Tackling the Magic Kingdom

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JA from MNPP here. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times yesterday Jon Favreau opened up about why he's not doing the third Iron Man film (Nat mentioned it yesterday), and in so doing this tid-bit presented itself:

"Favreau is set to direct “Magic Kingdom,” which the 44-year-old filmmaker described as a family fantasy adventure that will tap into the vintage Disney creations that “loomed so large in the imagination” of his generation. Favreau said that [David] Fincher ... will direct the studio’s ”20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” a Jules Verne bookshelf classic that is closely associated with Disney after the landmark 1954 film and the submarine theme-park ride, and Disney confirmed that to be the case. [Guillermo] Del Toro had already been announced as director of a new “Haunted Mansion” film."

That's right - David Fincher, currently swallowing whole every critic's prize in sight for his little Facebook movie, might be making a movie about a giant squid squatting on a submarine next.

Well after his adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that is, which he's currently in the middle of filming. What does this mean for his adaptation of the French graphic novel The Killer that he's been attached to? Or his forever-gestating Rendezvous With Rama?

And what does this mean about the Disney live-action film in general? They seem to be putting at least some of that Pirates of the Caribbean and Pixar money to good use, hiring smart people and throwing them into curious projects. (Unless it's the fourth Pirates movie we're talking about; that's just desperate.) I'm dying to know what a David Fincher 20,000 Leagues would look and feel like. Or Del Toro's take on The Haunted Mansion, sure to be bursting at the seams with fantastic beasties.

But my real question now is how long until they hire David Lynch to make a Space Mountain movie? Because that's when shit gets real.

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Link Catches Us (As We Catch Up)

The Fighter
In Contention Sports Illustrated names The Fighter "the best sports movie of the decade." I guess they're using that 2001-2010 definition. Hate that. I like to end with the 9s.
Low Resolution Speaking of The Fighter. Check out Joe Reid's awesome post "The Art of the Skank"


Cartoons
Milo oh, this is lovely. Toy Story 3 by the numbers. Tons of infographic pleasure... if thinking about how bank accounts of Pixar executives gives you pleasure that is.
The Exploding Kinetoscope FYC: Arguments for the Extermination of the Human Race. (Wow, someone hates Shrek even more than I do!)
EW Inside Movies Anne Hathaway knows her awards history. Texts Jake Gyllenhaal on his first Golden Globe nom. (Even I had forgotten that he wasn't nominated there for Brokeback)
Blog Next Door What the Disney villains teach us.

Mackie & Washington. Yay.

Randomness
Invisible Woman asks you to see Night Catches Us starring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie. We plan to, yes we do. Soon.
popbytes Oprah Winfrey must be stopped; Hugh Jackman injured
Salon "Why is Disney hiding the original Tron?"
Little Gold Men the Coen Bros talk to Vanity Fair about True Grit

The Social Network
Remember when everyone was writing about that movie nonstop? It's happening again. Scanners does a comparison with Carlos, another richly layered movie winning critics prizes, and Nick at Nick's Flick Picks has shared ten intriguing thoughts in two parts.The Toronto Film Critics Association just gave it another "best of the year" citation.

Year in Review
Vulture "25 Best Performances That Won't Win Oscars" from Tom Hardy (Inception) to Alexander Siddig (Cairo Time). It's a great list overall but totally spoiled by two little girls, one of whom was genuinely great in another movie this year, so why not make it that one (Yes, Mia Wasikowska's The Kids Are All Right performance is > Alice In Wonderland times 1,000,000)
Twitter "The 10 Most Powerful Tweets of 2010" from Haiti relief to Conan O'Brien half-assed
10 Best and 10 Worst from one of our favorite critics Tim Robey at the Telegraph.

Finally... 

Remember way way back (ok, only two years ago) when I invited you to the wedding of "Boobs & Abs". They've split. Yes, The Green Lantern and The Black Widow are divorcing.  Speaking of Scarlett Johannson, Jon Favreau is leaving the Iron Man franchise. Given that ScarJo's performances feel more listless than ever these last few years, how about Sofia Coppola for Iron Man 3's directors chair. Maybe the fanboys wouldn't appreciate it but at least they'd get some great shots of Black Widow's ass. Plus that f/x related scene in Coppola's Somewhere, with Stephen Dorff interminably stuck in the makeup chair, is one of the best moments in that inside Hollywood movie.

Iron Baby... and Other Babies

Have you seen this Iron Baby trailer? Kids these days. They got tech skills in diapers.



Confession: I went to see Babies last weekend while I was in Boston. My girl Amy suggested it.

Amy and me in NYC --->

We tried not to weep copiously into our popcorn bucket since we are both barren through circumstance (i.e. single or gay). Babies wasn't exactly a documentary so much as four parallel home movies without commentary other than perhaps what you're projecting on to it. I have nothing to add to the New Yorker's review which is brill. This moment David Denby singles out had us roaring:

I detected only one satirical sally: The San Francisco baby, Hattie, and her mother attend some sort of New Age group-parenting session. The mothers, raising their arms in supplication, sing a ghastly hymn to the earth, at which point Hattie heads for the door.

Boy did Hattie want out of the room! Boston audiences approved.

Our other favorite shared bit in the movie was the Japanese baby Mari's absolute hissy fit whenever she so much as looked at the pieces of a peg and hole game. So so funny... a total drama queen in training. Have any of you seen it yet? It's already one of the most successful docs ever. But maybe you'll avoid it like the plague. The Boyfriend mock screamed when the trailer played in front of a movie some months ago. Dramatically placed title cards "BABIES... ARE... COMING" will sound like a threat to the child averse.

When Amy and I exited the theater we spontaneously began quoting Holly Hunter by way of Raising Arizona.

You go right back up there and get me a toddler.
I need a baby, Hi. They got more than they can handle.
I want that baby, Hi.
[sobbing] ILOVEHIMSOMUCH

Holly Hunter is magic. The End.
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A Link is Born

Instructables build an Iron Man arc reactor of your own
SF Gate "Is this the end of Downey Jr's greatness?" interesting peace from Mick LaSalle on taking up residents in franchises.
/Film yet another shortening of the theatrical release to home viewing window. The end is nigh and...
David Poland, always in touch with the business end, responds to this FCC ruling


flick filosopher 'damn those high society film critics!' I love it when MaryAnn gets pissed off at stupid people
Just Jared with new Inception poster and stills
Only the Cinema pays tribute to the just departed cinematographer William Lubtchansky (RIP)
Cinematical Rachel Weisz on the upcoming gender bending body horror film Invisible X
MNPP gets excited 'bout the new Gregg Araki movie Kaboom

Finally, I don't know how I missed this news in April (but then again that month. argh) but A Star is Born has been reborn again. If you've never seen this grand Judy Garland musical epic, you MUST mark June 22nd on your calendar and get the Blu-Ray of the restoration (from the original negative). Sadly, though,there's still a big chunk of it missing from the 1954 chainsaw edit it got when distributors complained that the film was too long. Damn you Hollywood powers-that-be (at the time), damn you retroactively!

I love what Robert Osbourne of TCM says

"As effective as Judy Garland is singing 'The Man That Got Away' in any medium, there's nothing like seeing her singing that song three stories tall, in Technicolor."

I can only imagine. I've only seen it on DVD and it's already one of my top five favorite song performances in the history of the cinema.

Iron Men

Last week, we prepped for the summer movie season by pondering good times at the multiplex with summer playthings Tony Stark and Carrie Bradshaw (Sold Separately!). Sarah Jessica Parker will make us wait as Carrie is fashionably late; Three more weeks until she flicks her witty tongue, tosses that glorious mane, and buys several more pairs of shoes. Robert Downey Jr's billionaire weapons manufacturer, on the other hand, has already returned. With IRON MAN 2 playing to sold out crowds everywhere there's no more wondering what the summer movie season will look like.

Not that it was ever anything like a secret what Iron Man 2 would offer up. This blockbuster's shiny surface reflects Hollywood's sequel mandate back at us. Their answer is always 'more! more! more!' before anyone has asked a question.

Read the rest at Towleroad

Return and report... Did you like the movie's more more more credo? And how about Mickey Rourke's post-Wrestler turn?
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Link Reactor

Salon "Superheroes Suck" a great piece on the problematic popular genre by Matt Zoller Seitz
Atlantic "3 Things Glee Does Wrong" an excellent take on the chinks in Glee's delightful armor. Are you listening show runners? This is spot on
i09 The villain of Iron Man 2 is Tony Stark. Discuss
The Hollywood Reporter a porn biopic for Lindsay Lohan. This could either be the comeback of "yes I can act" or a very very bad move. Hard to tell


Film Freak Central "the perils of Dirk the Daring" wow. i was just thinking about this 80s cartoon videogame the other day.
The Playlist first pic of Chloe Moretz as the vampire in the misbegotten remake Let Me In
Deadline NY Kristen Wiig options Clown Girl. Sounds intriguing
fourfour 'old people getting high' a gif wall from It's Complicated
i09 production art and casting demands for John Carter of Mars

Finally, you really should read this heinous homophobic article on Newsweek about the inability of gay actors to sell straight roles. Yeah, I guess Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift and god knows how many others never gave any performances that were worth a damn. The article is mostly about today's out actors and it does them a terrible disservice. Where's the respect? Make sure to read the comments section though. The ever wonderful Kristen Chenoweth shows up to tell Newsweek what's what about her gay co-stars and gay actors in general.

Summer Diva: Tony or Carrie?

Click on the photo to go to my Summer Preview @ Towleroad...

Mr Stark and Ms Bradshaw. Summer arrives

Where I ask important questions like...

• Carrie Bradshaw or Tony Stark: Which narcissistic diva in shiny clothing are you anxious to spend time with again?
  
• Barely legal hairless teen werewolf or "Face" with a hairy bod?

Summer brings out the real deep questions, people! Answer them.
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