"The Writer" Jose on Kate as "Hanna Schmitz"

It's "Kate Winslet Day" Pass it on.

Jose here with a second look at Kate Winslet's most under/over-rated performance.

While watching the European Film Awards last year two things struck me:

how much I'd missed the acting clips during 2009's Oscar ceremony and also how differently do Europeans perceive greatness compared to people in our hemisphere.

When they got to Best Actress (in a mouthwatering lineup that included Penélope Cruz, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yolande Moreau, Katie Jarvis and of course Winslet) I was surprised to see that for Winslet's clip they picked my favorite scene in "The Reader".

The moment when Hanna enters a church, while on her biking holiday with Michael (David Kross) and sits on a bench while listening to a children's choir. That scene, for me, represents what made her performance so powerful. Hanna sits there, her face changes and we see her visibly moved to the point of tears. Winslet appears to be doing absolutely nothing, which might be the truth, because we realize that this isn't Winslet anymore.

The church scene embodies both aspects of Hanna and Winslet's performance. On one side the people who see her as a Nazi monster might think that she cries because she misses her youth, is envious of the little children who sing and might want to have them for lunch. Those who care to see beyond the Nazi tag, will see a woman that perhaps is watching beauty for the first time in her entire life. She has a secret-which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it-that makes this scene all the more relevant when we discover it. Hanna is in experiencing an indescribable presence she never even imagined existed before. Can it be that through art she's experiencing God?

I found it a bit disappointing that in her lust for Oscar, Winslet reached a point where she didn't seem to care what performance she got it for and the media only concentrated on how much she wanted the damn thing. Because truth be told, in "The Reader" the actress, in all her delicately raw glory, becomes the writer (no offense to Bernhard Schlink and David Hare) of Hanna Schmitz.

I also wonder what clip of hers would Oscar have chosen.

It's "Kate Winslet Day" !

One year ago today, Kate Winslet took home not one, but two Golden Globes. One reader -- perhaps in jest and I apologize that I can't remember who -- suggested that ever after January 11th should be an internationally celebrated Kate Winslet Day. I scribbled it in my calendar and here we are one year later, ready to sponsor the holiday.

We're setting aside the controversy that surrounded that double -- a lot of moviegoers weren't so enamored of the performances -- because we acknowledge that in the real world, awards are often based on the cumulative triumphs of their recipients. We're not saying that's right but if you're judging on cumulative triumphs, she deserves to have more trophies than hands.

I've asked my guest bloggers to detail their favorite moment within any particular Kate Winslet performance today but since no one chose Heavenly Creatures (1994) or Sense & Sensibility (1995) -- the films that made her -- or Holy Smoke! (my personal favorite Winslet turn) or Jude (a baity period turn that didn't get much Oscar traction. Too miserabilist perhaps?)...


...I figured we'd start with you. What's your favorite moment in any of those four performances? And do you sanction an International Kate Winslet Day?
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European Film Awards: Un Prophète, Antichrist, The Reader

The EFAs are only 20 years old, a novice awards organization really, but their prizes offer up a rich variety of films, languages and genres. It's truly a grab bag and, if you're too Oscar focused, their prizes can be head scratching. Their 2009 Best Picture Nominees encompass three years worth of U.S. release dates:

• (2008) Slumdog Millionaire, Let the Right One In and The Reader
• (2009) The White Ribbon
• (2010) Fish Tank and Un Prophète.

Tis a pity we can't bring the world closer together for simultaneous multilingual film discussions.

The Best Director is filled with heavyweights. When will you ever see an Oscar lineup that's this populated with critical giants: Pedro Almodóvar Broken Embraces, Andrea Arnold for Fish Tank, Jacques Audiard for Un Prophete, Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon and Lars von Trier for Antichrist. Maybe a lot of what led to these nominations is reputation (I don't think this is anywhere close to the best work from any of the nominees, Audiard & Arnold excluded since I haven't yet seen those pictures) but it's still nice to read their names under "best".

Here's Best Actress because one should never go without them... Actresses that is, particularly the best ones.

• Penélope Cruz, Broken Embraces
• Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist (Cannes Winner)
  
• Katie Jarvis, Fish Tank
• Yolande Moreau, Seraphine (César Winner)
  
• Noomi Rapace, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo --->
  
• Kate Winslet, The Reader (Oscar Winner)
  

You can see a full list of nominees here.

For me the big surprise was the snub of Giovanna Mezzogiorno. She's been collecting raves and honors for months as Mussollini's mistress in Vincere. Her absence feels like a snub not because she's deserving (I haven't seen the performance) but because the reputation of the star turn precedes it. Perhaps EFA voters just didn't like the movie (it was only recognized for Editing and Actor). The doubly nominated eyebrow raiser was Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which will compete for Best Actress and Best Composer. Good year for Sweden with two films in major play at the EFAs... the other being that little vampire movie that could.

That Oscarless Prophet
Maybe I'm naive about its content -- I understand that its brutal but Oscar isn't automatically squeamish (they're inconsistent on that front) -- but from this vantage point I think Sony Pictures Classics made a bad decision delaying Un Prophete (A Prophet) until next February in the U.S. With 10 spots open for Best Picture why weren't more arthouse distributors looking at opportunities like this one? Wherever the Audiard picture has played it seems to have seized audiences by the throat. People come away raving. Who's to say that it couldn't have become a critical pet here in the US and competed in more categories than just Foreign Film come Oscar time? Why not build its rep as a masterpiece (if that's what it is) by opening it in August or September and letting people discover it / become obsessive about it? Seems risky to chance it all, marketing wise, on the unpredictable response of the foreign film branch.
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Slumdog Beats Button Again

Useless trivia alert
At some showing in some multiplex in some mall somewhere round about right now Slumdog Millionaire will beat Benjamin Button's box office tally, which makes it the top grossing Best Picture nominee from 2008 (as well as the winner). This will put Slumdog at #19 for biggest box office of 2008, just behind Hathaway and Carrel's Get Smart antics and Jolie and McAvoy's Wanted moves, and #2 for most successful drama behind Gran Torino. The other eighteen films, as per usual, are special effects driven, franchise entries, animated or comedic... the four things the public likes best. If you adjust for profitability Slumdog is much higher up, given a production budget that's miniscule in comparison to most top 20 finishers (it's but a 10th the size of Button's). Though perhaps they burned the extra profits away on that relentless Oscar campaign.

Statistically the Best Picture winner is usually the second highest grosser in its pack of nominees when all the pennies are counted. If it's not the runner up, it's #1. Only twice in the past 25 years has this pattern not held: The Last Emperor was very nearly the least successful of the '87 nominees and '99's American Beauty finished behind both the blockbuster The Sixth Sense and the Tom Hanks hit The Green Mile.

Meanwhile The Reader continues to disprove the notion that only a Best Picture win means anything at the box office. Winslet's win and its misleading ad campaign (they're also calling it a "thriller". Oy) seem to be powering The Reader's take. It will likely move past Milk (now on DVD) soon to become the third most successful BP nominee. Strangely, Slumdog seems to be cutting its box office off at the knees. It's still playing strong in the top ten nationwide and yet they're releasing it to DVD in three weeks. I guess everyone has finally accepted the sad notion that theatrical is only a commercial for DVD. Commercials get fast forwarded. The Reader comes to DVD in April. Benjamin Button or maybe Frost/Nixon (the least popular nominee) will hold out the longest before making the leap for home viewing.

False Advertising Starring Kate Winslet

I only get the newspaper on the weekends, so forgive me if this advertisement to your left has already left smudge prints on your fingertips. Perhaps you're familiar. See, they're now advertising the bleak sexual Holocaust drama The Reader by way of Kate Winslet's huge PG smile and winner's elation.

My memory is like a sieve so maybe this isn't saying much but I can't remember another Oscar winning film replacing their actual ads with Oscar ceremony stills. Furthermore, if you go into this movie expecting "the most uplifting experience of your life" you might be desperately suicidal afterwards (uh, thanks Rex Reed).

I love that the ad is also rubbing right up against He's Just Not That Into You. Winslet looks way happier in her Romantic Comedy (er...) than Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and Ginnifer Goodwin do in theirs. But then David Kross and Ralph Fiennes were Very Into Her.
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Now Playing: Slumdog Crosses Over and the Jonas Bros Do Whatever It is That They Do

In case you've been tied up with Oscar mania and are ready to go back to the actual movies, there are new ones. Whether or not it's safe to go back (yeah, that time of year) is another issue entirely. Links go to trailers.

<--- E X P A N D I N G
The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire are taking their highly publicized Oscar wins to their highest screen counts yet and asking for the public's stamp of approval. Kate Winslet is a Time cover girl and Slumdog is on the cover of EW. How much more money does Slumdog have in it? It recentl cracked 100 million.

This isn't really about the theater counts but I'd love your opinion on what's going on with Entertainment Weekly these days? If you ask me they're phoning it in now that they have almost zero real competition. They skipped both pre-show Oscar covers this year which is, I guess, neither here nor there in a lackadaisical gold man year, but their lists (usually a highlight) are getting lazy. That "best directors" list (which I didn't even post) was several dozen kinds of embarrassing -- hardly worth the discussion it garnered and which it only garnered because they have no real competition at this sort of thing. A recent list of final movie appearances they're pushing, 'inspired by Heath Ledger', is also annoying. The Dark Knight is not Ledger's last film. The EW staff is too smart not to know this and they don't really claim it is... so one assume they're just planning to regurgitate this list again when The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus comes out (see previous post). I'm considering cancelling my subscription. I prefer more human movie coverage anyway. Not some corporate mandate for content content content ... even when it trumps common sense. Or am I just grumpy?

L I M I T E D
Crossing Over Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Running Scared) directs Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Jim Sturgess and Ashley Judd in this drama about cultures clashing, shady border business and illegal immigrants. Why is it being dumped into theaters? It has big stars and the kind of sledgehammer topic that turns Oscar voters on (see also: Crash, Traffic)
Echelon Conspiracy Greg Marks directs this thriller that sounds a bit like Eagle Eye in the mysterious threatening cell phone communications department. Shane West plays Shia Labeouf (joke. no need to correct me in the comments). With Ed Burns, Ving Rhames and Jonathan Pryce.
Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead A documentary about a capital punishment activist.
The Trouble With Romance an ensemble indie romantic comedy that restricts itself to one floor of a hotel for its action. I've always wondered why more indies didn't build tight stage-friendly locations right into their concept. Saves on budget. With Jordan Belfi, Kip Pardue, David Eigenberg and Sheetal Sheth among many others.

W I D E
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li "Based on the Video Game" is such a great selling point right? I'm confident that one day someone will make a great movie based on a video game. I mean, we didn't see Pirates of the Caribbean coming, did we? If a theme park attraction can become a super fun movie (the first one only I hasten to specify), why can't a video game? Not that it will be this one. Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) stars as Chun Li. Apparently she's half Chinese. I did not know...
Jonas Bros a 3D concert movie. Obviously we've moved into another boy band phase in pop culture (sigh). I hope they save their money. Eventually they will be searching for reality TV gigs like N'Sync is now (Justin Timberlake excluded).
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Only Got One Scene? Make it Count!

update: I did some tinkering here. Messed up on my awards spreadsheet. Oops

I used to really love giving prizes for limited or cameo roles and I used to fantasize that one day some struggling actor would write me an email saying "i can't believe someone noticed what I was doing in that scene! ur my new BFF" and whatnot. But this bizarre fantasy never became reality and now I find that my awards for limited and cameo roles only torture me by reminding me of the major studio's continual campaign tricks between lead and supporting roles with Oscars. Having a third category makes things yet more confusing still! For instance, are all those female roles in Rachel Getting Married supporting characters or limited roles? Of course if you have one you have the other which makes it infinitely more confusing.

Exactly what is a limited role? I guess I'm masochistic like that to even ask. But I like to recognize the lesser known actors, the blue collar faces of cinema if you will, when they make an impression or lift a scene in some noticeable way. So here's to them

Best Line Readings, Best Limited / Cameo Performances
Starring people from Savage Grace, The Reader, Valkyrie, Reprise, Iron Man and more

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Oscar Symposium Lift Off. (But AMPAS Won't Fly)

Nathaniel R: First things first, please welcome this year's Symposium guests (in alpha order just like Oscar do): Timothy Brayton, Antagonie & Ecstasy, Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine, Karina Longworth, Spout, Erik Lundegaard, Eriklundegaard.com and Kris Tapley, In Contention. They were chosen through an elaborate and painstaking ranked balloting system. Only Price Waterhouse employees know who was snubbed for the 4th annual Film Experience event. Pundits suggest that they were invited on the basis of their mad skills with dramaturgy and accents. I'm happy to have these five in my virtual house to discuss the 81st annual Oscars.

But where to begin in a year when the Academy is feeling so passive aggressive? It's almost as if they took a look at the semi daring and pleasingly rangey shortlist of 2007 and thought: 'we simply can't have that again!', beating a hastry retreat back into their bios, Holocausts pictures, and vaguely ambitious epics a good portion of which will be forgotten about in five years time. I'm still unsure, given the ranked balloting system of the Academy, how at least 60% of them managed to get a sufficient number of #1 votes to compete. Who is passionate about them?

The menu was varied but AMPAS would only order the usual. Why's that?

AMC Theaters is hosting a marathon of the Best Picture nominees in several cities the day before the Oscars. I've considered going for the blog fodder but who wants to sit through these five particular films back to back to back to back to back and again for that matter? That's someone's idea of hell surely, or at least one circle of it. There's not even a comedy to break up the 12 hour day. Could you do it? Or would you like to propose a separate marathon. Is there an entire category you could sit through all at once?

Erik Lundegaard: Is the Academy feeling passive-aggressive? Does the Academy feel? All I know is I'm feeling passive and Harvey Weinstein is feeling aggressive. A friend of mine said that 2008 was a bad year for movies but it was really only a bad year for Oscar movies. The blockbusters were great: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, WALL•E, even Hancock which I think is underrated. The Oscars have Milk, which I think should win, and Slumdog Millionaire, which I wouldn't mind winning, but nothing to stir the passions like No Country or Brokeback or The Pianist. At least for me. Anyone else?

As for Nathaniel's question: I could sit through all the foreign language films, since it's probably the only way to see them all. I'm in Seattle, not a bad city for movies, but only Waltz With Bashir has shown up. The Class is scheduled soon. The others? Lotsa luck.

Karina Longworth: I agree that 2008 was not a bad year for movies. I don't think it was even necessarily a bad year for nominated movies...

Click for Day One of the Symposium

Find out how Sean Penn gave Kris a black eye, who loves Rachel Getting Married, why Slumdog didn't set off Ed's bullshit detector, how France pissed Karina off and which Muppet Frank Langella reminds Timothy of. Return and comment if you'd like to join the convo.
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Colette and Audrey. Michelle and Kathy

I'm well into the novel Chéri, the movie version of which will premiere in just two days at Berlinale. It's a great read. There's exquisite descriptions of complicated emotions and intriguing relationships. There's also an unembarrassed sensuality to the material. If they can capture the nuances and the texture on film, it'll be quite a good sit.

I didn't know much about French novelist Colette (seated spectacularly, left) prior to the news about this movie and I blame that on Gigi the movie which is based on her most famous novel. I'd never read it because I didn't like the movie. I figured she wasn't for me. How wrong I was! The more I learn about Colette, the more I love. Not only am I instantly on board with her writing but then to learn that she was once a performer at the Moulin Rouge?!? Add in lesbian love affairs, the ability to frequently scandalize/offend the public and end up hugely celebrated anyway (enormous appealing!) and top it off with a crucial role in making Audrey Hepburn a star (she was a virtual unknown when Colette demanded she play "Gigi" on stage which led directly to Audrey's Oscar winning coming out ball in Roman Holiday)... well, in short, she's swoon worthy.


The romantic relationship she penned in Chéri is between the 49 year old Léa (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her closest friend's (Kathy Bates) gorgeous and callow 20something son, Chéri (Rupert Friend) but it begins when he is only a teenager. Before you start thinking about The Reader controversy all over again, the better modern film perspective might be --psychologically speaking and at least in the beginning of the relationship -- the Amber Waves / Dirk Diggler pairing in Boogie Nights. The older woman's childless maternal instincts seem to be all entangled with her sexual ones while the younger man's feelings are opaque and possibly skin deep. Who knows how far the film or any of the actors will take the material but it could be something.

I'm especially eager to see Bates and Pfeiffer play this oddly close but not at all close friendship.

They had known each other for twenty-five years. Theirs was the hostile intimacy of light women, enriched and then cast aside by one man, ruined by another: the tetchy affection of rivals stalking one another's first wrinkle or white hair.


Theirs was the friendship of two practical women of the world, both adepts at the money games; but one of them a miser, and the other a sybarite. These bonds count. Rather late in the day, a stronger bond had come to link them more closely: Chéri.

We should be hearing opinions on the film quite shortly now. Two time Oscar nominee Director Stephen Frears has led six actresses to nominations in the past (for The Grifters, Dangerous Liaisons, Mrs. Henderson Presents and The Queen). Will Bates, Pfeiffer and Frears all head back to the Kodak theater in February 2010? It's too early to predict and entirely foolish to presume but that won't stop the hoping.
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Signatures: Kate Winslet

Adam of Club Silencio here with a look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

It's hard to keep up with Kate Winslet. If the Academy Awards were a marathon, Kate would be making her sixth glorious lap with her nomination for The Reader. Baffling it is to think that she's lost so many statuettes just by the skin of her teeth. The sex appeal, the cool Hollywood connections, but without that holier than thou attitude -- Kate's perfect for the win, and she'd handle it beautifully. Plus, that whole "Holocaust drama" thing should have given her an early start.

"We get it. It was grim. Move on."

Like any true champion, Kate Winslet won't take it lying down. She's been in constant training. Her two ravishing star turns of 2008, in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, gave Kate a showcase for her entrancing vibrancy and flair for devastating nuance. She also got a full day's workout. During one of her character's most desperate moments in Revolutionary Road, Winslet flees with break-neck speed to the seclusion and safety of the woods, which looks to be a site she's all too familiar with. That suburban home can be so stifling, but then this isn't the first time Kate's needed to blow off some steam, and maybe even some calories.


Didn't Kate's parents teach her not to run on a cruise liner?



Obviously not. But then maybe it's better if her mother keeps her opinions to herself...

"Mummy... She's terribly hurt!"

Kate needs to take a breath... and the Oscar, ideally. For the sake of her mother and all those years of extensive training. Would you want to be the one to break the news to her?


No matter how it ends, I've got some Gatorade and some hopeful spirits.

Podcast 9: Post SAG Oscar Race & First Oscar Memories

Ask and ye shall receive. Katey, Joe, Nick and Nathaniel (c'est moi) got together again for a Post SAG discussion after your many subtle hints of 'when y'all doing that again?'. We ask too many questions and we love a good tangent. Topics include but are not limited to...

• Did SAG wins change anything?
• Ageism and Oscar
  
• Slumdog mania and backlash
  
• Braveheart and Titanic...
  
• 'Sean does what Sean needs to do!'
  
• The Curious Case of Fast Fading Button
• The Lord of the Oscars: The Return of The Weinstein
• Why doesn't Streep ever work with real auteurs?
  
• James Franco and the mysteries of the "uncredited" performance
• Penélope Cruz vs. Viola Davis vs. Marisa Tomei vs. Amy Adams vs. Taraji P Henson... but maybe not in that order? Is this actually a five-way race again?
  
• The Prime of Miss Emma Thompson
• Our very first Oscar broadcasts and what they did to our young psyches

The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.

Enjoy, discuss and please do share tales of your first Oscar broadcast. How did the Academy warp your fragile little mind?
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And The Link Goes To...

Oscar Stuff
Movie City News collects some nominee reaction quotes
Carpetbagger looks at the green (box office) of the gold (nominees)
Nashville Film Festival "I was Slumdog when Slumdog wasn't cool"
AWFJ thinks the two best female performances weren't nominated at all
In Contention Tapley thinks that The Reader's nomination is a tragedy and that the movie is pornographic. Who knew that he'd never seen a porno before? ;)


In Contention also shares a typical egotist quote from Harvey Weinstein. He's aiming for a win for The Reader. We all know it won't but the clever strategy thing about this sort of 'we can beat Slumdog!' cock waving is that it really does damage Slumdog Millionaire which Fox Searchlight has always been positioning as the "little film that could" In order to maintain its scrappy underdog charms they need the illusion that it's not the 300 pound gorilla of Oscar season. Which it is. Anyone think its vulnerable at all?
Time on the Best Actor race. Preference: Penn
Welcome to LA on those 2 nominations for Wanted
The Playlist on the web reactions to The Dark Knight snub including some homophobic ones of course (figures since Milk made it. How would the world spin without scapegoats?). Sigh. Would that moviegoers understand the history of Oscar better. Eight nominations is A LOT. I realize it's not in best picture but that is a huge haul as movies go. I keep hearing words like "shut out" which is a laughable description of what happened. 8 nominations is a ringing endorsement. Only Best Pictures and just-miss Best Picture hopefuls ever reach nominations numbers that high.

Off Oscar (in case you need the break. you need the break)
Low Resolution makes a funny with Pfeiff
Fabulon "art appreciation with Julianne Moore"
Lazy Eye Theater come back Billy Bob!
Club Silencio picks its five favorite films of 2008. There's only 3 Oscar noms among them
i09 on the Watchmen's rape scene. I really loved the remake of Dawn of the Dead but after 300 I do not trust the base panderings of this Zach Snyder fellow
Coosa Creek Cinema a review of Gran Torino that actually helped me understand why people love the movie

Off Cinema altogether. (Whaaaa?)
<-- two badass blonde chicks 2 love: P¡nk & Katee Sackhoff

The Post Game Show 80s pop music vs. 00s pop music. Funny
Braniac shares conservative anger (and sour grapes) over Starbuck and Battlestar Galactica. Apparently women should only be birthin' babies! Ugh. Serious question: How do such rabidly anti-woman right-wingers end up finding women to marry and impregnate, anyway?

Golden Globe Giggles

NEW PODCAST

This week's podcast isn't an interview, it's a free for all. Joe of Low Resolution, Nick of Nick's Flick Picks, Katey of Cinema Blend and myself gab about last week's mad rush of precursor awards and nominations. Topics blur and slam together, curious cases abound and new ways to honor Clint Eastwood are dreamt up. We get loopy. I get whiny. Joe recruits for Team Jolie and begs Meryl and Kate to reach across the aisle. Katey drinks Milk and refuses to love The Reader. Nick sneezes with pandas and makes a startling Best Pic prophecy. It's 45 minutes of rambling awards chatter. Intermission and popcorn not included.

Two listening options for ya: iTunes enhanced podcast or a standard mp3
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Good Things in Small Packages

Some wonderful things that come in tiny packages:

cupcakes, old fashioned letters, gifts, reese's peanut butter cups, glitter, gift certificates, fortunes, mp3s, rings, cream filling, Kristin Chenowith, eyeshadow, matches, pills, kittens...

And something else, too: performances. There are no small parts. I'm thinking of this today because my friend Tom told me about a spill Lena Olin took at a Variety screening of The Reader recently. She was descending the insanely steep steps of the Sunshine Cinema in huge heels. He describes

As she was about half way down, Lena stumbled... she was only saved from a serious fall by running smack into Ralph Fiennes's back (his strong, silent, brooding back). She was clearly startled and embarrassed...and probably saw her whole life flash before her eyes...plummeting to her death at the Sunshine Cinemas. How pathetic would that have been...to die for a Q&A? And where was Sydney Bristow when we needed her?

Seriously steep steps @ Sunshine (selling point: the seating for screenings is superb) sssssssssss

Anyway... Lena has a terrifically brittle scene very late in The Reader... which got me to thinking? Which are your favorite very brief acting turns this year? One scene or frequently appearing but totally backgrounded wonders. People you could technically lift out of the movies and still have a movie (I'm not talking about the Viola Davises in Doubt here since that whole movie requires her lynchpin scene to work.). Yes, I'm looking for FYC ideas for my "Best Performances in a Cameo or Limited Role" (last year's nominees if you need a refresher) at the ninth annual FiLM BiTCH Awards which begin in but 3 weeks time.
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Let the Right Link In

Stale Popcorn a must read: spot-on reenactment of manic fanboyism
ModFab is apparently on a one man mission to review every single Oscar movie in two weeks time. Where do people find the time?
Acidemic yes, what is that buzzing in Belle Du Jour ?
My New Plaid Pants 'Do Dump or Marry: Baz's men'
In Contention on the Sundance lineup
Cinema Styles on the difficulties of happy endings


Kenneth in the (212) remembers the golden god days of Ryan O'Neal
Pajiba "five guys it main pain you to realize are Republicans"
Huffington Post Thelma Adams on the sex in The Reader. The article has a lot of interesting points but labelling scenes between a 33 year old actress and an 18 year old actor "child pornography" is grossly misleading
Carpetbagger gets rowdy with Mickey Rourke @ the Gotham Awards
The Hot Blog Best Action Movie. Do the BFCA need another category? We could solve all of these genre problems if all awards groups would only realize that you can be great without being a drama and should be rewarded if you are. In other words if WALL•E or The Dark Knight or Let the Right One In are the best in a year, nominated them for "Best" not "Best of [insert ghetto here]" So sayeth the FiLM BiTCH.

Blah blah blah. Enough of my soapbox. Here is the trailer to the new 20s era queerish biopic (Salvador Dali + Federico Garcia Lorca) starring Robert Pattison, trading creepy Twilight staring for creepy pencil mustache


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