April Showers with Jake Gyllenhaal

Hey, we did his ex-girlfriend last time, so why not...


The last pic is not really a shower but since he's trying not to look at the bathing going on in the background, I figure it qualifies. Plus, you know... looking at Jake & Heath not looking at each other? That's always a special treat.
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"Metabolically, it's not my rhythm"

2 random 'Top 5's... just because!

I had the poster to Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992) above my drawing table in my college apartment for a whole year plus. I was obsessed with the movie and it remains among my top five from Woody Allen's filmography. The public and media were too entranced by the tabloid-ready Allen/Farrow split that preceded its release to notice how damn good the movie was. My five favorites (the top four being total freaking masterpieces to put it bluntly) are...

1. Manhattan (1979)
2. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
3. Annie Hall (1977) sometimes this is #4
   
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) sometimes this is #3
   
5. Husbands and Wives (1992)
   

Even as the film was mostly ignored in favor of the scandals (it says a lot about Farrow and Allen's trouper professionalism after 13 films together that they made it through this one despite their nuclear meltdown offscreen) the towering performance of Judy Davis was impossible to shove aside in quite the same way. Though she eventually lost the Oscar many thought she would win, her turn remains one of the very best of the 1990s. This was revelatory work. Her "Sally" was alternately proud, juvenile, fussy, uncomfortable, pitiable, hilarious and despairing but it always an entire person you were seeing. So I want to wish a Happy 53rd birthday to the wondrous Judy Davis today! I still despise the movies for letting her drift away.

If they only had the Oscars once a decade, I'd still be nominating Judy for that performance and she'd be a threat to win. My ballot for Best Supporting Actress of the 90s would (probably ~ I haven't revisited) read...

• Patricia Clarkson as "Greta" in High Art (1998)
• Judy Davis as "Sally" in Husbands and Wives (1992)
• Catherine Keener as "Maxine" in Being John Malkovich (1999)
• Julianne Moore as "Amber Waves" in Boogie Nights (1997)
  
• Dianne Wiest as "Helen Sinclair" in Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

That comes with apologies to a whole lotta ladies some of whom are frequently discussed on this here blog. Obviously if you convinced me that Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns was supporting (I understand both arguments... I've just never firmly performed a demotion) you'd have to politely escort Keener from the list to make room. And she's kind of an über bitch, so move carefully.

You know you want to share your top 5 of the supporting actress 90s in the comments. And your top five Woodys, too!

Julianne Moore & Eddie Redmayne

Hump Day Hotties Spotties: Julianne Eddie

God bless Julianne Moore, for her unashamed red hair and freckles. So many redheads disappoint in their inexplicable self-negating desire to look like all the other actresses in Hollywood (Nicole and Lindsay, I'm talking to both of you. whhhhyyyyy?). Julianne's freckles spot that porcelain skin in such a real way, a way you hardly ever see onscreen. I always appreciate it when filmmakers light her so you can see them.

I do love staring at her face and I'm pleased to report that Savage Grace, the story of the scandalous marriage, divorce and demise of socialite Barbara Baekaland, gives fans ample opportunity to do so. Julianne's beauty hasn't been this magnified onscreen since way back in 1999's The End of the Affair. This new film doesn't have the romantic and intellectual force of that earlier novel-to-screen adaptation but it's nice to see Julianne dolled up again. And with a sex drive too! In fact, I think Savage Grace would have been better if they'd pushed Barbara's outre sexuality a little further. A little more of, say, Isabelle Huppert's in-your-face perversion in Ma Mére or The Piano Teacher might've considerably strengthened the film. Anybody who was going to be scared away by the subject matter wouldn't be sitting in the theater anyway.

Julianne with two of her boys, Hugh Dancy & Eddie Redmayne

But back to Julianne's face. She has such a great and improbable mix of both solidity and eery abstraction. It's why she's so effective at playing women who are indisputably there --they make their presence known -- but also far, far away either through internal despair, self delusion, addictions or all of the above. The only character among her handful of most celebrated creations that doesn't fit this mold is Carol White from [safe]. There's no solidity to that one at all. A strong gust of wind could blow the poor creature away.

I'll say more about Savage Grace later... am still turning it over in my head and it doesn't open for another month, but god bless the casting people for finding her an appropriately freckly son in Eddie Redmayne. Eddie is one of those actors that the French might call 'jolie-laide' that is to say that he's somehow off putting and attractive simultaneously, a rather ideal look for the character of her overly adored lost-boy son.

UPDATED. I've included two trailers below. There's unfortunately another clip making the web rounds that is NOT a trailer but being labelled as such on YouTube and elsewhere. It's several scenes strung together for nearly 10 minutes. Probably gives too much of the movie away. Here's two real things, first the international trailer...

and then the US trailer



I think it's fun to suss out the differences in approach and general dramatic temperament. Here's Movie Marketing Madness's take on what they're selling and how well they're selling it.

Cannes is Coming. Tilda Fashion to Follow

World cinema fans can start salivating. The world's most famous film festival -- the Olympics of film? Only without those human rights squabbles and torch marathons -- kicks off next month. The question you're undoubtedly asking is this:

W.W.T.W ?
What Will Tilda Wear?

I kid. I kid. It wouldn't be Cannes without her but fashion can wait. For now we drool on the unseen films from an international who's who of filmmakers. There's a hundred plus more than those listed here of course: film markets, multiple sidebars, etcetera but here are the headliners.

C O M P E T I T I O N

La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Woman Without A Head) [Argentina]
Lucrecia Martel (pictured left) is definitely one to watch for the prizes. She's previously directed the extraordinarly well received La Ciénaga and The Holy Girl. I haven't seen the former but the latter was riveting and uniquely its own. Queue it.
Leonera [Argentina]
Pablo Trapero directs this story of a convicted woman struggling to raise her son from within prison. Sounds like it offer up a meaty role for its lead actress.
Le Silence De Lorna (The Silence of Lorna) [Belgium]
This if from the Brothers Dardenne (Jean-Pierre & Luc, s'il vous plait) who Cannes truly loves giving them multiple wins in the past for Rosetta, Le Fils and L'Enfant. Belgium usually submits their films for Oscar consideration, but AMPAS ignores. The critical community has a decidedly different response. Watch for it to win something... best actress for Arta Dobroshi, the title character perhaps? Just speculatin'
Linha de Passe (Line of Passage) [Brazil]
Famed Brazilian auteur Walter Salles (pictured left. He made Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries among others) co-directs this one with Daniela Thomas. It's about a group of poverty-stricken brothers playing amateur soccer in the outskirts of São Paulo.
Adoration [Canada]
Atom Egoyan hasn't really taken the film world unanimously by storm since The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Bonne chance. I have to say straightaway that the cast raises eyebrows: Scott Speedman and Rachel Blanchard starring in an Egoyan flick...together? Aside from the Canada connection...


24 City [China]
Jia Zhangke, born in the Shanxi province of China has made quite a name for himself with cinephiles for his work on The Platform, Still Life, The World and more. Will this film continue to cement his reputation?
La Frontiere De l'Aube (The Frontier Of Dawn) [France]
Philipe Garrel (Regular Lovers) directs his ubiquitous movie star son Louis (pictured left) in this new film. Seriously... Louis Garrel is in every French movie that makes it to the States these days. This is Garrel's (the senior) first time in the competitive lineup.
Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin [France]
Arnaud Desplechin, who made the amazing and complex Kings & Queen (queue it!) returns with a film featuring much of the same cast. Wheeeeeee! or Oui! (they mean the same thing to me)
The Palermo Shooting [Germany]
This is from Wim Wenders, of Wings of Desire (1987) fame. Milla Jovovich and Dennis Hopper headline.
Delta [Hungary]
This film comes from frequent festival awards magnet, actor/director Kornél Mundruczó (pictured right). It's about a brother and sister reunited as adults in their birth village.
Waltz With Bashir [Israel]
Ari Folman wrote and directed this animated feature which is in Hebrew and German. For the curious: No, this isn't a first. No animated film has won the Palme D'Or, but they've competed before... most recently with Persepolis which tied for the Jury Prize at least year's festival.
Gomorra [Italy]
Matteo Garrone (of First Love and The Embalmer fame) directs yet another film about Italian crime families. I shudder to think how many have been made just in my lifetime, let alone before.
Il Divo [Italy]
This biopic from Paolo Sorrentino is about Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Toni Servillo has the lead role. Their last collaboration (The Consequences of Love) netted Servillo various Best Actor awards.

Serbis (Service) [Philippines]
Brillante Mendoza (pictured left, who is sometimes referred to as "Dante") started directing features prolifically in 2005. Most of his films, including this one, have gay themes. His most well known is probably The Masseur. He gets his first competition spot @ Cannes with this film and it's the first Filipino film to make the competitive lineup in nearly a quarter century. This one is about male movie house prostitutes. --Thanks to various Pinoy readers for the info!
My Magic [Singapore]
Director Eric Khoo is probably most well known previously for the festival film Be With Me (2005).
Uc Maymun (The Three Monkeys) [Turkey]
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who made some critical waves with Distant (2002) returns to the fest.
Che [United States]
Steven Soderbergh brings his Che Guevera biopic to France. Is this The Argentine and Guerilla together (they were reportedly being split up for American consumption) as one Lawrence of Arabia length spectacle?
Synecdoche, New York [United States]
Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and a huge ensemble of great actresses. We slobbered all over it in a previous post
Changeling [United States]
Clint Eastwood and everyone's favorite globe-trotter Angelina Jolie will have the red carpet alight with a bajillion paparrazi flashbulbs. No, much more than that. Since it's Eastwood and Jolie you'll be hearing about this film on this and every other outlet you'll be sick of it by the time it is or isn't nominated for a heap of Oscars.
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O U T * O F * C O M P E T I T I O N

The politics of who gets into and who is still prominently featured despite being outside of the competition are always unbeknownst to me. At any rate, here we'll see Kim Jee-Woon's 1930s western The Good, The Bad, The Weird from South Korea and Woody Allen's star-studded romantic dramedy (Cannes still loves him) Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I'm still a little disappointed in the way the release of Match Point was handled. It was Woody's biggest hit in quite a long while but it could have been even bigger with both Oscar and the general public. It was so mismanaged, shoved in for last minute Oscar consideration instead of capitalizing on its Cannes buzz with an early fall release. Hopefully, should reception of VCB be as rapturous across the Atlantic, the Weinstein's won't sit on the film. I know I know... that's a lot to hope for. The wannabe blockbusters that will be featured outside the competition (there's always a couple) are Kung Fu Panda --but will anything be a real competitor for Pixar's Wall•E (previous post) at the box office or at the Oscars next winter? -- and Steven Spielberg's fourth adventurous anthropologist film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

P L E A S E * N O T E

We haven't heard all of the Cannes news yet. They've whittled 1692 (!) submissions down to the films selected for competition above (their eyes, their eyes, poor things) but there's generally one or two more last minute additions. Plus, they still haven't announced the coveted Opening or Closing night slots. We'll talk about the festival jury tomorrow. How confident do you feel about this lineup above?



Here's the official site of the festival.
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Happy Secretary's Day

Excuse me...

...Administrative Professionals Day.

................... ....Executive Assistant?

................. .....................unngh? Secretary!

Don't chain yours to his/her desk, push pencils off your desk to watch them bend over or push them out a window like they do in the movies. Not cool. Get them something nice. If you are an administrative professional, goof off today. Read this blog to your hearts content. Play on e-mail. Call your friends on the company's dime. You deserve it! (this advice is for entertainment purposes only. Don't blame me if you get dooced)
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Earth Day Jamboree

Tuesday Top Ten: For the list maker in me and the list lover in you

Happy Earth Day !
Leonardo DiCaprio loves you and so do I.

Ten Reasons To Love Planet Earth

10. Scandinavia, Thai cuisine, the Great Lakes, French actresses, Brazilians, Asian actors, New York New York ... I couldn't make up my mind on number ten so insert anything you like here. That way you won't be offended that I left it off.

09. It's not Venus. Totally liveable temperatures (for now). Spontaneous combustion is rare and when it happens in the movies its performed by stuntmen (they live) or Chris Evans (smoking) and either way --exciting.

08. I've lost my train of thought. Please listen to Kate Bush's "Hello Earth" while I collect myself.

07. While it's true that Earth has lots of terrible creatures living on it: warmongers, theocrats, bigots, Ann Coulter, homophobes, talentless celebrities, Karl Rove... it is also home to people like George Clooney, Pedro Almodóvar, Viggo Mortenson, Natalie Portman, Al Gore, Susan Sarandon and Gael Garcia Bernal (among others). So, ya know: worth saving.

06. Oscar's Foreign Language Film Category... It doesn't quite cover the whole wide world, but at least it keeps awards junkies abreast of the existence of other countries outside their own. Anything that helps us to be citizens of the world rather than myopically aware of only our tiny part of it. I include this one because I'm obsessed with Google Maps at the moment and I've made one that I think you'll like: still in progress but take a look. Thoughts?

05. People look sexy when they're wet and Earth is 70% water (give or take). Dive in!


04. Mountains, rivers, deserts, Australia and New Zealand as seen in the movies (I've never been *sniffle*), fjords, seashells, waterfalls, hot springs, cacti, forests, coastlines. So many things worth looking at with awe. I'm not a big outdoors type but I do occassionally notice my non-celluloid surroundings and when that happens I usually feel a bit like George Emerson in A Room With a View, spinning around with uninhibited joy shouting "Beeeaaauuttty" (not really but...in my heart!)

03. Dinosaurs once lived here. Wheeee

02. It's where those 40,000+ survivors on Battlestar Galactica are trying to get to and every last single one of them is fascinating. If that many awesome characters are longing for Earth than it's worth gloating about since we already got it. (sigh) Easily the best show on television. Why aren't you watching?

01. It's the birthplace of the movies.
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What do you love most on Planet Earth?

previously on tuesday top ten: Weirdos, Oscar predictions, hookers, Jude Law, movie posters, etcetera...
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April Showers, Dunst Style

It hasn't actually been raining in Manhattan much this month making this impromptu blog series an entirely theoretical affair. Does this mean no May Flowers?

Microwaved Comic Con Bites

Some random bits to wrap up last weekend's "adventure" and I use the term lightly. If you missed anything we already talked about super women as cheap whores, The Incredible Hulk's collateral damage and enticing Wall•E footage.


* The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian panel didn't skimp on the film's stars but it did skimp on footage. We were shown only the trailer, twice...not that it mattered. The only way to watch it if you hope to suss out anything about how anybody looks or what's happening is to watch it on your PC or Mac and pause it every third frame. Edited with a blender it is although I always appreciate a good shot of a centaur. William Moseley who plays the big ego'ed Peter Pevensie (currently King of Narnia right? I barely remember that movie) is either a total natural or he's been very well groomed for the job of talking about headlining movies. He looked completely comfortable, was well spoken, and he even jumped up from his seat to hug a needy fan. I'm actually surprised he wasn't trampled to death by stampeding horny fangirls after that one. Peter Dinklage was also in top soundbite form.


And the poster doesn't lie. Prince Caspian (aka Ben Barnes) is this gorgeous in real life. If that's possible. Well done Mr & Mrs. Barnes. The Q & A with the fans was hilarious. There's obviously going to be a lot of slash fanfic about Peter and Caspian's "rivalry" --almost every question seemed to circle back to their boys-to-men tussling.

* Lightsaber toy technology has really come a long way. When I was a kid they were like huge plastic fake looking things that vaguely lit up. This was back in the mesozoic era.

* Why would anyone... and I do mean anyone... want a miniature sculpture of the vampires from 30 Days of Night? It comes complete with severed body parts and heads strewn about their feet. I mean it's totally gross AND the movie was terrible. Terrible. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. I'm still mad about how inept that movie was considering the strong concept it sprung from. In truth I don't understand a lot of merchandise for movies. Although I deeply covet that Fargo snow globe from the 90s. And though I can't imagine springing for a life size anime statue of Princess Leia (previous post), I understand it. I mean, if I could buy a lifesize reclining Michelle Pfeiffer to keep on top of the piano, money would be no object (except for the piano part. How much $ do grands go for these days?)

* I love it when 'superheroes' seem totally bored.


You never see that in the movies and fighting evil probably gets old. All work being drudgery and whatnot.

* The much buzzed about unscheduled screening of a new The Dark Knight trailer was not as exciting as you've read elsewhere. It's a commercial for crying out loud and we've already seen a couple. I'm not trying to be the cranky hard-to-please type . I totally feel the thrill of the first teasers of anything... but once you've seen several clips and you're on the second full trailer? calm down! It's basically a lot of the same footage as the first trailer, remixed, with more about the plot thrown in (Ledger's Joker convincing crime bosses to kill Batman). There's also more Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes and the strong hint that she might be dying, or at least dropped like some Green Goblin/Gwen Stacey well-worn hero's nightmare. We also get our first moving images of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. People were excited: 'OMG a guy in a suit!' He does get to utter what will surely be an important underlined line o' dialogue (if I know my Christopher Nolan) and it goes a little something like this

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Have I mentioned I enjoy a little Eckhart?

* I went to one panel on fan-made films that was kind of fun. They talked about Green Goblin's Last Stand (made all the way back in 1992 for only $400. Pretty cool/funny for 1992 ... long before the days of YouTube), Iron Fist: The Dragon Unleashed and the brilliant mashup Run Leia Run. Apparently others have now ripped off this idea for newer films but it's awesome if you're a fan of the über fun German movie Run Lola Run starring the wonderful Franka Potente.

* Sometimes fan costumes border on the obscene.


Civilians.. they just don't wear cups.

* We saw the teaser to Will Eisner's The Spirit --hardly a scoop as it was on YouTube that very day and The Spirit panelists assembled including lovely Eva Mendes (for whom the crowd whooped and whistled) all kissed comic-legend-turned-director Frank Miller's (Sin City/300) ass with precision and purpose. But I'm not convinced. Now I turn you over to the blog Forces of Good who express their Spirit concerns with greater pinpoint comedy than I can muster.

And now I must take a break from the spandex & tights crowd.


Only a 10 day break mind you. Iron Man will be rocketing into box office history very soon. I shall gladly part with a little green for Tony Stark's hot rod red.
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A Blog And Its Links

Bauer Griffin Woody Allen makes a good point
Awards Daily Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart for 2009. Is Oscar #3 in her future? god help us all. Anyone remember when Julianne Moore was supposed to do this?
The Movie Blog speaking of downgrades. Emma Watson (Hermione) is replacing Scarjo in the film Napoleon & Betsy. I know Scarjo has her detractors but if you lift the cloud of Potter fan-tinted glasses and Hermione as loveable character fact, you'll notice that Watson probably cannot act. Good luck Movie!
New Now Next Firefly/Serenity's Alan Tudyk (me likey) just got the lead in the new sitcom from Will & Grace team

Speaking of gay... Have any of you seen this clip from VH1's Viva Hollywood that's making the blog rounds. It's so ridiculously offensive.

This guy is in an acting competition and absolutely melts down when he's asked to do a gay scene. In other words: not a real actor. I wish pop culture could get away from all the wannabes that reality TV keeps pushing on the public and find a way to celebrate real talented up-and-comers instead. To add insult to injury the scene they're asking him to play requires him to REJECT the gay man. So he has to struggle through his homophobia to do the scene which then rewards his homophobia. And then the homophobia is quadrupled because the show rewards these guys with the win for being brave. There is nothing brave about pretending to be someone other than yourself. If you're an actor that's your f***ing job! Ayiyiyiyiyi. What a world. And what a completely useless wuss this guy is. If this show had any integrity (I know that's asking for a lot out of reality TV) they would have just booted him off the show as soon as he refused.

PopWatch an excerpt from the awesome Battlestar Galactica panel I attended at Comic Con --definitely the frakkin' highlight of the convention
Culture Snob has a great (but NSFW) post on Kubrick's The Shining
A Socialite's Life Blanchett honored by Jackman. Pics of new baby
USA Today Harrison Ford disses Han, prefers Indiana
Reverse Shot gushes about Yentl (1983). For real

and finally...
Man vs Horse has an interesting piece on structural problems with the screenplays of a few films from the Oscar crop of 2007. I don't necessarily agree on all of these --particularly when it comes to No Country For Old Men which I think has a phenomenal ending, couldn't be better actually --but it was a good read. No word on whether the horse liked the Oscar nominees better than the man (Dante)

Cruz-ing Through Hair & Makeup

Here's Penélope Cruz as guinea pig. In her next film with her favorite auteur Pedro Almodóvar they're trying to avoid repeating any Volver'ish looks. The film is called Broken Embraces and should be arriving in 2009. The title has been announced in several US outlets as Broken Hugs but Almodovar prefers Embraces since the word implies more passion.


If you go to Almodóvar's excellent blog you can read his thoughts on each of these looks as well as his feelings about film titles, Penélope in other director's films and the photophobia that has been plaguing him since wrapping the Volver World Tour. [pet peeve note: I could have included the piece here but I hate when people quote entire articles one has written and then offer up a link, as if there's any reason to click over at that point. This is a netiquette faux-pas that's still rampant, especially in forums.]

Penélope as... um, Angelyne? Pedro dodged a bullet by rejecting this look, don't you think?

I did find it interesting that Pedro feels that Cruz's look for Woody Allen's upcoming Vicky Christina Barcelona (c0-starring Scarjo and Javier Bardem) is very Sophia Loren / Volver again. But as he notes, it suits her...

Penelope as "María" in Vicky Christina Barcelona and as "Raimunda" in Volver.

Also on Woody's film, Pedro says

all I know about it are two or three photos of Penélope and the title. I’ve got no right to stick my nose into other people’s business, but someone should tell my adored Woody Allen that the title of his “Spanish” film doesn’t mean anything in Spanish. In my humble opinion, it isn’t a good or bad title, it’s a non-title.

I gotta disagree with the great Pedro there. I love it. It's such a question mark only without punctuation! You have to imagine the connections and fill in the title yourself. Vicky+ Christina = Barcelona? Vicky & Christina Excellent Adventure in Barcelona? Vicky Vs. Christina: The Barcelona Smackdown. Vicky and Christina do Barcelona? The mind wanders and titles should make you a little curious.

(My thanks to Iggy for the request/tip)
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Grammie Hall

Just a little something for Passover

Puny Fanboys. Hulk Smash

Cat got your tongue? The comments have been spookily quiet lately. Perhaps April is just too early for most of TFE's actress-loving readership to care about superhero / genre movies. Maybe you don't care at all. But just for the 10% of you who do... there's a couple more posts on the capes and tights brigade. Speaking of spandex...


Shouldn't Bruce Banner have looked into stretchier materials decades ago? Banner got into personal branding way earlier than the rest of civilization. Did he ever go a day without wearing purple pants? I color corrected this statue (meant to be life size) that will be accompanying Iron Man into certain theaters nationwide on May 2nd because the statue was disappointingly faded green all over --no vibrant color allowed. His pants were the same color as his skin which made this hulking monstrosity look a little nude from a distance. [NSFW tangent: speaking of nekked Hulks I was curious about artists getting their freak on with the Hulk the way people do with Disney creations but it's really only She Hulk that inspires NSFW passion]

SPOILERS
The Incredible Hulk Comic Con presentation was actually quite interesting. It was like a petri dish -- or perhaps we should say experimental serum composed --of corporate nerves, fanboy second-guessing, and PR sculpting. They put to rest some long running internet speculations: Yes, Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) IS in this movie as well as starring in his own. They proved it with a miniscule clip. And though they didn't say it outright, they implied rather giddily that Hulk will utter his famous "puny humans. Hulk smash" catchphrase. Lou Ferrigno TV's long-running green giant from the late 70s will also be appearing in the film and he made a brief well-received cameo at the event as well.

It makes sense. When I first saw the official poster (pictured) I felt it was incredibly '78 television-like rather and listening to the panel, especially director Louis Letterier (The Transporter), it was clear that the series was more of an inspiration to them than Ang Lee's version. And the television series was more The Fugitive-like than a direct Marvel comic transfer.

Distorted corporate perceptions?

Marvel and Universal have two major obstacles to smash (persistent rumors of fights with Ed Norton and memories of Ang Lee's film) and they don't seem too worried about collateral damage. Perhaps they've been hit by gamma rays as well? They're rampaging beasts when it comes to Ang Lee. I was pretty angry listening to the venom of fans (they actually booed a Q & A person who dared to suggest that Ang Lee's film had some merits) and the disparagement from the new and less renowned filmmaking team. Even if you hated Ang Lee's version (and it did skimp on the action --which is basically the principal selling point of a huge violent beast-hero) the man deserves respect. One only has to compare his filmography to anyone else's to realize that throwing stones is a dangerous impulse...

Puny directors, Auteur smash!

They also vehemently denied the rifts with Ed Norton but it didn't convince this cynical audience member. Paraphrasing one of the panelists "Would he have really showed up to recent ADDR sessions if he was upset?" Um... if you're trying to convince me that Ed Norton is sweet as pie to work with and totally loves your movie, maybe you shouldn't be implying that he's the type of multi-million dollar star that just doesn't show up for work if he's at all displeased. Oops. The studio doth protest too much.

They showed three scenes for the crowd: the last was an itty-bitty Tony Stark scene. The first was a short exposition heavy scene in which Tim Roth (who was wonderful on the panel --I'd forgotten what an engaging presence he is. Can't wait to see him again onscreen) as Emil Blonsky is injected with experimental serum which will eventually transform him into Hulk's arch-nemesis The Abomination...

The best footage was from a lengthy unfinished battle scene. You can catch glimpses of it in the trailer, too. Banner is trapped in an overhead walkway, attacked with gas, transforms into the green giant and battles military types with jeeps and heavy weaponry and then finally the extremely agile soldier Emil Blonsky (who is not yet The Abomination). It was fairly intense if not particularly dazzling in terms of action choreography. Story-wise it seemed to be an early scene. Liv Tyler was shown briefly in the dull Jennifer Connelly part looking beautiful and concerned. (That's probably the whole performance. Superhero films are not good to women). The filmmakers have clearly taken the "not enough action" complaints from the 2003 film to heart and I'm guessing that this one will be jam-packed, like King Kong overkill. They promise a 20 minute final battle between Hulk and the Abomination.

Can't recognize Tim Roth there? He did facial capture hi-tech acting so
hopefully some of him will come through CGI...even in mutated brawls.

Twenty minutes! Few are the filmmakers that can sustain action sequences above seven or eight. I hope they studied Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 1, James Cameron's um...anything and Jackson circa Lord of the Rings. You have to be mega talented and inventive to turn battle sequences into showstopping ever-evolving rhythmic setpieces. Otherwise the movie feels like it's gone on loop. Action sequences should not be the ideal time for bathroom breaks. If I sound overly negative, my apologies. The clips were enough to give me my first real interest in the film, Hulk never being a particular favorite.

More Comic Con Posts:
Wall•E is a Beau-Ty -It looks like Pixar may have done it again
Super Women or Cheap Whores -genre land isn't kind to the ladies
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Say What? Nicole

I asked you to amuse us with a caption or dialogue for Nicole Kidman on the set of Australia ... I was indecisive so I give you two winners (though there were several goodies --read the comments for more)

Joe Reid's and...


Jer's...


Thank you to all the participants. Even notoriously stone-faced Nicole got a good chuckle from your shenanigans. See...

Wall•E is a Beau-ty

The highlight of the second day of the New York Comic Con was a special preview of Pixar's Wall•E. I've included the earliest teaser poster to your left cuz it's so cute and all but forgotten with the release of more and more trailers and imagery. It's like Wall•E himself, abandoned 700 years back when everyone left Earth...and forgot to turn off the last robot.

Day two of the con was actually quite a bummer for this casual non-committed geek. He grew tired of all the constant shilling of new product in place of actual conversation or sneak peeks. Lucasfilms was particularly evil about this. They got a whole hour of prime space and location and then abused the eager fans. They sent a corporate guy to repeat himself frequently, congratulate George Lucas on his genius (*cough*), threaten us "delight us" with stories of George's "control" over every new Star Wars project (Didn't The Empire Strikes Back prove definitively 28 years ago that George is more effective when he's not holding all reigns?). Then they showed only trailers, despite other studios offering actual advance scenes. As an added "bonus" they also showed footage of the same guy at other conventions interviewing people about the new product (a new video game and an animated series) in which they repeated everything you'd already heard in his scripted banter. Yes, thanks. Lucasfilms went to the Dark Side long ago.

But not Pixar. Pixar is not only of consistent quality, but also of warm fuzzies. They're so generous and thus quite contemporary, after all a lot of new models for entertainment do involve giving the product away: tv, music, blogs, podcasts, web comics all do this. The expectation being that if you're any good and people love the work, they'll buy compilations, go to your shows, donate to keep you writing and snatch up print versions of your online work, respectively.

Pixar's man showed three lengthy scenes from Wall•E, all of which were highly amusing and emotionally direct and thus tender (cuz it's Pixar, not...Haneke). The first was Wall•E doing his garbage dump thing when he discovers a red light, which he begins to chase into the desert. The chase will be even funnier for people who have cats: they can't resist chasing laser pointers, even though there's nothing to catch. It's an eternal fruitless struggle for pea-brained felines. The light turns into multiple lights and eventually a huge space ship is landing, completely disrupting our little robot's existence and bringing his new girl into full view. She's "Eva", a sleek modern robotic beauty. MaryAnn (The Flick Filosopher) whispered to me that she was like 'the iPod of robots.' It's so true. How Pixar's crack animation team is able to make a rusty box-like protagonist and his elongated egg-like love so expressive is a delightful mystery. I find still photos of Wall•E to be rather unfulfilling but the animation, very photo-realistic this time, is stunning. To see the characters move and emote is a wonder. It was also interesting to hear that the filmmakers had consulted with world great cinematographer Roger Deakins (two Oscar nominations last year for No Country For Old Men as The Assassination of Jesse James) on the film. Wall•E may look like he belongs in the junkyard but Wall•E looks like a hundred and twenty million bucks.

The second scene had our Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class showing Eva a beta-max copy of Hello Dolly that he obsesses over. I'm not making this up! The final scene was even more hilarious and featured a crowd pleasing cleaning robot who is horrified by the earth muck that Wall•E has contaminated his ship with. All three scenes were dialogue free, which means Thomas Newman's score as well as the sound mixing and effects were front and center. Peter Gabriel, pictured left, is doing the end credits song! I'm quite relieved to have predicted the film in all four of those categories for next year's Academy Awards. This should be a fairly easy sell in most of those.

The big question mark regarding the film's quality is whether Wall•E's mix of sci-fi whimsy and silent movie pathos can be sustained at full feature length without getting too gooey/cutesy but the footage screened was very impressive.

Here's the newest trailer.



related articles
Oscar Predictions for 2008 -the first round
We Can't Wait -Wall•E was TFE's #12 entry
Pixar Eight -Ranking the studio's feature filmography. Where will this new film land when all is said and done?

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Super Women or Cheap Whores -genre land isn't kind to the ladies
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