April. It's a Wrap

This past month was such that I barely remember its existence, a whirlwind of too busy, too scattered, too tiring, too much. Ever had one of those months? If you're just joining us or if you had one of those months, these highlights from April will feel like brand new posts. Read away...

Funny Games or Funny Girl?

Overheard on The Blind Side
Cannes lineup so much to get excited about, don't you think?
Streisand's 17 a quick perusal of Barbra's entire screen career. Isn't it weird how big stars never used to take supporting roles? In that entire screen career she was almost never second-billed.
who's the blonde? how are you liking this special quiz series?
Oscar Predictions the first golden guesswork of the year was unveiled. If you commit it to memory, you can laugh at me later!

I had a lot of help during this difficult month and I want to say a hearty thank you publicly to the guest contributors...

Hand Me My iPad Hal Jose ponders sci-fi fantasies come true
We Can't Wait: The Tree of Life the latest nature-loving epic from Terrence Malick nabs the top spot in our collectively impatient and quite diverse 2010 "Summer and Beyond" countdown
Modern Maestros: Michael Haneke Robert continues his excellent series on contemporary directors with this astute look at the cinema's chief provocateur
Judy Davis Glenn praises this Aussie's Brilliant Career
"He didn't get out of the cock-a-doodie car!" Craig remember Kathy Bates in Misery

Coming in May
Before making any new promises, we must try to clear up the clutter of old ones. Nevertheless, Iron Man 2, Sex & The City 2 and Cannes (vicariously) are certainties.

Red Carpet Lineup: Tribeca Blowout

red carpet lineup. random celebs who've been out and about this week...

With Tribeca handing out their awards last tonight and me coming back to life (things have been crazy) I thought we'd talk about some people attending New York's glitzy festival. I'm asking a comment question in red for each of them because I'm "reader discussion guide" annoying like that. Maybe I should have been a T.A.? Tribeca doesn't have the same prestige or art-driven mentality as the far older New York Film Festival (always in the fall) but it does pack theaters all over town, offer up a diverse 'something for everyone' slate and bring out the celebrities in droves. To hawk their films. Though I did see Ben Stiller and Denis Leary as audience members at the religious satire The Infidel.

from left to right

• Ellen Barkin plays a sullen drug addict in The Chameleon and she'll start her Shit Year at Cannes next month in the Directors' Fortnight lineup. Is her career revving back up or is this another Oceans 13 false alarm. Do you care?
• Mark Ruffalo seems to be letting himself go. Maybe it's just a 'between projects' kind of thing. Though, when is he between projects? Always working. I'm already stealing myself for disappointment if he doesn't get the credit he deserves for sly great work in The Kids Are All Right. Will he ever be Oscar nominated?
  
• Kirsten Dunst is on the comeback trail despite being only 28. Today is her birthday! She was at Tribeca because she directed the short film Bastard. Are you rooting for her comeback?
  
• Melissa Leo can't say no. That's my theory because she's made 15+ movies since Frozen River (2008) -- no joke -- and she's in two miniseries this year too (including Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce). Should she be saying yes to everything? Riding that Frozen River momentum til it stops paying dividends.
  

from left to right

• Andy Serkis came to town with his BAFTA nominated star turn in the rock bio sex & drugs & rock & roll. I wondered a few times if he could get any Oscar traction for it. Pro: there's the disability factor AND the biopic factor. Con: It's probably an unfamiliar rock story to most AMPAS voters and they like familiar. I admit I didn't know the story either. Do you know Ian Dury and The Blockheads?
  
• she who must not be named was in NYC for My Own Love Song. You know how I felt about the trailer but believe me I don't want to be this frightened to go near her work. In all honesty I was really hoping to get back on board but then came that trailer. I even tried to give her a new nickname Zeéeeee which is vowel-accurate and friendly-like. Are you rooting for her comeback?
• Christy Turlington is my favorite model of all time. But I realized sitting in the audience of her new documentary that it's weird to have a favorite model of all time. Because what can you do other than look at them? With favorite actors there's all sorts of imagination connection, storytelling, catharsis, etcetera. There I sat thinking "she's pretty" and my thoughts pretty much ended there. Unlike many of her supermodel peers from the 90s, she didn't try acting. But after marrying Ed Burns she is trying filmmaking. For a good cause though! Visit the website every mother counts. Have you a favorite model of all time ever?
  
• Patricia Clarkson starred in a travel drama called Cairo Time in which she misplaces her husband in Egypt. Somehow I missed it even though I love my Patty and also enjoy her co-star Alexander Siddig. Bad planning me. Why do people go to the desert on vacations?
  

from left to right

• Amanda Seyfried was starting her Letters To Juliet tour. Dominic Cooper walked her down the aisle -- I mean the red carpet -- for the premiere. Do you like them as a couple or do they give you painful flashbacks to Mamma Mia?
  
• Guy Pearce should maybe be hired for Christian Bale's health scare roles. I'm just sayin'. He was in town for a special screening and discussion of Memento. Do you love Memento?
  
• Sissy Spacek was promoting Get Low. I didn't like the movie -- which I saw before the festival and which most people do like for Oscar noms -- but it sure was nice to see her again in a substantial role. Still waiting for another In the Bedroom, though. What's your favorite Sissy? Other than Carrie I mean.
• <---Brian Geraghty was the unofficial poster boy of the 9th annual Tribeca Film Festival. He was a home invader in the erotic thriller Open House, a muscley redneck brother-in-law in The Chameleon and he also appeared in Kiki's short Bastard. It's like Melissa Leo's Frozen River longtail... only with The Hurt Locker. Thoughts?
  

Finis.
* Renée Zellweger

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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First and Last, Space

the first image after the opening credits and the last before the closing credits


Can you guess the movie? It's part of a famous franchise.

Still stumped? Highlight for the answer: It's STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME
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For all quizzes, click on the first and last label below.
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Modern Maestros: Todd Haynes

Robert here, continuing my series on great contemporary directors. This week a director who I knew little about despite loving almost all of his work.  But knowing how popular he is here I knew I'd have to tackle him eventually.  So I gave myself a crash course, not on the films which I already knew, but on the man.  And what a discovery indeed!

Maestro: Todd Haynes
Known For: Art movies about society, identity, music and more masquerading as non-art movies.
Influences: A long list: Jean Genet, Stan Brakhage, Hitchock, Chantal Akerman, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Douglas Sirk (of course), Oscar Wilde,  Orson Welles and on and on and on.
Masterpieces: Far From Heaven and I'm Not There
Disasters: None.
Better than you remember: I doubt many people who actually saw Velvet Goldmine really disliked it, but it is better known for being a commercial flop than for being a quality film.
Awards: Oscar and Globe nominated for writing Far From Heaven. Spirit Award winner for Directing Far From Heaven (and nominated for just about every other movie he's made.)
Box Office: Over 15 mil for Far From Heaven.  That Oscar recognition helps.
Favorite Actor: Julianne Moore in three films.

Todd Haynes has been fooling us, and he's very good at it.  For a little while now Haynes has been tricking us into thinking he makes conventional prestige appeal films.  It's a good trick for someone who truly makes art films.  Since his debut (as part of the New Queer Movement) he's been masquerading art film as pop film successfully, in the 90's by mixing moods like the horror meets suburban quaintness Safe or the Ziggy Stardust meets Citizen Kane Velvet Goldmine.  But the real slight of hand was Far From Heaven.  A movie that seemed to be and was a big awards player (thanks a lot to Julianne Moore, not to mention Hayne's own talents) and yet no one noticed that it was still an art film at heart.  Homage is one thing, but Far From Heaven could be Haynes attempt to make a film entirely inside the reality of another director (with the benefit of fifty years of cultural perspective).  Just as we thought he'd hit the mainstream, Haynes fooled us again with a film so star-laden it had to be accessible at the least.  Instead we got I'm Not There a confounding enigma that required more audience dedication and participation (though it was worth it) than anyone expected.  Anyone except perhaps lifelong Haynes fans who already knew the trick up his sleeve.

I'm Not There was almost audacious in its suggestion that a musical biopic could be more than an extended dramatized Behind the Music episode.  And we shouldn't be surprised that this breakthrough should come from Haynes, for whom music has been one of his favorite subjects.  Muscians naturally lead him toward his favorite topics: how our environment shapes our identity, and how we conform to or rebel against that force.  For musicians their environments are constantly changing, often antagonistic and usually result in a person becoming self-destructive, retreating from the world or fragmenting their own persona.  Another familiar topic for Haynes: women, and as usual the aggressive ever changing cultures that force them to confront their identities.  As for men... sorry guys, we're really just not that interesting.  Unless of course we're gay, and thus perfect for Haynes' cinematic touch.

 Two identities, shaped by the world.

Stylistically don't be fooled by how much his films are influenced by past cinema.  Haynes is his own man. Even when a film lives in another's reality, Haynes has the talent to make it his own.  Later this year Haynes may fool us again.  He's hard at work on the much anticipated Mildred Pierce miniseries, starring Kate Winslet.  Here's a story that fits in perfectly with the director's consistent exploration of women and their place in the world.  But where is the secret art film hiding inside?  We'll all be waiting to see.  Because we all keep coming back.  We're all fools for Todd Haynes.  Nomatter how many times he keeps fooling us.

The Innocents.

Jose here to celebrate one of the greatest acting duets of all time, who today also happen to share a birthday.



In Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence Michelle Pfeiffer (52 today) and Daniel Day-Lewis (53 today) play doomed lovers in 1870's New York City. She's the Countess Olenska, an outcast returning to American society where she's met with quiet hostility and he plays the reserved Newland Archer, who happens to be engaged to the Countess' cousin (Winona Ryder).

Marty fills the movie with nuances that had been uncharacteristic of his work at the time but works his visionary camera moves and Thelma Schoonmaker's vibrant editing seamlessly into a plot that usually would've been done in a less "flashy" style. What we get with this technique is a perfect embodiment of Edith Wharton's tale of repression in contrast with the modern NYC Marty eventually captured in his earlier films.

Never is this repression and stylistic wonder more perfect than in a scene where Newland finally declares his love for Olenska.



After a jealous fit, worthy of a lover, Newland confronts Olenska. As she turns around he begins to kiss her neck.



Soon they embrace, as Olenska sobs and Newland unleashes the "revolutionary" he thinks he is.
Any skeptical people who thought Pfeiffer and Day-Lewis had no spark, would have to eat their words during this moment.



It's only a few seconds later that Marty introduces one of his dazzling stylistic methods. The mood changes from fiery passion to forbidden romance as the camera and cuts become smoother and we only listen to Olenska's words while the images show us the context.



As if we were reading from the book; our imagination providing the images with the aid of narration not limited by the mouth movements of the characters, we listen as Olenska says

You couldn't be happy if it meant being cruel.

If we act any other way I'll be making you act against what I love in you the most and I can't go back to that way of thinking.

Don't you see I can't love you unless I give you up.

The camera then zooms out to reveal them in the kind of embrace Wharton probably dreamt of while writing this scene. Like the ornaments in the Countess' house, this image of them remains frozen in time, a souvenir of the love they never come to fulfill.

Today might be their birthday but The Age of Innocence sure feels like a present made for me.

Do you think Michelle and Daniel are as flawless as I think? What's your favorite thing they've done?

There's Something About Uma

Craig here, asking you all (on her 40th birthday): where is Uma at?


Ah, Uma. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. And despite actually being Tarantino's Bride twice last decade. What is it about Uma? She's widely known and adored by many, yet never seems to (quite) make it to the top of the A-list. The likes of Helen Hunt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Connelly, Angelina Jolie and Hilary Swank - all peers and contemporaries - have bagged themselves Oscars in the last thirteen-or-so years. The simple question is: where's Uma's gold?

She's one of the most uniquely beautiful actresses working, but nowadays, more so than in the early '90s, she doesn't often tend to get the recognition come awards season, or even appear on any of those Sexiest Hollywood Stars lists that crop up year-on-year anymore (although, is this really a fair indication of a star's Tinseltown standing anyway?). She has a singular talent and is open and vibrant with her on-screen persona: sultry, yet unafraid to play silly; refined, but willing to be raffish. There aren't many stars who have her particular mix of versatility and charm. And I'm sure some of her peers would have killed to have played Beatrix Kiddo.

Venus Rising: Uma in her first major role, in Baron Munchausen

Her florid introduction to the silver screen came in 1988 in the shapely form of the Goddess Venus (as an homage to Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus') in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It's an entrance comparable to (although it came six years before) Cameron Diaz's similar blond siren walk-on in 1994's The Mask (the year Uma got her first and, to date, only Oscar nomination, for Pulp Fiction). She was newly established and well on the rise back then, but how to define her career since?

Diaz made cartoon Jim Carrey's eyes pop out - and so, too, the cinema-going public's - and has gone on to be one of Hollywood's top female earners. Uma's salary doesn't quite reach Diaz's heights, but she's gained a solid and singular reputation for her - sometime fun, sometimes frank - body of work all the same; and when she's on top form she's often unmatchable. (Diaz may pull in bigger crowds, but she's rarely as risky or as resourceful as Uma: it ain't all about the money!) But since Kill Bill Vol. 2 six years ago - and despite some recent game attempts at more commercial rom-com fare - she hasn't set the film world on fire as once she did. With a whole host of rising stars strutting the red carpet year-on-year where does this leave a talent like hers?

Many a year she's dipped her toes in a variety of genre pools (and there are few genres that Uma hasn't tried and tested). Let's take stock and get an overview here: era-hopping period drama (Dangerous Liaisons, Les misérables, Vatel, The Golden Bowl, Henry & June, Sweet and Lowdown); adaptations of contemporary plays (Tape, Chelsea Walls, Hysterical Blindness, My Zinc Bed); an array of rom-coms (The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Prime, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Accidental Husband, Motherhood); fantastical sci-fi (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gattaca, Paycheck, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief); a pair of franchise-ending flops (Hey, they all have 'em) with The Avengers, Batman & Robin; and a couple of true genre-defying oddities thrown in for good measure (Where the Heart Is, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues).

Left: does Uma get a massive thumbs up from you?

She's played the villainous vamp, the demure ingénue, the good-hearted girl and swift-footed samurai - and a multitude of lead and supporting ladies in between. She has the cool-handed knack for boldly trying out all those different cinematic genres (still a decision to be applauded in today's movie world - especially when many big-name actors all too often stick to the safety of their particular genres of choice).

She's had a fair share of notable roles - the high profile one-two punch of the Kill Bill double, closely backed up by her dance-and-drugs dealings with Travolta in Pulp Fiction (to name two obvious ones), but why is it that when she's either killing Bill or pulping fiction she only seems to gets the high praise? I think it's about time for her to be given the chance to re-shine on the silver screen, to remind us that there's still a vast and varied career path after 40 just around the corner.

But maybe the over-abundance of variety has resulted in her career so far not entirely finding its own groove. Has the wide variety of roles made her an all-too indefinable screen presence? Or has the genre indecision left Uma slightly adrift? She's tried almost everything: where for a girl to go next. Either way, it's a big birthday for Uma. Let's hope the roles keep getting just as big.


So, today on her 40th, if you were a director with a free pick of projects, what gift of a role would you give Ms. Thurman?

First and Last, "You're Messing Up My Hair"

the first image after the opening credits...


and the last line of dialogue

What are you doing? Hey, stop it. Hey, you're messing up my hair, come on. Whoa, whoa. STOP IT. Whoaaaaaaaaaaoooooh.

Hey, this might be a good look for me

Can you guess the movie?
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Highlight for the answer if you're still stumped: That's right, it's BEETLEJUICE (1988). You've seen in a million times.

For all quizzes, click on the first and last label below.

Cape Link

cinema
stale popcorn is counting down the 00s in a comprehensively personal way. Love it
92nd Street Y are you going to the Grease 2 Sing-along?
serious film wonders what film might eventually throw Citizen Kane from its "greatest" throne
hot blog James Cameron discusses science in his science fiction. I love this bit

Asked whether the Alien or a Na'vi would win a fight, Cameron's answer was, "Sigourney (Weaver) would win."

Heh and duh!


/film Ang Lee and the Life of Pi in 3-D
thompson on hollywood talks with Annette Bening about her awards-contender roles in Mother and Child and The Kids Are All Right
natashavc young hollywood '98 fetal flashback: Reese & Ryan
movies kick ass talks up Oscar's 1964 Best Actor race with friends

small screen diversion
critical condition a great thinky piece on Glee's Madonna episode
i need my fix an evening with Glee
what's good... let's hear it for Jonathan Groff's agent
newnownext rich from fourfour visits the set of RuPaul's Drag Race. Lengthy interesting piece with wonderful photos

back to big
Finally, I just wanted to draw your attention to a great reunion pic: Juliette Lewis and Robert DeNiro at the Tribeca Film Festival!


DeNiro showed up at the party for Juliette's latest pic Metropia (she's not in it -- sigh -- just voicework). I mean seeing these two together again is just bananas. The last time I saw them together Juliette was sucking on Bobby's thumb. Which was also bananas. In both connotative senses of the fruit.


At the risk of embarassing one of my best friends, I must ask that if you ever meet Nick Davis you demand to hear his Juliette/Cape Fear voice. It's so unnervingly spot on that the first time he did it for me it made me love both him and Juliette more. And I didn't think I could in either case! So while I'm spreading the link love, please note that Nick is still on his best actress tear having recently written up performances by Ann-Margret, Jane Wyman, Talia Shire and, most controversially, Maggie Smith. Read 'em.

"I was giving Michelle Pfeiffer, bitch"

TV @ the Movies

Did you watch the finale of RuPaul's Drag Race earlier this week? For the final challenge they had to do a catsuit clad catfight and a music video "scene" with RuPaul straight outta 80s era Dynasty. I fully expected the series outcome but I was still disappointed. Scary/beautiful Raven was robbed. She was great all season long but for the finale challenge she was the only contestant who understood and nailed the 80s.

"I'm channeling Lisa Lisa. I'm chanelling Kelly LeBrock. I'm channeling Teena Marie."

Raven (2010) & Kelly LeBrock (1985)

I believe this is the first time in the history of the English language that anyone has said "I'm channelling Kelly LeBrock." Or at least the first time anyone's thought of doing so since the mid 80s when LeBrock had her flash-in-the-pan as the ideal female in The Woman in Red (1984) and Weird Science (1985).

By the time they got to the music video challenge, Raven had a loftier icon in mind.

"I was giving Michelle Pfeiffer, bitch.
I was looking at myself in the mirror.
I was looking f***ing good."
___-Raven on RuPaul's Drag Race

I knew there was a reason I loved Raven best. I get his meaning but I love that you can punctuate the sentence either way: comma bitch to address the audience or capital B Bitch as in the name of said Look... 'giving Michelle Pfeiffer Bitch.' When staring at the mirror with 80s hauteur cool one could conceivably say one was 'giving Michelle Pfeiffer Bitch' and be fully understood.

Example: Michelle Pfeiffer giving Michelle Pfeiffer Bitch.


It's a look.
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Lazy Marquee

Snapped with my iPhone outside one of the two big multiplexes on 42nd Street yesterday. It's quite a schedule.


Either someone is too lazy to type out full film titles or this theater is offering some pretty crazy personal services every 2 ½ hours.

[on an tangential note: this photo also neatly encapsulates my biggest pet peeve about multiplexes. If you have 12-25 screens and you're only going to show a few movies at a time, please knock down some walls and give us bigger screens again. Please and thanks.]
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Who's the Blonde? (Special Edition)

Can you name the blondes?


A [highlight for the answer] Michelle Pfeiffer in The Witches of Eastwick
Correctly guessed by Vatz and Fernando


B [highlight for the answer] Madonna in Body of Evidence
Correctly guessed by Vatz and ShoNuffLives



C [Highlight for partial answer] Glenn Close in the Safety of Objects
conjoined correct guess from Vatz and Ferdi


D [highlight for answer] Meryl Streep in Defending Your Life
Correctly guessed by Vatz and Janice

Bonus Points if you can also name the films.
Extra Special Bonus Points if you can tell me what all of these women have in common!
[highlight for "extra special" answer] They were all rumored to be in the running or auditioning for or actually cast as EVITA during that films long journey to the screen. Remember that?

Extra Special correctly guessed by RJ (Sing out RJ!). Since Vatz is the first person to ever solve all the puzzles first and simultaneously, he gets to choose a banner theme once the current theme has ended.
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Do You Ever...?

...go the movies alone?
.......... Or do you always travel with date or in a pack?
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Curio: Nate Black's Wood Movie Posters

Alexa from Pop Elegantiarum here. I've mentioned before that I'm always on the lookout for great original film poster art, and currently I'm drooling over these beauties by Nate Black. Nate lasers his poster designs into wood (Baltic Birch, to be specific) and then paints over the design with a hand roller for a distinctive, vintage look. He sells them over at his shop, and at totally reasonable prices to boot. Here are some of my favorites.

San Francisco, with rooftop action, in Hitchcock's Vertigo.

Dolphins populating The Cove.

The Dude's rug.

Bloody boat paddles from The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Featured Voto Latino to promote campaign for the 2010 U.S. Census.

In March 2010 Demi Lovato was one of the many stars featured
in a PSA for Voto Latino in order to promote the organization's "Be Counted" campaign for the 2010 U.S. Census.

On March 29, 2010 Demi Lovato announced on her Twitter page that she would be appearing in an upcoming episode of the medical drama series Grey's Anatomy. She will be portraying a teenage patient named Hayley being treated for possible schizophrenia. The episode will air May 13, 2010 on the ABC television network.

Demi Lovato also recorded vocals for the second Disney's Friends for Change single, "Make a Wave". The song is a duet with Joe Jonas. A music video for the song premiered on Disney Channel on March 14, 2010. The song was released on iTunes March 15, 2010 with all proceeds benefiting environmental charities through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF). The song will be featured in the Disney Nature film "OCEANS" released April 22, 2010 to theaters.

Then On March 30, 2010 Demi Lovato's South American Tour was announced through her official Myspace page. This will be her first international headlining tour. The tour kicks off May 23, 2010 in Santiago, Chile and concludes May 28, 2010 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Finally, On March 12, 2010, Lovato confirmed that she had begun dating Joe Jonas, whom she first met while filming Camp Rock in 2007.

Joe Jonas & Demi Lovato First Interview As A Couple

Teen superstars Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato exclusively join Ryan Seacrest to talk about their new relationship that they've just recently gone public with .

Comments :
I LOVE them but it makes me wonder... did they got paid for this as a publicity stunt for Camp Rock 2? Anyways... loving them together xD

If they have been best friends for a while then me and my best friend have been for all eternity