Top Ten: Princes in Cinema

tues top ten: for the listmaker in me and the listlover in you

With the release of Prince Caspian right around the corner, I thought we'd take a look at some other royal boyz 2 men in the movies...

Top 10 Princes

10 "Prince Hector" (Eric Bana) in Troy
Straddling the abyss that opened between Brad Pitt's worst performance and Orlando Bloom's least sympathetic role, Eric Bana's massive thighs, chest and biceps performance emerged as this misguided 2004 film's only selling point and a breakthrough for him as a rising star. It remains one of the only times in this history of cinema where another male actor has managed to rip my eyes away from Brad Pitt. (Brad played all the roles in Fight Club, Sleepers, Legends of the Fall and Interview with the Vampire, right?)

09 "Prince Eric" in The Little Mermaid
He wasn't just tall, dark and handsome but he was so sweet and sensitive that you knew that Ariel needn't have given up her voice at all to be with him. True maybe she did. The film's sexual politics were all over the place but their love was true and came through in the line drawings and vocals and made that happily ever after plausible. You sure wanted him to "Kiss the Girl" [plentiful Little Mermaid posts. My apologies to the Disney averse]

08 "Charlie Princ(ess)" (Ben Foster) 3:10 to Yuma
Because he practically made the movie worth watching all by his lonesome. Free advice to all supporting actors in sleepy films: strut through the movie like you own it and you will. [Drawing to your right by Joanna. See prev post for more thoughts on this film]

07 Satan in South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
Because the Prince of Darkness as Saddam Hussein's bitch is an appropriately irreverent, immature and inspired conceit. Satan himself would probably LHFAO.

06 Prince Karl (Edmund Purdom w/ the voice of Mario Lanzo) in The Student Prince
Because he starred in the first movie musical I ever saw at the Redford Theater where I fell in love with old movies as a kid. Sentimental value, you know. I still try to go there to catch something whenever I'm in Detroit.

05 Prince Edward (James Marsden) in Enchanted
Few things last year made me happier than Marsden's send up of Prince Charming. From the fist biting to the bravado and bombastic enthusiasm. I heart Edward.

"116th and Broadway!!!"

04 "The Little Prince" in The Little Prince
Not so much for his cinematic outings per se but just for his existence and his profound and simple wisdom. I love Antoine de Saint Exupéry's classic so much that I've read it in three languages.

03 Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty
Hands down the best of all the fairy tale princes. He's a fuller character than most of them (who essentially have to be only square jawed marriage-material for the princesses). He's the actual hero of his film, too --a brave heroic dragon slayer. He looks great on a horse, giving the kiss of true love, flirting with a maiden in the forest, or bound and gagged by an evil pissed-off sorceress. In short: he's even hotter than David Beckham who played him in the Disney Dreams photo series [pictured, left] and just as believable as an underwear model.

02 Prince (Prince) in Purple Rain
I know, I know. He goes by "The Kid" here but His Purple Majesty has only ever played himself, don't you agree? And for that we're grateful. But mostly we're just grateful for the CD which we still listen to 24 years later whenever the mood strikes. Soundtracks don't come with better tracks than: Let's Go Crazy, The Beautiful Ones, Darling Nikki, Wednesday, Purple Rain, I Would Die 4 U, Baby I'm a Star, Father's Song and When Doves Cry. They just don't. If you ask us, Purple Rain was the true Thriller of the 80s.


01 "Hamlet" (most actors in the known universe) in Hamlet
Like The Little Prince, he can lounge in the throne room of this list, not for any particular outing but for his longevity, his indecisiveness (Hot. Well, not really... but relatable!) and Sybil-like quality: how can you not love a character big enough to morph into Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier, Asta Nielsen, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, Maximillian Schell, Kevin Kline, Campbell Scott, Ethan Hawke and beyond?

I'm sure you'll tell me who I've forgotten. Perhaps I'll be thrown into the stocks for this sin of omission.
*

Can I Get You Another Link?

Cinema Styles "I drink your milkshake" is going to have a long shelf life. This is one of the best true stories I've read.
--> i09 Samuel L Jackson pics from the Spirit. Samuel L Jackson is in way too many franchises. Let me get this straight "The Octopus" is also "Shaft" is also "Nick Fury" is also an "xXx" Agent is also "Mace Windu"? TOO MUCH. Please stop.
Anne Thompson on the problems w/ Indiana Jones press rounds
Mighty God Kings superhero movie problems and advised fixes
/Film has a new still from Vicky Christina Barcelona. Why am I so excited for this? It's not like Woody is regular w/ the brilliance...
Lost in the Frame speaks true in regards to Iron Man (except for the bit about waiting for credits to end as being dorky... I call that "watching the whole movie")
Blake Snyder on screenplay 'beat sheets' and Iron Man & Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This is one of the most horrifying screenwriting articles I have ever read. No wonder movies are so formulaic.

off cinema
Things Younger Than McCain a whole blog of things younger than the Republican candidate for President. hee. And while we're on politics... Hillary Clinton does not appear in this post but here's her imaginary salute to my May Flowers series... --->
IMDB TV renewals for fall. Are your shows dead yet?
Art Resource the great artist Robert Rauschenberg has died. Here's a gallery of his work.
Jay Brannan (from Shortbus) is going on tour. Can't wait.
YouTube Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Rap. For true BSG nerds only!
Sticky and Sweet So, yeah, got my Madonna tickets. They're terrible but I've had good seats at two previous concerts so I can deal. I don't mind so much. Just to be in the massive stadium. There's always binoculars.

Tony Award Nominations (For Movie Fans)

The TONY Award Nominations for Broadway were announced today. Here's a look at the more celluloid friendly entries...

Plays & Revivals
As you may or may not have heard, the classically cruel French aristocracy play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (familiar to moviegoers from the Oscar nominated classic Dangerous Liaisons) is back on Broadway. It received a nomination for Best Revival (the other nominees are Boeing-Boeing, The Homecoming, and Macbeth with Patrick Stewart who, clearly, was also nominated).

But, quelle dommage!, The Lovely Laura Linney was passed over for Best Actress in a Play. She plays the Merquise de Merteuil. We rarely get to see Linney with claws out but it's usually a treat --she's awesome in a malevolent supporting role in The House of Mirth (2000). But apparently the TONY voters didn't think so. The only acting nominee is Ben Daniels (as Valmont) which makes these TONY nods the flipside of the Oscar nods back in 1988 when Michelle Pfeiffer and Glenn Close where honored but their Valmont (John Malkovich) was snubbed.

When it comes to the Original Plays, the winner is already locked up. It will be impossible to beat the sensation that is August: Osage County. It's a dysfunctional family drama from the writer of Bug (I've raved about Tracy Letts work before) that people can't get enough of. Remember how enthused Famke Janssen was about it in her recent interview with The Film Experience? That reaction is common here in NYC. The hot play received seven Tony nominations in total including three for its actresses. When the movie version happens (you know it will) expect an all out war amongst Hollywood A-listers for the roles.

I should also note that Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, a play about an employment agency in the 90s, which stars wonderful actresses like Elizabeth Marvel, Mary Beth Hurt, Martha Plimpton and Marisa Tomei (who talked about this role on the TFE podcast) didn't do so well. Only Plimpton was nominated. Here's a little opening night video from Broadway.com

Musicals & Revivals
Broadway's "Best Musical" category continues to become "Best Original Musical Adapted From a Movie" as the transferring continues en masse. This year, two of them were lucky enough to get nominated: Cry Baby (adapted from John Waters' 1990 film which starred Johnny Depp) and the über gay and brilliantly campy Xanadu (adapted from the infamous Olivia Newton John 1980 rollerskating movie musical which I love to the ends of earth, through brick walls and on to neon'ed Mt Olympus). Neither is the frontrunner. That'd be In the Heights which leads all nominated entries with an incredible 13 honors.

Two blockbusters movie transfers got the stink eye from voters. Mel Brooks' adaptation of his own 1974 Young Frankenstein, which has been plagued by 'it's not all that' reviews and bad press resulting from Brook's greed (ridiculous ticket prices and everyone knows that greed from all sides is destroying Broadway), received only three nominations including one for featured actress Andrea Martin (Mel Brooks deemed Cloris Leachman's too old to reprise her "Frau Blücher" role which also contributed to the bad press). Disney's movie-to-stage transfer The Little Mermaid, which was filleted by most critics was an even bigger bomb with voters, receiving only two nominations (Score and Lighting). On the bright side: that's still one more nomination than their last cartoon to live-theater disaster, Tarzan (see previous posts).

In other movie-familiarized stage musical news, the 7,426th revival of Gypsy (this one stars Patti Lupone) won 7 nominations and will be singing out Louise for the main trophy... but chances are South Pacific will carry the night with its big haul of 11 nominations. Stephen Sondheim's brilliant (well... 2/3rds of it) Sunday in the Park with George, which has never been made into a movie and shouldn't be, could be a dark horse.

ONJ ~ unofficial mascot of the 2008 TONYs

In more horrific news the 1,002nd revival of Grease --yeah, the one that had its own idiotic reality show to pollute your airwaves --was also nominated in the revival category.I hate stage versions of Grease but I love this Olivia Newton-John theme that the TONYs have going on. She better be invited to host or present or something. So, let's go back to Xanadu to wrap up.

TFE favorite's theatrical hunk Cheyenne Jackson was passed over for lead actor which was no great surprise. He's game for those short shorts and his voice is super (as always) but "Sonny" has never been much of a role. Kerry Butler (pictured right), previously TONY snubbed for funny work as Penny Pinkleton in Hairspray a few years back, was justly honored though with a Best Actress nod for her gut-busting Aussie accent and Olivia Newton John send-up.

I smiled and laughed so much watching Xanadu on Broadway (seriously) that I can't recommend it highly enough. It's deeply deeply silly. If you love silly, go immediately. If you don't, avoid at all costs.

The TONY Awards will air on CBS on Sunday, June 15th.

*
Back to the main blog if you're done with the stage: the movies await. Or dance on over to further reading if you're a Broadway nut: ModFab gets into the nitty gritty of the snubs and surprises * TONY's official site for the complete nomination list *
*

The Piano (1993)

A Reader Request (long time in coming --my apologies Scott!)
#9 Personal Canon: The Movies I Think About When I Think About the Movies

The menu on the 1999 DVD edition of The Piano is a hideously misleading photoshop tragedy. It’s garish, poorly composed and off putting. I won't even reprint it here to illustrate my point. It's too horrifying. I dare say I’ve never seen a poorer match between a menu and the film that follows. It’s the last less than exquisite image one will see once “play movie” is selected. If you’ve never seen the film before and you (like me) have been burdened with the unwitting purchase or rental of this particular edition, press the buttons quickly.

On to the beauty! There's so much of it...

Like mother, like daughter (Anna Paquin & Holly Hunter in The Piano)

I saw The Piano in Salt Lake City in November 1993 and I’ve never forgotten the experience. The movie held me in rapt attention from its first stirring images and Holly Hunter's high pitched but quiet delivery of one of the greatest opening monologues I'd ever heard

The voice you're hearing is not my speaking voice but my mind's voice...

I remember my best girlfriend’s hand gripping my arm during the most brutal sequence late in the movie. She was so upset she nearly bolted from her seat. I vividly remember exiting the theater after the credits rolled, both of us in a daze. We knew we’d seen something great but what exactly had we seen? Watching The Piano for the first time can feel like confronting a gorgeous but alien presence. It’s utterly transporting but also unfamiliar. Your rational mind will tell you that this shouldn’t be the case. But deeply sensual films are uncommon. What’s more, films shot through with feminine mystique, energies and point of view are arguably the rarest forms of cinema. The Piano stood womanly and defiant and far removed from other films that came before it and sadly, perhaps, has remained a foreign thing. It's still a rarity.

Jane Campion’s masterpiece, with its eerily beautiful New Zealand landscapes (before Lord of the Rings popularized the place for Hollywood) and bold femininity, felt otherworldly in 1993 but like all truly great art, it proved unusually accessible despite the challenging gauntlet it threw down. It was a major arthouse and critical success, loved by both the intelligentsia and the more middlebrow Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Before it closed its run it had won eight Oscar nominations, three statues, a sizeable box office gross for the time and a passionate enduring following.

The film begins with a curiously fuzzy image. The next cut reveals it as a POV shot: we’re looking through the fingers of Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) who is partially covering her eyes... from what we’re not sure. The camera doesn't stay subservient to Ada's point of view but rather begins to study her, this curious mute creature. Hunter's fascinating performance, incongruously both stony and expressive, demands it...

READ THE REST...
Return and discuss if you have something to say.

*

Monday Monologue: Barbara's Revenge

"They always let you down in the end"

My contrarian opinion of Dame Judi Dench is that sometimes she phones it in. How many ways can one play the quippy unfazeable grande dame? But in Notes on a Scandal, she's unimproveable. Faced with the atypical character of "Barbara Covett", Dench rises and soars. The film's politics are horrendous: boo hiss --an evil predatory spinster lesbian attempts to destroy a heteronormative marriage! [my reviews] But the actress is magnificent, giving the film a metronome precise drip drip of theatrical malice.

My favorite sequence in the film runs from Barbara's inconsolable grief for her lost feline, through the resulting perceived betrayal by Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett), who doesn't have time to console her, to the exquisite sequence when she is confronted with another teacher with amorous feelings for Sheba. She boils with vengeance in mind.

Barbara: You'd like me to ask Mrs Hart if she's inclined to commit adultery with you? I don't want you to suffer more than is necessary. No one should. I couldn't possibly speak for Mrs. Hart but instinct tells me you might not be her type.

"She's got a type, then?" is her co-worker Brian's sad response. The film has a few exquisite and small supporting turns and Phil Davis (also terrific as the husband to Vera Drake) is aces in this scene, all befuddled crush turned to shell shock.

Barbara: Oh it's no reflection on your attractiveness. My impression is that her preference is for the younger man...surprisingly young; Boys, I'm told. Naturally she doesn't discuss any of this with me but I've been hearing some rather alarming rumors about one in particular.

Playground gossip, staffroom whispers and so on. You might know the boy in question. Ummm... Stephen Connelly.

Brian: Your tea.

Barbara: I think the kettle's boiled.

[V.O.] You say the words and it's done. Easy. Judas had the grace to hang himself. But only according to Matthew, the most sentimental of the apostles. Is this the last night of her old life? I wonder how long my messenger will take?


People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely but of the drip drip of long haul no end in sight solitude, they know nothing. What it's like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the laundrette or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor's hand sends a jolt of longing straight to your groin. Of this, Sheba and her like have no clue.

Dench's every line reading is carved out of the tough bark of decades of loneliness and cynicism; if you could cut through Barbara's hardened shell, you'd see disappointment and repression expanding like rings in an ancient tree. As the words escape her, she sharpens them to a lethal point with fermented emotions and curdled wit, wielding them like weapons. Earlier in the film, Barbara refers to herself as a battle axe. For a woman drowning in self-delusion, it's a surprising lucid self-assessment.
*

4Link

<--- Goof Button has a really fun screencap quiz. All handwritten notes. Tough.
ModFab provides TONY nomination predictions. They're announced tomorrow! I've seen so little this year.
Go Fug Yourself "Fug or Fab" with our darling Christina Ricci
Aerien is starting an ambitious quote/photo project for Katharine Hepburn's 101st birthday anniversary (today)

May Flowers Mash-Up

Presenting...

Perfume: The Story of An American Beauty
*

Happy (Hollywood) Mothers Day!

First SJP wanted to be a gay icon (see old post: A History of ...Sarah Jessica Parker) and now she wants to be "America's Most Fabulous Mom" Basically she's planning to cover all female archetypal roles before she dies. She's already done plucky child star (Annie), brainy nerd girl (Square Pegs), longsuffering girlfriend (The Robert Downey Jr years), blonde ditz (LA Story), trophy girlfriend (First Wives Club), gay icon/fashion muse/sex symbol/career girl (Sex & The City) so why not? But she has a lot of competition for this latest title.

Though I often express dismay at my favorite actresses ditching their careers for diaper changing (especially in the cases where they just disappear), I do find the subject of Hollywood moms fascinating. If you take press and media at face value ALL OF THEM... every last celebrity who has given birth or adopted is a passionately devoted and caring hands-on mother. I'm talking about the actual stars, mind you, not the stage moms who gain fame from the fruits of their womb. The latter variety are invariably painted as monsters. They're all Rose from Gypsy, only without the sympathy gaining classic curtain calls of their own.

Once famous folks have passed on, the truth (or new perceptions) will out. Superstar mothers and stage mothers alike undoubtedly land on all gradations of the curve between fabulous nurturing role model and abusive and neglectful parent. You know that a few of them have to be Ingrid Bergmans (well liked by their children but by all accounts often not present) and there's probably modern Joan Crawfords (straight up psycho/evil if you believe the infamous tell-alls some star legends become burdened with) too

But today on this special day (have you called your mother yet?) we should believe that they're all saints. Every single one of them is the super do-it-all woman we want her to be. Here are a few of my favorite actresses with their broods as well as some other happy celebrity moms & kids. A happy day to all of them... and any moms reading this, too!


Now, call your mother!

Linkly Blonde

European Films on the great Catherine Deneuve's new project. She will have now worked with Andre Techine more than any other auteur
Paste Magazine Scarlett Johansson's 5 father figures. Interesting piece
The House Next Door has a fine recap of the most recent Battlestar episode "Faith" which gave longtime fans a lot to speculate on. Have I told you recently that 'Six' is fast becoming my favorite character? First it was Roslin, then Starbuck, now Six?
Rope of Silicon has image galleries for Che, Blindness and Synechdoche New York.
Lazy Eye Theater grades some opening credit sequences
Simply Streep is a great fan site for Meryl. And they're still going strong with set photos from Julia & Julia and coverage of Mamma Mia!

i09 suggests who the next Marvel movies should feature. I have to agree that Doctor Strange is a far more cinema friendly superhero than Thor. Seriously... what is Marvel thinking? He probably had his peak movie moment in the Elisabeth Shue masterpiece Adventures in Babysitting (1986), you know?
Low Resolution has a plan for "Joooey" and 500 Days of Summer
Cinemavistaramascope reports from extra work on the set of a new Sam Mendes movie. Fun
Heckler Spray serves up a list of sexiest women of the 80s. Some curious omissions but at least Basinger, Turner, and Pfeiffer are there.

Madge Mystery of the Month How will Nathaniel, who is currently without a proper corporate job and earning pennies on the web, afford M-Dolla prices for "Sticky & Sweet Tour". He will figure it out: Madonna being worth the money. She remains his only off-cinema obsession that still holds enormous sway over his appetites. Nobody puts on a show like her. But still... yikes. [And why am I speaking in the third person?] Pre-sales of various varieties start tomorrow. Who's going? I know some of you were waiting for my reaction to Hard Candy. In short: a mixed bag. Nowhere near as marvelous as Confessions or as interesting as hated/underrated American Life. High points --I happily gorge on: Candy Shop, Give it 2 Me and 4 Minutes. Still taste testing: Beat Goes On, She's Not Me and the rest. Nadir: Incredible. blech
......I'm never putting that in my mouth again.
*

The Nearest Book

a meme for the helluva it...
Cinema Styles, he of the terrific blog banners, tagged me --well, I interpreted it that way because everything is about me...

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Locate the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged me.

So here goes. Cruddy by Lynda Barry was literally the nearest book. It was under my fingers as I moved the mouse, somehow serving as my pad. My desk... a pitiful mess.

He invented it, and it worked so good the fish were practically begging to be hooked. And then they celebrated with plenty of hugging and a big bottle of Whitley's and Leonard was thinking it was love. Some would call it perverted, he knew that, but for him it was true love at last.

I'm kind of a Lynda Barry nut. Love her comic strips especially. Oh the greatness of Marlys! Let's try our "Cast This!" book club selection... The Curse of Chalion. (This is an odd meme because nothing makes sense out of context)

Musicians and dancers stopped for breath after a brisk roundel, and Cazaril joined the smattering of applause led by the royina from behind her screen. A completely unexpected voice spoke next to his ear.
_____"Well, Castillar. You're looking more your old self!"

Who is Castillar/Cazaril? What exactly does his old self look like? Whose voice would be so unexpected? Have you picked up this book up? Are you going to play along on May 29th when we throw actors and actresses at it, willy nilly?

more at twiigs.com...

And one more for good measure. Let's try the tome beside the bed. I keep hoping it will cinematize my dreams but it hasn't (yet). Here's Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of New Hollywood by Mark Harris. We land on a passage about the director shuffling on a pre production Doctor Dolittle (1967). I can't imagine John Huston directing that, can you? Nevertheless he'd been offered...

Jacobs got his way, but not before an overture had been made to Huston that had to be retracted with embarrassment and a collectively agreed-upon lie. The fib, Richard Zanuck decided in a cable to Jacobs, would be to tell Huston that "we have run into certain legal difficulties with basic material and have decided not to proceed until we have resolved those difficulties. Please tell Bricusse to stick to this story."

I rented Doctor DoLittle whilst reading this fab book but I'm scared to watch it for fear of being able to think of nothing but hosed down sets, Rachel Roberts barking like a dog, anti-semitic out of control movie stars and giraffes tripping over their own penises!

Mr & Mrs Crazy, Rachel Roberts & Rex Harrison

They've already remade the movie but I'm quite certain that what somebody should do is an HBO miniseries chronicling the R rated hellish production of this notorious Best Picture nominee. Genre: Horror. Who could they get to play Rex Harrison? Discuss.

Oh, and I'm tagging J.D., E Dot, Gabriel, Middento and Nick (anything to get that one typing again)

Day of Rest

Shhhhhhhh.... Wendy needs her rest. Her head is full of pirates and adventure (so is mine -- more on that tomorrow) and tonight -- we can fly, we can fly, we can fly.... zzzzzz

reminder: this coming week @ The Film Experience
A look back at The Piano (1993) and Network (1976), as well as the usual random celluloid musings...
*

Famke Janssen, Interviewed

There's plenty of high speed big thrill activity now playing at the multiplex but if you want an actress to get your heart racing this summer, you're going to have to look for counter-programming. Look no further than Famke Janssen's film elevating, career expanding work in Chris Eigeman's directorial debut Turn the River. The year is young but Janssen's work is arguably the best lead performance so far this year. The low key drama about a pool shark playing high stakes life games, opens in limited release today. Janssen plays Kailey, an estranged mom looking to make a risky break for Canada with her son (wonderfully played by Jaymie Dorman) in tow. The trouble is this: she doesn't have custody, not even have visitation rights. But Kailey isn't the sort of woman to think too far beyond the current game and what balls (and bills) she's pocketing.

I had a chance to sit down with the actress (still best known for glamazon spins in action films like Goldeneye and the X-Men franchise though the career holds more variety than that) at the Indianapolis International Film Festival recently. She had just completed a Q & A with an audience who were clearly fond of her frazzled character work in Turn the River. We sat in the corner of a noisy nearby lounge to talk. Though interrupted frequently by well wishers and festival goers, the actress was patient, frank and generous with her time.

Continue on to the interview...

Famke Janssen is "Kailey Sullivan" in Turn The River (2008)

...for more on Turn the River, deglamming as career move, her time at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (in the X-Men franchise), and who she'd like to work with next.

(return to main blog for fresh posts)
*

What movie are you thinking about right now?

I'm curious.

May Flowers

8th Mention of Fear in Batman Begins

Every 8th in 2008 we celebrate the 8th Something of Something. Woot!

Of all the superheroes coming to a movie theater near you the one we're most excited for is strangely the one that gets overworked in the movies and is definitely getting overhyped. Bring on Batman and The Dark Knight, please. Before we can piece the whole 2 hour movie together with all the different cuts of the trailer.

I recently rescreened Batman Begins and, boy howdy wonder... I'm not saying someone doesn't own a thesaurus but the screenplay doesn't waste any time hammering home its basic theme "F-E-A-R"

Roughly the first seven exchanges about fear go like this...

4:43 Henri Ducard: I speak for Raz Al Ghul, a man greatly feared by the criminal underworld.
9:23 Bruce Wayne: I seek the means to fight injustice to turn fear against those who prey on the fearful
9:52 Henri Ducard: To manipulate the fears of others you must first master your own.
10:38 Henri Ducard: You are afraid!
10:53 Henri Ducard: Tell us Mr Wayne. What do you fear?
11:58 Thomas Wayne: You know why they attacked you, don't you? They were afraid of you. ...........Bruce Wayne: Afraid of me?
12:03 Thomas Wayne: All creatures feel fear.
...........Bruce Wayne: Even the scary ones?
...........Thomas Wayne: Especially the scary ones.

At about the fifteen minute mark we get the eighth fear reference, the famous double murders that have been reenacted in the pages of comic books and movie screens innumerable times occur again. Bang. Bang. Poor little rich kid Bruce Wayne becomes an orphan. His depressive journey to crime fighting in a rubber cowl has begun. But it's a movie so the dead always get final last words.

15:29 Thomas Wayne: Bruce, it's OK. Don't be afraid.


As a rare and special treat I thought I'd offer up a little mp3 to drive the point home further. Don't be afraid... and if you are talk about it incessantly! Apparently it's very cathartic.

What theme will The Dark Knight hammer into us and will we love every second of it?
*

I'm Going To Disney World

True confession: I have never been to DisneyLand or Disney World. Despite my love for The Little Mermaid , Sleeping Beauty and a certain fondness for hunky toon princes, I've apparently led a Mickey-deficient life. Or my friends seem to think so. They've decided to take me for my birthday this year (June 6th) and I have no idea how to cinematically / emotionally / physically prepare for said journey.

Have you ever been?
__What should I watch to get a feel for it?
____What kinds of Disney-esque posts would amuse you?
__Do any "Prince Charming"s attend Gay Days?
Which rides are a must?

I am full of questions. Answer them.
*

"this machine will make you feel good"

Pleasure Models...


I wouldn't say I'm inordinately drawn to hookers on film, but I do have a thing for the robotic ones. Gigolo Joe (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) and Pris (Blade Runner) loom large in my movie memory bank. I thought of them both last night due to that lyric snippet headlined above from the electro-pop single "This Machine" by Michael Hensley. It doesn't matter what the tune is my friends, I will come up with accompanying cinematic imagery to go with it as I listen, even when it has its own video already. It's like a multiplex in my head whenever there's headphones in me ears.

I met Michael years ago online due to a shared Madonna obsession. He's been plugging away at a music career diligently ever since so I wanted to congratulate him on making his first music video and share it with you.



Which machines make you feel good?
*

Speed Linker

Defamer reveals Susan Sarandon's fountain-of-youth secrets
Jackie Beat reveals Mariah Carey's diet secrets "Retouch" My Body
Screener thinks summertime brings out the best in movie audiences
Correct Opinion discusses those spoiler shots on The Dark Knight's "Two Face"


A lot of the gossip blogs (like Just Jared) are running pictures of Tilda Swinton @ the Met's superhero themed costume gala (pictured above). Most of them fail to mention or gleefully dwell on the fact that that's Justin Bond with Tilda! Hello, these details are important. Maybe the gossip bloggers just don't know anything about genius NY sub-lebrities like Justin Bond (half of the utterly brilliant duo Kiki & Herb who played himself memorably in Shortbus) cuz they're too busy posting their 2,000,000th photo of Kim Kardashian. Zzzzzz. How cute are Justin & Tilda?

a few more
Bubblegum Aesthetic has a great review of an Audra McDonald concert. I have her CDs and quite recommend. Now if we could only get her a great movie musical role instead of boring Grey's Anatomy spinoff gigs
And Your Little Blog Too reports from the Bette Davis centennial in LA
Hollywood Elsewhere Jeffrey Wells on Speed Racer reactions, actual and his own (imagined)
Film Otaku on the Best Actress contenders @ Cannes

Wolverine sans Wolverine

I rarely post exclusive "on set pics" because I am not aint-it-cool-news and I don't have millions of Hollywood insiders sending me sticky-fingered images from sets, damnit. So if you work in Hollywood and you read this site (I know you're out there. I get e-mails) throw me a bone once in a while.

Reader crazycris sent me these pics from location filming on Wolverine. She fumbled when Hugh Jackman arrived so he does not appear. But my hands don't do as they're told either when he's around so I get that and forgive.


Here we have a chopper and a crane that will be blowed up real good during the action sequence. Where Wolverine goes, destruction follows. You know how he do, bub. One assumes the chopper will be chasing him.



Then we have a barn that was supposedly built just for the film. Think it survives the chase? And here is a prep tent for cast and crew --lunchtime! Hugh Jackman, the man himself, is deep in the shadows here. Don't get too excited. Really hard to see him.


Road block to hold up curious civilians with cameras as they filmed a motorcycle chase with explosions. I think Cris included this second picture just to make you jealous that you've never been to New Zealand before. That's what it says to me at least. Sure is purty.




And finally what we have here is (Cris believes) Logan's bike for the action sequence. It's rather plain... but I bet it looks hotter with Hugh Jackman topping it. Maybe it gets blowed up, too?

[SNIKT]

semi related post: (okay not really) Famke Jannsen interviewed --yes, we talk about being an X-Man
*

May Flowers

Hump Day Hotties: Scarjo & Ryan

Breaking News! Well, yesterday it was. Or the day before. What? This isn't a news site. okay let's start over.

Breaking News: Body parts now legally allowed to marry. Congratulations to the newly engaged couple, Abs & Boobs.


Sorry for the juvenalia but Ryan Reynolds abs freak me out. He's so impossibly sculpted I worry that he's actually a Terminator sent from the future to kill Linda Hamilton's son. The torso can't be real. He's a killer sex model of some sort: a T-3069. Scarlett Johansson we already know is inhuman or cloned to be everywhere at once, sent to enslave the whole world with her cartoon sized super-powered bosom, deep come hither voice and sensual lips. She's real, just multiplied.


...and for a little send off here's ScarJo getting dolled up for nothing in particular behind the scenes --it's her music video for "Falling Down"

Scarlett plays beautiful/bored so well, don'cha think? Flashes of Lost in Translation there in her familiar lethargically pretty mode. Websters is My Bitch is less kind and Candy Kirby is distraught.
*