Amy Adams familiar cheer seems ideally suited to the holidays. It makes perfect sense that's she's all ornamented and mistletoed for Parade magazine. She's even sharing a pumpkin pie recipe. Or her people are. Whichever. We like the celebrity "they're just like us!" illusion from time to time so we're totally willing to pretend that she bakes this exact pumpkin pie herself.
Mmmmm pumpkin pie.
We fancy baking with Amy Adams at the moment because just this morning, rescreening The Fighter we caught the faint but unmistakable aroma of "Oscar win". Now it could be that our olfactory senses are failing us and the contest really is between Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom), two cinematic moms more likely to devour their young than bake them pies, should both be nominated as is the semi-common wisdom. But suddenly we liked Amy's chances a lot more.
Why?
First, you have to consider that the Oscar race is still in its infancy. We have perceived frontrunners at this point but none are so much as official nominees yet. Ballots are sent out in one more week on Monday December 27th and a month later we hear the results. In other words, actors and actresses (and the actual films and performances of course) still have two months left to make their case that their names should be read on the nominee list and then be declared winner on Oscar night.
Helena, Melissa, Amy, Jacki, Hailee, Mila, Dianne & Barbara. Which combo of 5 will it be? Conventional wisdom says Helena, Melissa, Amy, Mila & Jacki but Oscar's list can sometimes surprise.
Second, Amy is 36 and quite famous. That's about the "right" age and career level for an Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Plus, the more often you're nominated and the more consecutive those nominations are, the more you start seeming "overdue" to the world and thus probably to the industry itself. (Should she be nominated for a third Oscar for The Fighter it'll be her third nomination in five years.) 'Overdue,' however ambiguous and debatable as a designation, can count for a lot if you're not pushy about it. Amy doesn't seem like the pushy type.
Third, Amy is employing that age old Oscar trick of playing against type. It's not (thankfully) a complete about face so it doesn't feel like a bald plea for prizes. Adams is still an enchanting dream girlfriend of sorts, but after the roles that made her so beloved - a naive pregnant chatterbox (Junebug), a naive musically animated heroine (Enchanted), a naive nun eager to believe the best about people (Doubt) -- that cynical been-around edge she brings to The Fighter's girlfriend Charlene Fleming, feels like enough of a revelation to count.
But mostly this newfound hunch that she could well be our Oscar winner comes from viewing The Fighter a second time. The manic energy and performative electricity of the "Alice & Dicky" (Melissa Leo & Christian Bale) pair is still remarkable and stormy. In a way Wahlberg's Micky Ward is the eye of this hurricane, the film's eerily quiet (some would say blank) center. Adam's Charlene, then, is the audience-surrogate character. She's the most universally relatable character and there to make us feel warmly towards and protective of the passive protagonist... and thus the film. Everyone who pays any attention knows that awards voters cherish a supportive girlfriend/spouse.
"I like my life."
And, most importantly, Adams absolutely delivers in her big "clip" moment, which happens to be The Fighter's emotional climax before it goes on to the easier narrative business of its true story sports triumph. (You can rewatch this scene on quicktime but I don't recommend doing so if you haven't seen the film yet; it's always best to see things in context.) In the scene she and Dicky have what amounts to a truce that still feels like a war as they attempt to force each other into confession... though neither of them actually confess so much as reluctantly acknowledge a vague failure at life. Charlene, a tough girl to the end, holds back tears but you can feel the survivalist hurt, especially when she bats away Dicky's question "What have you ever done with your life?" with a stubborn "I like my life. I like my life now Dicky."
What she likes is not her actual life so much as the life she's beginning to eke out with Micky, the one that she knows Alice & Dicky could take from her should she stumble.
One of the most fascinating things about The Fighter, though detractors might claim it a central flaw, is that the "hero" is not part of this very emotional climax. Much of the drama is what happens around him, and what's projected on to him by all the characters who claim him as their own. It's hard not to fall hard for Charlene when she ends this painful but optimistic truce scene with a foul-mouthed punchline, eager to regain the upper hand.
When people fall in love with a character, the actor embodying them often gets thrown in the ring, suddenly fighting for that heavyweight Oscar title. *
I saw The Fighter last week and didn't even deliver a "this is all the time I have" 7 word review. I have more than 7 words on this one though what follows is not a traditional review. The first thing I tweeted was...
It still applies. Yep, Christian Bale is doing his best work ever in the co-lead role of Dicky Eklund (Let's call it The Fighters)or at least his best since American Psycho (2000). Barring Geoffrey Rush's mutant power (awards magnetism) the "supporting" Oscar is most definitely Bale's to lose. And this is an important distinction: It'd be his to lose even without his baity penchant for putting his health at risk to dwindle down to anorexic nothingness for a role. This is his third time doing so. We hope it's the last.
A Tale of Two (Half) Brothers
But what's my favorite thing about The Fighters other than him?
I guess it'd be the way Melissa Leo (playing the mother to both fighters) and Christian Bale are always believably in sync as mother/son. They're practically twins with their darting hollow eyes, perpetually nervous body language and emotionally vampiric yet super vibrant energy. Would that more actors would co-author such compelling familial bonds while playing at "family". What's more, Bale and Leo have mastered the weird arms-length charisma of charming people who are simultaneously completely off-putting. Alice Ward and Dicky Eklund are the type of people you can't help but want to hang out with... but from a very safe distance, with plentiful escape routes.
Melissa Leo's on fire.
No, no. it's not that. That sympatico style is great but it's not my favorite thing about the movie.
Also worth loving is the everyman mundanity of Amy Adams and Mark Wahlberg, a somewhat perverse use of their combined star power. (Though they both have it, they're more recognizably "human" and thus smaller than giant film stars, here and elsewhere). Charlene (and Adams who plays her) and Micky (and Wahlberg who plays him) are constantly drowned out by the cacophony of Much Bigger Personalities surrounding them. It's hilarious how often they both just shut right down in the center of a scene with an 'I give up' pout. And they're the "Stars" for lack of a better word!
No, no.
The best element has to be the idiosyncratic humanity that director David O. Russell keeps breathing into the proceedings. By all rights, The Fighter ought to feel far more generic than it does; make no mistake, this is a "true story" inspirational sports biopic. Russell keeps finding ways to vary the tone, play with the moodswings (even perpetually "on" people like Alice & Dicky have quiet days) and have fun with the framing, which generously allows the orbiting cast members to contribute to the movie as well (the standout being Jack McGee as Alice's impressively sturdy husband George). Sports movie fans won't like the film quite as much, one suspects, since the boxing scenes are arguably the most generically executed part.
And then there's the subplot involving the making of the unflattering HBO documentary on Dicky "High on Crack Street" (1995). Dicky willfully deceives himself about it but the doc scenes gives the film tremendous tragicomic boost.
There's also a choice scene in which Micky & Charlene go to the movies and... well, I don't want to spoil it.
David O. Russell loves a rangey ensemble.
Oh wait, I know.
My favorite thing is the clown car chorus of Dicky & Micky's trashy big haired sisters (John Waters will be green with envy). There are so many of them. They're the most abrasively comic gaggle of sisters since the perpetual assault of Adam Sandler's siblings in Punchdrunk Love.
Or. Well...
The best thing might be the way The Fighters manages to slide so easily into David O. Russell's undervalued filmography even though it's much less original than his other films. When some auteurs make stabs at mainstream genres or popular appeal they lose themselves. Such is not the case here. Russell is still in love with the juggling act of impossibly noisy mixes of disparate acting styles (Flirting With Disaster, I Heart Huckabees), he's still fond of Oedipal undercurrents (Spanking the Monkey, Flirting...), he can still turn a film on a dime from comedy to 'wait, that's not funny' disturbing (Three Kings, Huckabees) and he's still just about the only director who Mark Wahlberg should ever work with (though, that said, "Micky Ward" has nothing on Wahlberg's Kings or Huckabees performances... the character's too much of a cypher this time.)
But no, it's not that. It's... NO.
No. No. No. You have to stop somewhere.
Needless to say, The Fighter is incredibly watchable. It's a solid good time at the movies. More importantly, it's a total K.O. for fans of Bale, Leo and O. Russell. A-/B+
JA from MNPP here. How adorable are these pictures of Amy Adams on the set of the new Muppet Movie - for now being called The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made - with writer and Muppet-enthusiast (aren't we all?) Jason Segel, as well as the new Muppet called Walter that's making his debut in the film? (via)
As if Muppets aren't adorable enough on their own, they go and add Amy Adams? That Cuteness Heirachy that Nat did ages ago is gonna have to be updated. .
The actual hour-long Hollywood Reporter video of the six actresses who grace their cover: Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Hilary Swank, Natalie Portman and Helena Bonham-Carter. Here's how it breaks down if you don't have a full hour to watch (video at bottom of post). Unfortunately you can't "scroll" so the time stamps are useless as I type away.
0:01 Helena talks about first day-i-tis. Never thinks she can do it. I can't act! 1:30 Amy talks about being unemployed and feeling sorry for herself (interesting bit... both sad and funny) and the long time period where she considered giving up. But now that she's successful, what doesn't she like about her career?
Amy: I feel very vulnerable. I don't like it at all. You're very subject to other people's opinions. You know when it doesn't go well.
Hilary: We know when it doesn't go well. We don't need to be beat over the head with it.
Oopsie!
5:00 Swank talks about trying and even if you fail, always try your hardest. Ah platitudes! I didn't get enough of 'em on election night. 6:48 Annette is asked about her input into making The Kids Are All Right more of a comedy than it originally started as...
Annette: I just didn't want it to be earnest. But she's (Lisa Cholodenko) also kind of too generous when she talks about me and my contributions.
9:00 Helena interrupts to talk about the vibrator scene (but says she hasn't seen the movie). 10:30 Hilary complains that she can't find good comedies. Uhnnh, you're not a comic actress. We're 10 minutes in and Nicole has said NOTHING. I need Nicki. But she was like this at the Margot at the Wedding press conference I attended, too. She is kind of robotic until directly addressed. I say that with the utmost love but it's like she's a robot until the movie camera is on or the press cameras are off. It's... odd. 12:00 Natalie Portman calls the Black Swan screenplay "a blueprint." and reveals that she and Darren Aronofsky have been planning to make the movie for the past 9 years (!) and credits Nicole with the following great career advice...
Natalie: Nicole said it to me a long time ago when we were doing Cold Mountain. 'Always choose by director. You never know how the movie is going to turn out but you're guaranteed an interesting experience.' I've always remembered that.
Oh bless you, Nicole. We knew this about you already. Strangely, Nicole hasn't seen Black Swan.
16:00 Nicole speaks! She lists the plentiful injuries she got on Moulin Rouge! after the other actresses keep egging her on. The actresses discuss moments when you should say no, or call it a night, but you keep going. The knee injury, which took two years to recover from, happened at 3 AM.
Nicole: When you're so in the role, it's almost like a high. It's like a drug. There's no way I was going to stop.
Oh, we knew this about her, too. 18:00 Amy follows that up with a story about Leap Year. No really.
Nicole's "what was that?" love affair.
19:00 Nicole is praised again about something from outside this conversation (clearly the woman is more animated when she's not doing press) and asked if she's ever had conflict with a director. She seems confused by the question (bless) and says instead
Nicole: It's like a love affair for a certain period of time and then I walk away and go 'what was that?!?'
...which gets a big laugh from the other five. I know people think I'm undiscerning when it comes to Kidman but the truth is I deeply dig actresses who are auteurists at heart. Truth: They're always the most interesting ones.
Annette "Balance" Bening
20:00 Unfortunately then she starts talking about not feeling the same pull to work anymore. Damnit! Thankfully, Annette amends this, explaining that even though she went through that once she had children, the desire to work returns and there is something about the acting process that fulfills you in a way that you can't get elsewhere. Having a balanced life "sounds good" but...
Annette: Creativity is really about excess and when you want to make something there's a kind of obsession that has to come with it -- in a healthy way, in a way that is intoxicating. You're engulfed by something.
(Are you listening Michelle Pfeiffer? Come Back to the Five and Dime Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Pfeiffer.) She then goes on to reveal that she wanted the Debra Winger role in The Sheltering Sky.
25:00 Hilary refuses to rest on her laurels (would that be two Oscars?) and reveals a knowledge of writers and seeks out screenplays that aren't even sent to her. Good for her (I'm not saying that facetiously.) Talks about a part she didn't get and Annette teases her about it. 26:00 Nicole Kidman has seen Star Trek. She bought a ticket and everything (?). Hilary doesn't like science fiction. (Is that distaste a post-The Core problem? She doesn't say.)
Amy exfoliates
28:00 Amy vows to spend time with her daughter instead of doing movies -- damn you, infant! KIDDING! please no one bite my head off though infants have taken many of the great actresses away from us. And this conversation is further proof. (Sigh) 29:00 Nicole considered not making Rabbit Hole after having Sunday and struggling for financing. This part is a snooze fest.
31:00 Hilary and Amy talk about not doing certain roles and how it's disrespectful to the actor who did it to talk about roles you wanted or turned down. Natalie says that if directors vacillate about who to cast it's not a good sign "never a good sign" actually. It shows they don't know what they want. Hilary vaguely claims to have been"coerced" into certain roles. By whom? Are we talking about The Core again? Let it go! 32:00 Amy reveals panic about super tight close-ups and wondering if she exfoliated properly. I hate those too, Amy! But for different reasons. I like to see like hair, shoulders, hands. I want to see how the actor uses their body, not just their eyes nose and maybe top lip.
Helena continually cracks Natalie up.
33:00 INTERESTING. Now we're getting into it. Helena Bonham-Carter talks about her discomfort with Lars Von Trier (!)..."but I didn't realize this man was a visionary". Admits she turned down Breaking the Waves. Natalie Portman is very excited about this reveal. Nicole says it's one of her favorite films (of course it is!) which eggs Helena on in the story. HBC thinks it was really weird that Emily Watson told everyone (she did? I don't remember this) that Helena had turned it down 'because that film made her!'
35:00 Helena talks about her 'late bloomer' personality and that she's finally comfortable with her sexuality. 'There were lots of parts I was just not ready for.' This all makes me wonder how the hell she got through The Wings of the Dove (1997) in which she is freakishly perfect and totally erotic, too. And for which she won the Oscar (SHHHHHhhhhh. Let me live in my fantasy world where deserving things happen.) 36:00 Nicole says she still e-mails Lars Von Trier (!) but agrees that he can be mean. The moderator brings up The Five Obstructions as an interesting portrait of Lars. Nicole "I don't need to see that. I worked with him."
38:00 Helena discusses Tim Burton at length but tells a great story about befriending a focus puller on Sweeney Todd who totally helped her get more takes since Tim wouldn't give them too her. 43:00 I am totally losing focus now as The Bening discusses stage vs screen. 45:00 Interesting... she's giving a lot of credit to Milos Forman for helping her to understand film acting. Funny that she brings this up because I was just watching Valmont again the other day and she is really quite fantastic in it and its' about a 180 from Glenn Close's interpretation of the same role.
The Bening as the evil Merquise de Merteuil
Watching them back to back would surely remind us that no two actors will give you the same thing. Ever. (Now, admittedly the cast, director and screenplay are different, too. But still. They are SO different within the exact same story / character.)
The Bening kicks the story up a notch by imitating Forman's directions in his voice. 47:00 Okay now I love Milos Forman more than I ever have in my life. Natalie loves Annette's story and shares her own (also in Forman's voice from her time with him on Goya's Ghost)
Natalie: You're acting like you're in -- like this is a bad movie. This is not a bad movie. This is a good movie. Annette: That is brilliant
48:00 Nicole tells a Jane Campion story! No way. Okay this is getting better and better. It's a story about a Jane Campion short she pulled out of because she didn't want to wear a shower cap OR kiss a girl. 'I was 14. I wanted to kiss boys!' Hahaha. 50:00 Amy Adams calls the moderator on his "baiting" when he is talking about movies being only made for young boys now. None of them take the bait except Hilary.... 51:00 ...who weirdly goes on a bizarre tangent blaming critics (!) for the failure of dramas. Yeah, that's right. Ticket buyers totally listen to unemployed critics. 'Critics don't like linear storytelling anymore!' They don't? This is news to me.
52:00 Nicole and Helena both praise HBO and TV in general (?) Kidman says she's doing something for HBO. She is? I so cannot keep up with upcoming movie news. 54:00 Amy hates that being an actress means you're supposed to also be a model. Helena tells her she doesn't have to pretend to be a model. 'Wear whatever you like. You'll get criticized for it but..." Helena would know. 56:00 Natalie explains that she was lucky to finish high school before the internet explosion of actors having no privacy. She can't imagine what the famous teens go through now. Nicole says she wishes she had been a director instead of an actress (!) 58:00 Annette talks about the "crazy intimacy" of acting and goes on and on and on and on some more about how acting really has very little to do with the acoutrements of fame and red carpets and whatnot. Interesting stuff if I weren't already exhausted and since i can't rewind, I can't quote anymore.
Here's the whole interview if you have the hour.
Some armchair possibly inaccurate observations:
Helena Bonham-Carter is very funny.
Hilary and Annette both talk with their hands a lot .
Nicole & Natalie are both shy but not inattentive
Amy Adams doesn't want to be in this room at all. ( But hey, she's got an infant daughter. She's justifiably distracted. We'll cut her some slack.)
The Hollywood Reporter is proclaiming that "Awards Season Begins Now" but the cover is freaking me out. Did Nancy Meyers direct it? It's so beige.
Do Amy Adams, Nicole Kidman, Hilary Swank and Natalie Portman all suddenly have the same hairstylist & colorist these days? They're interchangeable. And with women that special, that's a big no-no. Kidman's styling bugs me the most. It's so Blair on Facts of Life.
Am I right?
"I've got another one of my brilliant ideas."
Even craycray HBC looks like she's been stripped of her actual wardrobe in some coordinated Bossy Stylist intervention -- guarantee you she's never worn that before -- "You must be on trend, Helena. Muted colors this Oscar season! Think: Vanilla!"
But I'm intrigued by her fessing up about her working relationship with Tim Burton
I did do a film with him before I slept with him, and it's very different. We went through a really bad time on Sweeney Todd. ... I didn't get one compliment (from Burton). He really had this whole thing, like he didn't want to seem as if he was favoring me. So he'd go in the opposite direction. And Tim and Johnny, they have their lovely relationship, you know, they get on so well. So that was a difficult one. ... I really didn't think he'd ever want to work with me again. On Alice, I said there were going to be rules. ... I listed the Ten Commandments of how to work together.
I'd like to know what those Ten Commandments are. But I'm guessing she doesn't get into it in front of 5 other actresses.
Meanwhile, back to that cover -- this post is a runaway train (of thought) bear with me! -- notice that The Bening is propping herself up by her chin, biding her time, knowing they'll photoshop her in later.
I suppose it's possible that they were all in the room together, but I'm guessing it was more like Skype. The photo sure doesn't look like it's all one photo, does it?
Come to think of, I'm waiting for the day when some famous magazine or celebrity photographer refuses to do any more shoots where you have to photoshop busy people together later on. This didn't used to happen of course. Part of the jam-packed celebrity schedule used to include making time to be photographed with other celebrities. There's just something so dehumanizing about the photoshop mash-ups. I do them for humor but I hate it when they're presented to me like a photo I should believe in. (At least those Vanity Fair covers do a good job of tricking you about it... and you know that at least sections of it involve actual stars, draped about each other in real time.)
I miss stars being photographed together in the flesh where they can totally feed off each other's energy. Like...
Michelle Pfeiffer & Jessica Lange in 1997 (one of my favorite celebrity photos of all time even if their movie wasn't good.) Or how about Keanu Reeves & River Phoenix in 1991?
Of course this still happens now but almost exclusively with only two people. Larger groups? Forget it.
Currently paparazzi photography is so much more exciting than actual portraiture. I mean, would any magazine ever be able to schedule The Town cast to be photographed in a room together at the same time and capture this much interpersonal energy...
Isn't that a sweet pic? I think it's my favorite movie premiere shot from 2010. I've looked at it so many times since September.
But back to The Hollywood Reporter to wrap up. I haven't seen the mag yet but I'm loving some of the quotes I'm reading like this exchange between Swankster & Adams
On losing roles Swank: There was a script I fell in love with back in August that was sent to me...I went in and I didn't get it. Bening: Who did? Swank: Do you really want to know? Bening: Amy, you got it, didn't you? (Laughter) Swank (to Adams): Did you read it? Did you like it? Adams: I'm not getting into this! (Thunderous laughter) Swank: Amy got the role! Amy will be playing the role that I wanted! (Laughs) Adams: Let me just say, I'm not doing it. We don't normally talk about this!
Hee. I've never liked Swank more than reading that exchange. And I've never felt better about The Bening's winning chances in February than I did while "hearing" her tease Swank and Adams on this topic.
Our first glimpse of the highly buzzed David O. Russell boxing picture The Fighter. If it becomes a major player at this year's Oscars I want y'all to remember that I believed it would happen first. Toot Toot. (That was my own horn).
And now the patented foolproof system for judging our own reaction to the trailer: Yes, No, Maybe So™. Join us with your own in the comments.
First things first: It seems obvious that this film will live or die on the chemistry between its central brothers, boxer Mickey (Mark Wahlberg) and his trainer (Christian Bale). It seems obvious from the trailer that their relationship could well float like a butterfly and sting like a bee or whatever the hell boxers are supposed to do. Maybe Wahlberg is the type of performer who has to have a strong director to be properly called an actor -- but that question of his ability is already solved by reteaming him with David O'Russell who is already responsible for his best performance (I Heart Huckabees). Plus we'd like Christian Bale to stop doing these crazy things to his body so maybe mass acknowledgement that he's a good actor will dampen down that particular self-destructive urge for awhile?
On the other hand, haven't we seen enough boxing pictures? Isn't it the #1 most populated sport within the movies -- you'd think there'd be boxing gyms on every corner of every street to meet the need. Boxers are like hitmen: way more prevalent in the movies than they are in real life. But there will be blood... in the movies. Since we've seen so many rise and fall and rise again biopics and so many boxing pictures, what could this possibly add to the bloated over populated genre? I fear it looks a smidge generic... at least visually. Not that you can always tell from a trailer.
The cast sounds good on paper but how do they all come together onscreen? It's possibly delicious that there will be a catfight of sorts between Mickey's mom (Melissa Leo) and his girl (Amy Adams) but it also just might be typical Hollywood poverty porn. You know how they love the 'We're going to Disneyland!' white trash families the movies... or maybe I'm just thinking of the last Oscar baiting boxing pic. So, to make a long story short: I knew that both Leo and Adams were in the movie but who expected that the movie would contain girlfights? Haven't we all wanted to see Amy Adams test her range a little ever since her triumph in Enchanted? So why am I a little worried about her in this context.
I have failed to mention that Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are now married. You've probably heard this by now. But since the Film Experience loves both of them muchly, and has since 2006 and 2000 respectively, we throw virtual rice in their general direction (Spain is east, right?). To make things even more special we like to remember that Cruz made her first movie (Jamon Jamon) with Javier Bardem way back in 1992. They've known each other forever. They also both have acting Oscars which is quite rare in movie couples. Newman and Woodward did it but Newman has left this mortal coil. Even the Bening-Beattys won't be able to say they do when Annette wins since Beatty won his for directing.
Movie|Line I knew Pixar would eventually have to come down to earth. Seems they're joining the franchise and Direct to DVD markets with abandon. Sigh. The only studio that still prized total originality is giving up. I knew that Cars would be the chink in their armor. Ugh, that movie. It torments me still. Oscar TrackerMachine Gun Preacher pairs Gerard Butler with Marc Forster for a crazily eventful sounding biopic. Oscarable? I Need My Fix has photos from the set. The Big Picture more on the David O' Russell saga involving the unreleased Jake Gyllenhaal/Jessica Biel picture Nailed. Killer last line in this article. The Exploding Kinetoscope I marvel at this review of The Last Airbender. I love.
Movie|Line so we're talking about a Janis Joplin biopic again? That happens once every three years or so. This time it's Amy Adams but Movie|Line looks at the long history of casting rumors. P.S. If Amy Adams plays this won't she win the Oscar in a slam dunk (against type, singing, biopic, mimicry, deglam, addictions. It's got EVERYTHING) A Socialite's Life I kind of love that I can never keep track of Jude Law & Sienna Miller's love life. They're together again? I've lost track of this roughly 62 times in my lifetime. I want a bunch of filmmakers to get together and make an omnibus film about this relationship. An experimental biopic with Jude & Sienna playing themselves. Movie Marketing Madness on the challenges of marketing Inception. /Film to play a live action Tink. Disney is marketing the hell out of this character which makes me sad because each time they use her, I love her less. Hopefully Elizabeth Banks can rescue this. MNPP obsesses over Thomas Kretschmann again. We understand. Where's he been hiding? Hollyscoop Lindsay Lohan back to rehab. Reading the quotes on this makes me ever more worried for her. Not only does she need to get rid of these people from her life, she needs to get rid of the other people who think she needs to get rid of those people. Complicated! Clean house, including your mooch parents! P.S. I realize this is mere conjecture and we can't know what the Lohan family is really like but methinks Lindsay herself would be better off starting fresh, period. She's the one with the talent after all. If she finds sobriety, she'll find everything else she needs (including the lost talent) afterwards.
Finally...
Reuters is reporting a huge box office weekend for Inception (my review). I swear to god box office reports are getting earlier and earlier. The movie doesn't even open till midnight tonight! Soon they will just have box office reports beamed directly from psychic hotlines.
One of the crazy stressful things about Oscar night for the ladies must be the simple fact that the pictures taken of them that night go on for infinity. They get recycled each year for "best and worst" of video montages and magazine articles. But in the "viewing parties" and the after parties and such, there's no such museum effect. Without that pressure, the stars are more likely to let loose a little. But what's strange sometimes is that this is still how they're presenting themselves within industry circles when the industry has the biggest spotlight on. All of the following ensembles are from those types of parties. This is just a tiny sampling but you probably haven't seen these photos a million times like you have their Kodak theater counterparts.
yes please
from left to right: We all fell in love with Amy Adams when she was playing pregnant Ashley in Junebug. Now she doesn't need the foam padding and we fall in love with her all over again. Make some good movies once you're done with maternity leave Amy! Lea Michelle is going what you call "above and beyond". She already has a hit TV show (GLEE. I can't wait for April!) and now she apparently wants everyone to know she can do movie star glamour, too. Sometimes I wish I were a casting director just so I could give Maria Bello parts that are worthy of her. Catherine O'Hara!!! I had no idea that she actually went out to industry events. She looks great and I hope with all my heart that people in Hollywood get as much joy out of her For Your Consideration facelift expression as I do. But maybe it cuts too close?
er... Yes, well... maybe. Okay, no.
from left to right: I get in trouble every time I suggest that any particular actress is a bit too thin. But it's even more perplexing when it comes to Leslie Mann. I mean, she's a good actress and she automatically gets work because she stars in her husbands movies, so whydoesn't she eat? I think I like the concept of this dress but on her it looks too much like she's starring in Alien V. The slimy Giger babydemon has just burst from her chest cavity. Salma Hayek is wearing something that reminds me of Ralph Fiennes tattoo in Red Dragon and I don't want to think about serial killers when I'm looking at beautiful honeys. Christina Hendricks is awesome. Can't wait for Mad Men 4. Maybe this is too tight and the poof shouldn't be there but... damn. Gabrielle Union can pull off yellow and not everyone can. But that doesn't mean she should.
EEEeeeeeek!
from left to right: I always forget where I know Kate Mara from (and then I have to remind myself "Brokeback Mountain, self. Why do you always forget this?") but this dress is not making a good case for her. If I have to look at Hilary Swank so do you! Jeezus... This is not a hooker convention, Hil, this is an Oscar party. Sometimes when I realize that she will always be employed --thanks to that one admittedly genius performance 11 years ago -- I weep. So many years we've had to put up with her already. So many more to come (she's only 35)! Can't think of one thing that is right with Suzanne Sommers and can't count the things that have gone wrong here. Rita Wilson plays only one role in movies -- sassy best friend to movie star of a certain age -- and does it reasonably well. But just because you're rich enough to buy all the black fabric in Malibu doesn't mean you should wear all of it to the same party.
I asked you to amuse us by putting a caption or adding dialogue to this new movie still from Leap Year (2010) in the comments... Dozens heard the call. And now it's time to name winners.
Vanity Fair How the Fantastic Mr. Fox puppets were made. Cool slides Boy Culture From Queer to Eternity fourfour on Precious. I wish I'd read this days ago. Beautiful piece that will hopefully slap some people silly who have wanted to condemn this movie for existing.
Cinema Blend Romola Garai's Spider-Man surprise Los Angeles Times good piece on Sir Ian McKellen (The Prisoner) on Gandalf, gay rights and Macbeth The Auteurs looking back at Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans and seeing a conflict of movies within In Contention Brenda Blethyn London River FYC Awards Daily Christian McKay Me and Orson Welles FYC Silly Hats Only remembers François Ozon's 8 Women
About this trailer to Leap Year, Amy Adams next romantic comedy...
I'm not one of those people who likes to trash romantic comedies, especially not before I've seen them. Like any genre it can contain brilliance as well as trash. But it really does seem like Hollywood isn't even trying anymore. People liked to bag on romantic comedies even when they were popular (like in the 90s) but even those films didn't take such lazy shortcuts of having the right guy be so obviously superior to any other guy who might be in the movie. [tangent: Hello, Matthew Goode too Good! Good as in Great. I just saw A Single Man and his perfect human specimen thing makes more sense from beyond the grave]. For instance, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Bill Pullman in Sleepless in Seattle. He was a sweet guy. If anything he's more attractive than Tom Hanks. You feel for him when he realizes he's not the right one for Meg Ryan and yet that doesn't interfere with your joy in watching the movie stars get together at the end. Trust the audience. They aren't dumb. They aren't as dumb as you think.
Oh and way to give away the ending, trailer. Couldn't you have flashed a spoiler warning? * *
Contrary to appearances --I look so sinister in this photo (!) -- I am not about to whack Katey over the head with a sizzling frying pan. I was actually quite happy to be making her an omelette breakfast (which was really lunch) as we discussed Julie & Julia for the vodcast. Breakfast is the only thing I know how to make and otherwise I am banned from the kitchen. I accidentally melt things on top of toaster ovens and burn water. It's true.
Julia & Julia opened eight whole days ago now, which means its anathema to most websites. I'll continue to do my small part in swimming against the stream of the mainstream movienet which deems movies worthy of intense discussion for years before they open but not a moment past opening weekend. That's when discussions should be kicking off, y' know?
Did you enjoy the double finding-yourself-through-cooking tale? Would you have deleted the whole Julie part or just spiced it up a bit? I'm asking too many questions but I'm just a nosey person. What do you know how to cook? Remember to make enough for everyone.
Yesterday, I went to the Prospect Park Zoo and I would still be traumatized by the one armed kangaroo (the horror. the horror) had the meerkats not redeemed my visit with their indefatigable cuteness.
Check out the little guy to your right there. He's just hangin', waiting for someone to bring him a cold beer. The guy on the left was more of a people person (er...) and kept watching the crowd watching him. The third member of this meager meerkat exhibit -- out of frame -- was darting back and forth like he had had 18 cups of coffee with his yummy box of insects.
While I watched them "Harmour Love" played in my head (joy!) and I forgot all about how dull Amy Adams was in Julie & Julia and my heart nearly burst again for love of her in Junebug. Oh, that expert conjuring of Ashley, a day-dreaming impressionable small-town chatterbox, her thoughts always darting back and forth. She's a gabby people person living in a house full of silent types. By the time she meets her big city sister-in-law Madeleine (wonderfully played by the underemployed Embeth Davidtz) we understand that Ashley's learned not to even wait for answers to her rapid fire questions.
Are you wearing any makeup? because you could wear more if you wanted to.
You're so tall.
I'm fair. But I like to experiment with a lot of different looks.
Were you born in Chicago? I was born right here...lived here my whole life.
My favorite animal is the meerkat. Do you know what they are? They're so cute, Ohhh! They're --I've got this little charm bracelet with meerkats on it.
Did you have lots of boyfriends? I bet you did.
Did you ever try out for cheerleading or anything? I tried out but I didn't make it.
When an answer does come, her sister-in-law pulling one question from the tumbling batch of them, it looks like Ashley might finally be speechless.
A random sampling of people hitting the red carpet the past... uh... couple of weeks (Yes, I'm on time delay) Girls and boys for a change and some random thoughts regarding them.
Penélope Cruz. is having a rather extended bout of premieres for Broken Embraces and by the time that winds down she'll be starting it all over again to promote the musical Nine. Too much of a good thing: Nine and Broken Embraces premiere in the US within five days of each other in November. It'll be all Penélope all the time and if the baby Bardem rumors are true, she'll be 7 months preggers when those hotly anticipated titles arrive.
Diane Kruger confuses me. I normally love these androgynous outfits on women but it doesn't work for her. Maybe because the body is too emaciated / boyish to offset the masculine attire with femininity? You'd think working on Inglourious Basterds would have given her more of an appetite, a carnivorous blood red meat kind of appetite.
Gillian Armstrong is still alive! She's been very low profile for the past decade -- her last film was Death Defying Acts, that barely released Harry Houdini film with Catherine Zeta Jones and Guy Pearce -- but since 2009 is shaping up to be a breakthrough year for female directors (so many in play), it's good to be reminded of those who came before and paved the way. Armstrong gave Diane Keaton one of her best dramatic roles (Mrs. Soffel) -- Keaton would be smart to find a good drama again, I think but most importantly, Armstrong basically introduced the world to both Cate Blanchett (Oscar & Lucinda) and Judy Davis (My Brilliant Career) so the world owes her.
Speaking of people who owe Gillian Armstrong...
Claire Danes -- who got her first shot at movie stardom with Armstrong's remake of Little Women (still one of Danes' best) -- looks awesome in blue, don't you think? Her movie career isn't so enviable lately but in 35 days she'll be Mrs. Hugh Dancy so it all balances out, don't you think?
Amy Adams will survive the lack of affection people feel for the Julie part of Julie & Julia.
Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia) should co-star with Meryl Streep in every movie from here on out. I've said this a few times now but that's only because it bears repeating. They're wonderful together. My friends and I have taken to calling him "dreadful Stanley Tucci" in replication of Streep's hilarious Globe speech for The Devil Wears Prada. Remember that?
Streep & Tucci are clearly very fond of each other and it shows onscreen. Not too many people have commented on this but isn't it kind of wonderful that two of Tucci's most memorable roles involve the love of food? See also: Big Night.
Chris Messina has played the steadying-influence husband twice in a row now with Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Julie & Julia. What else you got Chris? That's meant as a compliment. We want to see.
Sam Rockwell can currently be heard in that guinea pig movie G-Force. But more importantly his one man show Moon (Katey & Nathaniel's review) is still playing in various and sundry parts of the world. I was anxiously awaiting your thoughts on it but I haven't heard a peep from readers, really. I guess it was too slow to expand, never reaching more than 251 theaters. That's a shame. Rockwell has always been prolific and he's not slowing down. Next up: the remake Everybody's Fine, the Hilary Swank working mom drama Betty Anne Waters and Gentlemen Broncos from the Napoleon Dynamite team.
Bonjour! My weekly column at Towleroad is up in which I fall for the trap of using food puns to talk about Julie & Julia. Hey, my life is as bifurcated as this movie lately. I'm working with tight windows of time here and the food words are so easy to sprinkle and stir into the review batter. Consider this the last review for my dormant "Streep at 60" series which I will continue when I can finally find a free day.
The Review If you generally catch dinner after your weekend movie, rethink the order before catching Julie & Julia. It'll help you passively enjoy this foodie's dream movie rather than drooling on it actively. Though the movie shares its title with Julie Powell's blog-turned-novel "Julie & Julia" which chronicled her attempt to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", the narrative is doubled. The movie version also includes the origin story of Julia Child as she journeyed from culinary student to famous chef. The parallels between Powell (Amy Adams) and Child (Meryl Streep) are broadly and pleasurably drawn by the movie: two restless women with devoted, patient husbands, find self-fulfillment through cooking. And cooking. And cooking some more. I suspect the double stuffed film will be easiest to enjoy while leisurely digesting.
If there's a missing ingredient in the movie's fun recipe, it's dramatic conflict...
