Hump Day Hottie: James McAvoy

Mmmm, James McAvoy. James M--well, you know... the faun "Mr. Tumnus" from The Chronicles of Narnia. Not that I'm a furry (or whatever they're called) but that's when I, personally, first took notice of this Scottish charmer. Post-Narnia it's getting hard not noticing him. His name is popping up with deserved frequency in casting rumors. I say deserved because if you've caught any of his work you'll undoubtedly want to see more of him.

And you will. You'll see lots more of him, in fact, in The Last King of Scotland. That buzzing film, opening September 27th, will certainly make an Oscar nominee of Forest Whitaker who kills in the role of brutal Idi Amin, the infamous Ugandan president. But McAvoy also gets quite a workout onscreen as Amin's personal doctor. And I don't just mean in his scenes with Whitaker which have a completely charged physicality to them: even when the two men are just talking, no moment is ever played safe, every hug or back slap feels like it could go horribly wrong. McAvoy's doctor is also seen running around, firing a gun, practicing extreme medicine, playing sports with Ugandan children, and rutting like a damn fool every chance he gets. And the rutting is often very very foolish. You'll see.

McAvoy has such an easy physicality in this picture that I wasn't surprised at all to read that he is abundantly physical in real life. He's a trained gymnast and boxer. I never saw the Children of Dune miniseries but apparently that role was also athletic. And shirtless.


McAvoy might well be the sexiest Scotsman since Ewan Macgregor. Or maybe he's the sexy Scottish version of Tobey Maguire. Not altogether ungeeky, but still potently erotic: a pleasing combo.

After Scotland you'll be able to catch McAvoy in the Christina Ricci film Penelope and next year he'll be seen opposite Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane, a biopic of Jane Austen, and Keira Knightley in the adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement.

Previous HDH Entries:
Naomie Harris the pretty chameleon: from Pirates to Miami Vice
Hot on TV a countdown from "Agent Dale Cooper" to "Faith"
Channing Tatum steppin' up and out.
Hugh Jackman dancer, fighter, lover, father, actor, singer, god.
Uma Thurman from Dangerous Liaisons to now: 18 years of hotness.
Cheyenne Jackson from Broadway to Hollywood.
Season One of HDH Gyllenhaal, Gong Li, Bernal, and more...

Tags:
James McAvoy, movies, film, Oscars

Hump Day Hottie: James McAvoy

Mmmm, James McAvoy. James M--well, you know... the faun "Mr. Tumnus" from The Chronicles of Narnia. Not that I'm a furry (or whatever they're called) but that's when I, personally, first took notice of this Scottish charmer. Post-Narnia it's getting hard not noticing him. His name is popping up with deserved frequency in casting rumors. I say deserved because if you've caught any of his work you'll undoubtedly want to see more of him.

And you will. You'll see lots more of him, in fact, in The Last King of Scotland. That buzzing film, opening September 27th, will certainly make an Oscar nominee of Forest Whitaker who kills in the role of brutal Idi Amin, the infamous Ugandan president. But McAvoy also gets quite a workout onscreen as Amin's personal doctor. And I don't just mean in his scenes with Whitaker which have a completely charged physicality to them: even when the two men are just talking, no moment is ever played safe, every hug or back slap feels like it could go horribly wrong. McAvoy's doctor is also seen running around, firing a gun, practicing extreme medicine, playing sports with Ugandan children, and rutting like a damn fool every chance he gets. And the rutting is often very very foolish. You'll see.

McAvoy has such an easy physicality in this picture that I wasn't surprised at all to read that he is abundantly physical in real life. He's a trained gymnast and boxer. I never saw the Children of Dune miniseries but apparently that role was also athletic. And shirtless.


McAvoy might well be the sexiest Scotsman since Ewan Macgregor. Or maybe he's the sexy Scottish version of Tobey Maguire. Not altogether ungeeky, but still potently erotic: a pleasing combo.

After Scotland you'll be able to catch McAvoy in the Christina Ricci film Penelope and next year he'll be seen opposite Anne Hathaway in Becoming Jane, a biopic of Jane Austen, and Keira Knightley in the adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement.

Previous HDH Entries:
Naomie Harris the pretty chameleon: from Pirates to Miami Vice
Hot on TV a countdown from "Agent Dale Cooper" to "Faith"
Channing Tatum steppin' up and out.
Hugh Jackman dancer, fighter, lover, father, actor, singer, god.
Uma Thurman from Dangerous Liaisons to now: 18 years of hotness.
Cheyenne Jackson from Broadway to Hollywood.
Season One of HDH Gyllenhaal, Gong Li, Bernal, and more...

Tags:
James McAvoy, movies, film, Oscars

A Lulu of a Birthday

A big shout out to me pal Stinkylulu on this, his birthday. He shares it with The Thief of Natalie Wood's Oscar who you may know as Sophia Loren. Fancy that. Although methinks she's an inappropriate soul sister for my Supporting Actress loving Stinky given that she hardly 'actresses from the edges' --Sophia and Sophia's are always front and center don't you find?

Happy Birthday StinkyLulu!

If Blogger's image function were working I would gift you a virtual grilled cheese sandwich (with birthday candles!) as part of this post. Since it's not, I won't...but it's the thought that counts.

A Lulu of a Birthday

A big shout out to me pal Stinkylulu on this, his birthday. He shares it with The Thief of Natalie Wood's Oscar who you may know as Sophia Loren. Fancy that. Although methinks she's an inappropriate soul sister for my Supporting Actress loving Stinky given that she hardly 'actresses from the edges' --Sophia and Sophia's are always front and center don't you find?

Happy Birthday StinkyLulu!

If Blogger's image function were working I would gift you a virtual grilled cheese sandwich (with birthday candles!) as part of this post. Since it's not, I won't...but it's the thought that counts.

Gong Li vs. Ziyi Zhang

Given that official news is coming in fast and furious regarding this year's Foreign Film Oscar Race, this news may be outdated as soon as you read it. Israel and Spain have picked finalists but not their representative films. China hasn't announced finalists but there's a potential battle of screen icons brewing.


A few years back China's greatest movie goddess Gong Li seemed to be abdicating her crown to upstart Ziyi Zhang. She had all but disappeared from the screen as Ziyi performed the deja vu trick of playing muse to Zhang Yimou (The Road Home, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) and launching herself into international fame (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). If perception is reality than Gong definitely wants the crown back. Since Ziyi's rapid ascendance, Gong Li is acting frequently again and branching out into American films. Most recently she danced and romanced Colin Farrell in Miami Vice and, perhaps to underline her point, blew Ziyi off the screen in Memoirs of a Geisha .

Now they're battling for Oscar consideration again --or, rather, their films are. Zhang Yimou reunites with his original muse Gong Li in the upcoming Curse of the Golden Flower , another martial arts epic and Xiaogang Feng directs Zhang Ziyi in the upcoming The Banquet which is loosely based on Hamlet. And both of these directors want to represent their country at the Oscars.

[editors note: I'm aware I'm supposed to call Gong Li "Li Gong" now but I refuse. I've been saying it this way for 15 years. I'll compromise on Ziyi since she's new.]

In other 'Foreign Movie Star' news...

German thespian Sebastian Koch (pictured to your right) is having a great decade. He's already proved himself an awards magnet in Germany over the past few years. Now, he's starring in not one but two official submissions for Oscar's international screen outreach program... better known as the Best Foreign Language Film category. He is the top billed male in Paul Verhoeven's Dutch submission Black Book (which is said to be as outre as Verhoeven usually is despite the deceptively Oscar-friendly setting of WW II) and the lead of the ecstatically received German film The Lives of Others, which some folks are saying could even win the prize this year (...well, if Almodovar's Volver isn't submitted by Spain. And it might not be.)

For more on the first 15 official submissions...
Australia, Bosnia, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland
France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Netherlands
Phillipines, Romania, Slovenia, Venezuela

The European Films site also keeps a frequently updated list here.

Related Posts
UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS --for September in All Categories
Mexico and Korea which amazing films will they choose? * Verhoeven for the Gold re: Black Book * The Race Begins re: Ten Canoes * Yimou and Gong Li an epic reunion.

Tags
foreign films, China, Germany, movies, Oscars, Academy Awards, cinema, Film...

Gong Li vs. Ziyi Zhang

Given that official news is coming in fast and furious regarding this year's Foreign Film Oscar Race, this news may be outdated as soon as you read it. Israel and Spain have picked finalists but not their representative films. China hasn't announced finalists but there's a potential battle of screen icons brewing.


A few years back China's greatest movie goddess Gong Li seemed to be abdicating her crown to upstart Ziyi Zhang. She had all but disappeared from the screen as Ziyi performed the deja vu trick of playing muse to Zhang Yimou (The Road Home, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) and launching herself into international fame (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). If perception is reality than Gong definitely wants the crown back. Since Ziyi's rapid ascendance, Gong Li is acting frequently again and branching out into American films. Most recently she danced and romanced Colin Farrell in Miami Vice and, perhaps to underline her point, blew Ziyi off the screen in Memoirs of a Geisha .

Now they're battling for Oscar consideration again --or, rather, their films are. Zhang Yimou reunites with his original muse Gong Li in the upcoming Curse of the Golden Flower , another martial arts epic and Xiaogang Feng directs Zhang Ziyi in the upcoming The Banquet which is loosely based on Hamlet. And both of these directors want to represent their country at the Oscars.

[editors note: I'm aware I'm supposed to call Gong Li "Li Gong" now but I refuse. I've been saying it this way for 15 years. I'll compromise on Ziyi since she's new.]

In other 'Foreign Movie Star' news...

German thespian Sebastian Koch (pictured to your right) is having a great decade. He's already proved himself an awards magnet in Germany over the past few years. Now, he's starring in not one but two official submissions for Oscar's international screen outreach program... better known as the Best Foreign Language Film category. He is the top billed male in Paul Verhoeven's Dutch submission Black Book (which is said to be as outre as Verhoeven usually is despite the deceptively Oscar-friendly setting of WW II) and the lead of the ecstatically received German film The Lives of Others, which some folks are saying could even win the prize this year (...well, if Almodovar's Volver isn't submitted by Spain. And it might not be.)

For more on the first 15 official submissions...
Australia, Bosnia, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland
France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Netherlands
Phillipines, Romania, Slovenia, Venezuela

The European Films site also keeps a frequently updated list here.

Related Posts
UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS --for September in All Categories
Mexico and Korea which amazing films will they choose? * Verhoeven for the Gold re: Black Book * The Race Begins re: Ten Canoes * Yimou and Gong Li an epic reunion.

Tags
foreign films, China, Germany, movies, Oscars, Academy Awards, cinema, Film...

Some Guys Have All The Luck

UPDATED WITH THE ANSWER

For the bored and obsessive film experience readers... a puzzlement:


Question:
What do Matthew Modine, Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Bridges, Rupert Everett, and Dennis Haysbert all have in common that no other actors can brag about?

Answer:
They've all romanced both Julianne Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer. Or rather their characters have romanced Moore & Pfeiffer's characters ;)

The are shown in chronological order of their completion the achievement.
Modine dated Pfeiffer in Married to the Mob and was married to Moore in ShortCuts.
Goldblum romanced Pfeiffer in Into the Nite and was Moore's boyfriend in The Lost World
Bridges did it the most explicity. He seduced Pfeiffer with a wandering hands backrub in The Fabulous Baker Boysand then memorably bedded Moore in The Big Lebowski.
Everett is a bit of a red herring. He was King to Pfeiffer's Queen in A Midsummer Nights Dream but his engagement with Moore in An Ideal Husband took place before the events that the movie depicts and was already severed.
Haysbert had one night of forbidden consummated love with Pfeiffer in Love Field and then a long stretch of forbidden but unconsummated love with Moore in Far From Heaven.

The five luckiest guys in Hollywood.

Some Guys Have All The Luck

UPDATED WITH THE ANSWER

For the bored and obsessive film experience readers... a puzzlement:


Question:
What do Matthew Modine, Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Bridges, Rupert Everett, and Dennis Haysbert all have in common that no other actors can brag about?

Answer:
They've all romanced both Julianne Moore and Michelle Pfeiffer. Or rather their characters have romanced Moore & Pfeiffer's characters ;)

The are shown in chronological order of their completion the achievement.
Modine dated Pfeiffer in Married to the Mob and was married to Moore in ShortCuts.
Goldblum romanced Pfeiffer in Into the Nite and was Moore's boyfriend in The Lost World
Bridges did it the most explicity. He seduced Pfeiffer with a wandering hands backrub in The Fabulous Baker Boysand then memorably bedded Moore in The Big Lebowski.
Everett is a bit of a red herring. He was King to Pfeiffer's Queen in A Midsummer Nights Dream but his engagement with Moore in An Ideal Husband took place before the events that the movie depicts and was already severed.
Haysbert had one night of forbidden consummated love with Pfeiffer in Love Field and then a long stretch of forbidden but unconsummated love with Moore in Far From Heaven.

The five luckiest guys in Hollywood.

"that which nourishes me also destroys me"

It's not just a quote from Angelina Jolie's yummy tummy tatoo. It's also a handy way to describe the pitfalls of some fairly solid movies, now playing at theaters near you.

(note: if you found this looking for Angelina Jolie stuff, click here)

Half Nelson
The Good: Ryan Gosling's performance. The film's welcome abundance of ideas and concern about problematic systems and our willing compliance in them -- not that these ideas are explored but at least they show up to class.
The Bad: Too much like its junkie lead. Half Nelson seems to sleepwalk when it should be alert, always searching for the next Gosling-centric high and missing other good stuff: something of a typical trap for small films with big talent actors at the center.
The Verdict: As a character portrait I'd give this a higher grade but considering the larger ambitions it holds, I'll settle on a B- Worth seeing, though, don't get me wrong. Not pleasant or cathartic despite it's good intentions. It raises a lot of issues only to throw up its hands in despair.

House of Sand
The Good: Fernanda Montenegro (but you knew that already, didn't you smarty) and it’s slowly shifting daughter-mother-daughter narrative. The setting: Like a tan version of Fargo’s blank white canvases, it gets a lot of gravitas and atmosphere from its endless grains of sand.
The Bad: Too much like its setting. Hypnotic gives way to monotonous, and the whole thing is a little obvious in its symbolism.
The Verdict: B- but I enjoyed Montenegro's effortless performance and I liked its confidence in the time structure.

The Illusionist
The Good: This film about a magician in Vienna has an absolutely refreshing modesty to it. It doesn't try too hard at all. For most of the running time, The Illusionist is content to be quiet and intriguing.
The Bad: But then there's the ending. And you realized this magician needed to spend more time dazzling in specific ways (as opposed to being vaguely fascinating) in order to pull off the intended grand sleight of hand. The trick ending feels like a bit of a cheat.
The Verdict: B-

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Good: Me: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl had it all: adventure, fun, great production values, memorable characters, and a legendary performance by Johnny Depp."
The Bad: Studio Executive: "So in the sequel, we're going to just point the camera at those same things again. Every last one of those things. You'll love it. Particularly Johnny Depp! He's so funny we didn't even bother giving him any jokes. But don't you just love him?!? Oh, and you liked it because of the setpieces last time right? Right? Well, whatever. We've added several --these will make really awesome levels of a video game that will double our profits. Aren't you excited to see what happens in 2007?"
The Verdict: C Me: "Um, I guess. Since nothing happened in 2006." Honestly, I can't imagine ever watching this again because everything I love about it is in pure form in the original. If they trimmed about 45-60 minutes, I'd go back. In my mind this is the longest commercial ever made. The Kill Bill Volume splitting in 2003 brought out many naysayers complaining about a crass budget-covering move. Why wasn't their more outrage at this film? This is a far more obvious case of numbers doing the creative thinking: It's like a collection of scenes with no rhthym or narrative import that exist merely to take you from Black Pearl to At World's End. There's not enough story to justify a trilogy. A plain old sequel would've been fine.

A Prairie Home Companion
The Good: Wonderful music, a jovial relaxed ensemble, and plenty of sunset warmth.
The Bad: In some ways, it's like a very pretty person who doesn't have to develop a personality to get attention. The film's general mood is so cozy, and its team comes with so much of a back catalogue of audience love that the film doesn't have to break a sweat at all to achieve its swansong like grace. I imagine that if I didn't love Altman and the cast so much from previous work, this would not have been so satisfying.
The Verdict: B+ Probably should've been tighter and more controlled. But who wants to quibble when everyone is having a ball, including the audience. Not I.

Related Posts:
What Did Fernanda Do To Deserve This? (House of Sand) * Addicted to Addiction (Half Nelson) * A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse (The Illusionist) * John Christopher Depp (Pirates) *

"that which nourishes me also destroys me"

It's not just a quote from Angelina Jolie's yummy tummy tatoo. It's also a handy way to describe the pitfalls of some fairly solid movies, now playing at theaters near you.

(note: if you found this looking for Angelina Jolie stuff, click here)

Half Nelson
The Good: Ryan Gosling's performance. The film's welcome abundance of ideas and concern about problematic systems and our willing compliance in them -- not that these ideas are explored but at least they show up to class.
The Bad: Too much like its junkie lead. Half Nelson seems to sleepwalk when it should be alert, always searching for the next Gosling-centric high and missing other good stuff: something of a typical trap for small films with big talent actors at the center.
The Verdict: As a character portrait I'd give this a higher grade but considering the larger ambitions it holds, I'll settle on a B- Worth seeing, though, don't get me wrong. Not pleasant or cathartic despite it's good intentions. It raises a lot of issues only to throw up its hands in despair.

House of Sand
The Good: Fernanda Montenegro (but you knew that already, didn't you smarty) and it’s slowly shifting daughter-mother-daughter narrative. The setting: Like a tan version of Fargo’s blank white canvases, it gets a lot of gravitas and atmosphere from its endless grains of sand.
The Bad: Too much like its setting. Hypnotic gives way to monotonous, and the whole thing is a little obvious in its symbolism.
The Verdict: B- but I enjoyed Montenegro's effortless performance and I liked its confidence in the time structure.

The Illusionist
The Good: This film about a magician in Vienna has an absolutely refreshing modesty to it. It doesn't try too hard at all. For most of the running time, The Illusionist is content to be quiet and intriguing.
The Bad: But then there's the ending. And you realized this magician needed to spend more time dazzling in specific ways (as opposed to being vaguely fascinating) in order to pull off the intended grand sleight of hand. The trick ending feels like a bit of a cheat.
The Verdict: B-

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Good: Me: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl had it all: adventure, fun, great production values, memorable characters, and a legendary performance by Johnny Depp."
The Bad: Studio Executive: "So in the sequel, we're going to just point the camera at those same things again. Every last one of those things. You'll love it. Particularly Johnny Depp! He's so funny we didn't even bother giving him any jokes. But don't you just love him?!? Oh, and you liked it because of the setpieces last time right? Right? Well, whatever. We've added several --these will make really awesome levels of a video game that will double our profits. Aren't you excited to see what happens in 2007?"
The Verdict: C Me: "Um, I guess. Since nothing happened in 2006." Honestly, I can't imagine ever watching this again because everything I love about it is in pure form in the original. If they trimmed about 45-60 minutes, I'd go back. In my mind this is the longest commercial ever made. The Kill Bill Volume splitting in 2003 brought out many naysayers complaining about a crass budget-covering move. Why wasn't their more outrage at this film? This is a far more obvious case of numbers doing the creative thinking: It's like a collection of scenes with no rhthym or narrative import that exist merely to take you from Black Pearl to At World's End. There's not enough story to justify a trilogy. A plain old sequel would've been fine.

A Prairie Home Companion
The Good: Wonderful music, a jovial relaxed ensemble, and plenty of sunset warmth.
The Bad: In some ways, it's like a very pretty person who doesn't have to develop a personality to get attention. The film's general mood is so cozy, and its team comes with so much of a back catalogue of audience love that the film doesn't have to break a sweat at all to achieve its swansong like grace. I imagine that if I didn't love Altman and the cast so much from previous work, this would not have been so satisfying.
The Verdict: B+ Probably should've been tighter and more controlled. But who wants to quibble when everyone is having a ball, including the audience. Not I.

Related Posts:
What Did Fernanda Do To Deserve This? (House of Sand) * Addicted to Addiction (Half Nelson) * A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse (The Illusionist) * John Christopher Depp (Pirates) *