Chart Feedback & Mystery Movies

ICYMI over the weekend, I finally unveiled the first round of Oscar charts and pontificating and naturally Best Actress generated the most commentary from you though I readily admit I expected a little more discussion than we got on Screenplay (wah-wah). But maybe that's because I find that topic inherently interesting.

When I'm working on reviews or charts or any topic that involves opinion-making (*cough*) I tend to avoid reading other people on the same topic until I'm finished. Naturally this approach has drawbacks because I forget things. For instance, Sasha Stone recently talked up Best Actress and threw out some names that aren't on my chart (like Diane Keaton in And So It Goes...)  and Kris, Guy, and Gregory at In Contention also talked up '20 movies that aren't on your radar' and my biggest miss there from the Oscar charts is surely the civil rights drama Selma from Ava DuVernay which stars the formidable young actor David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. I loved their last collaboration Middle of Nowhere and I'd be thrilled if this film was a) as good and b) made a bigger dent come awards time. Tom Wilkinson co-stars as President Lyndon B Johnson. If that film is finished in time it could rock the boat in more than a few categories.

The next chart updates will hit on June 22nd so we have a few weeks to mull over the field.

One movie that I can't stop thinking about is Alan Rickman's A Little Chaos. I expect this curiousity is due to the very vague info that's floating about. We know that Alan Rickman is directing and plays King Louis XIV. We know that Kate Winslet is the lead as a landscaper trying to design a fountain for the King. We know that the talented as he is hunky Matthias Schoenearts (who must have cloned himself he's in so many movies now) is Kate's love insterest. But not much else though it wrapped filming last year. It's an odd premise that sounds comedic but most vague reports list it as a drama or a romance. But the cast is marvelous. The film also features character actors like Stanley Tucci, Helen McRory, Jennifer Ehle and Emma Thompson's mom Phyllida Law. 

Which under the radar movie are you most curious about?

Children of the Link

EW lets you zoom in on details of Spidey's new suit from The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Cinema Blend Oscar winning cinematography Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence is already courting the Chinese audience 
Pajiba "the 12 most awesome sexually confident movie lines" Ha. I couldn't pull any of these off (TMI!) but I love the list
Coming Soon You can now watch the opening and closing credit sequences of Pacific Rim online. Though honestly they look fairly generic despite the hype for the film.
Playbill Theresa Rebeck of Smash-creation fame is trying another series. She's developing a "Bleak House" adaptation for Bravo 

Variety Whoa. Hunky Bollywood superstar Hrithink Roshan recently had brain surgery. Get well soon.
Awards Daily Rising writer/director Ava DuVernay, who made the excellent Middle of Nowhere last year, is taking on Selma, a true-life drama about MLK and the Civil Rights Act
In Contention will Philomena be TWC's secret Oscar weapon this year? I don't know how secret it can be after the reception of several minutes at Cannes but yes, it could be.
Final Girl is about to trace the evolution of the entire Children of the Corn series with a marathon blogging effort on Monday. But she's already surveyed the posters.
Natasha VC a perfect one sentence commentary on Mia Farrow and Philip Roth watching Sharknado together