This & That (And A Bit More On *That*)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 at 8:45AM Woodcutting Fool David Lynch carved
Go Fug Yourself on Reese Witherspoon (and child) in France
MUBI's Notebook lists favorite Cannes films of 2012 (the winner being way down the list)
Film School Rejects Why blockbusters need to get their third act together. Heartily agree with much of this.
TV|Line Smash will lose two of its major male characters in Season 2. Does this mean Dennis & Bobby get more screen time? (I know it doesn't but my wishful thinking can be noisy and demand sentences all its own.)
AV Club wins the Best Snarky Headline of the Week (*not a real award) with this beauty... "Malin Akerman is playing Debbie Harry, who is also blonde."
Pajiba Most Versatile Bruce Willis
No Film School Most Fascinating Michael Haneke
Coming Soon new Les Miserables photos. Apparently the trailer arrives today as well. We'll hear the people sing tonight in a Yes No Maybe So post.
Rope of Silicon Batmobiles
Splitsider the Joss Whedon Roseann episodes
Playbill free outdoor staging of the hilarious stage adaptation of Xanadu will play Park Slope Brooklyn this summer
Acidemic on reality-warping multiple viewings of three 'comedies of remarriage' The Lady Eve, Bringing Up Baby and Bell Book and Candle
My New Plaid Pants The Exorcist for TV via Martha Marcy May Marlene director?!?
La Daily Musto international beauties Léa Seydoux and Diane Kruger go sapphic for a lesbian Marie Antoinette film called Farewell My Queen.
KISS HER!
The Release Date Shuffle: Michael Haneke's Amour will be opening (and thus Oscar qualifying) on December 19th a bit earlier than Haneke's previous feature White Ribbon which did one of those awful New Year's Eve weekend releases in time for Oscar; G.I. Joe: Retaliation's shocking pushback to 2013 is prompting specalutation about how bad it might be. Last second release shifts for wannabe blockbusters are rare as they're expensive to open... and I promise that's the last time we group G.I. Joe with Michael Haneke in a paragraph; The Life of Pi arrives one month early so you can gobble it up for Thanksgiving instead of unwrapping it at Christmas time which is the inverse of what happened with the new Barbra Streisand picture, The Guilt Trip; And finally yes... yes... Cuaron's Gravity, our most anticipated this year, is now our most anticipated of 2013 (sniffle) which means that we've got to update those Oscar predictions. I know I know. Don't rush me! (This weekend?)
A Personal Note: I thought a link list was in order to get back up to speed (as much as one can in a day)... I generally cull the links through a process of trying to keep up to speed with What's Going On even though "news items" are only like ¼ of the links shared.
But I couldn't let this return to blogging (glad to be crawling back -- we should be back in full swing by Thursday night) go without a hearty thank you to all of you, the readers, who sent such kind words on facebook, by email or right here on the blog after my father passed away. I spent a week in Utah with my mom and siblings and there were tears and memories and even laughter, too. My mom demanded a correction from my memoir post though. The photo that I love of my parents was taken before they were married. Hey, I wasn't there - honest mistake. She told me an amazing personal story about it and, as it turns out, it's her single favorite picture of the two of them. Now, I ♥ the photo even more.
Reader Comments (10)
I think you'll enjoy "Les adieux à la reine". The costumes are great. Kruger goes sapphic with Virginie Ledoyen not Seydoux, who's just willing.
But Seydoux on the other hand is looking fabolous throughout the whole film.
Been meaning to send my condolences. Loved the post on your dad and that lovely pic :)
Oh yes she does!
The trailer for Les Misérables is officially available for viewing. Anne is the only one heard singing throughout it.
Nat: I don't get why the Civilian Problem is an issue with superhero movies. The main characters are dedicated to saving random people's lives, so the villains are going to use random civilians to raise the stakes for the hero. For me, what MAKES a superhero film is the balancing act between developing the hero or heroes and the villain and developing the idea of the life of the citizenry around him or (in the case of The Avengers), them. Tim Burton's original Batman (which they cite as having a great third act) is pretty good at developing the hero, but pretty bad in developing the city as interesting and the villain as at all threatening. (Including some PAINFUL dialogue delivered through the lips of Jack Nicholson.) Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was great at developing the city and villains but made some major mis-steps in developing the hero. My personal trinity of the best superhero films that manage this bizarre three-pronged feat are the original Superman (accomplishing the citizenry commentary almost entirely through Art Direction), Batman Returns and The Dark Knight. I'd agree that, OUTSIDE of superhero films, populating your ending with random civilians and insane destruction is a huge issue that betrays a lack of confidence in the characters you're slinging and makes you look totally inelegant. INSIDE superhero films, though? Inelegant? Maybe a little. Betrays total lack of confidence in the film you're making? I wouldn't say so and I'd even say it makes sense because it's what these people are shown doing fairly often in the comics. That IS a part of the source material.
How did I miss that Reese is pregnant? Also wow, she looks amazing. Not fair.
This picture should've won some award in Cannes:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4i4v9eKd31qzi1ujo1_500.png
But I suppose it wasn't included in Cannes lineup, but in Cannes' bend over. (jesus, that's sooo bad). But speaking of which, isn't the most versatile actor in Hollywood John Travolta? :) I know, I know, that was even worse. It's this lusty May...
Les Miserables trailer: http://portalcinema.blogspot.pt/2012/05/les-miserables-trailer.html
KiKi Dunst isn't playing Debbie Harry?! Noooooo.