As someone who studied illustration but couldn't wrap my hands around three-dimensional work, I've always been fascinated and envious of sculptors. In fact, whenever I'm in a museum I'm much more likely to drift towards sculptures than stare at paintings. In fan culture sculptors have a special if uncelebrated place. Someone has to sculpt those action figures and collectibles you can buy and CG animation involves lots of 3 dimensional rendering. Paul Harding recently caught our eye for a jaw-dropping rendering of the principal characters of our current favourite comedy series What We Do in the Shadows (pictured above). It's brilliant caricature and the details in the expressions are joy-making -- look at Nadja's eye roll!
This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad
Logan, the latest and last (for now) solo Wolverine movie, was not kidding around when it opted for Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” as its trailer music. It’s not just the severity of the title, but the elegiac lyrics, and the dying man as guiding spirit / inspiration. Some trailers lie but this one spoke world-weary truth. This is exactly the kind of movie James Mangold, who also directed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, delivers.
Wolverine’s mutation were never those iconic claws, which were a science experiment to weaponize him, but his ability to instantly heal which also slows down his aging process. The movie franchise got very silly about this, placing him in the civil war context in X-Men Origins as if the once feral Canadian hero was an immortal vampire rather than a mutant.
Vulture Amy Landecker is Julia Roberts' voice double. This is amazing. Especially if you love the movie Duplicity Geek Tyrant yummy yummy fandom pies Coming Soon backwards told and trippy actually is commercial Strange Dr new the
Variety Robert De Niro's The Comedian will be getting an Oscar qualifying run. I guess Cinelou really wants to make these Oscar Qualifying runs their thing (see also Cake). Sigh. Women & Hollywood Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci will star in the adaptation of Ian McEwan's bestseller "The Children Act" to be directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal) -- ooh, sign us up. Awards Daily Oscar hopeful Loving about the famous right to marry case from the 1960s has released interracial and same sex emojis Tracking Board Wolverine 3 gets a title, Logan, and a spirit of the beehive poster moment The Guardian another report on Hollywood whitewashing of Asian stories and characters. I love Billy Magnussen but am sad that he's now involved in this too. Apparently the Bruce Lee biopic Birth of the Dragon has been saddled with a white character as lead, sidelining Bruce Lee in his own story What the actual fuck? Variety Ian McKellen is getting the documentary treatment in McKellen: Playing the Part
Today's Video Kristin Chenoweth sings the Game of Thrones theme song
Finally... Winter is Coming looks at the top paid actors per TV episode via Variety. These are so weird to look at. The numbers rarely align with what you think of as pop cultural worth. Though if you're on a phenomenal success like Game of Thrones the two sometimes line up. One assumes the numbers have a lot to do with how long a show's been running and whether actors have been able to renegotiate. And also network pays more than streaming which pays more than cable, etcetera. For instance... how weird is it that Taraji P Henson as the key figure on one of TV's biggest smashes (Empire) makes the same figure per episode as Michelle Monaghan a less famous star on a show people don't talk about (The Path).
The Guardian talks to Jessica Chastain and she is fired up about gender in Hollywood - as a cool non-competitive 'everyone wins' take on Best Actressing awards that's pretty cool to hear. Kenneth in the (212) a protest of the Cats musical revival. LOL Tracking Board Judy Greer is moving behind the camera! She'll direct A Happening of Monumental Proportions. The cast is now coming together Girish Shambu on recent excellent micro-budget indie cinema Variety Star Melissa McCarthy and her Husband/Director Ben Falcone already have their next movie lined up: Life of the Party Gothamist Netflix is upping the prices for its longtime subscribers. Okay, cool Netflix. I guess this means you're going to add good movies to streaming again? Hello? Hello? [dial tone] MNPP which is hotter, annual Taylor Kitsch fetish-wear edition W Magazine for some reason Disney thought a fashion collaboration with Kenzo was smart marketing for The Jungle Book so here it is Film School Rejects rewatches No Way Out (1987) with directors commentary. Ugh, that's such a good little thriller. And Sean Young and Kevin Costner were scorching hot together at that precise moment in history Pajiba shares screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie's story about how Close Encounters of the Third Kind changed his life.
Superheroes still /Film shares early nerd joy tweets from Captain America: Civil War. As a Captain America nut I was excited until I started digging deeper and one person who loved it like crazy still says it's not as good as Deadpool (which is not even a *good* movie, let alone a great one) so I'll continue to downplay expectations as Captain America: Winter Soldier is the best Marvel Studios movie ever and it's difficult to top #1s in any subgenre. Coming Soon Confirmed: Marvel Studios characters will appear in Sony's 2017 Spider-Man movie surprisingly virtually no one. /Film Boyd Holbrook circling villain role in Hugh Jackman's superhero swansong Wolverine 3 with filming starting next month. The movie is said to be very loosely based on "Old Man Logan" story of the comics
Political Mic Drop I have announced on another platform and now here that I will stop talking about politics... at least until, oh, September. The why is that I find it absolutely damaging and yet strangely addictive like being a chainsmoker after a lung cancer diagnosis. Everyone hates everyone and I lose faith in almost everyone daily (including you. haha) when I listen to them talk about politics. And clearly people lose faith in me when I talk about politics (#imwithher). So since I will make a valiant effort to not speak about this until it's more relevant -- the next time anyone complains about how "long" the Oscars take I want to point them to this interminable two year long ordeal we're all living through politically -- I only ask that you read this hilarious, scathingly truthful Hilary Clinton endorsement from Ellie Mystal (thanks to MattRett for pointing it out) which sums up my feelings more than I thought was possible. And it put a smile on my face... which I didn't think was possible anymore politically.
(And that's it. Radio silence on politics after tonight. That's my plan at least.)
Today's Watch The ghoulish tortured cast of Penny Dreadful are almost back! It took me a second to realize that the new poster was not a deformed skull performing its best Munchian scream but actually a man's body; Josh Hartnett's perhaps? Just 22 days until Season 3 begins. If you're not watching the show you don't deserve Eva Green, who may well be the most under appreciated supreme sorceress of the acting arts.
Official Synopsis:
This season on PENNY DREADFUL, Tony® Award-winning star Patti LuPone (American Horror Story), who guest starred last season as the Cut-Wife, returns as a series regular in the new role of Dr. Seward, an American therapist who treats Vanessa (Eva Green) with an unconventional new approach. Wes Studi (Hell On Wheels) joins as a series regular as Kaetenay, an intense, enigmatic Native American with a deep connection to Ethan (Josh Hartnett) who also becomes an ally to Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton). The third season also adds Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Henry Jekyll (Shazad Latif). Other guest stars include Screen Actors Guild® Award nominee Christian Camargo (DEXTER®, The Hurt Locker) as Dr. Alexander Sweet, a zoologist who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Vanessa; Sam Barnett (2012, Jupiter Ascending) as Dr. Seward’s mysterious young secretary; and Jessica Barden (The Outcast, Far from the Madding Crowd) as Justine, a young acolyte to Lily (Billie Piper) and Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), and Perdita Weeks (THE TUDORS), as Catriona Hartdegan, a scholar with expert knowledge of the supernatural. Simon Russell Beale returns as Dr. Ferdinand Lyle. Rory Kinnear (as The Creature) and Harry Treadaway (as Dr. Frankenstein) also star.
• MNPP All is well since Jason has seen The Witch and loves it. It's so spooky, guys. Go see it this weekend • Pajiba "11 Things I Learned from 'Star Wars and the Power of Costume' Exhibit" • PlaybillBull Durham: The Musical (?) may be headed to Broadway soon • Scriptnotes how to introduce characters in screenplays without being mocked on Twitter. (For those of you are like what? This is in reference to a recent writing controversy that we spoke of right here) • i09 says Zootopia is the best film Disney Animation has made in 20 years (!)
• MNPP freaks out over the new Pee Wee Herman Netflix trailer • Simply Streep Screencaps of Meryl Streep in the Florence Foster Jenkins teaser • Boy Culture have you heard about Strike a Pose, the documentary about the Madonna documentary Truth or Dare? • Boy Culture your semi-annual reminder that Miriam Margolyes is an international treasure and gay hero • Awards Daily "everyone owes Meryl Streep an apology" • /Film Julianne Moore offered the villain role in The Kingsmen 2. This historically hasn't gone well for her (See: The Seventh Son or Hunger Games) Why Julianne? You already have tons of money. • Hairpin "how not to write something" • Toyland the coolest stuff from Toy Fair 2016 including *gasp* female action figures
Deadpool at #1 • i09 everything they cut out of Deadpool to get the budget way down (which now means its going to be insanely profitable) • /Film Rumors are that Wolverine 3 is considering an "R" rating following Deadpool's success
And James Gunn, who did the superheroes being mocking and sarcastic before Deadpool, took to Twitter to hype his forthcoming blockbuster...
Official Photography on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has begun. You're very welcome. pic.twitter.com/741upZ21g7
Oscar Mania • The Guardian on why The Big Short should win Best Picture. I haven't to admit I couldn't follow this argument at all (perhaps you can?) but maybe I was just thrown because they start the video talking about surprise winners and cite Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump? Of all movies. That was a behemoth that year and couldn't lose. People say such strange things when they're talking about the Oscars! • THR Robert Richardson and other cinematographers calling for a separate category for VFX heavy films. I absolutely agree that this is a problem - this year not so much but usually • RED CARPET RAMPAGE. Help Leonardo DiCaprio finally win his Oscar! I tried to play this on my phone last night. It's actually hilarious. Especially the bonus round "Act Harder!" LOL...
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 8:00AM 
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