Next on Hit Me: You Can't Stop This Letter to Pocahontas!

We kicked off Season 5 of Hit Me With Your Best Shot with two undisputed modern classics Eternal Sunshine and LA Confidential but it's time to get a little more adventurous and rangey. Each season has a mix of classics, oddities, and at least one animated entry because though we originally conceived of the series as a tribute to cinematography it's become readily apparent that the best shots can come from the work from other departments, too. To join us simply a) watch the movie b) pick your favorite shot and c) post it somewhere public. Then we'll add you to our roundup. 

Tuesday April 1st
For April Fool's Day a legendary "so bad it's good" movie, Alan Carr's Village People musical CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC (1980) which won the very first Razzie award for Worst Picture. I'm sorry about the short notice but it's easy to find, so start dancing, queen.
Netflix Instant | Amazon Instant | iTunes Rental

Tuesday April 8th
No film this week. I will be on my annual short post-Oscar vacation (April 4th-8th)

Tuesday April 15th
We'll be looking at William Wyler's noir adaptation of Somerset Maughan's THE LETTER (1940) which was nominated for 7 Oscars in its year including Picture, Cinematography and Best Actress Bette Davis. (This installment is multi-tasking. It'll also be our 4th episode of Seasons of Bette)
Netflix | Amazon | iTunes Rental

Tuesday April 22nd
For Earth Day 2014, we'll sing with all the colors of the wind for Disney's POCAHONTAS (1995). I chose it principally because a) I've been trying to come up with an excuse to revisit it and b)  it's easy to access. I had some other ideas but you'd be surprised how few things are easily accessible these days if you have something specific in mind. If you're a browser it's all good but devoted film fans are in trouble. The morphing of Netflix and the crash of the physical disc system has really wreaked havoc on easy accessibility since streaming is such a tiny percentage of movies we're interested in.
Netflix Instant Watch | Amazon Instant | iTunes Rental

"my plastic surgeon..."

...doesn't want me doing any activities where balls fly at my nose.

- Well, there goes your social life."

Great Moments in Screen Bitchery #184, Clueless

The Temple of Link

Vulture Pharrell on his Oscar loss and Frozen's "Let it Go"
Cinema Blend super depressing think piece about Chris Evans planned retirement after Captain America and why our franchise culture kills an actor's passion
Empire Madonna is not done directing. Next up: Ade: A Love Story based on the novel by Alice Walker's daughter

Guardian wonders when we'll start seeing gay parents in family films from Disney
Variety True Detective will compete in drama rather than in miniseries at the Emmys. Interesting move, right? I still think the Emmys need to start making rulings on this sort of thing just so there's consistency, rather than letting the shows decide. 
The Wire FWIW this is the article that seems to make the most sense as to why HBO is doing that
Film School Rejects Plans for Prometheus 2 move forward. Rumors of multiple Michael Fassbender sound perfect to me. Fill the screen with him.
Salon on Wes Anderson and the art of Twee "It's not easy being twee"
What Culture on 18 screenplays every aspiring writer should read. Some interesting choices / points but it's VERY man's man oriented. Obviously written by a guy who doesn't get into female protagonist cinema because I don't know how you make a screenplay list and don't include All About Eve
St Paul Lutheran Church Get this. Oft employed character actor James Rebhorn (Homeland, The Talented Mr Ripley, Far From Heaven) wrote his own obituary before he died. It's beautiful

From CinemaCon in Vegas
i09 sees and loves footage from Luc Besson's "insane" Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson as a drug mule turned superpowered killer. They liken it to Kick Ass which is unfortunately for me a superpowered deterrent.
In Contention on Angelina Jolie's Unbroken preview - I haven't drawn up my "april foolish" predictions yet but I think I'm probably less bullish on this one than most. I keep thinking Seabiscuit. Not that that film wasn't an Oscar hit but that type of inspirational power of human (or animal) spirit isn't as easy of an Oscar sell as it once was, I'd wager. 

P.S. And in case you haven't heard Jonathan Groff (Looking, Frozen) and Lucy Liu will announce the Tony Award nom this year on April 29th.

P.P.S. I'm not going to link to any of the many articles about the possible reboot of the Indiana Jones franchise (a.k.a. Indiana Jones 5 or 6)  because the only way to end reboot culture and get some actual NEW material up in here is for the media and the public to start ignoring these creatively bankrupt cash-ins that desperately want to keep giving us things we've already had.

What happened to youthful rebellion, I ask? Why do kids today want to see watered down versions of their parents favorite heroes instead of getting their own? Katniss aside, it's ALL their parents heroes over and over again.

Streep Finally Listens, Gets Real Director.

We've been harping on Meryl Streep's extraordinary lack of interest in working with A list directors who might actually, you know, direct her for a decade. She's finally working with one. She's now attached to Ricky and the Flash and, juvenile sounding title aside, it sounds like a potential winner.

She'll play a rock star trying to reconnect with her estranged children when her career peters out. The script is by clever Diablo Cody and in the director's chair, none other than Oscar winner Jonathan Demme. He's quite gifted with actresses having previously directed arguably career best work from actresses as diverse as Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Melanie Griffith (Something Wild), and Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs). He also guided Michelle Pfeiffer, once his favorite actress, in her best romantic comedy outing (Married to the Mob). More...

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Conscious Uncoupling

You've heard by now from Goop, that Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin are in the process of a "Conscious Uncoupling". Yes, that's a fancy therapeutic way to describe a breakup but why is the internet treating it like a virus that must be eradicated? I've been mostly amused but, I'll admit, a little disappointed by the way the internet (generally speaking) is treating this as something to mock. The word "pretentious" is bandied about a lot.

It's a reminder that the internet as a collective is stuck in perpetual adolescence or at least most people are, on and off the internet. I don't mean to be a killjoy or a scold but honest question: what's so bad about a long term couple with kids trying to break up amicably? More power to them if they can stay friendly. 

Misery loves company. Maybe its our own shame at our own messy breakups that make us uncomfortable with the couples who break up amicably when we couldn't? Most people don't remember it now but people were weirded out by Demi Moore and Bruce Willis staying friendly, too. But, hey, some people do. Don't most of us know at least one former couple who are still friendly and isn't that more healthy and appealing (even if, yes, unfair and annoying) or at least easier to stomach in the long run than that friend with lifelong bile for their ex that you have to taste every time the name comes up? 

Don't get me wrong. I love the kind of volatile coupling/uncoupling/recoupling of the Liz & Dick's of this world as much as any guilty bystander living vicariously through celebrities but would that really be a good look for Paltrow and Martin? It would be so off brand. "Conscious uncoupling" is PERFECT for Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martins personae. Maybe it's because I am not opposed to the sometimes quacky but occasionally eye-opening allure of self-help books or to Coldplay records or to Gwyneth in general (Can this conscious uncoupling include conscious filmmaking?) but I wish them the best. Who needs all that drama of the alternative?

The internet needs a big embarrassing open-hearted kumbaya session with a sing-along choral finale. Internet, heal thyself! 

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you