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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
I Think Josh Hutcherson...
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... would make for a fine Peter Parker, if the rumors are to be believed, now that I've seen him in something (he played the youngest kid in The Kids Are All Right). He's young enough, for one. But he had fine presence in Kids.
And no I don't know what the image is above that I chose to use for this post - if there's a picture of somebody covered in blood, I'm gonna use it. Them's the rules! And it matched the Spider-Man costume. Welcome to my brain. Here's a better look at Hutcherson:
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And no I don't know what the image is above that I chose to use for this post - if there's a picture of somebody covered in blood, I'm gonna use it. Them's the rules! And it matched the Spider-Man costume. Welcome to my brain. Here's a better look at Hutcherson:
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Sixteen Fewer Days! Sixteen Fewer Days!
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According to Slash Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go just moved its release date to two weeks earlier, from October 1st to September 15th! The 15th is a Wednesday which is sort of odd for the release of a prestige picture not around a holiday, isn't it? Anyway who cares, hooray! It's only a difference of a couple of weeks but somehow it seems so much sooner, right? September's right after Summer and god I wish Summer were over. I hate this cursed season. Now this movie's waiting for me like a prize for making it through this sweltering nightmare!
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Happy 40, Brian Bloom
I hope where ever you are today there's a shower...
...or a weight room...
... or a supply closet...
... with Chris Meloni waiting for you in it.
(also a video camera)
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Better Than All Right
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Let it be known that I love Julianne Moore. I mean, it's already known by the might of this link here, but let it be known louder and clearer here at the start that I do, I do, I do love Julianne Moore. I've loved her since the shards of glass rain down on her in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (although thankfully she's gone on to slightly more substantial work since then).
So when I say that I positively adored Annette Bening in Lisa Cholodenko's terrific new flick The Kids Are All Right more than anything else on-screen, you should know just what a feat that is. That's not to really slight Annette Bening or her past career; she's just never been an actress I've really gravitated towards that much. Looking through her credits I enjoyed her shrill histrionics in
American Beauty and her dopey New Age-isms in Mars Attacks! and it's been a very long time but I have fond memories of her in The Grifters. But there's a lot of her work I've never seen - no, I've never seen Bugsy. Nor Being Julia. She's just not really been someone I've sought out. I admired the fact that she tamed the Beatty beast, but that was the height of it.
But she really is Best In Show, in a really fucking good show, here. The first thing I noticed was how she dropped her voice slightly lower, butching herself up in a small but convincing way. It's not overdone or anything, it sounds entirely natural, but it's there and it serves the character well. And when, in a scene I can't stop thinking about this morning, her character warbles out some Joni Mitchell and starts floating on up the register, you'll understand why it was a vital touch.
The film is so much funnier than I was expecting. I knew going in with these actors that the dramatic bits would be in good hands, but I didn't expect the laughs to be so consistent and true (recognizing Juli's past stabs at comedy as... not entirely successful... increased the skepticism). They play up a lot of the jokiness in the trailer - a trailer I frankly found off-putting - but I just figured they were pushing it as more comic than it was...
well, turns out I had it backwards. It's a very very funny movie. The observational comedy is perfectly aimed through-out, thankfully staying small and human and never straying from the delicate tone, swerving back and forth from comedy to drama sometimes within seconds. Watch the way that Joni Mitchell scene plays out and stand in awe of the way its really silly and kind of obnoxious and then beautiful and sad and then very funny again all within the span of a minute or so. That shit ain't as easy as Cholodenko's making it look, people.
Like Nathaniel's warned it does seem somehow traitorous to throw too much pressure on a movie as small as this, but I really truly did find it delightful from start to finish so I don't care. Caution, meet wind! Don't go in expecting fireworks, but you'll be pleased by the sparklers. (groan) But Juli gets to actually be funny here,
praise the heavens, and she is, she is funny! And Mark Ruffalo gets to be sexy as hell, which we all knew he could be since day one, but he succeeds anew all the same. (Also, he is naked a lot. Just thought you should know.) But they both get so much to play with beyond that too; everybody does. Can you tell I dug this movie? I dug this movie.
And I even understand why Mia Wasikowska is getting all this work thrown at her now! I hadn't seen In Treatment so all I knew was from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and while that mess certainly wasn't her fault any movie that can erase the all-encompassing scourge of that horrendous movie from one of its main players is a special movie indeed.
Let it be known that I love Julianne Moore. I mean, it's already known by the might of this link here, but let it be known louder and clearer here at the start that I do, I do, I do love Julianne Moore. I've loved her since the shards of glass rain down on her in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (although thankfully she's gone on to slightly more substantial work since then).So when I say that I positively adored Annette Bening in Lisa Cholodenko's terrific new flick The Kids Are All Right more than anything else on-screen, you should know just what a feat that is. That's not to really slight Annette Bening or her past career; she's just never been an actress I've really gravitated towards that much. Looking through her credits I enjoyed her shrill histrionics in
American Beauty and her dopey New Age-isms in Mars Attacks! and it's been a very long time but I have fond memories of her in The Grifters. But there's a lot of her work I've never seen - no, I've never seen Bugsy. Nor Being Julia. She's just not really been someone I've sought out. I admired the fact that she tamed the Beatty beast, but that was the height of it.But she really is Best In Show, in a really fucking good show, here. The first thing I noticed was how she dropped her voice slightly lower, butching herself up in a small but convincing way. It's not overdone or anything, it sounds entirely natural, but it's there and it serves the character well. And when, in a scene I can't stop thinking about this morning, her character warbles out some Joni Mitchell and starts floating on up the register, you'll understand why it was a vital touch.
The film is so much funnier than I was expecting. I knew going in with these actors that the dramatic bits would be in good hands, but I didn't expect the laughs to be so consistent and true (recognizing Juli's past stabs at comedy as... not entirely successful... increased the skepticism). They play up a lot of the jokiness in the trailer - a trailer I frankly found off-putting - but I just figured they were pushing it as more comic than it was...
well, turns out I had it backwards. It's a very very funny movie. The observational comedy is perfectly aimed through-out, thankfully staying small and human and never straying from the delicate tone, swerving back and forth from comedy to drama sometimes within seconds. Watch the way that Joni Mitchell scene plays out and stand in awe of the way its really silly and kind of obnoxious and then beautiful and sad and then very funny again all within the span of a minute or so. That shit ain't as easy as Cholodenko's making it look, people.Like Nathaniel's warned it does seem somehow traitorous to throw too much pressure on a movie as small as this, but I really truly did find it delightful from start to finish so I don't care. Caution, meet wind! Don't go in expecting fireworks, but you'll be pleased by the sparklers. (groan) But Juli gets to actually be funny here,
praise the heavens, and she is, she is funny! And Mark Ruffalo gets to be sexy as hell, which we all knew he could be since day one, but he succeeds anew all the same. (Also, he is naked a lot. Just thought you should know.) But they both get so much to play with beyond that too; everybody does. Can you tell I dug this movie? I dug this movie.And I even understand why Mia Wasikowska is getting all this work thrown at her now! I hadn't seen In Treatment so all I knew was from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and while that mess certainly wasn't her fault any movie that can erase the all-encompassing scourge of that horrendous movie from one of its main players is a special movie indeed.
The Kids Are All Right opens on July 9th. See it!
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I Am Link
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--- Five-nal - What the fuck is 5nal Destination even supposed to mean? Who are these moronic people who think that mutilating words equals hip? I can just picture it now: three kids walking through the mall, they see the movie's poster, and wham, the fact that it says 5nal instead of Final just blows their minds and they empty their pockets right there and then! Good grief. Anyway besides that news we've got word on what the opening death sequence, almost always these movies highlights, is gonna be. It sounds huge, and possibly awesome. So perhaps the 5nal worked its mojo on me after all! Nope... still looks like Anal.
--- UnPegged - Over here there's a couple of choice quotes from Edgar Wright, including where his adaptation of Ant Man stands - he's holding off on writing a second draft til all the Scott Pilgrim stuff is over - and on why he didn't cram his co-conspirators in awesomeness Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in said Pilgrim movie.
--- Little Monsters - If you live in London then you're an asshole if you don't go to this show of Ray Harryhausen's creations. Bring it to New York please!
--- Double Decker Baloney Sandwich - You'd think that Michael Stephenson would be sick of talking about Troll 2 by now, but he's got the stamina of a bull - here's yet another fun interview with him talking about Best Worst Movie and his experiences touring with the delightful doc for the past... oh, four years or so.
--- Second Activity - The trailer for the Paranormal Activity sequel has arrived! I haven't watched it yet but apparently it spoils the ending of the first film, so beware of that if you're a newbie. Although why anyone who hadn't seen the original would care enough to watch a trailer for the second film I don't know.
--- Unto Alien - You know what movie is fun to watch over and over again? Timecrimes. I've seen it like four times and it's entertaining and spooky and totally engaging every single time. The director of that movie, Nacho Vigalando, has revealed his next movie will be about spooky extraterrestrials, and BD has some info on it.
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--- Five-nal - What the fuck is 5nal Destination even supposed to mean? Who are these moronic people who think that mutilating words equals hip? I can just picture it now: three kids walking through the mall, they see the movie's poster, and wham, the fact that it says 5nal instead of Final just blows their minds and they empty their pockets right there and then! Good grief. Anyway besides that news we've got word on what the opening death sequence, almost always these movies highlights, is gonna be. It sounds huge, and possibly awesome. So perhaps the 5nal worked its mojo on me after all! Nope... still looks like Anal.--- UnPegged - Over here there's a couple of choice quotes from Edgar Wright, including where his adaptation of Ant Man stands - he's holding off on writing a second draft til all the Scott Pilgrim stuff is over - and on why he didn't cram his co-conspirators in awesomeness Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in said Pilgrim movie.
--- Little Monsters - If you live in London then you're an asshole if you don't go to this show of Ray Harryhausen's creations. Bring it to New York please!--- Double Decker Baloney Sandwich - You'd think that Michael Stephenson would be sick of talking about Troll 2 by now, but he's got the stamina of a bull - here's yet another fun interview with him talking about Best Worst Movie and his experiences touring with the delightful doc for the past... oh, four years or so.
--- Second Activity - The trailer for the Paranormal Activity sequel has arrived! I haven't watched it yet but apparently it spoils the ending of the first film, so beware of that if you're a newbie. Although why anyone who hadn't seen the original would care enough to watch a trailer for the second film I don't know.--- Unto Alien - You know what movie is fun to watch over and over again? Timecrimes. I've seen it like four times and it's entertaining and spooky and totally engaging every single time. The director of that movie, Nacho Vigalando, has revealed his next movie will be about spooky extraterrestrials, and BD has some info on it.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Quotes of the Day
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From Roger Ebert's review of Twilight: Eclipse:
From Roger Ebert's review of Twilight: Eclipse:"Of Taylor Lautner's musculature, and particularly his abs, much has been written. Yes, he has a great build, but I remind you that an abdominal six-pack must be five seconds work for a shape-shifter.".
Or perhaps this bit:
Oh just read the whole review, it's great.
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"Much leads up to a scene in a tent on a mountaintop in the midst of a howling blizzard, when Bella's teeth start chattering. Obviously a job for the hot-blooded Jacob and not the cold-blooded Edward, and as Jacob embraces and warms her, he and Edward have a cloying cringe fest in which Edward admits that if Jacob were not a werewolf, he would probably like him, and then Jacob admits that if Edward were not a vampire -- well, no, no, he couldn't. Come on, big guy. The two of you are making eye contact. Edward's been a confirmed bachelor for 109 years. Get in the brokeback spirit."
Oh just read the whole review, it's great.
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I Want To Be That Tank Top
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I'm usually somewhere on the fence with regards to 2003's Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I don't really love it, but I don't really hate it either. While it's no grungy masterpiece like the original, it did get a lot right. I'm not gonna defend it as stridently as my pal Glenn does, but I do think it represents one of Platinum Dunes' fleeting moments of occasionally inspired film-making. (If you know how I feel towards that studio, you'll recognize that's high praise coming from me.) Anyway there's one thing we can all agree upon with regards to the film - Mike Vogel looks amazing in this movie. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Here are some pics I've never posted before...
Gah. I feel let down by the entire world that he's not been cast in everything everywhere since this, and we've had to make do with terrible scraps, like him being forced to try to make "moodle" happen. Shudder.
Anyway, I've got hopes for his role in Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, and not just because he supposedly has a sex scene in the film and might get naked. ("Not just" can mean that's 1% true, right?) Says a source that reports on such sordid things (god I love the internet):
I know BV's been seen on the festival circuit already, so people out there know the answers to these demanding questions and are keeping it to themselves, and that's cruel shit, yo. Blue Valentine isn't out until New Years Eve. Boo! Move it closer!
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I'm usually somewhere on the fence with regards to 2003's Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I don't really love it, but I don't really hate it either. While it's no grungy masterpiece like the original, it did get a lot right. I'm not gonna defend it as stridently as my pal Glenn does, but I do think it represents one of Platinum Dunes' fleeting moments of occasionally inspired film-making. (If you know how I feel towards that studio, you'll recognize that's high praise coming from me.) Anyway there's one thing we can all agree upon with regards to the film - Mike Vogel looks amazing in this movie. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Here are some pics I've never posted before...
Gah. I feel let down by the entire world that he's not been cast in everything everywhere since this, and we've had to make do with terrible scraps, like him being forced to try to make "moodle" happen. Shudder.
Anyway, I've got hopes for his role in Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, and not just because he supposedly has a sex scene in the film and might get naked. ("Not just" can mean that's 1% true, right?) Says a source that reports on such sordid things (god I love the internet):"MIKE VOGEL & RYAN GOSLING in Blue Valentine (2010).
Nudity is not confirmed from Mike, though likely. He has a sex scene with Michelle Williams during the film. Ryan Gosling has lots of sexual activity in the film, as well as possible full-frontal nudity, and has stated the film is erotic. Screening reviews have said that are close-ups during the sex and that it is very graphic. Some reviewers have even stated the film will get dumped to video 'cause of the amount of sex."
I know BV's been seen on the festival circuit already, so people out there know the answers to these demanding questions and are keeping it to themselves, and that's cruel shit, yo. Blue Valentine isn't out until New Years Eve. Boo! Move it closer!
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So These Two Might Make A Movie Together
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And correspondingly I might masturbate myself to death at the thought of it. Via Deadline:
Sure, they might make an interesting match for a blood feud, but they'd make a spectacular match for a semen feud. Just sayin. Make love not war! And invite me along!
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"Colin Farrell and Eric Bana are in early talks to team on By Virtue Fall, an independent drama that will mark the directorial debut of Sheldon Turner, who shared an Oscar scripting nomination with Jason Reitman for Up in the Air.
... The drama charts a professional and personal relationship between two characters that evolves from friendship to betrayal and retribution. The Irish and Australian actors make an interesting match for a blood feud."
Sure, they might make an interesting match for a blood feud, but they'd make a spectacular match for a semen feud. Just sayin. Make love not war! And invite me along!
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What A Coincidence, Ryan Kwanten...
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... I've had this exact same dream.
Only I'm always sitting where Sheriff Bud is.
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Only I'm always sitting where Sheriff Bud is.
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Put On A Happy Face
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I hadn't been keeping track of this at all, shame on me, but Michael Haneke's glorious The White Ribbon is out on DVD today (via Nat). I'm dying to watch it again - with the pile-up of films I was trying to get through at the end of the year I never got around to seeing the film a second time like I'd wanted to. Here's my original review. It was my second favorite film of 2009, after Where the Wild Things Are. And looking through some images from Ribbon just now I'm overwhelmed with the need to slip myself into its miserablist mysteries again. Horrible horrible people, I need you!
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.Pass The Butterbeer
If you haven't watched the first trailer yet for the final
Harry Potter film(s), then you should do that right now.
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(watch it in HD over here) It only showed up last night but that's surely enough time for the entire thing to have disseminated virus-like out into the web-ether, every frame dissected, adored. And it's a great trailer that shot my enthusiasm skyward, for sure. Much fun. Can't wait! Instead of capping the entire thing, since it's already been done, here are - not including those shots I posted yesterday - five awesome shots from the trailer...
That shot of everyone charging across the hilltops gave me goosebumps. And then the cursed fire tearing through the Room of Requirement gave those goosebumps goosebumps! Then Harry & Ginny kissed and my goosebumps and their goosebumps all got boners.
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That shot of everyone charging across the hilltops gave me goosebumps. And then the cursed fire tearing through the Room of Requirement gave those goosebumps goosebumps! Then Harry & Ginny kissed and my goosebumps and their goosebumps all got boners.
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I Am Link
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--- Bar Man - I guess The Experiment doesn't have a distributor yet so who knows if/when we'll ever see this remake of Oliver Hirschbiegel's terrific German flick, but there's the poster to the right, via BD. A bearded and shirtless (and perhaps more-less) Adrien Brody being treated porly behind bars has always been the driving interest in this flick and the poster's giving me want I want, it is.
--- A Real Head Turner - Got around to the latest episode of True Blood last night and once the episode ended, with that scene, I think I laughed for a good three to four minutes straight and couldn't stop. My goodness. Definition of WTF, that. I love this show. Anyway io9 recapped the episode nicely, and PopWrap chatted with Mariana Klaveno, who was on Bill's ... uh, receiving end... in the already infamous scene.
--- Bella Boned - Harry Knowles' review of the latest Twilight movie has sort of got to be read to be believed. An impressive cascade of explicit sexual word-vomit that honestly, even in its ridiculousness, seems completely appropriate way to explain the franchise, which has such a fucked up relationship with sexuality anyway. (Mormonsayswhat?)
--- Neil Next - After seeing Centurion the other night the topic of Neil Marshall's next movie came up, and I couldn't remember all of the details off hand - I remembered it's called Burst and is supposed to be in 3D and is about people exploding. Those are details that camp out in a person's brain. I forgot that it's Sam Raimi producing. Also, that it's still not close to being made yet. BD has an update on it and it's still being written. Get going, you guys! In April Neil said it'd be filming this Summer. Liar!
--- Sun Eggs - Over at The Film Experience Craig took a look at three performances by cinematic magician Jennifer Coolidge, who turns everything around her into glitter and gold.
--- Let Us Out - Also at AICN is a spoiler-riddled review from a test screening of Let Me In, the Let the Right One In remake, and I am having a Sophie's Choice moment over it. Do I read the spoilers about what they've changed so I'm prepared going in? Or do I keep myself free of the info? I mean I ought to just flush this film's being right out of my brain because it's not gonna bring me anything but grief, is what I ought to do. But I can't. I can't! Dammit!
--- Ga Ga Gore - Yesterday was Final Girl Film Club time and they took on Larry Cohen's delightful baby romp It's Alive. Since once again I went missing in action on the participation front I'll just direct y'all to this old post I did on the movie way back when. Almost like I did something, and stuff!
--- Stormy Weathers - Moving right along with his Scream scene-by-scene project, Glenn swam through the the third and the fourth scenes of the film, which introduced ever-so-briefly Courtney Cox's epic weather-bitch Gale Weathers.
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--- Bar Man - I guess The Experiment doesn't have a distributor yet so who knows if/when we'll ever see this remake of Oliver Hirschbiegel's terrific German flick, but there's the poster to the right, via BD. A bearded and shirtless (and perhaps more-less) Adrien Brody being treated porly behind bars has always been the driving interest in this flick and the poster's giving me want I want, it is.--- A Real Head Turner - Got around to the latest episode of True Blood last night and once the episode ended, with that scene, I think I laughed for a good three to four minutes straight and couldn't stop. My goodness. Definition of WTF, that. I love this show. Anyway io9 recapped the episode nicely, and PopWrap chatted with Mariana Klaveno, who was on Bill's ... uh, receiving end... in the already infamous scene.
--- Bella Boned - Harry Knowles' review of the latest Twilight movie has sort of got to be read to be believed. An impressive cascade of explicit sexual word-vomit that honestly, even in its ridiculousness, seems completely appropriate way to explain the franchise, which has such a fucked up relationship with sexuality anyway. (Mormonsayswhat?)--- Neil Next - After seeing Centurion the other night the topic of Neil Marshall's next movie came up, and I couldn't remember all of the details off hand - I remembered it's called Burst and is supposed to be in 3D and is about people exploding. Those are details that camp out in a person's brain. I forgot that it's Sam Raimi producing. Also, that it's still not close to being made yet. BD has an update on it and it's still being written. Get going, you guys! In April Neil said it'd be filming this Summer. Liar!
--- Sun Eggs - Over at The Film Experience Craig took a look at three performances by cinematic magician Jennifer Coolidge, who turns everything around her into glitter and gold.--- Let Us Out - Also at AICN is a spoiler-riddled review from a test screening of Let Me In, the Let the Right One In remake, and I am having a Sophie's Choice moment over it. Do I read the spoilers about what they've changed so I'm prepared going in? Or do I keep myself free of the info? I mean I ought to just flush this film's being right out of my brain because it's not gonna bring me anything but grief, is what I ought to do. But I can't. I can't! Dammit!
--- Ga Ga Gore - Yesterday was Final Girl Film Club time and they took on Larry Cohen's delightful baby romp It's Alive. Since once again I went missing in action on the participation front I'll just direct y'all to this old post I did on the movie way back when. Almost like I did something, and stuff!--- Stormy Weathers - Moving right along with his Scream scene-by-scene project, Glenn swam through the the third and the fourth scenes of the film, which introduced ever-so-briefly Courtney Cox's epic weather-bitch Gale Weathers.
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