Amir's Most Anticipated, 2014

Amir here, taking a break from the relentless torrent of lists, think pieces and twitter catfights about everything 2013 to look ahead at the new year.

Making a list of the year’s most anticipated films is always a risky task and there’s little payoff in raising one’s expectations of any film. Predictably so, there isn’t always overlap between what we anticipate and what we actually like when the final product materializes on the screen, but that’s the beauty of the whole thing. There will undoubtedly be disappointments, but in their stead, there will also be pleasant surprises. Of the films that shaped my lineup last year, only three ended up among my top 25 films of the year, but at this moment a year ago, I hadn’t even heard of something like Museum Hours or The Broken Circle Breakdown.

10 Noah (Darren Aronofsky)
Because: the director. The director, I say! The trailer for this biblical epic was mostly disappointing. The CGI looked unconvincing, the dialogue was gratingly cheesy and, as a non-religious man, I find the basic premise of this oft-told story laughable. But who am I kidding? I’m still going to be there on opening day. Darren Aronofsky has (almost) never disappointed and something tells me he’ll find an interesting angle on the most famous of all tales. Plus, I have a fondness for Russell Crowe few can match.

Nine more possible great ones after the jump...

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Grammy Noms for Gatsby

Somewhere in the past 5 years I lost the thread of popular music -- I can only keep up with so many things and film is obviously my happyplace -- but even when I was firmly ensconced in the music side of pop culture,  the Grammys never made much sense to me. Needless to say I'm lost when it comes to the major nominations though I generally listen in or around the top three categories (Album, Song, Record) to see if something pricks my ears. But I digress. Let's talk about the fields that relate to what we do here at The Film Experience. Grammy has categories for everything including prizes for stage, film and television... but since they're on a different timetable than Oscar, it's a mix of 2012 films and new releases mostly The Great Gatsby that could win Grammy gold.

And the nominees are...

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The Girl Who Played with Calvin.

Jose here. Over the last few weeks it seems that I can't turn anywhere without seeing an actress I love in a new ad campaign or fashion magazine cover...there's J.Law and Kidman and J.Lo (oh my!) and now my beloved Rooney Mara has teamed up with Calvin Klein to sell their new fragrance called Downtown. Now, before you all disregard me and my obsession with Rooney, keep in mind that the ad was directed by none other than David Fincher and even though it pretty much features Rooney being Rooney (except she wants to play with puppies and children and she even gives us a toothy smile for once) it also has some unique Fincher-ian touches, especially with all the movies it pays tribute to.

On my tenth viewing I've spotted references to Roman Holiday (the plot), Singin' in the Rain (the rain! Also, the dancing, the studio settings and the dress), Notting Hill (the toothy smile!), Some Lie It Hot (the dress and Bus Stop moment), Cosmopolis (the limo, the isolation), Manhattan (the bridge) and more importantly Madonna's videos for Vogue (well, everything but especially the makeup brush!) and Bad Girl (the cinematography, the haunting melancholy and the opening scene in the cafe).

But this will only keep me content so long while I wait for a sequel to Dragon Tattoo... sigh.

How many references can you spot? Do you crave a Dragon Tattoo sequel as much as I do? Do you wish the ad was set to Petula Clark instead of Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

Gone Girl Got Ben

JA from MNPP here with some hot-off-the-presses movie news - multiple Oscar winner Ben Affleck (I trust I'm not alone in gagging a little at that phrase) has just signed on to play the lead (of sorts) in David Fincher's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's hit novel Gone Girl. 

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You can't really even talk about the novel without diving into spoilers for it, so I'm not going to even try. You can read that elsewhere. I'll just say I found the book to be an engrossing page-turner when I read it last year, and if you haven't read it yet it's perfect Summer reading - not so demanding you'll feel guilty getting sand in the creases, but you won't want to stay in the water too long and so you won't get sunburned because you'll want to get back to it.

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That said I'm not a fan of Affleck the actor - I thought he was absolutely terrible in Argo, enough to keep what I found to otherwise be a solid entertainment well off my favorite movies of last year list. And so I'm pretty bummed that Fincher's choosing to work with him, but I suppose bankability wins out.

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Any fans of the book? What do we think of Affleck for Nick? And who would you cast in the, ahem, other roles?

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The Link Is Not Yet Rated

Vulture features a fascinating memoir about a troubled 70s childhood and the not-optimistic catharsis of TV's 70s superhero show The Incredible Hulk
Awards Daily Sasha never misses a beat with director David Fincher and his new muse Rooney Mara. Have you seen their Calvin Klein ad? What's most shocking about the ad (to me) is that Rooney SMILES in it. Can you imagine? Not the smiling sort at the cinema, you know.
Variety Halle Berry developing an indie comedy called Mother. Her frequent producer is directing but his filmography is suspect!

Zap2It "Giant Colin Firth statue emerges from lake in London's Hyde Park" a most clickable headline, don't you agree?
Awards Circuit wonders where we're not looking for Oscar contenders for this year's race. Any under the radar guesses?
Salon's description of US Weekly in this article about their "zoom-in" interactivity with paparazzi photos of Angelina Jolie's cleavage made me LOL
My New Plaid Pants "do, dump or marry" with the men of Pacific Rim: Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnan and Rob Kazinsky
Salon speaks about and to Guillermo del Toro as Pacific Rim, his first film in 5 years if you can believe it given how ubiquitous his name has been in that time frame, nears release

Finally have you heard that Los Angeles banned this Project Runway ad from appearing on billboards? I don't get it.

This nudity is so safe. This is only side cheek nudity. The models aren't even in sexually suggestive poses. But hey, Project Runway has got to do something to get people talking now that it's 12 seasons old. (I hated "TEAMS" so much, I can't even. It really turned me against the show). I think this would have been a much braver funnier and more successful ad if they had all of the new contestants naked and worshipping the hosts. It would have also been more controversial since imperfect regular-person bodies really alarm people. Partially because you don't see them in the media very often. But, tell me, why was this ad banned? I've seen much worse on public display. I didn't even feel the need to hide it "after the jump". But sex, like violence, is a terribly inconsistent thing when it comes to public policy and censorship. TV has adopted film's extremely forgiving and casual relationship with violence now (they'll regularly show things you couldn't see in an anything other than an R rated movie just a couple of decades ago) and I can't any longer get a hold on what you can or can't say in terms of profanity on the small screen. But sex -- it's always sex -- still manages to get people flustered and "that's obscene!" even when it isn't. A few nights ago while channel surfing I chanced upon some sort of reality show wherein the contestants were dropped naked onto deserted islands - like an "Extreme!" riff on Survivor. They even had "Naked"  in the title. And the nakedness was blurred out.