"Burtonjuice. Burtonjuice. Burtonjuice."

Tim Burton was one of my very first movie loves. I fell out of love abruptly when Planet of the Apes crash-landed but the divorce was lengthy and complicated. My lawyers cited irreconcilable differences (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), emotional neglect (Sweeney Todd) and physical visual abuse (Eyesore in Wonderland) and we thought we had a great case. But somehow Burton still won in court and our alimony is now paid in movie tickets; we are required to see all his movies no matter how terrible!

But by returning to his first stab at greatness with the upcoming Frankenweenie expansion in October and reuniting with his Batman Returns superstar Michelle Pfeiffer for the upcoming Dark Shadows in May, how can we not feel nostalgic for our failed marriage to that wild haired auteur?

A retrospective calls.

BURTONJUICE begins March 15th and we'll do it each Thursday until we finish the movies and/or we can't stand it anymore whichever comes first. (My bets on the latter.) Will you relive the ecstasy and torture with me? I can't go through it alone! If I ask you to "hold me" by the Christmas decorations, the proper response is (say it with me) "_ ____" even if you don't have scissors for hands.

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Bernie" and "Frankenweenie"

Andreas here with a pair of trailers from beloved directors -- and both death-centric comedies, at that. First up, Richard Linklater's Bernie:

YES

• The most obvious reasons: Slacker, Dazed & Confused, Waking Life, etc., etc.
• Black and McConaughey both seem to be doing offbeat, atypical work here. I'm curious to see where their performances lead.
• And of course, the legendary Shirley MacLaine!

NO

• But judging from the trailer, her role looks awfully one-dimensional -- "shrill old lady who dies." Here's hoping it's more fun in the finished film.
• This isn't the movie's fault, but wow, that trailer goes for every musical and editing cliché in the book. I'm surprised they didn't use a record scratch instead of a gunshot.

More "Bernie" and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie trailer after the jump.

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Michelle Talking Nonsense

To rework an old and enormously stupid cliché, I could see a movie wherein Michelle Pfeiffer reads aloud from the pfone book for two hours and still feel the ticket price was justified. (Though I'd probably complain if she didn't read some of the names with icy contempt, some with 'girlfriend wha?' mall mom familiarity, and others with erotic surrender just to get the pfull range of Pfeifferisms in there). So even when she's spouting utter nonsense like in this video chat with MTV, I love to watch her.

She's talking about Tim Burton and Dark Shadows and in the first screengrab she's saying:

I hope it's successful so we can do a bunch of them!"

In the second she's saying...

That's what we love about Tim's movies. They're not run of the mill. They don't easily fit into one genre. It always is this 'wait and see' kind of thing. 

In both cases: utter nonsense! A) she never does sequels and it took her 19 years to make her second Tim Burton picture so don't get your hopes up for several Dark Shadows follow ups. and B) Tim Burton movies don't fit into a genre because they're their own. If any director has a BRAND it's Burton. There is no waiting to see; we know exactly what we're going to get each time. Whether or not that's still a good thing is the subject of debate.

Video is after the jump if you're interested.

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You Better Link

Clara and soldiers in "WINGS", the first Best Picture winnerThe Film Doctor offers 7 notes on J Edgar (mostly in relation to two time jumping powerful men classics it attemptes to emulate: The Social Network and Citizen Kane... both recently discussed right here.) I particularly like thought #7.
⇚ Rope of Silicon the first Best Picture winner Wings is finally coming to DVD/Blu-Ray. Yay. Loves that movie, I do.
Coming Soon Tim Burton may be doing an adaptation of the children's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children after The Addams Family.

Little White Lies interviews Paul Feig on the success of Bridesmaids.
Hollywood Reporter on 7 films that could be looking at SAG Ensemble nominations: Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, and The Artist are the more comedic possibilities but will SAG take comedy seriously this year?
Super Punch Calling all artists who read The Film Experience. Super Punch is hosting a James Bond art contest if you're 007 inclined. 
Animation Yes, it's true. They're going to make an action movie set in the world of Legos.  

Go Fug Yourself Lisa Rinna at The Muppets premiere. LOL.
Grantland Mark Harris on the multiple Davids and three Goliaths (Leo, Brad, George) of the Best Actor race.
In Contention the Vanessa Redgrave AMPAS tribute
Pajiba on classics of Lady Porn and the men of The Immortals.

Not since the costuming department of “Mad Men” got ahold of Christina Hendricks has a pair of mammaries been so lovingly showcased. In fact, the accentuating bronzer is liberally applied not only on Henry Cavill’s heroic bosom, but also Luke Evans’ grimly clenched ab muscles and Stephen Dorff’s morally questionable obliques.

"Morally questionable obliques." Hee!

Speaking of morally questionable... I lurve this Puss in Boots piece at Ultra Culture on Puss's "synthetic heterosexuality". It's pretty great.

The trailer for season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race

Tags: Gay Video & Lesbian Movies, Logo: Fierce TV

If only their budget on the show was as high as their advertising budget ;) "Go forth and be sickening!" LOL. Quick head count: how many of you watch this show? Am I speaking to deaf ears whenever I mention it?

Yes, No, Maybe So: "Snow White & the Huntsman"

Once upon a time there lived a blogger named Nathaniel R who feared all fairy tale reinventions after the gaudiest of poison apples that was Eyesore in Wonderland left him for dead, comatose. But then on the magical day of November the 10th, this trailer for Snow White & The Huntsmen arrived and woke him with something like true love's kiss.

Or is it another trap? Is this another gaudy brain-dead horror malevolently enchanted with a Prince Charming disguise? Dare Nathaniel dream of a happy ending?

YES

• It's never a bad idea to remind us of Madonna's "Frozen" (♥) and that raven form explosion did the trick for an opening and closing gambit.
• Though the title name checks only Snow White (Kristen Stewart) and The Huntsmen (Chris Hemsworth), the trailer promises that this is totally The Evil Queen Show. And we can live with that since Charlize Theron is delicious.
• "Beauty is my power" ...that creepy yet restrained image of the queen bathed in milk (?) rather than something more cliché like a pool of blood after her opening kill... is so "pop" (think Annie Leibovitz photoshoots) but also has a mysteriously disturbing simplicity. Is the whole movie going to be this visually smart? 
• My god this movie looks so beautiful. Let's see... [IMDb check] ZOMG, it's Greig Fraser on DP duty. No wonder. Remember what he did for Bright Star? He's our new favorite. And... oh... Colleen Atwood on costumes? Really? They look amazing but atypically less than alarmingly busy and fussed over (thank god) than what she concocts lately for Tim Burton.
• Did we mention that we love Charlize Theron?
• Did we mention that we love Charlize best when she embraces her inner outer beauty? When she does she's monstrously good.

No & Maybe So AFTER THE JUMP...

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