Just Back From Stardust...

and I don't think it's much of a spoiler to tell you that within the magical logic of the movie Michelle Pfeiffer (absolutely rocking as an evil sorceress) needs to eat the heart of Claire Danes (a fidgety fallen star) in order to live for hundreds of years. Is it wrong to root for the heart eater? Because... Pfeiffer restored to full power??? Yes please! If Claire Danes really cared about the cinema, she'd carve it out and hand feed Pfeiffer herself. It's the least she can do.
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more later obviously...

Becoming [Insert Name Here]...

If you like those connect-the-dot exercizes between an artist's work and fantasies about their personal lives, have at Becoming Jane. Even if you don't it's fun to gaze with thumping heart at McAvoy & Hathaway (whichever suits your preference... my heart beats for both of these rising stars). But a warning: if you, like me, feel that it's relatively demeaning for an artist's imagination to be explained away as pure biography you might have issues with the movie. It's the type that either turns you off or on at the concept stage.

click to read my review of Becoming Jane

Real life is much more complicated than Stereotypical-Event-A-shaped-everything-about-_____'s life. This is but one of many reasons I have difficulty enjoying the biopic genre. So, yes, I'm biased. I don't like too much explanation --especially when it comes to the creative process. What happened to the magic and the mystery of art? I prefer to think of great creators as highly imaginative people rather than as autobiographers even if their themes, stories and art do spring from the deeply personal.

What's next... Becoming Alfred?

"Becoming Alfred" is the chilling story of a portly director with a ghastly sense of humor. Unable to find true love with a series of nearly idential icy blondes, and plagued with agoraphia and vertigo after narrowly escaping a vicious freak bird attack and a fall from great heights, he holes up in his mother's rickety old home until his death. His last days with his stern mother were shrouded in mystery. Discover the great untold story that inspired his greatest and grisliest works!

Imagine your own Becoming... in the comments. Amuse us.

20:07 (He Played Too Many Notes)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC

~Ah Mozart…Why?
~Why what sir?
~Why do I have to be humiliated in front of my guests... by one of my own servants? The more license I allow you, the more you take.
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Day of Rest

Shhhhh! Viggo & Anne are enjoying a lazy post-coital nap. Don't spoil the moment for it's their last together [cue ominous music]

Next @ The Experience: Stardust, Anne Hathaway & Becoming Jane, Michelle Pfeiffer goes 'Inside The Hellmouth Actors Studio', an Oscar list to raise your ire and more... (could we possibly hope for that All That Jazz article? Shut up!)

Actress Psychic (Updates)

For those 100+ souls who joined that early bird Actress Psychic Oscar Contest months ago I've updated the point totals here. (I've also added my personal points in per your requests) There's a 5-way tie for the lead currently but expect much shuffling when the fall films hit. We've barely begun

Since we last spoke in mid June...
+ 3 Nikki Blonsky (Hairpsray opened + box office pts)
+ 2 Angelina (EW small cover inset + b.o), Danes, Streep & Redgrave (Evening opened + b.o. though the movie met horrid reviews so these will probably be the last points)
+ 1 Blethyn, Hathaway, Lopez, Roberts & Marion Cotillard (pts for opening --the first three, EW small cover inset, and box office respectively)

[related reading: Best Actress Oscar Predictions]

Trailer Fourgy: Rendition, Lions, Things and Darjeeling

Time to check in with new trailers. Only a few weeks of hot weather and sequels remain and then we're in the clear, ready to face the onslaught of SERIOUS films aiming for gold.



Rendition (on your left. October 12th) and Lions for Lambs (right. November 9th) are but two of four (?) fall films dealing with our current political quagmire and the misguided unending war (the other pair are the action-heavy The Kingdom and the Paul Haggis thriller In the Valley of Elah) One assumes from the trailers that the four films will have their own individual identities but it's anyone's guess until they're widely seen which will garner Oscar's favor. It's unfair to judge a film based on 2 minutes of heavily edited footage but then, on the other hand, these are how the studios are presenting said films so, you know, judge away.

Rendition looks like it might work. Three separate tracks: terrorist prisons (Gyllenhaal & Metwalley), political chambers (Streep & Arkin) the homsetead (Witherspoon) all lead toward one assumed destination. Cue the grand collision. That the collision involves a weepy screaming wife might spell more Oscar news for Reese but, then again, it might not. [more on the Best Actress race] For it looks like a true ensemble piece. If you lazily compare it to, say, Syriana (hey why not? That's what pre-fall Oscar analysis is all about) you'll be looking at the tortured central figure (played by Omar Metwally who made a big splash on Broadway a few years back) for your acting kudos and not the other players frantically moving their pieces in this tense puzzle. [Supporting Actor race --I'll have to move Metwally way up the chart]

The trailer for Lions for Lambs improves upon the first teaser which looked hideously shoestring as if it were a straight to DVD release. But the improvements are small. It still looks like an unwieldy pendantic machine that luckily fell on top of three massive stars. They're crushed under the weight of the catchphrase ready dialogue. If you ask me this movie looks terrible but Oscar might feel differently. We'll see.




Things We Lost in the Fire (left) is the latest drama from Danish auteur Susanne Bier who won critical acclaim with her first two films and an Oscar nomination in the foreign film category for her last (After the Wedding). From the looks of the trailer Things... is pitched exactly to her strengths: nuanced emotional drama with complicated human relationships. But, that said, I'm not sure I would have as much faith in this project if I wasn't familiar with her work. Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, former winners both, could find themselves back on the red carpet if the reviews are kind. Anyway you slice it it's one of those films that screams "actors film" i.e. even if it's well regarded its limited to just a few categories in awards season.


The last trailer The Darjeeling Limited (right) I've included just for fun. Wes Anderson movies usually come out in December but this one is a September release. Still, no Oscar love-in looks likely. Anderson is just too stylized for mainstream love and the Oscars are a mainstream endeavor no matter how much people pretend otherwise whilst bitching about the voters ignoring the latest blockbusters and comedies. Anyway... Anderson isn't making films to win Oscars so good for him. Darjeeling appears to be bringing us a colorful and tasty buffet of his usual treats: witty familial drama, sad-eyed comedy, and amusing widescreen compositions. Some people might find his visual stylizations too affected and thus predictable at this point but I'm so glad someone is using the full rectangle still when they compose their movies. I also love the dialogue exchange halfway through the trailer

"what's wrong with you?"
"let me think about that"

That strikes me as the perfect question and answer response for people who conjecture about the Oscars all year round (like me) and more importantly the perfect banter for a movie artist who just can't be anything other than what he is, god bless. Can't wait to see this one... though I do hope it transcends its style like The Royal Tenenbaums rather than gets smothered by it like The Life Aquatic.

Your thoughts on any of these four? [More on each Oscar race]

You've Pushed Me to the Link

/Film is boycotting Regal Cinemas. Ticket buyers are not the enemies...even when they make stupid decisions.
By Ken Levine a TV writer names his favorite comedic screenplays. Great choices.
NewNowNext Scarjo is in Louisiana and in the studio recording her first album
Anne Thompson on the already controversial animation race for this year's Oscars. Is Beowulf animated?
Evening Class on Edith Head, the eight time Oscar-winning costume designer

today's must see: Women in Film - 80 blended portraits. It's quite the hypnotic video [src]

Unremakeable. That's What You Are

Two days ago I pointed you to Windmill's "31 Days of Spielberg" festivities. Here's another interesting ongoing project to keep an eye on (though I'm not sure how long term this one is): This Distracted Globe is currently (re)cycling through remakes and has already covered Insomnia, The Truth About Charlie, Red Dragon and King Kong among others...

Don’t remake good movies. Remake bad ones
-John Huston

Questions in Need of Comments:
Which sloppy seconds movie do you love most?
If you agree that bad films should be reworked, what terrible movie do you hope to see reborn in a new body?

Now Playing (08/03)

L I M I T E D
Becoming Jane Pretty princess Anne Hathaway plays the author Jane Austen. James McAvoy circles her lustfully. More on this movie very soon
<--- If I Didn't Care Roy Scheider! Where he been? For those of you who've wondered (I know I have but maybe that's because I've had All That Jazz on loop this month) he's in this indie thriller set in the Hamptons. It's calling itself 'Hitchcockian.' If I had a dime for every thriller that billed itself that way...
The Ten Fans of Wet Hot American Summer (I'm proud to say I saw it when it first hit theaters and laughed heartily --I didn't need to wait for the cult to erupt) take note: David Wain has a new movie. This comedy takes on the ten commandments in individual segments. A fun cast is on board: Gretchen Mol, Justin Theroux, Winona Ryder,

W I D E
The Bourne Ultimatum Matt is back and on the attack in this reliably strong action franchise. Early buzz is hysteric. Will it be the biggest Bourne or will sequel fatigue settle in? Summer 2007 box office receipts says there's no such thing
Bratz Teen girl movies can be gobsmackingly awesome (See Mean Girls. In fact: see it over and over again) but this one looks like the genre's nadir
El Cantante I feel like JLo and hubby have been making this movie for the past two hundred years. Is she over as a movie star?
Hot Rod A comedy that remembers to wrap up before the 90 minute mark. I already love it for its brevity
Underdog I'm more of a cat person

Happy Birthday to My Dear Friend

Today is the birthday of one of my nearest and dearest friends. You might know him from the comments as "Kristoferrobbin" so in honor of the first person with whom I regularly and obsessively consumed pop culture, a collage of ten of his favorite movie things:


Our tastes have diverged from the day we met in high school --he likes to needle me about that -- but we'll always have Olivia Newton-John. She brought us together (!true story!) in the mid 80s (just as her career was about to flame out *sniffle*). You have to believe she is magic.

Has a pop culture moment or a particular shared movie love delivered an enduring friendship to you? And do your friends share your movie tastes? It's apparently all about sharing today. You know what to do...

20:07 (The Chosen One)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie tv show
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC

Prepare me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them?

Go ahead. Prepare me.

I figured I should continue the "chosen one" theme from last night's Potter post. It's lonely being the only person who can save the world! Buffy's already figured that out in her very first episode "Welcome to the Hellmouth"

Tossing Hexes Whilst Trying to Deflect Jinxes

I have successfully avoided being sucked into Harry Potter fandom for many years now...but my resolve has been wavering. Before my fellow Muggles cry out in despair that they've lost another nonconformist warrior to Pottermania, take heart: I am still deflecting the bulk of those dark possession-minded curses aimed in my direction. I am, however, more interested in this franchise/phenomenon than I was before and for this I blame four people:

Susan. For it was she who dragged me to Order of the Phoenix and then read Deathly Hallows beside me on the beach as I attempted to read something heavier --well, 'heavier' in the higher brow sense, not as in weight. Those Potter books are huge. Susan had the nerve to enjoy her book more than I enjoyed mine.

Alfonso Cuarón. For it was he who managed to make the first (and still best) Potter adaptation, The Prisoner of Azkaban. It felt like an actual honest-to-God movie after two dull books-on-celluloid jobs. He's a powerful wizard.

Imelda Staunton. For she was Vera Drake and now she is Dolores Umbridge who cursed me to incessantly think about pink

Myself. For it was I who got jealous of Susan's Hallows enthusiasm and picked up a copy of Half Blood Prince to read at the beach the following weekened (I figured starting there I'd pick up where I left off cinematically. I'd read Sorceror's Stone and Chamber of Secrets years ago but gave up on the series when Christopher Columbus finished boring me to tears)

So here we are now. The Potter maniacs are finished reading Deathly Hallows and I've finished reading Half Blood Prince. And, you know, I'll just say it: it was a pretty good yarn. I still feel that Rowling isn't that great of a writer but I do give her props for imagination and plotting --she sure can sustain a narrative. I'll never be completely won over because good vs. evil dynamics without gray areas bore me (Slytherin people are evil. Gryffindor people are good. Got it years ago. zzzz) and what's more --sorry Baby Jesus & Buffy-- stories where only one person "the chosen one" can save us all (The Matrix, Highlander, a lot of sci-fi/fantasy stories) usually irritate me. I guess I'm more of an ensemble man. I've never understood exactly why people love "chosen one" stories so much nor why so few writers dare to color outside those lines. It feels dehumanizing to me when you know that every character but one in any given narrative is expendable. Why place all the eggs in one basket?

One tangential thing that's bugging me about Order of the Phoenix: Why does everyone find that final magical battle so thrilling? I keep reading how wondrous it is. To me it was like an upscale version of magic throwdowns from cheap B movies like The Covenant. CG balls and rays of light just don't excite me all that much. Isn't there a more interesting way to film witchcraft? I expect the finale of Half Blood Prince will be similarly colorful yet physically vague with no real sense of danger. That's a shame. [see Lord of the Rings for an example of how to mix magic into battles where every blow stings and every spell hits like a thunderbolt]

Despite my wobbly nonconversion, I'm looking forward to the next Harry Potter movie (there's a first time for everything) though I'm disappointed that creepy/giggly Helena Bonham-Carter will continue to have a miniscule role as Bellatrix LeStrange (like Voldemort she's more talked about than truly involved). Maybe the expanded roles for Alan Rickman as Snape and Michael Gambon as Dumbledore will help it along. I'm also wary of how Half Blood Prince will transfer since it's so frequently interrupted with Voldemort's backstory... it could get very Hannibal Rising up in there, you know?

Feel free to share your Potter conversion OR resistance stories in the comments. And if you know of any great genre stories that ignore that hoary neo-christian salvation myth "chosen one" angle altogether, please recommend them in the comments.

20:07 (Judy & Jim)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC


"Do you wanna carry my books?"

Inappropriate Hump Day Hotness: 300, Gay Panic and Rodrigo Santoro

Those of you who loved 300 (now out on DVD) are like the depicted Persian army: legion. As someone who (nearly) hated the movie, I'm placed in the odd position of well... being on the audience favored side: a member of the miniscule Spartan army. Like those weirdly glorified losers I find myself martyred for a cause. Well, mine is more of a belief really.

That belief: this movie is stoopid.

I saw 300 a few weeks after it exploded with audiences because I was waiting to catch it on iMax. [I'll readily admit that this delay in viewing is problematic --ever noticed how movies everyone loves are usually greeted a month or two later with a rash of "it ain't all that!" pontificating... are these sincere reactions or very human balance corrective responses --overemphatic objection? Perhaps we should discuss in another post -ed. ] I spent most of the movie trying not to laugh. To this movie lover it played like self parody only without jokes. Unless you count that recurrrent gay panic gag but that got old fast: repeated scenes of drooling muscle worship mixed with demonization of the stereotypically feminine in men. The movie reminded me of those M4M personal ads that used to irk me and my activist friends in college: "straight acting: no femmes!"

So as a surprise counterattack to all that 'all-man!' fetishizing that's going on in Zach Snyder's strange movie, I thought I should drool on the demonized drag queen Xerxes also known as Rodrigo Santoro instead of the other one, King Leonidas played by Gerard Butler. (Last time I tried to make him a hottie, it didn't go so well).

Anyway... this movie bugs. 300 wants you to lick Butler's bulging muscles but it wants you to be grossed out knowing that Xerxes wants Butler to lick his.

Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto...


Both Butler and Santoro are exceedingly attractive men in real life and in their reel lives here. Look, you can put Rodrigo Santoro under several pounds of flamboyant jewelry and makeup. You can press on the false lashes and nails but he's still Rodrigo Santoro.

And Rodrigo Santoro looks like this...


Of course that's a shot from Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle rather than 300 but the former movie is more fun ... or at least it's more honest about how badly it wants Rodrigo Santoro. It even gives you the type of cheesysleazy camera work usually reserved for ogling actress goodies...


If this same shot were used on Scarlett Johansson, it might win its DP an Oscar nod.

I don't watch Lost but I understand that today's sex object has blessed that television serial with his hotness too. Apart from RS's strange willingness to do questionably negative drag roles (see also Carandiru --which I haven't: thus the word questionably) I generally like him. I dig the way he ignores Cameron Diaz' crude innuendo in Charlies Angels (c'mon Cameron, wise up! He's too pretty to understand words). I liked the way he ran sweaty and frantic through Behind the Sun.

But you know what makes me love him most? The Lovely Laura Linney's reaction to snogging him in the romantic comedy Love, Actually.


If you make Laura Linney that giddy, you're all right by me.
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All That Link

CinemaTech has an interview with Mark Stern about a new innovative form of theatrical exhibition, boutique cinema / private yet public screening experiences.
<---Windmills of My Mind begins its "31 Days of Spielberg" marathon. Y'all know I'm not a Spielberg disciple but I admire massive blog/writing projects so hats off --good luck to Damian with this. I'm sure many Spielberg true believers will enjoy. I remain a heathen.
Sunset Gun urges people to root for LiLo still... I appreciate the sentiment and share the belief (the one about the talent) but I'm just too raw to go there now. I have to give up for my own sanity
JLT/JLT names 100 Favorite Performances of the Aughts
And the Winner Is... is among the first to see 3:10 to Yuma
Hollywood Chicago Focus Features Four @ TIFF. If my favorite studio doesn't have a good Oscar year it'll be a surprise.
Flickhead images from the new Chabrol starring Benoit Magimel (yum) and Ludivine Sagnier (yummier)

20:07 (Jake's in Trouble)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC

"So this is what you’ve been up to in the basement, huh?"
"Yes sir"

...Jake and his secretive basement activities! tsk, tsk.

A Little Merman

I've returned from ocean dips and lazy beach strolling. sigh. Nothing relaxes me like the water. If I had to be a mythical creature instead of a human, I'd definitely go with something in the merfamily. I don't normally spend any time thinking about Tom Hanks movies but the ending of Splash always makes me so jealous. Living in the ocean would be awesome but for the terrible internet connection.

Before I begin with the large task of getting caught up with everything non R&R related I want to say thank you to my guest bloggers. Big hugs to StinkyLulu who gaily carried on the screenshot series y'all keep asking for more of, My New Plaid Pants who kept us up to date on the cinematic here & now and Nick Davis who came out of internet hibernation to sing Pfeiffer's praises in my absence (how thoughtful!)

I'll be back to regular posting in mere hours but until then here's a few of my Zoom In articles you can catch up with or opine about in the comments: Will Hairspray Tease Up More Box Office?" which looks at the top 20 movie musicals (box office wise) of the past few decades. "Foodies" a few DVD recommendations since No Reservations and Ratatouille are both working the restaurant fantasies in theaters. And finally I do much bitching about a Top 100 List I was asked to participate in ("The Online Film Community's Top 100"). Lists....they just never satisfy, do they?

20:07 (The Calm Before The Storm)

ala StinkyLulu

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
captured using a VLC - your results may differ (different players/timing)

~ You going to the concert tonight?
~ No, I can't... My parents are being bitches this week.

RIP Ingmar Bergman

JA here - I'm sure Nat would want to say something on the death of Ingmar Bergman if he were here, or at least give y'all a chance to say what he meant to you in the comments.

Myself, I just started really appreciating Bergman over the past couple years or so (thanks to Netflix and the mini-festivals one can schedule one's self); I haven't even come close to seeing even half of the films by him, but what I have seen so far has been astonishing. Cries and Whispers, Fanny & Alexander, The Virgin Spring, Persona... all films that couldn't have been made by anyone else and that deeply enriched not only my own love of cinema and what it can accomplish, but the very language and possibility of film itself.

Below is a brief clip from Persona, which is my favorite Bergman film so far, probably because Bergman understood that the greatest terrain he could ever point his camera at and study was the face of Liv Ullman:

What's your favorite Bergman film? Or even just a moment - I, being a horror buff, have often thought that the puppetry scene in Fanny & Alexander is one of the scariest moments ever filmed.

20:07 (Strings Attached)

ala StinkyLulu

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
captured using a VLC - your results may differ (different players/timing)

Yesss. Pewhaps you can. Now take your weapons of mass destruction and get the f*** outta here!