This & That: Oscar's Reunion, Hardy's Trapezius, Rudolph's Princess

So... before he starts filming the Tom Hooper directed film version of smash hit epic musical Les Miserables (more on that in a second) we're going to have to sit through one of the most ridiculous movies of all time (that's a guess) just to satiate our love of Mr. Jackman. The things we do for Hugh.

Here's the poster for Real Steel. 

I almost want to remove those arm bandages (tenderly!) and reapply them to the face mummy style, so as to save that wonderful movie star mug from B-film embarrasments. If you're going genre, go all out: wouldn't it awesome if a mummy was training boxing robots?

The Wrap In other Hugh Jackman news, we're getting our post Oscar 2009 ceremony wish: Anne Hathaway will probably be playing Fantine in the film version of Les Miserables. Ah, Hugh & Anne singing again. Together. Sort of. I can't recall if they have any songs together but I don't care. They're both finally doing a musical!
My New Plaid Pants Good Morning World, it's Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Twitch Film Josh Brolin confirmed to lead Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy. I am one of those rare souls that hates the original movie but they're still going to have a tough time surpassing its chutzpah, you know?
Just Jared Tom Hardy in the new issue of Dazed and Confused on this 'manpanion' trainer and more (I personally wish he'd lay off the bulk a little; his trapezius in Warrior is frighteningly over-sized...

poll by twiigs.com

Playbill Sadface. Looks like that Nicole Kidman / James Franco Broadway revival of Sweet Bird of Youth is off. I do think it's wise that Franco starts dropping projects from his ridiculously overbooked calendar (you have to have time to do things right, you know) but I hope Kidman still pursues it. Would love to see her take on that classic role.
Awards Daily I knew this would happen but it doesn't make it any less painful to see Ides of March trading in its excellent and interesting teaser poster -- the one with the magazine half faces -- for something so boring I already forgot what it looked like the second I started typing this sentence.
SplitSider a review of the porn parody of The Big Lebowski. Yes, really.

And I'm very happy to share this video of Maya Rudolph's Prince cover band Princess -- i didn't know there was such a thing (thx WoW) -- but I love them instantly. Here they are doing "Darling Nikki" once of Prince's most infamous numbers.

Come back Nikki! Come back!!! ♪

Finally, I have no idea why there's a sudden rush of Captain America postings but here ya go...
Austin Translation "Thor Loser"
Art of the Title Sequence on Captain America: The First Avenger
Comic Book Movie Curious. Joss Whedon will digitally resurrect the 40s actress Joan Leslie for The Avengers.

The Sickness

JA from MNPP here, foolishly wading for the briefest of moments into everyone-around-here-but-mine’s forte – that is, the Oscar discussion. I was just looking at the newly released poster for the “cancer comedy” 50/50, seen there to the right, and I couldn’t help but immediately wonder why Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn't seem to be a blip on the radar when it comes to the conversation regarding the 2011 Best Actor race. Granted it’s awfully early so pretty much anybody’s blip is a hazy blip, but we’ve got an actor here who’s been getting more respected and loved with each passing year… and he’s playing the Terminal Illness card!

Of course there are a couple factors standing in 50/50’s way of serious attention It’s a comedy, for one. It’s a comedy about terminal illness co-starring Seth Rogen to be more specific, and one wonders how long a shadow of ickiness Judd Apatow’s Funny People casts. Once upon a time someone must’ve contended that Adam Sandler had a shot at an Oscar nomination before that movie came out, I’d wager. But JGL’s no Adam Sandler, thank goodness.

Sure the trailer’s jokey but you can tell there’s some dramatic meat there for Joe to chew on all the same. It’s not like AMPAS has proven they don’t have a weakness for the ocassional melodramatic dramedy about disease, hello approximately one thousand golden boys for Terms of Endearment. Granted director Jonathan "The Wackness" Levine's not exactly at the same point in his career as James Brooks was, of course. But Anjelica Huston's in it! She's insta-cred, right? (How I wish that were true - then Wes Anderson would be drowning in Oscars.)

"It's an honor just to be nomin... nevermind."

Is JGL just too young? I know Nat’s crunched the scientific data before (while wearing a lab coat and standing over a couple bubbling beakers, I like to imagine) and Best Actor usually goes to the older gentleman – ingénues are strictly Best Actress, dang it! But Joe would look so pretty cradling that statue! Natalie Portman who?

Reader Spotlight: Chris

Continuing the weekly or twice weekly series of reader spotlights. Today's reader is Chris a Midwestern reader with a great sense of humor who started reading TFE in his senior year of high school back in the mid Aughts and never stopped. That's the way we like it, the never-stopping part.

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first moviegoing experience or first movie obsession?
CHRIS: I'm pretty sure it was The Little Mermaid, because I have a distinct memory of Ursula's entrance. I can't remember my first movie obsession, because there have been so many. Probably the biggest was the summer that Moulin Rouge! and Hedwig and the Angry Inch came out. I flipped for both movies individually, but collectively they made me feel like musicals were back for good.

Take one Oscar away and give it to someone else.
I have to go with two on this one (and I'd take them away from double winners actually): First, I'd give Sean Penn's Mystic River Oscar to Bill Murray for Lost in Translation, because Murray gave a career-defining performance and, let's be honest, Penn was light years better in Milk anyway. Second, I'd give Hilary Swank's second Oscar to Kate Winslet for Eternal Sunshine, because it's her best work and Hilary Swank was the weakest performance in the category by a mile!

You're suddenly in charge of world cinema for a year! How do you you wield this awesome power?
I'd get rid of the whole "Oscar movie" release pattern! I hate that having to wait all year for the quality movies, and then try to cram in far too many movies into too little time. Plus, living in the crappy midwest means most of the smaller films don't stick around and I have to rush to see them ASAP anyway.

Have you ever dressed as a movie character for Halloween? And has a movie character ever dressed as you?
I went as Wall•E. Made it myself, too! On the flip side, Joseph Gordon-Levitt totally raided my wardrobe in (500) Days of Summer.

Chris makes his own costumes. JGL steals his look! 

Three Favorite Actresses?
Only 3 is so not fair! I'd have to go with Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Laura Linney.

Name your favorite movie in the following five genres: musical, drama, scifi, horror, woody allen. Go!
Aladdin, Boogie Nights, Children of Men, The Shining, Interiors. Most of those are hard to narrow down just to one, but I was half tempted to put The Room as one that fits all these categories. Jokes!


Previous Reader Spotlights: Peter, Ziyad, Andrew, Yonatan, Keir, Kyle, Jamie, Vinci, Victor, Bill, Hayden, Dominique, Murtada, Cory, Walter, Paolo, Leehee and BBats

'it's linking men, hallelujah, it's linking men... Amen!'

The Film Experience likes the ladies best -- actresses forevah -- but today's links are curious phallocentric, hence the title.

Observations on Film Art one more piece on Sidney Lumet, something to fill out the "constrained" picture of the general mass of obituaries.
Tom Shone, in a wonderful concise piece, knows we're all more Brad Pitt than Terrence Malick in this Tree of Life.
Cinema Blend Katey worries that Hollywood is going to make us sick of Jeremy Renner. He's doing as many franchises as Samuel L Jackson adding The Bourne Legacy (lead role - taking over for Matt Damon) to the line-up. Ruh-roh.
The Wrap organized-crime-drama alert. There's always a few in production. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, so memorably at odds in Milk, may be enemies again in Gangster Squad
Jezebel has a hilarious reel of men faking orgasm onscreen (in non-pornographic films). It's even a little bit interesting in a non-pervy way.
Movie|Line Joseph Gordon-Levitt trashes the Conan set for a Hesher promo.
Movie Morlocks RIP on the 1970s star Michael Sarrazin (They Shoot Horses Don't They, For Pete's Sake) who passed away last week. So many major goodbyes in showbiz lately. Sigh.
TVLine Strange Emmy development, ladies division: January Jones is still campaigning as a lead for Mad Men despite her screen time being at least halved this past season. Bad move? This puts her up against Elisabeth Moss, who is back to lead.

GayGayGay
Stale Popcorn Yay. Another convert to writer/director/actor/producer Xavier Dolan. I'll  have more on Heartbeats once it hits DVD... whenever that is.
Towleroad this weeks column by moi. I would have reviewed Water For Elephants but I was in Nashville. Is it wrong that I'm super excited to see it?
Out Magazine Thomas Dekker (Kaboom, Cinema Verite) is sending out all sorts of mixed signals about his sexuality. I guess we're still a couple years away from (male) movie actors coming out.

Two By Bat

JA from MNPP here, taking a moment to cover one of Nat's most favorite topics - the endless conversation of who's playing who in Christopher Nolan's final (or so he says) Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Only instead of indulging the bottomless echo-chamber of speculation, here be actual real for-sure announcements! Via EW:

"Warner Bros. has announced the official casting of Oscar winner Marion Cotillard and Joseph-Gordon Levitt in Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Cotillard will play Miranda Tate, described as “a Wayne Industries board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne [played by Christian Bale] resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham.” Gordon-Levitt will play John Blake, described as “a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon [played by Gary Oldman].”

So there we have it. Cotillard's not playing Talia al Ghul and Joe's not playing The Riddler or any of the other seventeen thousand characters people have been guessing. Just a suit (albeit a sexy French suit, probably with fishnets underneath) and a cop (albeit... well, knowing Joe, probably the same). This is probably for the best since we've already got Catwoman and Bane bopping about. What do we think?