Terms of EnLinkment
Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 8:49AM E! Online Jessica Chastain sings Happy Birthday to Marc Malkin and sounds damn fine doing it. Laughs about the now broken 'Chastain Curse'.
Vanity Fair looks back at their photos of our new Oscar Nominees
Self Styled Siren watches old movies with her mom over the holidays
Timothy Brayton on Silver Linings Playbook. Lots of salient points in this mixed review which never once BELLOWS like the movie does.
The Hot Blogs Look what the Life of Pi team will be wearing to the Globes
Just Jared Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult are both available again. You're free to ask them out... well, separately I mean.
Pajiba an all female (photoshopped) Avengers - have you seen Alison Brie as Captain America?
The Geek Twins every Superman logo for the past 75 years. Oh yeah, I somehow didn't notice that Man of Steel is arriving for Superman's 75th Anniversary year. Good timing.
Carpetbagger talks to Jacki Weaver who admits she didn't cast an Oscar ballot this year
The White House's legit, official, and officially hilarious response to the petition to build a real Death Star.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
Touchy Touchy Touchy - Everyone Gets So Touchy This Time of the Movie Year
In Contention Kris Tapley speaks his mind about the "Critics Choice Awards". I agree with almost all of this. The BFCA have always had a problem in trying to feel superior to the Globes but in practice being inferior or at least equally shameless about what they're actually up to with celebrity fawning. Trust that I understand the celebrity fawning impulse but I hope it gets better. Why not be a "principled alternative"?
IndieWire filmmaker Alex Gibney defends his attacks on Zero Dark Thirty
Huffington Post Scott Mendelson is up in arms about the treatment of Kathryn Bigelow by the media
THR Quentin Tarantino thinks he's above criticism when it comes to discussions of violence in film
Film.com 'I don't agree with the Quvenzhane Wallis nomination'
Oscah Fevah "this has been a visual review of Les Misérables"
On Les Miz, please to note: I no longer cringe at the hyperbolic hate. That got boring after two weeks. I've officially turned a corner and I now find people's overwhelming loathing of Les Miz terribly amusing in all its narcimasochistic performativity -- if only one of the legion of haters would actually gouge their eyes out instead of just saying they'd rather do that or wanted to while watching it, than we'd have a story. Come on, people. COMMIT ! Tom Hooper did ;) Hating Les Miz is now the run amok mob equivalent of that nun orgy scene in Ken Russell's The Devils. And I love The Devils so I'm good here. Let it all out. Work yourself into a point-of-no-return frenzy!
Shirley Maclaine visit Downton Abbey
I Forgot to Mention This Weeks Ago
Michael Musto says that Shirley Maclaine's daughter has written a tell all. Good timing since Shirley Maclaine has been resurrecting her stardom lately with small movie roles (I wish she had more to do in Bernie) and a showcase television gig (sparring with the stuffy Brits of Downton Abbey... though her dialogue is bizarre, no?). So this book... Mommie Dearest 2.0? Uh oh.
Which movie star's parenting skills would you love to read about?
Reader Comments (21)
I was kind of pissed off when I saw that Jacki Weaver hadn't voted. Once I read her explanation I understood but it made me wonder how many others weren't able to vote because of the electronic voting and late mailings and how the fields might look different had the system worked correctly.
I try not to read the bitter ramblings of celebrity children any more. I've only ever read two that tried to make any sense out of the often surreal experience of growing up with famous parents. They were Peter Ford's book on Glenn Ford and by extension and to a lesser degree his mother Eleanor Powell, while admitting the strangeness, no family outing ever took place that wasn't a publicity opportunity, he accepted that as the way it was and emerged pragmatic and pretty well adjusted. The other was Judy Lewis' book Uncommon Knowledge. She was the secret "love" child of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, who managed to work through having a cold, distant mother who resented her as a mortal sin, a cruel stepfather and discovering on her honeymoon the big secret of her birth to a happy life and fulfilling career as a clinical psychologist. The others have all just seems like vindictive score settling.
The image of Les Miz haters getting together The Devils-style is the best thing ever.
That interview with Tarantino is so strange. He's always an incendiary character, and I generally enjoy listening to his interviews, but I'm not sure what to make of this one. On the one hand, the interviewer is obviously pushing it too far. Put in his shoes, I probably would have cut those questions two minutes earlier than he did. But Tarantino's being really disrespectful as well. Actually, as a big, big fan of his work, I personally don't know where he's coming from when he says what he says about there being no relation between film violence and real violence (not that I think there is, but I'm just saying I don't know his opinion) and if an interviewer asks him that, he could elaborate on it a bit instead of saying "well my fans can just google me if they don't know."
My sense is that, put on the spot like that, he actually had no response and was just evading the question. I really doubt that he thinks not answering his question "because he's answered it before" was worth the awful publicity.
I love the way Chastain covers for the fact that she doesn't know the birthday boy's name. She's so loverly and charming.
Nathaniel, it's always hard when people loathe your favorite movie. You've been mostly good-humored about it, one of many reasons I prefer this blog to other movie blogs. The personality and opinions of the blogger definitely determine the tone of a blog forum, which is why it's always ironic when a blogger (not you) berates or condescends to his own readership. Stay tolerant and amused!
I am already tired of people slamming on the Quvenzhane Wallis nomination simply on the basis of her age. Children aren't stupid and are capable of understanding certain things within context, and can even relate their (minimal) experiences to a story. When children can paint or draw or sing or play an instrument we don't doubt their talent; even if someone tells them what to draw or sing or whatever, they still have to be able to do it. Why is acting any different? I think she gave a beautiful performance and deserved her nomination.
P.S. Not to mention, she stated that if she wasn't six and was nine instead, she could see it a little better. Six to nine? Seriously, is there THAT much of a difference?
Les Mis finally reached us in the UK on Friday and LOTS of people are loving it. So many ople crying loudly in my screening, somehow managed to keep my constant weeping fairly silent. There are still Les Mis lovers out there! Hope it can snag a Globe for Hugh and/or the film as well as for magnificent Annie.
So many 'people', there were no oples I believe...m
Owen -- the thing is Les Miz is not even my favorite of the year or anything. but people are just so CRAZY about hating it. I have to be amused now that I'm done being hurt by all the people who claim its the most terrible thing ever and anyone who likes it is dumb / stupid / etcetera.
the only part that i'm seriously disturbed by still is the ways it's led people into these weird tunnel arguments about how awful closeups and continuous takes are and I'd hate to see future films afraid of this level of intimacy or commitment to playing with the form (even if mistakes are made) because of how violently people reacted against this movie. I have so many feelings about this but it's probably best to wait it out until people have calmed down a little.
It's absolutely true that when everyone piles on, people who may have mildly disliked a movie will suddenly loathe everything about it. Our whole culture and politics are suffused with a herd mentality, polarized opinions, and various hidden interests that either prop up their own side or destroy the other side. I have to try not to get too worked up over it because it just may be human nature. For me, the movie that conjures some of your feelings about Les Mis is Zero Dark Thirty. It may not be my exact best of the year, but I think it can only do harm to future movies about controversial topics that a movie as intelligent, ambiguous, and conscientious is being trashed in such a polarized way. (And the opinions don't even parse: conservatives trash it for showing that Bush approved waterboarding/torture, which he did; and liberals trash it for glorifying torture, which it doesn't. You can be against torture without creating an alternative reality where it doesn't work 100% of the time. I found the movie alarmingly plausible.)
Word, @Keelay! Word. The backlash to that movie makes my blood boil. I have yet to read a negative critique that actually seems focused at the film. It's always "rich kid goes fetishizes poor people for his movie" or "Quvenzhane is too young to act". It's unbelievably frustrating because its a film I'd love to debate critically, because I think it's really rich and ripe for discussion. But instead there are just these empty think pieces that refuse to engage with the content of the film itself.
Keelay, honestly, I would have preferred Weisz or Cottillard to Wallis, even if I loved Beasts and loved Hushpuppy. I agree with you that Wallis is still acting and still giving a very well-rounded performance, I just don't think it's as layered as that of the contenders in this category I've seen so far. That being said, the piece is just ridiculous. I have a four year-old child at home and she has the cognitive ability to observe what's going on around her and understand, what makes her think a six year-old couldn't be explained the context her character lives in and understand? I think it's very diminishing to say that Wallis couldn't possibly have any idea about what she was actually crafting. Children are not that stupid, and I don't think Wallis doesn't deserve any recognition for her work. I also don't understand why put just 'being' in a bad light. Isn't that one of the best type of acting? When the actor just inhabits the character, no gimmicks?
I was so sad to hear about Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult. They were perfect eye candy, and they both seem so normal and cool. I wonder why they never got the sort of attention Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone do?
I didn't even know Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence were even dating. Oh well, I always had a thing for Hoult and fuzzy angora sweater in 'A Single Man'.
"As the questioning continued, his protests grew. 'I’m not your slave and you’re not my master...'"
QT, classy as ever.
I'm always surprised when I read something about an actor that I'd never really considered as a parent before. I remember reading about Maria Burton talking about her parents, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and how much she loved them, and what a wonderful person she thought her mother was. And from how she described it, yes, she really was.
"..I have so many feelings about this .."
Well, you should make a musical about them, named "How I feel about how people feel about that movie about big feelings." ;)
TB: I wasn't a fan of Beasts - although I admire a lot of things about it, and think its nominations can only really be seen as a positive thing for any fan of independent-minded cinema - but if you want to read a (short) piece that engages critically with the movie without descending into either of the tropes you mentioned, check out My New Plaid Pants review: http://mynewplaidpants.blogspot.ca/2012/07/where-wild-beasts-are.html
His aren't *exactly* my issues with the movie, but it's the closest and smartest I've read.
I find the Wallis article and those that correspond to it very frustrating. It's obvious many haven't been in an acting class or read an acting book. Actors are encouraged to return to a time before they built censors and relied on instincts, a.k.a. being a child. Adult actors spend years upon years (some even a lifetime) trying to recapture the natural ability a child has of experiencing and reacting to the world.
Film performances are never natural and always come with manipulation. Editing and directorial choices like to add or not to add music during a scene has so much impact on how we respond to a film and the performances in it — if Streep is so great — where are her theater awards? That's what I thought. She's no different than the little girl.
The Oscar love to nominate cute kids that never have a chance of winning.
I just can't agree with Scott Mendelson. I'm a sucker for adult subjects, open endings and unsolved plots, but I just don't think Zero Dark Thirty is the type of movie that can allow to be that ambiguous.