Since we won't have another repetitive day like this until 3010 and since I will be well into my 1000somethings when that day arrives (yes, I plan to live as long as Gandalf... though without the scraggly beard) and possibly too senile to blog, I was going to post this great picture of a certain actress in a t-shirt that read "10" that I screencapped a year ago and I cannot find it. Sadness. You get a link roundup instead.
Film School Rejects funny list of "10" themed movies. Kino London today in film history. 10/10 means both Ed Wood and Orson Welles. TOH I don't wanna say 'told ya so' given what I wrote a few days ago when I changed my Best Picture charts and bitched about people bitching about The Social Network's box office but a 30% drop only in the second weekend... told ya so! Add a few 10s of millions to your final box office projections. New York Daily News the 10 guest stars to watch in this TV season. Gwyneth Paltrow on Glee among them. Show Tracker 10 best moments of the TV year thus far. LA Times 10 best movies of the year that you might have missed. Go Animal Kingdom! New York Press 'Top 10 Latin American Movies of the Aughts' to screen in NYC. I've seen 6 of them (all good) but I've always meant to see La Cineaga so I should go. What do you think shoulda been on this list that's not?
/Film Perfect 10 Tom Hardy should find a big movie quick. The way I see star ascendance trajectories, Bronson was the perfect 'look at me!' move, Inception was the ideal 'gotcha' for the mainstream moviegoers who hadn't been paying attention and the next picture is supposed to be the slam dunk 'I'm a superstar' move. It's no time to vanish from screens! But Mad Max: Fury Road has halted production until maybe 2012? Poor Tommy. Empire David O. Russell's 10th directorial project (if you include the continually troubled Nailed and his short films) will either be Old St. Louis with Vince Vaughn or Drake's Fortune, a video game adaptation. Cinematical Reasons why you should be excited for Saoirse Ronan as Hanna. But wait, this list only goes up to 7, not 10. Call the blog police! *
Behold: The Poster for Burlesque. I think the marketing department deserves kudos for managing to pay homage to both of their leading ladies simultaneously in a way that's flattering to both. Although the hot pink "they airbrushed my face" quality won't be a sale for everyone.
Linques MTV Whoa! Darren Aronofsky originally conceived of Black Swan and The Wrestler as a single film. Now I'm even more intrigued. Hollywood Crush Bradley Cooper and Ryan Reynolds as action co-stars? Media to swoon. In Contention Isabella Rossellini to head Berlinale jury Stale PopcornGypsy 83. I never hear anyone talking about this movie so I had to link up. Way too underseen for something so heartfelt. MNPP Good morning. Hey, I love bookshelves, too. They scream "I am what I am." Serious Film "Pulled from the Wreckage" Fine acting in terrible films Cinematical freaks out over the amount of stunts in Mad Max: Fury Road Awards Daily on the current cynicism and the Oscar race. Movies Kick Ass picks his favorite Emmy dresses. Christina Hendricks was probably mine. But I'm a sucker for attention grabbing cleavage ... and lavender come to think of it... and redheads (come to keep thinking of it). Triple success.
Go Fug Yourself on Diana Agron's (Glee) Little Women look on the red carpet. PopWrap first official image of Kristen Bell in Burlesque. They think she'll be the most quoted character. Geekscape asks "What if The Expendables had an all female cast?" Answer: Nathaniel would've seen it twice already. (P.S. A female version is so not a bad idea.)
And finally The Awl asks a question that's really been haunting me lately "Why is American selfishness so widespread now?" It's been a disheartening summer -- lack of empathy everywhere. I think you can even see this in reviews of movie dramas. People just have no time or patience for other people's heartache.
OK that's too depressing to end with.
How about By Ken Levine's (who knows from television) Emmy recap:
You realize of course that you watch a lot more television than the people who made these decisions? If it weren't for screener DVD's, many Academy members would still be voting for HILL STREET BLUES.
Ha. Good one.The only reason they're lazier than Oscar voters is they can be. Movies tend to be, like, ineligible after their debut year.
"They always said that the living would envy the dead ♫ "
It's sometimes hard to reconcile the ranting, racist, drunk nutso Mel Gibson of the now and the Mel Gibson of the early 80s: beautiful,talented, sane... or at least not visibly otherwise. Perhaps he was always a fundie rageaholic nutjob and his publicists and managers were as skilled as Tom Cruise's once were at reigning the Crazy in?
Today marks the 25th anniversary of a Mel Gibson movie that it's hard to remember Mel Gibson even being in. Which makes it an appropriate choice to write about since we'd sometimes like to forget him.
But that's unkind. It's not really Mel's fault that the lasting impression from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome belongs to Tina Turner. By 1985 he'd already done all he could with the lead character in George Miller's trilogy. And who can compete with Anna Mae Bullock's pipes? Her vocals open and close the film. Her rendition of "We Don't Need Another Hero" might well be the only artifact from the third film that still inspires nostalgia. It's one of those power ballads that's just too bombastic to have existed anywhere outside of, say, 1982-1986 or the complete works of Meat Loaf.
What's more, Tina Turner had potent if rarely utilized screen presence. She plays Aunty Entity, the queen bitch of "Bartertown" and the film's villain of sorts. Some actors choose scripts based on the number of character lines. Some choose them based on the filmmaking team or script quality. Remember that scene in What's Love Got To Do With It where Oscar-nominated Angela Bassett is in court as Anna Mae Bullock trying to keep her rights to the stage name "Tina Turner"? 'I fought to too hard for this name!' Surely Tina chose her rare films on the basis of character names, too. Aunty Entity, The Acid Queen, The Mayor. She doesn't mess around. Like many great stars she understood personal branding and her movie character names are as badass and strong as she.
She gets all of Beyond Thunderdome's best lines and moments.
Consider her frankness.
Max: I want to get a closer look at him. How do I get in there? Henchman: It's a factory, isn't it? Ask for work. Max: I don't know anything about methane.
Aunty: You can shovel shit, can't you?
Her sense of humor. (This is a hilariously bitchy aside to her saxophonist while she's listening to Mad Max's story.)
"Play something Ton Ton. Something tragic."
And her lack of sentiment.
In one beautifully judged moment, Tina turns her back to the camera as if Aunty is about to launch into a huge monologue about her ascendance. 'This nobody had a chance to become somebody.' And then she spins around, the story finished before it has even begun.
"Enough history. Water?"
Discarding her own triumphant backstory like it bores her? This is some woman.
And like any of the best movie villains (or characters for that matter) she knew how to make an entrance (lowered from the sky to the top of the Thunderdome with lights blazing behind her) and an exit, laughing off her rivalry with Max -- "Ain't we a pair?" -- before leaving him behind in a cloud of dust.
Tina only made four movies and Aunty Entity was her most substantial acting gig. Pity that she hasn't acted in the past seventeen years. Was Tina Turner the best rock star actor that never pursued acting?
P.S. This postpunk postapocalypse series will be rebooted in two years as Mad Max: Fury Road with Tom Hardy in the lead role. It's probably a good fit. Like the early Mel Gibson he's beautiful, talented and ... well he's too new to truly determine sanity levels. But his bizarre star turn in Bronson suggests that he can at least vividly imagine the nutjob within. And you have to be a little crazy to survive an apocalypse, don't you? Though if you're a little too crazy you'll bring on your own personal variety... as the original Mad Max, Mad Mel, can attest. *
future movies Burlesque now has a website so you can actually try to work up excitement from the sparkly logo design until a teaser hits. Hurry up, teaser! In Contention has a teaser poster for Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. I like it. I'm sure we'll get something more generic before release though. /Film Sam Raimi for Oz, The Great and Powerful. Not a bad choice Movie|LineScott Pilgrim vs. The World. Ramona's seven evil exes get their own posters Low Resolution says what needs to be said about the Tom Cruise Les Grossman pic. Just Jared Reshoot set photos from The Adjustment Bureau with Emily Blunt & Matt Damon MTV Movies Charlize Theron joining Tom Hardy for the next Mad Max film
And here's the first official still from The Tourist (2011)
Jolie means Pretty in French... or any other language.
randomness Natasha VC speaks wise words about Adrien Brody. Old Hollywood Barbara Stanwyck will own it. Movie|Line funny bit on the first official still from Mad Men season 4. Twitch a promo for HBO's new series Boardwalk Empire about Atlantic City. Good luck being as good as Atlantic City (1981)... no relation but for locale. Noh Way on the upcoming revival of Evita. Deadline Hollywood on Karate Kid's resounding box office beat down over The A Team. Towleroad Joan Rivers and my continued plea for Friday Night Lights Emmy love. A Socialite's Life celebs galore at the AFI party honoring Mike Nichols.
