Heroics and Dastardly Deeds, Circa 2009

I should be finished wrapping up the unfortunately delayed FiLM BiTCH Awards for 2009 in the next few days. (This past spring roughed me up... ouch. Coming back to life now). But while I knock off the rest of the categories backstage enjoy the finalized nominations for Best Cameos/Limited Roles (with gold medals for Carrie Preston and Robert Duvall) and Best Hero, Best Villain.


Which do-gooder would you call on if you needed rescue and which villains do you most love to hate?

Puppets and Precursors

Given that precursor season is nearly upon us and I've always believed in full disclosure you should know that I recently joined the BFCA. Yes, the same group I have taken to task in the past for their insistence on equating "best" with "Oscar predictions". I've never understood that as an operating agenda but then... it's hardly endemic to them. In fact, each year I have to underline the difference between predictions and preferences several times over when people start saying things like "you think that's better than that?" while holding their nose. So many people think it means the same thing but it never does. When the two crossover it's an accident... a happy accident. Best is your own perceived meritocracy. Prediction is what you suppose a random group of other people might collectively prefer. I promise to vote by way of Best.

Swag watch: Bad Lieutenant companion book and Coraline alphabet cards

But I have sooooo many movies left to watch before the precursor deadlines arrive. When will I get to them all? Where did the year go? It's nearly December.

A couple of nights ago I attended a Coraline event -- don't think I'm all fancy, I had to invite myself! -- which was a lot of fun. I told Henry Selick I loved Coraline and was rooting for it in the Animated Oscar race which is true (I'm okay with the schmoozy stereotype of the 'I love your work' meet and greet, so long as I actually love the work).

<-- This fully posable puppet was on display and though you can't really see it in this iPhone pic, the young explorer has a thin line across her face at eyeline. Apparently there's hundreds of individual top and bottom halves of this face that they had to mix and match painstakingly to bring her expressions to life. And then they digitally removed the line where her face comes apart. If you've seen any "making ofs" you already know this but I hadn't and didn't.

I've always loved stop motion but I can't imagine the level of patience required for even the simplest scenes. It's enough to drive one to drink.

I had a blue cocktail, which they served with blue rock candy. I'm not sure what that had to do with Coraline but it was yummy. Talking to Selick I learned that he hadn't seen the Off Broadway Coraline musical (discussed here) but that he was a fan of its composer (Stephin Merritt from Magnetic Fields). The soft spoken director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach still hasn't decided on his next project -- he couldn't elaborate without jinxing -- but he's got three to choose from (a nice problem to have). I told him he should work on all three simultaneously a la Lord of the Rings. What? I'm greedy for good movies. I always want more.

Same goes for blue cocktails.


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DVD: Coraline, Hotel, Watchmen

Try to imagine this DVD release roundup in 3-D for maximum enjoyment.

What's new on DVD Tuesday? We'll bookend this roundup with the two best releases. Links to add them to your queues provided because I'm sweet and helpful like that.

Coraline - I loved the use of 3D in Coraline so I'm wondering how it will transfer to the flatter world of home entertainment: Will that tunnel into Other Mother be as beckoning? Would the transformative acrobatic sister act pay off quite so well? Even if they won't, the film's imaginative visuals and fun character play will pull you into its rewarding tale of a bored little girl suddenly fighting for her soul and her parent's lives in a fantasy world that's not quite like her own. Coraline's journey is often compared to Alice's trip through the looking glass or down the rabbit hole. Miyazaki's Spirited Away was also described that way. It's good company to be in. [netflix / blockbuster]

I had never heard of koumpounophobia (the fear of buttons) before discovering the world of Coraline but I suspect many wee viewers of this movie might have it once they grow up. If you have children, did you take them? Was it too scary for them?

Watchmen - Were Zach Snyder not so slavishly devoted to the recreation of the brilliant source material's 2D compositions, I feel certain that he would've wanted his dark superhero epic to be in 3D. Imagine the stylized carnage: that iconic smiley face pin would spin madly right in the air between your eyes before disappearing deep into the frame as it falls to the pavement, ashes of Dr. Manhattan's enemies would flutter about your face and easily frightened viewers would be jumping, ducking and squirming as boiling oil, shattered glass, stantions, axes and bullets optically careened toward their faces.

On the other hand, who needs it? Patrick Wilson's ass is its own 3D effect and no amount of camera tricks will deepen Malin Akerman's flat performance.

In my original review I explained in far greater detail why I'm down on the movie (I love the comic) but I might give this another go on DVD. They've added 24 minutes for the director's cut and while that might just be padding, you never know. The movie's weird start and stop pacing will probably feel less awkward on DVD as well. [netflix / blockbuster]

The Unknown Woman - This was Italy's Best Foreign Film submission way back in 2007 for those of you who care about such things. I do care but I worry that I don't care quite enough. By the time I finally have access to the foreign films that sound most interesting, it's often years later and I've usually forgotten why I was interested in the first place and have moved on to obsessing about newer foreign films that I'll also forget about by the time someone deigns to release them. [netflix / blockbuster]

As is ever the case there's also old seasons of TV shows hitting the stores.

Charlie's Angels fourth season is just out (at this point in the series Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson were no longer with the show. The trio is Kris (Cheryl Ladd), Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and new girl Tiffany (the unfortunately named Shelley Hack). [netflix/ blockbuster]

Anyone remember Hotel? It's coming out. Having some knowledge of the hospitality industry I can assure you that a series could be made of the fascinating, serialized complex variety (like The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos, etcetera). Hotels are crazy microcosms of the larger world, everything being shoved into one building (restaurants, bars, living environments, the workplace). There's abundant politics, celebrity cameos, union and management scuffles, guest stars, occasional crime and dangerous liaisons (24/7 workplace that also contains alcohol and beds. Do the math). But if I'm remembering Hotel correctly (and I only saw it when I was a little kid) it was just The Love Boat in a building with a rotating cast of mildly famous or formerly hugely famous guest stars having short form drama. Still, Old Hollywood fans should note that Anne Baxter is a series lead and first season guest stars include Bette Davis, Shirley Jones, Donald O Connor, Shelley Winters, Margaret O'Brien and Jean Simmons [netflix / blockbuster]

I've saved the other best for last. Pushing Daisies 2nd Season is freshly served. The show about a pie maker who can raise people from the dead is dead. Pushing Daises is dead. Long live Pushing Daisies. Excuse the redundance. My mind goes into looping sadness when I think about this show for the second season is also The Final Season. The television gods are as cruel and fickle as any deity from Mt. Olympus or Asgard. [netflix/ blockbuster ]

Which will you be renting or do you have movies still to be watched stacked near your TV?
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Tues Top Ten: Best of Year (Thus Far)

We're not technically halfway through the year (oops. missed that opportunity) but let's say January releases don't really count. That's not a stretch to say. If the year ended today here's what my top ten would like like (alpha order) with the Best Picture nominees in red. This isn't really the warm up to TFE's awards (unless the remainder of the year is hugely disappointing) it's more like lacing up your gym shoes before heading out to the warm-up. We hope.


Top Ten as of July 14th
larval stage

• (500) Days of Summer
• Coraline
• Duplicity
• Hunger
  
• The Hurt Locker
• Moon
  
• Julia
• Prodigal Sons
• Star Trek
  
• Up

I bent my usual roles (no documentaries -- since the goals are so different than regular feature films. How does one compare?) because I love Prodigal Sons so very much and want to keep reminding you about it before it premieres. This is the last "best of year (thus far)" post you'll get before the awards in January. Here's everything I've seen thus far. The three films I most regret missing and shall try to catch up with are Sin Nombre, Drag Me to Hell and Summer Hours.

And now the acting categories... my preferences NOT how Oscar might view them. That's an important distinction (Hunger for instance is not eligible at the Oscars this year due to a one week run in LA last year). Obviously the heavyweight Oscar hopefuls have not yet entered the room. Hollywood saves them for the holidays.

Best Actress

• Amy Adams, Sunshine Cleaning
• Emily Blunt, Sunshine Cleaning
• Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer
• Michelle Pfeiffer, Chéri
• Tilda Swinton, Julia

Only one of these women (Pfeiffer) can be expected to see awards season traction. But unless Chéri gets a significant Golden Globe or DVD boost, we might not have seen any of the eventual nominees yet.

Best Supporting Actress

• Patricia Clarkson, Whatever Works
• Marion Cotillard, Public Enemies
• Alicia Delmore, Humpday
  
• Carrie Preston, That Evening Sun / Duplicity
  
• Kristin Scott Thomas, Confessions of a Shopaholic

This category is a wasteland thus far. That's not to knock these performances but they're mostly minor pleasures: Clarkson is typically strong but the character is a caricature. Cotillard handles the big emotional scenes very well but can't make sense of the nonsensical screenplay (in regards to her character Billie) and the voice is wrong. Etcetera. Silver lining: I will be watching Carrie Preston's career closely. Those are two very different performances and both detours from her Arlene character in True Blood. Well done.

Best Actor

• Michael Fassbender, Hunger
• Hal Holbrook, That Evening Sun
• Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
• Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
  
• Sam Rockwell, Moon

In case you're wondering, the only 2009 man with an actual shot at Oscar's shortlist so far (Johnny Depp, Public Enemies) would be my runner up here (give or take Ciarán Hands in The Eclipse). I liked what Depp was doing as John Dillinger but I needed him to do more of it. If someone decides to release Holbrook's vehicle, That Evening Sun, there's a chance he could be in the Oscar race, too, playing a defiant old codger who knows his time is winding down. It's not a grossly sentimental work (thank you!) but it definitely has an emotional current that the Academy could get pulled along with given the proper campaign and release.

Best Supporting Actor

• Jim Broadbent, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
  
• Paul Giamatti, Duplicity
• Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
• Ray McKinnon, That Evening Sun
• Tom Wilkinson, Duplicity

And just for fun a few craft categories...

Best Art Direction

• Laura Fox, (500) Days of Summer
• Alan McDonald, Chéri
• Henry Selick, Coraline
• new Stuart Craig, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (eek. I forgot this the first time through. sorry)
  
• Alex McDowell, Watchmen
• Ricky Nierva, Up
  

Best Cinematography

• Dairus Khondji, Chéri
• Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker
• Sean Bobbitt, Hunger
• Yorick Le Saux, Julia
• Dante Spinotti, Public Enemies

Best Costume Design

• Colleen Atwood, Public Enemies
• Consolata Boyle, Chéri
• Hope Hanafin, (500) Days of Summer
• April Napier, Julia
• Michael Kaplan, Star Trek

Best Original Score

• Bruno Coulais, Coraline
• Alexandre Desplat, Chéri
• Jordan Lehning, Make-Out With Violence
• Clint Mansell, Moon
• Michael Giacchino, Up
  

What are your favorite filmthings of the year thus far ?
Talk me into loving something else or something more. Do you expect your favorites will be washed away by the greatness of the fall / winter movies?

Vodcast: Best of 2009 So Far

I hadn't seen the same movies as Katey this week so instead of reviewing a movie, we're both listing our top five of January through May. The requirement was that the films already had opened. Otherwise my list would have included Prodigal Sons (discussed here) and maybe (500) Days of Summer (discussed here).



The 2009 film I'm most worried about having missed at this point is the well reviewed Sin Nombre (trailer) so I'll be seeking that out. Obviously our rankings are subject to change, given the "sticky" factor (you never know which films will refuse to leave your mind until a month or three later) and the comparative factor (does upcoming film B suddenly reveal cracks in similar earlier film A?). It's been a good year thus far but I still doubt we've seen many of our Oscar competitors even if we have most definitely seen two or three future film experience nominees.

P.S. If you're looking for a Tuesday Top Ten the series will relaunch properly soon. My favs (disregarding release schedules) thus far in descending order go like so: Prodigal Sons, Hunger, Coraline, Up, Julia, (500) Days of Summer, Duplicity, Star Trek, Anvil: The Story of Anvil and... uh... three way tie for 10th -- it's early don't make me decide -- between Moon, Chéri and That Evening Sun.
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TONY Weekend: West Side Story, Garret Dillahunt and Nine to Five

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, yesterday!

My birthday festivities usually fall close to TONY Awards night. So today I can let my inner theater geek out -- is it "inner" if everyone knows about it?. I'll probably tweet the actual ceremony... but if you're into Broadway and you don't mind spoilers there's already people tweeting from the dress rehearsal including Jane Fonda, Just Jared and Broadway World's Robert Diamond . In the meantime I thought I'd catch you up on a few recent stage shows that I haven't really discussed. As per usual, many of them have movie connections. But mostly I'm here to talk about West Side Story which is up for four TONYs tonight: Best Musical Revival, Best Actress, Best Featured Actress (Karen Olivo as "Anita") and Best Lighting Design.

Anita center (she's gonna get her kicks tonii-iiii-iight. she'll have
a private little mix tonii-iii-iight) and her fellow PRs.

West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece continues to shame the vast majority of musicals that came after it. Not for this show, one or two catchy numbers. Every number here is a bonafide classic. I am not one of those people whose eyes well up when moved by Art but when Romeo & Juliet Tony & Maria turned to the audience on top of that balcony fire escape and one of my favorite songs of all time "Tonight" shifted tempo into its genius explosion of hurried love "...with suns and moons all over the place" shivers shot through me. Yes, my eyes welled up from the sheer overwhelming beauty of this Art.

Where did all the invention in musical theater composition, go? Is it just because the money and opportunity dried up? Once you get past the 1960s, rock then pop then hip hop ruled the culture. I guess any new composer with enormous gifts is less likely to consider musical theater as a career option since it's no longer a part of every day life. It's hard to believe now but there was a time when it was. West Side Story spent more than a year at #1 of the Billboard charts in the 1960s. Compare that to Wicked, by all accounts a giant modern crossover success. Its peak position on the Billboard 200 was #138... and that was considered a major accomplishment!

Oh, so what did I think of the show, you ask?

I am never 100% satisfied with WSS stage productions because it's my favorite musical of all time but I thought this was a valiant effort. I loved the new emphasis on the sexuality of the characters, the ease with which the numbers moved in and out of Spanish (an appropriate choice though a long time in coming) and I thought Maria, the TONY nominated Argentinian actress Josefina Scaglione, was superb... that voice! It was perfectly suited to Maria, all sweet, soaring crystalline soprano with undercurrents of power that sneak up on you as the songs escalate in intensity. There were hit and miss choices in the casting elsewhere (we had an understudy rather than the hunky Matt Cavenaugh as "Tony" though so I can't discuss him) but the music, pacing and choreography are so strong I couldn't not love this production. B+

Despite my general love/lust for all things West Side... Hair (reviewed here) definitely deserves the Revival TONY. It took a much much less impressive musical and made it into a damn near unmissable event.

A few other recent shows...

Coraline
I've written about this over here. Fans of Neil Gaiman or the Magnetic Fields should definitely check it out. It's very different than Coraline the movie (as it should be) and that's not just because an old woman plays the lonely nine year old explorer, though that casting decision is a good example of its theatrical commitment. Coraline understands, as so few stage shows related to movies do, that the stage is not the screen. Theater is a different beast and requires more imagination and less literal mindedness to function to the fullest of its capabilities. I loved the cat, for instance, who is basically a man in a suit with lots of attitude and only minimally suggested cat movements (the yawning is quite funny). Coraline's matter of fact asides to the audience "I'm outside now" to indicate scene changes also had me smiling.

Nine to Five (The Musical)
Speaking of stage shows that don't remember to be stage shows... I'm not going to pretend like 9 to 5 isn't fun. The movie is so the show is, too. But the Show is the Movie. So why not just watch the movie again? You'll save $100. I love Dolly Parton but like so many famous artists turned Broadway composers she hasn't quite worked out the difference in mediums with her book writer. Like so many movies-to-stage productions, Nine to Five doubles up on talking and singing. You get the story beats and the famous dialogue and the emotional point of the scene and then they stop for a song about it. You don't need both in musical theater. The songs are supposed to be the story, not recaps of the Movie as Play that suddenly remembers it's now a Musical. The best number is (no surprise) something that's not in the movie at all -- the horny elderly secretary Roz (played by Kathy Fitzgerald who was not TONY nominated. sigh) gets a solo in the ladies bathroom that's quite funny, a bit crass and more than a little endearing.

Working 8 to 11... on stage at least

Brains
New York City has a lot of experimental theater and you generally only end up at it if you know someone who knows someone connected to the production. Experimental theater can often be trying, full of barely formed ideas, weird running time decisions, inaccessible drama or unfunny humor. Brains hops over these usual pitfalls with obvious delight in its own absurdity and total commitment to its mix of theatrical dance movement and verbal repetition. The play is about a desperate scientist and the cult that springs up around her when she declares that "The human body has two brains!" It's very funny and the slowly rising dramatic undercurrents only strengthen the desperation of its comedy, rather than capsizing it. Good stuff. I'm not sure when they're performing it next, unfortunately. Here's a commercial.

Things of Dry Hours
Garret Dillahunt is quickly ascending in my personal hierarchy of actors-I'm-always-eager-to-watch. After evocative supporting work in No Country For Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and his creepy contributions to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and this fall's prestige piece The Road, I'm his. In this new play by Naomi Wallace (who wrote the movie Lawn Dogs ... worth a rental) he plays a possibly murderous factory worker Corbin Teel who hides out in the home of a black father and daughter in 30s era Alabama.

Delroy Lindo (who you just heard as "Beta" in Pixar's UP) plays the father/preacher who's hiding his "dirty red" Communist leanings from the violent authorities. Roslyn Ruff (who you just saw as Anne Hathaway's guidance counsellor in Rachel Getting Married -FB nom) is his formidable daughter, a washerwoman who may or may not be falling for the white man suddenly sleeping on her floorboards. The cast is uniformly strong and the play is pretty interesting, too. The triangular tensions are both well executed and multifaceted: the social, racial, spiritual, political, economic and sexual (Dillahunt gets naked for Ruff who in turn, mastering the art of the mixed signals, refuses him and then...?) all factor in.

Have you seen anything on stage recently? You don't have to live in NYC to see theater. Do you often picture what it be like onscreen when you do see a live show?
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Coraline and Hamlet. So Many Versions

In my weekly column @ Towleroad I'm talking about Coraline as a stage show which, in its third permutation, is still wonderful and different and Emile Hirsch taking on Hamlet in its millionth incarnation... yes, I'm rounding up. Also briefly mentioned: Zachary Quinto and bizarre Tea & Sympathy references in Land of the Lost.

2009... So Far So Good Great

We're only two and half months into the year -- this is right around the time I start going to movies again, waking from my Oscar hibernation -- and even though Watchmen didn't pan out, going from complex heady source material to a stiff 'eh?' as a film, we already have at least two fine candidates for a compelling, diverse and meaty top ten list come year's end. Some might call Steve McQueen's Hunger a 2008 film, what with its release in the UK and its 7 day stint in a single theater in LA last year (god, someone kill the "qualifying release"...drag it to hell!) but for my purposes it's a 2009 film. So 2009 is starting strong. Even Confessions of a Shopaholic was better than expected. That's a nice change of pace for the first three months of the year (although you wouldn't know it from the box office top ten which is 30% Mall Cops, Dogs & Tyler Perry, 40% extreme violence spectacles and 20% critically trashed romantic comedies)


If you haven't seen Coraline yet I urge you to do it while it's still in theaters. You can't get its 3D effects at home. The movie doesn't throw things towards the screen to make you "ooh" and "ah" over its technical accomplishment --everything is story/character based -- but Coraline doesn't need the hard sell because it's completely confident. Director Henry Selick's previous animated features (Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) also had this enviable trait. They know what movies they are through and through. They don't seem to second guess whether or not you'll be buying what they're selling. A lot of lesser animated films and frankly, a lot of live action blockbusters should watch and learn.

Coraline the movie, adapted from the brilliant Neil Gaiman story about a girl who finds a door into a world mirroring her own, isn't scared of quiet scenes or laying the groundwork for its richly creepy 'grass is greener' conflict. I saw it in a theater filled with kids and for the most part they were as quiet as they were during WALL•E and Spirited Away. Kids can handle animated movies that are smart enough for their parents. And Coraline definitely has a lot to offer adults. The psychosexual subtext alone is hilarious what with teenage boys warned against entering the Pink Palace ("it's dangerous!") and vaginal tunnels leading to "Mother" and "Other Mother" as the case may be. A-

Hunger, on the other hand, is not all ages safe. It's a political bio / prison movie of sorts about Bobby Sands and the deadly Irish hunger prison strike of 1981. To be blunt, I'm not sure the film is any ages safe but safety is overrated in art. It's a brutal film --not in the typical "here's some gory violence to quench your insatiable bloodthirst!" movie-movie way but plenty harsh, putting the audience through the ringer psychologically, politically and emotionally. One of its first images, a shot of bloody knuckles under water, hurts more than most stabbings or gunshots on film, and once we see how the knuckles got bloody, the sting worsens. I realize this doesn't sound like a fun time at the movies (it's not) but why does art always have to be fun? Most of us understand this about music and paintings but we seem to have more trouble with it in movie theaters, always equating "the movies" with "good time at..." if you know what I mean. As cinema Hunger is pretty amazing (especially considering it's a debut film) and it's long can't-look-away shots and compelling juxtapositions of voiceover and static imagery will be more potent in theaters where you truly can't look away. I fear the movie's full gale force will be muted on DVD once you have the pause option. A-

Two terrific movies out already in 2009 and I haven't even managed to catch Two Lovers yet (of which I keep hearing good things). Coraline is still in 1000+ theaters. Hunger opens on March 20th in limited release, keep a look out for that one since it won't stick around long.

We Can't Wait #2 Where The Wild Things Are

Directed by Spike Jonze
Starring Newcomer Max Records as Max, Catherine Keener as Max's mom, and the voice talents of folks such as Forest Whitaker and Catherine O'Hara for the big furry whatchamacallits populating Max's imagination
Synopsis If you've never read Maurice Sendak's book, shame on you
Brought to You By A Sendak-chosen Jonze and the fine folks at The Jim Henson Company
Expected Release Date October 16th, 2009

JA: I was looking forward to this because a new Spike Jonze movie is always something to anticipate and this was one of my favorite books as a kid. But then I found out a bunch of wussy kids bawled at a screening, and suddenly I was REALLY looking forward to this. Like Coraline there's really nothing that toots my horn like entertainment aimed at children that's filled with nightmare-fodder. Some of my happiest memories are of my earliest encounters with monsters, and I love it when artists have the guts to recognize that kids do not always need the kiddie gloves. Sometimes a good healthy scare is just what the doctor ordered.

Nathaniel: And can we break right there to say how amazing is Coraline? I hope we're all in agreement. It's so beautiful / creepy / funny / weird and subtly trusting of its young (and old) audience. And if I can ever get out from under Oscar season I shall have to speak of it!

I have naturally even higher expectations for Where the Wild Things Are since the book is so embedded in my brain and since Jonze is a favorite filmmaker. Literary fantasies need visionaries like him or Henry Selick if they're to be adapted at all. If this is as strong as Coraline I'll be pleased but if it's better we'll have a new classic on our hands. A classic with fur, horns and tails. If it's that good perhaps it can wipe away those unpleasant memories of all the children's fantasies we've been seeing for years that think CGI and imagination are interchangeable nouns.

Whitney: I'm so curious to see how they make a 25 (or so) page picture book into a feature length film. Judging by the stills, this will be that perfect throwback to 80s childrens films that all of us 20-somethings have been waiting for, while still being entirely original. I'm excited to see what Jonze can do.

Fox: I love Spike Jonze, I love giant p(m)uppets, and I love that the child actors name in this movie is Max Records. The fact that it's also about childhood imagination and that Jonze has a great track record of visually interpreting the tracks of the mind (the way he did when Catherine Keener chased Cameron Diaz through John Malkovich's head) has had me "can't waiting" for what feels like three years now.

Nathaniel: Three years? It is the perfect candidate for "we can't wait". It's felt like decades of waiting. Come to me now new film. Come to me now. I once painted the characters from the book all huge like for a corporate event (long story and pre-Film Experience days). I kept them in my room for well over a year after the event because I loved them so much. Big fuzzy loveable monstrous things.


Did you grow up loving this book? If not, what's your favorite childhood book. I was obsessed with this one called The King With Six Friends but I rarely meet people who know that one.

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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Mea Linka

In Contention Tapley looks at all of the Oscar nominated documentary shorts
Your Movie Buddy this isn't a link to a specific post but this blog by TFE reader Kurtis O is pretty funny -- I particularly got a kick out of the reimagining of The Reader poster and the Price is Right riff for Meryl Streep that I hadn't seen. Hee
Victim of the Time doesn't much cotton to this Doubt picture and fully explains why
Slant on Oscar's best actress race


Off Oscar
The Bad and Ugly Ummmm. Is the new Transformers character supposed to kill people with its giant angry drillbit penis? This is a toy? 'You know, for kids' (?)
The Big Picture Christian Bale's official apology "...make fun of me. I deserve it completely."
Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies a long piece on the evolution of noir (Chinatown, A Touch of Evil, Blade Runner, Blue Velvet and more...)
Rob Licuria's 15th annual Awards and Radio Allegro's second annual
Antagony & Ecstasy flips for Henry Selick's Coraline.
The Hot Blog an interview with Jonathan Demme and Jenny Lumet of Rachel Getting Married magnificence.
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Now Playing: Kristen Bell in Bikini, Chris Evans Fully Clothed

The Oscar films expanded last week (and in some cases -- *cough* Milk ??? -- they're already constricting again. Hope you caught them during those seven days you were allowed to see them!) so it's strictly new releases for February. Links go to trailers...

L I M I T E D
Fanboys Odd that this comedy, about a group of Star Wars fanboys (and fangirl Veronica Mars Kristen Bell, left) storming George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch would come out the day it's target audience is hitting the Comic Con. (Methinks the target audience will be too busy wearing their own Princess Leia costumes or gawking at real live ones to go see Kristen don hers!) Like many a film before it Harvey Weinstein bought this and locked it up tight never to see the light of day until, suddenly, on a whim he decided to dump it in a theater or three.

The Objective One of the directors of The Blair Witch Project tries the 'filming our demise' thing again only with military men in Afghanistan this time.

Chocolate The director of Ong Bak: Thai Warrior returns with another one of his "no wires. no stunt doubles" action films. This one is about a special needs girl who loves chocolate. She has some magical gift for muy thai fighting. I think it's kind of like that superpower on Heroes where if you see an action performed you can duplicate it. I also love chocolate and have special needs. Where's my movie? Alas, I lack that nifty fighting gift and my special needs primarily revolve around Tony Jaa. Where is he?

Chocolate and Coraline. Curious young girls are trouble!

W I D E
Coraline If you suffer from koumpounophobia you should skip this one. If you don't, you should run to the theater because the buzz for this 3D stop motion adventure makes it sound delicious and the source material is superb. If you haven't been reading Neil Gaiman's books, when are you going to start? Try American Gods.

He's Just Not That Into You Looks like the kind of movie you'll l-o-v-e if Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus strikes you as a landmark academic tome. Initially I wanted to see it (Ginnifer Goodwin plus the parade of stars) but early reports from critic friends are grim and the episode of Sex & the City about that catchphrase is unbeatable anyway. Plus, you know how they often put the best jokes from movies in trailers?

_______...those are the best jokes?

Push In which Chris Evans keeps his clothes on (just a hunch -- it's that damn new manager's fault) to play a rogue psychic leading a battle against a secret government agency. Or something. Dakota Fanning (the voice of Coraline. Dakota is a workaholic) and Djimon Hounsou also have clairvoyant powers. My own telepathic abilities tell me you're confused. "Isn't Push the movie about the obese black teenager? Didn't it win the top prize at Sundance last month?" Yes, yes, that's the one. Only it's not this one. The Sundance Push is the one that's winning Mo'Nique raves and Oscar style buzz. But this is the other Push, now playing in thousands of theaters starring Chris Evans and it's not going to get any Oscar nominations.

It would be better if Mo'Nique was in it.



Much better.

Oooh, baby, baby Baby
Yo, yo, yo, yo, Evans, Chris / Yeah, you come here, gimme a kiss /
Better make it fast or else I'm gonna get pissed

P.S. I don't know why everyone is surprised that Mo'Nique can act. Duh.

The Pink Panther 2 A non-rhetorical question for the comments: What the hell is Steve Martin doing with his career?