Link Catches Us
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 8:40AM 
NOTE: Sorry about the delay in the top ten -- probably tonight. maybe tomorrow morning. Depends on how the day goes. The writeups take awhile. But now... news and linkage.
- The Advocate Rabbit Hole's John Cameron Mitchell (He never ages. 47!)
- A.V. Club interviews Aaron Eckhart, also of Rabbit Hole. And in case you missed it...
- The Film Experience ...that's my 11th favorite of the year
- The Telegraph Bond is not a director's franchise, Tim Robey, reminds us as Sam Mendes preps Bond 23 (to be titled later obviously)
- In Contention DGA's documentary nominees. YES on Lixin Fan for Last Train Home. The Academy really botched that one. It's one of the best films of the year.
- Rotten Tomatoes gives out its Golden Tomatoes for the best reviewed movies of 2010. Naturally the animated films dominate as they're generally critic proof if they're any good at all. Though we're slightly weirded out that the best reviewed ten is very very close to the expected Oscar ten. What happened to the days when Oscar ignored critical darlings? My guess is both Oscar and Critics have changed, everyone moving to the center.
- Serious Film Great use of pop songs in recent movies
Kerry catches usIf it interests you, Reel Talk has the complete NAACP nominees. Night Catches Us gets some nominations but no Best Picture bid? Just Wright is there, though with For Colored Girls, The Book of Eli, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too and... The Kids Are All Right (???). Confusing. So for what it's worth, here are the actress nominations. You know how I obsess on the actressing.
Best Actress
- Halle Berry Frankie & Alice
- Janet Jackson Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
- Queen Latifah Just Wright
- Zoe Saldana The Losers
- Kerry Washington Night Catches Us
Best Supporting Actress
- Kimberly Elise For Colored Girls
- Whoopi Goldberg For Colored Girls
- Phylicia Rashad For Colored Girls
- Anika Noni Rose For Colored Girls
- Jill Scott Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
The message of the nominations is simple: join Tyler Perry's creative entourage. (I wish I'd seen For Colored Girls. I like almost everyone in it.)
Blacktress, John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole
Reader Comments (11)
Every year the NAACP finds a way to confound me with their nominations. Ostensibly, they aim to honor black/minority achievements in media, yet people like Justin Timberlake make their short list? Why? Because he makes "black" music? Preposterous, if that's the case. Additionally, I believe people would be more apt to take the Image Awards (more?) seriously, if the organization was more discerning about who and what they nominated. The mere fact that a film or TV program is black-themed or features a significant number of blacks/minorities should not be enough for it to be recognized. "Just Wright," for instance, was just awful. Anyone who's seen it can testify to that point. Citing it for anything other than a Razzie, if one is going to cite it at all, would be doing a great injustice to the art of filmmaking.
That's a great list of pop songs. I wasn't sure about the cover of "California Dreaming," because I adore the original, but I've grown to love it as much as the movie it's featured in!
I'm glad they listed the title and artist of that song from "Blue Valentine." I tried Googling some of the lyrics, but all I could remember was "my my my my my my my" and "you and me," and that didn't get me anywhere.
Nathaniel,
I really don't see you giving more than a C to For Colored Girls. But you are missing some interesting performances, from truly awful (Goldberg) to excellent!!!: Kimberly & Anika...
other than that, it's all cliche and nonsense and every CHEAP TRICK (which annoyed me) in the book. especially to what happens to Janet Jackson's character, which I won't spoil. Lame.
It is lame janet's arc but she really delivers in that final scene of hers,whoop is beyond awful and thandie newton overacts wildly like she's auditiong for a role as erica sayers daughter or something..
For Colored Girls is definitely INTERESTING, and I'm not sorry that I saw it, but I can't say that it really works in the end. I think it's at least worth a rental if you're interested in all the actresses in it. Some of them really do get to really dig in.
I hope ubertalented and uberbeautiful Washington will score Best Actress here instead Academy Award contender (even for a long longshot nomination) Berry
For what concernes Janet Jackson: wasn't better for her to be nominated for her turn in FOR COLORED GIRLS and not for the other Tyler Perry's "joint"
@mark,
I didn't comment on her acting, just on the way her character is treated. I think she saw Devil Wears Prada too many times, but other than I thought her performance was ok.
@Mirko,
I dunno, it's the first Tyler Perry films I see. :D i dunno about others, i try not to judge, but i'd rather relax with a 1980s comedy or a Jane Austen period flick rather than a Tyler Perry funny melodrama :)
@Alex: In all fairness to Jackson, I think Perry is actually the one who saw "Prada" far too many times. Just look at how he sets up each of her office scenes; they all scream, "Gird your loins!"
@Mark: LOL at the Erica Sayers comment. And I co-sign to your other assessments.
@Mirko: JJ in "WDIGMT" < JJ in "FCG." The former has its moments but is uneven and at times over the top, though Perry's script does the character no favors. The latter is much more well calibrated, and there's an arc that makes sense.
"For Colored Girls" is such a bizarre movie! Absolutely bonkers. Thandie Newton acting as if she's in several different movies at once, Janet Jackson acting as if she isn't in a movie at all and so many odd flourishes and random sequences that I'm glad I watched it. The fact that it's so deranged is what made me enjoy it more than if it was just a "Precious" rematch. Jackson's plot strand is useless and the "Crash"-lite crossing paths stuff is occasionally very silly, but what can you do.
I feel bad for admitting I laughed during *the scene*. Ya know, the scene with the window. That CGI was awful! And it was all "how many of the main characters can we shove into this one scene???"
Troy, The Academy has had weak years and no one says cancel them because The Academy is unwilling to seek quality films that don’t fit in with the overall character of The Academy. The NAACP’s problem is that there’s never enough quality black/and or minorities films. Yes the main thrust come out of the festival circuit but the NAACP like the Hollywood Foreign Press are starfuckers too! They picked Soul Food over Eve’s Bayou – they picked How Stella Got Her Groove Back over Beloved and Down in the Delta. Even people who need their love the most don’t receive it – CCH Pounder doesn’t even have one win from them and she’s been nominated often enough.
@3rtfu11: I do not agree with your viewpoint that there are not enough *quality* black/minority films produced each year, whatever the perameters of the definition of "black" once opts for -- containing a predominately black cast, dealing with black themes/issues, featuring blacks in major roles, etc. Therefore, I was not advocating for the termination of the awards; instead I was expressing my desire for the organization to be more discriminating and creative about its choices, even if it means -- as someone suggested -- limiting the number of nominees in each category. Best means best, not just there, which is the point I thought I was making in my first post. I do agree with you, however, that when given the obvious opportunity to make more interesting choices, they opt for dubious ones ("The Pursuit of Happyness > "Akeelah and the Bee"? I think not.).