Links: Sand Pitt, Snow Trilogy, Leonardo Faces
Monday, July 4, 2011 at 7:09AM 
<-- Look it's Brad Pitt on the set of World War Z in Malta. Is he trying to keep sand out of his eyes or faking tears? You decide. (I vote for sand since he's quite a good cryer, don't you think? Has anyone read this novel? I tried and admired the structure but couldn't quite get into it.) Speaking of Brad... let's start the links.
Shortlist 30 Facts about David Fincher's Se7en (1995)
Icelandic Cinema a new website offers on demand Icelandic classics like the Viking epic The Raven Flies and Noi the Albino. They also have free downloads of short films.
Cinema Blend ARGH. The televisionization of the movies continues. Turns out that Snow White and the Huntsman -- the one with Kristen Stewart and Thor -- now thinks it needs three movies to tell its story. In the past few years I have come to respect television more than I used to but they are two different artforms. Why this constant push to make them the same? It's so disheartening. There is much to be said for stories with beginnings middles and ends which you can absorb in one two hour sitting.
Grant Land interesting take on the lack of male movie stars and the real and manufactured cases of Will Smith and Ryan Reynolds. Very sports-analogy filled for those of you who are into that.
The Many Faces of... Leonardo DiCaprio "how to freak out and go crazy!" (as Jorge pointed out to me this is kind of a sequel or a spiritual cousin to my "dead wives club" and so I just love it.
IFC musical sequence from Sucker Punch restored for its blu-ray release
Your Movie Buddy best of 2011 thus far... in Oscar categories. Definitely some surprising choices and omissions here. Yes, yes, I'll do one soon.
Stale Popcorn on the poster for Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur. It is arresting.
In Contention Kris on his ten year relationship with A.I. Artificial Intelligence (which I just mentioned but alas... my obsession with Gigolo Joe doesn't seem to be shared by many)
Off Cinema
DHARBIN "Some Common Fears" I love this guys comics. I've been so into web comics lately. I appreciate referrals if you know of good ones.
Towleroad Cher takes on the Bachmann anti-gay crazy on Twitter. Cher = forever fierce.
Boy Culture Matthew proposes the best callsign for Mr. Bachmann I've yet heard proposed "Lady Bird Bachmann" -- PASS IT ON.
Some Came Running on the politics of David Mamet now and Demi Moore then
Brad Pitt, Cher, LGBT, Ryan Reynolds, Snow White, Sucker Punch, Will Smith
Reader Comments (11)
Have you read: The Adventures of Dr. McNinja? It's AWESOME.
I have not. link please.
I've never seen the "Many Faces of" site before (loved the Alan Rickman page!), thanks for that.
IFC's Matt Singer wrote an interesting reply to Bill Simmon's take on the "movie star", crunching the numbers (I enjoyed reading both articles, and don't see them as being as contradictory as some commenters on IFC do):
http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/06/what-makes-a-movie-star.php?fb_ref=news
It's off-topic, but I had a random thought yesterday: what if the movies were "27 Hours" and "127 Dresses" rather than the other way around?
Evan -- i guess the former would've seemed less dramatic and the latter way more neurotic ;)
I read and LOVED World War Z. The author literally thought of everything that would (potentially) realistically happen around the world if there actually was a zombie epidemic. So cool. But Brad Pitt's character doesn't cry, so unless they changed his character from the story, he's probably just keeping sand from his eyes. :)
The site is drmcninja.com to anyone who's interested.
I'm also a big fan of "World War Z." I loved that the author managed to bring in so many different stories and characters but still give all of them different voices. You didn't feel like it was the same thing being repeated over and over again. And yes, like BK said, the sheer number of situations that the author came up with is impressive. Finally, I love that the whole thing was played completely straight. No tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink, oh-those-wacky-zombies touches. Makes the whole thing both terrifying, moving, and inspiring at the same time.
Nat, you should really give it another try.
Have you heard of Cyanide & Happiness? I think the URL is explosm.net, it's really funny. Also, Cat and Girl.
Nathaniel, I was trying to imagine what kind of person would give up hope/use up all their water and therefore cut their arm off after after only a day. I'd love to see that movie...
Ladies and Gentleman, the next great Dark comedy: 27 hours, a parody of the "containment thrillers" that pop up laughably often. And Nat: Since your last couple of "Cast This" series were comics, I'd love a "Cast This: The Adventures of Dr. McNinja." Yes, it might be too goofy for Hollywood to touch, but I'd structure it like this: They can either offer voice actor suggestions for a cartoon or actor suggestions for a live movie. Personally, I'd see Dr. McNinja live as Will Arnett. VO, probably RS Horvitz could carry all that wacky conflict.