Signatures: Julie Delpy

Adam of Club Silencio here with another look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

Julie Delpy is like an exquisite tour guide. A radiant vision in white and a warm companion on a train to Vienna. It's hard not to imagine falling in love with her instantly while shopping for records, spending strolls through cemeteries and gardens lost in her pondering splendor, tingling with anticipation for impending reunions, and melting to her mesmerizing "Waltz for a Night." For all that extensive walking and talking with this unique Parisian beauty, somehow she never gets lost in translation. Julie's gifts are fluent to acting, writing, directing, music and European tourism. She teaches the sights, the sounds, and surely by the end, "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane." But we wouldn't have it any other way.


Her turn as Celine in Richard Linklater's ode to passions and idealized encounters is a trip worth taking not once, not twice, but thrice. So enthralled by her ability to be knowledgeable, funny, noble and neurotic, Linklater gave Julie the showcase she deserves, and by Before Sunset, he couldn't resist letting Julie put words into Celine's mouth; a character she lives and breathes so flawlessly even in the smoke of small Paris cafés. Writing her part, acting her part, singing her part... as we take this nine year reunion tour with Jesse and Celine, it's a veritable sightseeing of Julie's own passions. She better make it a rule from now on: never fall in love with your tour guide.


But so impressive it was that we decided to stay for another 2 Days in Paris. And while this trip went less smoothly than last, Julie's tour was just as thoughtful, and this time she was in complete control. Taking the directorial reigns, writing once again, composing an offbeat score - she continues to venture out on her own and see things in a new way. So much so she's in the midst of a trip back to 17th-century Hungary. There's no doubt her travelogue will be vivid and rich with detail, beautifully constructed and told with her own unique voice. There's something worth seeing on all sides of the camera - and they're all named Julie Delpy.

Beauty Break

I'm having a retro moment. I blame Jane Fonda gearing up for tonight's TONY Awards. Let's go 1960/70s. Mmmm, hairy.


Catherine Deneuve, Racquel Welch, Jane Fonda (the culprit!), Robert Redford & Paul Newman, Julie Christie, Steve McQueen, Pam Grier and Jacqueline Bissett. Mmmm⁹

TONY Weekend: West Side Story, Garret Dillahunt and Nine to Five

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, yesterday!

My birthday festivities usually fall close to TONY Awards night. So today I can let my inner theater geek out -- is it "inner" if everyone knows about it?. I'll probably tweet the actual ceremony... but if you're into Broadway and you don't mind spoilers there's already people tweeting from the dress rehearsal including Jane Fonda, Just Jared and Broadway World's Robert Diamond . In the meantime I thought I'd catch you up on a few recent stage shows that I haven't really discussed. As per usual, many of them have movie connections. But mostly I'm here to talk about West Side Story which is up for four TONYs tonight: Best Musical Revival, Best Actress, Best Featured Actress (Karen Olivo as "Anita") and Best Lighting Design.

Anita center (she's gonna get her kicks tonii-iiii-iight. she'll have
a private little mix tonii-iii-iight) and her fellow PRs.

West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece continues to shame the vast majority of musicals that came after it. Not for this show, one or two catchy numbers. Every number here is a bonafide classic. I am not one of those people whose eyes well up when moved by Art but when Romeo & Juliet Tony & Maria turned to the audience on top of that balcony fire escape and one of my favorite songs of all time "Tonight" shifted tempo into its genius explosion of hurried love "...with suns and moons all over the place" shivers shot through me. Yes, my eyes welled up from the sheer overwhelming beauty of this Art.

Where did all the invention in musical theater composition, go? Is it just because the money and opportunity dried up? Once you get past the 1960s, rock then pop then hip hop ruled the culture. I guess any new composer with enormous gifts is less likely to consider musical theater as a career option since it's no longer a part of every day life. It's hard to believe now but there was a time when it was. West Side Story spent more than a year at #1 of the Billboard charts in the 1960s. Compare that to Wicked, by all accounts a giant modern crossover success. Its peak position on the Billboard 200 was #138... and that was considered a major accomplishment!

Oh, so what did I think of the show, you ask?

I am never 100% satisfied with WSS stage productions because it's my favorite musical of all time but I thought this was a valiant effort. I loved the new emphasis on the sexuality of the characters, the ease with which the numbers moved in and out of Spanish (an appropriate choice though a long time in coming) and I thought Maria, the TONY nominated Argentinian actress Josefina Scaglione, was superb... that voice! It was perfectly suited to Maria, all sweet, soaring crystalline soprano with undercurrents of power that sneak up on you as the songs escalate in intensity. There were hit and miss choices in the casting elsewhere (we had an understudy rather than the hunky Matt Cavenaugh as "Tony" though so I can't discuss him) but the music, pacing and choreography are so strong I couldn't not love this production. B+

Despite my general love/lust for all things West Side... Hair (reviewed here) definitely deserves the Revival TONY. It took a much much less impressive musical and made it into a damn near unmissable event.

A few other recent shows...

Coraline
I've written about this over here. Fans of Neil Gaiman or the Magnetic Fields should definitely check it out. It's very different than Coraline the movie (as it should be) and that's not just because an old woman plays the lonely nine year old explorer, though that casting decision is a good example of its theatrical commitment. Coraline understands, as so few stage shows related to movies do, that the stage is not the screen. Theater is a different beast and requires more imagination and less literal mindedness to function to the fullest of its capabilities. I loved the cat, for instance, who is basically a man in a suit with lots of attitude and only minimally suggested cat movements (the yawning is quite funny). Coraline's matter of fact asides to the audience "I'm outside now" to indicate scene changes also had me smiling.

Nine to Five (The Musical)
Speaking of stage shows that don't remember to be stage shows... I'm not going to pretend like 9 to 5 isn't fun. The movie is so the show is, too. But the Show is the Movie. So why not just watch the movie again? You'll save $100. I love Dolly Parton but like so many famous artists turned Broadway composers she hasn't quite worked out the difference in mediums with her book writer. Like so many movies-to-stage productions, Nine to Five doubles up on talking and singing. You get the story beats and the famous dialogue and the emotional point of the scene and then they stop for a song about it. You don't need both in musical theater. The songs are supposed to be the story, not recaps of the Movie as Play that suddenly remembers it's now a Musical. The best number is (no surprise) something that's not in the movie at all -- the horny elderly secretary Roz (played by Kathy Fitzgerald who was not TONY nominated. sigh) gets a solo in the ladies bathroom that's quite funny, a bit crass and more than a little endearing.

Working 8 to 11... on stage at least

Brains
New York City has a lot of experimental theater and you generally only end up at it if you know someone who knows someone connected to the production. Experimental theater can often be trying, full of barely formed ideas, weird running time decisions, inaccessible drama or unfunny humor. Brains hops over these usual pitfalls with obvious delight in its own absurdity and total commitment to its mix of theatrical dance movement and verbal repetition. The play is about a desperate scientist and the cult that springs up around her when she declares that "The human body has two brains!" It's very funny and the slowly rising dramatic undercurrents only strengthen the desperation of its comedy, rather than capsizing it. Good stuff. I'm not sure when they're performing it next, unfortunately. Here's a commercial.

Things of Dry Hours
Garret Dillahunt is quickly ascending in my personal hierarchy of actors-I'm-always-eager-to-watch. After evocative supporting work in No Country For Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and his creepy contributions to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and this fall's prestige piece The Road, I'm his. In this new play by Naomi Wallace (who wrote the movie Lawn Dogs ... worth a rental) he plays a possibly murderous factory worker Corbin Teel who hides out in the home of a black father and daughter in 30s era Alabama.

Delroy Lindo (who you just heard as "Beta" in Pixar's UP) plays the father/preacher who's hiding his "dirty red" Communist leanings from the violent authorities. Roslyn Ruff (who you just saw as Anne Hathaway's guidance counsellor in Rachel Getting Married -FB nom) is his formidable daughter, a washerwoman who may or may not be falling for the white man suddenly sleeping on her floorboards. The cast is uniformly strong and the play is pretty interesting, too. The triangular tensions are both well executed and multifaceted: the social, racial, spiritual, political, economic and sexual (Dillahunt gets naked for Ruff who in turn, mastering the art of the mixed signals, refuses him and then...?) all factor in.

Have you seen anything on stage recently? You don't have to live in NYC to see theater. Do you often picture what it be like onscreen when you do see a live show?
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First and Last 4

First and Last. Here's the first post credits shot of a movie and the last pre-credit scroll moment... with only one minor alteration so as not to give the game away.


Can you guess the movie?
Highlight for the correct answer: It's Superman II (1980) with the "Daily Bugle" masthead photoshopped out since that gives the game away.
Cinematography by Bob Paynter and Geoffrey Unsworth

First and Last 3

Here's the first post credits frame of a movie and the final pre-credits frame.


Can you guess the movie?
Highlight for the answer: The movie is I Heart Huckabees (2004) from director David O Russell
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Cinematography by Peter Deming

Adam Joins Margot at Pauline's Wedding

You'll know Adam from his Signatures series here at the Film Experience but I hope you'll also know him from his own blog Club Silencio where he recently made a strong case for Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding. I don't love the film as much as he does, but it's a must read... especially for Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh fans.

Donut World

Mars Attacks! (1996)

Today is National Donut Day. I knew it and then I forgot it and then I passed by a rack of donuts at the grocery store not one hour ago. Aren't you thrilled to have a play-by-play of my life!? Well, aren't you? I opted not to buy them thinking "Sugar is not the answer, Nathaniel!"

See, I've been totally depressed. Like, Laura Brown depressed (yeah, that bad), which is totally an appropriate screen comparative because it's my birthday tomorrow and you know how much trouble Laura Brown had with that cake. That damn cake that she just couldn't get right!

If Toni Collette were to drop by for a cup of coffee right now, I'm reasonably certain I would try to make out with her.

So sugar isn't the answer even if it is Donut Day.

Maybe Mars Attacks! is the answer? I should watch it right now. It's not quite Tim Burton's funniest movie, that honor going to Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but it's surprisingly strong competition. If I only had a copy of the movie handy, I would run back to the grocery store and kick back with a whole mess of those deep fried rounds.


I'd lift a donut to salute Lukas Haas each time he appears. He seems like a sad fellow even in happy movies, even surrounded by donuts in Donut World, and misery loves company.
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Forbes 100: On Actresses and "Power"

As you may know, the annual Forbes 100 is out. This 'Celebrity 100' list is also referred to as "World's Most Powerful Celebrities". Which... well, I wonder. The list ranks the celebrities based on their media visibility and earning power. Media + income = power. All lists are subjective but it seems strange to assume that visibility equals power. It can but I doubt it automatically does. Is Lindsay Lohan a powerful person because the paparazzi follow her around? If so, what does she hold sway over... legging trends? Can she get movies greenlit? She didn't make the list but it's just an example.

Another funny/strange thing: It only goes to show you that becoming enormously popular at one time in history can keep you on these lists in perpetuity. Witness the staying power of Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford on lists such as these.

Here are Forbes top movie actresses...

01 Angelina Jolie
There's no disputing her fame. Would that her influence was as indisputable. Celebrity philanthrophists are often subjects of loathing from many pockets of the media and various segments of the general populace. Why that is I'll leave it up to social theorizing in the comments [A History of... Angelina Jolie]

08 Jennifer Aniston
She was my favorite member of Friends back in the day but I realized as soon as she transferred to the cinema that I was a fan of "Rachel" rather than Jen. Sometimes when thinking of Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courtney Cox in tandem it becomes clear that Brad Pitt is to blame for her ubiquity. But then I think of my beloved Juliette Lewis and... well, the world isn't fair.


58 Sarah Jessica Parker
Sometimes Square Pegs only need to ignore the round holes and find a new board on which to play. What a difference HBO and "Carrie Bradshaw" made. [More on Sex & the City]

64 Meryl Streep
Her top earning status as she enters her 60s fills me with utter glee despite the fact that Mamma Mia! was terrible. Once, long ago, (very early 90s to be more precise) the same media that now kisses her feet used to belittle her for speaking out about the inequality in pay between actors and actresses.

71 Reese Witherspoon
Earned $15 million last year. Usurping all of Jake Gyllenhaal's time? Now, that's power.

73 Cameron Diaz
Forbes is pushing the notion that we should have her on our Best Actress Oscar lists for My Sister's Keeper. What say ye?

74 Nicole Kidman
She takes a beating in the American media but she's still an international draw. Plus she's, you know, awesome if you care about the cinema rather than just 'the movies.'

85 Anne Hathaway
She only made $7 million for Get Smart? For some reason I thought she pulled down more than that already.

87 Drew Barrymore
Still a double threat as Producer/Actress. Every time we hear about Drew's next project, the roller derby film Whip It!, it's mentioned in connection to Ellen Page's rising stardom post Juno. But have you checked out the supporting cast and their character names? Drew as "Smashley Simpson", Kristin Wiig as "Malice in Wonderland", Juliette Lewis as "Dinah Might", Eve as "Rosa Sparks". I only hope the movie is half as fun as the milieu and moniker imply.

92 Sandra Bullock
Forbes implies that her return to romcoms justifies her placement. Is she headed for a major comeback this year with The Proposal and All About Steve?



Most random finding on this list: Jennifer Love Hewitt is at #99. Other than her power to stay on television year after year after year after year (Jennifer Love Hewitt in the reboot of Murder She Wrote... coming your way in 2038!) I had no idea that she wielded any, let alone that she was the 5th most powerful TV actress . I didn't know that she was more powerful than three Desperate Housewives and that Gossip Girl... more powerful yet than Eliza Duskhu who is infinitely hotter and shares Hewitt's power to stay on the airwaves.

You know what I'd like to read? A list that seeks to quantify the overall influence of celebrities as opposed to their income or household name status. Who has trickle down power? I always think of that "cerulean" scene in The Devil Wears Prada when I think of cultural influence.

This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.

You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

Wouldn't more specialized celebs like, oh, Parker Posey in the 1990s or Björk or Tilda Swinton make lists that quantify cultural influence? They're famous, referenced, idolized, admired, stolen from, imitated and occasionally worshipped in fashion, music, media, cinema. They're not interchangable with the next up and coming starlet. But, alas, they aren't ... Jennifer Love Hewitt.
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First and Last 2

Here's the first post credits frame of a movie and the final pre-credits frame.


Can you guess the movie?
Highlight for the answer: This is Gun Crazy (also known as Deadly is the Female) with cinematography by Russell Harlan
If you'd like to try more guesswork, click the "first and last" label, below.

Coraline and Hamlet. So Many Versions

In my weekly column @ Towleroad I'm talking about Coraline as a stage show which, in its third permutation, is still wonderful and different and Emile Hirsch taking on Hamlet in its millionth incarnation... yes, I'm rounding up. Also briefly mentioned: Zachary Quinto and bizarre Tea & Sympathy references in Land of the Lost.

Linkellaneous

Off Cinema
National Theater London, Greece & DC Film Experience readers take note: DAME HELEN MIRREN in Phèdre! Greece in July. DC in September.
<--- Little Pixel classic records reimagined as Pelican books. Fun.
Time "10 Most Reclusive Celebrities". It's not at all surprising that the list is ancient history. I'd like someone to try a contemporary reclusive list. Who would be on it: Isn't everyone overexposed?

I'm Not Crazy. I Promise.
I didn't know where to put this and I probably shouldn't share but for the possible pity-party perks. I regret to inpform that I was repfused a one-on-one interview with Michelle Pfeiffer to celebrate Chéri's release. Perhaps they were apfraid I would only drool and spout gibberish? Or maybe ask archaic questions derived from interviews and anecdotes from the 1980s? Or that I would demand that she sign a pframed Jeff Bridges original from the set of The Pfabulous Baker Boys. (I'm kidding about the last part. Now, I did attend a Jeff Bridges gallery show and I did consider cashing out my pfour-oh-one-kay to purchase one but I decided against it. See! Proopf of my sanity!) Then I pfind out she's going to be on Letterman on the 16th and The View on the 17th (set your DVRs!). What do David and Whoopi have that I don't?!? I mean besides an audience of millions.

Movies. Yeah, Those
Towleroad Brad Pitt & Eli Roth's ripe armpit dilemma on the set of Inglourious Basterds. TMI.
Movie|Line James Cameron vaguely discusses Terminator Salvation.
The House Next Door Brittany Murphy's straight to DVD effort Ramen Girl live blogged!

This ramen has to be made with liquor. People are getting stupid drunk off it.

Post Game Show more on the Pixar / no women issue
Willoughby you must see this amazing photo of Mia Farrow & Roman Polanski reversing their roles on the set of Rosemary's Baby

David Carradine

And apparently by his own hands, too, though earlier details are still somewhat confusing. David Carradine (1936-2009), television star and sometime film actor was found dead in his hotel room in Thailand where he was filming a movie called Stretch (no IMDB page... must have been a fresh or under the radar project).


As a young child I was obsessed with Kung Fu reruns so I logged a lot of hours with Carradine well before I knew enough to be offended by the implications of the odd but then common Hollywood practice of casting white people in ethnic roles. Carradine was recently quite good in Kill Bill Vol. 2 (I wanted him to get an Oscar nomination) The role was originally offered to Warren Beatty but some reports claim it was always written for Carradine. I've never quite believed that given that Tarantino can get any actor to work with him so why not offer it to the one you wrote it for first? But, regardless of the truth (which we'll likely never know the entirety of), the role fit Carradine like a glove.

The actor had never stopped working between Kung Fu and Kill Bill but he just hadn't always been as high profile despite the occasional Golden Globe nomination (four in total). He never stopped working after Bill's mini-renaissance of interest in his career either... until now.

Rest in peace, Grasshopper.
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Sigourney Is The Best Medicine

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JA from MNPP here. Earlier this week came the news that my beloved Sigourney Weaver would probably be joining the cast of Paul, the alien-comedy directed by Greg Mottola (director of Superbad and Adventureland) and written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (aka the stars of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) as well as co-starring the two of them plus Jason Bateman and Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen and Jane Lynch, and I wondered if there'd ever been a cooler thing ever. I still haven't found one.

But today comes word that besides officially joining that movie, Sigourney has also added another comedy to her upcoming roster (via):

"... [Sigourney] will then star in “You Again” with Kristen Bell for director Andy Fickman. Bell will play a young woman who returns home for her brother’s wedding and is horrified to find he’s marrying her high school nemesis. Weaver will play the bride’s filthy-rich aunt."

Okay, Sigourney and my beloved Veronica Mars together? My body has turned into goo, y'all. And from the director of She's The Man, no less! Okay, I kid on that last snark - Fickman brought a gloriously deranged performance out of Bell once before in the filmed version of Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical and perhaps he'll channel that side again.


But we're talking Siggy here, and I think we need to revel a lil' in her continued devotion to and excellence in comedies. The topic came up in the comments to my post on Paul and so it's something I've had on my mind this week. What's your favorite Sigourney performance in a comedy? We have bunches to choose from.

(Clockwise: Sigourney as Lenny in The TV Set, as Gwen DeMarco in Galaxy Quest,
as Max Conners in Heartbreakers, as First Lady Ellen Mitchell in Dave,
and as Katherine Parker in Working Girl)

And what about Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters or Chaffee the obscenely fertile surrogate coach in Baby Mama? I'd be hard-pressed to choose a favorite, but it'd probably be between Working Girl and Galaxy Quest, leaning towards the latter. Something about the way she delivers everything with exasperated amazement. "Ducts? Why is it always ducts?" And of course the immortal, "Whoever wrote this episode should DIE!" Love.

Which is your favorite?
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First and Last

Here's the first post credits frame of a movie and the final pre-credits frame.


Can you guess the movie?
Highlight for the answer if you're stumped: The movie is Se7en (1995) with cinematography by the great Darius Khondji
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Sequel Madness

I love that Hollywood plans ahead for years and that the internet dutifully hangs on every corporate decision. There's always an internet flurry of excitement about it... as if we're all purchasing calendars for 2011,2012,2013 and circling dates. We eagerly pretend that we're planning our social calendars around it.

I barely know what I'm doing next week.

That said, I love Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies... so when the teaser poster hit today I did imagine myself lined up on May 6th two years from now, I admit. This despite my feeling that franchises should quit while they're ahead. Q: How do you top Spider-Man 2? A: You don't. You just quit and move on to another project. Even if Hollywood wants to live on a diet of superheroes alone there are still hundreds of them that are awaiting celluloid treatment.

I love superheroes as much as anyone (ok, slightly less I guess... I mean, I won't buy tickets to just anything) but sometimes I wish that Hollywood would get crazier about it and make sequels not just to blockbuster but to interesting movies of all genres.

Wouldn't you kind of like to see a sequel to that trippy indie Primer (the one with the homemade time travelling machine -- remember that)? Or check back in with Emily from The Devil Wears Prada presumably still one stomach flu away from her ideal weight? She was a scream and the film wasn't about her. Emily Blunt is a bigger star now so... why not?

I'd totally be up for a threequel to In the Mood For Love and 2046, wouldn't you? And though I'm positive it's not fashionable to say, I even think it might be cool to check back in on Juno and Paulie at some point to see how they're doing. Most good movies are better left alone but then... there's always Before Sunset to disprove the notion that return trips are unavoidably shallow retreads.

Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.

Damn that movie was great.

But maybe the obstacle to most non-franchise genre properties spawning sequels is that really good movies feel so complete as is... For instance, I feel like I know EXACTLY what happens in the imaginary Vicky Christina New York. It seems so clear to me what that summer in Barcelona did and didn't do for Rebecca Hall and Scarlet Johannson.

P.S.

Vera Drake: Jailbreak !
October 12th, 2012 at theaters everywhere.
Clear your calendars. Pass it on.

Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 12 (2006)

Missed previous episodes? See: 1995 , 1996, 1997, 1998 , 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

This Hollywood history series is nearing its end point as we approach the here and now. After two relatively safe / similar Hollywood covers: actresses + gowns = glamour. discuss, Vanity Fair shook things up to instant water cooler success in 2006.

click to enlarge for maximum blinding cheekiness

Tom Ford, 44, was ditching fashion for Hollywood (his directorial debut will supposedly emerge soon), and VF had him nuzzling Keira Knightley as Scarlett Johansson languorously lounged before them in nubile albino glory. Was the empty black space to your left...

• a compositional must?
• a place in which to photoshop oneself for an imagined ménage à quatre?
• an homage to every ethnic actor they'd ever shoved into the last fold of the covers?
  

Scarlett Johansson was 21 going on 22. You're forgiven if you assumed she was the niece of not one but all of Conde Nast's top executives. Three Hollywood covers in a row! Perhaps they should just have replaced the"Hollywood" tradition with an annual "Scarlett" issue. They could document every step of her career. They could string famous actresses across the cover each year, dressed up like Scarlett Johannson's film characters.

But who would play each Scarlett?

Keira Knightley was just turning 21 and enjoying her first Oscar nomination for Pride & Prejudice. She was also promoting her second Pirates of the Caribbean and a few months away from filming Atonement. "Come back to me!" [sniffle]
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average age: 29.
noticeably absent: Clothing. Also: Rachel McAdams, who was booked to be in Tom Ford's place but due to a "conniption of modesty" walked away leaving us forever wondering what she had planned to whisper in Keira's ear. "Come back to me!"?
collective Oscar stats before cover: 1 nomination (Keira's)
collective Oscar stats after cover: none. Keira's Atonement campaign didn't take.
fame levels in 2009, according to famousr, from most to least: Scarlett than Keira.
previous episodes: 1995 ,1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

don't miss the last two episodes and a possible bonus round.

The Discreet Links of the Bourgeoisie

In Contention on Oscar's best Foreign Language Film winners. Really fine list here.
Obit on death scenes in the movies, the celluloid coffin
A/V Club What Michel Gondry sees when he looks at you
L Magazine on the alluring art of the "follow" shot
/Film Danny Boyle could return to Mumbai for his next film. Will magic strike twice?
NY Times on animation upstarts and Hot Blog on NY Times on animation upstarts.

Oscar Updates: Actress, Picture, Screenplays

I don't want to be a Negative Nancy but I already worry for the collective mental health of Pixar lovers everywhere. Seems people are already talking like Up might be the one to finally nab Pixar a Best Picture nomination, not just an Animated Feature statue. Even celebrities are talking it up. Iron Man director Jon Favreau tweeted about it saying

Just saw Up. It might be time for a Pixar movie to win Best Picture.

Oh, people, people, people. Come back down to earth. Oscar is soooo gonna pop that balloon!

Don't get your hopes up that high! Its success makes it a good bet for the usual animated categories: screenplay, sound, score animated feature but Best Picture? If WALL•E couldn't do the trick...

Updated Predictions:
PICTURE / DIRECTOR / ACTRESS / SCREENPLAYS / Index of Predictions
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Oscar Updates: Actor & Supporting Actor

I feel like we don't have a bead on where the male acting categories are going yet. If you really stop to think about it the early year buzz leaders: Up, Bright Star and Precious... techs for Star Trek (excessively popular films score in tech categories) -- well, none of these films will factor into the male acting categories at all. The races are so wide open, you could steer a house carried by balloons through them.


So I've thrown caution to the wind in my predictions: Summer nominees, lyncathropes, evil Nazis in films Oscar won't like at all ... you name it, they figure in. Prediction Updates for BEST ACTOR and BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR .
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Oscar Updates: Supporting Actress

Since April's predictions, three things have happened concerning this category.

1. Mo'Nique's buzz continued to grow for Precious (formerly Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire... why hasn't the IMDB changed this title? It's been weeks, nay, months)
2. The NINE trailer debuted and surprisingly it hung on Judi Dench's dry humor and Fergie's vocals rather than on Daniel Day-Lewis or his three paramours (Cruz / Kidman / Cotillard)
3. Cannes didn't do much for Imelda Staunton's buzz for Taking Woodstock. Though folks in the know expect reaction outside of Cannes to be more favorable since the film is light and funny. Cannes isn't so big on light and funny.

Dench could still be tripped up should she not win "best in show" reviews or if the film disappoints. But Mo'Nique is good to go. We already know that Precious doesn't disappoint. More and more people are fans. I suspect it will be a major player at the fall festivals (Toronto & New York) before its theatrical launch.

UPDATED PREDIX - Supporting Actress
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Banner: Reader's Choice

This week's banners are brought to you by Film Experience reader The Medwenitsch from Austria. He won the "bad movie mommy / good movie mommy" contest two weeks back. The rotating banner will feature some of his favorite contemporary movie characters. I'll let him explain:

Right now I'm inspired by the passage of time, how every generation is different from "the one" before but still influenced by everything that came before it. In twenty or thirty years it's history and we will look at it like we now look at the 70s or the 60s. Our parents will be dead, and we will be left, retelling history, our youth, namely the 90s and later the Aughts: Britney Spears, 9/11, the financial crisis and other crises the media tells us we should worry about, no gay marriage everywhere in the western world, oversexualized media and so on. Things that are completely "normal" for us now will be like things we hear from our grandparents... This completely freaks me out right now (in a good way) though it's very difficult for me to express in english.

So the banner will be characters from contemporary films which kind of deal with my generation (people born in the 80s or 90s)

I am happy to oblige! It is definitely fascinating to ponder what future generations will make of current times and to wonder which movies, stars, film characters will still be touchstones decades later and which will feel totally alien like 'People used to relate to / love this? Why???' I mostly used Medwenitsch's ideas for characters but feel free to share your own contemporary touchstone characters in the comments.

Txt Critic on Julie & Julia

My insatiable moviegoing friend was back to his old tricks, texting me last night with a message regarding the new Amy Adams / Meryl Streep film Julie & Julia. Here he is...

in spite of its ghastly trailer, it was quite good, solid. in typical ephron/meyers/etc fashion, it's a bit too long for a film without much plot (exactly 2 hours), but it was pretty well paced, while rarely-to-never wading into unnecessary sentiment or cheap stupid humor

meryl's great (duh), but it's really more of a "fun" performance than anything substantive -- they throw her an extremely short "oscar clip" dramatic scene where she responds to her sister being pregnant, but almost everything else she has is fun/light/funny/enjoyable. that said, i'm sure she'll still get a nomination. i have no idea how they're going to campaign her when the time comes, but it's unquestionably a co-lead. Streep and Adams both evenly split the screen time, and if anything, Streep gets a bit more. Also the movie opens and closes with her, so it feels a bit more like "her" story

Well, technically her famed Miranda Priestley performance in The Devil Wears Prada only had one traditional "clip" scene also and were it not for Helen Mirren's awards steamroll in 2006, I'm guessing Streep would have actually taken the statue. Exactly how many times has Meryl been in the runner up position on Hollywood's High Holy Night? Four times, I think. Though it's highly debatable.

Oscar vote totals are never released but wasn't she probably runner up for:
French Lieutenant's Woman (81), Adaptation (02), Prada (06) and Doubt
(08)? Maybe even Out of Africa (85) and Bridges... (95)

But back to my point: "fun/light" isn't really an Oscar detriment for Streep in the way it is for other performers. The campaign issues on the other hand might be. The current studio plan is a supporting campaign for Julia (presumably to avoid competiting with her lead role in the Untitled Nancy Meyers Project) but there is a very slim possibility that the drawn out Kate Winslet Rev Rd/Reader situation from last year may signal that the Academy is a little less willing than in years past to honor forced categorizations... even when the precursor voting blocks urge them to do so. Another possibility is that the studio will go for double leads or switch Adams to supporting once they have a better idea of their competition. We'll know when we know.

Oscar predictions updates on the way (working on them right now)
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Linksicle

up
In Contention on Up's "Russell" and his voice actor Jordan Nagai
Wired Science wonders if you really can lift a house with balloons
/Film details inside jokes within Pixar's UP
Pixar the first teaser for Toy Story 3

down... all around
Stale Popcorn I love this "Movies in Movies" series, don't you? Wish I'd thought of it!
Just Jared Nicole Kidman on Rabbit Hole set. Also refuting baby rumors
NY Post French Oscar nominee Betty Blue is getting a rerelease with 65 additional racy minutes of Jean-Hugues Anglade & Beatrice Dalle thrown in. Mon dieu
Rants of a Diva names the 25 best performances of the TV season
My New Plaid Pants somewhat echoes my feelings about the new Verhoeven with Halle Berry (!?) in the starring role
Cinema Blend Lucy Punch replacing Nicole Kidman in the next Woody Allen film. I like Punch so it's good to hear she's catching a break. We still know nothing of the role, though
The Big Picture on the orgasmic (?) Drag Me to Hell poster
Daily Mail and Pop Hangover - Lick Daniel Craig! He's only 100 calories


Just in time for summer!
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Up, Up and Away... To Where?

I imagine you're back at work and eager to daydream. Let the exploration begin. If you could rig a mess of balloons to lift your house/apartment into the sky for exploration and adventure, name the movie locale you'd like to land in.
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Knock Knock

"Are you there Mrs. Loomis?"

Marilyn Monroe would have been 83 years old today. Happy birthday to Marilyn in her mansion in the celluloid heavens.

update: previously unseen photos... every year they find more, you know
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