The Linkozoic Era

I didn't really intend for this linklist to be so long but the internet kept handing me enjoyable things this morning. Thank you internets.

Stale Popcorn "Olivia Newton-John swinging from a chandelier" This Aussie comedy just went to the top of my wish list.
My New Plaid Pants JA expresses jealousy, warnings and commendations for Amanda Seyfriend's uh, active, Hollywood dating.
IndieWire Deneuve gets a standing ovation at the premiere of Potiche in NYC.

Right here i had an article which talked about the dinosaur-rumor in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011) but it's been taken down. But here is a still of Brad Pitt in the movie anyway!

Brad Pitt in "The Tree of Life"

Boy Culture William Orbit thinks Madonna's W.E. is really good.
Playbill Kathleen Turner to host the Drama League awards
Coming Soon Dreamworks Animation schedule until 2014. Heavy on the sequels, duh. Between this and Pixar's sequel heavy slate, I feel certain that the second golden age of animation will soon end. Only originality can keep a golden age going.

I saw this on Blog Stage and had to share it. Nicole Kidman at 16 (!!!) promoting BMX Bandits. I love how she's so matter-of-fact about the actors not being good enough to do their own stunts.

Nicole Kidman on Young Talent Time from Severin Films on Vimeo.

Film Doctor 8 notes on Rango
i09 on scifi television and the mythical "Summer Glau Curse"
Towleroad Eeek. Blade Runner's replicants are not so far away. Here's a mechanical clone of a guy in Denmark
Alt Film Guide picks up the baton I'm always a-carrying. What the hell does Oscar have against giving actresses Honorary Oscars?
Go Fug Yourself readers votes are in and the single Best and Worst dressed at the Oscars is revealed. Their best is my worst! But their worst wasn't even at the Oscars so I feel like it's cheating.

Finally...

Daily Mail I love this story. The baby of one of The King's Speech producers dropped his Oscar. Hee. A film critic is born?

20:10 "A Difficult Person?" Oscar Trivia!

As we close out the film year, another couple of moments from the 20th minute & 10th second of 2010 cinema.

In this scene from Mother and Child, Karen (Annette Bening) has agreed to have coffee with an interested co-worker Paco (Jimmy Smits), who keeps asking her out. Having finally caved, she keeps stressing that it's not a date even though we sense that she likes him.

Paco: I just can't seem to say the right things around you. And I'm trying believe me.

Karen: What do you mean?

Paco: I just feel like I keep putting my foot in my mouth every time I talk to you. I... I just don't know why. Look I'm sorry forget I said that. I don't know what I'm talking about.

Karen: I'm not a difficult person.

Paco: No, I don't mean that.

Karen: You're not comfortable with me.

Paco: No, I am.

Karen: My words are too harsh for you.

And just like that she's out the door, their non-date barely begun. If Mother and Child, had been filmed with a different tone (for better and worse, it's stuck being emphatically sober throughout), this might have been a tragicomic scene. Karen IS a difficult person, her own worst enemy when it comes to her heart and what she needs from others. She likes the guy, but she's always ready to be hurt and therefore never ready to open up.

Do any of you remember when Mother and Child played in Toronto in 2009? There was briefly Oscar buzz suggesting that if it was released in time, Annette Bening would undoubtedly be one of the Best Actress nominees of 2009. Instead the film was held until 2010. It opened in the summer and in the shadow of The Kids Are All Right was quickly forgotten. I have one close friend to this day who swears she's way better in Mother and Child than she was in The Kids... (I don't agree but it's definitely fine work). Given that this performance has its champions, it makes you wonder. If Mother & Child won an Oscar qualifying release in 2009, would it have made a difference for her 2010 Oscar bid. So much of each Oscar competition is a complex set of factors including the very real power of "momentum". (Or was Natalie Portman in Black Swan one of those performances that was just going to win no matter what?)

Though my study suggesting that 50something actresses just don't win the big prize has gotten a lot of attention, I don't think it's impossible. It's just that the decks are stacked against them. Still, the ranks of actors with 4+ nominations and no wins is very slim.

Can Bening win if she follows up The Kids with another popular role right quick? Did any of Jeff Bridges' luck rub off on Bening at the Oscar nominee luncheon? It's been 21 years since her first nomination.

Very Frequently Nominated Actors Who Waited The Longest To Win

1. Jeff Bridges (won on his 5th nomination, 38 years after his first)
2. Geraldine Page (won on her 8th nomination, 32 years after her first)
3. Paul Newman (won on his 7th acting nomination, 28 years after his first)
4. Shirley Maclaine (won on her 5th acting nomination, 25 years after her first)
5. Al Pacino (won on his 8th nomination, 20 years after his first)
6. Gregory Peck (won on his 5th nomination, 17 years after his first)
7. Susan Sarandon (won on her 5th nomination, 14 years after her first)
8. Kate Winslet (won on her 6th nomination, 13 years after her first)
9. Susan Hayward (won on her 5th nomination, 11 years after her first)

Waited The Longest Never Won Despite 4+ Nominations

1. Richard Burton (7 nominations over a 25 year period) deceased
2. Charles Boyer (4 nominations over a 24 year period) deceased
3. Agnes Moorehead (4 nominations over a 22 year period) deceased
4. Irene Dunne (4 nominations over an 18 year period) deceased
5. Rosalind Russell (4 nominations over a 16 year period) deceased
   
6. Thelma Ritter (6 nominations over a 12 year period) deceased
7. Montgomery Clift (4 nominations over a 14 year period) deceased
   
8. Deborah Kerr (6 nominations over an 11 year period) deceased
9. Barbara Stanwyck (4 nominations over an 11 year period) deceased
   
10. Arthur Kennedy (5 nominations over a 9 year period) deceased
11. Claude Rains (4 nominations over a 7 year period) deceased
    

Only 10 Living Actors Have 4+ (Acting) Noms Without a Win

1. Peter O'Toole (8 nominations over a 44 year period)
2. Albert Finney (5 nominations over a 37 year period)
3. Glenn Close (5 nominations over a 6 year period)

4.  Seven other living actors have four (acting) nominations without a win: Warren Beatty ♥ Annette Bening though Beatty has a directing Oscar.  Plus: Jane Alexander, Ed Harris, Marsha Mason, Julianne Moore and Mickey Rooney

Will any of them ever win?

As we can see from the lists above, it's pretty rare not to be a winner if you're in the 5+ nomination club. Only 7 actors in Oscar's 83 year history have ever won 5 nominations without winning the gold. Chances seem good that if Close, Bening, Harris or Moore are ever nominated again, they'll win. The problem is being nominated again. It gets harder and harder to find good roles as an actor ages.

The 83rd Oscars. Complete Winners List / Biggest Loser Stat

PICTURE The King's Speech
DIRECTOR Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
ACTRESS Natalie Portman, Black Swan
ACTOR Colin Firth, The King's Speech
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Melissa Leo, The Fighter
SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale, The Fighter

Your Acting Winners. I hope Melissa Leo is telling Amy she owes her 200 dollars.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY David Seidler, The King's Speech
FOREIGN FILM Denmark, In a Better World
FILM EDITING Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
CINEMATOGRAPHY Wally Pfister, Inception
ART DIRECTION Alice in Wonderland
COSTUME DESIGN Alice in Wonderland
MAKEUP The Wolfman
VISUAL EFFECTS Inception
ORIGINAL SCORE The Social Network
ORIGINAL SONG "we belong together" Toy Story 3
SOUND MIXING Inception
SOUND EDITING Inception
ANIMATED FEATURE Toy Story
ANIMATED SHORT The Lost Thing
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Inside Job
DOCUMENTARY SHORT Strangers Among Us
LIVE ACTION SHORT God of Love

Tallies: THE KINGS SPEECH: 4; INCEPTION: 4; SOCIAL NETWORK: 3; THE FIGHTER: 2; ALICE IN WONDERLAND: 2; TOY STORY 3: 2;  BLACK SWAN: 1.

Best Picture Nominees Without A Win: 127 HOURS, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, WINTER'S BONE and TRUE GRIT which becomes one of the biggest "Oscar Losers" of all time with a 10/0 tally. Only The Color Purple and The Turning Point beat it with 11/0 in nominations to losses.

Best Picture Title Cards

♪ Tradition.... TRADITION.
This is beautiful even if 65% of the movies were undeserving of the Best Picture of the Year title. [via]

We'll undoubtedly be adding The King's Speech to this tonight, though we know which movie* is really deserving. You can vote for it at the Best Picture chart.

*whichever you want it 2 B -- opinions are magic that way!

Oh My Link

Kenneth in the (212) spends an evening with Lisa Kudrow to discuss The Comeback. Jealous!
The Guardian wonderful piece on AMPAS membership. This had me in stitches

Now 72, Mother Dolores still retains her Academy membership and every year receives copies of the latest Oscar-nominated films from Ampas, thus making her the only fully ordained nun to adjudicate on the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino.

Low Resolution Joe hands out his 2010 Movie Awards. Fun
Movie|Line Stu bravely predicts Annette Bening AND Jacki Weaver to win. My god, I'd be so happy... but doesn't he know about Oscar's ageism?

Scott Feinberg examines the pitches of nominated performances. All the Oscar narratives have been done before.
The Fug Girls fall hard for Brenda Song (of The Social Network)
Hero Complex James McAvoy talks about the bromance between Magneto and Professor X in X-Men First Class
Movie Morlocks revisits Vincente Minnelli's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever with Barbra Streisand. Did you know that it lost 60 minutes on the cutting room floor?
In Contention the foreign film oscar category still isn't fixed.

Finally, have you been following Movie|Line's Oscar index? They've now added time lapse animation to their charts and it's strangely hypnotic (and mnemonic) to watch the rise and fall of certain candidates. Here's one example, which is particularly instructive given the volatility: Best Supporting Actress. Watch the Black Swan pair jump in and out and up and down and note how at the last minute everyone is rising back up as it gets strangely competitive for so late in the game.

I guess this means they're predicting Hailee Steinfeld for the win but recognizing it as a very tight three-way race. Make it not be so Oscar gods. Make it not be so.