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Monday, June 16, 2014 at 10:35AM 
click to embiggenBacklots on "the happiest marriage in Hollywood" William Haines and Jimmy Shields from the golden age
Coming Soon first image & poster from Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans which opens in October. (I always giggle when "untold" is used in titles or taglines for characters that every man woman and child has heard of.
Buzzfeed great article on Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook, and melodrama
VF Hollywood Mary Steenburgen on joining Orange is the New Black for Season 3 (I think she removed this tweet because I can't find it)
Jezebel is the Justice League movie really only going to have one female character?
The Film Stage That's "Sir" Daniel Day-Lewis to you
Guardian interesting read on how social media killed the official websites for new movies
Coming Soon Frank Grillo optimistic about returning in Captain America 3 despite being kind of burned alive in Winter Soldier
Variety Adrien Brody and John Cusack joining Jackie Chan in Dragon Blade, one of the most expensive Chinese movies ever. They do know those two Americans aren't box office draws, right?
Captain vs. Legos
You know how I was all excited about Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which I love and saw again this weekend on a whim) becoming the #1 of the year last week? Well, it's already been replaced as The Lego Movie reclaimed the title the same weekend it debuted on DVD. Only $4,000 separate their grosses - ha! That's what you call a photo finish. The good captain isn't on DVD until September but he's also only in about 200 theaters and could easily lose the rest of them next weekend. Not that any of this matters since Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 1 and Grace of Mona-(kidding!) have yet to arrive and will easily surpass them.
What is Valka's purpose in How To Train Your Dragon 2?
Today's Must Read
Tasha Robinson at The Dissolve on "Losing Strong Female Characters to the Trinity Syndrome". Why is it that even when filmmakers care enough to craft and introduce a fascinating female hero, they always abandon, undermine or reduce her by the third act? Two current examples are dissected: Valka (Cate Blanchett) in How To Train Your Dragon 2 who gets the whole second act (but for what purpose?) and Rita (Emily Blunt) in Edge of Tomorrow
Reader Comments (9)
Jezebel article, casting suggestion by suggestion:
Oracle: If they want to imply the big history and have Barbara Gordon as Oracle, I'd say you'd want someone in mid-late 20s. If she doesn't get the Jean Grey reboot, I'll stump for Brie Larson.
Big Barda: I'm not sure who's appropriate. Any suggestions?
Vixen: Sophie Okonedo? Really, that's all I've got as far as "name" that's appropriate for this role.
Raven: Honestly? If they want to go here, I'd personally suggest one of the Fanning sisters. Dakota's 20 right now (23 when the Justice League movie comes out) and, at this point, just HAS to be jonesing for a franchise to increase visibility and Elle's (16 right now, 19 when the Justice League movie comes out) never had franchise work. (If you're going for Raven, ideally they'd cast an actress who would be believable as "just off the TEEN Titans.")
Lady Shiva: This is hard and probably nowhere Hollywood would be willing to go. If anyone has any actual suggestions, I'm all ears, but I'd guess this is not happening.
Hawkgirl: This would probably be the easiest sell as far as Carano is concerned, especially in terms of, well, height.
Nat, that VF cover photo of Shailene Woodley finally nails why I have not yet been able to get excited about this young actress. She somehow manages to look like both Norma Shearer and Laura Linney, which is not an actressexual pedigree that makes me moist, as you know. ;-)
Have you ever seen any of the Nicholas Sparks movies, or read one of his books, Nathaniel? While "The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember" are both quite touching, my favorite is definitely "Message in a Bottle." I mean, hello, Robin Wright and Paul Newman together onscreen?! Be still my heart.
Good for Frank. I wish him all the best. Another deserving soap actor who made it big. The list is endless--Marsha Mason, Kathleen Turner, Lauren Holly, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Phillippe.
Soap fans unite!
I almost always agree with Anne Helen Peterson's articles, but I have to say, I find her writing to be kind of frustrating. It's a little thing, but she writes in a way that makes culture seem like a collection of little premade packages--fully formed, complete, logical. It's almost scientific. Oh the Zac Efron specimen has progressed to the douchebag phase! The Entertainment Weekly is passing into it's bloated giant stage, of course. She's enthusiastic and well informed, but every item under her microscope is deadened before it gets there. I don't think art is deterministic--if it were there would be no point in making it.
brookesboy: Julianne Moore?
Volvagia--Frannie from As the World Turns!
Josh Duhamel, Brandon Routh, Judith Light, Meg Ryan, Amanda Seyfried, Michael B. Jordan, Sarah Michelle Gellar
"Happiest Marriage in Hollywood" totally choked me up.
Thanks for sharing Peterson's article. Her writing on Sparks movies is a model for how to do film criticism. She's a trained academic with a PhD at a prestigious film studies school, yet like Camille Paglia and others before her, she believes in writing for a general audience. Of course, those interested in Sparks will be more inclined to read the article, but anyone with an open mind can take in her words and get something out of it.
Whether or not I agree with every point she makes, her criticism is more valuable than many academics who write for themselves with unintelligible jargon in a lame attempt to appear sophisticated. Peterson could have, if she wanted, name dropped every scholar and theorist who writes on melodrama (Peter Brooks, Christine Gledhill, etc.), but she wisely chose not to.
I don't know how much of a following Peterson has, but she has the potential to be hugely influential if she continues to take complex ideas about art and popular culture and make them readable for those who don't necessarily study it. More influential, at the very least, than elite Ivy League academics who still cite Foucault and Derrida.
Internet writing today has become too niche, so I'm glad Peterson aims her article at a general audience that might be willing to listen.