Linkcatcher
Friday, January 2, 2015 at 12:58PM Forbes a curious realization. Nearly half of the 20+ sequels coming in 2015 are sequels to 2012 films from Magic Mike XXL to Pitch Perfect 2 and beyond
Erik Lundegaard great movie quotes of the year
Film Stage unused concept art for an Alien film from Neill Blomkamp (of District 9 fame)
Deadline talks to rising DP star Bradford Young (Selma, A Most Violent Year) about lensing black films
Variety Selma will be screened for free in its titular city
/Film Yes, Emily Blunt is aware that the internet would like her to play Captain Marvel in the upcoming Marvel film
LA Times on Robert Elswit, another fine cinematographer with two films this year (Nightcrawler, Inherent Vice)
Boy Culture Mark Wahlberg pic (the headline for pic is A+)
The Feminist Spectator is justifiably miffed that Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game can't be bothered to pay more attention to women or pass the Bechdel Test (though I actually think Theory of Everything technically does due to that unintentionally hilarious "you should go to church. bye" scene)
YouTube Avengers: Age of Ultron commercial. I know this is par for the course now but it never fails to amaze and amuse and depress me that commercials (all trailers are commercials) now get their own commercials (premiering on January 12th!) when they themselves are sequels to commercials (third trailer!). What a world. FWIW this ant-size commercial for the upcoming Ant-Man commercial is pretty clever.
a few more 'best of' lists
Kyle Turner's top 14 from Mommy to Gone Girl
Scott Feinberg's unusual top ten, critical hits of various ilk and... Magic in the Moonlight?
Pop Culture Crazy's "foolhardy" top ten construction from Life Itself on upward
Happy New Year NPH
Dave and Mark Schulz in Olympic timesOscar Campaign Pot Holes
Pretty much every website is writing about Mark Schultz absolute freak out over Foxcatcher (that links takes you to the fullest recap I've seen with his "Die! Die! Die! deleted tweets and all) so I figure it doesn't need its own post. But it is the juiciest current movie explosion going on now that the Sony e-mail hack story has slowed down. The former Olympian didn't seem to have a problem with the film in which Channing Tatum plays him until several months after he first saw it. Interestingly his U turn happened during Oscar voting. Hmmmm. He says he is contractually obliged to support the film making this very public rage even more complicated. His about face appears to stem from a delayed realization of the film's homosexual subtext... which we only very recently discussed on our podcast and weren't all that impressed with as a choice. Schultz has since apologized for the outburst but is sticking with his claims of total inaccuracy.
Variety suggests that what's going on with Imitation Game and Selma is smear campaigns but is it really? Disputes about accuracy of biographical pictures are plentiful throughout history no matter the subject or Oscar heat. But for what it's worth people are saying that Selma's depiction of LBJ is problematic (sorry Tom Wilkinson - not what we needed disputed if we want to avoid that Robert Duvall nomination!). Now even a former Presidential aide to LBJ is chiming in on the controversy. For what it's worth, director Ava DuVernay, who used to be a publicist so knows this game, is very smart about dodging these attacks and keeping a cool head with her statements.
Disputes over Selma's screenplay credit aren't half as gripping, if only because this just happened last year with 12 Years a Slave and it seemed a lot bitchier then. Remember Steve McQueen's airclapping when the screenwriter won his Oscar?
Reader Comments (10)
In regards to Mark Schultz, someone posited that he may have had deals riding on the success of the movie and has been letdown that it's not some big blockbuster. That made sense to me.
I mean... he saw this movie way before the public did. Probably a year ago! And wasn't he at Cannes?!
History is full of people trying to downplay what they consider to be the less attractive or virtuous events of their lives for history. Schultz, the LBJ crowd, Brandon Tina's girlfriend, even Eva Peron, etc., etc. We see it every day as people say terrible things in social media and then try to back track. These are just more of the same.
I think, in Schultz' case that he is in a credibility hole. Tatum has already done several interviews where he said that Schultz was very open with him, holding back nothing. Perhaps it is, as Bia mentions, a failure of the income he had hoped for, or it's trying to build momentum for the film (poor choice of strategy) or perhaps he finally figured out that "gay for pay" brings a certain, unwanted attention once it hits the open air. Especially if the payer killed your brother. Foxcatcher is an ugly story however it is told and Schultz is only adding to the ugliness.
Nat: The article actually implied that she's too old for the movie being 34 at the time of shooting and 35 at release. No, dudes, she's actually perfect. I mean, what do they want? JLaw?
Nat: As far as Ava's response? The best thing she could have done was be brutally honest: (Sigh) We did it for drama and convenience. People would, naturally, still be very angry at that answer, because there were enough truly awful white people (George Wallace, who I thought would get more (and more interesting) play than LBJ because he was truly awful) that no slander was necessary, but it's better than what DuVernay offered. It probably isn't enough to kill the Best Picture nom, but this response is, sadly, enough to have killed the possibility of Selma taking the big W.
Schultz sounds like a case of the -lady -does- protest too much; even before the movie was made the story had an obvious homosexual angle- homely rich guy gives hunky wrestler money for "training" out of the goodness of his heart?!
Just real quick re: Captain Marvel... Katee Sackhoff?? Now THAT would be perfection.
I don't think Carrell's in anyway.
Is it sad that I kind of thought he was freaking out as a ploy to give Foxcatcher some attention for Oscar season...?
see i dont think LBJ comes off badly in Selma so i find all the complaints strange. True he's hesitant to do the right thing but every politician -- even the good ones -- often wait and wait to do the thing they know they need to do because they fear some section of their constituency.
philip h -- thatss funny but perhaps it means you're reading too many oscar blogs ;)
The Imitation Game barely acknowledges that Turning is homosexual, so I'm not surprised it forgets women exist as well. I hope it loses any momentum it has before the votes are in.