Monday, July 19, 2010

"Respect the Link. Tame the Blog. Tame It!"

Flow TV a structural analysis on Glee, why some episodes don't work and others do.
Examiner Would Tom Cruise's career be different today had he won the Oscar?
Pullquote You can draw a line from Prince through Laurel Canyon and on to The Kids Are All Right.
Just a Cineast looks at Olivia de Havilland's first released movie Alibi Ike, 75 years ago.


Socialite's Life
I hadn't heard this rumor about Taylor Lautner taking on Hugh Jackman's role in X-Men First Class and now I want to die a little inside. See also: every post where I lament franchise actors playing in multiple franchises. Don't mix up my film worlds!
Cinematical interviews the great cinematographer Wally Pfister from Inception
Twitch Film Christopher Nolan's little seen first film Following is now available on demand.
Dear Old Hollywood visits the sites visited by one Joan Crawford in Possessed. I always wish that someone would do them with NYC movies. Don't say "do it yourself." You don't wanna know the depths of my inability to know which way is up let alone north south east west.
Film Business Asia Gong Li & Andy Lau to star in remake of Mel Gibson movie What Women Want.
i09 reminds people of flops promoted heavily at past Comic Cons. A bit of reality to preface the annual uber-hype fest.
Chateau Thombeau "Is it Wong?"
Awards Daily The NY Post endorses homophobia in a piece on The Kids Are All Right

another thinkpiece on Inception
Roger Ebert linked to his latest piece from Twitter with a "you are allowed to dislike "Inception". While my initial reaction was to scoff 'Uh, thanks (?) for giving people permission.' I realize that a lot of the same mob who demand agreement from every critic (missing the point of criticism by 100%) worship Ebert as a God so I'm glad he wrote this article. It's a good one with lots of civility. I shan't scoff at the 'permission' given.

It's so weird that Christopher Nolan films always put me in this position.
  • Truth: I have never disliked a Nolan film. I think they're all good... "thumbs up" in Ebert parlance. Yay for consistency!
  • Weird Secondary Truth & Conundrum: The reviews of Nolan films always make me crazy. After each release and the attendant flurry of raves, I always end up disliking his films more than I did while watching them. In each and every case, the hysterical praise makes me feel uncharitable towards [insert film title] that I liked a lot. More than perhaps any other acclaimed filmmaker, I feel that people don't actually discuss the merits of his movies so much as shoot big blurb loads on them, bukkake style. Yuck!
Finally...
via Twitch we can see the teaser for the Tran Anh-Hung's adaptation of the modern classic Norwegian Wood starring Rinko Kikuchi. The official site is also up.



We need to read the novel soon, having heard only awestruck love vows to it. But the film looks pretty from these teasing glimpses.
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