"Carol" Week: An Evening with Cinematographer Ed Lachman

Kieran, here wishing everyone a very happy Carol week.  If ever there was a film that truly deserved an entire week dedicated to celebrating it, it’s Todd Haynes’ sumptuous cinematic buffet. The film is a rare animal in the landscape in that it truly feels like every element of its filmmaking works cohesively in service of the overall vision. That was apparent on a re-watch last Friday evening in Los Angeles and even more so afterwards listening to cinematographer Edward Lachman talk to the audience about the process of finding the appropriate look for it after the screening.

“Todd always does great research before every film,” one of the many moments of him singing his director’s praises.  “One of the greatest mandates was making sure it didn’t resemble Far From Heaven,” Lachman stated.  [More...]

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Cinematic Lumps of Coal: 15 Worst of '15

They've been naughty. So we shan't be nice. Rather than choosing the 15 worst movies (we skip a lot of stuff that looks atrocious), here are 15 matters of annoyance within the movies of 2015, whether the movies were decent or terrible. Vague/light spoilers ahead.

15 Lumps of Coal From '15
Links go to past articles about the film or reviews if they exist

15 Grab Bag of Undelights
Afew I couldn't fit in below: Chris Hemsworth's wandering accent in In The Heart of The Sea often within the same scene. Is this First Mate Australian, British, or from the Bronx?; The way Mother Malkin's (Julianne Moore) red hair stays that way when she shifts into dragon form in The Seventh Son. That was cute with Madame Mim in The Sword in the Stone but in "realistic" cgi not so much; and, the perpetual agony of trailers that take you from the beginning to the end of a movie (Room and The Revenant are the latest victims) spoiling every story beat.

14 Longwindedness
In nearly great movies (Clouds of Sils Maria 124 min), good movies (Saint Laurent 150 min.), divisive movies (I'm still making up my mind about The Revenant okay? 156 min), and arthouse curiousities (Arabian Nights, Vol II 131 min., Love 135 min.) alike the tendency in contemporary cinema is to let the camera linger here and there and everywhere and also to include entire sections that add nothing particularly new to the plot or our understanding of character or theme if narrative isn't the movie's main thrust. Don't misunderstand: a good lingering camera can be among the greatest of things but if you're running over 90 minutes please justify it with new information. Shave 10 minutes (or a lot more in some cases) off any of these movies and they're instantly improved. 

13 more after the jump...

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Best of '15: Red Carpet Beauty

Jose reporting for red carpet duty. One of the most significant things that happened in fashion in 2015, was the end of Raf Simons' short reign at Dior. With that we saw what I like to think was the "theme of the year", a return to form for starlets, and Best Actress Oscar winners, who seemed constrained under the requirements of their contracts. Not that they were crying about getting paid millions to dress in expensive couture, and sell perfumes mind you. Still, it was refreshing to see people like J.Law go back to the All-American goodness she first embodied in that red Calvin Klein dress at the Oscars.

We also saw perennial favorites find new ways to astound us (Cate, Nicole and Diane are indeed the holy trinity for fashion lovers), and usually lackluster people finally find their unique sartorial voice, thanks to the work of magician stylists (thank you for existing, Petra Flannery). I hope you're surprised by some of the inclusions in the list, but overall I hope they manage to put some beauty into your day (even when the dresses in question aren't necessarily "pretty"...)

The 15 Best Looks of '15
continues after the jump 

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Batman v Running Time, Ex Machina v Blockbusters, and More

Can you believe Christmas is just 3 days away? Eeep how fast the month has gone. Let's jump right into news & links...

Women and Hollywood well, this is good timing. Charlotte Rampling is getting an eight film retrospective in NYC starting Wednesday... just in time to remind East Coast AMPAS members of her brilliance before balloting. Do NOT miss The Night Porter (1974) or Under the Sand (2000) if you haven't seen them.
THR looks at make or break moments coming in 2016 from Batman v Superman to MTV's Shannara Chronicles
Comics Alliance Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is apparently 151 minutes long. Yikes. Here's an idea: cut the death of little Bruce's parents because how many times we gotta see that origin story. The entire world knows it. No need for "previously ons" at this point.
The Wrap Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant are working together again post-Milk. The new project is a miniseries When We Rise about the gay rights movement kicking off with the Stonewall riots

Variety Guy Ritchie's untitled King Arthur movie has been pushed back to 2017 
Variety Star Wars pay scales... back end bonuses don't kick in until the film grosses one billion dollars. Not that it won't pass that in record time (it's already over half a billion globally after that first weekend)
Slash Film modern movies getting the old VHS cover treatment
W Magazine the most provocative fashion photography of 2015. Miley Cyrus, Jessica Chastain, and Cate Blanchett among the subjects
W Magazine Bryan Cranston does a dramatic reading of Drake's "Hotline Bling"
AV Club charts the 24 times 2015 totally lost its shit. Outrage culture is exhausting! 

/Film Cuteness. You can sit in a BB-8 chair (row BB, seat 8 in the balcony) while watching movies in the El Capitan in Los Angeles through February 7th.
The Guardian on the Bechdel Test's origins and Star Wars. Good history feminist politics piece but for the very odd suggestion that gays aren't interested in seeing heterosexual romance onscreen. What the what now? History (and LGBT culture) does not remotely support this notion.
i09 on the devolution of the fan fiction trope "the Mary Sue" with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens 
Gawker the complete history of Quentin Tarantino's use of the N word, used 65 times in The Hateful Eight which is second only to its use in Django Unchained  

Prize-Giving. Tis the Season
Playbill The Sydney Theater Award nominees for 2015 have been announced for fans of Aussie actors (i.e. everyone). Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving are among them
St Louis Film Critics chose Spotlight as Best Picture and Leo & Brie as best leading actors
Nevada Film Critics Society gave those exact same top 3 prizes but since The Revenant won four prizes it feels like the defacto winner

And Finally...
The Academy has announced the 10 finalists for Best Visual Effects, chosen from that longlist of 20 we shared earlier. The 5 Oscar nominees will come from these 10 pictures...

• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Ex-Machina
• Jurassic World
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Tomorrowland
• The Walk

The most surprising miss among the earlier semi-finalists is probably Spectre since James Bond films generally make the finals in the Daniel Craig era, don't they? But this category gets more competitive every year. I'm suddenly less confident about my current predictions (Avengers, Jurassic, Mad Max, Martian, Star Wars). Might Ex Machina, which hasn't left the awards conversation despite an April bow and is 1000% deserving of this particular nomination, actually make it despite not being of their preferred size and with the effects actually in a supporting role for a change? 

Who Wore It Best? Todd Haynes Edition

For Carol Week, all I, Dancin' Dan, would like to talk about, is the men. 

Well, the man. That would be Kyle Chandler as The Husband, Harge Aird.

He delivers wonderful supporting work that should be garnering awards attention. But all I've been thinking about since seeing him with his slicked-back hair and 50s-style tailored suits is.... well, another man.

THAT man would be Dennis Quaid, who played The Husband in Haynes's other 1950s melodrama masterpiece, Far From Heaven.

Quaid also delivered a wonderful supporting performance that should had gotten more awards attention, and he looked perhaps the best he has ever looked (quite a feat) in Sandy Powell's luxe costumes and era-appropriate slicked-back hair.

So with all that said, WHO WORE IT BEST?