All Good Links

Before we get to today's link roundup -- I went a little crazy as I sometimes do -- enjoy the heat sensor-like photography of the All Good Things poster. Perhaps Ryan and Kiki were a bit jealous of the ruckus Jake & Annie's nude poster caused online.

P.S. Jake Gyllenhaal is obsessed with Ryan Gosling. Just saying. I would try to quote his answer from Saturday night when the audience question 'who would you like to work with?' popped up but it was so rambling and long and confusing that I can't. But let's just say it began with Ryan Gosling, was jilted by Ryan Gosling via text "I'm busy" and then ended again with a circular non sequitor shout of "Ryan Gosling!" Jake likey. Ryan Gosling is what you might call an actor's actor... since everyone seems to want to work with him.

On to the linkage...
Candy Magazine A double take of pleasure. Yes, that's James Franco to your left continuing his trans formation from one of the great herd of Hollywood pretty boys to an actually interesting celebrity.
My New Plaid Pants is an über fan of Let the Right One In. Doesn't hate Let Me In. Since the response has been so positively muted like "it's good: also, a recreation" I've decided not to see it.
Broadway.com Carrie the Musical being revived. Wow.
Cinema Blend Me pal Katey basically says all I have to say about the trailer for Julie Taymor's Tempest so I don't need to cover it here. What she said, minus the positive bits since I liked the movie even less than she.
The Big Picture Tony Curtis grand sendoff in Las Vegas
Hero Complex Emma Stone will play Gwen Stacy in the new Spider-Man. I'm glad that early reports were wrong. Why do the whole Mary Jane story again. That said, isn't it weird that someone known as a redhead is going to play Spidey's favorite blonde and someone known as a blonde was cast as his favorite redhead. Weirdness.
The Awl Sasha Frere-Jones and Natasha VC on The Social Network. If you haven't read enough yet, it's fun as always to read these two.
50 Best Theater Blogs I'll have to investigate this list.
Just Jared Joseph Gordon-Levitt lost his older brother. So sad.
Towleroad celebs speaking about gay bullying on Larry King Live
Movie|Line offers tips to Renée Zellweger on how she could regain her A list status. I love the suggestion of a brilliant twitter feed. I hope she calls it @Zeéeee after my new nickname for her. Zeéeeee reads me right? *

Double Duty!
Movielicious Have you seen this great mashup poster for Toy Story and Tron? I wish I knew who did it to give them proper cred.
Scott Feinberg "Are Bening *And* Moore All Right." Some smart words on the The Kids Are All Right Oscar campaign.
John Luciano a Calvin & Hobbes mashup with Let the Right One In. Teehee. I used to love Calvin's girlcrush but can't remember her name right now

*Obviously I am kidding. Someone I am acquainted with who works in the industry once told me that every star googles themselves --whether they admit it or not -- and is familiar with their biggest cheerleaders and nemeses online. But I chose not to believe her because it weirded me out too much to think of Beelzebub, She Who Must Not Be Named, La Pfeiff and The Bening reading or even knowing of my puny existence.

TIFF Capsules: Let Me In, Tamara Drewe, The Illusionist and Stone.

Normally my friend txtcritic who must remain anonymous just, well, texts me. Usually in the form of pithy sentence long reviews or moviegoing observations. But this time he sent capsules of his Toronto experience thus far. Enjoy.

"The Illusionist" shifts downgear from the infectious exuberance of "Triplets of Bellevile" to a more melancholy, low-key thing. It's largely lovely and endearing, but leaves one with a lot more to admire than to get caught up or involved in (though many others seem to be ringing the "masterpiece" bells). The film's incremental snowballing cynicism will ultimately leave you either profoundly sad or oddly cold/disengaged. I'm somewhat between the two, but I'd like another viewing. B

Leigh, Manville, Ruth Sheen & Jim Broadbent @ TIFF

"Another Year" belongs in Leigh's upper-tier. Lesley Manville gets the showy role. At first, I was ready to cry 'overhyped' but her character subtly shifts and slowly grows more downtrodden in such a realistic way that it will make some uncomfortable with recognition. As a whole, the movie's consistently absorbing and lovely in character detail, but Manville's performance is what makes it a heartbreaker. A-

Consensus definitely places Lesley Manville as an Oscar nominee. We already know that Oscar voters respond to the women in Mike Leigh pictures. But will it be a lead or supporting campaign? That probably depends on how the studio feels about her winning chances in either category. I'll be seeing this picture in a couple of weeks. I loved Manville & Broadbent's chemistry together in Topsy Turvy (1999) and though they're not a couple this time I hope they have plentiful scenes together.

Dominic Cooper and Gemma Arterton at the Tamara Drewe premiere to your left. About Stephen Frears latest....

Based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, "Tamara Drewe" constantly alternates between amusing and irritating. It's devoid of substance and aggressively quirky, while never being less than watchable. Certainly a change of pace for Stephen Frears, but makes you wonder why he decided to make this movie. Tamara (Gemma Arterton) is an empty vessel who barely registers as a character and the only one who gives a performance of any depth or complexity is Tamsin Greig as a cuckolded wife. B-/C+

Though it's to be commended for reaching for something beyond the conventional movie the trailers are selling, "Stone" only barely falls just short of Trainwreck designation. It has enough batshit moments to never lose your interest, but it's ultimately the very definition of a "mess"; there's nary a coherent thought in its head. No one seems to have been given much direction, and we're as dumbfounded as how we should feel about their characters as they seem to be. De Niro shows early signs that this will be his first inspired performance in years but then loses his way, and I never could quite get a handle on what Edward Norton or Milla Jovovich were doing. D+

Finally, the early buzz on Let Me In is good dashing our hopes that critics would crucify it. Now normally we don't root against pictures we haven't seen but why was it remade in the first place? Read on...

While "Let Me In" remains an 'unnecessary' remake throughout, Matt Reeves has crafted a surprisingly successful, respectful 'cover' version of the beloved "Let the Right One In." Aside from one or two (superb) sequences, and some amped-up suspense and gore, not much new has been added here. What most impresses is how the film avoids pretty much every possible expected "remake" decision where it could have pandered or "broadened" appeal or caved to general American sensibilities. Reeves absolutely nails the tone of the original film, imposes largely the same look (often even paying homage to the original shot compositions), and the perfectly cast chief actors -- Chloe Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas -- feel just right in their roles. Skeptics, put away your knives. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. A-

I'm not sure I'll be pleasantly surprised. So far I've read a couple of reviews proclaiming that it's better than the original and several going to lengths to describe how meticulously director Matt Reeves has transferred the visual aesthetics, mood and even the shots of the original. How is a carefully detailed copy ever better than an original? Or at least how does whatever praise it garners seem like more than an interception? Please to explain. Whatever we love about it, must be credited to the original, if what we love was originated there. It's like when some people wanted to give Zach Snyder credit for the visual aesthetics of Watchmen when what he was essentially doing was following the storyboard and character designs provided by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in graphic novel form.

Kodi Smit-McPhee gets bullied in Let Me In

Sorry, sorry. I know I'm off consensus on this topic. But faithful remakes they make-a me crazeeeeeeeeeee. This is why, ironically, I respected Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998) so much. See, that widely hated film purposefully billed itself as a recreation... it was, therefore, an honest aesthetic experiment and cinematic exercize rather than a movie made to replace another movie for people who can't bring themselves to read subtitles or watch older films.

Maybe I'll calm down once I've seen it if it's good. Maybe I just don't relish having to watch Chloe Moretz every time a film needs a teenager this coming decade. They're casting her in everything (8-10 projects already on the way) and even if I loved her more, I always enjoy a variety of faces in my moviegoing.
*

Yes, No, Maybe So: Let Me In

It's a "yes, no, maybe so" first. It's just a yes and no which is actually just a no. Bias alert!

Let Me In
While I normally try and maintain an open mind about new films, beyond the common 'I know what I like' biases that every critic or casual moviegoer goes in with (whether or not they admit to it... but that's another topic), this is a special case. I'm a "No" before watching the trailer given that the whole thing reminds me of nothing more than those knockoff dresses meant to replicate a popular Oscar gown. Only in this case, it makes no sense to buy the knockoff because it's not any cheaper than the great original. In fact, it's more expensive since ticket prices are always going up.

But before I even watched the trailer I must admit unoriginal but sincere confusion as to why the aesthetically beautiful teaser poster is constructed of blood and ice. One of the most chilling aspects (hahaha) of the original film was its wintry Scandinavian setting. The new film supposedly relocates the movie to New Mexico but both the poster and the trailer suggest we're still in wintry Scandinavia. Now, I've personally only been to New Mexico once, for cheesy 'Drive around the four corners!' tourist reasons so my knowledge is extremely untrustworthy... but it didn't strike me as a wintry place at all. And though I'm no meteorological expert I have the vague perception that it's not very cold in the Southwest even in the winter. Do lakes even freeze over in the winter?

Whatever. I'll shut up. It's just a poster. Here's the trailer.



Yes Here's the one thing I'm genuinely curious about. What's the cinematography by Greig Fraser going to be like over the course of the whole film? His work on Bright Star was just exceptional. I could see forgiving this film's existence if it made people notice (retroactively) how amazing his work on Bright Star was since it won virtually no awards.
No I can answer that in five words "Let the Right One In" or I could use just two "Chloe Moretz".
Maybe So A trailer has finally stumped me. I have no mixed feelings about this movie. I object to its very existence as well as all the credit it will get as "original" or "visionary" or whatever adjective the press notes will supply people should it happen to win good reviews whilst copying a superior film.

BlaA--AA--aaaARRrrrggh. Sorry.

Are you a yes, no or maybe so?
I won't judge you. I'm still too busy judging the film I haven't seen.
*

Eat Pray Link

eat, pray
<--- Look, it's the new poster for the Julia Roberts flick Eat Pray Love. Julia appears to be eating a little low fat ice cream or substitute product or some such. Two days back, while melting in the hateful sun and picking up more cat medicine -- don't ask, things have been terrible -- I actually bought a cup of this stuff. Eating while praying, I had to cheer up.

The marketing department was always going to be hard pressed to beat the book cover but isn't this a bit... dull? Especially considering how much they have to work with: Different countries, hot co-stars, spiritual awakenings. I mean, there's an elephant in the movie. Elephant! How can you pass up an elephant for a stone bench? Ah well, at least it's not a giant floating movie star head. Which is pretty much all you'd see if I did an episode of posterized with Julia herself.

Are you excited to see this in August? I'm hoping it's good. Seems like the sort of thing that's just right for Julia in the right now. [see also: previous post]

link
Fassinating Fassbender the Michael Fassbender fanblog gets its own interview with the man himself.
Telegraph UK Tim Robey "Why I Love: Juliette Lewis". Ah, I knew I loved Tim for a reason. Well, several of them.
CHUD laments the state of movie posterdom. The only great ones (Buried) are rip offs of classics.

I Need My Fix Quote of the Day Ashton Kutcher on his post Killers body
Cinema Blend a test screening review of the remake Let Me In. It's extremely positive but I'm hoping critics take this down on principle ;) Why remake something if you're only going to copy it? That's living off other people's glory.
Towleroad a couple of notes on Splice. My feelings haven't changed much since Sundance but I suppose the parts that were good have aged well. That "Dren" really is a memorable creation. Good sound design, too. There's more interesting links there, too...

Eat Pray Link. But mostly Link apparently.

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.