The Wizard of Link

Journalistic Skepticism What are the 20 Best Movie Weddings? I'm surprised the AFI hasn't made this list yet.
Mind of a Suspicious Kind looks back over Danny Boyle's filmography prior to the release of 127 Hours
Totally Looks Like Miss Hattie (Despicable Me) = Dolores Umbridge. Huh. I do see it now.
Movies Kick Ass compares The Wizard of Oz with... Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker?


Self Styled Siren has a really interesting post on the Shirley Temple / John Ford film Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and...
Self Styled Siren ...another post on the attendant hulabaloo at the time by way of controversial critic/ screenwriter/ novelist Graham Greene who called wee Temple "a fancy little piece" in a review that prompted litigation.
Coming Soon First photos from the upcoming 647th film adaptation of The Three Musketeers (2011). This one stars Mads Mikkelsen and Milla Jovovich.
Antagony & Ecstasy reviews Cairo Time. I love this bit.

Which is an extremely good reason why you should never let a plot synopsis be the sole reason you choose your movies (whereas choosing them because of the lead actress - now that's just good sense).

Total Film has been surveying the movie blog landscape. I'm happy to be included on page 3 of their "another 600 movie blogs" but my goodness... 1200 is a lot of linkage with no real gain for anyone right? I mean you can't exactly list it in your bio. It's not like "Declared one of the top one thousand two hundred movie blogs!" is much of a blurb. But I kid. It's nice to be included. What's scary is that's probably only scratching the surface of all the movie blogs in the world.

offscreen
Wall Street Journal on "Judy Garland Lost Tracks"
Playbill on "Judy Garland Lost Tracks." Ummm... how had I missed this news? Seriously. Must have now. Either my brain is a sieve or the internet is because how are people totally discussing this and I didn't even know about it?! Argh. More Judy = yes.
Mighty God King "we need a human behavior patch" See, complainers? I'm not the only movie blogger who sometimes has to let off a little political steam. If you're not sometimes angry about things going on in this world, ur doin it wrong.
Parabasis "let freedom ring" another fine post on the anniversary of MLK's historic speech.
Boy Culture on last week's Scissor Sisters concert. I was there. T'was so fun, sexy, energetic, crazy, etcetera.
OMG Blog catches up with Björk. We hadn't checked in with her in awhile and we're going to Iceland soon. Yay.
The Film Doctor reads the latest horror novel The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains.

"You won't link me when I'm angry"

Hell on Frisco Bay Silent Summer at the Castro. Love the poster for the Louise Brooks picture (such a great movie). This can be filed under the Grass is Always Greener. NYC has a ton of cool film programs and I'm always wishing I could go to the Castro's film programs.

The Film Doctor good piece on a second look at the 'suicidal cool' of Tom Ford's A Single Man.
Serious Film File this one under Lines I Wish I'd Written. On Peter Jackson returning to The Hobbit

"If only there was some convenient metaphor for some thing people just can't bring themselves to let go of."

Movie|Line Angelina Jolie's "lightning round" of possible future projects. Why does the MTV reporter pronounce Maleficent so bizarrely. Did he never see the glorious Sleeping Beauty as a child? P.S. I love Jolie and I love Maleficent but for all that is holy I cannot stand the thought of that fusion under Tim Burton's direction. I literally would have to be dragged to see it which, well, if you understood how much I loved Maleficent you would understand the utter devastation I'm feeling.

Coming Soon meetings have begun for Wicked with several directors interested (JJ Abrams, Rob Marshall, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy). If you're wondering why I haven't written about it, it's that we have no substantial news and I'm just feeling disaster coming. By the time they make this -- if they ever make it -- the market will have already been flooded with about 6 or 7 other Oz projects that are further along in development. I just don't understand why they waited so long. Hopefully The Wizard of Oz (1939) itself gets some sort of cool rerelease for its 75th anniversary in 2014.
/Film if people who cared about superheroes actually read The Film Experience (I know from comments that that's not really your thing) they would realize I'm a genius because I totally predict these things. MORE trouble with The Avengers. Edward Norton is not returning as The Hulk. I knew this superhero team using all big stars was r-i-d-i-c-u-l-0-u-s from the get go and I already called the delays and cancellations and cast issues. I still have trouble believing we'll ever see the film which is why those constant commercials for it interrupting the narrative of Iron Man 2 irritated me so much. (Just concentrate on the movie we're watching!!! This is not too much to ask of a movie. In fact this is just a basic storytelling requirement.) Most sites on the web feed on every crumb from studio pr about superhero movies like it's a manna from heaven, devouring it all as gospel facts until the fact changes which prompts another flurry of articles. Do movie websites do this because of page views or are they all true believers? If they are maybe I should stop writing the equivalent of "Santa Claus doesn't exist".

But what's this...?

HitFix Marvel Studios publicly dissing Edward Norton? Bad bad form. If that's the way they're going to play the movie game, why would any name actor want to work with them again? I mean, aside from the money. But Marvel Studios isn't the only studio that can offer big money.

The Hot Blog David Poland agrees that it's unprofessional.

Cinema Blend it might be Joaquin Phoenix replacing Norton. This news strikes me as hilarious since... well... when did Joaquin Phoenix suddenly get a "so easy to work with!" reputation that he'd be deemed an upgrade from Norton?

she'snotme. shedoesn'tlinkmyname. she'llneverlinkwhatihave. itwon'tbethesame.

Antagony & Ecstasy says these 10 are the best performances by an actress in history. Love the bookend choices so much.
i09 Megan Fox poses with her lesbian mannequin. This is easily my favorite Megan Fox performance
Cinema Blend Katey wants to see Christopher Nolan duke it out with James Cameron in a 3D debate. Me too
Movie|Line has updates on those Wizard of Oz projects


Mediaite Adventures in mispronounciations with Catherine Zeta-Jones. She's just a girl who c*** say no. She's in a terrible fix.
Low Resolution Joe Reid begins to count down his favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes. Consider it a corrective to Logo's Spike crazy countdown. Read it because you love Buffy! [I'm guessing because all cool people do.]
My New Plaid Pants JA also makes a Best of Buffy list
PopEater talks to Carrie Fisher about Wishful Drinking. She always gives good interview
Socialite's Life Dakota Fanning has her priorities straight

And yes... I am aware that the first Sofia Coppola trailer "Somewhere" teaser debuted yesterday (while I was at dinner). I am unable to post about it right this second. Let's discuss several hours from now. It'll still be there.

Off Topic Just Cuz
Have you seen this mashup of Madonna / Gaga set to Madonna's underappreciated "She's Not Me" tune. It may be a slam on Gaga but it's still fun.



The way I kind of look at it is that I miss Madonna ALL THE TIME so if Madonna (my fav celeb ever) isn't going to make epic videos anymore -- and she hasn't been really trying in that realm, her very own kingdom (!), in awhile -- I need the Gaga.

P.S. I think there should be some sort of title moderation on YouTube. So many videos label themselves official this or that when they're something quite different. It can be absolutely maddening to search for a new movie trailer and have to wade through hundreds of bad fan videos or cheap gags first. The world OFFICIAL is more grossly overused on YouTube than "Exclusive" is on movie news sites or the naughty F word is in a Mamet play. That's how overused it is. For the love of search engines, please stop lying to the world.

Where Are the Musicals? (Part Two)

Last week I thought I was being a little bit overdramatic when I started worrying about the absence of future movie musicals. But maybe I wasn't dramatic enough. Is it time for panicked hysteria? Just ten years into the genre's spectacular rebirth -- which I trace back to the 1-2-3-4 spectacular punch of Dancer in the Dark (00), Moulin Rouge! (01), Hedwig (01) and Chicago (02) -- it seems to be dying again.

I read today that plans for Hairspray 2 have been halted. It's not often you hear of sequel ideas to hit films being cast aside. Adam Shankman's statement about the dead sequel sounds rational on the surface:

That got killed. I was so happy with the first one, let's leave well enough alone. It's all good.

Since when were Hollywood types ever all zen about the "leave well enough alone". They live for easy money and what is easier than getting a big opening weekend out of pre-sold popularity be it through sequels, remakes, reboots or reinterpretations? Hollywood (speaking generally of course) never has original ideas. What's more they're usually spectacularly proud of their insistence on repeating themselves.

The only musical in development that's getting discussed lately is a remake of My Fair Lady. A remake.

Even weirder and more worrying is that Universal reportedly decided against a Mamma Mia! sequel (2008) even though ABBA has a thousand other great songs that could be similarly massacred for coin if such a film were to exist. I never in a million years thought I'd be freaked out about that decision, "Hooray!" being the only sane response. But I can't recall one time in the history of ever that a major studio has decided not to make a sequel to a movie that grossed over half a billion dollars.

All right... I exaggerate a little. But I'm scared because I love my song & dance. Mamma Mia! is currently the 50th highest grosser ever worldwide*. As it turns out, there are a few higher grossers that don't have sequels (yet) or weren't sequels to begin with. Of the other 49 the stand-alones are (in descending order)

• Avatar (sequel in development)
  
• Titanic (a wee problem called historical accuracy prevented sequels)
• Finding Nemo
• Independence Day
• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
  
• 2012
  
• Up
• Forrest Gump
• The Sixth Sense
• Kung Fu Panda (the sequel arrives next year)
  
• The Incredibles
• Hancock
• Ratatouille
• The Passion of the Christ
  

That's fourteen other movies, a few of which will undoubtedly get sequels. It seems like the only reason a hit movie doesn't get a sequel is if its lead character dies, or if it stars Will Smith (two examples there, but isn't he his own franchise? Maybe those are sequels) or if it's made by Pixar and isn't named "Toy Story".

If Wicked needs bankable 20something stars,
Anne Hathaway & Amanda Seyfried can both sing.

All of this, plus the weird absence of money-magnet "Wicked" in Hollywood's current Oz-mania production slate, is really getting to me. The stage show's cumulative gross is approaching half a billion dollars (it's currently at $469 million and it still earning over a million a week) Why wouldn't Hollywood be rushing to capitalize on it?

I'm officially very worried. It's too easy to blame it on Nine which cost a fortune (What did they spent the money on? It takes place on a stage! How did that cost $30 million more to make than Mamma Mia! or Sweeney Todd?).Perhaps the problem is actually Sweeney Todd. It earned $152 million worldwide which sounds like a decent amount... until you stop to consider what Burton/Depp pairings usually make.

You'd think it'd be an ideal time to grow a hit musical. The past ten years should be seen as ample fertilizer: the genre has produced hits, several song and/or dance adept celebrities have become much more famous/bankable (Hathaway, Jackman, Harris, Chenoweth, Tatum, Seyfried), musical theater stars have started to gain more fame outside of New York than they have in some time (Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald, Lea Michelle, Idina Menzel) and then there's a little something called Glee on TV. Maybe you've heard of it?

Greenlight some musicals, suits! Just make sure they don't cost as much as Nine so you have a chance at a profit. That shouldn't be hard. It's not like Sweeney Todd looked bad for $30 million less. It looked great. It just didn't sound that way.

*none of these figures are adjusted for inflation. The biggest musical hit of all time (and the third biggest hit of any type ever) is The Sound of Music (1965) which made over a billion dollars in today's numbers.

Curio: Letters from Oz

Alexa here. Jose's post on all the Oz films in the works reminded me of my art school days, where seemingly everyone felt the need to made something Ozian. So I was curious to see the latest creations from Oz by artists and crafters on the web.

Artists will never tire of Dorothy's technicolor ruby slippers. (Did you know that in Baum's book they were silver?) On top are modern yellow brick road images from Courtney Krishnamurthy and Boopsie Daisy; the tornado dream on the bottom is by Jaycee.


If you want your own pair of rubies, you can buy them in practically any size over at Princess Pumps.


Something to wear close to your heart: a tin man charm necklace from the mix shop.


Finally, as part of my ongoing quest for finger puppets, I have to mention this Oz set from Pintassilgo Prints. They're magnetic! Literally.

Robert and Boorman and Drew! Oh My!

Jose here.

Was Dorothy (Judy Garland) lying to us when she told us there's no place like home in The Wizard of Oz?



Judging from the way movie people are flocking back to Oz, it seems the little girl from Kansas might've missed something in her first trip.

As of today there are six, count them, films in development that have something to do with Frank L. Baum's timeless classic or the Victor Fleming film adaptation and that's not even including the much awaited stage to screen translation of Broadway blockbuster Wicked.

Everyone wants a piece of Oz and projects in development have attracted the attention of people like Drew Barrymore, Sean Astin and even the guy who made Deliverance.
But before we surrender to confusion let's go through each of the projects.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Set for release in 2011, this CGI adaptation of the original book will mark director John Boorman's first foray into animation.
Call me morbid but I'm really dying to see what the man who made The Exorcist II brings to Oz. Boorman has a great eye for set pieces and his interest in fantasy is notable (to a good effect in Excalibur and to WTF in Zardoz, which coincidentally got its title from the wizard) and besides what is Deliverance if not a violent, testosterone driven interpretation of the Oz mythology? Sans flying monkeys of course.

Dark Oz
Based on a comic book the film is set to be directed by Pearry Teo and will star Pras Micheal of The Fugees.
While this one sounds interesting to say the least, I was left more intrigued by one of the comic book tie-ins called Oz Squad which has Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion form a secret organization appropriately named the "Gale Force" created to protect Emerald City.
I'm usually a purist when it comes to things like these but the fact that the comic book outraged Baum scholars and has only now resurfaced as a groundbreaking work makes it sound quite enticing.
My only objection? An element in the plot called the Tik-Tok, which would make a Ke$ha appearance almost inevitable.

Surrender Dorothy
The lovely Drew Barrymore (left in all her emerald colored glory from Whip It) is set to direct this sequel from a screenplay by Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction). In the story, Dorothy's great great granddaughter must learn to use the ruby slippers to prevent the Wicked Witch of the West from taking over Oz.
Originally Drew was set to play Dorothy but with the screenplay in development limbo for almost a decade, the now obviously older actress might just want to stick to behind the camera duties.

Dorothy of Oz
Another CGI version, this one is based on a book by Baum's great grandson Roger S. Baum and is directed by Dan St. Pierre (who served as art director for Disney's Tarzan).
In the plot Dorothy (rumored to be voiced by Lea Michele) is sent back to Oz right after her first trip where she meets a man made out of marshmallows and a china doll.
This one is also set for release in 2011.


The Witches of Oz
The official synopsis reads:
The Witches of Oz follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children's book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.

Sean Astin, Ethan Embry and Lance Henriksen star.
For clips, photo source and more information about this film click here.

The Great Powerful
If you've just had enough of Dorothy, this might be the film for you.
Instead of focusing on the heroine this one is more interested in the man behind the curtain.
This film will tell the tale of the wizard's life and how he ended in Oz. Robert Downey Jr. is set to play him and when you read sources describing the wiz as a man "leading a life of charlatanry" who sounds more appropriate to play the part?
The film might be directed by Adam Shankman (hmmm) or Sam Mendes (yay and hmmm).

And yes, no news on a big screen adaptation of Wicked yet (other than the one already being filmed inside my head with Anne Hathaway and Reese Witherspoon in the lead roles).

So what's your take on all this? Are you faithful to Judy Garland or are you willing to see other Dorothys? Do you think there's something as too much Oz or is this making you salivate?