The Boston Society of Film Critics have been known to surprise in the past and this year, they've opted for Juliette Lewis as Best Supporting Actress in Conviction. Bet you didn't see that under five minute surprise coming! A good day for The Fighter, Black Swan and The Social Network. Less so for The Kids Are All Right which did manage two runner up citations but, alas, runner up citations aren't really official and don't get you great FYC material. It was also a bad day for Ben Affleck's The Town. Home-town bias didn't help it to place anywhere.
Full list with commentary after the jump
PictureThe Social Network Runner up: Toy Story 3 Director David Fincher for The Social Network Runner up: Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan Actress Natalie Portman in Black Swan Runner up: Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right ActorJesse Eisenberg in The Social Network Runner up: Colin Firth (The King's Speech) who lost by just one vote apparently. Supporting Actress:Juliette Lewis in Conviction (read the TFE interview) Runner Up: Melissa Leo (The Fighter) Supporting Actor Christian Bale in The FighterRunner Up: Andrew Garfield in The Social Network Screenplay Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network Runner up: Nicole Holocener for Please Give
Cinematography: Roger Deakins for the Coen Bros True Grit Runner up: Matthew Libatique for Black Swan Editing (in memory of Karen Schmeer) Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan Runner up: Lee Smith for Inception
"It's our time."
A lot of people 'round the netare calling this a "sweep" for ...Network. It's a very strong showing yes, but a sweep? A sweep implies everything and they didn't win Supporting Actor and they won none of the technical prizes -- not even runner up -- apart from "music". Nitpicking forever! Very very strong showing, yes, but not a sweep. Several other films also won invites to Boston's wonderful Brattle Theater for the ceremony on January 30th, 2011.Think Juliette Lewis will show?
New Filmmaker (in memory of David Brudnoy)Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol Runner up: David Michôd for Animal Kingdom Best Use of Music in a Film Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network Runner up: Carter Burwell for True Grit Ensemble CastThe Fighter Runner up: The Kids Are All Right DocumentaryMarwencol Runner up: Inside Job Foreign Language FilmMother (South Korea) Runner up: I Am Love (Italy) Animated FilmToy Story 3 Runner up: The Illusionist
In her music video "Uh Huh" Juliette Lewis sashays around with a bouquet of colorful balloons, smiling radiantly. Her mood seems lighter than air. It's an incongruous musical moment in her rock grrrl career -- in the newest video "Terra Incognito" she's back to her old in-your-face provocations -- but the softer side was lovely to see.
And why shouldn't Juliette's mood be lighter these days? After years of touring to build a music career while doing thankless cameos in mainstream comedies, could it be that filmmakers are finally on the verge of rediscovering her unique gift?
Juliette Lewis has taken up more than her share of my actressy headspace ever since I first heard her inimitable voice in the opening frames of Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). I don't even like narration -- in anything -- and I was instantly enamored.
I met with Juliette Lewis in October at the stylish Crosby Street Hotel in Soho, where she was holding court promoting the Oscar hopefulConviction. The film is still playing around the country (check the listing for yours) and speaking of holding court, Juliette's role is minor but attention grabbing.
Juliette Takes the Stand.
You meet her character Roseanna Perry first as she takes the witness stand. Roseanna's testimony will make things hopeless for soon to be life-sentenced Terry (Sam Rockwell). Later his sister Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) will come calling hoping that she'll recant that damning testimony.
When you only have two scenes, you have to make them count. I wondered if she prepared any differently knowing it was such a minor role. "NO." Juliette replied emphatically, explaining that the smaller the role, the bigger the acting challenge in a way.
Juliette the day we met.
Juliette: How do I tell what's been going on with this character in two scenes? I think with all my roles, I want them to be visceral sort of a live experience. I've been doing live shows for the last five years so I carry that with me but I always want you to get a sense of this personality. It's not necessarily in the words. When she's on the witness stand you see that she's troubled, she's damaged, she's not a very joyful creature. And then the exciting thing is to meet her 18 years later and telling a story of what she's been doing. I hope that you get the sense that she never leaves her trailer, she's been drinking for 18 years and doing drugs --we don't know what kind. If you just took those two elements and had a conversation with that person that would be incredibly complicated and interesting. But then you pile on that she's created a world of her own fiction through guilt and lying and then she's being confronted by the person she's wronged. It's intense and amazing and that's why she bounces off the walls emotionally.
Short answer: I had all these details and all these ingredients that I had to then put together and make an organic person. To me, I was like 'Oh, I get to play one of these characters,' a person that you walk the other direction when you see them on the street. These people who have a very upsetting unsettling energy. I wanted people to feel uncomfortable because she's uncomfortable.
We continued talking about her research. Despite what some would deem a loud performance, Roseanna Perry offscreen sounds like an even bigger nightmare than the one Juliette dreamt up for us. I told Juliette that as a fan I'm always hoping she'll get bigger parts. "Someday," she replied with mock dreaminess. "We'll build it together!"
Nathaniel: One of the reasons I love your second scene is that you are suddenly the star of the movie. If you think about it all the characters are surrounding you and they're living or dying based on what you're about to do. Plus, the punchline is so great. It's like your holding court in the scene.
Juliette: That's amazing. That makes total sense, I love that; it's her show. At the same time there's this oddity that she's receiving guests. 'Oh, guests are at my place. Would you like some wine?'
Nathaniel: She probably doesn't get guests that often.
Juliette: That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking she talks to her TV.
Juliette went on to describe Roseanna's psyche, sounding almost sad in the process, indicating that as an actress she'd really dug down into the contradictions of someone who is self-serving, who feels a lot of guilt yet won't make amends.
Nathaniel: I imagine as an actor you have to always believe in the truth of your character, even if they're a born liar?
Juliette: ABSOLUTELY. Human beings are so contradictory and colorful and a blend of so many things. She [Roseanna] turns up her own emotions to get affect but she also feels what she feels.
Juliette Lewis as Roseanna Perry
As the conversation shifted away from Conviction, Juliette talked about her year's away from the movies touring to building her music career but despite the devotion to her music career she seemed genuinely happy to be back in the mix of the movies. "I don't know if I've changed or the movies have changed," she explained "but everything has been this sort of delicious experience." Yes, even small roles in Jennifer Aniston movies are deemed delicious so you know Juliette Lewis means it when she says she's glad to be acting again.
When I asked if we could discuss the 90s, Juliette didn't hesitate though she did get a little contemplative about a retrospective "It's so funny when you don't have perspective at the time. You don't know what you're necessarily doing that's relevant or whatever. You sort of learn in hindsight." Nearly twenty years have passed since she first made a big mark on the screen, but her memory of the films seemed razor sharp.
We didn't peruse the films chronologically but jumped around in conversation beginning with Natural Born Killers (1994). It was the first time I'd heard her sing as she paced her prison cell singing "Naturally Born Bad." I theorized on what made that particular performance so special.
Nathaniel: Watching Mallory --- it's like she's hearing music in her head that you can't hear. A radio station that's JUST her frequency. So then when you start singing in that scene it's a natural fit, like the part is coalescing.
Juliette: I love that. That makes sense. That's funny -- for different parts I use music for brainwashing if that's what you want to call it. I was listening to Jimmy Hendrix. It's not so much his voice but the guitar playing. It had so much danger despair torment chaos if you listen to "Voodoo Child" it's everything of that journey, that character. I would listen to that over and over before filming so that was living inside.
We moved from talking about Oliver Stone who she called "brilliant" to Husbands and Wives (1992). One of my personal favorite scenes in Woody's filmography is her scene in the taxicab when her character Rain admits that she's lost Woody's book --- "his manuscript," Juliette corrected me, recalling the scene just as I'd begun to describe it. She had loved working with Woody Allen because he encouraged improvisation. I asked her if she was aware that he was going to leave the camera on her for practically the whole scene. He has most of the dialogue and yet we're watching her.
Juliette: That's crazy that he did that. What a nice director.
Nathaniel: Rain seems so amused by how much she's upset him.
Juliette as the precocious Rain in Husbands and Wives (1992)
Juliette: She is! Young girls... they just drive you nuts, that youthful arrogance, that superiority. I've had a 22 year old call me "honey" and I was just like 'WHAT? I don't think so!' Honestly she likes the attention of her mistake and she likes seeing him get all riled up. It's very flattering for her that he's asking her opinion. The more insecure he gets the more superior she feels -- classic younger girl and older guy. All those things I discover when playing it.
Nathaniel: But did you know it was your scene, that you would hold the camera?
Juliette: I had no idea, no. I thought we were shooting my take and than we shoot his take. I never even thought about that. I didn't really think of it in a heady way. I don't contrive these things so much before hand. I just sort of understand the scene and the character. My goal always is to surrender and be in the moment -- ultimately you're just surrendering and seeing what happens.
One of Juliette's favorite directors is of course her own brother Lightfield Lewis who she has worked with numerous times. Juliette raved about their new collaboration (the video is below, it had just come out a couple of days before the interview) for "Terra Incognito". "It's really visual and has a lot of fighting in it -- for taking your licks and getting back up."
Terra Incognito
"Terra Incognito" is the most recent single from her latest record but I had to tell her how amused I was to see a subliminal insert of the famous thumbsucking scene from Cape Fear in the previous video to "Uh Huh." Did she know that was going to be there?
Juliette: No, I didn't know it. That's my brother. He loves all things pop culture. He's very cinematic. My brother is the movie buff, the filmmaker. All the things that influenced me were all musicals: All That Jazz, Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease. No, I didn't know he was going to do that.
She had actually asked him to remove it, fearing that the music fans would be confused. Not all of them knew she was an actress. The conversation about these movie referencing videos sent her into thinking about her different worlds and where they did and did not merge comfortably "It's funny that i'm used to being this underdog in different dimensions." But she believed she was finally finding the balance and merging the two. Does this mean she'd be willing to make a musical?
Juliette: I'd love it. I want it to be super strange though like Terry Gilliam style or Bob Fosse.
Nathaniel: John Cameron Mitchell, maybe. Like a Hedwig sort of energy?
Juliette: YES. I actually met with him. He wanted me to play Hedwig somewhere. Wouldn't that be neat? In the play. Wouldn't that be interesting?
When my time was up -- promotional rounds have tight time frames -- Juliette offered to keep chatting, holding the clockwatcher (i.e. publicist) at bay. "He has a million great questions!" We ended by chatting for a few minutes about Kathyrn Bigelow's Strange Days, her recent Oscar win (Juliette was "over the moon" about it) and the birth of Juliette's own music career by way of P.J. Harvey's songs.
I told her about the first time I saw Strange Days and being as thunderstruck watching her as Ralph Fiennes was from his crosswalk overlook. It was hard not to think of her as a fully formed rock star. This wasn't pretend. At first Juliette rejected the Faith/Juliette comparison and amusingly described her vision of her self with sing-song wit.
Juliette: It was very much Kathyrn's vision of what she was so it wasn't me per se. Faith is really damaged. I'm a much different creature on stage -- I like to think a superhero or a magical pixie -- but, yes, that was amazing. That's when P.J. Harvey entered my life as a musician. I just drank her up. There's nothing like her.
Nathaniel: Well, tome Strange Days was your debut as a rock star; it was the start of the music career before the music career actually started.
Juliette: [Suddenly excited] What I'm not telling you is that it did! I was a closeted songwriters/singer. I was keeping it in because it was the most personal -- too vulnerable. Having to sing for a role made me step out and go 'remember this? You're a singer.' But I still wasn't ready because I was so self critical. I had to go through some changes in my life. I finally did it when I was approaching age 30. A little bit late but i'm making up for lost time.
Nathaniel: Hey, late bloomers... that's fine. I started writing when I was approaching 30 and now I don't love anything else more.
Juliette: Isn't that amazing? It's like 'This is who I was all along and now I finally let it out.'
Uh Huh
Let it out, Juliette. Keep letting that magic out. *
Since America proved tonight at the polls (yay democracy!) that we are all just one tiny step away from being uneducated white trash who vote against our own interests and functioning society -- seriously if there's no government, who will pick up the garbage, who will protect us if someone breaks into our homes, who will make sure our children aren't as idiotic as we are? -- I thought this might be an appropriate way to "celebrate"!
White Trash Cameos!
God bless Catherine at the Guardian for the word "hameo". Maybe she didn't invent the word (?) but I was unfamiliar and I will now use for-e-ver.
The article is inspired by the hot mess bliss of Juliette Lewis in Conviction and features a spot on appraisal of what Ms Lewis does for and to the film (I'm sorry my article on Lewis is so delayed). Catherine surveys memorable "hameos" and then asks readers for theirs. You must read the comments section. It's joy upon joy upon joy... a veritable stack of blueberry pancakes smothered in syrup (the hefty portions of bacon on the side are a given).
Weirdly Catherine cites Keanu Reeves in The Gift (which, if you've never seen it is like THE perfect embodiment of "erratically acted movie") as an, uh, problem. My favorite so-terrible-maybe-it's-good? performance in that 'Cate Blanchett is Totally Psychic!' movie actually belongs to none other than Hilary Swank (the defacto star of the movie that Lewis is currently stealing away).
In The Gift Swank plays, you guessed it, Poor White Trash. But she's doing it with this absurdly tinny/squeaky little girl voice. To this day, I can hear her bizarre line reading of "I was thinking baaaad thoughts." It's literally the only thing I remember from the movie. That and Katie Holmes's Demi-Moore-like breast baring, which is to say: she got those babies out emphatically, as if her career depended on it.
What is it about playing white trash that makes actors go so bonkers? They always become cartoons.
"People heare bout what yer doin' and they laugh at yyyeeeewwww"
I'm totally not crazy about watermelons myself. I don't like anything where I have to spit out seeds. You?
This entirely random post has been brought to you by a recent screening of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) in which just about everyone is excellent even though people only talk about it today in terms of Leonardo DiCaprio's first entirely deserved Oscar nomination. I meant to watch just one scene from it the other day and ended up sitting through the whole thing. Addictive, I tell ya. There's so many choice scenes but one moment I fell hard for all over again is when Johnny Depp's enormously obese mother (played by Darlene Cates), embarrassed to meet her son's new girl (Juliette), introducers herself with a shameful "I wasn't always like this." Juliette merely repeats her phrase "I wasn't always like this" and then a barely visible shrug. It's this unlikely mix of total empathy, unsentimental observation (we're always changing), and 'whatever -- nice to meet'cha' nonchalance. I love Juliette.
Pssst. Interview with Juliette Lewis is coming early next week... I'm behind in transcribing.
My subconscious is angry that I have only done one big NYFF write up. Last night I tossed and turned -- 3 hours of sleep tops -- and had one of those persistent dreams which recycles stuff you've just experienced. Each time you fall back asleep you return to it and in its relentless disturbance, it becomes a nightmare even though it's not scary.
It took place in a huge empty house in which I'm throwing a party. At some point I was doing an elaborate photoshoot with two actresses. Please don't stop to ponder why they were Franka Potente (!) and Meg Ryan (???) or why they were then Juliette Lewis* and Sandra Bullock. (Was this a 1990s period piece?) Everyone was angry when they discovered the shoot was in black and white. At one point someone wore a Princess Valhalla Hawkwind costume. My dad was suddenly there smiling with approval that I knew famous actresses (This was the "you're dreaming!" moment -- or like that bit in Inception where all the subconcious projections turn to look at you -- whoever the forger was, he wasn't as prepared as Tom Hardy. My dad would never do this.) I went out for coffee since the party was running low.
Then I'm in the atrium and I see Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg lowering my rented grand piano down through the building and all is chaos. The piano strikes a railing and begins to break into pieces. They claim they were trying to help but they've ruined my life as the cost of a grand piano will bankrupt me.
Then there is no party, and the dream is a mystery about some crime which keeps changing and to which I am not privvy and the detectives (Mills & Somerset, natch) keep asking me if David Fincher did it. How self referential! They also tell me they're investigating "Joe" and Abbas Kiarostrami** and I keep telling them I know nothing but everyone is sure that I do.
We know you've seen them! They were at your party
Nothing makes any sense from moment to moment in the dream's third act. It's all fractured clues, 2 second scenes, filmmaker name-checks. The last image is a shot of dusty footprints leading nowhere. I don't know who did it or what they were supposed to have done but I'm pretty sure that bastard Justin Timberlake who wrecked my piano is guilty.
My dream was edited with a chainsaw. The chainsaw had ADD. I hope your night was more restful and the celebrity cameos less willfully destructive and angry. Feel free to share.
*regularly makes cameos in Nathaniel's REM life. ** I assure you this is a first time appearance.
Weird but true confession: Whenever I look at photos from film festival press conferences, I always end up imagining that it was one big press conference with all of the movie stars and films represented at the same table. This can lead to weird imaginary resentments, unspoken battles and other duets.
I mean what would Nic' & Hil' even have to say too each other? Not that Hilary wouldn't feign amiability and Nicole wouldn't glare frostily. Maybe they'd talk about Best Actress wins? It's the only thing they have in common.
And what does Juliette Lewis think of Vera Farmiga? Or maybe she's just wondering when Vera is due or what it's like to kiss George Clooney or maybe why they both don't get first choice of every movie script in town since they're so uniquely talented.
Perhaps you can make better sense of these imaginary mash-ups in the comments.
This message has been brought to you by ADD and afternoon boredom.
That's a Juliette Lewis moment from the Jennifer Aniston comedy The Switch. I'm glad that this scene in which she (apparently) gently chastises Jason Bateman for being insufficiently perky is on Apple. It's the closest I want to come to that movie, unless there's a scene in which Patrick Wilson actually performs his "donor" duty. What? I'm only human.
And speaking of... Patrick Wilson needs to be a bigger star. I suspect people have found him too bland for leading roles but that's a shame really because he's terrific in both Little Children (2006) and Angels in America (2003) and it's not like anyone was all that good in Watchmen (2009) or Phantom of the Opera (2004), so why hold those against him? Plus he was kinda great on Broadway in both The Full Monty and Oklahoma! ...not that they're making that many movie musicals and when they're making them they aren't casting for musical ability. [Editor's note: Dead horse. You are beaten!] It's just that he's totally great at playing these "generically idealized man" types and those characters are often in danger of being a touch bland... even or maybe especially if you're playing them well.
<-- Maybe Barry Munday (pictured with Judy Greer) will help since his looks are so downplayed and his body is so unchararcteristically that of a mere mortals?
Anyway...
I hate to be a buzzkill myself but I just can't get behind Jennifer Aniston as a movie star (though I would gladly watch her headline a sitcom). I always seem to want to recast movies with the lively supporting character actors switching places with the duller leading ladies and men. I would totally buy a ticket to see an artificial insemination comedy that was about Juliette Lewis's romantic foibles with Patrick Wilson wherein Jennifer Aniston throws some sort of party and dispenses supporting actress advice. Just like I might have actually bought a ticket to P.S. I Love You if Gina Gershon or Lisa Kudrow were communing with their dead husbands played not by Gerard Butler while Hilary Swank smiled from the sidelines doing best friend duty, always in danger of landing on the cutting room floor.
But if Hollywood made movies to please me they'd go bankrupt. Truth.
Here's the Weekend Box Office should you be curious about these things. (I know nobody comes here specifically for this -- why would you? -- but would you like seeing the chart referenced casually each week? Maybe you do look it up each week even if you don't really care. That's how I do.)
Did you contribute to any of these box office takes? Money well spent? Also if you've seen The Switch do speak up. I'm curious against my will. Some people I follow on Twitter had me convinced that Jen would soon win an Oscar (not for this but for something). That's totally plausible given what AMPAS voters value most in Best Actress (likeability, sex appeal, career heat. Acting is like 7th on the list.). But I'd have to retire. I just couldn't deal. The horror. The horror. *
Box Office MojoThe Tourist with Depp & Jolie will be opening in 2010. Time to adjust those Oscar charts? Yeah, yeah. I'll try to start this weekend. Rope of Silicon mixes Inception music over Black Narcissus images for a 2010 trailer for the 1947 classic. Neato (if a bit spoilery) Mighty God King P.S.A: Fozzy vs. Pac-Man (?!) I Need My Fix pics from the premiere of The Switch. In a just world Juliette Lewis would be 1,000 times more famous than Jennifer Aniston. You know it's true. Dennis Cozzalio just turned 50 and celebrates with a funny post. (Mmmm, brains.) Go wish him a happy 1/2 century year! I mean it.
Camp BloodTrue Blood "Rolling Stone" cover now made extra gay! DListed Speaking of... Alexander Skarsgard cracks me up. So casual about his scorchingness. What would Daddy Stellan think of all of this? popbytes has my favorite reaction to this whole sockless news. How do you really feel about this "news" Jeremy? Quit hedging! Ginger Williams made nesting dolls of Golden Girls and Steel Magnolias. Wha...? The Entertainment Junkie remembers Lost in Translation and thinks Sofia Coppola's Oscar is a bit of a cheat (in a complimentary way!) BlogStage Jenelle meets Dennis Quaid. I love it when writers meeting their acting idols. Sweet.
Off Screen Tom Scott I love these warning labels to place on bad journalism. My favorite is the press release one. So many blogs are like that. Sigh. Though you can't really stick stickers on a blog. Can you? You wouldn't be able to see your screen when you click away! Just Jared Ricky Martin's memoir is called Me. That's all they could come up with?
And finally, for no reasons other than it made me laugh, excuse me, lol -- and I am the type that reads scifi/fantasy novels -- and I'm in a juvenile mood (sorry!) try this hilarious raunchy ode to sci-fi novelist. NSFW unless you're on headphones.
First things first, changing your movie title from something very specific like Betty Anne Waters to something as generic as Conviction is not a good sign. Searching for Conviction on IMDb will get you several films, theatrical/dvd/made-for-TV. Searching for Betty Anne Waters gets you just one. Are they scared of people thinking "ewww, it's a girl's movie!" or maybe "Is this a sequel to Amelia? That sucked" or what?
But here's the trailer.
So here's where we break it down.
Yes, no, or maybe so?
The supporting cast is jam-packed with good actors: Melissa Leo - sure okay; Sam Rockwell - yes, please; Minnie Driver -why the hell not?!; Juliette Lewis -Yes, please x 10. And wherever I can get her which isn't on silver screens that much. I had all but forgotten that she had a role in this film. I never knew, even before the forgetting, that it would a real role, and not some throwaway part. But she's even name-checked in the trailer and with her Academy Award Nominee status no less. Yay and also Wow because that doesn't happen much. With all of these good actors on board, maybe they'll all escape the typical "I'm poor! Listen to my weird townie/rural accent!" actor's trap. An accent is not a character.
You're smart. You'll know that I don't have to explain myself here. Kapeesh?
I don't think there's enough films made about brothers & sisters and their unique bonds. I really don't. Usually if you see a film about siblings it's almost always brothers with a random sister act hitting us now and then. I'm always curious to see if actors can pull off a familial bond. Most of the time this game of pretend is no more than adequate but when something really clicks between two actors in terms of family chemistry, it can be truly potent stuff. I'm hoping Swank and Sam pull it off since the whole film will kind of depend on it.
I suppose I'm a "maybe so" based solely on Juliette Lewis and Oscar interest. But I'll be an immediate "no" with mediocre reviews. I really can't be bothered with courtroom dramas unless the reviews are strong. I personally think it's the genre that's most "dead" onscreen. As in, why is someone making this movie? They'd better have a damn good reason and explain it with some cinematic zing! But every once in awhile there's a great one (see Erin Brockovich)
This is neither here nor there but the film is directed by Tony Goldwyn, grandson of legendary studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn. You might not know Tony's name but you surely know his face. He's that vaguely eyebrow-less guy who Hollywood always wants you to loathe and also loathe yourself for loving because he's super attractive.
Hey, it's a niche. An actor's gotta work.
But is it really fair to hate on him for killing his best friend to get into Demi Moore's pants? Because who wouldn't have offed their buddy for Demi circa 1990? I mean, cut a guy some slack. It'sDemi.
Goldwyn A.D./B.D before and after psychoanalyzing one Dexter Morgan
I've been watching Dexter lately on Netflix Instant Watch (that obsession has cooled a bit). Goldwin directs multiple episodes and in one he even directs himself as a psychiatrist who kills off powerful women after reducing them to hot messes with a lethal combo of bad therapy and drugs. [Why are psychiatrist always evil in movies? Discuss.] Naturally, Dexter cuts him up into little itty bits.
Goldwyn previously directed the critically well received A Walk in the Moon (1999) but, alas, Conviction (née Betty Anne Waters) doesn't star Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen.
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 screendiversion 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.
