Gravitational Link

The Hollywood Reporter Woody Allen pulls Blue Jasmine from its India release due to anti-smoking laws. Don't tell Woody how his films have to be shown. He gets riled up. See also: Manhattan's (lack of) history on television.
Vulture one of our all time favorite DPs Emmanuel Lubezki looks at scenes from 5 of his beauties: The Tree of Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men and Gravity
Cinema Blend Katey on SNL's 50 Shades of Grey audition skit
San Francisco Chronicle how to spot a future classic? interesting article.
The Wrap on the huge amount of documentaries that Oscar voters will have to mull over
Vulture Patton Oswalt reveals his crushes from the Whedonverse. This is so cute
Playbill NYC and Brooklyn residents take note: sing-along screening of Little Shop of Horrors coming up with Rick Moranis 

TV
Pajiba You MUST see this accidental crass move from Disney via Once Upon a Time's spinoff (ugh. one bad show spawns another that will sure attempt to out-ugly Eyesore in Wonderland)
E! Online congratulations to Dot-Marie Jones (Glee) who got engaged to her girlfriend over the weekend. At Disneyland. [Inappropriate Side-Note Given The Happy Times Congratulation: Dot-Marie Jones, like Joan Cusack on Shameless, has competed for "Guest Actress" at the Emmys in three consecutive years. These are series regular roles. Emmy's "Guest" category has, like Oscar's "Supporting" category, gone from being a great idea to a "what is this for?" prize due to the constant fraudulent nominations. Stop the madness!]

I love this photo from behind the scenes of Gravity

Gravitational Pull
The Dissolve a spoiler-laden discussion between two critics on the movie of the moment 
Slate "Gravity is going to be a camp classic"  - this post is so prophetic! 
Vulture fact-checking Gravity with an astronaut. What if you vomit in your spacesuit? 
Deadline on the film's very impressive record-breaking box office

Free Bong!

JA from MNPP here. I assume you guys been following the burgeoning brouhaha surrounding the new movie Snowpiercer from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho? The film is Bong's first English-language feature (you should definitely seek out some of his previous work like Mother or Memories of Murder, if you are unfamiliar) and stars Chris Evans, Jamie Bell and Tilda Swinton amongst others, and is set in a post-apocalyptic future on board a train barreling through the wintry wilderness. The film's gotten some seriously positive reviews at some film festivals (and if any of you have actually seen the movie out there, please do share) over the past few months...

... which apparently means little to The Weinstein Company, who snapped up the distribution rights to the movie for half of the globe only to immediately decide that twenty minutes or so needed to be lopped off of it. There's been some back and forth about it in the press, and Bong's tried to remain diplomatic about it. Until now, that is - Variety's reporting that he's furious, and telling audiences now that the cut that most of the world will end up seeing will not be his cut.

I'll point out that it's impossible for me to hide my tone here - I've spent years watching Harvey Weinstein snap up horror movies with magnificent festival buzz only to hide them away and botch their release, so I've had some time to build up these resentments. They are deep and I can't be counted upon for a level head here. I'm just glad we live in a connected world of technological wonder where I'll be able to see Bong's film the way it was intended as soon as it's released in South Korea, and therefore bypass putting a penny into the Weinstein's pockets. That said, I recognize I haven't seen the film - maybe Harvey knows best? What do you guys think about this?

How I Feel (Demonstrated by Sigweavie)

This is how I'm feeling today...

The role of Nathaniel will be played Sigourney Weaver and the role of Life is gross oozy mouthbreather alien.

How I wish I felt! TA-DA!

Triumphant Perserverance Through All Unfortunate Hideous Obstacles!
Reducing All Terrifying Obstacles To Self-Flattering Backdrop Ambience!

I seriously don't know what's wrong with me lately but I'm beset by all sorts of obstacles, some of my own doing (eye strain, major time management issues, job(s) stress, fatigue, personal setbacks) perhaps the cinema gods are punishing me for not loving Gravity??? Sigourney Weaver is just always going to be my favorite Distressed Lady in Outer Space Masterpiece. Sorry Sandra B! 

This is not meant as a pity party just a 'have patience' as I work through this and get back to upping the blogging game a bit for Oscar season. If you want to help, share posts on facebook or twitter or comment regularly (trust that it's like fuel for bloggers) or donate to the blog -- see sidebar -- think of it. For the price of a fancy cup of joe each month you could collectively free up all my time for writing and managing the blog. Or keep enjoying it for free but know that that's like letting aliens slobber all of over me. Your call!

"Gravity" and The Limits of A Perfect 10

a version of this review originally appeared in my column at Towleroad.

There's a brief scene in Nicole Holofcener's engaging indie hit ENOUGH SAID that repeats enough times that it could be the chorus if the movie were a song. A massage therapist (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) arrives at the home of a fit male client who lives on the top floor of his building. Every time she arrives he pops out with a killer smile looking down to greet her. He never thinks to help her as she arduously lugs her massage table up the entire steep flight of stairs.  

Excuse the stretch but this is sometimes how it feels to write about movies. Especially the ones that are true lookers that you're still just not that into.

By any definition GRAVITY is the movie of the moment and by some measures it will come to be regarded as The Movie of the Year...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Best Actor Captain Phillips? Plus Inside Llewyn Davis

For this weekend we have a mini podcast but good things come in small packages.

Katey & Joe attended the Inside Llewyn Davis premiere at the New York Film Festival and tell Nathaniel about it from Garret Hedlund's ponytail, Carey Mulligan doppelgangers, Coen ambience shenanigans and film festival fashions.

All three of us loved Tom Hanks performance in Captain Phillips and Nick joins us, finally, to chat about the Best Actor race. We reference this "no frontrunners" article if you missed it. You can listen at the bottom of the post or download it on iTunes. Join in the conversation in the comments.

[Editor's Note: Because iTunes only hosts the 10 most recent episodes (I'm not sure why that is), the podcasts for this year's films we'll start disappearing after this particular episode so make sure and download them if you haven't yet listened to any episode.]

Inside Captain Phillips, Best Actor