The Wonderland Teaser

A peak through Tim Burton's looking glass



Curious. I've been wondering for awhile how Johnny Depp's starpower would affect the story, the Mad Hatter being a relatively minor character. At least in trailer form he becomes the narrator of the tale. Teasers sometimes use framing or narrator devices that don't appear in actual films in a sort of "presenting!" way ... but this seems more than likely as a way to expand The Mad Hatter's role.

There is a place...
like no place on Earth.
A land full of wonder, mystery and danger
Some say to survive it you need to be as mad as a hatter...
...which luckily I am

At any rate I hope they don't waste too much time explaining things to the audience. One thing that works absurdly well here is how quick you get to wonderland. The initial story points are so instantly recognizable -- fall down rabbit hole, drink potion, meet an odd array of characters (Tweedlee Dee and Tweedle Dum, The Cheshire Cat, etcetera...) before the more dangerous insanity begins -- that I hope the film doesn't dawdle but speeds through its wonders to keep us as disoriented as Alice.

Once a better quality teaser emerges (this one is so muddy... probably from all the copying and reposting -- the teaser was a blink and you'll miss it affair yesterday) I'll replace this one.

Crazy Heart and Chemical Reactions

Yesterday In Contention began poking at the Best Actor buzz on Jeff Bridges who plays an alcoholic singer in Crazy Heart. Let's all poke away together. Currently Fox Searchlight is looking at Spring 2010 instead of an Oscar run. One assumes they'll change their minds soon.

Bridges is enormously overdue for Oscar love. He's considered by many to be one of the great American actors but it's easy to understand why he hasn't ever come close to winning the big one. He's effortless onscreen or appears to be which amounts to the same thing. Other actors huff and puff away to achieve greatness but Bridges just seems to stroll right up to it, casually running his fingers through his hair. While this doesn't make his work any less than wonderful it does make it more invisible when it comes time for the industry back-patting. We saw this recently with The Door in the Floor in which he was just superb as a selfish womanizing author (my vote for Best Actor of 2004). He received not one nomination for his work... only a career tribute trophy from the National Board of Review.

Awards voters want to see actors huffing and puffing towards greatness. Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Sean Penn and Daniel Day-Lewis, the most recent lead acting winners, are fine examples of how much sturm und drang voters typically expect to see and want to reward. Whether or not one thinks they individually achieved greatness in their respective performances one can't really argue that they weren't all obviously striving for it. When it comes to Oscar, never always let them see you sweat.

Here's Bridges filming a Crazy Heart scene onstage with Colin Farrell.

I love that he's doing his own singing. And provided the performance is as good as its backers are saying "performance of a lifetime" (It might be true but they have to gush... it's part of the job) it'd be especially gratifying to see Bridges honored for a musical performance. It'd be a nice way for us all to collectively pretend that his excellent work on The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) is finally being recognized twenty years after the fact.

And though I know you know where I'm going with this I have to go there anyway. It's completely insane that Michelle Pfeiffer and Bridges never worked together again after that piece of magic in 1989. They're obviously still fond of each other: Pfeiffer referenced his greatness, unprompted, at the press day for Chéri (she wasn't even talking about Baker Boys) and Bridges showed up for her star unveiling for the Walk of Fame in 2007. Yet an onscreen reunion never happened. That's poor career planning on the part of the actors and/or their management. It's their loss and ours.

Electric chemistry in the movies is so tricky to find, one wonders why we don't see more regular pairings of actors who've already proved that they have it (outside of franchises I mean, where they're locked into it contractually). For every Maggie Cheung & Tony Leung Chiu Wai out there who have captured their paired lightning in a bottle multiple times, there are screen couples like Pfeiffer & Bridge, Sarandon & Davis and Spacey & Bening who have not or screen couples like Emma Thompson & Anthony Hopkins (sensationally good together both times) or Douglas & Turner that gave up too soon. What gives?

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"Come and Kneel Before Zod!"

Turning 70 is something everyone (who doesn't die first) will do. Hitting your 47th year as a consistently employed screen actor is not something many actors can do. So here's to longevity and to silver fox Terence Stamp on his 70th birthday. Whether you primarily think of him as The Limey, "Bernadette" in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, "General Zod" in Superman II or Billy Budd himself, I hope that you occasionally think of him.

Stamp in 1967

Those eyes!

Few peepers can rival his in the icy blue hypnotic gaze department. Except for maybe Ralph Fiennes' (Paul Newman is in a class of his own since his ice can also emanate real warmth. How is this even possible? A topic for another day)

While we're celebrating Stamp here's the actor talking about beauty in the 60s and the trailer to Billy Budd, the film that made him a star and brought him his one and only Oscar nomination (it's a shame he didn't receive another for Priscilla if you ask me).



They don't name check gossip columnists in movie trailers anymore, do they?

More Terence?
Here's a fan site if you want to see more pics, a rumor about a sequel to The Limey, and I heartily recommend Dan Callahan's great piece on the actor from earlier this year. Which begins, memorably, like so

"What do you feel about your penis?” asks Terence Stamp, in his almost comically deep baritone voice...

read the rest at The House Next Door Online.
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Bang!

Robert here.

75 years ago today John Dillinger was shot dead. And it seems like just as long since Public Enemies has been in the headlines. The Summer movie season giveth and the Summer movie season taketh away.... and fast!

Personally I thought the movie suffered from being far too short. I know it was almost two and a half hours, but it was two and a half hours of plot, plot, plot, plot. A few scenes of character development could have given all that plot some context. It would have been nice to have felt something when Dillinger was killed or understand why exactly he and Billie were in love (as my fiancee said, "he's cool and she's pretty... what more do you need to know?").

At the time of Public Enemies' release, we were all a-buzz with the news of Oscar's 10 Best Picture expansion and the film's middling to mixed reviews hardly seemed like they could derail it. But now that the movie is already a distant memory, are its Oscar chances as dead as Dillinger?

Bright Star Trailer

It's here.



Trailer voiceovers always sound like somebody is reading a children's book aloud, straining for light short story affect or blustery novelistic import. This one falls somewhere inbetween... light novella import? In truth I wish trailers wouldn't have them at all... I always want to just snatch the book from the disembodied voice to look at the pictures for myself.


And what pictures.

It's way too soon to call anybody a lock for Oscar anything (there's always much competition) but certainly the visuals of Bright Star will be talked up later in the year. Can Greg Fraiser, a fairly new cinematographer with mostly shorts to his name (including one for Jane Campion "The Water Diary"), compete with the well known names vying for a cinematography nomination? Can costume designer Janet Patterson (Peter Pan, Oscar and Lucinda), who has been nearly as elusive as Jane Campion since the 90s be nominated again? It's amusing that Fannie (Abbie Cornish) designs all her own clothes as a story point and that they're good enough to be made by a three-time Oscar nominee.

Abbie Cornish is a good bet for some form of year end attention but Ben Whishaw will have a tougher row to hoe as the poet: Headstrong protofeminist women are baity, emotionally sensitive men not so much... make of that what you will but I personally think it's simple sexism; Women with "masculine" power are respected, men with "feminine" attributes are not.

Two Nathaniel-obsessive examples: consider the attention Nicole Kidman got for Moulin Rouge! and compare it to Ewan McGregor's. Contrast Sela Ward's EMMY attention for TV's Once & Again and compare it to Billy Campbell's snubbings for the same show. In both cases both members of the coupling were doing tremendously effective work illustrating the emotional contours of love and romance. But "That's woman's work!" he summarized sarcastically.

A more universal example: Leonardo DiCaprio snubbed for Titanic. Kate Winslet nominated. Why? (Disclaimer: I personally would not have nominated either of them that year even though I love the movie. But, that said, I don't think she's appreciably better in that particular film even if she is a far greater actor than he overall)

P.S. 1 For newer readers who might be puzzling over why the return of writer/director Jane Campion thrills me so, see my review of The Piano, one of the three best films of the Nineties (the others being Heavenly Creatures and Boogie Nights). I'm not expecting Bright Star to be that earth shaking (few films are) but I'm eager to see the auteur back behind the camera again, working within the tragic romance register.

P.S. 2 How about that Scottish accent from Paul Schneider as John and Fannie's confidant?
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Uma the Nun

UMA Alert!

I've been dismayed that Uma Thurman's post Kill Bill renaissance turned out to only be in my head. Vol I begat Vol II and not much else. The Life Before Her Eyes was a mess, Prime didn't catch on and the comedies... let's not talk about the comedies. But 2010 should be interesting for Umaphiles with three possible releases. She's got roles in two high profile kids features: Medusa in Percy Jackson, the nanny in Eloise in Paris. The third and most potentially thwartable as production and release plans go (it's not a big studio beast) is Girl Soldier, based on the novel Stolen Angels (pictured left) about human trafficking in Uganda.

Variety reports that Uma will star in the true story as Sister Caroline who tracked down armed rebels who'd stolen schoolchildren and demanded their release. Cinematical replaces "tracked" the rebels with "hunted" the rebels which makes it sound like The Bride is going to whip out her Hattori Hanzo in the forests and marshes of Uganda. I assume her actions as a nun are of the peaceful crusade variety.

And her actions as an actress of the Oscar crusade variety.

I'm joking but socially conscious true star crusading is hardly a gold statue repellent. And it sure would be nice to see Uma in the race again. She's only been nominated once and given a few of the indelible characters she's helped to create... that hardly seems right. Here's a semi-random sampling of Uma through the years


If I controlled the world she'd have three Oscar nominations (Henry & June, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. I ) and a win (Kill Bill)

Betty Draper Loves White Fang

I've been on a Mad Men bender. Nine episodes in the past three days. This decision was spurred on by a hugely thoughtful gift from a friend (1st and 2nd season) and the abundant EMMY nominations last week. Just as I began to watch Season 1 in marathon form -- I'd only seen some of it not being a regular until season 2 -- the publicity blitz for Season 3 (coming in August) started hitting.

This Interview interview with January Jones (aka "Betty Draper") is so cute.

Who knew that that Ethan Hawke wolfdog movie White Fang (1991) was that inspiring to little children? It made little January want to be an actor. Jones is so sneaky/fantastic as Betty Draper (she's almost too good in the role for you to notice how much she's doing... initially) that I must now thank the makers of White Fang for contributing to the wonder that is Mad Men.

Jones has been toiling around in the movies since 1999 in everything from Bandits and American Wedding through Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada but Betty Draper is the role that's made her career. A charming reveal in that short video: it actually sounds like she read the Jacqueline Susann novel Once is Not Enough that her parents got her name from.

Pointless Cinematic Trivia Alert! That trashy bestseller was technically the last book Susann ever finished (Film critic Rex Reed, her friend, finished her next book Dolores when she took ill). Once... became a movie in 1975 a few years before January Jones was born. Deborah Raffin played "January" in the film but it was Brenda Vaccaro who nabbed the attention and a weird Oscar nomination to go with it (more on that odd 1975 supporting actress Oscar race). Three of Susann's six books were adapted into movies (the most famous being Valley of the Dolls) and she even got her own biopic Isn't She Great? starring Bette Midler.

Deborah as "January" / January as "Betty"

Where was I?

Oh yes, Mad Men. Time to watch the 10th episode. I'm tempted to do a blog series on all the movie references in Mad Men. But then I'm always tempted to do massive projects and I'm rarely afforded the time. Your feelings on Mad Men or Jacqueline Sussan or White Fang are more than welcome in the comments. Help me feel less alone in the universe tonight.

poll by twiigs.com

Tony's Wing is on the Mend

More Tony Leung Chiu-Wai cast photos here.
Thanks to reader Jeffrey for pointing out!

Reports had said it was his right arm. Reports were wrong.
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Tues Top Ten: Total Eclipse of the Sun

As you may or may not have heard one of the longest total eclipses of the sun in decades is about to happen. It's tonight in US time (we won't be able to see it) but tomorrow morning (Wednesday July 22nd) for the countries that will have a view like India, China, Japan and The Philippines for some examples. That ultra hot orb, life giver to us all, will be blacked out for six whole minutes from some vantage points. To commemorate the occasion I thought a top ten list was in order. What's more dramatic in a movie than a sudden cut to black?

But I kept coming up blank. Why aren't there more solar eclipses in the movies? It's such an exciting visual event. So I polled some blogging friends. We still came up short. This is not a preferential list so much as a list that requires your contribution for completion.

10 (er...8) Movie Eclipses

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
You don't technically see the eclipse here but it sets the plot in motion, the alien plant using the sun blotting as cover to sneak itself in amongst the the flower district's zinnias in order to catch Seymour's eye. The lyrics are so hilariously innocent in their da doo obviousness. Especially the punchline.

Seymour: He didn't have anything unusual there that day.
Crystal, Ronette & Chiffon: Nope, da-doo,
Seymour: so I was just about to, ya know, walk on by,
Crystal, Ronette & Chiffon: Good for you,
Seymour: when suddenly,
Crystal, Ronette & Chiffon: Da doo
Seymour: and without warning, there was this...
Crystal, Ronette & Chiffon: TOTAL. ECLIPSE. OF. THE. SUN.
[pause]
Seymour: It got very dark.

Yeah, that happens with eclipses, Seymour. I always have to suppress giggles when I watch this movie. The giggling eventually wins out.

Baraka (1992) and Apocalypto (2006)
"It's even on the poster!" Glenn of Stale Popcorn proclaimed ...of course he did. He brought up the stunning all visual no dialogue 90s documentary about life here on planet Earth. Mel Gibson's sadist's confectionary about the ancient Mayans is also so enamored of its astrological event that it must be referenced in logo / poster form.

Dolores Claiborne (1995)
JA from MNPP immediately cited this Stephen King adaptation when I went fishing for examples saying

The entire film - hell, Dolores' entire life - revolves around what goes down during this eclipse. Sometimes I consider this Kathy Bates' finest performance (it's certainly an overlooked one), and nowhere is there more apparent to me than here in this moment when she lets us see a broken woman taking her greatest stand by not moving at all. Bonus points for the scene being shot so astonishingly.

The Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
This acclaimed Béla Tarr film was Nick's suggestion.

The first, amazing sequence has to do with a funny-sad-weird pantomime of an eclipse.

How does one pantomime an eclipse? I'm intrigued now. I know I should have seen and loved Harmonies by now but ever since I read about Sátántángo and the cat torture sequence I have been too wary to approach the filmmakers work. I'll just have to deal with derivations thereof (hi, Gus!) because I can't do movies that can't claim "no animals were harmed".

Pitch Black (2000)
This film was the first to come to my mind. I remember being terrified by the eclipse but not why. My brain is like a sieve so I asked JA if I was remembering this correctly, and he verified that I was...

Once that giant ringed planet blots out the suns the action doesn't let up ever again. There are monsters in that there absence of light and I don't know about you but I'd not so much mind finding myself hunkered down in the dark with a strapping, tank-topped Vin Diesel (at least pre-Pacifier) at my side in such sweaty...

JA is always wandering off into a NSFW place isn't he? He can't help himself. Pitch Black came out in 2000. Remember when it looked like Vin Diesel might be an action star for the Aughts in the way that Schwarzenegger and Stallone were for the 80s?

L'Eclisse aka The Eclipse (1962)
Guest blogger Robert suggested this Michelangelo Antonioni classic. I reminded him that there's no eclipse in it.

Dang Antonioni and his metaphors!

...he replied. But the list is thin and this is a classic so I say it counts. Antonioni had originally intended to include the literal event. He described his own eclipse experience like so...

I am in Florence to see and film a solar eclipse. Unexpected and intense cold. Silence different from all other silences. Wan light, different from all other lights. And then darkness. Total stillness. All I am capable of thinking is that during an eclipse even feelings probably come to a halt. It is an idea that has vaguely to do with the film I am preparing--more a sensation than an idea, but a sensation which defines the film even when the film is far from being defined. All the work and the shots that came after have always been related back to that idea, or sensation, or premonition. I have never been able to leave it aside.
-from the preface to Six Films

Ladyhawke (1985)
The last ten minutes of this, the best of the 80s fantasy films, is pure magic for epic romance loving moviegoers. Etienne (Rutger Hauer) and Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer) have been cursed for years to never touch. By day she soars above him as a hawk and by night he accompanies her in wolf form. Etienne doesn't believe in the prophesied "night without a day, day without a night" that will break the curse. How can such a thing exist? But break the curse this eclipse does. At first they gaze into each other's eyes in rapturous disbelief and joy. Isabeau's ecstatic involuntary gulp of laughter/tears as Etienne lifts her from her feet, basking in her beloved's true physicality for the first time in years gets me every time. Total lump in throat, tears in eyes.

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We only came up with 8. Perhaps you can fill out this top 10 in the comments. What other movies find the magic in a 'night without a day and day without a night'?

previous top tens
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DVD: Coraline, Hotel, Watchmen

Try to imagine this DVD release roundup in 3-D for maximum enjoyment.

What's new on DVD Tuesday? We'll bookend this roundup with the two best releases. Links to add them to your queues provided because I'm sweet and helpful like that.

Coraline - I loved the use of 3D in Coraline so I'm wondering how it will transfer to the flatter world of home entertainment: Will that tunnel into Other Mother be as beckoning? Would the transformative acrobatic sister act pay off quite so well? Even if they won't, the film's imaginative visuals and fun character play will pull you into its rewarding tale of a bored little girl suddenly fighting for her soul and her parent's lives in a fantasy world that's not quite like her own. Coraline's journey is often compared to Alice's trip through the looking glass or down the rabbit hole. Miyazaki's Spirited Away was also described that way. It's good company to be in. [netflix / blockbuster]

I had never heard of koumpounophobia (the fear of buttons) before discovering the world of Coraline but I suspect many wee viewers of this movie might have it once they grow up. If you have children, did you take them? Was it too scary for them?

Watchmen - Were Zach Snyder not so slavishly devoted to the recreation of the brilliant source material's 2D compositions, I feel certain that he would've wanted his dark superhero epic to be in 3D. Imagine the stylized carnage: that iconic smiley face pin would spin madly right in the air between your eyes before disappearing deep into the frame as it falls to the pavement, ashes of Dr. Manhattan's enemies would flutter about your face and easily frightened viewers would be jumping, ducking and squirming as boiling oil, shattered glass, stantions, axes and bullets optically careened toward their faces.

On the other hand, who needs it? Patrick Wilson's ass is its own 3D effect and no amount of camera tricks will deepen Malin Akerman's flat performance.

In my original review I explained in far greater detail why I'm down on the movie (I love the comic) but I might give this another go on DVD. They've added 24 minutes for the director's cut and while that might just be padding, you never know. The movie's weird start and stop pacing will probably feel less awkward on DVD as well. [netflix / blockbuster]

The Unknown Woman - This was Italy's Best Foreign Film submission way back in 2007 for those of you who care about such things. I do care but I worry that I don't care quite enough. By the time I finally have access to the foreign films that sound most interesting, it's often years later and I've usually forgotten why I was interested in the first place and have moved on to obsessing about newer foreign films that I'll also forget about by the time someone deigns to release them. [netflix / blockbuster]

As is ever the case there's also old seasons of TV shows hitting the stores.

Charlie's Angels fourth season is just out (at this point in the series Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson were no longer with the show. The trio is Kris (Cheryl Ladd), Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and new girl Tiffany (the unfortunately named Shelley Hack). [netflix/ blockbuster]

Anyone remember Hotel? It's coming out. Having some knowledge of the hospitality industry I can assure you that a series could be made of the fascinating, serialized complex variety (like The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos, etcetera). Hotels are crazy microcosms of the larger world, everything being shoved into one building (restaurants, bars, living environments, the workplace). There's abundant politics, celebrity cameos, union and management scuffles, guest stars, occasional crime and dangerous liaisons (24/7 workplace that also contains alcohol and beds. Do the math). But if I'm remembering Hotel correctly (and I only saw it when I was a little kid) it was just The Love Boat in a building with a rotating cast of mildly famous or formerly hugely famous guest stars having short form drama. Still, Old Hollywood fans should note that Anne Baxter is a series lead and first season guest stars include Bette Davis, Shirley Jones, Donald O Connor, Shelley Winters, Margaret O'Brien and Jean Simmons [netflix / blockbuster]

I've saved the other best for last. Pushing Daisies 2nd Season is freshly served. The show about a pie maker who can raise people from the dead is dead. Pushing Daises is dead. Long live Pushing Daisies. Excuse the redundance. My mind goes into looping sadness when I think about this show for the second season is also The Final Season. The television gods are as cruel and fickle as any deity from Mt. Olympus or Asgard. [netflix/ blockbuster ]

Which will you be renting or do you have movies still to be watched stacked near your TV?
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The Return of Smart Sci-Fi?

Robert here, feeling a little behind the buzz for Moon, but those of us in fly-over country are just getting a chance to see it now.

I shan't repeat anything already said about the movie here or across the web, but needless to say, we sci-fi fans are encouraged... and quite hopeful for the rest of the year. Could 2009 mark the return of good, intelligent sci-fi?

Thus far the new Star Trek has proven that sci-fi blockbusters can actually entertain and Moon has returned the genre to some of its Tarkovskian philosophizing.

And there's much more to come. We have yet to see if District 9 lives up to it's "presented by Peter Jackson" hype, or if Shane Acker's 9 can be an animated Oscar contender. We don't know if James Cameron's Avatar will be as revolutionary as is rumored or if Roland Emmerich can turn in another masterpiece with 2012. Is it possible that all of these films will disappoint? Sure. Is it likely that I'm just kidding about 2012 being any good? Absolutely.

So here's my question for you. Are you holding out hope for the return of good sci-fi? Did it ever really go away? What was the last truly great, intelligent science fiction film released?

What movie...

...or movie star were you just thinking about?

I'll go first. I was just thinking about Exodus with Paul Newman and how I've never seen it. And also late period Joan Crawford and "caterpillar" eyebrows. I'm currently halfway through a marathon of Mad Men season 1 and both were just discussed. Love it when period pieces reference movies from their period.
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"Look up into the sky and say it."

We have a sinner here who wishes for salvation.
Daniel, are you a sinner?

"Nerdy Potter"

My friend Ed sent me this photo (I added the "nerd") that he snapped from his TV. He tells me the segment was called "Nerdy Potter".

At first I was mortified to hear I was on the news buying Harry Potter tickets (This purchase was for a friend --damn you Daniel!) but then it made me laugh. Of all people to show while talking about Potter fandom, I am probably not the right guy. I think the books are fun but messy, repetitive and overwritten and the movies are only C- to B+ affairs (depending on who is behind the camera). Couldn't I have been on TV walking out of The Hurt Locker or a Tilda Swinton movie or something?

Oh right, cinema isn't considered news. Sports is. I've never understood that.

My serious face here was directly related to insuring that my dollars purchased the biggest screen going. That's how I pick show times. I saw the camera man standing there but thought he was just setting up. I didn't sign any release form!

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Bright Star, Romantic Posters, Mad Men

Despite the title of this post, I have done a reasonably good job of keeping my own internal hype down to manageable levels when it comes to Bright Star : The Return of Jane Campion. Maybe it's because I don't know a lot about John Keats (Ben Whishaw) the poet and I know nothing about Fannie Brawn (Abbie Cornish) his lover. But the poster is not helping me with expectations because I'm a sucker for a good doomed romance.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art---
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors---
No---yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever---or else swoon in death.

-John Keats.

If I know my Jane Campion films I also think it's fitting/clever that Abbie Cornish is the top in this relationship (visually speaking). If you look at the general iconography of romantic movie posters, this poster is fairly unusual. There are only a handful of templates, with three popular options: the lovers are separated by lines or boxes, the lovers are paired somehow as equals and the most popular which is that the lovers are pictured in some sort of embrace with the man on top or higher in your field of view. Some of this is merely due to size, men being taller. Some of this is due to billing, men often getting top placement even if they aren't as famous (for example: James McAvoy's higher billing than Keira Knightley for Atonement before he ever had a hit of his own -- she'd had a few)...

...but since everything involved with movie marketing is a carefully considered choice, some of it has to be a matter of decades of subtly ingrained and probably unconscious sexism about whose in charge of relationships. For instance, I love that even when movie posters leave reality out of the picture altogether (faces floating in clouds like Up Close and Personal) -- the lovers are still obviously in missionary position. Ha!

My favorite man on top poster is an old classic Splendor in the Grass (1961). I love how hysterical the text is and how it foregrounds the fear/danger of female sexuality that's totally obvious in so much of cinema (an artform that's still mostly a man's domain). But, then again, I've been rewatching Mad Men Season 1 in marathon form so gender roles, social expectations and gross inequalities are totally foregrounded at the moment. I'm seeing them everywhere! That show is so, so brilliant. And, TA-DA! it's totally Splendor in the Grass's contemporary. It's easy to see why Deanie (Natalie Wood) went so crazy in that film. It wasn't just small town Bud (Warren Beatty) she had to worry about. Plop her down into the big city and the swarming mad men would have broken her, too.

I bet this would make a great double feature

P.S. The Bright Star website is quite ethereal and interesting

P.S. 2 Though I have this film pretty high in my current Oscar charts I waver continually about my confidence in that projection. I'm far more interested in this film for cinematic reasons (Campion) than for Oscar ones (biopic/romance). Bright Star is currently expected to open in limited release in mid September.

"LINKTUMSEPRA!"

Vanity Fair that lengthy piece on Heath Ledger is now online in case you haven't read it

The Big Picture offers a pointed critique of the same

Cinema Blend I Love You Philip Morris trailer. Does this explain the distribution problems?
PopWatch Another photo of Jake Gyllenhaal from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. For the sake of Gyllenhaalics everywhe

re, I hope this movie opens big. His taste seems to run towards smaller dramas and a franchise on the side would help bolster those opportunities

Coming Soon a couple of set and prop pics from Clash of the Titans and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Nick's Flick Picks has been doing a series on 00s films that need a second look. Nick & Tim discuss Spike Lee's controversial Bamboozled
/Film a third lawsuit for The Lord of the Rings. Will The Hobbit actually happen? Speaking of... worst idea ever: Harry Potter as Bilbo Baggins. I'm convinced that that particular casting rumor is only breathless fangasm and entirely removed from reality. Peter Jackson isn't dumb.
Antagony & Ecstasy offers up a great review/defense of (500) Days of Summer

One thing I've never mentioned here: I absolutely love the snide snail's

pace of Alan Rickman's line readings. He's a joy.

Potter Everywhere

i09 "Harry Potter and the Half-Hearted Ending"

Towleroad a few words from me... though you've heard my take on the vodcast
YouTube Harry/Voldemort rap battle. Kinda funny in concept. Less so in execution. I mean, a full 90 seconds before the rapping actually start? Er...

MTV Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has his eyes on being a musician?
The franchise's new hunk Cormac McLaggen? He's played by Freddie Stroma who already has breathless fangirls and gayboys going weak at the knee which is all well and good since Hermione wasn't the slightest bit interested. For those who love beefcake, these underwear ads featuring the actor have been making the rounds (NSFW). Hey, a man's gotta make a living before that role in a billion dollar franchise lands in his lap.

Lazy Eye Theater shares a personal response to the growing Harry Potter franchise but his defense of the movie reads to me like an ode to the strengths of television series, not cinema. Since the majority of moviegoers seem to only care about franchises, does this mean they'd rather be watching TV but just like the bigger screens?
Bad Manors Squirrel Diner Harry Potter hovers, Have you ever seen this live stream? It's so silly. Each day new objects for squirrels to interact with as they eat. (Today it's hula girls).

Tilda Swinton: Once She Pops, She Can't Stop.

Surfing around the net this evening, reading uncarefully, I was shocked to discover that Tilda Swinton had become Pringle's new face.

Before I could stop myself from what I instantaneously knew was both an embarrassingly Dim-American thought leap and a sign of lazy reading comprehension (oh that telltale apostrophe) I was thinking "What is Tilda doing selling potato chips?!?"

Not that I wouldn't buy anything the cinema's greatest alien amazon actress was selling but I think the general public would be a little frightened if she was hawking food products. What if she's poisoned them?

No, it's fashion house Pringle of Scotland. Tilda selling fashion. Much better fit.


The best part is that she's the face of the women's and the men's line. You gotta love that.

In point of fact, every year I love Tilda Swinton more. And since I've been hooked since 1991 or so (Edward II) that's a lot of love. Once you love Tilda... well, in this one way she is just like that salty caloric demon: you get the fever, you can't stop.

Trivia note: Even had she indeed been hawking that irresistible chip, she would not have been the first movie star to sell them.



Brad Pitt got the fever for the flavor of new Pringles back in 1989 when he was still playing "waiter" or "airport cop" in movies or doing bit gigs on tv shows.

Red Carpet: Blood Suckers and Beauties

It's that time again. A random selection of actresses that were out and about last week. You can always interpret "random" to mean: people Nathaniel wants to say something about.

pics reworked from originals at Zimbio and Just Jared

Anna Paquin.
Who knew when she was hyperventilating onstage at the '93 Oscars that she'd make good as an adult star, too? She never found a film role as magical as her debut (The Piano) but her career suddenly has new life, courtesy of the undead (True Blood). And she looks pretty good in a cheongsam too. That Globe win didn't convince Emmy to bite but they've long had a history of ignoring younger actresses (Claire Danes' immortal portrayal of "Angela Chase" didn't win) and snubbing women in genre shows altogether (Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy, Mary McDonnell's President Roslyn... Gillian Anderson's Agent Scully was the exception to the rule). Emmy prefers their women fully matured and working the procedurals as cops, doctors, detectives or lawyers. That's just the way it is.

Jamie Campbell Bower
I loved hearing him sing in Sweeney Todd (even though it did make Depp & Bonham-Carter sound even shakier) but I assumed he'd disappear, the movies not always having suitable employment for 'a mere slip of a girlie boy' (Thank you Hedwig, the ever quotable). But employed he is. He's in the next Twilight film as a glittery bloodsucker and he has a key flashback role in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows two-parter as "Gellert Grindelwald". That's the wizard that Dumbledore was entangled with in his youth (in more ways than one apparently given the posthumous "outing"). Would that Rowling had had the guts to out Dumbledore while the books were still running.

Alfre Woodard
Just didn't want you to forget about her. No movies on horizon. Only one TV film. I would totally watch a series w/ Woodard in the lead role (provided it wasn't a procedural). Who's with me?

Katharine Heigl
She's beautiful and apparently tasty, too ---- >

Though I find Grey's Anatomy insufferable on multiple levels, Heigl's Izzie was the one among the dozens of completely obnoxious characters that I could get into. Not that Izzie wasn't obnoxious. But the performance was good and when performances are good who cares about whether or not the character has a pleasing personality? Heigl's transfer to bigger screens felt effortless too. So I guess I'm a little bit of an admirer if not quite a fan yet. The Ugly Truth will probably be a huge hit when it opens (people love that 'men are from mars / women are from venus' shtick) but the trailer indicates that the plot takes a detour into Cyrano de Bergerac-land with Gerard Butler playing Cyrano to Heigl's Christian as she tries to win her own Roxanne (Eric Winter) and that is beyond ridiculous. Why would KATHERINE HEIGL need help with that?

P.S. Hate the new hair. In my humble opinion only one person alive was ever meant to be equally beautiful with all the hair colors in the world and that person is Linda Evangelista.

Melissa Leo
This is a paparazzi snap from the set of The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg. She's so "Flo" here [Tangent: Diane Ladd is awesome. Discuss]. I bet Melissa smiles this enthusiastically every day in this post Frozen River world. It must feel good to be suddenly in demand at 48. The Fighter is her 11th (11th!) film since the miracle year of 2008. You'll see her in Hilary Swank's Amelia follow-up Betty Anne Waters (more on that here) as well .

Lynn Collins
I'm still trying to erase her complete blandness in X-Men Origins: Wolverine from mind. It's blocking my view of the rest of her career which seems more interesting: True Blood, The Merchant of Venice... "RC" in Bug (points for that). Besides, it's probably not fair to judge anyone solely on Wolverine. Even Hugh Jackman was less than Hugh Jackman, you know? Next up for Lynn: playing busty "Dejah Thoris" in John Carter of Mars. The clothes averse character and the eager actress I've paired to your left. On going naked for Allure, Collins proclaims...

Women with confidence in their bodies are the sexiest thing, so I put on my cape of courage and did it. It was quite liberating!

I know I've mentioned the film a few times already and it doesn't even start filming until 2010 but I used to stare at those Mars book covers a lot as a child. I'm curious about the movie for multiple reasons not the least of which is Pixar's Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo and WALL•E) directing live action.
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An Education's Staccato Buzz

Oscar buzz is a funny customized thing. For some films it simmers continually, sauteeing the film until it's golden. Other films ride choppy waves feeling alternately like very big deals, empty threats or troubled half successes. More often than not, especially for the small film without marquee names, the buzz tends to be intermittent, giving off staccato sparks fueled only by those traditional pit stops on the road to Oscar: festival premiere, early reviews, trailer, actual release, precursor trophies. It's this track that An Education, the story of a teenage girl eager to begin her adult life in 60s London, will obviously be working since its star, Carey Mulligan, is currently "unknown" in the larger sense (but probably won't be by the end of the year).

One gets the sense that people will keep forgetting about this movie, or shoving it to the minor buzz side as each of the Baity behemoths arrive with massive P&A budgets and traditional Oscar names fueling their hype. After reading reviews and watching this comprehensive trailer (I'm guessing they're giving the film away but, given its genre, the experience will all be in the nuances of the telling which you can't get until you're in the theater anyway) I'd say it's best not to underestimate it.



Picture (yes) Director (maybe) Adapted Screenplay (of course) Actress (duh) Supporting Actor (Alfred Molina, yes), Supporting Actress (hmmm). Some people love Rosamund Pike in the movie but there's also the perennial joy that is Emma Thompson is what looks like an ace bit part (bit parts do the trick every so often). Mulligan's mom is played by the underappreciated Cara Seymour, whose face is exceedingly familiar to moviegoers who seek out interesting films, even if her name isn't. Her filmography is damn impressive: American Psycho, Dancer in the Dark, Adaptation, Gangs of New York, Birth, Hotel Rwanda, The Savages, etc...

About Peter Sarsgaard's Oscar chances as the charming rake who beds the high school girl? I REFUSE TO DISCUSS IT. I've become paranoia that my love for Sarsgaard has been a jinx upon his Oscarability. It's not OK to live in a world where his Shattered Glass performance didn't register with film industry professionals as one of the year's best. Six years on and that one still aggravates [note to self: blog fodder, 'ten worst snubs of the decade']. What on earth does Hollywood have against the Sarsgaards, anyway? His wife also can't get arrested by the Academy despite being one of the best and the most electric actresses in the world.
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