Beefcake and Linksnacks

Today's Must Read
"Male Stars Are Too Buff Now," a great funny true read from E Alex Jung about Zac Efron in Baywatch and other visually alarming superhuman specimens. 

Linkage
Daily Actor Corey Hawkins on the Juilliard audition he almost failed
Charlene's (Mostly) Classic Movies a "Medicine in the Movies" Blogathon - articles on Contagion, Night Nurse, Reversal of Fortune, The Fountain, and many more
Cartoon Brew Nigeria hopes to train 'an army of animation professionals' with the market for thoe films exploding

The Guardian Guy Lodge's latest DVD column on Toni Erdmann, The Salesman and more
Variety more 'sequels we don't need!' news. Boss Baby is getting one for 2021. Sigh. I actually thought that movie was unexpectedly good but most movies don't actually need sequels. Stop trying to make movies into big TV shows with multiple episodes! TV is great but Movies are not TV!

I Wouldn't Normally Link This But...
Life Site, which appears to be some sort of Christian Fundamentalist Anti-Choice website, has a piece on the Alien franchise that I found gripping and nutjob funny (Satan is the screenwriter of Alien Covenant !) and also kinda justified on a couple of intriguing points. Thanks to IndieWire for pointing it out.

Cannes Mania
Film Comment Pt 1 of Nick Davis's 'Cannes Staycation' looking back at 1987 in which Nick talks Under the Sun of Satan, I've Heard the Mermaid's Singing, and many more...
Film Comment Pt 2 in which Nick talks Wish You Were Here, Shy People, Matewan, and Babette's Feast. Part 3 is coming in a few days.
Vulture How Jane Campion feels about her status as the only woman to win Cannes in its 70 year history
IndieWire 10 Best of Cannes
IndieWire Eric Kohn on what it's like to be a jury member of the sidebar "Critic's Week" at Cannes

Off Cinema
Films for Action "What makes 'call-out' culture so toxic?"
Broadway World a timeline look at Tony nominee Andy Karl's career. (I know he's not likely to win this year but someday! -- such a great performer)

Paul Verhoeven Sticking To Dark Habits, Making Erotic Nun Movie

Paul Verhoeven is a walking, talking trigger warning; it’s not difficult to imagine him sitting behind an Inside Out-style control center smashing his fist on every red button in sight, cackling with perverse glee as he crawls under your skin like a psychologically disturbed porcupine with a bad case of rabies. Fresh off the especially spiky heels of last year’s Elle – his infamous “rape revenge comedy” that catapulted légende française Isabelle Huppert onto the stages of American awards ceremonies, better late than never – Variety reports that the Dutch provocateur plans to grind out a 17th century nunsploitation flick entitled Blessed Virgin as his next feature, replete with Sapphic undertones and hellish visions of religious erotica; a series of descriptors that should surprise approximately no one when it comes to all things Verhoeven.

After all, this is the same director who obliterated the military-industrial complex with giant man-eating space bugs, exposed the American entertainment industry with pole-licking showgirls, and, yes, drove a hatchet through the contemporary French bourgeoisie with a number of problematic sexual assaults.

Based on the book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, Blessed Virgin tells the sordid true tale of Sister Benedetta Carlini’s subversive exploits as the Christ-communicating, same-sex bedding abbess of an Italian nunnery. Going straight from one hyper-religious sister to another, Elle star Virginie Efira is set to reteam with Verhoeven to play the lead. Do Paul Verhoeven’s (intentionally) problematic visions delight or disgust you? 

Interview: Melissa Leo on Playing 'The Most Hated Woman in America'

By Jose Solís 

Few actors can command the screen like Melissa Leo. She has cemented her status as a true scene stealing chameleon in films like The Fighter, Frozen River, Mildred Pierce, and The Big Short. And while she’s mostly regarded as a character, read supporting, actor, she gets a chance to show off her leading lady chops in The Most Hated Woman in America which debuts this week on Netflix. She plays atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair who led a campaign that banned Bible readings in public schools.

Leo infuses the part with heart and courage, so that she becomes a perfect embodiment of the notion that the personal should be political. Director Tommy O’Haver uses Madalyn’s kidnapping and horrific murder, to frame a film that aims to reach everyone’s humanity, regardless of their religious beliefs. Anchored by Leo’s majestic performance, it becomes one of the most important films of the year, in terms of the conversations and debates it could, and should, spark. I had the chance to speak to Leo from SXSW where the film premiered...

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New Directors / New Films: Sexy Durga

New Directors / New Films which runs March 15th through the 26th is a festival of emerging international filmmakers here in NYC each year. We'll cover a few titles staring with a nightmare journey in India... 

Sexy Durga
Do you ever feel like you're missing something no matter how closely you pay attention? Not being well versed in Hinduism, it's difficult to make many inferences from the use of the goddess Durga in this film's title though calling her "Sexy" was quite a controversial move. I'm not sure why given that a quick bit of research reveals that she's a supreme goddess which sounds damn sexy to me...

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New to Netflix: Spinal Tap, Blazing Saddles, Jurassic Park...

It's that time of month when we get our new streaming options. Here are random new titles on Netflix for March (or that showed up late in February), freeze framed at totally random places, whatever comes up. As we do...

It's part of a musical trilogy I'm doing in D minor, which I find is really the saddest of all keys. I don't know why but it makes people weep instantly.

This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Heh. So funny this movie. Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner's collaboration became a classic. Without it we probably wouldn't have had Waiting for Guffman or Best in Show or whatnot. 

More films after the jump...

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