Aarrrr, matey. It's Captain Link!
Monday, July 14, 2014 at 7:33AM John August Gregory Maguire (author of the novel "Wicked") looks at the original screenplay of The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Tom Huller look at this amazing commissioned poster for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Erik Lundegaard the first "Best Shot" entry elsewhere is up for tomorrow's Any Batman Movie fest. I love this article. Erik is so right about Adam West
Black Maria the nuance of silence in Ida
Stage Buddy reviews the cast album of the Tony Winning "Lady Day"... won't someone please make it into a movie so Audra McDonald can have an Oscar?
Cinema Blend Stan Lee getting greedy in his old age - wants to cameo in DC movies, too
The Film Stage Kurt Russell who starred in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof thinks The Hateful Eight will be going before cameras early in 2015
The Playlist ranks all eight Planet of the Apes movies. Predictably Tim Burton's box office hit is dead last.
Previously TV 'disparate things' pits Parks and Recreation's party machine up against "that brief window when we thought Smash might be good." I trust you'll all vote for Smash. Do as your told!
Boyhood
Awards Daily thinks Boyhood leads the Best Picture race but I'd be surprised to see it even nominated myself. IFC doesn't really try for these things you know. I think there last nomination was in 2009 or something.
Guardian quibbling with Boyhood
The Struggle
Film School Rejects has a think piece on the toxic culture of movie rumors as movie news. I've talked about this a lot myself as a way of describing what I don't want The Film Experience to be (just another site that cares more about movies that don't yet exist than movies that do) versus what it is (a movie site that cares about real movies from all eras and long after their opening weekend). As a generul rule we restrict ourselves when it comes to rumors (beyond quite often in these link roundups) much to the detriment of traffic since "future movies" is big business. I don't mean to pat myself on the back but I think it's a real problem for healthy film culture (which needs to be about actual films) and I'm always to curious to read articles like this from bigger sites which are news-focused on their feelings. It's a tough line to walk. I don't think we cover news enough at TFE but you have to be so careful that you're not just feeding into the meaningless of what's-next-what's-next at the expense of appreciating what there already is. Imagine if everyone in the US stopped reading every article about upcoming movies for an entire year. They'd have enough time left over to see a big group of classics and contemporary cinema and discuss them, too.
Christopher Walken in Pennies From Heaven (1981)
FINALLY...
You'd probably heard that Christopher Walken will be playing Captain Hook in the "Peter Pan Live!" event we should see sometime next year. "The Sound of Music Live!" set off a bunch of new plans for networks since live events are one of the only ways to get people to watch a program as its broadcast and thereby force them to sit through commercials. Walken is so amazing in musical roles which he almost never gets to do (see "Weapon of Choice" and "Pennies From Heaven" for starters). I don't remember this musical at all though I think my parents took us to a touring company when I was itty bitty to see it. Hopefully Hook gets to do some elaborate pirate jigs.
Unfortunately it looks like they're looking for a female actress to play Peter Pan (Kristen Bell was an original choice) which is disappointing. Yes, that's the stage and film tradition but wasn't it originally the tradition only because of wirework technical issues and women being smaller and lighter. It's decades later now, time to get a real boy who won't grow up for the role.
Reader Comments (5)
I'm with you all the way on not playing into what passes as movie news these days. I've made it a rule to never click on a news link that has the word 'might' in the headline.
If WB had a "plan", at the very least these characters would have appeared in movies by now:
Dick Grayson (This character is hard because, unless you're having animated and live-action movies working as a unified continuity, convincing people that a ten-twelve year old can stand up to The Joker or Two-Face, in live-action, is probably near impossible.)
Barbara Gordon (Easily relatable story and an exceedingly easy structure: Tell the basic story, plop in cheap to render B-C list Batman villain, have Batman show up in a cameo at the end and, boom, you've got a cheap $35-50 million action movie that just happens to be using superhero styled iconography. Maybe, then, we can get someone who can at least pass for mid-teens as one of Batman's kids again.)
Black Canary
Wait, complaining about women getting starring roles? I'm not sure I follow, especially since this production is so steeped in this tradition, though I had never heard it was only because they were lighter. Wouldn't they be able to find teenage boys who were light enough? I'm all for sticking with the ladies, and though Kristen Beel would've been a great choice. Can Kirsten Dunst sing?!
Jordan -- you know that i love actresses roughly 5000 times more than actors but this tradition with peter pan really bugs me. For one it completely messes with the central issue of the show which is gender-based.
also: KIRSTEN DUNST sings beautifully. You can here here in the end credits of The Cat's Meow and in a music video she did
I like that they're looking for a female -- I doubt a younger generation is even aware of the tradition of having Peter played by a woman. Might be a fun challenge for audiences. (And I don't think the gender politics of the piece are altered by using a female actor, personally.)
Even better: if they find a talented genderqueer actor and launch their career! C'mon NBC!