan it's best to kill two birds with one stone. (Guess who overplans?)

Velvet Goldmine, auteur Todd Haynes' marvelous, sexy, agitated tribute to glam rock celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. A decade later it's still quite the queer jewel. It remains one of the sparkliest bits in the filmographies of all involved.

When I first announced this Velvet celebration I dropped the argumentative note that I think it's a better film than Haynes's recent and more acclaimed picture I'm Not There. The latter has a bolder attention-grabbing actorly gambit (multiple performers for one role ... sort of) but the films are close spiritual siblings in many other ways. They're like aggressively eccentric visual historians who share the same pet topics: fluid persona, rock star egotism and cultural youthquakes. So why do I think Velvet is better?

Ten Reasons Why Velvet Goldmine Trumps I'm Not There

10 Christian Bale appears in both of these Todd Haynes extravaganzas. In only one of them does he masturbate to a fold out album cover and newspaper clippings.

"It's a shameful fithy thing you're doing!"

09 Todd Haynes detractors point to his intellectualism as a fault. They say it renders his movies into theses. Mostly I say "what's wrong with that?" ... better to have something meaty to discuss than the alternative. And though I've often chalked this reaction up to lazy anti-intellectualism I see where they're coming from a bit with I'm Not There. Advantage Velvet Goldmine: It funnels its big ticket ideas through the painted lips of characters as unintellectual in nature as Mandy (Toni Collete --I kind of live for her "speeding up" monologue) as awkward as Arthur (Christian Bale) as silent as Jack Fairy (Micko Westmoreland) or as stoned as Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor) or as smugly pontificating as Brian (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). This filter makes it less 'thinky' somehow.

08 Put another way: Velvet Goldmine lives in its body as well as its head. I'm Not There stays entirely cerebral even though rock n' roll is often located in the groin. The sex scene between Mandy & Brian in particular is incisively shot through distorting glass, incisively echoing their fluidity and even the confusion of who is/will be doing what to whom in the long run. And that's not to mention the crude guitar fellatio or the orgy sequence.

"It's funny how people look when they're walking out the door"

07 Unlike many rock and roll films, Goldmine's reach is generous. It focuses not just on a performer (as I'm Not There and most traditional rock pictures do) but it allows for further contextualization by adding an equally weighted audience surrogate (Arthur). We end up experiencing the larger cultural shifts through both performers and audiences. As a result it far exceeds the familiar rise and fall narrative of famous movie musicians and paints an unusual portrait of the death of a particular peculiar moment in both the large and intimate sense and from both directions (performer/voyeur) at once. You have to love it.

06 The flights of fancy in I'm Not There: whale, giraffes, balloons, etcetera... are all (presumably) esoterica. Only Dylan fans might understand them. Velvet Goldmine's most fanciful flourishes such as spaceships, magic amulets, barbie doll kisses and Oscar Wilde, are more accessible. I knew precious little about the glam rock era before watching the movie and I never felt like I wasn't in on any joke.

"Baby's On Fire" and "the curve of your lips rewrite history"

05 Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor are both way more believable as rock stars than anyone in I'm Not There... and more believeable as rock stars than many other people in many other rock movies. There are many people who think JRM is not much of an actor and to them I say 'ignore the other things you've seen him in an marvel at how perfectly he's cast and shot here and how well he embodies autoerotic androgynous callow celebrity.' He'll never top it but so what? If you have to peak early due it in service of a great film. As for McGregor... "TV Eye" has to be one of the most authentically live & dangerous rock numbers captured on film, doesn't it?


04 The Citizen Kane structure is endearing in its chutzpah. Not that I'm Not There doesn't have balls. But there's more film-appropriate youthful bravado in Goldmine. In short: it's more fun.

03 No sequence within Velvet Goldmine --not even the slightly mistifying Jack Fairy throughline -- is as headscratching or unsatisfying as one sixth of I'm Not There, the sixth being the Richard Gere section. Please note: This is not to take away from that lovely haunting musical bit "Goin' to Acapulco" even if it still makes no sense to me whatsoever.


02 Toni Collette does not appear in I'm Not There. Filmmakers take note: this is an automatic point deduction.

01 Velvet Goldmine gives the world's greatest costume designer Sandy Powell (absent from I'm Not There though she often works with Todd Haynes) a lot to do. When you give Sandy Powell room to play she returns to you entire playgrounds.


I know what you're saying I'm Not There lovers... You're saying...
...............okay okay I don't know what you're saying. I don't get you.

If you're on Team Dylan(s) speak up in the comments. Why were the reviews stronger? If you're on Team Goldmine rally 'round.

More Velvet Readings?
Try my Musical of the Month Pals
Movies Kick Ass "Citizen Slade"
Cinemavistaramascope "the curve of your lips..."
StinkyBits "an enthralling confounding fabulation"
Haiku'ed Viper Tetsu pays tribute in Japanese Meter

Next Musical
The classic Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) on December 6th. 'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas' a little early.
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Toni Checks Her Make-Up

Yep, still fabulous!

[Psssst. I haven't mentioned this at all, despite my Collette fixation, because I'm so nervous about it -- cross your fingers that Showtime strikes gold here -- but doesn't it have the potential to be all kinds of multi-orgasmic?]

Ménage à Trois

I volunteer to be the fourth

Monday Monologue: Velvet Goldmine

The critical reaction to Todd Haynes' recent Dylan thesis I'm Not There with pockets of "masterpiece!" raves was surely informed by the years of goodwill that the director has engendered in the critical community and the status of the icon examined. For 10 years ago he made an even better picture which wasn't greeted as warmly. It was also about peculiar shifting identities and the unknowability of creative giants. So for today's monologue, let's sing the praises of Toni Collette as Mandy Slade in Velvet Goldmine.


This glam rock picture hops around chronologically, just as I'm Not There does, and though Brian Slade / Maxwell Demon (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Mandy's husband, is the film's principal shape-shifter the other characters also mutate as they tell their communal story. When it comes time to hear her side of the story, about 50 minutes into the movie, we meet Mandy who has retained precious little of the former glitzy diva that we've come to know. Her hair is dishevelled and she moves slowly, taking drags from a cigarette.

Because honestly darling, I haven't spoken with Mr. Slade in, what? Seven years at least. Wow. Yeah, at least.

No, right after everything crashed we split. Brian... he just became someone else but then again he always was.

On the last line Todd Haynes cross-dissolves the image and we drift into Mandy's memories, the film restlessly seeking out visual wonders in the stimulating time period. But even before we've jumped backwards, Collette --a great storyteller of an actress-- has already teased out the past. The "darling" comes out both nostalgic and self mocking (or patronizing, perhaps?) and we know she's performing for the interviewer, remembering a younger version of herself .


Haynes weaves her narration in and over musical moments and between shimmering images of Brian Slade, Jack Fairy and Mandy colliding sexually and emotionally.

It was New Years Eve, 1969, the start of a new decade. The feeling in the air that anything was possible. See Jack Fairy had also come to London in the swinging '60s. And in crowded clubs or hotel bars, this shipwreck of the streets rehearsed his future glory. A cigarette tracing a ladder to the stars.

I needn't mention how essential dreaming is to the character of the rock star.

Jack was truly the first of his kind. A true original. Everybody stole from Jack. But from the moment Brian Slade stepped into our lives, nothing would ever be the same. It was his nature. So I married him.

Her narration ends there followed by Brian singing to her and a sex scene that beautifully captures the fluidity of these young musical creatures. Before Haynes leaves Mandy's story behind, he returns to her voice... in the past... only now it's overtly theatrical, less self aware, and more than a little childlike.

Time. Places. People. They're all... speeding up. So to cope with this evolutionary paranoia, strange people are chosen... who through their art can move progress more quickly.

[narrating again] It was the most stimulating and reflective period of our marriage.

Todd Haynes is one of those people that can move progress quickly through his art. Toni Collette is the strange person who was chosen for this great role.
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Top Ten: Future Biopics

tuesday top ten. for the list maker in me and the list lover in you

Christian Bale, my friend, is blowing in the wind

I’ve developed a reputation for hating biopics and whilst perusing a list of them the other day I realized that I actually don’t. In the recent past I’ve loved Ed Wood (1994), Marie Antoinette (2006), The Aviator (2004) and loved pieces of others like Ali (2001) and Hilary & Jackie (1998). It turns out I just hate what most filmmakers do with the genre. My theory is this: They're dangerous movies to make because they're too easy to phone in. The storyline is written for you if you don’t feel like shaping it into a dynamic structure. No film genre is more boring if a lazy or uninspired writer / director is behind the wheel. Those birth + arm chair psychology friendly life shaping event + event + event + event until death screenplays? Wake me up when the movie is over. The performance blueprints are also mostly in place for the actors so if they don’t have any ideas about the character they can just copy the real mccoy and still win accolades.

So for today’s top ten, I am opening my heart to the genre. Here’s ten biographical pictures I’d love to see. Some are really happening. Others are lost dreams.

Biopics I Want To See

10. I’m Not There (2007)
For all intents and purposes this should be #1. Writer/director/genius Todd Haynes has never made a bad film. More promising than that (considering the type of film under discussion) he’s never made a film that isn’t highly interesting. “Highly interesting” is even more rare than “great” when biopics are involved. I'm Not There, Haynes' multi-actor rumination on Bob Dylan, is #10 rather than #1 because I am tired of being anxious to see it. I’m trying not to think about it until the day I sit down in the theater. I'm even attempting to ignore the trailer. Don’t even tell me about it in the comments!

09. Kirsten Dunst in Blondie (200?)
About a year ago Kirsten Dunst, arguably the most hated young actress in Hollywood --or at least on the internet, was rumored to be signing on to a Debbie Harry biopic. Nothing concrete has happened since. I'm hoping she lands a high profile demanding role soon. Any open minded perusal of her work outside of the Spider-Man series and Elizabethtown could only bring the viewer to one conclusion: this girl can act! I’m so tired of reading bitchy comments to the contrary. It’s sheer ignorance given that we’ve seen her work wonders with drama (crazy/beautiful, virgin suicides), genre pieces (interview with e vampire) light comedy (bring it on) and, yes, biopics. She's great in the underseen Cat’s Meow (old review) and she's just what Sofia Coppola ordered in Marie Antoinette (top ten 2006). I may be the lone member of the Kiki fan club but I'm OK with that.

08. The Young Victoria (2008) More on this one here

07. Monty (development hell)
Montgomery Clift is a dark celluloid legend. A movie about him could potentially make for a great film --provided that the filmmaker had something to say about all sorts of touchy subjects that swirl into the Clift mix: homosexuality, Hollywood beauty and the loss of it, the death of old Hollywood acting and the birth of the method, as well as all sorts of topics covered by almost every other biopic made (addictions, early death, rise and fall of the famous)


Even if Monty didn't have something deep to say it could be gorgeous to look at. As recently as The Aviator we were reminded that recreations of classic Hollywood are unbeatable eye candy for movie lovers. But this dreaming is all for naught since this project has been dead for years. Even if it weren't there's a huge elephant of a hurdle for the production to jump. Good luck finding an actor to measure up to the man in question (all of the people who've played him in the past --he's been a character in other Hollywood biopics-- haven't). Reminder: The Clift Blog-a-Thon is coming in October.

06 Robert Moses
I once asked the Cinemarati (RIP) readers about what biopics people they'd like to see. Somebody brought up this polarizing 20th century behemoth and I thought it was a great answer. Why hasn't some ambitious filmmaker thought to devote a biopic to the man who helped build New York and who shaped the future of the modern city in general? He seems like an ideal fit for the movies. Other brilliant and influential men who accomplished impossible feats have had movies made about them. Why not Moses? He's a colorful enough figure to fill out a movie and he was a mover and shaker in a cinematic time and place (early 20th century New York).

05 Georgia O'Keefe
You'll have to travel back in time for this one. A long time ago in a Hollywood far far away a goddess named Michelle Pfeiffer wanted to play the famous artist in a movie. I've learned to not hold my breath when Pfeiffer expresses interest in something. Even if she does so repeatedly (see also: Jodie Foster as Leni Reifenstahl... which I forgot about while cooking up this list)

I'm not sure if this project ever truly had a pulse but for a long while after its maybe death, I held out hope. After all the photos one sees of O'Keefe are almost always of an older regal looking woman. I would watch Pfeiffer do anything. Why not watch her paint absurdly closeup images of flowers? I'm dialing up moviefone right now for tickets.

04 The Countess (2008)
I wrote about this one @ Zoom In last week

03 Baz Luhrmann's Alexander (2004 oh, never mind)
You know what would be spectacular spectacular? If Baz would take on his own boy (or girl) wonder directorial apprentice. They could pick up his discarded projects and run with them. The story of Alexander the Great is too cinematic to have Oliver Stone's weirdly tentative and talky misfire as its chief modern vessel.

02 The Mayor of Castro Street (2009)
The last time I read about this biopic of slain politican Harvey Milk, out gay director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) had it on his schedule shortly after Valkyrie (now filming with Tom Cruise). I'm glad that a gay director is on board. The famous San Francisco politician has had enough mistreatment in his life, what with his murderer getting off lightly with that infamous "twinkie defense". Hopefully a queer director will understand how to tell the story without cheapening it or misrepresenting it. The Times of Harvey Milk is one of my all time favorite documentaries. If the live action feature telling of his life is anywhere close to as good and moving we're talking Oscar nominations.


01 Toni Collette as Liza Minelli
(now playing on every screen in the multiplex in Nathaniel's head)
Ever since I first imagined this dream role for Toni it's been my #1 favorite movie fantasy. Think about it: Toni can sing and dance, she has a weirdly bulbous lower lip and so does Liza. They've both got huge eyes and kooky beauty. In one musical swoop, Toni Collette could finally win that deserved Oscar and Liza-mania could be reborn!

recent top tens
Fall Film Preview * Oscar Nominationless
sort of unrelated but...
I just watched Volver again and now I want a biopic of Pedro Almódovar. Love that man.
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Top Actress: What Are They Up To? (2 of 2)

One of the most successful projects from Film Experience history was the mid decade review of Actors and Actresses of the Aughts (2000-2005). The plan is to revisit in a few years for an official "best of decade" list. In the meantime let's check in with our top 10. When we looked at 20 thru 11 we were reminded that the film world moves quickly... it already looked out of date. This particular lineup (10-1) feels more contemporary. That's either a nod to their collective dominance as talented stars or their younger median age. It's probably both. Hollywood still isn't kind to 40something women.

How have these ten women managed their careers since the list was published in the fall of 2005?

10-6

Toni Collette
"always makes the most of her material, even in thankless roles"
Age: 34
Toni has kept up a remarkable work pace for a long time now while rarely letting stock roles feel stock. And she's added rock singer to her busy schedule, too. The stamina on this woman! Her career is still missing that true against-type breakthrough that would serve as corrective eye surgery for Hollywood. They still only see her as "unattractive unhappy girl" (as is evidenced again by her work in Evening and The Dead Girl). Luckily Toni shrugs off such limited views with her expansive talents. Wasn't she great in Little Miss Sunshine? Prediction: She'll fight to keep this top ten spot.

Scarlett Johansson
"her best performances have a fascinatingly still quality"
Age: 22
Whoa nellie! Scarjo has become the very definition of ubiquitous. Since hitting this top ten she's made match Match Point, The Prestige, The Black Dahlia, Scoop, a Justin Timberlake music video and posed for many advertisements, leading me to believe that she's cloned herself. I'm not sure the ubiquity is doing her favors. What once read as mystique seems to now read as "wrong for this role" Because I like her, I'll blame this one on Hollywood who, having succumbed to their insatiable lust for her, wants her to appear in every movie. She has two movies coming out in 2007 (The Nanny Diaries and The Other Boleyn Girl) and three more scheduled, including a reunion with Woody Allen (Midnight in Barcelona). But I suspect she'll do something great again soon and be in movies for the long haul.

Michelle Pfeiffer
"her semi retirement is causing me actual grief"
Age: 49
It is now officially "Pfeiffer Week" on the blog, sponsored by the happy news that she is on the big screen for the remainder of the summer (Hairspray and Stardust. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you). New movies mean she'll hold her position ~ though she'll always be #1 to me.

Cate Blanchett
"the next Meryl Streep"
Age: 38
Cate and I have broken up. I know you think we should get back together but I exhausted her with my ultra specific demands and she exhausted me with her technique --we weren't right for each other! Since the list was compiled two years ago we've seen her in Little Fish, Babel, The Good German, and Notes on a Scandal. I liked her best in Hot Fuzz. She made me giggle with instant recognition and then she was mercifully gone a minute later... which is really unlike her. Even after announcing that she'd take time off from her annual Oscar assault she kept announcing new films.

Julianne Moore
"when she returns to roles worthy of her, she'll regain her place atop any actress list"
Age: 46
The bad film parade continues: Trust the Man, Freedomland, Next. ARGH. We hope that Children of Men [are you sitting down? You need to be sitting down: Julianne Moore is in a GOOD movie! one of the year's best] signifies a change in direction. Upcoming lead roles in Savage Grace (solid reviews at Cannes) and Blindness (great book) and a supporting spot in I'm Not There for her greatest collaborator writer/director Todd Haynes, indicate she realizes she's moved too far from the type of pictures that won her her fame. Still... until I see evidence that she hasn't forgotten how to play anything outside of disturbed and/or childless mothers, I'm going to worry. I'm going to worry a lot.

5-1

Samantha Morton
"The magic and the alien grandeur of this actress comes from the way that she seems forever concealed."
Age: 30
Morton has made several movies recently but none of them seem to be in release. The next one you will be allowed to see is The Golden Age (Cate Blanchett's rival queen) Will she snag another Oscar nom?

Kirsten Dunst
"the sparkliest young actress working"
Age: 25
My most controversial choice in the initial list and her detractors have only multiplied since the publication date. She's the young actress everyone loves to hate. She wasn't playing it safe with Marie Antoinette, taking on a character that only emphasized what already turns people away. But I'm not blind. I get the hate. I'm as bored with her work in Spider-Man 3 as you are and as she is. Pull it together Kiki. Time's a wastin'! She's making a comedy next How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (with Simon Pegg from Hot Fuzz) and I think that's a smart move. She hasn't brought the funny in a good long while and she can.

Kate Winslet
"I love Kate Winslet. No, let me rephrase...I worship Kate Winslet"
Age: 31
Kate doesn't work enough for my taste but she does choose her projects carefully. You have to respect that. She recently tried romantic comedy (The Holiday) a genre she hadn't dabbled in and then did what she does best: slightly bohemian feminine angst in Little Children. Next up: Reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, ten years after Titanic made them household names (related post). Prediction: She looks set to battle it out with Kidman as the definitive Actress of the Aughts.

Patricia Clarkson
"We don't so much experience movies through her like we do with passionate movie stars, we experience it alongside her; We're in it together, just Patty and us"
Age: 47
Patty's superb run of confidantes, mothers, and wives in the decade's first gave her a deserved high rank. Supporting stars have trouble maintaining their casting profile so she'll likely be falling when the list is revised, unless a few more magical roles and neo classics come her way. But really how lucky can one talented actress get? Up next: No Reservations (with CZJ), Lars and the Real Girl (with Ryan Gosling), Married Life (with Chris Cooper and Rachel McAdams), Blind Date (with Stanley Tucci), Elegy (with Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz), Midnight in Barcelona (with Scarjo and Javier Bardem), and what sounds like an Oscarbait crusading mother role in Hurricane Mary --if she is in fact the Mary of the title. Who knows. Her character's name is Mary. IMDB can be maddeningly incomplete. Dakota AND Elle Fanning will star as disabled twins (?!?)

Nicole Kidman
"the machinery and chutzpah of her star-making has been a jaw-dropping sight to behold"
Age: 40
It's been quiet in Kidmanland. Fur was only a whisper and more ambitious in concept than successful in execution. But Kidman fever should spread again with her upcoming triple: The Invasion, The Golden Compass (both with Daniel Craig) and Margot at the Wedding (presumably her next Oscar bid). After that we might see her in Need opposite longtime best friend Naomi Watts. But the thing everyone is waiting for is Australia which will reunite her with the person most responsible for her mega stardom --outside of herself I mean-- Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!). She only just turned 40 so if she plays her cards right she still has a few more years atop Hollywood's actress food chain.

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