The Golden Girls. Rue McClanahan (1934-2010)

And then there was one. Rue McClanahan, best known as "Blanche" on the eternal sitcom The Golden Girls has passed away at 76 after years of health problems. That leaves only the increasingly popular Betty White as the last Golden Girl standing, there to receive all the love we have left for these awesome women.


Rose (White) was my favorite but Blanche (McClanahan) the runner up in the laugh-generation department for me (I've always loved the saucy dames). I was just thinking about The Golden Girls yesterday because my mind was drifting to the upcoming Emmy nominations. The Emmys are often quite terrible about divvying up the goods, giving way too many prizes to the same shows and performers over the years. But in the case of The Golden Girls, the Emmy voters seem to have a very welcome and secret conspiracy to spread the wealth; All four of the women won one statue for their famous characters. Betty won it in '86, Rue in '87 and Bea & Estelle both took it home in '88. Other famously strong ensembles (like Friends and Sex & the City) didn't have any such "you're all winners!" awards luck. Only Cheers comes to mind immediately as a similarly lucky recipient of "spread the wealth" mentality: Woody Harrelson, Shelley Long, Bebe Neuwirth, Kirstie Alley, Ted Danson, Rhea Pearlman all won that golden winged woman for their efforts.

<--- Rue co-starred with Dustin Hoffman in Broadway's "Jimmy Shine" in 1969 (photo src)

"Blanche" as a character seemed to fit Rue like a glove (though she was originally intended for Betty) and will easily dominate memories of her acting work. Maybe it was all those husbands (she married six times) that gave her such facility with that man-crazy character?

But Blanche is not the whole story. Rue had been a working actress since the 1950s when she first hit the stage. In fact, she returned to Broadway for a stint as "Madame Morrible" in Wicked just five years ago. She also appeared in 21 movies over the years including They Might Be Giants (1971), the early gay film Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971) and post-Blanche comedies like Out to Sea (1997) and, inexplicably, Starship Troopers (1997).

Blanche seemed to prize her body above all but Rue showed real heart. She fought actively for both the ethical treatment of animals and gay rights. Thank her for being a friend.
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Splendor in the Blog

It's my birthday in just three days and I've been feeling so down, largely due to pet stress. I've also misplaced my creative mojo. I don't want to say I've lost it. ("It must be here somewhere," he says with budding panic in his voice.)


My first birthday gift arrived early: Nick reviewed Natalie Wood's Oscar nominated Splendor in the Grass (1961) performance. That's one of my very favorite performances, Oscar-nominated or otherwise by one of my favorite movie stars. When feeling blue, it's a good idea to lose yourself in actressing. My birthday gift to myself was The Michelle Pfeiffer Star Collection. My pronounced film obsession doesn't translate to DVD ownership (I know some people find that odd... but that's just the way it is) so I didn't have any of these yet, not even The Fabulous Baker Boys! I know, I know. I think I was holding out for the European version which I'd heard had better extras.

I think I'll just keep this old gif of 100 favorite actresses (I'll update it someday -- it definitely needs major revisions) on perma-loop to the top right corner of my screen.

Whenever I glance up, some talented beauty will be appearing and then vanishing, only to be replaced by another. The actress mojo is never lost or misplaced, and ever increases.

Eight (Links) is Enough

Ask David Lynch I asked him a few questions today. He was sympathetic about my cat's health problems but he sure was mean / incoherent once I asked any question about myself. What will Lynch tell you?
CHUD "What if Jaws (1975) was made today?" I love this article and I absolutely believe that it would be as described. So...much...backstory nowadayzzzz
IMDb Q'Orianka Kilcher (The New World) arrested in oil related protest. We all know that oil companies (and our dumb societal resistance to developing alternate forms of energy) are going to be the death of us all so it's good to see young activists out there.
fourfour turns five. Happy birthday to an amazing blog. Rich shares his 20 favorite posts

Observations on Film Art Why are today's movies so unimaginatively shot with back and forth closeups? I'm always bitching about this so it's nice to see other people begging for variety, too. More blocking for your actors, please, directors. Try "The Cross"
The Scott Brothers on The Discreet Charm of Catherine Deneuve:

It’s that filmic resolve that sometimes gets labeled as “emotionally distant”, which is wholly unfair and misses the point of her amazing abilities as an actress.

Movie|Line Christina Hendricks removes her body parts in sci-fi music video. Honestly I think I just read a book like this. Was it Saturn's something?
Los Angeles Times the great cinematographer William A Fraker (Rosemary's Baby, Bullitt, Looking For Mr Goodbar) passes on. RIP

Where Are the Musicals? (Part Two)

Last week I thought I was being a little bit overdramatic when I started worrying about the absence of future movie musicals. But maybe I wasn't dramatic enough. Is it time for panicked hysteria? Just ten years into the genre's spectacular rebirth -- which I trace back to the 1-2-3-4 spectacular punch of Dancer in the Dark (00), Moulin Rouge! (01), Hedwig (01) and Chicago (02) -- it seems to be dying again.

I read today that plans for Hairspray 2 have been halted. It's not often you hear of sequel ideas to hit films being cast aside. Adam Shankman's statement about the dead sequel sounds rational on the surface:

That got killed. I was so happy with the first one, let's leave well enough alone. It's all good.

Since when were Hollywood types ever all zen about the "leave well enough alone". They live for easy money and what is easier than getting a big opening weekend out of pre-sold popularity be it through sequels, remakes, reboots or reinterpretations? Hollywood (speaking generally of course) never has original ideas. What's more they're usually spectacularly proud of their insistence on repeating themselves.

The only musical in development that's getting discussed lately is a remake of My Fair Lady. A remake.

Even weirder and more worrying is that Universal reportedly decided against a Mamma Mia! sequel (2008) even though ABBA has a thousand other great songs that could be similarly massacred for coin if such a film were to exist. I never in a million years thought I'd be freaked out about that decision, "Hooray!" being the only sane response. But I can't recall one time in the history of ever that a major studio has decided not to make a sequel to a movie that grossed over half a billion dollars.

All right... I exaggerate a little. But I'm scared because I love my song & dance. Mamma Mia! is currently the 50th highest grosser ever worldwide*. As it turns out, there are a few higher grossers that don't have sequels (yet) or weren't sequels to begin with. Of the other 49 the stand-alones are (in descending order)

• Avatar (sequel in development)
  
• Titanic (a wee problem called historical accuracy prevented sequels)
• Finding Nemo
• Independence Day
• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
  
• 2012
  
• Up
• Forrest Gump
• The Sixth Sense
• Kung Fu Panda (the sequel arrives next year)
  
• The Incredibles
• Hancock
• Ratatouille
• The Passion of the Christ
  

That's fourteen other movies, a few of which will undoubtedly get sequels. It seems like the only reason a hit movie doesn't get a sequel is if its lead character dies, or if it stars Will Smith (two examples there, but isn't he his own franchise? Maybe those are sequels) or if it's made by Pixar and isn't named "Toy Story".

If Wicked needs bankable 20something stars,
Anne Hathaway & Amanda Seyfried can both sing.

All of this, plus the weird absence of money-magnet "Wicked" in Hollywood's current Oz-mania production slate, is really getting to me. The stage show's cumulative gross is approaching half a billion dollars (it's currently at $469 million and it still earning over a million a week) Why wouldn't Hollywood be rushing to capitalize on it?

I'm officially very worried. It's too easy to blame it on Nine which cost a fortune (What did they spent the money on? It takes place on a stage! How did that cost $30 million more to make than Mamma Mia! or Sweeney Todd?).Perhaps the problem is actually Sweeney Todd. It earned $152 million worldwide which sounds like a decent amount... until you stop to consider what Burton/Depp pairings usually make.

You'd think it'd be an ideal time to grow a hit musical. The past ten years should be seen as ample fertilizer: the genre has produced hits, several song and/or dance adept celebrities have become much more famous/bankable (Hathaway, Jackman, Harris, Chenoweth, Tatum, Seyfried), musical theater stars have started to gain more fame outside of New York than they have in some time (Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald, Lea Michelle, Idina Menzel) and then there's a little something called Glee on TV. Maybe you've heard of it?

Greenlight some musicals, suits! Just make sure they don't cost as much as Nine so you have a chance at a profit. That shouldn't be hard. It's not like Sweeney Todd looked bad for $30 million less. It looked great. It just didn't sound that way.

*none of these figures are adjusted for inflation. The biggest musical hit of all time (and the third biggest hit of any type ever) is The Sound of Music (1965) which made over a billion dollars in today's numbers.

An Imperfect Circle.

Jose here. Is it me or has the release of Agora gone quite unnoticed in the United States?



Not that I'm saying everyone should leave whatever they're doing and go see it (I thought it was pretty mediocre actually as you can read in my review) but I find it surprising that so little has been mentioned about a movie that could generate controversy.

Not only does it feature a woman as lead, but the woman in case (Hypatia of Alexandria played effectively by Rachel Weisz) was also, allegedly, quite ahead of her times and had no need of a man in her life. Think of her as a character of Sex and the Old City.

But the most divisive point in the movie might be Amenábar's portrayal of early Christians as the wreckers of reason. If you think Almodóvar has pent up Christian anger, wait 'til you see the Gibsonian way with which Amenábar jumps against preachers of the gospels.

There's a great article out there by Tim O'Neill that wonders how much Amenábar bent history at his will to push his own agenda. It's highly recommended, if only because of the amount of research the author put into it.

Yet despite all the silliness and shortsightedness of Agora I couldn't help but be mystified and intrigued by the way Amenábar could've done a great film based only on the nature of his visuals.
Agora is after all based on a geometric principle. His allegations of Hypatia's premonition of Kepler's laws might be a little far fetched but his ideas of the "evolution" of the circle as a mystic figure are remarkable.

The first half of the film glorifies the circle and establishes it's a symbol of perfection (you can even see its love of it in the poster)





But as the plot advances, the characters' idea of the circle begin to shift towards the possibility of its imperfection, which gives us the ellipse.




Then we get views of buildings and elements we'd seen before with a slight change in perspective (the circle becoming an ellipse) and while the obvious plot sinks into a biased melodramatic condemnation of fundamentalism the things we're seeing suggest something altogether more significant.

Besides the implications of Kepler's contribution to science what can we learn about the effect of the circle in cinematic storytelling?
Wasn't the elliptical nature of cinema after all a major contribution to narrative aesthetics and the way humanity could perceive the world around them?

Perhaps if Amenábar had been a little less worried about pre-postfeminism and religious hooligans he might've realized he had the power to create a complete film course.

What's your take on Agora? have you seen it yet?

Open Thread

Discuss whatever cinematic topic you will. I'm making my cat-sitting rounds at the moment. Veddy important.

First and Last, Season 3 Finale

the first image and the last from a motion picture.


Can you guess the movie?

Highlight for the answer if you're stumped: PAN'S LABYRINTH
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See all previous episodes here ...now with highlightable answers in every old post for easy browsing. How many have you gotten over the three seasons? Do you want a fourth season after a break? Sound off in the comments and in the poll.

poll by twiigs.com

The Longest Link

Uh... I got a little carried away. Enjoy the ones you will

JACKintheblog 'Is it just me or does Jake Gyllenhaal look...'
Everything I Know responds to EW's list of "greatest characters" with a few theatrical suggestions. EW only allowed for two stage characters. EW sucks at list-making. They're always pandering to the OMGRIGHTNOW
CHUD Austin Texas' great theater The Alamo Drafthouse could be coming to your city. I've only been to Austin once and I only peeked at the exterior but I would go there so often...
The Pixar Blog "Groovin' With Ken" an interview clip that's not in Toy Story 3
The Telegraph Tim Robey on Mark Ruffalo, The Unpretentious Leading Man
Dark Eye Socket What the 00's meant to TFE contributor Craig. It's never too late for a list!
Dear Old Hollywood looks at Bette Davis early homes in California
Anomalous Material is hosting a "greatest comedy of all time" tournament. Let them know what makes you laugh the hardest
Movies Kick Ass "A woman's right to shoes" on Dorothy & her ruby slippers. This is part of...
Encore's Movie Musicals Blog-a-Thon which I didn't know about in time. Ah well.


Sex?
i cite has a thorough piece up about what critics missed in their savage takedowns of Sex and the City 2. Great read, though I wish I had enjoyed the movie this much! For me it's a miss
The Film Doctor 'don't leave me hangin' here'... a discussion about the movie that I appreciate because it's not OTT histrionic / hateful. There's very few discussions of that movie that aren't. And speaking of...
The Telegraph Tim Robey discusses "Sex and the City and the Art of the Pan" citing hilarious takedowns of this film and other hated films.
Huffington Post dating lesssons from the fab four
Tim Seidell equates Sex & the City to Star Wars. Seriously, he does. Original trilogy and 'prequel trilogy' and all
Sling Blog 5 pop culture hits besides SatC that were savaged by audiences that they weren't remotely intended to be enjoyed by

Finally...
Nicks Flick Picks has reached the final 10 in his Best Actress Project. Incredibly he will soon have seen every Best Actress nominee. Latest writeups: Bergman's Anastasia and Irene Dunne in Love Affair. He's got two of my all time favorite nominees coming up in his final 8 screenings: Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Judy Garland in A Star is Born (1954). I'm prepared for the worst. Though Nick and I are great friends we disagree surprisingly often on the subject of Actress so I have no expectations as to how he'll respond.

P.S. Don't even ask how close I am to having seen all 408 performances. So much left to see. At least that means multiple pleasures await.

United States of Tara and the Deceitful Netflix Envelope

I just received the second disc of Showtime's United States of Tara in the mail (I know, I know. Shut up. Better late than never) and noticed an odd bit of ad copy.

"Steven Spielberg created this wry cable series that follows Tara (Toni Collette)..."

Er... I know Ol' Spielberg is a beloved household name and all but bad form, Netflix copy editor types, bad form! While Spielberg's name is attached (Executive Producer), Tara is the brainchild of Oscar-winning Diablo Cody (Juno) and one ought to give credit where it's due.

P.S. I like the series so far with "Alice" being my favorite of Tara's alters -- is this because it reminds me of her slam dunk cameo in The Hours (2002)? -- and her son Marshall's "Hell House" experience being my favorite subplot. I'm enjoying the way Toni plays her multiples in a performative rather than strictly naturalistic way. This adds a nice layer to the larger thematic questions of identity building / role playing that the show appears to be building towards. I could be wrong, though. Just halfway through.

P.P.S. I find it unfortunate that after the one-two punch of Rachel Getting Married and this series that Rosemarie DeWitt may be forever typecast as The Female Protagonist's Resentful Sister Who Craves the Familial Attention That the Protagonist Wins via the Sheer Enormity of Her Mental Problems. I mean... that is a microscopic niche. That's even more problematic than Jodie Foster's narrow 'Female Protagonist Trapped In Confined Spaces' phase from a decade back. Good luck finding your next role, Rosemarie!

P.P.P.S. Now that I've seen 8 or so episodes, I'm dying to discuss it. Travel back in time a couple of years and discuss with me. Do you love it?

Earliest (Second Hand) Movie Memory: Jaws (1975)

I'm ready to love a big summer blockbuster again. But will there be one worth loving? I worry.

It pains me to say that I don't remember my first moviegoing experience. Some people do and I'm jealous of each and every one of them. I assume it was something Disney but I've never been able to recall and my parents aren't helpful there (they're not movie people). My earliest cinematic memory is actually second hand. I was scared to death of Jaws (1975) as a little kid a full decade or so before I actually saw it. Ahhhh, irrational childhood phobias...

[These illustrations were first published on the site in 2003]

First Panel: Jaws' poster haunted me. Neighborhood kids fixated, snickering, on the nude swimmer. I stared in horror: How could any animal have so many teeth ?!?

Second Panel: I tried to inure myself by playing the famous theme on our piano. Nothing worked. The backyard pool became fraught with terror.

Third Panel: People blame Spielberg for creating the blockbuster filmmaking mentality. I blame him for ruining summer in the pool.

What's your earliest movie memory?
Were you scared of any movies as a kid that you didn't see until years later? I'd especially love to hear from any readers who have first memories from earlier than the mid 70s so that I don't feel so old! ;) I don't suppose TFE readers born in the 1990s have any movie fears. Don't they wean kids on slasher flicks now?

First and Last, "He's Going to Miss His Train, Frank"

the first & last images after the opening credits and before the closing credits. Along with the first and last lines of dialogue. We're very alpha/omega today because the third season of first and last concludes tomorrow!


"He's going to miss his train, Frank."


"I'll think about it."

Can you guess the movie? I watched it again about a year ago with one of my best friends and I'd totally forgotten how fun it was.

Highlight for the answer: MARRIED TO THE MOB (1988)