Linkomaniac

Pajiba Frozen/Star Wars poster mashup
Total Film now that the Weinsteins have access to their Miramax back-catalogue expect sequels. Shakespeare in Love 2 is coming at you (no, this is not a satirical Onion style post)
Variety Disney is planning a Jesse Owens biopic centered around the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Rich subject though it will obviously be easy to slide into pandering "inspirational"
/Film at press conference James Cameron compares his Avatar sequels to The Godfather trilogy. Oh Jimmy. I love you more than just about anyone but less talking (you're no good at it!) and more filmmaking (you're great at it!)
Cinema Blend first teaser for Gregg Araki's White Bird in a Blizzard with Eva Green and Shailene Woodley
In Contention Kris Tapley's top ten list featuring Mud, All is Lost, The Place Beyond the Pines and more

small screen and miscellania
Towleroad first images from Ryan Murphy's adaptation of The Normal Heart
Slate on the big problem with Masters of Sex. I absolutely agree with this but for me the show is great enough to overcome it... which is saying a lot since Bill Masters (Michael Sheen) is the lead
BuzzFeed 24 reasons why Cher is the Queen of Twitter 

Today's Best Movie Anything!
God bless Screen Daily for uncovering this gem...

In a week when American film critics organization have been tripping over each other to bestow awardage which, even when thoughtful can feel totally boring, a Danish Film Critics group have shown the world how it's done. They've mocked themselves up in character posters a la Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac to promote their awards (on February 1st) - note their outlet instead of character name on the posters. Nymphomaniac will be eligible for their prizes since it opens for Christmas in Denmark. This makes me want to read every single damn one of these critics weekly so a job well done!

Podcast: The Impossible Life of Pi on the Hudson

Here's part two of my October conversation with Katey, Joe and Nick. In part I, Nathaniel, made the embarrassing confession that I had yet to see The Master due to pneumonia, subway mishaps and so on... The day that I knew Part 1 of the podcast would air (Sunday) I rushed to a matinee of The Master so as to course-correct before my shame went public. I only had a few hours free and when I arrived at the theater the ticket seller informed me that The Master was not showing thus prolonguing my public humiliation:

Me, Wracked With The Master-Related Guilt: But I looked it up just 45 minutes ago... 12:30 PM! I'm here. It's 12:30 PM. I have to see it.
Lady Who Knew Not My Blogging Shame:  Where did you look it up?
Me: Moviefone.
Lady: We're not affiliated with them. Next time try Fandango.
Me: Are you telling me that Moviefone just made this up?!
Lady: I'm telling you that it's not showing and we aren't affiliated with them.
Me: Fine... Argo.

ANYWAY... [/tangent]

Podcast Part Two.
Topics in this incredibly rambling 41 minute Oscar podcast include but are not limited to:

• Life of Pi
• Hyde Park on Hudson - why the festival showings?
• How to Survive a Plague, Documentaries & FYC Screeners
• Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained
• Naomi Watts in The Impossible
• Amour, Emmanuelle Riva and Best Actress
• The Matthew McConaughey Narrative
• The Normal Heart and August: Osage County in 2013

You can download the podcast on iTunes or listen right here. Enjoy (and please comment if you do).

The Impossible Life of Pi Oscar Ramblings

Ryan Murphy's "Normal Heart"

Looks like it'll be television giant Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee) in the directing chair for the first film version of Larry Kramer's AIDS drama The Normal Heart. That righteously angry 80s play, which has long flummoxed would be adapters (most famously Barbra Streisand), was all the rage on Broadway this past season during its revival (I was less impressed than most but boy did the Tonys love it).

According to Playbill Murphy is planning on going with Mark Ruffalo in the lead role of Ned Weeks and wants his Eat Pray Love diva Julia Roberts in the awards-magnet supporting part of "Doctor Death". That part won Ellen Barkin the Tony and throat pains (we're guessing. It's very shouty!) but apparently not enough renewed career heat to get her an offer for the film version. Between this role and "Barbara" the eldest daughter in August: Osage County Julia seems to cornered the market on famously angry/exhausted stage-to-screen female roles. 

But before we scream "Oscars all around in February 2013!", it's wise to remember (always) that that stage-to-screen teleportation magic is an eternally difficult trick to master. Murphy is enjoying great success with Glee but both of his films thus far, Eat Pray Love (2010) or Running With Scissors (2006), have had mixed results critically and at the box office. One of the dangers of success is that artists get spread very thin and that could obviously be a problem here with Glee still going strong despite its own occasional  "spread to thin" feel.

on the set of Eat Pray Love

But we wish him good luck. He was once the president of a Meryl Streep fan club ferchrissakes. And though I couldn't find the copy that interview that Playbill is quoting he supposedly recently expressed regret that he had to turn down writing the Annie remake meant for Willow Smith, saying: 

So now she's got Emma Thompson who is 50 million times better than me. LOVE HER.

So, see? Murphy really loves actresses and musicals. The Film Experience officially has no choice but to root for him.